CGYHU for March 2021

Below is the Carmine Guica Young Historians Update for March 2021. 

 

For more information, assistance or to arrange a program, please e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com or call 802-226-7807.

 

The CHS Winter 2021 newsletter is now available on-line and includes an in-depth article on Epidemics/Pandemics. This is all the more timely as March 11 marks the beginning of the 1918 Flu pandemic.

 

March is both National Women’s History Month as well as Irish-American Heritage Month. For years I’ve made Irish soda bread, played wake games, and shared Irish heritage with our students on or about March 17. Each year we have a project, such as making St. Brigid’ crosses or learning to draw a Celtic knot.  Since the Irish have a long tradition working with metals, last year I purchased wire and planned to teach the students about this craft by making Irish inspired rings. If there is a way we can make this happen, happy to visit the school or work with a home school pods. In the meantime, I’ve included my Irish soda bread recipe at the end of this post. Another Zoom option is having Bob (my husband who is a fiddler who plays in an Irish band) join a class with his twin fiddle partner to talk about and demonstrate Irish music.

 

NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: This year’s theme is “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to be Silenced.” The CHS blog has been running a series for the last several years called Cavendish Women You Should Know. Below are links to stories about Cavendish Women

First Ladies of Cavendish: Political/Postmaster & other town positions

“Keepers”of Cavendish history

Beyond Cooking and Cleaning An overview of what life was life for women who helped to settle Cavendish as well as women who worked in the mills, owned businesses as well as those who worked in health care, including three sisters who became doctors.

Beyond Cooking and Cleaning: Cavendish Teachers

Young Women Entrepreneurs-Artists Lily Calabrese and Miranda Kae Jewelry 

Phyllis Bont

Ethel Roosevelt Derby

Barbara Phillips/Cavendish Mills

Natalia Solzhenitsyn & Yekaternia Svetlova

Taylor Tice Outer Limits Brewery

Mary Mattison van Schaik

• March 8 (Monday): International Women’s Day: This year’s theme is  Choose to Challenge.

• Down load a free copy of Think Like a Girl: A Coloring Book of Women Pioneers in STEM

• Women’s History Month: The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

• Native Women Making Change: Free program from the National Museum of the American Indian

• National Women’s History Museum  The Museum offers free 30 minute electronic field trips for classes on a wide variety of historic topics, posters and much more for students and teachers. https://www.womenshistory.org/students-and-educators

• VT’s Commission on Women

 

IRISH-AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH: March, with St. Patrick’s Day, is a good time to talk about the influence of the Irish on Vermont and Cavendish. Please see my note at the beginning of the post about program options. 

• National Archives Irish American Heritage Month

• Samhain in Vermont from the Burlington Irish Heritage Festival. This  includes an hour long film including dance and music from Ireland performed by local

• Pre-Famine Irish in Vermont, 1815–1844 Vermont History 74 (Summer/Fall 2006): 101–126.© 2006 by the Vermont Historical Society.

 

 

 

HISTORICAL DATES FOR MARCH

• March 4, 1933: Franklin Roosevelt delivered his famous inaugural address “"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself...”

• March 5,1770: The Boston Massacre The first man killed was Crispus Attucks, an African American.

• March 10, 1862 - The first issue of U.S. government paper money occurred as $5, $10 and $20 bills began circulation.

1880 - The Salvation Army was founded in the United States. The social service organization was first founded in England by William Booth and operates today in 90 countries.

• March 11, 1918: The 'Spanish' influenza first reached America as 107 soldiers become sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. One quarter of the U.S. population eventually became ill from the deadly virus, resulting in 500,000 deaths. The death toll worldwide approached 22 million by the end of 1920.

• March 15, 44 B.C: “Beware the Ides of March,” Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate.

• March 17: Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

            1776 – During the American Revolution the British completed their evacuation of Boston following a successful siege conducted by Patriots. The event is still commemorated in Boston as Evacuation Day.

