Nikko Lee's Blog, page 2

Levi Knowlton (1768-1842)

Levi Knowlton was born December 4, 1768 in Templeton, Massachusetts, the fifth child of Captain Ezekiel Knowlton and Ann Miles. The town had been incorporated only a few years prior in 1762. Ezekiel Knowlton moved to Templeton from Shrewbury shortly after marrying Ann Miles in 1759 with their first son Joseph born in Templeton in 1760. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Levi was too young to accompany his father and older brothers (Joseph, Stephen, and Ezekiel, who was only fourteen years old) when they enlisted in the American army. 

According to the 1790 census, Captain Ezekiel Knowlton’s household contained: four males over sixteen years of age (likely Capt Ezekiel, Ezekiel younger born in 1764, Levi, and Lyman born in 1774), one male under fifteen (likely Asaph born in 1780) and four females (likely wife Ann, Jemina born in 1768, Lucy born in 1776, and Anna born in 1778). August 8, 1790, Ezekiel writes from Templeton, Mass., to his brother Stephen in Newfane Vermont relaying his good health and asking about the “prospect for turning beef for salt in Wardboro this season”.  On Aug 8, 1790, Levi (Templeton) likewise wrote to his brother Stepen informing him of his own good health and soliciting communication from Stephen. On Feb 4, 1792, Levi wrote from Templeton to his brother Ezekiel who had removed to Newfane entreating him for news “The great distance and long absence of me from you makes me very solicitous concerning your welfare.”

In 1791, Levi’s eldest brother Joseph married Elizabeth Sprague. In 1795, Lyman had married Relief (Leafy) Whitcomb and established his household in Templeton, according to the 1800 census. Stephen married Comfort White in 1795 and remained in Worcester County. Miles had married Typhena Sprague in 1789 and lived in Templeton but later removed to Wardsboro, Windham County, Vermont. The younger Ezekiel had moved to Newfane, Windham County, Vermont as early as 1792, but it is unclear whether he owned land or worked for his uncle, Judge Luke Knowlton Sr. (1738-1810) upon his arrival. Newfane had become a focal point for the Knowlton family in Vermont following the arrival of Judge Luke Knowlton Sr, brother of Captain Ezekiel Knowlton, after the Revolutionary war in 1773. He was a prominent member of Newfane and represented the town at the General Assembly of the state of Vermont for several years.

In 1798, Ezekiel bought half an acre within lot ten in the first division of Newfane “with pearl ash works and pottery standing there on” from Edward Fullerton. Ezekiel obtained from the Windham County office a license to sell wine and distilled spirits for a year beginning Sept 30, 1799.  Ezekiel was the sole resident of his household on the 1800 census. Ezekiel reacquired the land from John Morse through a Sheriff’s sale on April 10, 1802. The deed of purchase lists Ezekiel’s residence as Stukely, Lower Canada. He later sold this half acre property to his cousin Luke Knowlton Jr in Sept. 8, 1807. Ezekiel “personally appeared” and signed the document.

It was not long before Levi moved to Newfane himself. On Nov 23, 1791, Levi purchased 46 acres consisting of lot thirty-four in the fourth division Newfane (also known as Pondsville and currently South Newfane) from Samuel William. Levi’s name also appears on several Newfane, Vermont, road and bridge petitions in 1794 and 1797, alongside his brother Ezekiel in the later petition. The brothers would have had much family in the area as During Levi’s tenure in Newfane, he would have heard about the availability of grants in Quebec from his uncle and cousins. In 1796, Silas traveled to Canada to take the oath to the Crown and begin working the land. He would later bring his family to Quebec and settled on land in Stukely, Quebec, instead of his aged father Judge Luke Knowlton Sr. The establishment of settlements in the previously known as Wastelands was a difficult endeavor and many adventurous young men had perished during the process or given up on their granted lands. Silas’ wife had died in childbirth in 1800 prompting Silas to send his young sons, Luke and Paul Holland, back to Newfane to live with his brother Luke Knowlton Jr. Levi does not appear on the 1800 census as head of his own household. It is tempting to speculate that he may have journeyed north to help clear land in Stukely with his cousin Silas.

Contact between the Newfane Knowltons and those entrepid few who settled in Stukely was maintained with Levi sending a letter to Samuel Willard (husband of Levi’s cousin Lucinda Knowlton) in regards to supplies. He requested “1 and half bushel of beans, half bushel of pease, 1 bushel of Herd’s grass seed”. On January 22, 1801, Luke Knowlton Jr. (son of Judge Luke Knowlton) officiated the marriage of Levi and Mary ‘Polly’ Morse (born Dec. 26, 1778; daughter of Jacob Morse and Sarah Mary Hawes) in Newfane, Vermont.

During this period, Levi and his siblings (Lyman, Ezekiel, Anna, Lucy and Asaph) were making preparations to depart for Quebec following their cousin Silas Knowlton. Levi sold to Samuel Kingston in February of 1801. The land was then sold to Joshua Morse then James Morse; both likely relations of Levi’s wife, Mary Morse. This lot is located just north of the South Newfane (or Branch Road) Cemetery along Auger Hole road, where Mary Morse’s parents and siblings are buried.

The exact date of departure of Levi and his siblings is not known. The ‘STUKELY-SUD Un survol de son passé’ by Jean-Paul Barrette and Jo-Ann Savage places the arrival in Stukely of brothers Levi, Lyman, Ezekiel (younger) and Asaph in 1801. Of the siblings, C. M. Day wrote: “Among the settlers who subsequently came to Stukely, were four brothers of the name of Knowlton, viz., Ezekiel, Levi, Lyman, and Asaph, cousins of Mr. Silas Knowlton, the first inhabitant of the Township. They came of an ancestry of high social standing in Southern Vermont...“

Levi and Mary had only one child, Polly Knowlton, was born March 10, 1802, in Stukely, Quebec. On October 1, 1802, Levi purchased lots 15 first range and 13 eighth range in Stukely from Samuel Willard (brother-in-law of Silas Knowlton). Levi made an additional purchase of lot 13 second range in Stukely from Jonathan Denning. Shortly thereafter, Mary Morse died on March 28, 1803. Although the Morse family history states that she died in Newfane, no legible gravestone or death record has been found (as of publication date).

It is unclear whether Levi trusted the care of his infant daughter to one of his unmarried sisters Anna (who married Captain John Brill of Bolton in 1832), Lucy (who married Amasa Elmer of Stukely in 1806), or his sister-in-law, Relief Whitcomb, who had several young children of her own, or returned to Newfane to live with her Morse grandparents. Levi did not remarry until Feb. 11, 1809 when he wed Philena Stone in Franklin, Vermont. Philena (1776-1850)  was the daughter of Ephraim Stone and Lucinda Chamberlain. Although she was born in and lived in New Hampshire, her father Captain Ephraim Stone, who fought in the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War, was among the first settlers of the township of Brome, as an associate of township founder Asa Porter. She is also known as Mrs. Butterfield. Her first marriage was to Ralph Buttersfield (1773-1802) who died leaving her with two small children. Levi and Philena’s first son, Miles Ezekiel, was born later that year on Dec. 29, 1809, in Stukely, Quebec.

Levi and Philena had two more children who died young, Ephraim Holland (June 9, 1812-March 17, 1814) and Eliza Caroline (May 23, 1816-February 8, 1827), born in Stukely. While Eliza’s grave is the oldest gravestone in the Knowlton family cemetery on Knowlton Maplehurst Farm, Potton, Quebec, Ephraim’s burial location remains unknown although the deed of sale for lot thirteen in the second range of Stukeley by Levi to his brother Lyman mentions graves located in the southeast corner of the lot.

Levi’s father, Captain Ezekiel Knowlton of Templeton, Mass, died in December of 1810. The estate was finally settled in May of 1812 by Levi’s brother Stephen with inheritances for each of his children including those residing in Lower Canada, who were represented by Leonard Stone at the settlement of the estate. Shortly after, the commencement of the war of 1812 saw restricted travel and communication across the border between British controlled Canada and the former British colony of the United States. The conflict was not resolved until 1814. It is not clear when Levi would have received his inheritance, but it may have been substantially delayed.

