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William Emerson Damon

We are all familiar with Damon Hall, situated in the center of Hartland Three Corners, but what do we know about the Damons for whom it was named? Bev chanced upon an article that whetted our interest and so we pursued it further and found a most fascinating man and family. As I’ve noted before;, Hartland is full of them!

As this building, Damon Hall, which we dedicate today is a memorial to Luther and Betsy Thayer Damon and to their children, and especially to their son, William Emerson Damon, through whose generosity the gift of this building has been made possible, a short sketch of Luther Damon and his son William E. Damon would seem appropriate. Luther Damon, son of Aaron and Lucy Emerson Damon was born in Reading, Mass. Dec. 17 1795. When 10 years old he came to Vermont to settle on the farm now known as the Damon Farm. He was married to Betsy Thayer of Braintree, Mass Nov. 15, 1819.  (He sold the Hartland farm and moved to Windsor but after a few years he became homesick for the old farm and bought it back, never to leave it gain. He built the present Damon house about 1845.) Ten children were born to the couple.

William Emerson Damon, the youngest son was born in Windsor in 1838. He was educated in the public schools and at Kimball Union Academy. Feb 14 1865 he married Alma Otis of Windsor. For many years Mr. Damon was superintendent of the credit department of Tiffany’s, New York City.  Largely through his efforts the New York aquarium was established and Mr. Damon came to be considered an authority on matters pertaining to aquaria. His interest in the New York aquarium is referred to as follows in “Bermuda, Past and Present” by Walter Brownell Hayward.  No less a personage than Phineas T. Barnum was the first to introduce Bermuda fishes to the New York  aquarium public. Barnum, ever on the alert for new thrills, conceived the idea of bringing live specimens from tropical waters, and sent out two expeditions, one to Honduras, the other to Bermuda. Both returned without their fish, all having died in transit. Barnum was disappointed but was prevailed upon by one of his assistants, W.E. Damon, to fit out the well-smack Pacific which sailed to Bermuda in the summer of 1863. These being the days of blockade runners, all Northerners were regarded with suspicion and soon it was rumored that Mr. Damon in his frequent trips across the bays was taking soundings, not fish. Finally a peremptory order from the authorities halted his work and it was not until the American Consul had intervened on his behalf was Mr. Damon allowed to resume his harmless occupation. His party caught 600 fish, all of which were successfully transported to the greater glory and profit of Barnum and the pleasure of his patrons of the Ann Street museum Mr Damon’s “Ocean  wonders” was published in 1879, was one of the first books to popularize life at the seashore. This book contains besides descriptions of various kinds of marine life, a chapter on marine and fresh water aquaria. All of Mr. Damon’s sisters were interested in natural history but he says in his preface to “Ocean Wonders” that it was his dear and honored sister, Elizabeth with her suggestive spirit and practical example who awakened in his mind a love for nature. He also acknowledges his indebtedness to the intelligent and sympathetic interest of his wife in his favorite study. Because of Mrs. Damon’s interest in her husbands avocation she has become interested in the Hartland Nature Club and has felt it a pleasure to contribute towards this building… Mr Damon never held public office …  He died on the home farm in 1911.

From a speech by Harold Rugg at the dedication of Damon Hall on Dec. 2, 1916, reported in The Vermont Standard.

Reprinted from the December 2006 Hartland Historical Society Newsletter

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The Damon Family – Assorted Bits From Our Files

 

 

 

Mrs. Alma C. (Otis) Damon, daughter of Mr. And Mrs Timothy Otis, was born in Windsor, Vt.,July 30,1841, and died in Hartland, Nov. 7, 1928, On Feb. 14 1865, she was married to William E.Damon, who for many years prior to his death in 1911, was identified with Tiffany and Co. of New York and maintained a summer residence at what has long been known as the Damon Farm in Hartland. … Mrs. Damon was a great lover of nature, and during her life in New York, she and her husband were identified with several societies offering opportunity for the study of trees, plants, flowers, and especially of marine life. Since her husband’s death, Mrs. Damon has spent a part of every summer at the farm where she could enjoy to better advantage the natural beauties which the country affords. Her funeral was held at her late home on Friday afternoon, at 2 0’clock, Rev. E.L.M. Barnes of Brownsville officiating.

