Windsor County Court October 6 2015

Jill Michaels, DOB 3/16/46, pleaded not guilty to a charge of her first DUI, in Royalton on September 16

Donovan Lefevre, DOB 6/18/85, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Hartford on September 11

Erich Alberta, DOB 12/13/95, pleaded not guilty to charges of operating a motor vehicle with gross or reckless negligence, and operating to elude, in Norwich on September 8

James Sun, DOB 10/6/68, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Pomfret on September 19

Kathleen Holton, DOB 8/5/72, pleaded not guilty to a 2^nd or subsequent charge of disorderly conduct/disturbing a lawful assembly, in Springfield on July 1. She was also charged with disorderly conduct/noise, and stalking, on August 28

Beatrice Amidon, DOB 4/5/73, pleaded not guilty to a charge of cultivating marijuana, in Weathersfield on August 14

Brian Paul, DOB 11/1/77, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Ludlow on March 28. He was also charge with grand larceny in Ludlow on August 19.

Henry Shaw, DOB 2/28/71, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Hartland on July 27

Christopher White, DOB 6/27/78, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Royalton on Augut 5

Todd McNeill, DOB 9/17/88, pleaded not guilty to a charge of counterfeiting in Springfield on July 2

Windsor County Crime Online:

Jonathan Lazarus, age 38, of Quechee: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/2015/09/police-levy-sex-slavery-charges-against-quechee-man/

Evan Cox, age 29: http://timesargus.com/article/20151031/news01/151039908

Douglas Sargent, age 45, of Springfield:https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=133631763326692&story_fbid=981018835254643

Robert Smart, age 53, of Springfield :http://www.wcax.com/story/30006147/springfield-man-accused-of-holding-womens-head-in-a-bucket-of-bleach

The Faces of Spanish Influenza - Hartford Vermont

The Spanish Influenza was a worldwide epidemic that travelled with the soldiers of World War I in 1918. It killed 500 million people worldwide and at least 500,000 in the United States. Families in the Upper Valley lost loved ones to the Spanish Flu, but not on the huge scale experienced in other places. Most sources state that influenza hit the state of Vermont harder than the state of New Hampshire, but scientists and historians are at a loss to explain why. Possibly more Vermonters were serving in Fort Devens, and as they got sick, they went home so that their families could take care of them, bringing the illness with them.

On September 25^th, the epidemic started in Hartford when Clarence Jones, a laborer, died at age 30. Clarence was a married laborer. His wife's name was Clara and it does not appear that he had any children. Avon Lincoln, of Wilder, died of influenza at Fort Devens and arrived home in a coffin, on September 27. A few weeks later, his brother Harold also died of influenza. They were the only children of Charles and Viola Lincoln, who lived right next to what is now the Wilder Events Center. Through September and October of 1918, people in Hartford continued to die of influenza.

Pearl Dunn died next. He lived on Maple Street, with his wife Leslie. Pearl and Leslie were newlyweds, and Pearl was a postal clerk.

Lela May Green Hunt died on September 28^th. Lela was born in Canada and was married to George Hunt. They moved to Rochester where they raised their family of 7 children on their farm. In 1900, the census shows George as the head of the household in Rochester, but in 1910, Lela was the head of the household, farming with the children in Rochester. George does not appear in the census in 1910. Since Lela died in Hartford in 1918, and in 1920, George appears in the Hartford census as a bridge builder for the railroad, I am assuming that the Hunts decided that they would have a better life if they got out of farming, left Rochester, and George moved to Hartford to work building bridges for the railroad. In 1910, Lela was probably waiting for the property to sell in Rochester while George was already working at his new job in Hartford. This follows the pattern of many families who abandoned their worn out farms in the hill towns and got jobs working for factories or the railroad. The Hunts lived in the Forest Hill section of Hartford, in a house that they rented. Lela was 49 years old when she died. Two of her children were grown up when she died, and her son George was 18,leaving   five children still at home. George died four years later.             George and Lela Hunt

 Many of the children stayed in Hartford as adults. Sarah and Walter

lived very near each other in the Forest Hill neighborhood.

Julia Corkery was a cook. She was 58 years old when she died. She spent most of her life in Marlboro, Massachusetts, and probably cooked for the hotel or a restaurant in the center of town near the railroad. Both of her parents were born in Ireland, but she was born in Marlboro. In the 1900's, White River Junction was a bustling place, with trains pulling in and out of the railroad station constantly. Lots of people had jobs in the hotels and restaurants that served both railroad employees and passengers.

Albert Cutting died on October 3^rd. Albert's parents were Sidney and Flora Eaton, who got married in May of 1891, the same month and year Albert was born. Flora was the illegitimate daughter of Albert Lucas and Sarah Green, and she was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1880, Sarah had relocated to Bridgewater, Vermont, and in the census, she is listed as a widowed servant It is typical for a woman with an illegitimate child to move away and invent a dead husband. Later, she married someone named Woodward.

In the meantime, Flora married Sidney Eaton in May of 1891, the same month Albert was born. Flora was 19 years old and Sidney was 26. Albert was named after his paternal grandfather. In the 1900 census, Albert was 9 years old and living in the home of Martin Frank Cutting,in Lebanon, with his mother and younger brother Elmer. Flora was listed as Albert's daughter, and the boys were listed as his grandsons. Flora's parentage had always been a mystery, so it was no stretch for her to move in with Martin Cutting and say he was her father.

Sidney Eaton, Albert's father, was living with his parents, also in Lebanon, and working at his brother's marble company. By the time the census was official, Flora had died, of consumption, and it is reasonable to assume that Mr. Cutting raised the boys to adulthood and Albert took his name. In 1900, when Flora and the boys lived with him, and Flora died, Martin Cutting is listed as a widow. There is another person living there, a boarder, Sarah Woodward, an older woman who was a washerwoman. In 1910, Martin is married (not to Sarah Woodward) and has three different children living with him, siblings. It's reasonable to assume that Martin took in boarders, and that Albert, Elmer, and Flora boarded with him. The question is, who paid him to take in a woman and her two young sons. What part did Sydney play in all this? Albert clearly thought enough of Martin Cutting to take his last name, although his brother did not.

In 1910, 19 year oldAlbert moved to Hartford, Vermont, boarded with the Hill family, and worked for the railroad. Two years later, he married Susie Alice Gilman. They had two children, Burton and Helen, and they lived on Nutt Lane. When Burton was five and Helen was two, Albert died of Spanish influenza. Suzie continued to live in Hartford. She worked in one of the factories, and in 1930 she, too, lived in the Forest Hill neighborhood, in a home that she owned. Burton died in 1982 and Helen died in 1995. By 1919, “the grippe” had pretty much burned itself out. From September 25 of 1918, to January 15 of 1919, 32 people died in Hartford of Spanish Influenza.

Windsor County Court September 29

Andrew Lohman, DOB 8/29/92, pleaded guilty to a charge of violating an abuse prevention order, and violating conditions of relase, in Hartford on July 21. He was also charged with a second or subsequent violation of an abuse prevention order in Hartford on September 4.

David Monaco, DOB 12/25/67, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license. In 2013, he was also charged with operating suspended, and with his 2^nd DUI.