Letters between family members indicate recurring travel between Lower Canada, Vermont and Massachusetts. In a letter dated March 10, 1816, Judge Luke wrote to Samuel Willard he had expected to have seen Levi Knowlton in Newfane. The same year was known as the ‘year without a summer’ and was followed by two more poor summers. Significant snowfall was reported in Quebec with a man from the south shore of the St. Lawrence claimed snow ‘up to the axeltrees of his carriage’ June 13, 1816. The combination of poor growing seasons and inheritance money may have been the impetus for Levi to purchase land in the township of Potton on the shores of Lake Memphremagog directly across from Georgeville. The Eastern side of the lake became a travel hub linking the United States to Montreal and Quebec city. The Georgeville to Knowlton Landing lake crossing itself also provided a more direct link between Boston and Montreal than the Lake Champlain or Quebec city routes, which was also shorter than traveling around the northern end of Lake Memphremagog.

Copps Ferry, so named for its founder (settling there in 1797) and first ferry master Moses Copps (renamed Georgeville in 1822 in honor of the first child born in the settlement George Fitch Copps) became a waypoint along the road established west of lake Memphremagog from Vermont to the northern end of the lake known as the Outlet (renamed Magog in 1890). An easterly route across the lake was promoted by Copps and others as a means for traveling to Montreal saving the miles and hours northward around the lake.

In 1817, Levi purchased lot twenty-seven and twenty-eight in the tenth range of the township of Potton from Jonathan Weare. This land was originally a part of 6000 acres granted to Major General Lauchlan Maclean of the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants). Born in 1754 to Reverend Alexander Maclean and Christian MacLean of Boreray in Mull, Argyllshire, Scotland, Lauchlan was commissioned into the 84th regiment commanded by his maternal uncle Allan Maclean of Torloisk, known as the ‘saviour of Quebec’ for his arrival with his forces at Quebec city averting surrender to Benedict Arnold’s forces in 1775. Lauchlan’s brother, Captain John Maclean, also served in the 84th but was in the process of being transferred to Butler’s Rangers when he died in Halifax harbor during the sinking of Her Majesty’s sloop the North in 1779 following a collision with the armed ship St. Helena. John’s last will and testament bequeathed his estate to his sisters Isabelle and Mary, who married the author John Campbell. Lauchlan Maclean later joined his niece and family in Italy as he continued to rise through the ranks to Lieutenant Governor of Quebec in 1825. He died in 1829 and is buried in the English cemetery in Livorno, Provincia di Livorno, Toscana, Italy (which the British called Leghorn) along with his niece Elspeth Arbuthnot Campbell Crokat who died in 1825. It is doubtful that Lauchlan ever set foot in Potton. His land holdings in Quebec and Chatham, Ontario, were sold largely through brokers like James Green with the rest being inherited by Thomas Crokat and Anne Crokat Moberly, the husband and daughter of Maclean’s niece. EA Campbell Crokat's husband, Thomas Crokat, and their daughter Anne along with her husband George Moberly inherited Lauchlan Maclean's unsold Potton holdings and leased/sold them to the families that settled the north east corner of Potton (including George Davis, Samuel Drew, James Archiles, Hiram Haskins, Hugh Smith, Burnham George, Nehemiah Sweat, Harvey Woodbury, William King, Ivory Sweat, Amasa Perkins, Coffin Otis Wadley, Chauncey Woodbury, John Hussey, and David Taylor) some of whom occupied the land as early as 1825 according to census records with or without permission from the Maclean, Crokat, and Moberly families with early deeds dated 1847 through 1851.

The two northernmost lots of the tenth range were initially sold to Peter Weare in 1806 (lot twenty-eight; which abutted Weare’s lot twenty-eight tenth range in Bolton township) and 1812 (lot twenty-seven). Peter Weare sold these lots to his son Jonathan in 1806 and 1817 in addition to the land (lot twenty-eight in the tenth range Bolton) he had received as an associate to Nicholas Austin in the founding of Bolton Township. Jonathan sold this lot to Abraham Channell. The Weare resident on the edge of Lake Memphremagog was the start of the Old Magog Road that followed the present day Chemain de la Montagne through Bolton Pass and onto points westward, eventually to Montreal. This road was an established route even for settlers (such as Rexford, Hovey, and Ives families in 1793) who traveled up Lake Champlain through St. Armand and Frelishburg on their way to their new homesteads beyond the eastern shores of Lake Memphremagog. Local residents (including Moses George, John Dimond, Richard Holland, and John Brill) made a formal appeal to improve the ‘Old Magog Road’ was made in 1818 to the Grand Voyer Louis Rene Chaussegros de Levy, Esq, via proces verbal for formal establishment of the road and a front road from the Old Magog Road to along the division of the ninth and tenth rang. The road remained a challenging one and was described in 1823 as “...without a doubt, the worst, and most difficult road in the Townships; in some periods of the year it is even hazardous running over two ridges of mountains, from which the torments of rain in Spring and Autumn,  often rendered almost impassable by carrying away the soil.” among those roads in most need of repair. Levi Knowlton along with Chauncey Bullock and others received 1000 pounds from the government for further improvements to the road “from Copp’s ferry landing in Bolton across Brome, Dunham, Farnham, Monnoir, as far as the Mountain St. Therese” in 1830.

Peter Weare was only one of many Austin associates who sold their land in Bolton to move to the east side of the lake to settle around Copps Ferry (Georgeville) and other areas in Stanstead township. While the journey to Montreal to bring goods and livestock to market was long and arduous because of a lack of good roads and difficult water crossings, Stanstead county was connected to established roads in Vermont (the Hinsman Road reached Derby, Vermont, in 1794) and later Quebec City (via the Craig Road). It may be that the commercial prospects of the eastern side of Lake Memphremagog were more attractive than those on the western shores, until the introduction of a route from Boston to Montreal via Georgeville (and Knowlton Landing) established in 1824 for winter travel.

Levi’s purchase of his Potton holdings for $1725 was paid for in instalments and funded through the sale of his Stukely homestead to his brother Major Lyman Knowlton for $1300. The deed of sale to Lyman contains access rights for Levi and his heirs to the graves of his family members, presumably son Ephraim, who died in 1814, and possibly other children, and/or his first wife Mary Morse, who died in 1803. A preliminary search of the southeast corner of lot thirteen in the second rang Stukely in 2019 failed to find any trace of these early graves.

In 1821, Levi and his family (Philena, Polly, Miles, and Eliza) arrived in Potton. Although only twelve at the time, Miles was already learning from his father the art of carpentry. The father and son built houses and barns to meet the family’s and farm’s needs. The building materials came from the resources of the area: timber for lumber and potash, slate for foundation stones, clay for bricks and limestone for mortar. Levi quickly became a respected member of the Lake Memphremagog area. He and Samuel Burnham were the named executors of the estate of Abraham Fitz Channell, owner of the Camperdown boarding house in Georgeville. In 1823, Levi Knowlton was noted as being from Potton in a listing of awards for the  Montreal Agricultural Society at which he won ‘4rth place in fat oxen’. Years later, he would serve as vice-president of Stanstead Agricultural Society.

The earliest reference to the ‘Landing’ is in a description of the pursuit and capture of the smuggler and thief  Joel Harvey  who escaped Farnham toward Stanstead via the road in Bolton to Copp’s Ferry took shelter at the Drew’ tavern 6 miles from the ferry where he was apprehended and ‘unceremoniously hurried on to the Landing on the way to this city [Montreal]. While a wharf at the current location is present in the earliest drawings of the Landing in 1856, Moses George’s original landing point may have been south of Ritchie Point at Camper’s Beach.

As the community around Sargent’s bay, known as the Bay area, became a waypoint for early mail and a stage coach route, at first only in winter by ‘enterprising individuals residing at the Landing Memphremagog… same who have established Public House at the Landing’. As early as 1825, a proposed canal linking Lake Memphremagog to the Connecticut river was being researched. The 1825 census recorded six persons in Levi Knowlton’s household including: 1 person 6-14 yrs [unknown], 1 person 16 to 18 yrs [Miles], 1 married male 40-60 [Levi], 1 female under 14 [Eliza]; 1 unmarried female 14-45 yrs [Polly]; 1 married female 45 and upward [Philena].

