March 25 Meeting: CANCELED for Community Health Concerns

Sorry to cancel the in-person gathering. BUT: Material from this presentation will be posted online soon -- keep an eye out!

What does a woman's right to vote mean in Vermont? Rural farm historian Donna Rae Heath reflects on how this right developed over the past century, and what it means to her today.

Bruce Brink and His Horse-Drawn Sleigh Rides, 1985, Waterford

This Caledonian-Record newspaper article from February 2, 1985, by Patricia Viles (married to Perry; see White Birch Farm owners of the past), speaks for itself in terms of the joy of Waterford's winter activities of the past. (Missing words for the bottom of second column: are open, by design. A clos-) The clipped-out article was found during the January 2020 archives work session.

Moving the Hen House, for the Sake of the Shadow Lake Road

During January's Waterford Historical Society archives work, this remarkable document emerged from donated materials. "Town Road #19" is today called Shadow Lake Road; Glenn and Eva Powers are the parents of Willard Powers and Geneva Powers Wright; and the rest is up to you to read!

Interested in more about the Powers family? Here is a family tree showing early settlers and recent descendants, including the connection to Waterford's beloved and influential 20th-century historian Eugenia Powers:

Powers Family Tree

Michael Powers (1727 Ireland-1807) New London CT

mar. Hannah Fox (1728-1793 New London CT)

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Joseph Powers 1760 (CT)-1832 (Lunenburg VT) mar. Susan Barker (1770-1850)

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*Stephen Brunswick Powers (1798-1860, Lunenb.) mar. Almira Johnson

**Russell Powers (1807 b. Lunenb. VT – 1885, Lunenb.) mar. Louise Chase Powers (1816-1892)

+3 more siblings

**Russell Powers (1807 CT – 18855, Lunenb.) mar. Louise Chase Powers (1816-1892)

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Frank Russell Powers (1848-1936, b. Lunenb. VT) mar. (Concord VT) Sarah Ella Gilbert

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Glenn Gilbert Powers (1895-1982) mar. Eva Belle Page (1896-1977)

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Geneva Ella Powers (1919-2018) mar. (1 March 1938) Gilbert Augustus Wright

Theresa Powers (1921-1983) mar. Merton Roberts (1920-2003)

Russell Frank Powers (1924-2009) mar. Patricia Wallace (1926-)

Willard Bates Powers (b. 1925) mar. 1 (19 Dec 1946) Lina Elizabeth Bullock (1927-1986) [Lina Bullock’s parents: Frank Bullock, Lola Kirkpatrick];

                                                mar. 2 (4 Aug 1990) Gwendolyn Janice Sidell

Ellen Pearl Powers (1931-2003) mar. Donald Wark (1928-2011)

[Russell and Patricia’s children: Lois Eileen Powers 1950-1950, Daniel Glenn Powers 1953-2007; also Ronald, Kevin, Judith, Sandra, Sharon]

[Donald Wark’s parents: James Joseph Ira Wark 1906-1982, mar. Elizabeth Schubert (of German descent) 1907-1998]

[Glenn’s brother Roy F. Powers mar. Luvia M. Powers]

*Stephen Brunswick Powers (1798-1860, Lunenb.) mar. Almira Johnson

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Timothy Powers (1827-) mar. 1 Electa Balch (1837) [mar. 2 at age 60 Lizzie D. Hurlbutt]

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Ernest William Powers (1874-1960) mar. Stella Rebekah Church (1873-1959)

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Eulalie Powers (1912-1999)

Eugenia Powers (1913-1985)

Lower Waterford School, 1909: Families of the Village

What could you donate to the Waterford Historical Society that would help describe Waterford a century ago -- or today? This item was found during the January 2020 archives work session (click on the photo to see it clearly):

Bullock, Dodge, Goss, Hale, Hemingway,  Morrison, Ross, Smith, Wright -- most of these are still names you may come across in Lower Waterford families today. This is a colorful "souvenir" of the summer term that ended July 1, 1909, a good reminder that school terms were far different when they needed to allow for agriculture.

Waterford Images from the Archives: 1

Top to bottom:

Ivy, John, and Erin Bean, January 2, 1941.