Kenneth Rogers, DOB 5/8/71, pleaded not guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct/fight in Hartford on June 21. In a separate case, he was also charged with giving false information to a police officer in Hartford on July 20

Rene Pellerin, DOB 5/21/80, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while her license was suspended, in Royalton on August 23

Hannah Lafuso, DOB 1/25/90, was also charged with operating a motor vehicle while her license was suspended, in Hartford on August 9

Steven Lapre, DOB 3/8/79, was charged with violating of an abuse prevention order in Springfield on June 9. Lapre was also charged with a 2^nd degree violation of an abuse prevention disorder in Springfield on August 2, with an aggravated disorderly conduct/fight, in Springfield on June 24, and with aggravated disorderly conduct/ threatening on May 17

Justin Lemieux, DOB 1027/82, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Bethel on August 12

Anna Andrews, DOB 5/6/1990, pleaded not guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct/fight, in Springfield on August 5

Kyle Manning-Townsend, DOB 4/14/97, was charged with operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Rochester on August 14

Jeffrey Snyder, DOB 6/21/65, was charged with cultivating marijuana in Andover on August 11

Jennifer Delisle, DOB 5/4/73, was charged with simple assault, in Hartland on August 11

Kyle Stevens, DOB 8/4/89, was charged with violating conditions of release in Springfield on September 15. That condition was that he have on contact with women who have minor daughters. That condition stemmed from a charge of sexual assault without consent, and sexual assault of a victim less than 16 years old. You can read more about these charges here:http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20140404/NEWS02/704049973

Windsor County Crime Online:

Jeremy Fifield, age 29, of Wells River http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/09/press-release-15d102896-possession-of.html

Dennis Dundas, age 66, of Bethel http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150427/THISJUSTIN/150429986

Caleb Clegg, age 30, of Rochester http://www.ourherald.com/news/2015-10-01/Communities/Arrest_5000_Bail_After_Alleged_RFA_Violations.html

http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/09/press-release-violation-of-rfa-4-counts.html

Steven Burris, age 37, of Wilder http://timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150930/NEWS03/709309935?template=printart

Nelson Duncan IV of Royalton: http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/09/press-release-poss-of-stolen-property.html

Christopher Chico, age 27, of Walpole, New Hampshire https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=973876262635567&id=133631763326692

Influenza in Hartford, Vermont

The Spanish Influenza was a worldwide epidemic that travelled with the soldiers of World War I in 1918. It killed 500 million people worldwide and at least 500,000 in the United States. Families in the Upper Valley lost loved ones to the Spanish Flu, but not on the huge scale experienced in other places. Most sources state that influenza hit the state of Vermont harder than the state of New Hampshire, but scientists and historians are at a loss to explain why. Possibly more Vermonters were serving in Fort Devens, and as they got sick and returned home so their families could take care of them, and as they died and their bodies were shipped home for burial, the returning soldiers brought the disease with them.

In Lebanon, people were still dying of influenza well into 1919. Some of the people who died in January and February of 1919 died from pneumonia and meningitis they contracted as a result of having had influenza earlier, including a six year old little girl who died of sepsis from an ear infection she developed after having been sick with influenza. It is unclear whether or not these deaths that occurred as a result of complications from the flu were included in official counts of deaths from influenza.

In terms of actual numbers, the record of vital statistics in Lebanon lists 94 people who died in Lebanon in 1917, 96 in 1918, 106 in 1919 and 98 in 1920. Although these numbers do not indicate a significant increase in deaths, there were 27 deaths from influenza in 1918, which is confusing, since Lebanon's death records do not show a significant increase in overall deaths in 1918. Were there less deaths in Lebanon in 1918 from other causes? Federal officials made it mandatory for town clerks to document every death from influenza. Did the increased workload cause them to neglect to record other deaths? Thinking back to when I looked at the death records in the Lebanon town clerk's office, it did seem that once I saw the first listed influenza death, influenza deaths were listed one after the other, without a scattering of deaths from other causes. Certainly in October of 1918, people were dying of causes other than influenza. They certainly did in the other months of that year.

In Hartford, death records show that 61 people died in 1916 and 60 in 1917. I was struck by how many drownings there were. In 1918, 97 people died in Hartford and in 1919, 74. This was a much more significant uptick in deaths than in either Lebanon or Plainfield. I can say, however, that there were deaths from other causes listed with the influenza deaths. All told, 32 people from Hartford died of influenza, almost all of them in October. While the town clerk in Hartford may have done a better job as far as accuracy goes, many of the entries were close to illegible. I also noticed that many more people died at Mary Hitchcock Hospital than in Lebanon, many of them children, often within hours of being admitted. In my mind, I pictured frantic parents hitching the horse to the wagon, wrapping their child into a blanket, getting into the wagon and traveling from White River to Hanover, taking the last ditch effort of taking their mortally ill child to the hospital. Wicked sad.

Speaking of wicked sad, it was in the Hartford Death Records that I found an instance of a soldier sent home in a casket from Fort Devens after dying from Spanish Influenza. Hartford's first death from the flu was Avon Lincoln, age 26, who died at Fort Devens on September 27, 1918. Hartford was also the first town I researched that had two deaths in the same family. Sadly, very sadly, it was also the Lincoln family, who lost their older son, Harold, on October 13^th. Avon and Harold's parents were Charles and Viola Lincoln, and they lived in Wilder. They lived in the house right next to the

church that is now the Wilder Events Center. The house was built in 1900 and the Charles, Viola and the boys were the first family that ever lived there.

Charles was a steamfitter at the paper mill in Wilder, and Viola was a dressmaker. Avon was 20 when he died. Before he entered the army, he had been a salesman and shipping clerk for Smith and Son. George Smith owned two businesses in town, the Vermont Baking Company and White River Paper. William could have worked for either. The Vermont Baking Company made crackers, and was bought by the Tip Top Bread Company in the 1940's, and still exists on South Main Street as an office building/art gallery. White River Paper still exists in Hatford Village. If I had to guess, I would say that Avon worked for the baking company, because it was closer to Wilder.

Harold was older. He was 27 when he died, married, and a father to three little girls. I can only imagine how much of a comfort it was to Charles and Viola that they had three granddaughters. Viola, as a dressmaker, must have enjoyed making dresses for her granddaughters. Harold's wife's name was Margaret, and she was born in Wales. The girls' names were Marguerite, Eileen Esme, who was called by her middle name, and Evelyn. Evelyn was only a few months old when her father died.

Charles and Viola sold the house two years after their sons died. Viola died two years later, in 1922. Charles lived until 1936.

When I researched Margaret and the girls on Ancestry.com, I expected that they would have moved in with Charles and Viola, but Margaret maintained her own household on Gillette Street in Wilder. In 1920, she lived on Gillette St with the girls, a boarder and his son. In 1930, she lived in Windsor with the girls and a different boarder. After that, she and the girls disappear from the census rolls.

Family trees on Ancestry.com show that Eveyn and Eileen Esme both married and had children. Evelyn eventually moved to Florida and was still living in 1993. She had at least one child. Eileen Esme married a man named Paul Varney. Their wedding was in Hanover. She stayed in the Upper Valley. She lived in Wilder in the 1050's and died in 1974 at age 57. I cannot find Marguerite anywhere, as an adult.

I have been thinking about Avon Lincoln, World War I and the draft. In the early 1900's the United States had a small peacetime army, with the Federal Army numbering around 100,000 and the National Guard at 115,000. When war was declared on Germany in April of 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked for the army to be increased to number at least a million. Wilson and his advisors hoped that enough men would volunteer, but that didn't happen, so Congress resorted to a draft. By the end of the war, 2 million men ended up volunteering and 2.8 million were drafted. There is no way of proving that Avon Lincoln was drafted, but I don 't believe that he volunteered. He was in his mid twenties and had an established job. He wasn't living in a hill town, eking out a living on his father's farm and desperate for a way out.

Although World War I gets much less press than World War II, and the United States was in the first World War for a much shorter time, American losses were considerable in that conflict. Excluding the Civil War, America lost the most soldiers in World War II than in any other war America has been involved in. After World War II, World War I was the next most deadliest war, followed by the Vietnam War. 116,516 soldiers died in World War I, with another 321,000 casualties. In addition to deaths in Europe, 43,000 servicemen died of influenza while they were stateside in military camps, training to join the war overseas.

Windsor County Court September 22

Tisha Coburn, DOB 3/28/88, pleaded not guilty to a charge of simple assault on July 16 in Windsor. In July, she was also charged with unlawful mischief, disorderly conduct/fight and violating conditions of release.