Following the marriage of his first daughter Polly to Elliot Coolidge in 1826, the couple relocated to Bolton township having purchased lot 28 in the tenth range from Polly’s father, Levi Knowlton. The land is located on the western shore of Lake Memphremagog in present day Sargent’s Bay. This 150 acre lot had originally been granted to Peter Weare as an associate of Nicholas Austin. Peter had deeded the lot to his son Jonathan in 1798 later relocating to Stanstead on the other side of Lake Memphremagog. Jonathan sold the lot to Abraham Channel in 1810. Channel is believed to have exchanged lot 28 in the tenth range Bolton with Richard Holland for the Camperdown property in Georgeville. Richard Holland is reported to have maintained an inn on the Bolton lot before returning the property to Channel prior to moving to present day South Bolton.

On July 4, 1818, Abraham Channel sold lot 28 in the tenth range Bolton Township (also known as Channel Place) to John Dimond of Brome. John Dimond was married to Susan Stone, the sister of Levi Knowlton’s second wife Philena Stone. On a subsequent deed in 1821 for property in Brome, John Dimond of Bolton is noted as an inn holder. However, John Dimond’s stay in Bolton was short. By 1825, he sold Channel Place (then called Dimond Place) back to Abraham Channel and purchased land in Stanstead township. Abraham Channel then sold the lake side property to Levi Knowlton three months, who subsequently sold it to Elliot Coolidge (noted as farmer of Bolton) in 1826.

The 1820s brought a string of deaths among Levi’s immediate family. Levi’s brother Ezekiel died in 1823. Although problems settling Ezekiel’s estate are mentioned in an 1828 letter from brother Joseph of Massachusetts, who was in Potton likely visiting Levi, to brother Lyman Knowlton of Stukely. The next year brother Miles died of typhus fever in 1824. Their mother Ann Miles died following a severe cold in 1826. Levi’s own daughter Eliza Caroline died in February and was the first to be buried with a marked gravestone in the family cemetery at Knowlton Landing. Her life and death are memorialized by her gravestone in the family cemetery and a calligraphy of unknown date [photo?].

Beyond farming, Levi built an establishment that was among the first public houses on the eastern side of Lake Memphremagog. In 1828, he and his son finished construction of a  three story red brick building that has survived the test of time and ownership transitions (known as Tuck’s place, Pine Lodge, and l’Aubergine). The project likely took several years and came at a considerable cost to the family as Levi explained in an 1830  letter to his brother Lyman beseeching Lyman to send him money as the ‘building is much more expensive than I expected’. In addition to the barn and stable next to the house that have been torn down, Levi and Miles built a barn on the northeastern corner at the junction of present day Chemine (Ch.) Coolidge and Ch. du Lac, known to the family as the ‘small square acre’. This barn housed dual purpose shorthorn cattle used for milk, beef and oxen and was torn down by Levi’s great-grandson, Lyman Potter Knowlton in 1913. The space was used by the family for hay production and later a garden. It also served as an informal baseball field for Levi’s descendents.  

Levi served as the first postmaster of the post office in Knowlton Landing (known as North Potton) that opened possibly as early as 1830 and remained at the landing until May 6, 1839 when the post office was relocated to Dr. Gilman’s in South Potton. It would later return to Knowlton Landing from 1872 to its closure in 1932 with either Levi’s great-grandson, Lyman Potter Knowlton, as postmaster, or a member of the Tuck family, first John F. Tuck and then his daughter Martha Tuck. The post office was located in a small building that likely originally stood when Levi purchased the land and existing farm from Jonathan Weare. It or Levi’s home may have been the location where the department of the Commissioner of Lands collected rents on crown land leases.

Levi’s fortunes must have substantially improved by 1833 as he was able to lend money to Nathaniel Holbrook of Potton, who offered lot ten in the third rang Township of Potton as collateral. The sum was not repaid until many years later.

The 1830’s were a period of political unrest in Quebec both as a whole and in the Eastern Townships with the establishment of the Parti patriotes led by Louis Joseph Papineau. Settlers who grew up in the United States during and after the Revolutionary War found common cause with Papineau in wanting freedom from British rule. Levi Knowlton, like many prominent men of Stanstead county, attended Patriot political gathering in Potton (1835) and Stanstead Plains (1836). Levi was nominated to a Committee of Vigilance tasked with ‘watching over and promoting the best interests of this Township’. Other members included Cyrus Bates, James Manson, D. Miltimore, Jr., Moses Elkins, Jr., Horace Green, Charles Woods, Heman Norris, Nathaniel Holbrook, Abraham Holbrook, Levi Moore, Buswell Gilman, Jonathan Bailey, and Daniel Griffin. Levi’s toasts from the dinners that followed the meetings were:

“By Levi Knowlton Esq. Tory Reformers - Like the troubled sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

and

“Union and Strength – May this Province and her sister Provinces, like a strong band of brothers, stand firm in [defense] to their rights and the just rights of the crown.”

Although the Patriots political party was established with clear support for the British crown, they chafed under the restrictions imposed by the British government. It was not long before more radical members of the groups joined with Les Chasseurs (the Hunters) in promoting more violent means to achieve their goals. By 1837 and 1838, tensions had risen to the point of violence with anti-British rebels assembling in Vermont to organize cross border raid. At one such raid to acquire guns and ammunition from locals in Potton, one of the rebels was shot dead. In an attempt to control the rebellions in Montreal and the Eastern Townships, Sir John Colborn declared martial law five times between December 1837 and November 1838. With the later declaration, Major Head (Sir Francis Head) marched his unit to Stanstead to quell the growing unrest. Shefford dragoons were stationed at the Landing around Nov 1838 and were considered a target by Charles Wood. According to the testimony of David Miltimore, Charles Wood proposed routing the dragoons stationed at the Landing and the nearby residence of Whiting Rexford’s in Bolton. That same month a boat was sunk at Georgeville, purportedly to hamper communication from one side of the lake to the other, and Captain Alexander Kilborn was shot and wounded by rebels. While Levi Knowlton was close with several of the men charged in the Stanstead rebellion – namely Chauncey Bullock, Leon Channel (son of Abraham Chanell), George Dimond (Levi’s nephew) and Justin Ives – there is no indication that Levi was involved with the more militant members of the group who participated in the march on Stanstead Plains or the attack in Potton.

Levi Knowlton sold the remaining land he owned in Stukely and acquired lot nineteen ninth range Potton township from the clergy reserve through a crown grant. The lot was later sold by son Miles Knowlton to Moses W. Copps.

The 1842 census details Levi Knowlton’s household of four people (himself and wife Philena, with an unknown single female age 14-15, an unknown single female over 45 unknown who may have been boarders or relatives). His son Miles Knowlton lived in his own residence with his family. Levi and Miles occupied four hundred acres of which one hundred fifty acres were improved – altered from the existing forest to pasture,  field, housing lots or otherwise. Levi household production consisted of: 15 Winchester bushels of potatoes. He kept two bee hives and livestock, including: 20 cows, 1 horse, 14 sheep and 4 hogs. His household produced 16 yards of fulled cloth, 16 yards of non-fulled cloth, and 40 pounds of wool. Levi also tended a public house. The bulk of the farm’s production is attributed to Miles’s household.

Levi Knowlton’s journey came to an end on May 21, 1842 at the age of 73 yr 4 mth 17 days. He was entered beside his daughter Eliza Caroline in a family cemetery that would be the final resting place for five successive generations of Knowltons. Levi’s wife Philena survived him by nearly eight years dying at the age of 74 yr on April 8, 1850.

Genealogy brick wall: Belina Ellis's father

Like so many of my ancestors until I started writing my family history, Belina Ellis (1801-1876) was a name I'd read countless times on a headstone in our family cemetery. She was the wife of Miles Knowlton and mother of Lyman Knowlton, my great-great-great-grandfather, and Melinda Knowlton.

That's it.

Initially when I started looking into her own family, I had a hard time making head way. The census records indicate that she was born in Lower Canada. However, there were few records in the Eastern Townships during those early settlement years and those that exist require leafing through digital copies of church records. In 1831, Belina Ellis of the Township of Bolton married Miles Knowlton of the Township of Potton with witnesses Solomon Comstock and Jacob Giddings.

That was odd. No parents listed.

Then I came across Belina's adult baptism record when in 1837 at the age of 33 – hmmm that puts her birth year at 1804 – Belina Knowlton daughter of Marry Ellis was baptised.

The death certificate of Belina's daughter, Melinda, gives her mother's place of birth as Brattleboro, Vt.

