Hinesburg Historical Society

Minutes for July 23, 2009 (Updated)

Present: Kate Bissonette, Marshall Delaire, George Dameron, Maggie Gordon, Jean Miner, John Roberts, Sue Roberts

The minutes from the June 25, 2009 meeting were approved. Maggie explained that Gill (who was unable to attend the meeting) needed to put down an official start date for the Historical Society for the forms he was filling out. The group agreed to January 22, 2009, when interim officers were voted in for a full year, as the official start date. (These two items occurred later in the meeting, but are listed first in the minutes).

George said that he had talked to colleagues at St. Michael’s about the possibility of students doing interviews with Hinesburg residents, and that there was some interest. He hoped that we could come up with a list of people we would like to interview, along with a handful of questions to help get the interviews started. He mentioned that there are resources available for people who want to do this (we realized that the Vermont Folklife Center is one such resource, thanks to a brochure that Jean passed around). The guiding principle, he thought, should be to keep it simple. He offered to come up with a list of questions and procedures by the next meeting. Maggie offered to help, if needed. Marshall asked about equipment to be used for interviews, and Kate said that the library has equipment available to rent. It was also noted that we could also ask Ann and Suzanne what they’ve used in the past to conduct interviews.

With the help of all members present, we came up with a list of residents who are on the priority list (because of age) to be interviewed:

Wayne and Barbara Bissonette, Beryl Coates, Ila Crowley, Marian Davis, Carol (Deac) Devoid, Dwight Eddy, Paul Eddy, Caroline Harvey, Dave Lyman, Johnny Mead, Emma Mead, Jean Miner, John Pierce, Phyllis Russell, Jan Stoneberg (?). 

We also came up with a short list of people in the next generation who have taken part in important changes in the town and would also be valuable to interview: Lynn Gardner, John Kedaisch, Earl Mead, Andrea Morgante, Howdy Russell.

Jean mentioned that when we look at the list of people by location, that all parts of Hinesburg will be covered. Maggie also repeated a request made by Ann Thomas, who was unable to attend the meeting, that she would like to interview Ila Crowley and would love to go with another member. If anyone is interested, please let Ann know.

The group proceeded to digress into a fascinating discussion of deer hunting, moose sighting, the 1950 hurricane, and the 1927 flood.

Jean talked about the study of dairy farms that she and several others worked on (it is available in the library) where they used the 1820 map to help compile information. They started with the current owner of each farm and went back from there. They started with dairy farms and moved on to sheep farms. Jean also passed around a list of books offered by the Richmond library to local historical societies, and members checked those that would be of interest.

Maggie passed around a packet of materials from Arcadia publishing, including a copy of a book in their series Images of America. They had previously sent an email to the Historical Society seeking an author to do a similar book on Hinesburg. Maggie said that Arcadia was a legitimate publisher and not a vanity press, and that they had high standards for the quality of photographs. She noted that writing book proposals and finding publishers can be a tedious business, and that this might be a good opportunity to make a volume of Hinesburg photographs available in time for the town’s anniversary in 2012. Jean said that it there was a lot of work involved, and questioned whether the Historical Society was ready for such a project and could pull it off. John said that he had seen another volume from the series whose text was not of high quality, and mentioned that it might be possible to have photographs reproduced and put a book together on our own. He thought that if it was between getting it done by a deadline or getting it done right, then we should wait.

The discussion moved on to having a photographic archive of Hinesburg. John has been putting some photographs on the web site, and Ann has also done a great amount of work making items available on the digital archive available on the community school server. Maggie said that adding text to the photographs would be invaluable. George expressed his hope that we could combine working on the digital archive with the interviews: residents no doubt have photographs that no one has seen, and we could use the interviews as a way to collect new photographs and identify people and buildings in key photographs that we already have. Photographs would also be a way to stimulate people’s memories during the course of an interview.

At one point Kate mentioned putting together a collection of recipes, and George asked if she had come across any recipes that were specific to Hinesburg. Kate mentioned a few possibilities, and Jean talked about church recipe books that had been put together over the years. Yet another opportunity for a Historical Society project!

George gave an update on an exciting project that he and Aaron were currently working on: a walking tour of the village that people could do on their own, using a downloadable brochure from the web site. The tour would last 20 to 30 minutes, would begin in front of Lantman’s and describe 4 or 5 key spots. They hoped to have something in place by fall.

Jean passed around a photograph of the Burritt homestead that once stood on the corner of Burrit and Baldwin Road (the house burned down sometime in the ‘40’s). John will put the photo up on the web site, along with detailed information provided by Jean.

Sue brought in an article she had found on pulmonary gangrene from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal from 1836. One of the cases mentioned in the article was none other than Shubel Clark, the earliest black resident of the town. Shubel was 60 years old when he died. Thanks to Sue for filling in a piece of the puzzle on Clark, about whom so little is known. Jean thought that he had received his plot of land on Lincoln Hill in 1790 in recognition for some service during the revolutionary war. 

The next meeting of the Hinesburg Historical Society will be held on Thursday, August 27, 2009 from 7p.m. - 9 p.m.

- Maggie Gordon, Secretary