Winona Estey, DOB 5/15/92, pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of heroin and possession of narcotics, in Windsor on August 13

Nocholas Turco, DOB 4/29/79, pleaded not guilty to charges of operating a motor vehicle at excessive speed, eluding a law inforcement officer, reckless and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating a vehicle with a suspended license, violating conditions of release and giving false information to a law enforcement officer, in Ludlow on August 17

Colby Titus, DOB 6/8/99, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana in Woodstock on July 10

Sonya Stone, DOB 2/10/89, pleaded not guilty to a charge of simple assault/mutual affray in Rochester on August 18

Charles Manby, DOB 5/8/94, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana in Sharon on May 29. You can read more about this charge here: http://burlington.suntimes.com/bur-news/7/131/94828/royalton-man-arrested-for-large-pot-possession

Justin Hayes, DOB 5/8/94, pleaded not guilty to a charge of reckless endangerment in Norwich on September 1. You can read more about this charge here: http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/09/press-release-15d303622-domestic.html

Peter Perkins, DOB 8/20/53, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Ludlow on September 6

Nicholas Enright, DOB 5/2/89, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Royalton on September 6

Desiree Cutting, DOB 8/24/81, pleaded not guilty to a charge of petit larceny, May-June in Springfield

Windsor County Court September 15

Seth Chase, DOB 6/21/90, pleaded not guilty to a charge of domestic assault, in Windsor, on February 24

Robert Regan, DOB 1/26/82, pleaded guilty to a charge of giving false information to a law officer, in Springfield on July 8

Steven Gentzel, DOB 9/30/94, pleaded guilty to his third or subsequent violation of underage drinking in Springfield on July 8

Joseph Slack, DOB 9/29/89, pleaded not guilty to two charges of forgery and a charge of false pretenses in Norwich on January 10

Steven Phelps, DOB 12/12/86, pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggressive domestic assault in Hartford on April 28

Charles Wolfenbarger, DOB 11/3/88, pled not guilty a charge of giving false information to a law officer in Springfield on January 12. He also has a pending court case involving a charge of sale or delivery of heroin in February 2014, and several other pending court cases including careless and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, driving with a suspended license, violating conditions of release, and retail theft.

Windsor County Crime Online

Sarah Rose, age 21, of Burlington: http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/09/heroin-arrest.html

Chad Fickert, age 40, of Chester: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150926/THISJUSTIN/709259905

Windsor County Court September 8

Patrick Morse, DOB 10/27/50, pleaded not guilty to 15 charges of medicaid fraud that occurred in Bennington in April of 2013. In 2013, he pleaded not guilty to charges of medicaid fraud that occurred in 2008.

Joshua Porter-Govea, DOB 12/14/95, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a vehicle without owner consent, in Sharon on July 23

Sullivan Mullen, DOB 7/20/95, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in South Royalton on August 22

David Mueller, DOB 8/24/87, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI in Woodstock on August 21

Brenda Rai, DOB 7/29/60, pleaded not guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct/fight, in Ludlow on July 16

Bruce Fleming, DOB 2/16/46, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Weathersfield on August 22

Christian West, DOB 8/15/93, pleaded not guilty to a charges of third degree arson, three charges of unlawful mischief, burglary, and unlawful trespass in Windsor on September 7. You can read more about these charges here: http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20150910/NEWS02/709109885

Michael Dube, DOB 6/18/81, pleaded not guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct in Springfield on September 4. You can read more about these charges here: http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20150916/NEWS02/709169957

Andrew Lohman, DOB 2/29/92, was charged with a violation of an abuse prevention order, on September 4 in Hartford.

Amanda Grasso, DOB 4/7/84, pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful mischief and possession of cocaine. In July, she was also charged with possession of bath salts in Springfield in April. You can read more about her latest charge here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=980243461998847&id=133631763326692

Loretta Cragin DOB 9/5/60, pleaded not guilty to a charge of domestic assault in Hartford on September 6

Windsor County Crime Online:

Robert Smart, age 53, of Springfield: http://www.wcax.com/story/30006147/springfield-man-accused-of-holding-womens-head-in-a-bucket-of-bleach

The Faces of Spanish Influenza in Lebanon

The Spanish Influenza was a worldwide epidemic that travelled with the soldiers of World War I in 1918. It killed 500 million people worldwide and at least 500,000 in the United States. Families in the Upper Valley lost loved ones to the Spanish Flu, but not on the huge scale experienced in other places.

In Lebanon, as in Plainfield, deaths from Spanish Influenza caused a very slight uptick in deaths as documented in the vital statistics. In 1914, 96 people died in 1914, 99 in 1915, 88 in 1916, 94 in 1917, 96 in 1918, 106 in 1919, and 98 in 1920. Similarly to Plainfield, the slight increase in deaths was evident the winter after the flu hit. Nationally, deaths from influenza peaked in mid October of 1918, but in both Plainfield and Lebanon, more people died from complications and lingering ailments caused by the flu, especially pneumonia, in the winter of 1919. Between 1918 and 1919, 27 people died from the Spanish Influenza in Lebanon. Maybe because the deaths were spaced out over two calendar years, the numbers don't seem significant.

Lebanon in 1918 and 1919 is the first town I have researched where I found families that had recently arrived in America. Even the first settlers at Fort Number 4 and Cornish were descendants from families who had been in America for generations. Also for the first time, I encountered people who worked in industry. Study of the death records shows that Lebanon at this time was a town bustling with people from every corner of Europe, who worked at many diverse occupations.

Spanish Influenza hit Lebanon before it hit Plainfield. The first death from Spanish Influenza in Lebanon was Fred Page, who died on September 25^th. He had been ill with influenza for two days and had contracted pneumonia twelve hours before he died. He was a 21 year old mill worker.

Luella Sargent died the next day. She was 65 years old and had only been married to her husband for four years. He was her third husband. Her first two husbands had died. She had one son, Carlos Benton, who managed the Oympic Theatre in White River Junction.

Eliza Lique, age 20, died on September 27. She had been sick with the flu for five days. Eliza's real name was Mary Elizabeth, but she was called Eliza. The Liques were French Canadian Catholics. In the 1900 census, they lived in Rutland and Eliza's father, Joseph, was listed as a carpenter. They are nowhere to be found on the 1910 census, but when she died in 1918, at age 20, Eliza was a weaver in a textile mill in Lebanon. In the rural river valley towns, like Plainfield, or in the hill towns, like Barnard, young women stayed home and worked on the farms and in their parents' households before they were married. If they never married, they were the maiden aunts, staying with their parents as long as they were alive, and then moving into the households of a brother or sister. Unmarried siblings often lived together for their whole lives. In larger towns with industry, however, young women went to work in the mills. After Eliza died, her family moved to Hartford, Vermont, where her father and brother both worked in textile mills. Except for her brother Henry, who drowned when he was a teenager, most of her siblings continued to work in the mills, and died in old age.

Spanish Influenza continued its march through Lebanon, at a death a day. Typically, the disease targeted young people in their teens and early twenties. This seemed to be the case in Lebanon, although not in Plainfield. Robert Bruce, another factory worker, 28 years old, died on September 28.

Robert, his wife Christine, and their three children lived at 21 Green Street. Christine never remarried. After Robert died, Christine and the kids went to live with her parents, who were dairy farmers in Addison, Vermont. They died in the late 1920's, and she must have inherited some money, because in 1930 she lived in her own house, that she owned, in Randolph, Vermont, where she lived with the three children and a boarder. Her son and one of her daughters were both in the military during World War II.

Throughout the country, Spanish Influenza struck all ages and genders, rich and poor, but it seemed to hit young adults especially hard. This was the pattern in Lebanon. Twenty-six people died of influenza in Lebanon between September, 2018, and March, 2019. Of those twenty-six, 20 were between ages 19 and 31. One was in her fifties, two were elderly, and two were children. One of the children was a six year old who died of septis due to an ear infection that she had as a result of influenza.

Influenza in Plainfield

Spanish Influenza was a pandemic that hit the whole world in 1918. Traveling with the troops in World War II, it hit Fort Devens in Massachusetts first, then traveled via transportation hubs throughout the country. The Spanish flu killed 50-100 million people worldwide, At its peak, the week of October 12^th, 393 people died in New Hampshire alone. The statistics are very misleading, because people died of flu related complications, especially pneumonia, after they had technically recovered from the flu. Often those deaths are not counted as flu fatalities.