• March 21: First day of Spring

• March 22, 1972 - The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Senate and then sent to the states for ratification. The ERA, as it became known, prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender, stating, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," and that "the Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." Although 22 of the required 38 states quickly ratified the Amendment, opposition arose over concerns that women would be subject to the draft and combat duty, along with other legal concerns. The ERA eventually failed (by 3 states) to achieve ratification despite an extension of the deadline to June 1982.

• March 23, 1775 – Patrick Henry gave his famous speech, which ignited the American Revolution before the Virginia convention in Richmond, stating, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

• March 28, 1979 - Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident occurred in which uranium in the reactor core overheated due to the failure of a cooling valve. A pressure relief valve then stuck causing the water level to plummet, threatening a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. The accident resulted in the release of radioactive steam into the atmosphere, and created a storm of controversy over the necessity and safety of nuclear power plants.

• March 29, 1974 : After having been expelled from Russia, the Nobel Prize winner and Soviet dissident, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, was reunited with his wife and family after a six week exile in Switzerland. The family would ultimately settle in Cavendish in 1976. Read an account of his arrival from the New York Times

• March 30, 1981: Assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan

CCC Volunteers

• March 31, 1933 - The Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, was founded. Unemployed men and youths were organized into quasi-military formations and worked outdoors in national parks and forests. One of the CCC camps was located in the Proctor Forest in Proctorsville. This area is being restored. If there is interest, CHS can arrange for a walking tour there in the spring.

 

Famous people born in March: Glenn Miller (1^st), Sam Houston (2^nd), Alexander Graham Bell (3^rd), Michelangelo (6^th) Amerigo Vespucci (9^th), Claire Boothe Luce (10^th), Scientist Joseph Priestly-discovered oxygen (13^th), Lucy Hobbs-first female American dentist (14^th), Andrew Jackson (15^th), James Madison (16^th), Grover Cleveland (18^th), BF Skinner-psychologist (20^th), Johann Sebastian Bach (21^st), Harry Houdini (24^th), Tennessee Williams- playwright (26^th), John Tyler (29^th), Vincent Van Gogh (30^th), Franz Joseph Haydn (31^st). 

 

Irish Soda Bread

 

Recipe from Brenda Gregory’s, former Cavendish resident, mother who was from County Cork, Ireland. This is a very typical Irish recipe

 

4 cups white flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 cup sugar (I use unrefined, raw or turbo sugar)

 

• Blend the above.

• Cut in small lumps of butter 1 and ½ sticks and blend. Will have the consistency of a pie dough.

• Add 1 cup currants and 1 and ½ cups buttermilk and ¼ cup caraway seeds.

• Blend until mixed.

• Form a large ball and divide in half.

 

On a large baking sheet (use parchment paper) lay each half. Not too close together as they spread. You can use two cake pans or cast iron skillets.

 

Can brush tops with a mix of 1 egg yolk plus 2 T of water and then sprinkle with sugar. (I don’t do this). Make sure to make cuts across and side ways (cross shape) to "let the fairies out."

 

Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes

CHS Winter Newsletter 20

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

May 29 (Saturday): Annual Plant Sale from 8:30-Noon. Early bird sale on Friday May 28 from 6-7 pm.

May 30 (Sunday): Museum opens for the season-Covid dependent-on Sundays from 2-4

June 19 (Saturday): Midsummer Night’s Eve Cavendish Village Ghost Walk. Meet at the Museum at 8 pm.

July 31 (Saturday): 11^th Annual Cavendish Town Wide Tag Sale. 9-2.

September 12 (Sunday): Annual Phineas Gage Walk & Talk, meet at the CHS Museum at 2 pm. Walk portion is about a mile and a half and includes a visit to the accident site.

 

BETWEEN TWO MILLSTONES: BOOK 2

 

In the Fall issue of the CHS newsletter, we included an excerpt from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s memoir Between Two Millstones, Book 2: Exile in America 1978-1994 which was recently translated into English.