John Bean with snowplow in Waterford, 1938.

Ervin Bean, Nina Watson, Ivy Bean, John Fitchett, Wesley Fitchett.

Vida Watson.

Top to bottom:

Ervin (2), Ivy (1), John (3) Bean, Nina Watson, Vida Watson with cake, Steve and Wesley Fitchett.

Woods School 1939 or 1940, June: Franconia Notch, N.H., last day of school outing. Front: Audrie Powers, Thelma and Wayne Wright, Les Young, Ellen Powers. Back: Clara Morrison (teacher), Alice and Rolla (Jr.) Wright, Russell and Willard Powers.

Sunday School at Lower Waterford, June 1936, the Beye House (now part of Rabbit Hill Inn) in background.

The Wood Farm. Originally Leon Johnson's uncle had it built. Later Colby, Fitchett, and Earles. Ed Roberts, Ells Wright, Merle Milliken.

Clara Morrison.

Waterford residents at Valley View Farm, Upper Waterford (originally called Highland View Farm): left to right, Leo Williams, Velma's husband XXX Peabody, Leo's wife Bertha, XXX Williams, Louise (?) Williams, Velma's little girl, ?.

Vacation Bible School at Lower Waterford, about 1948.

Annie, Mildred, and Mary Morrison, 1953.

Eva (Page) and Glenn G. Powers, 50th wedding anniversary, March 11, 1969.

Three photos at Davies Memorial Library, Lower Waterford, May 1, 1996: Top, Dorothy (Pease) Morrison entering on her 85th birthday (at left Richard Hurley). Center: Cynthia (Powers) Davis at the refreshment table; far left, Frank and Pauline Hubbard of St Johnsbury, Sandy B. Crepault turning to talk to ?, and Russell Powers standing in background. Bottom: George Bullock presenting plaque to Dorothy Morrison, honoring her faithful services to the Town of Waterford (far right Yolanda Bates, far left Charlotte Blodgett, back right Joanne Jurentkuff town clerk).

Waterford Cemetery Poems: A Fun Way to Learn Our Stories

Photo from Sandy Lyon: "Lower Waterford Cemetery, Samuel and Esther Benton, who originally built the Simpson/Fleming Farm."

If you missed the October 2019 Waterford Historical Society meeting, you can still catch up on the poems presented to go with family histories around town -- as represented by cemetery markers! The poems are on the group's Facebook page (click here). Here's a sample:

POEM (by BK) for the Bentons:

He built his log house at age twenty-four
though Esther longed for something more.
Still tried her best to keep it warm
Even during winter storms.
No inner walls but a blanket hung --
behind it she bore their little son.
Labored to spin enough for pay
to rent a cow, milked every day
to feed the children as they came:
a dozen with the Benton name.
Later the Simpson, then Fleming dairy --
this little homestead, sweet and merry.
As for the Bentons, they aged well,
paid by young Fairbanks (more land to sell)!

Start looking for more interesting markers -- and for the poems. 

Coming soon: an explanation of our January and February "archive Saturdays."

Barns Crammed With History: Digging Into a Waterford Farmyard

Industrial hemp farming at the Gingue Farm.

Waterford's barns stand for large parts of the town's history, but more and more often, their usefulness dwindles with changes in land use and even in the kind of farming being done. For example, the Gingue Farm, in the district where the Hill family resided in Waterford Hollow in the 1800s, has now left behind dairy farming, for the pleasure and adventure of diversified farming -- going well beyond the farm's traditional rows of sweet corn, to industrial hemp and grains for craft brewing.

"The dig" at a historic barn's foundation.

 But some barns carry so much history with them that the owners invest in keeping them standing, even without a farm use at this point. At the September 25 Waterford Historical Society meeting, a very special set of barns will be identified, as two WHS members demonstrate how some gentle digging around the barn foundations can reveal amazing details of daily life from more than a centure in our past.

Join us at the Davies Memorial Library, on Wed. Sept. 25, at 6:30 pm, for this fascinating presentation from Donna Rae Heath and Craig Brown. Free to the public, partially accessible (rest room downstairs), and of course, local refreshments on hand!