This book examines the life of Abel Baldwin, who came to Indiana from Vermont, to establish a colony of New England settlers on the Salamonie River. It looks at his geographic and family background in Vermont, the vision which caused him to come the "Far West," and the two trips he made to Indiana in search of land. It also explores his untimely death in 1839 and the fate of his widow and eight children. In addition, it chronicles the founding and early development of Montpelier, the town he platted in 1837, through the "Oil Boom" of the 1890's. There is also an extensive appendix of documents, letters, recollections, etc.