Author Archives: Alena Giesche

Bernie Hurlburt Interview 11-18

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Bernie Hurlburt

Dan Baker set up this amazing interview for us both, and I have to say- Bernie told us some pretty amazing things.

**I also have this interview condensed to a 6 minute clip if anyone is interested in that version…

2:00 Rosco family lived there early. Story about Rosco kid who drowned in the well outside Bernie’s house in the early 1800s.
4:45 Pot ash- lots of charcoal pits can be found in the fields (5:15-5:25 quote 6:01-6:11)
7:00 Where Charlie Parker lives today, ‘Place’ was the original settler. ‘Stedmon’ next.
7:35 “I think they started both places about the same time” – settlement of Hillsboro and Little Ireland
7:55 On Hillsboro- “They was farming there, in 1931, when my dad bought this farm. I was six years old. You could look over cross and see them farming, plowing, cuttin’ hay”
8:20 Why was Hillsboro abandoned? “That’s the worse road to travel.”
You could go up in the summer, but it’s mostly impossible, I would think, even with chains on…”
8:50 “When we first moved here, Ernest Diddy was the mail carrier, and he’d come up this road, and go around down that road. And he had a horse and sleigh, and most of the time in the summer he’d have a horse and a buggy… course there was farms all through there.”
12:55 Two first houses on Hillsboro: Little Ed Hannon, and another — Bertha Smith (owned both). Her husband got killed at a sawmill on Little Ireland.
16:45 ‘Farnham’ place- beyond the town’s two farms-2000 acres- by the Fish+Game parking lot- somebody else bought it and then sold it to the state; ‘Tatro’ place after the Twin Bridges
18:34 Hill home in Bertha’s book at the Fish + Game parking lot. Lemuel Hill’s house owned by Mrs. Olsen. Four or five Hills who came at the same time.
20:20 – Places houses: ‘Rosco’, ‘Moody’, School house
21:40 ‘Charlie Devoid’ last person to live at Hillsboro house site above school- related to Bernie’s dad.
23:30 Hotel in Hillsboro area: “There’s a lot of them big houses that they used…”
Could have been the Holcomb Bushnell farm?
24:20 Farnham farm by the parking lot might have been a hotel too- it was a large house. The last people who lived in it were the ‘McLanes’. “It just bowed down after a while.”
26:05 Bertha Smith owned those two places. Charlie Thibault’s father bought them after her- only stayed a year or two. “I guess they didn’t like the hill…” Tucker before the cemetery (2nd house site), D Hill (1st house site), T Brock all the way at the bottom of Hillsboro
28:20 Hannons, Conways—all Irish.
29:40 Cole’s house- where the Little Ireland school house is
31:10 Garage across from Hillsboro was another schoolhouse- area called Little Boston
32:30 B. Hurlburt graduated from L. Ireland SH in 1938
34:00 Talks about all his L. Ireland schoolteachers
36:40 Employment: Creamery… started out farming sheep, then cows… potatoes
40:30 Samuel Hill came to live at the Devoid place (above the Hillsboro SH)
46:40 Devoid place- had an identical barn to Frank Spina’s/Butler’s barn
48:20 The barn had already burned when B. Hurlburt moved up. Fancy house, abandoned. “I think the barn burnt, and that’s why they quite farming”. LW Hill:Devoid
51:10 Dan Baker talks about the size of the barn- “It’s got to speak to the quality of the land”
51:40 Farm size: 10-11 cows- most farms that was about it
55:40 Dunham’s place- used to be the Crowley’s farm (Crowley road?). The house burned, and one part was sold to Connors, then the Johnsons. The other part was sold to the Dunhams.
58:49 Lemuel Hill farm/ Mrs. Olsen place – 3 barns (1 hay barn, 2 cattle barns). House is above the pond. Randall, Murphy, then Cofflin, then T. Hannon.
1:02:50 “It was hard farmin on the hill. It was better to go down the road, it was better farmin” The barn burned.
1:10:20 “Mostly it was hard farmin up here… They moved down where it was easier farmin”. The soil: “It isn’t better, but up here it’s awful stony.”
1:11:40 Frank Hannon used to say “It’s good soil… it had to be strong to hold up all them rocks”
1:13:15 What did this place teach you? “Well… it taught me to work” Talks about telling college kids how to spell things… “We got a good education up here”– 20 kids, 1 teacher.
1:16:00 Explored Hillsboro more when he started hunting… talks about the ‘Gully’.

Alfred Thompson Interview 11-16

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Alfred Thompson
Listening to this interview again for the time-log just made me think- what a quirky interview. I think the most interesting part is the relationship between the father-daughter (subtle exchanges). I did cut out some long pauses/deliberations/repetitions of questions, so it’s not exactly true to the original style, but some is left just to give the listener a sense of the dynamic. About half way through, Audrey leaves and Alfred says something like “well she’s got to get her piece in somehow…”, which I thought effectively summed up his views on her presence in the interview. She was very interested in recording details about their family history, and I was extremely grateful for her prompts to her dad, as well as numerous documents, maps, contacts, and of course the delicious pumpkin pie.