 

CHS has received a generous donation from Pieter van Schaik: Having just completed reading Between Two [Millstones] I am eager to contribute to an effort to get local residents to actually read this book. His donation is meant to enable the CHS to acquire and distribute copies to interested individuals …and request each reader relay their thoughts about the book to you upon reading it so that the local feedback will become part of the historic record.

 

CHS has copies of the book to share with locals who wish to read it and comment on it. To obtain a copy, please call 802-226-7807, e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com or mail PO Box 472, Cavendish VT 05142.

 

 

LEARNING FROM HISTORY: Characteristics of Epidemics/Pandemics

 

In less than twelve months, CHS has given three talks on pandemics/epidemics and written various articles for the newsletter (Cavendish & Vermont Flu Pandemic 1918, Summer 2020 edition) as well as at the CHS blog. Clearly it’s a timely topic.

 

During events like Covid-19, people become curious about the past in the hopes that it can explain the present and what the future might hold. With that in mind, below are characteristics that apply to epidemics/pandemics that started occurring about 10,000 years ago with the domestication of animals in Europe, Asia and Africa

 

"All of the great diseases from smallpox to measles to influenza ... [did not] exist in the Americas because they didn't have any domesticated animals. When the Europeans came over, it was as if all the deaths over the millennium caused by these diseases were compressed into 150 years in the Americas. The result was to wipe out between two-thirds and 90 percent of the people..It was the worst demographic disaster in history." Charles Mann 1491 1493:Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

 

This has happened before, yet all pandemics end at some point. As noted by Marcus Aurelius,—the same plot from beginning to end, the identical staging.

Every storm runs out of rain (Maya Angelou).

 Pandemics/epidemics don't last forever but new ones will need to be faced.

 

The immediate reaction is Fear, which can result in panic-fight, flight, blame, despair, conspiracy theories, civil unrest and cruelty.

 

As much as possible, people flee where the outbreak is happening to a place perceived to be safer. This can help spread disease.

 

They also will “fight” in an effort to have some sense of control over a situation that is very much out of their control. The outbreaks of plague in Renaissance Europe sparked rumors of malicious plague spreaders, that ranged from high-ranking officers and doctors to the lowest levels of workers –cleaners, cartmen and gravediggers. They were singled out for a variety of reasons including self-interest and gain. Jews  were blamed during various bouts of plague, resulting in full scale persecution.

 

In Vermont (VT) second home owners and tourists are frequently blamed for Covid. While the VT Department of Health demonstrated that the fall outbreak was due to Vermonters going out of state, contracting the virus and bringing it back to families, co-workers and social gatherings (Halloween parties), the comments persisted.

 

The Great Dying

People also turn inward. During the pandemics that devastated the Native Americans after the arrival of Columbus, as well during the Antonine Plague that contributed to the fall of Rome, people looked at it through the lens of their gods and cosmologies. The belief that their gods had forsaken them caused some to despair and commit suicide.

 

While the extremes seen in past epidemics/pandemics are not as pronounced during Covid, they are none the less at play. Without normal routines and jobs, dwindling finances, the mandates to “stay at home” and reduce travel,  combined with fear and anxiety, people can act in ways they normally wouldn’t. The influx of calls to suicide hotlines, protests, riots-now occurring all over the world, and even “cancel culture,” are very much in line with how people respond during pandemics.

 

Those living on the margins are at risk: The reasons are varied but can include: inability to escape from where the pandemic is occurring; poor living conditions, including overcrowding and dense pack; more likely to have other health issues; malnutrition; no access to information due to language and literacy barriers; lack of access to health care; and discrimination. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to violence during times of quarantine and social isolation for a variety of reasons including the inability to temporarily escape abusive household members.

