Excerpt from Pioneer History of the Champlain Valley: Being an Account of the Settlement of the Town of Willsborough by William Gilliland, Together With His Journal and Other Papers; And a Memoir, and Historical and Illustrative Notes In the year 1852 I was engaged, under the auspices of the State Agricultural Society of New York, in making an agricultural survey of Essex county, in that state. My duties incidentally involved an examination of its natural features and resources, and a research into its traditions and history. Whilst I was employed in these enquiries, the late General Ross mentioned to me Oscar F. Sheldon, of Willsboro, as most competent, from his habits and study, to aid my labors. I at once visited Mr. Sheldon, and was surprised and delighted by the rich treasury of antiquarian wealth he revealed to my inspection. I learnt that he had been occupied, without noise or pretension, for fifteen years, in exploring the traditions and chronicles, and in collecting the antiquarian elements of the county, and that he had made considerable progress in a local history of Willsboro. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.