Working for a living
Examining a 1921 journal kept by W.R. Spaulding and his son Ed, I am able to put together what a typical day was like at their livery stable. Some weeks W.R. and Ed took in $35 – $501 today. I … Continued
Ron Patch
Nothing up my sleeve
In a recent donation of Ted Spaulding to the Chester Historical Society was a rare visor cap with a Vermont chauffeur badge attached. Back in the early automobile days, instead of what we know today as a taxi service was … Continued
Odds & ends
Below are a few newspaper clippings I found pasted in an old scrapbook kept by Mary Harris. They date from 1904-1913. The Harris family lived where Bill Dakin’s law office is today. The Fletcher block is now Phoenix Books Misty … Continued
The wrapper factory fire
The history below was gathered from three different sources. The first history is from Chester Historical Society’s 2011 publication titled, “History of Chester, Vermont.” The second and third histories are 1909 newspaper clippings found in a scrapbook at Chester Historical … Continued
What’s a Yegg?
Below is a May 6, 1909 Bellows Falls Times newspaper clipping. Yeggs were a criminal gang of burglars and safecrackers. The arrest was made in Bellows Falls. “Charles Cadwell of Chester was placed under arrest in the Hotel Windham on … Continued
The time capsule
Last week, I wrote about John Leon Spaulding’s donation of family diaries to the Chester Historical Society. I estimated there were close to 100. Well, we counted them and there are 120. Below is a story made possible by selecting … Continued
What’s in a diary?
Keeping a diary in the 1800s into the 1900s was a common practice. Most every farmer kept a diary in those days. Many of these diaries record such things as: daily temperature, cut firewood today, boiled today, planted corn, went … Continued
1898 Hotel Chester fire
Below is from an 1898 newspaper clipping regarding a fire at the Hotel Chester. Today, this location is Salon 2000. “The fire of last week Saturday night at the depot village which resulted in the destruction of the Chester Hotel … Continued
Rosalvo Howard
I thought I’d give the reader an idea of how much time is spent researching some of these articles you see in this paper. In some cases, I write about a person or event that up to now has not … Continued
Chester’s Kingsbury brothers
This past April, Susan Allen of Charlestown, N.H. donated a Vermont Civil War record for Daniel Perry Kingsbury to the Chester Historical Society. I was aware of George Washington Kingsbury of Chester and wondered if the two men were related. … Continued