Day 11

Day 11—Lots of rain last night and a misty overcast day today. Off to Vergennes city hall. The people were great there. They have all the records in a vault , a very small one at that. They showed us how to track the items. One book has the names and the book and page that the actual record is in. Then we could use their copier . No charge for any of this. We started with my grandmother and traced back from there. The record said the mother had other children. Wow, I never knew of other children except her sister Ruth.We found 4 other siblings. Then we traced her parents and grandparents. What a surprise to find them there also. People of earlier generations were born, lived and died in the same general area. It made it easier to trace for us. We also looked up the property recordd and found out that the property belonged to my grandmothers’ mothers’ father. One of the ladies in the office had been there 30 years. She knew the family that bought the family house from my great Aunts’ estate. She suggested that I might knock on the door and ask to see the house and ask questions about my aunt..


We did just that. Mr. Childress was very kind when I told him my grandmother was born there and my aunt was the last resident, Ruth Eagan. He knew about her. He shared that the house was empty for three years before they bought it and all the furniture was in it. Then he showed us a picture of the house in the 40’s he framed and then brought out a plastic bag with letters and pictures. They found them in the house and had saved them over 40 years as they could not bear to throw them away. There was letters from my great uncle sent home from France during WWI, and pictures of family members. I recognized one that was my grandmother and great aunt ruth. I was blown away. He said that if his wife was home she would probably give them to me . I told him I understood as they were in their house. We took some pictures outside of the creek that we had a picnic on when I was 15.

We thanked him very much and went to the library to find more info. We hoped to find newspaper info on the family or house. We found very little. The archive room was locked as it was appt. only. They had microfish of newspapers there. The person was on vacation that took care of that, so a no go on that.

So, off we went back to the campground. On the way we saw Vermont Teddy Bear. A must stop, of course. As we got out, my cell phone rang and it was Mrs. Childress. She was thrilled that someone had finally cared about the Eagan family. She wanted us to have the letters and then she told me there was a family bible there also that she had saved, hoping that someone might come there. Imagine my total shock and surprise. She asked where we were, when I told her she laughed. I work there she said. We arranged to meet in the morning there.