Although Barnum had aquatic mammals and native freshwater fishes on exhibit in the American Museum in New York City, this was nothing new since The Boston Aquarial Gardens had such exhibits before the museum did. Damon convinced Barnum that what the museum needed was a collection of colorful saltwater fishes and so Barnum financed Damon’s famous( and hazardous) trip to Bermuda in 1863, the source of the shells in the Hartland Nature Club. He and Albert Bickmore who accompanied him (Bickmore at the time was a young student of Louis Agassiz and was later to become the primary founder of The American Museum of Natural History) were the first two to bring tropical marine fishes into this country. Those shells in the Hartland Nature Club are, therefore, of considerable historical interest and should not be viewed simply as shells from Bermuda. My research on Mr. Damon centers around his scientific endeavors and aquatic research. Mr. Damon was a much more learned and scientific individual than
most people realize. He was a member of the New York Microscopical Society, The Royal Microscopical Society of London, the New York Micrological Club, the Scientific Alliance of New York, the New York Naturalists Club, and the New York Zoological Society If it wasn’t for his impressive success as the credit manager for Tiffany’s in New York City, he undoubtedly would have become a well known figure in the scientific world. Mr. Damon was also very important in the establishment of the Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens, as well as persuading P.T.Barnum to add an aquarium department to the American Museum. Mr. Damon was also consulted when the Battery Park Aquarium was established in New York.

In 1861 the Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens secured a white beluga whale and brought it to Boston. It was kept alive for about one year and, although Barnum displayed several white whales, contrary to what has been written, the Boston whale was on exhibit before those in the American Museum in New York. The whale was placed under William Damon’s care while he was at the Gardens so he was the first one in this country to tend to a whale in captivity!!

The thought struck me that another member of the Damon family has another claim to fame. Damon gave the following account of early American aquarium activity in his “Ocean Wonders” book “In this country I believe the writer was one of the very first to be inoculated with the aquarial passion – a passion that has grown with time, and has a deeper hold today than even in the first period of magnificent visions.

So far as I have been able to ascertain, the pioneer inductor of the private aquarium in this country was Miss Elizabeth Emerson Damon, of Windsor, Vt.; and her first essays were made with the simple apparatus of a two-quart glass jar, with a few fish, some tadpoles and snails, and some Potamogeton (common pond weed): but so perfectly balanced was this young aquarium with animal and vegetable life, that I fell in love with it at first sight; and never since, among all the aquarial curiosities which I have possessed, and the thousands I have seen, has there been a collection nearer perfection than that contained in the poor old two quart jar.” Albert J. Klee, Ph.D.

The New York Sun of May 9 ( 1899) says “W.E. Damon read on Friday evening before the New York Microscopical society a paper on the seahorse, the wonderful little marine animal with a head and neck bearing a strong resemblance to those of a horse, while its tail is prehensile like that of a monkey. Mr. Damon exhibited a photograph of a seahorse which he had kept alive in his own aquarium for over a year. This seahorse was very tame, and would readily take food from its owner’s hand. The paper from which the above is taken contains a full and interesting synopsis of the lecture on this marine animal. No one in this section need be told who Wm. E. Damon is and our only regret is that our space will admit of no further quotation”.

Other Notes From our Files

Luther Damon lived on the farm that bounded on the Hartland Windsor town line. He was born Dec. 17, 1795 and died Nov. 28, 1872. Buried in the Old South Cemetery in Windsor Village.      –Howland Atwood.