 

Women face heightened risk of exposure to Covid 19 as nearly two-thirds (64.4 percent) of frontline workers are women. Center for Economic & Policy Research April 2020 A VT State report finds women have been disproportionately affected. The economic downturn associated with the pandemic has also seen a uniquely large impact on women's financial stability and economic security. VT Commission on Women 6/29/20  

 

Civil unrest occurs In the journal Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 2020; 26(3):20200045 a review of protests and unrest around the time of 57 epidemics between the Black Death in the 1300s and the 1918 Flu Pandemic, found only four occasions where revolts were not clearly connected with the respective outbreaks. There is evidence to demonstrate that epidemics can disrupt civil society in three ways. Firstly, because policies to prevent the spread of disease can conflict with people's interest; secondly because the epidemic's impact on mortality and economic welfare can worsen inequality; and finally due to the psychological shock that can lead people to believe irrational narratives regarding the spread of disease, "which may result in social, racial discrimination and even xenophobia."

 

People act in their own interests/ Scammers  & Misinformation abound along with Conspiracy Theories. In the most extreme situations, such as the Plague, surrounded by death and suffering, inevitably people begin to question the rules of law and morality.

 

During the 1918s, there were "anti-mask" meetings. When there was a polio outbreak in Vermont in 1917, and quarantine was ordered, a civil suit was filed  by Community Chautauquas. Today there are groups who believe mask wearing is a civil liberties issue with little regard to public health.

 

The more risky the situation the more snake oil salesmen surface. With the Internet, they're having a field day. Causes, treatments, and cures are touted with no evidence to support their claims. Some websites are even selling vaccines. Many do not take the time to separate fact from fiction and untold damage is done by misinformation and the spreading of it via social media.

 

“Connecting the dots” is what humans do so we can understand our lives and how we live in the world. When we are scared, in a state of crisis, fear, uncertainty, or feel powerless-the perfect storm that a pandemic can create- we desperately try to make sense of things. In the attempt to make connections and see patterns, it’s not uncommon to string random and unrelated bits of information together and draw conclusions that not only aren’t correct, but can spin into conspiracy theories

 

Politics and Pandemics do more than start with P: They go hand in hand. Five minutes of reading or watching current news makes this all to obvious. The 1918 flu pandemic was the worst flu pandemic in recorded history, and it was likely exacerbated by a combination of censorship, skepticism and denial among warring nations. Thanks to the 1918 Sedition Act, which made it a crime to say anything the government perceived as harming the country or the war effort, many newspapers downplayed the risk of the flu as well as the extent of its spread.  

 

As Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor,  noted in the 2nd century Antonine Plague,  however bad the physical disease surely was, one thing was even worse-the mental plague of corruption, vice and moral decay.

 

Patty Stern

The Heroes: It’s not surprising that people are more concerned about the damaging effects of the pandemic rather than the incredible contributions many are making. Our brains are wired for a negative bias, as remembering threats to safety and well-being were key to early human survival. That noted, the incredible sacrifices and efforts being made by front line health care workers, grocery workers, community action organizations and beyond is amazing. As Fred Rogers often noted during difficult times, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

 

PVFD

Note: The picture is of Patty Whittle Stern, a Proctorsville resident who is an ER nurse at Mt. Ascutney Hospital. She posted a “selfie” showing the importance of taking the next step of vaccination to help end the pandemic. Members of the Proctorsville Volunteer Fire
Department, demonstrated how they continue to care for themselves and community by showing their vaccination cards.

 

Health impacts won’t be known for decades. Research of people born during or just after the 1918 flu pandemic found that mothers who got sick in the first months of pregnancy, had babies who, 60 or 70 years later, were unusually likely to have diabetes; mothers afflicted at the end of pregnancy tended to bear children prone to kidney disease. The middle months were associated with heart disease. Another example is  “shingles,” which you don’t develop unless you’ve had chicken pox at some point, often as a child.

 

On the plus side, descendants of plague survivors seem to carry a gene that made them more likely to be “non progressors”-don’t develop full blown disease- when they contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

 

The long term consequences of Covid won’t be known for years, but preliminary indications are that a subset of people continue to battle fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint and chest pain, as well as other symptoms, long after their initial illness. How long this will persist is unknown.

 

 

Change follows. The Antonine plague was the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire while at the same time ushering in Christianity. The black death of the middle ages made the Renaissance possible. It also paved the way for literacy (all the clothes that were left could be turned into paper); a middle class (they needed a work force and the serfs demanded a living wage), and  the beginning of the shift from the “old scholars” approach to medicine to empirical based evidence.  