0:00 Logging in the family
1:30 Split his head open logging
3:00 His family has always been here- they’re farmers
5:45 We weren’t told a lot of things, as dad said, we didn’t discuss history or ancestry
7:15 Using a funnel to put gas in the truck when you were driving uphill
8:00 The logging camp used to be part of the Hannon farm
9:00 Everybody had potatoes back then
12:00 Cemetery on Crowley road
16:00 Bristol house…?
17:00 Buying the land at the logging camp – he forgot about it and his daughter ‘prompts’ him back to remembering that he actually bought it for $1500
18:35 Only remembers Herb Itty? Who built the farmhouse up off of 116. (not sure who/what he’s referring to)
19:40 Hunting- always got the biggest and the best
20:30 Audrey left home at 13 (very quiet, doesn’t want to be heard here)
21:30 Stokes place (Brown hill?) Art Clifford put a pond there.
22:30 Rerouted the creek by Big Hollow
22:45 Sawmill across from their cemetery- Walt Smith was killed here
24:00 After an age-guessing game, I find out that Alfred is 91- born in 1917
25:45 Went to school 4-5 years
27:30 Samuel Hill, ancestry story of prisoners being sent up to work in lumber mills- Audrey speaks about how lumbering has always been in the family
28:30 How logging has changed– Audrey’s brother has the philosophy that he was born in the wrong time period- lumbering has gotten much more difficult to make a living with since his dad’s (Alfred’s) time.
32:10 Alfred used to drive the Starksboro creamery truck back and forth between here and Boston every week. Lots more good stuff about the creamery, Frank Wells, ice house across the street from the creamery
34:00 Family history and connections to the Browns
37:20 Logging- mostly maple, but a bit of everything. “It worked pretty good for me, it always did. I never had no complaints. And that’s saying something, for me.”
39:00 Talking about food, cooking, canning, and how a garden held them through hard times.
40:40 “I fished a lot. Weekends. We always took a weekend off.”
“I don’t go to supermarkets much, unless I really need something. Stay in there long, and you spend more money than you got.”
41:40 Coon hunting
43:00 Arsonists set several places on fire
47:00 Why logging is difficult now. “There’s too many doing it [now, but] there’s good money in it if you can work hard enough at it. It worked pretty good for me, it always did. I never had no complaints. And that’s saying something, for me.”
51:00 Audrey’s brother- story about getting stuck in the wetlands by the logging camp. He fell through the ice…
52:00 “I liked the mountain pretty well… Used to go coon hunting; hunted it all over.
53:40 Talks about flats house site by the twin bridges- big house, horse barn below it :
58:10 Meeting his wife, a Brown girl, and more about school.
60:10 His first memory- a great story about sipping homemade alcohol when his father sent him to pick it up from up the hill (Lindy Liberty?), for “medicinal uses”
1:04:40 Important issues were kept very quiet- Audrey speaks about things that weren’t discussed
1:06:40 Questions about Hillsboro/Ireland, doesn’t remember anything else about the structures

Starksboro

Hey all,

I am driving to Starksboro tomorrow morning at 10:30- Chester and Christian and my sister should be tagging along, but I’m not sure about anyone else… As it is, we have 1 spot left since I haven’t heard back yet from Nathan or Robert.

See you all and Happy HALLOWEEN!

Alena

Interview with Alan Roberts

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Interview with Alan Roberts
10-25-08

Alan Roberts, in his 90s, is probably one of the oldest residents living in Starksboro. He told me amazing stories about growing up in the Great Depression, his first memory – the end of World War I, the hardships of aging, being a professor of French Literature, and his political views. Although Alan is not a Starksboro native, he distinctly remembers when his parents decided to move to Vermont and saw the property he now owns. The farmer living them came out and immediately asked “You want to buy it don’t you?” Half-joking, his father asked “How much?” They bought the 300 acres of land with a house and barn for $2800. When I came up and visited Alan on a rainy evening, he joked “The best part isn’t here; the view to Camel’s Hump”. In Starksboro, Alan has his best memories serving on the Solid Waste Committee, reading to young children at the library, feeling the community of his neighbors, and working on his land. In order to conserve the property and prevent it from being split up and developed, Alan Roberts recently decided to donate his land to the Vermont Land Trust.

00:00 The town clerk is skeptical of Alan
01:00 His father was a protestant minister; his parents came to Starksboro and saw the property, fell in love with the view, bought the house for $2800, and stayed there.
03:20 He and his twin brother were born on the kitchen table; doctor predicted that Alan (second-born) wouldn’t live long because he was quiet, but now he’s the only one left.
05:30 On the solid waste committee of Starksboro for 10 years; saw the shift from a conservative Starksboro to a liberal political atmosphere
07:00 Military, in the air force for 4 years and had to teach pilots how to land without seeing the ground; but hates fighting and hunting and wars
10:00 Growing up in the Great Depression; Haverford College
14:20 Teaching at the Union College
17:10 Taught at UVM – after the war they were “screaming for teachers”; was in charge of “just about everything foreign”. Looked for a pay raise, but the dean said they had to “take care of our married men first”.
22:00 Being influenced by his father with religion, his religious views
24:20 Talks about his neighbors, “delightful people… most of them have more than a college education”, house and took care of his sister-in-law when she fell during a visit
26:10 Gave his neighbor the wood to build his house with
27:40 Doesn’t want to live in an elderly homes, trying to get services
28:50 His first memory- armistice day for WWI (actually Nov 11, 1918); he was born 1917
34:00 Political talk, Hillary Clinton
38:00 Plane crash at Camel’s Hump in the 40s; his father forbade them to speak about it because it destroyed the beauty of the place
41:00 Changes in Starksboro over past thirty years- old-fashioned old timers to liberal voters
42:00 Read to young children at Robinson School for 3 years
46:00 Starksboro future- it will change with the environment.
50:00 The hardships of old age- hasn’t been able to walk his property, just got into a car accident, afraid of falling
53:00 “I don’t feel a part of Starksboro… I just feel a part of Vermont”
54:00 His neighbor is selling his property by bits; cutting it up. This is why Alan Roberts decided to give his property to the Vermont Land Trust
57:15 Favorite place is at the top of the loop on his property- up high