Letter March 26 1823 from James B. Sumner (brother of David of Hartland) Dalton, N.H. to Nathanial Page (Hartland) “We are in great want of good settlers. If you see Luther Damon tell him I had expected he would have been up here before this . We want a real Teamster”

Mr. Luther Damon had a beautiful farm on the opposite side of the town near Windsor. He made many trips to Boston with produce, and the garden kept by Mrs. Damon and her descendants is one of the loveliest of it’s kind.    –Nancy Darling

On Jan 11, 1845 Mr. Leonard H. Hamilton of New York City wrote to Luther Damon, Esq. ” I was very glad to hear a good account of my stock I do not care how much they eat as long as they do not waste. “     –Nancy Darling

I hope you agree that these little peeps into lives lived so long ago serve to broaden and enrich our lives today.                                                   C.Y.M.

Reprinted from the December 2006 Hartland Historical Society Newsletter

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Naming of the Brook, poem by Daniel Cady, 1929

NAMING OF THE BROOK
” Good evening, Sister Brook, yon island is your care,
But I prefer your banks, I’ll build my mansion there;
I guess we’ll get along, if both of us play fair.

“This lady is my wife and these my children four;
They’re all I have just now although I’ve asked for more;
I hope they’ll all grow up to sail a boat like Noah.

“Miss Brook, you have no name? That’s stingy, I declare!!
I’ll give you part of mine, I have a piece to spare;
There’s no grand reeve to mind’ no constable to care.

“Wife, fetch that bottle here, that old junk jug of glass,
I want Miss Brook to be no nameless sort of lass’
But on the other hand, first water and first class.

“I ask the wilderness to listen now and look;
“Bottle, I break your head with this my boating hook;
Miss Brook, from this hour forth your name is mine-Lull Brook ”

 

Poem by Daniel Cady written in 1929

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Hartland’s Family of Flowers

There is an intersection in Hartland of the roads Weed and Flower. Now this is a bit different than Maple and Oak as there really were families with the surname of Weed and of Flower. It is the Flower family that we plan to visit today.

“The Flowers came from Hartford, Conn. at the early settlement of the town, in exactly what year is not known. They made their first pitch on what was afterward the Parson Breck farm. (This house is gone but was on the Center of Town Road), subsequently exchanging with someone who desired “improved” land, for the land now (published in 1914) occupied by W.E. Davis .  (This house is standing on the left side of Rte 12 as you head west).

Elisha Flower was in Captain Benjamin Wait’s Windsor company of rangers. He was the first settler and built the large two-story house now the home of W.E.Davis.

William Flower, a cousin of Elisha, served in the Revolutionary War as a
Captain’s waiter. He never was regularly enlisted but it is said that Judge Elihu Luce was on the point of securing a pension for him when he died.” ( From “Hartland in the Revolutionary War – with Associated History, written by Dennis Flower and printed on the Solitarian Press ,Hartland, Vermont on December 2, 1914 – price 50c)

“Elisha Flower – Rev. War soldier died in 1812 at the age of 55. His daughter,
Elizabeth was 3 when she died in 1796.

“Rest here sweet child among the dust
Til Christ shall come and raise the just”

Susanna Flower who was 30 when she dies gets this, less than comforting epitaph:

“A heap of dust alone remains of thee’
Tis all thou art and proud shall be”

I find that one of the best ways to get a feel for a person and the times through reading news clips. These are the real stuff, the every day coming and and so I would like to share a few that appeared in our local newspapers. They give you a feel for this ordinary and at the same time, extraordinary family.

1901″ D. Flower and W.E. Jenne built a chimney for J.H. Emerson at the Three Corners Saturday.”

“Florence Flower, who has been working at Dr. Harlows in Windsor since the New Years, is at home with her mother.”