I started scouring digital church records in Vermont and Lower Canada with no luck. Census records provided some Ellis families in Quebec, but fleshing out their trees revealed connections to Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts. But no Belina Ellis. Her name is unique. Several Belinda's, but no Belinas.

I followed the Marry [?] Ellis of Bolton rabbit hole coming up with nothing.

Then I started researching the witnesses at Belina and Miles's wedding. Who was Jacob Giddings and Solomon Comstock? Both were early settlers in the Eastern Townships. Jacob Giddings took his oath to the crown in 1798. Jacob Giddings was from New Hampshire. He was married to Lucy Woodbury and had three children by her before her death. The last being Stephen Giddings in 1793, who also moved to Lower Canada settling in Bolton near the Stukely line.

Hours of shifting through church records revealed a familiar name. Mary Grimes, widow of the late Jacob Giddings died in 1866, in West Bolton.

After that the pieces started falling into place.

Jacob Giddings and son George Giddings handled the estate of the late Charles Grimes selling his lots to Stephen Giddings. Mary Grimes is listed a few rows away from George Giddings on the 1861 census. Miles was a witness to George Giddings  marriage. George Gidding bought Miles's house after his bankruptcy to prevent him from loosing his house. I started pulling at threads until in reviewing the estate records for Miles Knowlton, I read that Belina Ellis was commonly known as Belina Giddings.

I suspect that Belina's birth father either died soon after she was born or parted ways with her mother and that George Giddings (1809-1879) is the son of Mary Grimes and Jacob Giddings. However, I have not found documentation to confirm that.

So it looks pretty good for Mary Grimes being Belina's mother and Jacob Giddings her adopted father. That just leaves Belina's birth father, presumably a Mr. Ellis. However, I've not found any marriage records from Mary Grimes in the USA or Canada. I know her parents moved from New Hampshire to Vermont and then Lower Canada.

But no Mr. Ellis with a daughter Belina has come into focus.

A Joseph Ellis of Newfane (Levi's residence for 10 years prior to moving to Stukely) bought property in Stukely, but whether he moved north or not is uncertain. There was a business man named Joseph Ellis who remained in Newfane through the 1830s. I've traces the lines of Orange Ellis of Shefford. Aaron Ellis of Stukely. And so on.

The search continues.

Pandemic, motherhood, and writing

The first few weeks of the pandemic were a blur of sheltering at home with two small children, one remote learning, and trying to get enough work hours in not to burn through my paid tiem off too quickly. Then came the busy days of summer and an acceptance of the new normal (made a little more normal by the kids going back to daycare). And so it is now fall. The schedule has chenged again with school resuming.

The one thing that hasn't resumed is my writing time. I've been plugging away at my family history project on random weekend mornings when I can get up before the kids. While I had already come to accept that my fiction writing would suffer, I hadn't expected another kind of writing loss; the loss of writing workshops.

While many workshops and author talks have moved online making them more accessible than ever, the vast majority of them occur on weekends or after 5PM. My days working at home are relatively quiet. Then the kids come home and chaos rains. My oldest's favorite game is for me to do exactly what she wants me to do. Mostly this means playing with her and generally not having a moment to myself. Weekends aren't any better.

Another NaNoWriMo approaches and I have no plans to do any writing. There just isn't any time inside my house and few to no venues for me to escape to for writing.

Ghost squirrels, one-star reviews, and representation

When my daughter was three, she decided that the painting on her wall had to go. After some difficulty, I finally got from that she thought a ghost squirrel had run across the painting and ruined it. Then I came up with the idea of making little paper foxes - her favorite animal at the time - guard the painting. After that she was willing to sleep in her room with the painting up.

I was thinking the story would make an intersting children's book. If you ask my daughter about it today, she will tell you that it was a shadow that crossed the painting, not a ghost squirrel. Stories change so much depending on who is telling them and when. It got me to thinking about who owns a story.

A few weeks ago, Julia Bouwsma gave a Zoom talk via the Bangor Public Library called EXCAVATING THE MIDDEN. She said something to the effect that retelling a story can be as traumatizing to those who are connected to it as the actual events. As I delve into non-fiction writing for my family history book, I've started to think about who those stories belong to and how to tell them respectfully.

In my push to re-publish Wolf Creek, I read a one-star review of it on Amazon. The reviewer was kind enough to point out that the writing itself was competent. It was the content that aggravated the reviewer who made a list tropes that Wolf Creek is unfortunately guilty of. Writing from the POV of a gay male was something I really struggled with. The review reminded me that as much as I may try to put myself in the shoes of a character, I am limited by my own perspective.

I think that's why it's so important to push for representation in publishing. Think of all the perspectives and experiences we are missing having a largely white, cis-male authorship. But here's the thing, we don't get books from those authors unless publishers think they can make money. So I'm trying to make an effort to bring diversity of authors to my library shelves. It feels like a contrived effort, because it is. But I think about Buddha's hierarchy of actions. Change starts with small, forced steps. Right actions can lead to right thought.

Polly Knowlton and Elliot Coolidge

(Exerpt from Knowlton Landing: A history of people and place by Michelle Nicole Knowlton Perry; last updated May 24, 2020)

 

Tintype (circa 1856-1860) imprinted with ‘MELAINOTYPE PLATE FOR NEFF'S PAT 19 FEB 56’. Found in the old granary (two room house converted into a grain storage) on Knowlton Maplehurst Farm (Potton, Quebec) in 2019. Believed to be Polly Knowlton.

 

Polly Knowlton was among the first generation of children born in Stukely, Lower Canada (Quebec). Born March 10, 18021, Polly was the only child of Levi Knowlton (born Dec. 4, 1768, in Templeton, Massachusetts; son of Captain Ezekiel Knowlton and Ann Miles)2 and Mary ‘Polly’ Morse (born Dec. 26, 1778; daughter of Jacob Morse and Sarah Mary Hawes)3. Luke Knowlton Jr. (son of Judge Luke Knowlton) officiated the marriage of Levi and Mary ‘Polly’ Morse in Newfane, Vermont, on January 22, 1801.4 Earlier that month, Levi had placed an order for supplies with Samuel Willard, presumably for Levi’s move to Stukely.5 The ‘STUKELY-SUD Un survol de son passé’ by Jean-Paul Barrette and Jo-Ann Savage places the arrival in Stukely of brothers Levi, Lyman, Ezekiel, and Asaph in 1801.6 Their cousin Silas Knowlton and his brother-in-law Samuel Willard had settled in Stukely in 1796.7

On October 1, 1802, Levi purchased lots 15 first range and 13 eighth range in the Township of Stukely from Samuel Willard (brother-in-law of Silas Knowlton).8 Levi made an additional purchase of lot 13 second range in the Township of Stukely from Jonathan Denning in Jan. 31, 1803.9 Shortly thereafter, Mary Morse died on March 28, 1803.10 Although the Morse family history states that she died in Newfane, no legible gravestone or death record has been found. The deed of sale of lot 13 in the second range to brother Lyman Knowlton contains access rights for Levi and his heirs to the graves of his family members, presumably son Ephraim who died in 1814 and possibly other children and/or his first wife Mary Morse.11 A preliminary search of the land in 2019 failed to find any trace of this early cemetery.

