Waterford's Civil War Soldiers' Record

I am posting all the pages here (scanned with help from Dave Kanell; thank you!). If you compare the names here against the cemeteries, there may be some discrepancies. Anyone interested in doing the full list, from these images plus the cemetery posts I've placed here earlier?

REMINDER: Next Waterford Historical meeting is on Wed. Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. at the Davies Memorial Library.

Quarrying Slate in Waterford

Llechwedd Slate Mine, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales

If you live on Slate Ledge Road in Waterford, or have driven past it, or studied the old town maps, you already may know: There was a slate quarry here. Slate is one of the three "state rocks" of Vermont (the other two are granite and marble), and when the legislature declared that status in 1991, it also spelled this out:

Slate
Metamorphic rock found in southwestern Vermont. It is formed by the compaction and heating of clay, silt or mud. Vermont slate varies in color from red, green, black and purple. Because it splits into thin slabs, slate is used for roofing shingles, sidewalks and floor tiles.

Slate: Three ranges of roofing slate:

1. Eastern, clay slate near Connecticut river, from Massachusetts line to Essex county; found in Guilford, Windham county; Thetford, Orange county; Waterford, Caledonia county; and other localities and small quarries.
2. Middle range of clay slate extends from Memphremagog lake to Barnard slate quarries in Northfield, Montpelier, and elsewhere of uniform shade and black.
3. Western Vermont slate quarried largely in Castleton; also in Fairhaven, Poultney, Wells, and Pawlet, Rutland county; generally of a dark purple color, with occasional blotches of green; very compact and fissile. Large quarries near West Castleton, Hydeville, Scotch hill, and Fairhaven.

From Office of the Secretary of State, Vermont Legislative Directory and State Manual, Biennial Session, 1993–1994, p. 23.

 In 1958 the Vermont Geological Survey under Charles G. Doll issued a report by John H. Eric and John G. Dennis called "Geology of the Concord–Waterford Area, Vermont." On page 62 of the report, Eric and Dennis say, "Waterford Slate" (Richardson, 1906) was quarried on the southeast slope of Fairbanks Mountain, at the locality marked on Plate 1. This operation ceased about the time of the Civil War." (The C. H. Richardson 1906 report cited here is "The Areal and Economic Geology of Northeastern Vermont.")

Shortening up the language, what we probably get from this is: Around the same time when Waterford's population changed during the Civil War, with so many young men leaving to fight for the Union, activity at the slate mine dried up. Whether this was from the lack of working men or from changes in how people roofed their homes isn't clear. Or, I suppose, the quarry could have run short of easily mined, good-quality slate. However, that seems unlikely, since any casual drive along the nearby interstate today reveals pockets of slate cleaving off the rock walls.

It interests me that the minerals likely to be found in slate-quarry regions are biotite, garnet, staurolite, and pyrite. I recall gathering these, as a child, at a former mine site in northwestern New Jersey.

In nearby Littleton, NH, the American Slate Company spent about $70,000 to open a quarry, as described in Child's Gazetteer of Grafton County (1886). Child's Gazetteer describes the quarry and its slate deposit as "equal to the Welch" -- and the "ch" at the end is not a typing error. In this region, today's term "Welsh" (as in, someone or something from Wales) was pronounced with a -ch ending, and it makes sense that it was also spelled that way. (I learned this from Miss Karlene Exley, late of West Barnet, VT.) 

Because Welshmen were known to be the best miners of slate, I checked a few reports on Welsh immigration to the United States; there was a wave of Welsh immigrants in the 1830s during the industrial revolution; many of the immigrants were highly skilled. There's a documented pocket of Welsh immigration in central Maine, but I don't see documentation for Vermont.

Which Waterford families have ancestors who came from Wales? Was the town's slate quarry opened or operated by people from Wales? Which homes or barns in town have slate roofs? And why, indeed, did the quarry close? These are all active questions. If you have ideas, suggestions, or information, please add them here, using the "Comment" button, or e-mail Beth (BethPoet@gmail.com).

The Seven Waterford District Schools

As of 1933, according to Stella R. Powers's chapter in A Vermont Village, there were seven schools in Waterford. What were they called, where were (are) they located, and who remembers attending or teaching school in these?

Watch for more information here, as the Waterford Historical group tackles recording as much information as possible over the next four months!