“The Y.P.C.U. will be held next Sunday evening by Lucy M. Flower. This being Prison Sunday, the topic for discussion is “The Social Ideal”

“Mrs. Nellie Flower, one of many who in 1899 were “The committee from the Universalist Society to take entire charge of the food supplies and management of the tables for Memorial Day at the Town Hall ” [This would be the large white building on the left after crossing the intersection in 4 Corners, heading west.]

“Miss Viola Flower of Vershire is visiting her mother, Mrs Nellie Flower.”

1906 “Revs Howard and Don Flower have gone to Indiana and Illinois”
“Frank Miller and Ahira Flower are in Lexington, Mass.”

“Our masons, D.Flower and W.E.Jenne, their helpers and assistants, have commenced their spring journeyings to Windsor and Cornish, N.H.. They go and return each day, but have found “Jordon a hard road to travel.”

“Hartlands Revolutionary Soldiers, Dennis Flower and J.F. Colston
recently revisited Hartland’s cemeteries to get the names and dates of the death of the soldiers of the Revolutionary War. The following list was secured.” [From this came Dennis’s publication . What a huge contribution this was to the history of Hartland.]

1900 “Don M. Flower, who during the vacation weeks of St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y. has been preaching successfully in that state, is home with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. D (Dennis) Flower. He returns in a couple of weeks to the University.”

“Don M. Flower, accompanied by his brother Howard, returned to St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y.”

1900 “The brothers, Don M. and Howard J. Flower, reached here by way of White River Jct. Sunday from Canton, N.Y. to attend their sister’s funeral Monday.” [This would be Lucy who died at the young age of 25.]

“D.Flower, who was at work on a sugar arch at Old Watson’s last week Thursday, on going to the barn for his team was met by Mr. Watson’s dog, who decidedly objected to his taking it, giving him a severe bite in the calf of the leg. Dr. Morris, whose heroic treatment in such cases is well known, cauterized the wound, and it is doing as well as is possible. The incident created quite a discussion here, it is said, as to which is the best meat for dogs, mutton or veal. Mr. Marcy, who owns a fine cosset, would rather have a dog bite him than his sheep. “Dan” however, thinks he would rather supply them with mutton, especially if the veal has to be furnished from the calf of his own leg. The opinions of Messrs. Williams and Bagley, who have recently paid a fabulous sum for mutton for their dogs, haven’t been secured at this writing.”

Speaking of dogs, this is from Analdo and Ernest English, written by Howland Atwood.

Ahira Flower and John Barrell were great cronies – also great fox hunters. They had been hunting somewhere and their jug was empty. They came home late at night and having a thirst got Murphy or Durphy ( who lived with them) out to come down to the 4 Corners and get the jugs filled up at the hotel. There was some grumbling from the hotel people at being disturbed at such an hour but he got his 2 jugs filled and headed back up the turnpike. He got up to where there were 2 or 3 trees standing on a hillock near the road and something in one of the trees jumped back and forth and screamed and scared him terribly, but he didn’t drop the jugs and ran home as fast as he could. Flower and Barrell got the dogs and came back and the thing jumped out into the meadow and the dogs took after it. One dog never came back and the other was pretty chewed up.

 

                          Across Rte. 12 from the Ladies Aid building is the Flowers brick cape.

Perhaps the most colorful member of the Flower family would be Howard. I am quoting from “ In Sight of Ye Great River”.

The Flower family was eccentric. J. Howard, the patriarch, wore sandals, his hair and beard hanging long and white over a flowing red tie. He prohibited the family from cutting their hair, even the boys wore it long, which caused consternation when the boys had to travel outside Hartland. On the kitchen wall a poem exclaimed:

The men on this mundane sod
That hack the hair all off the head
And call it pretty ‘Oh my God’

The Flowers were vegetarians. The eight boys and girls were educated at home until the 5th grade. Fellow children in the village always had to wait until he had read to the children in the evening before they could come out to play.