It is unclear whether Levi trusted the care of his infant daughter to one of his unmarried sisters Anna (married Captain John Brill of Bolton in 1832)12 and Lucy (married Amasa Elmer in 1806 before removing to Stukely)13, or his sister-in-law, Relief Whitcomb, who had several young children of her own. Alternatively, Polly may have been sent back to Newfane to live with relations. Levi did not remarry until Feb. 11, 1809, when he wed Philena Stone (Mrs. Buttersfield, first married to Ralph Buttersfield who died in 1800 leaving her with one or two small children who presumably died young) in Franklin, Vermont.14

Stukely is likely that Polly met her future husband, Elliot Coolidge (born Dec. 8, 1794, in Marlborough, New Hampshire; son of Hezekiah Coolidge and Esther Cleveland).15 Hezekiah Coolidge passed away when Elliot was only nine years old after falling from his wagon and sustaining a fatal head injury after the wagon wheel passed over his head.16 Esther remarried to Jonathan Frost, Jr., and her daughter Harriet married Asa Frost (Harriet’s step-brother). Asa’s uncles, Joseph and Jeremiah Frost, settled in Frost Village, Shefford, Quebec.17

Elliot Coolidge first married Nancy Gates Jan 22, 1818, in Marlborough, New Hampshire.18 It is unclear when Elliot arrived in Lower Canada and whether Nancy accompanied him and when or where she died. Prior to the marriage, Elliot Coolidge (noted as being of Marlborough N.H.) had purchased lot 25 in the third range in the Township of Shefford from his step uncle Joseph Frost.19 When Elliot purchased more land in Shefford, this time 43 acres located in lot 26 in the fourth range in the Township of Shefford from Jeremiah Frost, Elliot’s residence was listed as Shefford township.20 Elliot began selling his Shefford township land.21 His residence in an 1824 discharge record is Stukely.22

Following Elliot Coolidge and Polly Knowlton’s marriage on June 1, 1826,23 the couple relocated to Bolton township having purchased lot 28 in the tenth range from Polly’s father, Levi Knowlton.24 The land is located on the western shore of Lake Memphremagog in present day Sargent’s Bay. This 150 acre lot had originally been granted to Peter Weare as an associate of Nicholas Austin in the establishment of Brome township. Peter had deeded the lot to his son Jonathan in 1798 later relocating to Stanstead on the other side of Lake Memphremagog.25,26 Jonathan sold the lot to Abraham Channel in 1810.27 Channel is believed to have exchanged lot 28 in the tenth range in the Township of Bolton with Richard Holland for the Camperdown property in Georgeville.28 Richard Holland is reported to have maintained an inn on the Bolton lot before returning the property to Channel prior to moving to present day South Bolton.

On July 4, 1818, Abraham Channel sold lot 28 in the tenth range Bolton Township (also known as Channel Place) to John Dimond of Brome.29 John Dimond was married to Susan Stone30, the sister of Levi Knowlton’s second wife Philena Stone. On a subsequent deed in 1821 for property in Brome, John Dimond of Bolton is noted as an inn holder.31 However, John Dimond’s stay in Bolton was short. By 1825, he sold Channel Place (then called Dimond Place) back to Abraham Channel and purchased land in Stanstead township.32,33 Abraham Channel then sold the lake side property to Levi Knowlton three months later and it was subsequently sold to Elliot Coolidge (noted as farmer of Bolton) in 1826.34

John Dimond drowned in Lake Memphremagog during a winter crossing in 1831.35 He left behind a wife and eight children.36 The youngest of these children, Eliza Dimond, was adopted by Polly Knowlton and Elliot Coolidge.37 In 1848, she married Orrin Rexford and their son Dr. Elson Irving Rexford, became an educator of note38 serving as president of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers. John Dimond, Jr., like his father drowned during a lake crossing in 1860 and is buried in the Knowlton Landing cemetery  in the coffin originally built for James Baker Hoyt, an associate of Miles Knowlton in the Mountain House building who was presumed drowned but who had in fact escaped from debts by moving to Minnesota[44] .39-42

Polly and Elliot Coolidge were active in the Bolton school at the corner of present day Mountain Road and Coolidge Road (now Austin township).43 Polly likely taught at the school and Elliot served as chairman of the District 4 School Board from 1832 to 1834.44,45 The school, originally referred to as the Bay District school46, was later named the Coolidge school. Elliot also served as a Captain in the Township militia and justice of the peace.47 He contributed the use of oxen when the road leading from the ferry in Bolton through Brome was improved.48 Elliot was a member of the Stanstead Agricultural Society as early as 183449, and is noted to have won a prize at the Stanstead Agricultural Society cattle show of 1845 held at Langmaid’s Flat (Hatley, Quebec).50

While Polly and Elliot had no biological children, they adopted Eliza Dimond as well as Coolidge Elliot and Betsey Melvina Burnham, children of Samuel Burnham and Margaret Davis.51,52 Samuel Burnham was a neighbor and business associate of Levi Knowlton, often appearing together on legal documents such as the 1822 will of prominent Georgeville resident Abraham Channel53. He is buried in the cemetery at Knowlton Landing.54 Betsey later married Charles Bullock55, who was the son of Increase Bullock of Georgeville and the last captain of the steamer Lady of the Lake.56 In 1872, Polly Knowlton “being in declining health” bequeathed to Eliza Dimond all of lot 28 in the tenth range along with “all cattle, sheep, hay, grains, farming utensils, household furnitures”, the western half of lot 25 in the ninth range, and the western quarter of lot 26 in the ninth range all in the Bolton township.57 This last property Polly Knowlton obtained by letters of patent on Jan. 23, 1869.58 In addition, Polly’s will stipulated that Betsey Burnham receive $250 and Coolidge Elliot Burnham $100 while providing for Polly her living arrangements for the remainder of her years including a yearly stipend of $15, travel expenses to Boston to visit her friends, and a “good, steady horse harnessed a waggon or sleigh with suitable buffalo robes”.

Elliot Coolidge died Aug. 5, 1859,59 and Polly Knowlton died Sept. 3, 1886.60 Both are buried in the Knowlton Landing cemetery although their gravestones have fallen and Polly’s name is no longer visible. The Coolidge road passed their former property still bears their name.

The Coolidge school opened in 1829 with the building and property set aside for use as a school in 1831 with the deed of sale from Moses George, Jr., of the Bay district of Bolton, to the Trustees of the Bolton school of land for use as an elementary school.61-63 Some teachers who taught at the Coolidge school may have included:

Polly Knowlton
Samuel Burnham (1836)64
Eliza Dimond prior to her marriage in 184865,66
Whiting Ball (1875)67
Belle Davis (1888-1889)68
Eva Talbot (taught Coolidge resident Edmond Ethier around 1906)68
Miss Grace Pibus (1914-1915)70
Leena Greene (1915-1916)71
Miss M Hall of Farnham (1919-1920)72,73
Miss Marion Collins of Farnham (1921-1922)74
Miss Rose Joanette of Brigham (1922-1923)75
Miss Muriel Marshall of Henderson Vale (1924-1925)76
Miss Smith of Vale Perkins (1925-1926)77
Miss Laura Knowlton of Knowlton (1932-1934)78,79
Miss Alice Norwood of Montreal (1935-1936)80
Miss Iris Armstrong of Brome (1940-1941)81
Mrs. G. Wedge (1941-1942)82
Elsie (Davidson) Knowlton of Knowlton Landing (1942-1952)83
Miss Evelyn Paige (1950-1951)84.

The schoolhouse also served as a meeting hall and as a place of worship for many years. In 1935, a hot water tank was added.85 The East Bolton School Board sold the old schoolhouse in 1954 to the Knowlton Landing Women’s Institute.86 They used it as a meeting hall until they relinquished the deed of site for the schoolhouse to the Brome County Historical Society a couple of years before the group disbanded in 1978.87

Orchard Farm House, Knowlton Landing, Que. BAnQ Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie - Cartes postales. CP 11447 CON [Québec (Province)? : s.n., 19--?] http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52...

 

The Coolidge homestead (no. 1366 lot 28 tenth range township of Bolton)88 in Bolton was known as Coolidge place.89 After being bequeathed to Eliza (Dimond) Rexford and her husband Orrin Rexford in 1872, Orrin Rexford sold the property, with the house originally built by Jonathan Weare, to Angus Balthazar dit St. Martin in 1890.90 He operated the Orchard Farm House as a resort that boasted ‘Good fishing, boating, bathing, driving, and rates as low as $6 a week’ in 1905.91 By 1916, Angus St. Martin was advertising the property as for sale:92

“'ORCHARD FARM HOUSE (Knowton Landing, Que.) For sale. This beautiful property, known all over Quebec, as one of the finest Lakeside resorts in the country, is now offered for sale on reasonable terms. It comprises 124 acres of land, with 10 acres of frontage on Lake Memphremagog, and near the wharf and the post office. The extensive buildings are all well built, ' with all modern conveniences. Orchard House would make a magnificent Club House. Write for full particulars to Angus St. Martin, Orchard Farm House, Knowlton Landing, Que.”

