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Monday, May 27, 2013

Monument Monday - War Memorial, Manchester, Vermont

War Monument - Manchester, VT

"The Honor Roll Project is an effort to transcribe and photograph military honor rolls.  The transcribed names make the soldiers available for search engines, so that descendants and family members can find them on the internet.  It is a simple, but very rewarding project."

This afternoon I took a ride into town to photograph and transcribe one of the war monuments in town.  Manchester was a gathering spot for soldiers during the American Revolution, especially in the days before the Battle of Bennington. The monument represents this with the figure of a Revolutionary War soldier at the top.  The monument, however, is dedicated to the men of four wars.

Facing the road at the base of the monument is the dedication plaque, stating that the monument was placed in 1905.  Working clockwise around the base are plaques list men who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.  I've transcribed each panel below.


IN
MEMORY
OF
THE MEN
OF
MANCHESTER
WHO SERVED IN THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
WAR OF 1812
MEXICAN WAR
CIVIL WAR
___
ERECTED BY CITIZENS OF MANCHESTER
DEDICATED MAY 30 1905.


REVOLUTIONARY WAR
AMOS ALLEN
DAN. ALLEN
JONATHAN ALLEN
SETH ALLEN
ROBT. ANDERSON
DANL. ARNOLD
REUBEN BAKER
MARTIN BARBER
GIDEON BARBER
ISAAC BARKER
THOS. BARNEY
BENJ. BEERS
LEWIS BEEBE
AICE BECKWITH
WM. BEDELL
NATHAN BEMAN
HAYNES J. BEMAN
WM. BENNET
PETER BLACH
TIMOTHY BLISS
JARED BOORN
NATHANIEL BOORN
ARTHUR BOSTWICK
NATHL. BOSTWICK
THOS. BULL
THOS. BULL JR
ELIJAH BURTON
JOSIAH BURTON
CAL. CHAMBERLAIN
DANL. CHAMPION
CHRIS’R COLLINS
NATHL. COLLINS
ELISHA COOK
JOHN DAGGETT
JOB DEAN
ELIAKIM DEMING
WM. DREW
DUNCAN DUNN
ASA FARRAND
PETER FRENCH
WM. GOULD
SILAS GOODRICH
JESSE GRAVES
THADDEUS HARRIS
BARNABAS HATCH
CORNELIUS HAVENS
JAS. HENNESSEY
SIMEON HINE
ELIJAH HOLLISTER
JOHN HOWARD
BENJ. HUNTLEY
SAML. HULL
JAS. JAMESON
DANL. JONES
DAVID LEE
JAS. LEWIS
ROBT. LOGGAN
BENJ. McINTYRE
JOS. McINTYRE
RICH’D McINTYRE
ISAAC MARKS
AARON MASON
JACOB MEAD
PHILIP MEAD
TRUMAN MEAD
RUFUS MUNSON
THADDEUS MUNSON
JONATHAN ORMSBY
GIDEON ORMSBY
DANL. ORMSBY
GEORGE OLDS
JACOB ODELL
JOHN PAGE
TIMOTHY PEARL
STEPHEN PEARL
ABEL PETTIBONE
SAML. PETTIBONE
SETH PETTIBONE
PETER PIXLEY
FELIX POWELL
MARTIN POWELL
TRUMAN POWELL
BENJ. PURDY
REUBEN PURDY
DANL. PURDY
DAVID PURDY
PHILIP REYNOLDS
AMOS RICHARDSON
ANDREW RICHARDSON
NATHAN RICHARDSON
BENJ. ROBERTS
CHRIS’R ROBERTS
JOHN ROBERTS
JOHN ROBERS JR
JOEL ROSE
JESSE SAWYER
AARON SEXTON
GEORGE SEXTON
JONATHAN SEXTON
DANL. SHAW
JOSIAH SHELDON
GEORGE SMITH
JOHN SMITH
NATHAN SMITH
STEPHEN SMITH
PELETIAH SOPER
SOLOMON SOPER
MOSES SPERRY
PRENTICE STORES
PELEG SUNDERLAND
WALLACE SUTHERLAND
SAML. SUTHERLAND
TIMOTHY SKINNER
BENJ. VAUGHN
JAS. VAUGHN
JEREMIAH WAIT
SAML. WALKER
AZEL WASHBURN
STEPHN WASHBURN
ISAAC WHELPLEY
JEREMIAH WHELPLEY
JOHN WHITE
ENOCH WOODBRIDGE


WAR OF 1812
ROBERT ANDERSON
ALVAH BISHOP
JOHN BLACK
ELIJAH BURTON
JOSEPH BURTON
LEMUEL COLLINS
BENJAMIN DIBBLE
GURDON EATON
SAMUEL FOLSOM
ABRAM C. FOWLER
DAVID GLAZIER
JOHN HARRIS
APOLLOS HARVEY
JABEZ HAWLEY
TRUMAN HILL
SERENUS KILBURN
TRUMAN KIMPTON
ELIJAH LITTLEFIELD
MATHEW LOGAN
BENJAMIN MUNSON
JEREMIAH ODELL
DANIEL OLDS
JOHN R. PETTIBONE
JOHN S. PETTIBONE
DAVID REYNOLDS
JOHN W. ROBINSON
JOHN H. RULE
LEONARD SARGEANT
SIALS SMITH
BURTON STRAIGHT
NATHAN THOMPSON
SAMUEL THOMPSON
JOHN C. WALKER
THOMAS WAIT
ELIPHALET WELLS
JAMES WHELPLEY
SAMUEL R. WHIDDEN
MEXICAN WAR
NICHOLS BARNARD
PIERREPONT RAYMOND
BENJAMIN S. ROBERTS