J. Howard made his living as a poet. He sold his poems and journals door to door. He operated a foot-press, which was hand fed and published “The Free Soul: A Pioneer of Personal Liberation and Eternal Youth, Printed in Our Corner of the Universe at Erratic Intervals of Eternity”  —The Flowers were Democrats. — When Cleveland won the Presidency of the Union in 1892, the Flowers fired crackers, sang campaign songs and marched along a few village streets. At that time Hartland as a whole was as Republican as the state of Vermont. However, the Four Corners was a little pocket of Democratic activity.”

The children were all highly intelligent, highly educated and went beyond Four Corners to make their marks in the world.

A Poem by J. Howard Flower


ASCUTNEY over vales that shut
Looks down a few miles yonder;
At east, the blue Connecticut
Draws down Lull Brook to wander
And wind, fulfilled by crystal rills,
Thru Hartland shrined among the hills.Above our heads a high blue dome
Bends round our hills from Heaven;
From wooded banks about our home
We hear at moonlit even
A vesper plaint of whippoorwills
At summer Hartland shrined in hills.
When whetstone, scythe, and mower clink
Thru open doors of morning’
The matin of the Bobolink
Hails dandelions adorning
The meadows of the morn and trills
At summer Hartland shrined in hills.

Midst Christmas snows, tho mercury goes
Below to ten or twenty,
Still in our households summer glows;
And homelike hearts wish plenty
Of cheer and all the good you want
From winter Hartland in Vermont.

 

Reprinted from the June 2007 Hartland Historical Society Newsletter.

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Maple Parfait

Maple season is here. Give this a try. I made a bowl full and have found it to be especially good when more maple syrup is poured over it and some nuts are sprinkled on top.


Della M. Dunsmoor Merritt (1883-1982) was Henry Merritt’s mother. This recipe was found in an autograph book. The owner of the book and the date are unknown but the owner chose to have her friends write recipes instead of the usual poem or other sentiment.

In case you have difficulty reading the original:

Maple Parfait

4 eggs
1 cup maple syrup
1 pint sweet cream
Beat eggs slightly. Pour on slowly the hot syrup. Cook in double boiler until very thick, stirring constantly.

Strain, cool and add the cream, beaten stiff. Would pack in ice with salt. Let stand 3 hours.                            Della M. D. Merritt

Undated News Clipping

It is safe to say that our western friends, who for many years have depended on this town for their maple sugar, will look in vain for it this year. A large number of the maple orchards have been ruined by the forest caterpillars, and been cut into stove wood. Farmers, who have had in years gone by from one to two tons of sugar, or its equivalent in syrup, for New England and western friends, will have little, if any, for their own use. More than this, the season for sugar making is getting late, and still the snow’s reported from 3 to 4 feet deep in the woods. We doubt very much if there will be honest syrup made to run the usual number of church socials. The truth is, sugar-making has become a lost art, where, a few years ago, it furnished our farmers with a source of no inconsiderable income.

Reprinted from the March 2007 Hartland Historical Society Newsletter

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Bine the Blacksmith

“The poem about Bine referred to a blacksmith named Bine Spaulding, who lived and had a shop where the first house in Martinsville now stands. [The brick house on the corner is the old Lamb school. The next house is newer and the one referred to here is the next, red house, right next to Lull Brook where Ruth and Roger Flanagan lived for so many years. C.Y.M.]. He and his wife occupied an upper room reached by a ladder, and when he came home in a rather unsteady condition she would say sternly, “Right up the ladder, Mr. Spaulding”.  Enjoy!

Did you know about Bine, with the speckled dog?
Used to lead him by the for’ard paw;
Was a portly man with a baldish head,
And the bluest eye you ever saw.

Way under the hill he had a shop,
With a trip hammer and it’s paddle wheel,
And its whack, whack, whack, and the stooping smith-
I can see him yet; I can hear it still.

He came to the village every night.
There were kindred spirits always there.
The journey up was a tiresome walk;
The going back was another affair.