Spanish Influenza did hit the Upper Valley. As a rule, Vermont is supposed to have been hit harder than New Hampshire. I decided to focus some research on four towns I have not featured yet: Plainfield, Lebanon, Hartford and Norwich.

In Plainfield, there was an uptick of deaths that seemed to be caused by influenza, but it was an uptick only. In a span of 6 years, 1918 actually had the lowest number of deaths from 1914 to 1922. 1919 had the highest number of deaths, but not by a significant amount. In 1915, 20 people died in Plainfield. In 1916, 18 people died; in 1917, 24 people died; in 1918, 14 people died; in 1919, 24 people died, in 1920, 18; in 1921, 18; and in 1922, 17 people died. Only 2 people died of influenza in 1918, 4 in 1919 and 2 in 1920. I think there were probably a number of deaths, especially in the very rural more isolated areas, that went unreported.

The first person in Plainfield to die from the Spanish flu was Annie Bean, who was a 35 year old farm wife when she died on October 12. She had been sick with the flu for two weeks when she finally died of pericarditis (inflammation of the heart). Annie's husband's name was Clarence, who was a farmer in Meriden. She had two sons, Richard, born in 1904, and Clarence, Jr, born in 1914.

Initial research of Annie and the boys is confusing. Her younger son is listed on Ancestry.com as having been born in Maine, yet Annie never lived in Maine, and she is listed only as having given birth to Clarence, Jr. A close examination of the census records for 1910 tell the story. In 1910, Annie and Clarence had been married for 8 years, and they lived with Clarence's parents, Chauncey and Amelia. Clarence had one brother, Lewis, who never married and also lived with his parents. On the census, Chauncey is listed as the head of household, Clarence is listed as the son, Annie as the daughter-in-law, and Richard as the adopted grandson. This leads one to believe that Clarence adopted Richard. Until the end of his life, Richard's official documents always stated that Clarence and Annie Bean were his parents.

It is sad to view Clarence's World War I draft card on Ancestry.com. You can see the card, with his signature on it, listing Annie Louise Bean as his wife, and verifying that the information he gives on the card is true to the best of his knowledge on September 12, 1918. Exactly one month later, his wife would be dead.

When Annie died, Richard was 14 years old and Clarence was 10. They continued to live in their grandparents' house, and more than likely their grandmother took care of them. It is easy to speculate about a woman whose sons lived with her as adults, and to wonder how she and Annie got along.

Unlike his brother, apparently Clarence was not content to stay single, because he married again four years later, to Clara Smith of Hartford, Vermont. This time, he moved out of his mother's house and rented a house for himself, his new wife, and his son. In 1920, Richard is listed in the census with his father, but in 1930, he was 26 and out on his own.

The second person to die from Spanish Influenza in Plainfield was Clinton Smith, who was the 18 year old son of Juliaetta and Frank Smith. The Smiths were also a farm family, and Clinton was their only child . Although the name Juliaetta was quite common in Cornish and Plainfield, I cannot find any link between this Juliaetta and any of the others. There was even another farmer named Frank married to Julietta in Plainfield, but their last name was True.

Margaret Ross was 17 years old. She was born in Scotland and had lived in Plainfield as a servant for four months. She died in St Luke's Hospital in New York City, after having had influenza for 14 days and pneumonia for 7. She had been in the hospital 7 days when she died. Apparently she was sent home to New York to the hospital when she got sick, and then died there. She was buried in the Plainfield cemetery, though.

                                                                                                    Luella and Walter

Luella Williams was 41 years old when she died after having had Spanish Influenza for 5 days. Walter was her husband and they had been married for 22 years when she died. Luella married Walter when she was 18 and he was 25. Luella had 9 children, 7 boys and 2 girls. Two of the boys died. When she died in 1919, her oldest child was 20 and her youngest was under a year old. In 1900, like Clarence Bean and Annie Bean, Walter, Luella and their infant son, Everett lived with Walter's

parents, Norman and Stella. In 1910, Stella had died and the younger Williams' had added three more children to the household, Erwin, Herbert and Stella ( named after her grandmother). In 1920, Norman is still part of the family, several more children have been born, and two (George and Roger) have died. The last child, an infant at the time of Luella's death, was named after his grandfather. Eva, the youngest girl, was 3 years old when her mother died.

Walter raised all of the kids himself. He never remarried. The kids stayed with him until they were quite old. Norman, the youngest, never married and always lived on the farm. Everett lived with his father until he was 31, then disappears from all record. Erwin married Marion Smith in 1931 and they were divorced by 1935. Herbert had a wife, Beulah, and a daughter Patricia. It seems that they had a happy life. Patricia died very recently. In 1933 Stella married a Wilfred Longwood, who had already been married and divorced. At 19, he married a 14 year old girl who divorced him 3 years later citing extreme cruelty. Stella disappears from the record after her marriage to Wilfred. There are a couple of mentions of a Wilfred Longwood who could be the same person. It would be interesting to speculate, but since I'm not sure, I guess Wilfred and Stella are lost to history. Eva died in Hartland at age 99 in 2014. She is listed in the Hartland vital statistics at Eva Williams-Wolfshire, but I can't find an obituary or any other information.

 

 

My point in writing about these Spanish Influenza victims was to put a face and a story to what seems like dry statistics. Of course, two or three families do not constitute sociological research. However, many articles mention the social disruption the epidemic caused. Frank and Juliaetta Smith lost their only child. Annie Bean left two sons.  Both married unhappily and divorced. Walter Williams raised seven children by himself after Luella died. Of all seven children, only one had a happy marriage. There is some reason to believe that several of the children married people who were sketchy at best, and maybe even violent or criminally ill. Some of the unsettled aspects of their adult lives could have been caused by the traumas caused by the death of their mother, and the difficulties of raising children in a single parent home during the early 1900's. 

 

 

 

Windsor County Court September 1

Kelsey Bennett, DOB 4/7/89, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Hartland on July 4

Justin Lopez, DOB 1/12/92, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Hartford on July 8

Honey Daniels, DOB 5/8/79, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of narcotic, in Weathersfield on July 1 You can read more about this charge here: http://weathersfieldvermontnews.blogspot.com/2015/07/possession-of-narcotics.html

William Bussino, DOB 2/10/71, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of heroin, in Springfield on April 9

Windsor County Crime Online:

Schuyler Maclay, age 28, of Brooklyn, New York; http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/08/press-release-two-car-crash-no-injuries.htm

Holly Aldrich, age 48 of Springfield:

https://www.facebook.com/SpringfieldVTHub/posts/790308527705399

Nelson Duncan II, age 33, of Bethel:

http://www.ourherald.com/news/2015-08-20/Communities/Mastiff_Shot_Dead_During_Fugitive_Arrest.html

Windsor County Court August 25

Candace Dupuis, DOB 4/16/69, pleaded not guilty to charges of simple assault on a law officer, resisting arrest, and DUI 2, in Norwich on August 24

Toni Bauman, DOB ¼/55, pleaded not guilty to charges of her first DUI, and resisting arrest, in Norwich on August 7

Davis Albersharndt, DOB 6/10/91, pleaded not guilty to a charge of growing marijuana, in Cavendish on July 28

Gustavo Chang, DOB 12/1/92, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle with gross negligence with serious injury resulting, in Bethel on July 14 You can read more about thi charge here:

http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20150716/NEWS02/707169865

Wendy Morris, DOB 7/22/89, pleaded not guilty to a charge of false tokens or false pretenses, in Springfield on June 25

Gabrielle Wain, DOB 4/23/90, pleaded not guilty to charges of DUI drug, alcohol or both, disorderly conduct/language, and resisting arrest in Ludlow on August 9

Peter Ddripchak, DOB 6/15/68, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Bridgewater on August 10

Hugh Gabert, DOB 2/6/76, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license in Chester on July 10

Paul Lachapelle, DOB 10/10/95, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI in Windsor on July 17

Christoper Burke, DOB 1/17/50, pleaded not guilty to a charge of cultivating marijuana - 2^nd offense, and a charge of possession of marijuana, in Ludlow on July 17