The sale was noted as being ‘on the account of illness’ in 1919.93 Mrs. Mathilde (Grégoire) Saint-Martin, who passed away in 1921 and is presumed to be a saint as her body was intact when exhumed 17 years after her burial.94,95,96 The Orchard Farm House was finally sold to George H. Ducharme in 192697. The property was also known as Maple Leaf Lodge until 1934 then Woodacres (‘where wood and water meet’)98,99 with owners including: Dale Perry (1929)100, Montague “Monty” Elsdon (1950)101, Gorski and Wordorski (1961)102, and Albert Vidor. The original building first burned to the ground Oct. 1964103. Mr. Vidor bought the property and built a three story hotel104. Ray Perry bought Woodacres in 1974105. He sold Woodacres to Mr. John Gilday (around 1976)106 who sold it to three people.107 One of the owners, Mr. Bourassa, operated the hotel until it burned to the ground on New Year’s Eve 1982 killing a ten year old girl.108 The property was later purchased by a group of people who formed the St. Benoit Yatch Club.109

 

Beautiful Memphremagog: including scenes around Newport, Vt., Georgeville, Fitch Bay and Magog, Que. 1905. Newport, VT : The Express Standard. ark:/13960/t58d3n72w https://archive.org/details/BeautifulMemphremagog/page/n29

 

 

La tribune (Sherbrooke) 22 janvier 1966 pg 29 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3634243

 

Images:

●      Polly Knowlton. Collection of Rhoda (Knowlton) Potter

●      Orchard Farm House post card http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/7906 (19??)

●      Orchard Farm House advertisement https://archive.org/details/BeautifulMemphremagog/page/n29/mode/2up/search/orchard+farm+house (1905)

●      Woodacres ski lodge 1966 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3634243

 

Sources:

Calligraphy page in the collection of the late Viola (Cote) Knowlton, currently held by Rhoda Potter.
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Jan 9 Newfane 1801 Levi Knowlton to Samuel Willard re purchase of provisions BCHS Samuel Willard Fond (BCHS001) pg 579
Jean-Paul Barrette and Jo-Ann Savage. STUKELY-SUD Un survol de son passé. Paroisse St-Étienne de Bolton Société historique du comté de Brome . Stukely-sud.com
Day, Catherine Matilda. 1863. Pioneers of the Eastern townships [microform] : a work containing official and reliable information respecting the formation of settlements, with incidents in their early history, and details of adventures, perils and deliverances. John Lovell, Montreal; pg. 94. https://archive.org/stream/cihm_23072/cihm_23072_djvu.txt
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Morse, J. Howard , and Leavitt, Emily W. Morse Genealogy comprising the descendants of Samuel, Anthony, William and Joseph Morse and John Moss. Springfield printing; 1st THUS edition (1903) Accessed http://www.usgennet.org/usa/vt/county/windham/morsefami/pafc07.htm#15961C3
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Notary records of Danial Thomas no. 91. 9 Mar 1822. Deed of sale for 14 acres in lot 26 second range Shefford Township from Elliot Coolidge to Edward Parmenter.
Notary records of Danial Thomas no. 94. 9 Mar 1822. Deed of sale for 40 acres in lot 26 fourth range Shefford Township from Elliot Coolidge to William Thomas.
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Notary record Daniel Thomas no. 145. 10 Aug. 1826. Levi Knowlton sold 150 acres comprising lot 28 in the tenth range of the Township of Bolton to Elliot Coolidge for 115 pounds.
Notary records of Belanger. no 160. 17 Feb 1798. Peter Weare of Stanstead sold to son Jonathan Weare of Bolton all his land holdings in Bolton obtained through the patent with Nicholas Austin as leader for 100 pounds.
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Notary records Leon Lalanne. 6 April 1821. Deed of sale from John Dimond (innholder of Bolton) to Timothy Thayer of the easternly half of lot 8 sixth range and part of lot 7 in the seventh range both in the township of Brome. Of note the deed for the sale of lot 7 in the seventh range makes reference to Ball street that extends from Brome (present day Lac Brome village) to Lake Memphremagog.
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Mr. John Fritz Tuck, of Knowlton ’s Landing. Has Been Postmaster for Nearly Forty-Five Years: Thirteenth in series of Sketches of aged residents of the Eastern Township. Sherbrooke daily record, 26 février 1927. Page 30. http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52...
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Sherbrooke daily record 10 août 1916 pg 5 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3097604
Sherbrooke daily record, 28 août 1919 pg 8 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3099078
SHERBROOKE. QUE., SATURDAY. AUGUST 23, 1919. pg 11 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/jrn03/dn3097/src/1919/08/23/5274927_1919-08-23.txt
Sherbrooke Record  23 avril 1921 pg 3 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3100784
Wagner, Serge, and Langlois, Maurice. 2008. Cemeteries of Austin: The Benedictine Cemetery and the exhumations. Cultural Committee of Austin. https://municipalite.austin.qc.ca/english/history-and-heritage/historical-publications
Registre des Fonciers du Quebec. 1926 Sept 2, No. 50505 Reg. B Vol. 71 pg. 584
The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) June 16, 1934 pg. 20 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/456421219/
Sherbrooke daily record 27 juillet 1934 pg. 3 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3001144
Registre des Fonciers du Quebec. 1929 July 29, No. 52947 Reg. B Vol. 73 pg. 96
Registre des Fonciers du Quebec. 1950 Jan. 18, No. 90
Registre des Fonciers du Quebec May 29, 1961, No. 85022
La tribune (Sherbrooke) 18 novembre 1964 pg 4 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3636995
La tribune (Sherbrooke) 22 janvier 1966 pg 29 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3634243
The Sherbrooke record, 28 janvier 1975 pg 3 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2944361
The Sherbrooke record, 10 mars 1976 pg 14 http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2944659
Knowlton, Ralph Sr. 2001. History of Knowlton Landing. Unpublished
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/02/A-New-Years-Day-fire-destroyed-a-ski-resort/2900378795600/
Yacht Club St. Benoit. A propos. http://www.yachtclubstbenoit.ca/sample-page/

Lyman Knowlton (1833-1903)

Lyman Knowlton was born April 1, 1833, to Miles Ezekiel Knowlton and Belina Ellis (commonly
known as Giddings). His siblings included a brother who died Christmas day of 1840 at the age
of 2 weeks and five days and a sister, Melinda Mariah Knowlton, born April 23, 1842, who later
married Osgood Peasley Brown and relocated to Luenburg, Massachusetts.
Little is known about Lyman’s early years on the farm. Presumably he attended the Coolidge
School (Bolton District no. 4) named after his uncle Elliot Coolidge, who married Polly Knowlton
and operated the farm just north of Knowlton Landing.
Lyman married Sarah Mariah Potter September 4, 1856, in Georgeville, Quebec.
In 1862, Lyman’s father Miles was forced to mortgage 300 acres of the farm and subsequently
that land was sold at sheriff’s auction to Charles Channell who sold the land to John Carter
Tuck. This land included the red brick building built by Levi and Miles upon settling in Knowlton
Landing and the lands leading down to the wharf. The red brick building was sold to John’s son
John Fitz Tuck, who operated a boarding house in the building known as Tuck’s House. Lyman
was able to reacquire a portion of the land, namely lots 1090, 1093 and 1097, from Charles
Kathan in 1890.
In 1875, Lyman served on the Potton Agricultural Society as the representative of Hebert (Vale
Perkins) and served as president of the Brome County Agricultural Society.
Lyman and Sarah had only one surviving son, Lyman Potter Knowlton, who was born July 17,
1874.
Lyman’s father, Miles Knowlton, passed away in 1882 from injuries sustained in a barn fire
where he attempted to save his horse. Upon their father’s death, Lyman and his sister Melinda
relinquished their rights as Miles’s heirs in order to settle the outstanding debts Miles had left
unresolved. This led to the sale of Mile’s house and the goods contained within.
Elected to the Potton municipal council in 1897.
In 1898, Lyman was involved in a stage coach accident on the road between Mansonville village and
its train station, when the sleigh and its occupants were swept away by high waters of the Missisquoi
River. The driver, James Kinerson, and horses perished while the three passengers (Lyman
Knowlton, Ed Perkins and Edgar Blanchard) clung to a tree until rescue.
June 20, 1903, Lyman composed his will being ‘sick in body but of sound and disposing mind
memory’ in which he established his wife, Sarah Maria Potter, as his sole legate and moneys for his
grandson John Morris Knowlton. Lyman would pass away October 20, 1903, after a long illness.

Sarah Maria Potter (1833-1920)

When the farm was sold, this portrait of my fourth great-grandmother was found. It was originally from the old farmhouse where I spent the first seven years of my life. The portrait is currently in my bedroom. Every night before I go to sleep, I look at her and wonder about all she had seen in her long life.