One night we sat around the fire;
The smaller ones were snug in bed;
Aunt Rosaline rushed in through the door,
And”Bine’s in the brook ” was all she said.

My! What a rumpus was abroad!
Sure, in the brook was where we found him,
Straight as a gun rod sitting up,
With the rushing waters all around him.

“The water’s risin’! Lower a rope!”
That was the cry, more agonizing
With every breath of the summer air.
“Lower a rope! The water’s risin’”

The action of that pretty brook
Took out the sand beneath his quarter,
And every wave that kissed his side
Left him a-struggling in the water.

Next morning in that little shop-
Since many years the grasses cover-
The anvil rang, the bellows breathed,
The mill-wheel flew; The farce was over.

Wilbur Sturtevant

Reprinted from the March 2007 Hartland Historical Society Newsletter.

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Byron P. Ruggles (1838 – 1917)

Remember the last newsletter when we visited Snail Swamp and learned about the muck found there? Of course, muck would be a wonderful compost and Mr. Ruggles, whom I consider to be a genius , mixed it with manure to reduce the acidity, spreading it to bring back his poor farmland. Here is an excerpt from Farm Journal Dec. 1896.

” I bought my farm in the fall and had the next winter to get together my tools and stock; all of which I bought cheap at auctions. The tools were second – hand , of course, some of them requiring repairs that I made myself. I bought an old wagon that I repaired so that it lasted until I was better able to buy a new one. I borrowed a cultivator two years, then bought a set of teeth and made the rest of it. I hired a mowing machine four seasons, then I bought one , that with good care, has run twenty one seasons, and does good work yet, and so of all my farming tools, I got along at first with the least possible expense and turned the greatest amount of money I could toward paying for the farm. I began with one horse that did all of my team work except plowing and mowing when I hired another horse of a neighbor.”

 

This is a Byron Ruggles “trick photo” showing Mr. Ruggles doing 2 jobs at one time.

” I was decided on being a dairy farmer and bent all my energy in that direction. My plan was to keep the best of cows, that they should have plenty of good feed and good care, that I would make the best of butter, if possible, and get as high a price for it as I could , and all other branches of my farming should be subordinate.

I began with three cows for the farm had less than one hundred acres, and was so run down it would not well keep more. I hired the use of thoroughbred Jersey bulls, raised my heifer calves, named them, made pets of them, kept them pets as cows, and always call them by their names. In a few years I had some first rate high grade Jersey cows. I mowed weeds in the pasture so as to have more and better feed there. I set water tubs there so the cows would have better water to drink than the stagnant puddles that the springs really were . . .

I dug muck in the driest part of the summer from a swamp in the sheep pasture and drew it in the winter to the amount of two or three cords a year to mix with manure and have found the mixture equal to all manure. A pond formed in the swamp where I had dug muck and I found it a convenient place to get ice in the winter for my ice house; some of my neighbors saw the advantage of getting their ice there. I sawed out ice for them, more and more as the pond grew larger from digging muck. I have sawed as many as forty four cords of ice there in one winter, at seventy cents a cord.”

Reprinted from the Hartland Historical Society Newsletter, Spring 2005.

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Town Meeting from The Hartland News, March 15, 1955 issue

There were about 185 voters at Town Meeting. A tax rate of $7. 92 was approved, the town manager system was retained, the Australian ballot lost by one vote, and the meeting adjourned around 4:30!!

The meeting started right off with a bang with the election of Moderator. Ogden having been nominated for the office, turned the meeting over to Town Clerk Rogers. There were no further nominations. Woodruff, however asked for the floor and set out to show that Ogden was a poor man for the job. To prove his point he recited a list of incidents from Ogdens school days, such as the fact that he flunked out of college, only won second prize in a declamation contest, once interviewed Norman Thomas, etc. After 5 minutes of this, Moderator pro tem Rogers, with the support of the Selectmen ruled Woodruff out of order with the comment that his charges were of no consequence; that, if he did not care for a certain candidate, all he had to do was vote against him. This stand was hailed by vociferous cheering and clapping and Woodruff resumed his seat. Ogden was then elected unanimously to serve as Moderator.