WANTED: Your Information On ...

1. Submit Adams (see earlier posting).

2. People in town who attended or taught at the seven district schoolhouses (not all of which were "one room").

3. Letters received from Robert E. (Bob) Pike, for his daughter Helen to read, as she compiles the story of his life from the letters she already has -- most of which are TO Mr. Pike.

4. Town roads that have changed location, name, etc., for a project of interest to both the Waterford History group and the Selectmen.

George Porter Ela of Lisbon NH, who would marry Frances Harriet Rowell of Waterford VT.

Leave a note here on the blog, or contact Matt Lewis at mlewisnek@yahoo.com, or come "visit" with the history buffs on Town Meeting Day.

James and Submit Adams: Early Settlers of Waterford

James Adams was one of the earliest Waterford settlers (by which I mean, people of European descent who came to establish permanent homes in the town). Dr. C. E. Harris's town history, A Vermont Village, gives Adams credit for being on hand as early as 1783.

The replaced stone for James's wife Submit is shown here, at the Adams-Babcock Cemetery on East Village Road (in a gentler season). According to Vermont author Alan Boye, as reported in his Vermont Public Radio commentary captured in the book Vermont Air, Submit Adams was of Abenaki heritage.

What evidence is there for Mrs. Adams' background and life? Details would be much appreciated!

UPDATE, Dec. 4, 2020: Submit Adams was NOT of Abenaki heritage. I will provide a detailed history of her background in a separate post.

Snow Season: Good for Visiting the Adams-Babcock Cemetery

It's challenging to reach this small old cemetery -- probably the earliest in town -- and we thank the Waterford road crew for rescuing the access bridge that was buried in stones and stumps after the April 29 washout, reestablishing it late this autumn. But there are tree trunks across the old path, and the blackberries have grown thick. So it's actually easiest to reach with some snow on the ground, and sturdy boots or snowshoes.

Today I crossed a well-marked deer trail on the way up the bank to the cemetery. There's definitely a good-sized buck among the group that walks through here.

The cemetery record was written up by Eugenia Powers in 1980 and re-verified in 2008; here's the introduction to its RootsWeb page:

       This cemetery is in the woods, north of a pasture, in what was once an orchard.  The ground is covered with ground-myrtle with very little grass.  It is on the Lot drawn by James Adams as part of his proprietor's Right which probably became son, Charles Adams' farm.
          It has been called variously, Adams Cem, Babcock Cem, The Settlers' Cem; and when its overgrown condition was "put right" in the Bi-centennial year, Helen Knight dubbed it "the Myrtle Cemetery" because of the quantities of ground myrtle in it, a name which has stuck with us locals; although the "official" sign now by the road reads, "Adams-Babcock Cemetery".
          It had pretty much been forgotten until the Bi-centennial year when a group of men from the Waterford and East St Johnsbury Churches cleared it out, cutting brush and putting up a snow-fence provided by the town.  It has a stone wall on the southeast & southwest sides.
          The entrance is from a path with a sign reading, "Adams-Babcock Cemetery" on the right side of East Village Road going uphill, 0.7 mi from the bridge off US Rte 2 in East St Johnsbury Village (bear right after the bridge), 100 yards before the right-turn onto Walsh Rd. Path is down from the side of the road, across the brook on a plank bridge, and up a short, steep bank to an opening in the fence.
          If your knees cannot handle steep, slippery paths; there was an entrance from the pasture on the east corner (as a long ago discontinued road once passed this way).  It is a longer walk; but, it is level walking.  To reach this entrance, stop at Mrs. Fissette's (just south of the turn onto Walsh Rd) and get directions and permission to cross her land.

I also found a note indicating that Submit and James Adams were the first settlers in St. Johnsbury but moved across the line into (what would later be called) Waterford in 1791. 

The extraordinary gravestone on Submit Adams's site is NOT the original; the reproduction was made after a 1982 tree-fall smashed the original stone.

I have a lot more information on the people interred here, but I'll save that for another day. For those of you who use FindAGrave, please note that the material there is the same material that Mrs. Powers wrote.

Correlation of 1932 Topo Map with Beers Map of Waterford Village

Identification of buildings and features shown on the 1932 USGS topographical map with Beers 1875 map of Waterford Village.