Sarah Maria Potter was born June 12, 1833, in Meriden, Connecticut, to Albert Rodney Potter (1800?-1837) and Jerusha Ives (1807-1861). Her grandfather Joel Ives was one of teh first settlers of Hatley, Quebec, arriving in 1793 with his family in a group that included other famous family names of Stanstead county, namely, Rexford and Hovey. Jerusha Ives was born in Hatley, but returned the the USA at some point. Albert Potter's father John Potter moved out west to Tallmage, Ohio. Albert's half-brother Dr. Zaphania Potter became a doctor of note.

Albert and Jerusha also had a son, John M Potter (1835-1885), who is buried in the Ives cemetery in Georgeville, Quebec, along with his mother even though he spent most of his life in New Hampshire. Albert died in 1837, leaving Jerusha with two small children. At some point she returned to her family in Quebec. Jerusha remarried and was the third wife of Chauncey Bullock of Georgeville. The 1901 census gives Sarah's immigration year as 1855.

The connection between Georgeville and Knowlton Landing was a long standing one because of the ferry service and eventual stage coach route between the two towns that formed a more direct route from Boston to Montreal than the one through Magog.

When Sarah was 23 years old, she married Lyman Knowlton (son of Miles Knowlton and Belina Ellis). It would be another 18 years before they would have their first and only child, Lyman Potter Knowlton (also known as Lymie or Big Grampy). Her husband Lyman was often away from the farm either because he was earning extra money to pay off the debts his father had accrued due to some failed business ventures or that he led a controversial lifestyle in Montreal - accounts differ among family members. During this time, Sarah took charge of matters on the farm. Her house was also the boarding house for the farm help. No doubt keeping them fed and in order provided her with a busy life before and after her son was born.

Sarah outlived her husband and saw the birth of seven grand-children. In January of 1922, Sarah suffered a broken hip from a fall and went to live with her son until her death the following month.

Middle-class, middle-aged, xennial working mother on parenting, the unequal division of household chores, and books that help

A couple of years ago when I turned 40, I was still getting up several times a night to feed my 4 month old with my 2.5 year old tagging along even in the wee hours of the night. Since having children I've been forced to confront those age old questions that first started plaguing me when I hit puberty: who am I, what is my purpose?

I went from being a person used to a lot of alone time, space and quiet to living with two whirling tornados of bodily fluid and bodily parts that might shriek for no reason other than to see how loud they can be. I've become a comforter, a referee, an activities coordinator, wiper of buggers and butts, and supplier of milk and snacks. There are benefits too. Unexpected giggles, full being hugs, a reason to play, requirement for creativity, need for flexibility and patience etc.

Gone are the hours I could spend thinking about and writing fiction. Gone is the ability to just go do something because I want to do it. Gone are the weekends full of arduous hikes followed by relaxing on the couch. Gone are the nights of only getting up to use the bathroom. Gone is even the guarantee of a hot meal or being the only person occupying my seat.

I struggle to hold onto the hobbies that once brought me so much fulfillment. I try not to let my parenting responsibilities interfere with work. Yet it constantly feels like I'm failing all around.

Don't get me wrong. There are wonderful, heart warming moments that do affirm that I made the right choice in having children. However, I'm often left with this feeling in the pit of my stomach. Discontent? Yearning for an idealized life BK (before kids)? A sense of rage at the disparity in the perceived duties of mothers versus fathers and a growing list of household chores that default to the person in the house, taking care of the kids?

Forcing myself to get out to writing workshops helps. Reading books about all of this helps. Painting helps. Remembering that I am a highly skilled scientific curator with two black belts who has traveled miles helps. Knowing that I'm not alone helps.

Here are some books that I found informative or entertaining and why:

How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn - Being a mother sucks for so many reasons, but if you don't communicate your needs and expectations resentment toward your partner will build and that will harm your relationship.

Becoming by Michelle Obama - Don't be limited by societies expectations of mothers. Stand up for the value of your work and your needs as a mother. If something isn't working, fix it. Don't wait for your husband to be someone he isn't. Use your resources (helps if you have lots of money) to make your life the way you want it to be.

All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership by Darcy Lockman - Feeling like you are working two jobs as a working mother? You are and it sucks for all of us. Society's expectations of parents have evolved, but that only means more to do and most of that falls on mothers. Be proactive in partitioning parental duties and household chores. Step back and require your partner to step up.

The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children by Alison Gopnik - A nerdy examination of the evidence for how children work. Surprise they aren't just small, defective adults. Children are learning machines that take what we know and build on it ensuring the survival of the human race. The role of parents is constantly evolving, but their ultimate function is to provide safe learning environments and let their kids be. Unfortunately, our society is not set up for caring for others (young and old) and letting them learn at their own speed in their own way. And congratulations, if you are a woman, you are going to be expected to both provide and care for others without much support.

Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun - Feeling burnt out? Pulled in too many direction by work, parenting, and caring for your parents? Welcome to midlife. The freedoms we gen Xers enjoyed as children came without parental or community safeguards, no wonder we helicopter or have anxieties (or both). Midlife should be a time to redefine your goals in life and prioritize yourself now that your children have left the house, but with many gen Xers having children later in life and often also caring for aging parents.

One Bad Mother (podcast) with Biz and Theresa - This is my tribe, over-worked parents who celebrate their geniuses and fails and rant about the parts of parenting while trying to be a person that truely suck.

So other than burning through Audible credits (because I have no time to sit and read but spend lots of time commuting)?

Shrug.

I'm trying to give voice to when I need help, knowing that no one if going to voluntarily take on more work. I try to prioritize myself and my own interest that make me feel like a person, but often fail. I try to embrace my children for who they are and continue to be amazed at how they see, react, interpret and learn from the world around them. I try to be kind to myself and compliment other parents.

And I just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Polly Knowlton and Elliot Coolidge

(Exerpt from Knowlton Landing: A history of people and place by Michelle Nicole Knowlton Perry)

Polly Knowlton was among the first generation of children born in Stukely, Lower Canada (Quebec). Born March 10, 1802, Polly was the only child of Levi Knowlton (born Dec. 4, 1768, in Templeton, Massachusetts; son of Captain Ezekiel Knowlton and Ann Miles) and Mary ‘Polly’ Morse (born Dec. 26, 1778; daughter of Jacob Morse and Sarah Mary Hawes). Luke Knowlton Jr. (son of Judge Luke Knowlton) officiated the marriage of Levi and Mary ‘Polly’ Morse in Newfane, Vermont, on January 22, 1801. Earlier that month, Levi had placed an order for supplies with Samuel Willard, presumably for Levi’s move to Stukely. The ‘STUKELY-SUD Un survol de son passé’ by Jean-Paul Barrette and Jo-Ann Savage places the arrival in Stukely of brothers Levi, Lyman, Ezekiel, and Asaph in 1801. Their cousin Silas Knowlton and his brother-in-law Samuel Willard had settled in Stukely in 1796.

On October 1, 1802, Levi purchased lots 15 first range and 13 eighth range in Stukely from Samuel Willard (brother-in-law of Silas Knowlton). Levi made an additional purchase of lot 13 second range in Stukely from Jonathan Denning in Jan. 31, 1803. Shortly thereafter, Mary Morse died on March 28, 1803. Although the Morse family history states that she died in Newfane, no legible gravestone or death record has been found. The deed of sale of lot 13 in the second range to brother Lyman Knowlton contains access rights for Levi and his heirs to the graves of his family members, presumably son Ephraim who died in 1814 and possibly other children and/or his first wife Mary Morse. A preliminary search of the land in 2019 failed to find any trace of this early cemetery.

It is unclear whether Levi trusted the care of his infant daughter to one of his unmarried sisters Anna (married Captain John Brill of Bolton in 1832) and Lucy (married Amasa Elmer in 1806 before removing to Stukely), or his sister-in-law, Relief Whitcomb, who had several young children of her own. Alternatively, Polly may have been sent back to Newfane to live with relations. Levi did not remarry until Feb. 11, 1809, when he wed Philena Stone (Mrs. Buttersfield, first married to Ralph Buttersfield who died in 1800 leaving her with one or two small children who presumably died young) in Franklin, Vermont.