CIVIL WAR
W.H. AXTELL
R.E. BALDWIN
J.E. BATCHELDER
JED BELL
D.W. BENNETT
H.T. BENNETT
S. BENNETT
W.K. BENNETT
TRUMAN BENTLEY
W.A. BLACK
COLLINS BLACKMER
J.C. BLACKMER
A.B. BOYNTON
CHAS. BROWN
HENRY BROWN
W.G. BROWN
C.A. BUNDY
NELSON BURNHAM
S.E. BURNHAM
C. BURLINGAME
I.M. BURTON
C..J. BURTON
EDW. CAMPBELL
W.S. CHAPIN
C.W. CHAPMAN
BRENTON CHELLIS
H.C. CLAYTON
G.H. COBURN
S.H. COBURN
F.O. CONNOR
E.W. COOK
F.W. COOK
E.M. CUMMINGS
HENRY CUMMINGS
H.P. CUMMINGS
S.A. CUMMINGS
WM. CUMMINGS
W.H. H. CUMMINGS
H.C. DAWSON
JOS. DEMARS
G.H. DICKINSON
C.P. DUDLEY
D.H.DYER
FAYETTE DYER
T.B. EATON
D.W. EDDY
MARK FARNSWORTH
D.O. FELT
GEO. FLEMING
JEROME GLEASON
MYRON GLEASON.
S. GLEASON
R.C. GRAY
JOS. GRENIER
J.H. HALEY
M. HANLON
C.M. HARD
M.D. HASKINS
L.H. HEMENWAY
JAS. HICKS
C.H. HILL
MYRON JAMESON
SMITH JAMESON
MORT KEARSE
TOM KEARSE
A..J. KILBURN
S. KILBURN
J.U. LEONARD
ALBERT McCOY
CHAS. MEARS
J.B. MUNSON
S.L. NORCROSS
ELIJAH PHILLIPS
GEO. PHILLIPS
CHAS. A. PIERCE
E.W. PIERCE
C.H. POND
HARRISON PRINDLE
CALVIN REED
DEAN REED
JOHN REED
V. REAULO
JOHN REYNOLDS
T. REYNOLDS
C.H. RIDOUT
B.K. ROBERTS
RICH ROBERTS
S.H. SEAVER
G.H. SESSIONS
G.W. SESSIONS, JR.
C.G. SHELDON
D.K. SIMONDS
RICHARD SKINNER
FRANK SMITH
W.H. SMITH
A.B. STRAIGHT
G.H. SWIFT
H.W. SYKES
NATH’L TOWSLEY
G.P. UTLEY
M.W. UTLEY
J.M. VANDERLIP
JOHN VAUGHN
C.HH. WALKER
T.M. WAITE
W.W. WARNER
S.H. WESTCOTT
A.A. WHEELER
DAN’L WHEELER
O.O. WHITMAN
H. WHITTON
H. WICHTMAN
N.A. WICHTMAN
W.C. WILSON
C.L. WOODWARD
W.H. WOODWARD
C. WYMAN
C.M. WYMAN
H.A. WYMAN
M.D. WYMAN
M.G. WYMAN
W.M. WYMAN
H.D. YOUNG
O.M. BELL

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Surname Saturday – Davis and the Snow Summers



I realized the other day that I haven’t blogged for a while.  For the past few days, I’ve been trying to think of a topic.  This afternoon, my wife called me from the top of Bromley Mountain in Peru.  “It’s snowing!” she said gleefully.  “The top of the mountain is white!”

Snow?  In May?  Memorial Day weekend?

I was instantly reminded of an event that I learned about in history class in junior-high.  The Year Without a Winter.

In 1816 the weather in Vermont was cold enough during the summer that crops failed and ponds froze over.  It snowed the first week of June, and the end of August saw frost hit, killing even more crops.  The cause of the strange weather was thought to be linked to the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the year before, which spread dust and ash into the air, eventually leading to the lowered temperatures on this side of the world. [1]

What, I wondered, were my ancestors doing during that year?

Solomon Davis and his wife Hannah, who brought the family west from New Hampshire in 1803, would have been raising, along with their other children, their new baby daughter.  Hannah Davis, who shared her mother’s name, was born in May of 1816 in Londonderry, Vermont.  Solomon, his son, grandson, great-grandson, and so on were farmers.  The family remained in Londonderry until my grandfather, Solomon Wesley, passed away in 1996, one-hundred and ninety-three years after the family arrived in town.

I can only imagine what the farmers in 1816 must have been going through, planting crops to feed their families, only to see those crops freeze and die.  Then I was given a reminder of Vermont resilience.  My aunt, as I typed this post, posted a photo on Facebook.  The photo was taken in a town near Londonerry, on May 25th, 1967, or exactly 46 years before today's snow.  The image shows snow-covered fields with snow-covered mountains in the background.  Her comment: “My dad planted potatoes the next day.”

Apparently both the first and last Davis men to live in Londonderry had something in common.


[1] http://www.virtualvermont.com/history/1816.html