 

The flu of 1918 made major changes in the United States public health and strategies of masking, social distancing and lock downs are once again being used today to stop the spread of Covid.

 

The AIDS epidemic revolutionized health care, from new means of treatments for cancer and other diseases, to how the FDA fast tracks drugs and allowing compassionate use. It also ushered in the age of HIPAA and confidentiality.

 

The environment can also change. "The Great Dying of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas led to the abandonment of enough cleared land that the resulting terrestrial carbon uptake had a detectable impact on both atmospheric CO₂ and global surface air temperatures. " Quaternary Science Reviews March 2019.  Colonization and deaths from pandemics resulted in the “Little Ice Age,”

 

We’re only at the beginning of how this pandemic will change our culture and society. The mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) are pioneering a new field of medicine that will result in new vaccines and treatments for diseases such as heart failure, Cystic Fibrosis, AIDS, and  hepatitis. Telecommuting will continue to expand while education at all levels will change. The one thing we’ll miss, and we had a preview of it on Dec. 17 when four feet of snow dropped on Cavendish in a 24 hour period, are snow days. Remote learning is still possible in a snowstorm. Many are commenting about how they haven’t had a cold or flu since they’ve been masking, so it’s likely Americans will adopt the mask in much the same way other parts of the world have done.  

 

No matter the situation-war, extreme loss, devastation, crisis-the number one response of is resiliency. This is true across the board for all cultures. It's wired into the human DNA. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t challenging, but people have endured a lot worse, and come through just fine minus the dire consequences predicted by headlines to the contrary.

 

From 1916-1920, the people of Cavendish had to endure, a polio epidemic, 2 different outbreaks of measles, and the worse flu in human history. Schools were periodically closed, and women who worked in the mills, and many did, had to try to make childcare accommodations as best they could. Some of the epidemics were so wide spread the Mills couldn’t operate, which meant lost wages. Death was a constant reminder of the seriousness of these diseases. Men were being called up to serve in WWI and to top it off there was a shortage of sugar, salt, coffee and coal, with the latter being the worse. Yet they continued on.

 

The children were not scarred for life. Instead, they learned resiliency at an early age, an important skill they would rely on as they would grow up to become “the Greatest Generation,” by winning WWII.

 

BECOME A MEMBER, RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP, DONATE

 

If you have not joined the Cavendish Historical Society, need to renew your membership, and/or would like to be a volunteer, please complete the form below and sending a check, payable to CHS, to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. All contributions are tax deductible.

 

Name: _______________________________________

 

Address: _______________________________________________

 

 

Phone Number: _____________________          E-Mail: ____________________________

Membership Level

__ Individual Member $10       __ Senior Member 65+ $5       __ Sustaining Member $500

__ Household Member $15                ___ Contributing Member $250                               

 

Volunteer

___ I would be interested in serving, as a volunteer .I would be interested in serving on the following committee(s):__ Program Planning       __ Fundraising  __ Building (Museum)

__Archives                      _ Budget          ­­–– Cemetery    __ Carmine Guica Young Historians

 

Donations are always welcome and can be designated as follows:

__ For general purposes               __ Young Historians                  __Publications

__ Archaeological Activities                _ Museum & Archival             __ Special Events

__ Rankin Fund                            __  Williams Fund                    __ Solzhenitsyn Project

__ Other (please specify)              __ Cemetery Restoration           __ Preservation Projects

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PETER TUMBO/TUMBER: REVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERAN, ABOLITIONIST & FORMER SLAVE

In 2016, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) posted a story Safe at Last in Cavendish, based on information obtained while conducting an oral history of Dr. Gene and Phyllis Bont. Phyllis related a story that was told to her about a pregnant slave who came to Cavendish via the underground railroad. She had supposedly lived on property that she and Gene once owned across from the Coffeen Cemetery.  (South Reading Rd and originally part of the Coffeen Farm).