The Town Report was accepted with very little discussion. Woodruff criticized the Officers for not including , in full the report of the State Auditors. The Selectmen explained they did not think it worth the expense and that the report was in the Clerks office for anyone to read that might want to. The Town Manager system was discussed next. James asked for an opinion from the Selectmen concerning the system. Ginter replied that there are only three problems in Hartland: Roads, Schools and Taxes; that the School Directors attend to the Schools, the Selectmen have charge of the Taxes and that leaves only the Roads ( and the Poor) for any Town manager to contend with. He stated
that the cost figures in the Hartland News , while not absolutely accurate were basic that the Managers salary comes only partly from the road money. In general he stated that the Selectmen did not recommend the system for Hartland. Woodruff gave a speech in favor of the system. In reply to Mrs Alfonse, Blaisdell presented figures to show that the salaries for the old system during its last full year were:

Road Commissioner        $3,216
Overseer of the Poor        315
Selectman – bookkeeper       25
                   ------------
                        $3,556

Town Manager salary for the current year was $3,600 , leaving a difference of only $44. The question was settled by ballot, 110 in favor, 50 against. Later in the meeting, Blaisdell received a unanimous vote of confidence.

Town Meetings are known for providing good entertainment, whether that is the intent or not. As for Mr. Ogden, he was certainly qualified for the job, and served for many years as a State Senator. Like Mr. Ruggles, he was a man of many opinions. We’ll visit him more some other time.

Reprinted from the Hartland Historical Society Newsletter, Spring 2005.

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Spring days gone by. What were people doing?

Lyndon Shedd March 5, 1904
16 below at village- rehearsal at Kellys paid music 25 ” [Mr. Shedd ran a singing school at what is now the Flower Farm]

Sebastian Cabot Jenne [Clyde’s great grandfather] April 2,3,and 4 1856
I worked on wood A.M. P.M. I went to the sugar place taped 20 trees. I went to the sugar place. Started a fire. I went to the sugar place with oxen broke carried the tubs around saved a little ware.

Mildred Varney [I do love Mildred!] April 1, 1911
I got up about 7 o’clock. I went down and helped Mrs. Backus [This is Mr. Shedd’s daughter, also a musician] and took my music lesson. Had an extraordinary one. I made some little pies for myself. May Fallon came in. She and I went to the L.A. [Ladies Aid] meeting. I rode home with Nora Plumley [Leon Royce and Ginny Dow’s mother]. She and I went down by Martinsville. There were four members present and Miss Nelson [a Hartland teacher for many years] and Miss Sturtevant [Ruth Flanagan’s aunt] was with us today and Mrs. Rogers . I have been “April Fooling” people and got “April Fooled” myself. I got a postal from Allen Rice and a letter and a postal from Flora Blanchard. I have been in Laura”s. She has been in here. Papa had some fish come this morning [Alfred Varney had a fish route]. I have been over to Mrs. Rich’s this evening. I got a library book, Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed. It is nice and interesting… Not a very good day, snowed some and cold.

Reprinted from the Hartland Historical Society Newsletter, Spring 2005.

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Hartland: June 1877

Two women, each with a young child and a man by the name of Shattuck, ran away from the town farm last week.

An eagle, measuring four feet and three inches from tip to tip of wings, was shot by a man in the employ of Cyrus Ayer, last week. The nest was found, which contained besides three young eagles, two squirrels, two chickens and a young woodchuck.

The Universalist society at the Four Corners seems to be in a flourishing condition. Good audiences greet the new preacher from Sunday to Sunday, and the probabilities are that preaching will be sustained through the year. There are fifty scholars in the Sunday school.

Reprinted from the Hartland Historical Society Newsletter, Spring 2005.