Ricky Curtis, DOB 11/27/72, pleaded not guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious in Springfield on June 21

Scott Tucker, DOB 2/27/72, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Windsor on August 9

Ceagin Darling, DOB 4/25/96, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of heroin in Hartford on July 11

Deseree Lemay, DOB 3/11/93, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful trespass, in Hartford on July 11

William Brown, DOB 12/29/72, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Ludlow on July 14

Jeffrey Jarvis, DOB 2/3/70, pleaded not guilty to a charge of simple assault, in Weathersfield on June 25

Keith Pratt, DOB 6/21/82, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Norwich on July 14

Wendy Rogers, DOB 10/1/67, pleaded not guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of a crash, in Hartford on January 24

Gary Wright, DOB 3/18/57, pleaded guilty to acharge of driving with a suspended license in Royalton on April 30

Leonard Clark, DOB 11/30/73, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating suspended and giving false information to a police officer, in Sharon on March 16

Joseph Mailhoit, DOB 3/3/77, pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawful trespass in Rochester on June 9

Windsor County Crime Online:

Angela Martin, age 34, and Jessica Wood, age 38, of Springfield: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150607/THISJUSTIN/706079933

Bob Smart, age 53; Ricky Bemis, age 28; and Steven Lapre, age 36; of Springfield https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=386987994783972&story_fbid=544765282339575

James Shield, age 38, of Chester http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/07/press-release-arrest-dlsc.html

Jerry Ellis, age 22, of Windsor http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20150827/NEWS02/708279961

Nathaniel Shukwit, age 36 http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150826/NEWS01/708269858

Windsor County Court August 18

Brady Faulkner DOB 10/24/94, pleaded not guilty to a charge of DUI, in Ludlow on July 8.

Dylan McMahon, DOB 12/15/87, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Hartford on August 1

George Williams, DOB 8/30/60, pleaded not guilty to a charge of cultivating marijuana, inWeathersfield on April 29

Justin Foster, DOB 1/22/85, pleaded not guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious in Springfield on June 13

Cory White, DOB 2/27/87, pleaded guilty to a charge of heroin possession in Hartford on June 26

Dwight Bundy, DOB 9/22/83, pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct in Springfield on June 30

Kathy Chander. DOB 5/26/77, pleaded not guilty to a charge of simple assault in Weathersfield on June 20

Tracy Benoit, DOB 5/20/75, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Weathersfield on June 24

Jason Ballou, DOB 10/3/79, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Woodstock on July 2

Jeremiah McMahon, DOB 2/1/80, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license in Springfield on July 2

Kimberly Kennedy, DOB 12/27/69, pleaded not guilty to a charge of DUI, in Windsor on July 13

Michael Hodgkins, DOB 3/22/85, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license, in Weathersfield on June 23. He was also charged with careless or negligent operation of a motor vehicle in Weathersfield on March 20

Shawn Douglas, DOB 3/7/83, pleaded not guilty to charges of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, in Royalton on July 12

Eleni Howe, DOB 2/16/93, pleaded not guilty to a charge of burglary of an occupied building, in Royalton on June 21

Preston Lyman, DOB 2/23/98, pleaded not guilty to a charges of solicitating for purpose of prostitution, lewdness or assignation, and stalking, in South Royalton on July 2.

Krystal Pelkey, DOB 9/12/86, pleaded not guilty to a charge of retail theft in Ludlow on July 14

Alexander Salgo, DOB 6/23/89, pleaded not guilty to charges of driving with a suspended license, operating to elue, careless or negligent driving, and violation conditions of relase, in Ludlow on June 26

Windsor County Crime Online:

Douglas Sargent, age 45, from Springfield:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=133631763326692&story_fbid=981018835254643

Christopher Chico, age 27, of Walpole, New Hampshire https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=973876262635567&id=133631763326692

Eric Christensen, age 36, of Bethel:http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/07/press-release-dui.html

Influenza and Undertakers in the Upper Valley

There are plenty of articles on the internet about the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918 in Vermont and New Hampshire, but with the exception of the blog “In Times Past” (thank you, Larry Coffin (www.larrycoffin.blogspot.com ), I couldn't find much about how this horrible disease affected the Upper Valley. I decided to do some research on deaths from influenza in four towns that have not been featured here: Plainfield, Lebanon, Norwich and Hartford.

In Plainfield, there was an uptick of deaths that seemed to be caused by influenza, but it was an uptick only. In a span of 6 years, 1918 actually had the lowest number of deaths from 1914 to 1922. 1919 had the highest number of deaths, but not by a significant amount. In 1915, 20 people died in Plainfield. In 1916, 18 people died; in 1917, 24 people died; in 1918, 14 people died; in 1919, 24 people died, in 1920, 18; in 1921, 18; and in 1922, 17 people died. Only 2 people died of influenza in 1918, 4 in 1919 and 2 in 1920. I think there were probably a number of deaths, especially in the very rural more isolated areas, that went unreported.

As I studied the death reports, I noticed some interesting trends. In 1915, not a single resident of Plainfield died at Mary Hitchcock hospital. By 1922, there were many people who died in the hospital. I also noticed that when people died, the undertaker who was in charge of the body was named in each death report, indicating that by the early 20^th century, the custom definitely was to have the undertaker come and remove the body.

The embalming and undertaking industry started during the Civil War. Embalming techniques had been around for a while. Medical schools embalmed corpses they intended to use for dissection and instruction in the classroom. (For a story about medical schools and corpses see my November 19^th, 2014 posting http://connecticutrivervalley.blogspot.com/2014/11/teaching-medicine-at-dartmouth.html ) When a Civil War soldier from a wealthy family was killed, his family paid to have his body embalmed and shipped home so that they could “see him one last time”. This started the custom of having bodies preserved, so that families could see see their dead beloved “one last time”.

As embalming and open caskets became more popular, funerals moved from the home to the funeral parlor. In earlier times, people died at home, were prepared for burial at home, and went from home to the burial at the graveyard. With more people dying in hospitals, the dead person went from the hospital to the place of embalming.

Embalming bodies was a controversial new custom. Many people thought it was pagan, although there is some precedent set in the new testament about annointing a body with various herbs and wrapping it in linen. The people who did the embalming often were involved in making caskets, and convinced grieving families to spend a lot of money on fancy caskets, preying on their vulnerability during a time of grief. They were accused of taking advantage of Irish and Italian mourning customs by charging poor immigrant families more than they could afford for lavish funerals.

To combat mounting charges of unprofessional conduct and exploitation, the chemical companies that manufactured embalming fluids and equipment conducted schools for licensing embalmers, who were renamed undertakers. These schools licensed undertakers, in an effort to provide some legitimacy to the new profession. Undertakers set aside a portion of their homes, decorated in solem décor, called funeral parlors. The funeral industry countered charges of paganism by saying that open casket funerals were psychologically beneficial to mourners by providing unrefutable finality, in that a corpse in an open casket was solid proof that the person was truly dead.

The undertaker for most of these deaths was C.E. Marston of Lebanon, which indicates that the undertaker travelled from Lebanon to Plainfield to get the dead body and bring it to Lebanon and prepare it for the funeral. C.E. Marston is listed under the Lebanon section of the New Hampshire register of businesses of 1893 as an undertaker and a seller of carpets and draperies. Marston also built coffinsl Most undertakers did not have enough business as undertakers, so they had another business on the side, especially in a small town like Lebanon. Conversely, many people who had specialty businesses took up undertaking as an income supplement because their primary business was not providing a living.. When I was a child, the undertaker in my town had a paint and wallpaper store right next to the funeral parlor.

In July of 1900, C.E. Marston was listed in the New England Telephone Directory, along with a handful of other businesses and private residences in Lebanon. There were also 13 public pay telephones in the Lebanon area. You wonder, who did C.E. Marston call? Who did people call on the pay phones, if so few residences in the Lebanon area had phones?

