Hinesburg Historical Society
Minutes
July 24, 2008
Present: Jean Miner, Peggy Cioffi, Maggie Gordon, Marshall Delaire, Jeanne Wilson, Aaron Kimball, John Roberts, Sue Roberts, George Dameron, Ann Thomas, Nancy Boyle
Jeanne Wilson provided members with copies of the article “Hinesburgh – a Bright Future” from the July, 1904 issue of the magazine Expansion. Maggie read the minutes from the June meeting, and said that, since there would be no July issue of the Hinesburg Record, the article about the Historical Society would appear in the issue due out in late August.
Jean explained that she began doing geneological research back when Mary Zuber was town clerk and had no time to research the many requests that came to the town. Jean, by default (and by hard work, although she never mentioned that), became the town historian. She began our tour of the town vault by showing us how she had traced the land and home of her uncle back to 1761.
We started by looking at the General Index of every deed in the vault dating back to the original proprietors’ map of 1762. We also looked at the Hinesburg Charter that was signed in 1762. Over the course of the next hour members pored over grand lists, names of men who had signed the Freemen’s Oath, and records of births, deaths, and marriages that were recorded by individual families over the years.
Ann, who is also a member of the Ancient Roads committee and very familiar with the records kept in the vault, added much helpful information. The original road through Hinesburg, for example, did not follow 116, but instead followed a higher path over the Russell farm. It was suggested that this was to avoid the river and wetlands that were more extensive then than they are now.
During our tour Jean showed us the original deed for one of the cemeteries that dates back to 1812. In fact, one of the most remarkable (and unlauded) gifts that the Historical Society and the Town of Hinesburg have been given is that, over the course of 6 summers, Jean charted all 14 cemeteries in Hinesburg, including notes from every grave and many of the epitaphs. These notebooks are now kept in the vault, but they need someone to index the information so it will be searchable by family name. John and Sue said that they were interested in working on the project, and it was mentioned that there might be software available specifically for that purpose. George suggested that a student intern might be recruited through one of the local colleges to provide additional help.
Jean also brought out a box of old documents and receipts from the 18th century that were found when the town hall was undergoing renovation, and she placed them in chronological order at the request of the town clerk. It was remarkable how many of the names on those receipts are familiar to us today: Place, Hinsdale, Bostwick, Leavensworth, Baldwin. Everything in that box needs to be recorded and preserved. Nancy said that she had a supply of non-acidic paper that might be used, and George suggested that grants were available to cover the costs of scanning and preservation.
Toward the end of the meeting, it was suggested that a field trip to one of the cemeteries might be the focus of our next meeting, especially while it’s still light in the evenings. Maggie mentioned how difficult it was to end meetings on time when there was so much fascinating information to be learned: for every question one of us had about a building, a person, or an event in Hinesburg, Jean had a story to tell and a source for yet more information.
The next meeting of the Hinesburg Historican Society will be Thursday, August 28th at 7pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Maggie Gordon (acting secretary)
7/31/08