It is likely that Polly met her future husband, Elliot Coolidge (born Dec. 8, 1794, in Marlborough, New Hampshire; son of Hezekiah Coolidge and Esther Cleveland) in Stukely. Hezekiah Coolidge passed away when Elliot was only nine years old after falling from his wagon and sustaining a fatal head injury after the wagon wheel passed over his head. Esther remarried to Jonathan Frost, Jr., and her daughter Harriet married Asa Frost (Harriet’s step-brother). Asa’s uncles, Joseph and Jeremiah Frost, settled in Frost Village, Shefford, Quebec. 

Elliot Coolidge first married Nancy Gates Jan 22, 1818, in Marlborough, New Hampshire. It is unclear when Elliot arrived in Lower Canada and whether Nancy accompanied him and when or where she died. Prior to the marriage, Elliot Coolidge (noted as being of Marlborough N.H.) had purchased lot 25 in the third range in Shefford township from his step uncle Joseph Frost. When Elliot purchased more land in Shefford, this time 43 acres located in lot 26 in the fourth range Shefford Township from Jeremiah Frost, Elliot’s residence was listed as Shefford township. Elliot began selling his Shefford township land. His residence in an 1824 discharge record is listed as Stukely.

Following Elliot Coolidge and Polly Knowlton’s marriage on June 1, 1826, the couple relocated to Bolton township having purchased lot 28 in the tenth range from Polly’s father, Levi Knowlton. It is located on the western shore of Lake Memphremagog in present day Sargent’s Bay. This 150 acre lot had originally been granted to Peter Weare as an associate of Nicholas Austin. Peter had deeded the lot to his son Jonathan in 1798 later relocating to Hatley on the other side of Lake Memphremagog. Jonathan sold the lot to Abraham Channel in 1810 with Jonathan still maintaining the lands right across the township line in Potton that would later become Knowlton Maplehurst Farm (lot 28 and 27 in the tenth range Potton). Channel is believed to have exchanged lot 28 in the tenth range Bolton with Richard Holland for the Camperdown property in Georgeville. Richard Holland is reported to have maintained an inn on the Bolton lot before returning the property to Channel prior to moving to present day South Bolton.

On July 4, 1818, Abraham Channel sold lot 28 in the tenth range Bolton Township (also known as Channel Place) to John Dimond of Brome. John Dimond was married to Susan Stone, the sister of Levi Knowlton’s second wife Philena Stone. On a subsequent deed in 1821 for property in Brome, John Dimond of Bolton is noted as an inn holder. However, John Dimond’s stay in Bolton was short. By 1825, he sold Channel Place (then called Dimond Place) back to Abraham Channel and purchased land in Stanstead township. Abraham Channel then sold the lake side property to Levi Knowlton three months later and it was subsequently sold to Elliot Coolidge (noted as farmer of Bolton) in 1826.

John Dimond drowned in Lake Memphremagog during a winter crossing in 1831. He left behind a wife and eight children. The youngest of these children, Eliza Dimond, was adopted by Polly Knowlton and Elliot Coolidge. She later married Orrin Rexford and their son Elson Irving Rexford, became an educator of note. John Dimond, Jr., like his father drowned during a lake crossing in 1860 and is buried in the Knowlton Landing cemetery in the coffin originally built for James Baker Hoyt, an associate of Miles Knowlton in the Mountain House building who was presumed drowned but who had in fact escaped from debts by moving to Minnesota.

Polly and Elliot Coolidge were active in the Bolton school at the corner of present day Mountain Road and Coolidge Road (now Austin township). Polly taught at the school and Elliot served as chairman of the District 4 School Board from 1832 to 1834. The school was later named the Coolidge school. Elliot also served as a Captain in the Township militia and justice of the peace. He contributed the use of oxen when the road leading from the ferry in Bolton through Brome was improved. Elliot is noted to have won a prize at the Stanstead Agricultural Society cattle show of 1845 held at Langmaid’s Flat (Hatley).

While Polly and Elliot had no biological children, they adopted Eliza Dimond and Betsey Melvina Burnham, daughter of Samuel Burnham and Margaret Davis after Samuel’s death in 1850. Samuel Burnham was a business associate of Levi Knowlton and neighbor. He is buried in the cemetery at Knowlton Landing. Betsey later married Charles Bullock, son of Increase Bullock of Georgeville. In 1872, Polly Knowlton “being in declining health” bequeathed to Eliza Dimond all of lot 28 in the tenth range along with “all cattle, sheep, hay, grains, farming utensils, household furnitures”, the western half of lot 25 in the ninth range, and the western quarter of lot 26 in the ninth range all in the Bolton township. In addition, she gave Betsey Burnham $250 and Coolidge Elliot Burnham (son of Samuel Burnham and Margaret Davis) $100 while providing for Polly her living arrangements for the remainder of her years including a yearly stipend of $15, travel expenses to Boston to visit her friends, and a “good, steady horse harnessed a waggon or sleigh with suitable buffalo robes”.

Elliot Coolidge died Aug. 5, 1859., and Polly Knowlton died Sept. 3, 1886. Both are buried in the Knowlton Landing cemetery although their gravestones have fallen and Polly’s name is no longer visible. The Coolidge road passed their former property still bears their name.

Polly Knowlton was granted the western quarter of lot 26 in the ninth range Bolton Township containing 50 acres by letters of patent on Jan. 23, 1869 (Sessional Papers, Volume 21, Issue 2 Pg 327).

The Coolidge school was built in 1830. An 1831 deed of sale from Moses George, Jr., of the Bay district of Bolton, for use as an elementary school. Some teachers include possibly Polly Knowlton, Samuel Burnham (1836), Eliza Dimond (1848; Sherbrooke daily record, 1897-1969, 23 février 1935, samedi 23 février 1935), possibly Emily Davis (listed as a teacher on the 1881 census), Belle Davis (1888-1889), Leena Greene (1914-1916), Miss M Hall of Farnham (1919-1920), Miss Marion Collins of Farnham (1921-1922), Miss Rose Joanette of Brigham (1922-1923), Miss Muriel Marshall of Henderson Vale (1924-1925), Miss Smith of Vale Perkins (1925-1926), Miss Knowlton of Knowlton (1932-1934), Miss Alice Norwood of Montreal (1935-1936), Miss Iris Armstrong of Brome (1940-1941), Elsie (Davidson) Knowlton (1942-1952).

The Coolidge homestead in Bolton was known for a while as Coolidge place. Later it was the site of the Orchard Farm House, run as a boarding house by Mr. Ducharme in 1924/6. The property was also known as Maple Leaf Lodge and later Woodacres. It was sold to Mr. Dale Perry (1929) then Monty Edison (1952) and Mr. Vendor who likewise operated it as a hotel. The original building first burned to the ground Oct. 1964. Mr. Vendor rebuilt a three story hotel in its place. It was bought by Mr. Ray Perry in 1974. He sold Woodacres to Mr. John Gilda who sold it to three people. One of the owners, Mr. Bourassa, operated the hotel until it burned to the ground New Year’s Eve 1982 killing a ten year old girl. The property was later purchased by a group of people who formed the St. Benoit Yatch Club.

The question all women authors hate

I've read several articles about women authors who faced the question all women who work or create:

What will happen to your writing now that you are a mom?

The question comes in many forms and some not as open ended as I've put it. Often there is an unspoken expectation that a woman's life is over - at least until said children begin attending school - once a child is born. Some women have the presence to be incensed. Others have witty comments. Still some are able to turn that question around on the often male, often with children of his own, questioner.

Maybe I'm lucky that I have not had that question asked of me. It's probably more a reflection of where my writing is at. But I still feel the pressure of that question. I find myself trying to reassure friends and family that this gap in writing output is temporary. I had thought it would be more temporary that it actually has become. My own children are now 5 and 3, with one newly minted preschooler. I've managed to complete, submit and get accepted one short story since the birth of my youngest. Plus there's that pile of incomplete writing efforts and ideas gathering dust.

As much as I would like to claim that children don't impact my writing, they do. My spare time is spent playing with and caring for said children or catching up on errands that have been left unattended for too long. All the other parts of my life continue regardless of children, plus all the child related activities and duties.

My non-fiction writing project is taking the bulk of the spare minutes I can find here and there when no one is tugging on my pants leg.

So has my writing suffered since having kids. Yes, there's less time to do it. No, there's almost always an excuse even without children. I make an effort to attend a regular writing group and sign up for workshops. I'm hopeful that like that time I broke my thumb and couldn't spar, I will become focused and bolder when I can write.