 

Windsor County Court July 21

Gary Graham, DOB 10/23/57, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Springfield on July 4

Timothy Schloss, DOB 5/29/58, pleaded not guilty to charges of petit larceny, giving false information to a police officer, and buying, selling, concealing, possessing or receiving stolen property, in Quechee on May 29 You can read more about these charges here: http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/05/press-release-15d302209-larceny-stolen.html

Matthew Perry, DOB 6/29/95, pleaded not guilty to charges of eluding a police officer and operating a motor vehicle recklessly and negligently in Hartford on May 17

Sean Lowden, DOB 2/22/87, pleaded not guilty to a charge of retail theft, in Springfield on April 18

Jordan Pfenning, DOB 11/07/92 pleaded not guilty to acharges of possession of narcotics in Weathersfield on January 24

Jenna Kendall, DOB 12/5/92, pleaded not guilty to a charge of her second DUI, in Hartland on June 27

Christopher Burke, DOB 1/17/50, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his second DUI, in Ludlow on June 30

Christopher Jones, DOB 7/23/72, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Chester on June 7

Autumn Pearson, DOB 4/24/88, pleaded not guilty to chages of giving false information to a police officer, and buying, selling, receiving, concealing or possessing stolen property, in Royalton on April 27

Sean Snide, DOB 2/15/72, pleaded guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Springfield on July 2

Devon Wood, DOB 5/29/84, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Woodstock on June 8

Travis Barton, DOB 7/4/81, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Weathersfield on May 27. He was also charged with driving while suspended in Weathersfield on July 15.

Ryan Millard, DOB 3/15/78, pleaded not guilty to driving a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Chester on June 9.

Glenn Duchane, DOB 3 /4/55, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana on May 27 in Springfield.

Melissa Garr, DOB 7/13/65, pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding in the commission of a felony, and trafficking crack cocaine. You can read more about these charges here: http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150725/NEWS01/707259925/-1/RECREATION13

Windsor County Crime Online:

DUI Arrests in May: http://www.ourherald.com/news/2015-05-21/People/Five_Area_Arrests_Made_On_Suspicion_of_DUI.html?print=1

Devin Hardy, age 16, of Westminster, and Breanna Collins, age 17, of Bellows Falls:

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150719/THISJUSTIN/707199919

Toni Fontaine, in Weathersfield: http://weathersfieldvermontnews.blogspot.com/2015/06/dui-2-criminal-dls.html

Wayne Johnson, age 38, of Springfield

http://vtstatepolice.blogspot.com/2015/07/press-release-vsp-rockingham-15d102174.html

Westley Blake of North Springfield: http://springfieldvt.blogspot.com/2015/07/man-faces-felony-choking-charges.html

DUI Arrests in April: http://www.ourherald.com/news/2015-04-16/People/Five_Driving_Arrests_This_Week_Including_One_for_D.html

Daniel Tourville, age 30, from Northfield: http://www.wcax.com/story/29575412/northfield-man-charged-with-groping-a-child

Influenza in the Upper Valley, 1918

By the beginning of the twentieth century, advances in technology had begun changing many aspects of daily life throughout America. Electric lighting came to the bigger towns in the Upper Valley. More and more often, cars appeared on the roads, not only in the bigger towns by the river, but in the smaller hill towns as well. The medical field, however, was not advancing as fast as some of the other aspects of life, and this was painfully apparent during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918.

By October of 1918, World War I was drawing to a close and the boys in Fort Devens, Massachusetts, who had been waiting to be sent overseas could breathe a sigh of relief. It looked as if the war was ending and they would not have to face death on a battlefield. Little did they know they were about to face a more deadly foe than the Axis soldiers.

In late August, several sailors came down with a respiratory illness that started with a cough, headache and nausea, followed by a rash. They quickly began to struggle for breath, eventually suffocating to death, some within a matter of hours, others after a few days. By August 29^th, 58 men had come down with the disease, and were hospitalized at the Chelsea naval hospital. From the hospital, the flu spread from health workers and servicemen throughout Boston and then through Massachusetts.

Fort Devens, in Ayer, was especially hard hit. One doctor has been quoted as saying that they were losing 100 men a day, and special trains were used to carry away the dead. The army began a program of rapid discharge, sending soldiers home quickly. These young men arrived home in the throes of illness, spreading the sickness throughout New England.

The epidemic peaked on October 12 and by that time it had spread to New Hampshire and Vermont. That week, there were 393 deaths in New Hampshire, but the deaths continued until 1919. Influenza caused lingering illnesses like pneumonia and other lung diseases that people continued to die of long after the epidemic had ended, making deaths from the disease underreported. Many people who “survived” influenza remained chronically ill and died several years later of related illnesses. New Hampshire was the least hardest hit of any of the New England states, which is surprising when you think how close it is to Boston, where the sickness originated. Rural areas suffered less than cities did. In New Hampshire, Concord, Manchester and Portsmouth all took it hard, but the city hit the hardest was Berlin.

Vermont was hit harder than New Hampshire, possibly because we had so many soldiers who came home from Fort Devens. 13 percent of the population got the flu and 25 percent of the deaths in 1918 in Vermont were from influenza, which is even more significant when you think that the flu arrived in October. Barre and Montpelier were hardest hit, followed by Burlington. The closest town to the Upper Valley that suffered significant numbers of deaths from the flu was Randolph. Even so, every town experienced some deaths from the epidemic, and by October 4^th, state officials issued an order cancelling all public meetings. Schools, colleges, courthouses and churches were closed, and people were encouraged to shop only for necessary items, and if it was necessary to enter a public place, to wear a medical face mask.

Larry Coffin, in his blog “In Times Past” ( http://larrycoffin.blogspot.com/2009/03/influenza-and-other-epidemics.html ) quotes the Journal Opinion on October 4^th, 1918, saying that many local businesses in Bradford, including the bank, were closed due to lack of available personnell. The next week, the paper reported on the order from Montpelier cancelling all public meetings, and also that “ The Opinion force is decimated by sickness and otherwise, and the local happenings being confined almost entirely to sickness and death notices, unprecedented in our long years of experience in publishing this paper, is our excuse for lack of local items this week.” One of the “otherwise” situations was the death of the newspaper editor's son, a sailor who had died at a Navy station in Virginia. The young man's funeral was a private ceremony, as were all funerals during the ban on public gatherings.

Windsor County Court June 30

Savannah Pellerin, DOB 4/3/94 pleaded not guilty to 3 charges of enabling a minor to obtain alcohol, in Springfield on April 5

Gary Gibson, DOB 3/5/58, pleaded not guilty to a charge of eluding a law enforcement officer, in Springfield on May 8

James Massey, DOB 8/16/90, pleaded guilty to a charge of simple assault/mutual affray, in Springfield on April 25

Tara Bent, DOB 2/1/91, pleaded not guilty to a charge of heroin possession, in Royalton on May 17

Michael Fisher, DOB 11/7/94 pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful trespass and unlawful mischief in Ludlow on May 18

Ellie May Morse, DOB 3/27/73, of Bennington, pleaded not guilty to 6 charges of medicaid fraud. Morse faced 4 charges of medicaid fraud back in December of 2013.

Autumn Langlois, DOB 10/8/93, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana in South Royalton on March 11. She also pleaded not guilty to to charges of marijuana possession in February.

