First Day in Rhode Island
Jul. 7th, 2011 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pagerdThis is the house my grandfather's grandfather, Harlan, was born in.
When they built the new grammar school in the seventies, one of the proposed uses for the land that the old school was built on was a park. The park never happened; most of the building was torn down and the remnants are being used for the Gloucester Light Infantry storage. The land was originally donated by Harlan's father.
I met the woman who drew up the poster. Edna Kent is the town historian. She let me stash my stuff at her house while I hiked up the hill to take pictures.
The adults of the family that live in the house weren't home, but I talked to the daughter as she was leaving. She mentioned her grandmother, who was at home in her house next door, used to live there. I knocked, introduced myself, and asked if it was okay to take pictures of all sides of the house. She agreed and I got started. She came out to talk to me after I took one or two pictures. She told me they didn't stop calling it Page Hill until she was a little girl. Harlan's mom sold the land after the death of her husband around 1850. A Page hasn't lived there in one hundred and sixty years. I would have talked to her longer (I wish I had a tape recorder with me), but I had to catch the last bus back to Providence.
It was .61 miles one way from Edna's house on Dorr Drive according to maps.yahoo. The farm was called "Page Hill" and the house was at the top. I just googled a topographical map. Remember, the closer the lines, the steeper the hill. Page Hill is the second dot to the left of the "S" in Spring.
Edna also looked in her files after meeting me earlier in the day. (I did the trek up the hill after Town Hall closed.) She found a "provenance" of the house the current owners had done in her files. I'm returning to Chepachet (pronounced "Cha-PATCH-it") on Monday to get copies (she doesn't have a scanner, and I didn't have the wand scanner with me, so we're meeting at the library (which was closed today). She doesn't have email or a scanner of her own.
I had a REALLY good day. (Oh, I also found the probate records for Harlan's dad's death; he died intestate, so the heirs went to probate court more than usual. I have 13 pages of 1842 handwriting to decipher.)
When they built the new grammar school in the seventies, one of the proposed uses for the land that the old school was built on was a park. The park never happened; most of the building was torn down and the remnants are being used for the Gloucester Light Infantry storage. The land was originally donated by Harlan's father.
I met the woman who drew up the poster. Edna Kent is the town historian. She let me stash my stuff at her house while I hiked up the hill to take pictures.
The adults of the family that live in the house weren't home, but I talked to the daughter as she was leaving. She mentioned her grandmother, who was at home in her house next door, used to live there. I knocked, introduced myself, and asked if it was okay to take pictures of all sides of the house. She agreed and I got started. She came out to talk to me after I took one or two pictures. She told me they didn't stop calling it Page Hill until she was a little girl. Harlan's mom sold the land after the death of her husband around 1850. A Page hasn't lived there in one hundred and sixty years. I would have talked to her longer (I wish I had a tape recorder with me), but I had to catch the last bus back to Providence.
It was .61 miles one way from Edna's house on Dorr Drive according to maps.yahoo. The farm was called "Page Hill" and the house was at the top. I just googled a topographical map. Remember, the closer the lines, the steeper the hill. Page Hill is the second dot to the left of the "S" in Spring.
Edna also looked in her files after meeting me earlier in the day. (I did the trek up the hill after Town Hall closed.) She found a "provenance" of the house the current owners had done in her files. I'm returning to Chepachet (pronounced "Cha-PATCH-it") on Monday to get copies (she doesn't have a scanner, and I didn't have the wand scanner with me, so we're meeting at the library (which was closed today). She doesn't have email or a scanner of her own.
I had a REALLY good day. (Oh, I also found the probate records for Harlan's dad's death; he died intestate, so the heirs went to probate court more than usual. I have 13 pages of 1842 handwriting to decipher.)