The following individuals pleaded not guilty to charges of driving with a suspended license:

Matthew Beloin, DOB 4/21/89, in Sharon on March 19

David Stearns, DOB 3/2/69, in Norwich on May 5

Derek Noble, DOB 8/18/82, in Royalton on March 27

Brandon Ducharme, DOB 6/27/88, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with a suspended license in Springfield on April 26

The following individuals pleaded not guilty to a charge of their first DUI:

Lucas Sheldon, DOB 4/19/94, in Weathersfield on June 11

Jason Gillette, DOB 2/1/58, in Woodstock on June 12

Kerry Tillson, DOB 3/11/58, in Hartland on June 9

Arnold Cole, DOB 6/14/39, in Springfield on June 4

Christopher Holley, DOB 5/22/62, in Springfield on June 6

Amber Killmer, DOB 8/15/90, pleaded not guilty to a charge of heroin possession in Hartford on May 16

George Tarbell, DOB 7/16/84, pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated assault in Springfield on May 11

Paul Kullman, DOB 8/30/78, pleaded not guilty to charges of his second DUI, and test refusal, in Barnard on June 29

Jason Chaffee, DOB 5/8/83, pleaded not guilty to a charge of the sale and possession of narcotics (bath salts) in Hartford on May 8 . You can read more about these charges here: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150511/THISJUSTIN/705119975

Carly Larmie, DOB 10/2/91, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle with gross negligence, with serious injury resulting, in Weathersfield on May 10

Francis Phelps, DOB 12/23/91, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana in South Royalton on March 11

Michael Hirschbuhl, DOB 3/13/70, pleaded not guilty to two charges of unlawful trespass in Woodstock on May 16

Christopher Peabody, DOB 2/10/80, pleaded guilty to a charge of retail theft in Weathersfield on December 18

Windsor County Crime Online:

Kay Wright, of West Lebanon, NH: http://ago.vermont.gov/focus/news/new-hampshire-woman-charged-with-embezzlement.php

Stories from the River, Death of George Van Dyke

George Van Dyke was the primary lumber baron on the Connecticut River during the Guilded Age. Like many Guilded Age legends, he was a larger than life figure who could be capricious and contradictory, trying to get away with disobeying the law to make a profit, swindling landowners and hired labor one minute, and helping them out the next.

George was a strict taskmaster to his employees. He hired hundreds of workers and knew them all. He never tolerated bad behavior in the towns along the river. If a worker of his was caught vandalizing or stealing he was fired on the spot. He was actively involved in every stage of the logging process. He personally supervised his logging camps, and if a worker overslept, George would go into the bunkhouse bellowing at the top of his lungs and kick the shirker in the ribs.

During log drives, he followed the logs down the river, personally supervising the whole operation, especially in the case of a log jam. He was not afraid to go out on the river, and supervised by leading rather than directing. George was often the first person out in the middle of the jam.

That being said, workers who could read and figure were better off, because George was not above trying to swindle employees out of their pay, and all of his employees wanted to be sure they checked their pay packets. Robert Pike, in his book “Tall Trees, Tough Men”, writes, “That Van Dyke flagrantly cheated his men is a fact; that he yowled like a cut tom cat when he had to spend a few unexpected dollars is a fact, that he ran rough-shod over farmers is true. But it is also true that when a former employee showed up sick and broke in Boston, needing to get back to North Stratford, George would help him.”

George did have his favorite employees, and one of those favorites was Bill James. Bill started working for George when he was 16 years old. When he was an old man, Bill settled in Windsor. He was Windsor's gravedigger, and loved to tell stories about his days logging on the Connecticut, working for George Van Dyke. In 1961, the Valley News published a supplement to the paper commemorating the 200^th anniversary of the Upper Valley. Bill James gave an interview for that publication, about his adventures on the river.

Bill was a stableboy and accompanied the horses all the way from North Stratford to Mount Tom.

His first year, he was paid off at Mount Tom, but still accompanied the horses home to North Stratford. He blew all of his money, $335, and had to borrow the money to get himself back to the lumber camp in the late summer of the next year. Spring found him back with the horses on the trip downriver, but this time, he wasn't paid at Mount Tom. George told him to go north with the horses again, and get his money from the paymaster in North Stratford. When he went to collect, his pay was only $35, and Bill refused to sign the receipt for only part of his pay. The paymaster told him to go see George about the rest. George refused to pay him the full amount he was due, and finally Bill signed the receipt so that he could get at least the $35. George handed him a bankbook with $300 in it and gave him a lecture about saving his money. Bill kept the bankbook, added to it every year, never took any money out of it, and used it to buy rental property in Windsor when he was much older.

Another time, someone sent Bill into the hotel where George was staying, to get him out of bed so that he could catch the train. He found George all ready to go, except that his shoes were untied. George told Bill to tie his shoes, and Bill refused, telling him he was a horseman, not a servant. George fired him on the spot, then ten minutes later asked him why he wasn't hitching up the horses. When Bill said, “You fired me”, George answered, “Aw, never mind that. Go hitch up those horses”.

In “Tall Trees and Tough Men”, Robert Pile retells a story Bill told in the Valley News article. One spring, some young kids were out canoeing in the middle of the log jam and their canoe overturned. A couple of the rivermen rescued them and the boss, Joe Roby, told Bill to take them up to the campfire and get them dried off and fed. Joe read them the riot act about being in a canoe during the log drive and set them on their way. A few weeks after the article was printed in the paper, Bill got a letter from an old man from Bellows Falls, saying that he was one of the boys.

Bill lived a full life. One year he was on the riverbank near Lebanon, working with an old-timer. The water had thrown a group of logs up on the mud and the two were struggling to dig them out and return them to the water. The old-timer decided he had had enough and announced to Bill that he was going to quit. Bill told him if he quit right then he wouldn't get paid. The old-timer quit anyway. Years ent by. Bill and a buddy decided to go “on the bum” to see some of the country. They ended up broke and hungry in Ohio, where they knocked on the door of a prosperous looking farmhouse in search of a meal. They woman who answered the door said she would go get her husband, and maybe he would help them out. Her husband turned out to be the old-timer who had quit that day.

Bill James was still young when George Van Dyke died. In May of 1908, George was hospitalized in three months for “water on the brain”, which, given how tightly wound he was, could have been a stroke. He recovered, but never regained his former health and vitality. After his illness, he bought a red Stevens-Duryea touring car and hired a chauffeur, “Shorty” Hodgdon. Shorty drove him up and down the roads along the Connecticut River, following the log drives.

In 1909, George and Shorty were parked at the edge of a 75 foot riverbank in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, at a spot called Riverside. They watched the men work the logs through the rapids for a while, then George told Shorty to take him back to the hotel they were staying in, the Welden in Greenfield. How it happened remains a mystery, but instead of back up, the car went forward and plunged over the bank. Shorty died immediately and George ended up on the rocks, either having jumped or been ejected from the car. He died later in the Farren Hospital, at age 64. George had never been married and did not have any children,. Jis brothers Thomas and Philo inherited the company.

In 1913, Connecticut River Lumber was sold to a Boston syndicate. Although George's untimely death hastened the demise of the company, CVL lumbermen had pretty much exhausted the supply of lumber in northern New England. Years before his death, George had established railroad lines to the interior of the north country to exploit the forests of Vermont and New Hampshire, after the forests around the Connecticut Lakes had been mostly depleted. The new owners wanted the company not for its timber, but for the water rights. Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securites listed Connecticut River Lumber as owning 300,000 acres in northern New Hampshire and Vermont. The water rights that went with the land were becoming more and more valuable, to generate electricity.

Even so, there was $2.9 million worth of timber still standing on CVL land, and the company announced that they would hold one final, gigantic log drive in the Spring of 1915. All of the old log hands traveled north to be part of the winter logging operation and spring drive. 500 men were hired to man that final drive. At least two had been present on the very first CVL log drive in 1869, Al Patrick, from Maine, and Rube Leonard, from Colebrook. For almost 50 years, the arrival of the logs was an exciting event for the towns along the river, and as the logs journeyed south, the riverbank was packed with onlookers who knew it was the end of an era.

Windsor County Court May 26

Jessica Wood, of Springfield, DOB 1/25/77, pleaded not guilty to a charge of welfare fraud.

Lorinda Cash, DOB 3/24/64, pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful trespass, unlawful mischief, and 4 charges of violation of conditions of release, in Bridgewater on May 4. She was charged with unlawful trespass and violating conditions of release in January, in October, and in May of last year.

Angela Martin, DOB 10/10/80, of Springfield pleaded not guilty to a charge of welfare fraud that occurred from June to October of 2013.

Troy Bertrand, DOB 10/14/94, pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless endangerment, simple assault, and disorderly conduct/fight in Chester on April 17

David Martinez, DOB 3/16/52, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Hartford on April 14

Thomas Bowen, DOB 10/28/86, also pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating while suspended, in Weathersfield on March 31

Robert Boardman, DOB 9/27/88, pleaded not guilty to a charge of escape from the custody of a law enforcement officer, in Hartford on April 10

Martine Protas, DOB 4/24/79, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while her license was suspended in Springfield on April 1

Matthew Sullivan, DOB 2/25/83, pleaded not guilty to a charge of his first DUI, in Hartford on May 10

Juan Enriquez-Hernandez, DOB 4/7/92, pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawful trespass-land, in Hartford on April 14

John Stearns, DOB 4/18/51, pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, in Chester on April 26

Windsor County Court May 19

Robert Rainville, DOB 3/21/87, pleaded not guilty to a charge of buying, possessing or selling a regulated rug, on March 29^th in Hartford. In January, he also pled not guilty to a charge of possession of heroin.

Adelaide Iverson, DOB 12/31/93, pleaded not guilty to two charges of possession of narcotics. You can read about these charges here: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150521/NEWS03/705219885

and here: http://www.wptz.com/news/police-arrest-two-people-on-durg-charges-during-traffic-stop/31935234

Douglas Finkle, DOB 10/26/71, also pleaded not guilty to two charges of possession of narcotics in Hartford on March 20. Finkle was arrested with Iverson, detailed in the above cited article.

John Cadogan, DOB 5/10/85, pleaded guilty to a charge of retail theft, in Hartford on March 31.

The following individuals pleaded not guilty to charges of DUI:

Philip Lawrence, DOB 1/29/85, in Windsor on May 2

Trakker Hutt, DOB 2/12/97 in Woodstock on April 30

Timothy Hannay, DOB 7/13/86, in Weathersfield on May 2

Jean Farrell, DOB 11/12/60 in Royalton on April 8

Bradley Williams, DOB 9/14/84, in Springfield on May 2

The following individuals pleaded not guilty to charges of driving with a suspended license:

Jay Robertson, DOB 7/10/66, in Norwich on April 10

Edward Simpson, DOB 3/5/62, in Hartford on April 9

Patricia Wilson, DOB 7/8/70, in Sharon on March 25

Windsor County Crime Online:

William Ferguson, age 57, of Stonington, Connecticut http://www.vnews.com/news/16874021-95/dui-suspect-assaulted-in-jail

Connor Hersey, age 22, of Lebanon https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=101654599936569&story_fbid=640036469431710

Jason Chaffee, age 32, and Chasity Forman, age 39, of Windsor:http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150511/THISJUSTIN/705119975

George Van Dyke's Upper Valley Court Cases

By the last decade of the 19^th century, George Van Dyke was the undisputed lumber king of the Connecticut River. Born into a huge impoverished family in Quebec, Van Dyke combined physical strength, sharp intelligence, and ruthless ambition to make sure he would never experience poverty as an adult. By taking advantage of good business deals, and creating good deals where they weren't any, he made a fortune shipping lumber down the Connecticut River, and used that fortune to gain control of the lumber business through the Connecticut River Lumber Company.

The Connecticut River Lumber Company ran lumber camps at the Connecticut Lakes in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Lumbermen lived in these camps and cut down timber to move downriver when the spring thaw came. Some of these men were farmers who left their families after the fall harvest, worked for CVL in the winter and then went home for planting season. Some stayed on as log drivers. CVL hired 500-700 crew members at the start of the log drive season. Not all of these men were drivers. Some were support workers – cooks to feed the crew, men to drive and care for the horses, and even bookkeepers to keep track of transactions and handle payday.

The first part of the drive was easy until the logs got past Lancaster, New Hampshire and started down the Fifteen Mile Falls, a series of rapids that lasted about 20 miles. Milliken's Pitch and the Twenty-Seven Islands were the next hazardous spots. Once the logs were past these spots, about half of the crew were let go. Another group left after Woodsville, with the rest continuing until the end. At the southern end of the drive, more logs tended to get washed out of the water and beached on the banks of the river, requiring men to climb up the riverbanks, dig them out of the mud and return them to the water. For a more in depth look at life in the logging camps and on the river, read “Log Drives on the Connecticut River” by Bill Gove. It's a fascinating, detailed and well-written history of logging in northern New England.

CVL did have some impact on people in the Upper Valley. The arrival of the logs every year was a source of entertainment for the inhabitants of the river towns, where there was usually very little excitement. Townspeople could hear the booming and crashing of the logs before the main body of logs came through, and there were also a few logs that arrived ahead of the pack. Spectators flocked to the river to watch the show. The log drivers were a tough, flamboyant bunch, riding the logs, risking their lives to deliver the lumber down river. Their reputation and mystique rivaled that of the cowboys of the same era.

Many of these log drivers had spent all winter in the log camps, and were anxious to get off the river for a few days to experience civilization. When they went into the towns, the excitement was ratcheted up a few notches. Bill Gove describes a scene in Woodsville, when one of the log drivers, Ed Smith, was walking drunkenly down a sidewalk when he spotted a blonde girl inside a store window with nothing on but her stockings. He drove through the showcase window and grabbed her, only to discover that she was a naked mannequin.

George Van Dyke and CVL were involved in several lawsuits in the Upper Valley. In 1891, George brought a suit against the Olcott Falls Company of Olcott Falls. The Olcott Falls Company, also called White River Paper or the Wilder Brothers Mill, was a papermill on the Connecticut River. The mill produced primarily newsprint paper. At its height, the mill ran 24 hours a day, producing 45 tons of wet pulp and using nearly 300 cords of timber a day. Of course, the mill operated on water power provided by the Connecticut River.

Mills that operated by water power diverted the water to turn their water wheels. When the logs arrived at the site of a mill, a conflict ensued between the lumber companies and the mills, if the water flow available in the river channel was insufficient to float the logs. Mills could shut down production and return the water to the river channel for long enough to float the logs by, or the mill managers could refuse to cooperate with the log companies. If the shutdown was going to take a few hours, usually the mills would comply.

The problem was that sometimes the log drives could take days or weeks, especially if there was a log jam. Companies like Olcott Falls employed huge numbers of workers around the clock, and were responsible for producing orders of newspaper print for newspapers from big cities. If production had to be shut down for any length of time, the workers would be without pay and orders of paper would be unfulfilled.

In 1880, the Olcott Falls mill was sold to Herbert and Charles Wilder, of Boston. Charles moved north to personally supervise the expansion of the mill on the Connecticut River. At the year later, when the log drive came through, the mill operators,probably at the direction of Charles Wilder, refused to shut down to let the logs go through. As a result, George took the Olcott Falls Company to court to try to force them to let the logs go down.

The verdict in the case Connecticut River Lumber v Olcott Falls Co was that the paper mill had to allow the logs to pass by, no matter what. The decision of the court was crystal clear. “The canal gate must be open and the demand of the second lumberman is complied with, whether the number of his logs is ten or ten million, whether their passage stops the mill for an hour or a month, and whether the number of mill operators is one or one thousand, the lumberman is entitled to a free way as good as he would have had if no dam had been built.” This ruling was entirely based on the act of incorporation for the Olcott Falls Company in 1807, in which there was a proviso that specifically stated that lumber companies would have the right to freely float logs down the river, forever.

   George Van Dyke
 
 
A court case that George lost involved the destruction of the Windsor Railroad Bridge in 1897. In June, the logs were coming down the river just as a heavy rainstorm caused the river to rise with a rushing current. On the 10^th, a log jam of twelve million board feet covered an area of about six acres around a railroad bridge owned by the Boston and Maine Railroad. It destroyed a pier, and the portion of the bridge supported by that pier. The railroad company sued Connecticut River Lumber, claiming that the company was negligent during the log drive. Although this was inaccurate, the court still ruled that the company was liable for the damage to the river, to the tu ne of $50,000. The logs involved in this particular log jam were owned by the Connecticut River Manufacturing Company, a subsidiary of CRL, but not specifically CVL. George tried to quickly dissolve that corporation during the trial, but that ploy was unsuccessful, and in the end, CRL had to pay the railroad company the whole $50,000.