 

As it turns out, the name of “Charlotte” became key to unlocking the true story of who once lived on the Bonts’ property on the South Reading Rd. Note the Bonts sold the property in 1987 to Foxford Farm.

 

Sandy Stearns, author of “Cavendish Hillside Farm 1939-1957,” recalled that her childhood friends (Cady family) had a grandmother who remembered a Charlotte Tumbo/Tumber, who was of African descent and lived on the property that Phyllis mentioned. Sandy's research found Peter Tumber, Charlotte's father, in the Cavendish town records.

 

A review of town documents, Internet searches, contacting historical societies, as well as genealogists, a fascinating story started to unfold. 

 

In 1832, the abolitionist newspaper, “The Liberator,” along with “The Vermont Watchman” & “State Gazette” carried a notice that read, On Jan 30, 1832, Peter Tumbo, “colored man”, aged 106 died in Cavendish, VT. 

 

Town records have no record of his death or burial. We suspect he was buried in the Coffeen Cemetery, a private cemetery that did not require a burial permit and therefore would not be recorded.

 

Peter Tumbo is referred to in Cavendish records as Peter Tumber. What we’ve been able to confirm, while possibly sufficient to qualify for a Revolutionary War Veteran marker, still leaves numerous questions.

 

 If you have any information, or would like to help investigate more about Peter Tumbo/Tumber , please e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com or call 802-226-7807.

 

Below is the timeline we’ve constructed, followed by testimony of Charlotte Tumber, Josiah French and Jabez Proctor.  

 

Born in Africa and brought to America via slave ship

 

1775-1783: Served in the Revolutionary War. See testimony below

 

1780: Marries Phyllis Vaughn in Roxbury. Over the years multiple children are born to them as recounted by Dr. Ames in his diary. (Roxbury Historical Society)

 

1795: Warned out of Roxbury Mass (Roxbury Historical Society)

 

1804: Charlotte Tumber is born in Windsor VT (Death Certificate) In Charlotte’s testimony-see below- she said that her parents came to Cavendish in 1795. Windsor may reflect the county and not the town.

 

1805: Buys 50 acres of land in Cavendish from Lake Coffeen ( town records). Lake, with his parents, were the first settlers in Cavendish. He was a Revolutionary War veteran and is believed to have fought in the battle of Bunker Hill. More than 100 African American and Native Americans took part in this battle. (National Park Service: Patriots of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill)  Is it possible that Coffeen and Tumber’s paths crossed during the war? Could that be the reason Tumber came to Cavendish?

 

1812: Married Polly Job of Cavendish ( town records)-no information about his first wife’s death

 

1820 &1830 Census: Counted as head of household

 

1823: Land reverts to the town (town records)

 

1832: Tumber dies.

 

1850: Charlotte lived in Reading with Charles Buck’s family of 5. Probably a servant. Her last name was spelled Tamber. (Census data)

 

1870: Charlotte is living in the household of Merrium Sherburne (black) in Reading and is listed as “keeping house.” Probably housewife.

 

1871: Charlotte Tumber dies at 67 years of age (She is believed to be buried in the Coffeen Cemetery)

 

The testimony below, taken as part of obtaining a Revolutionary War pension for the widow of Prince Robinson, not only confirms Tumber’s veteran status but also suggests that he wasn’t 106 at the time of his death. His daughter states that he was given his freedom at the age of 21, soon after the war ended. Since the war ended in 1783, he would have been considerably younger than 106 at the time of his death.

 

Coffeen Cemetery

Rumor has long persisted that a runaway slave named Charlotte and her sister are buried in the right hand corner of the Coffeen Cemetery. Charlotte was never a slave. Given that Tumber remarried in 1812, it’s possible that his first wife Phyllis Vaughn is buried in the Coffeen Cemetery. While we have found a death certificate for Charlotte, confirming place of birth and death, we have found no burial record. As noted above, burial in a private cemetery did not require a permit.

 

Charlotte Tumber’s Affidavit:  "I, Charlotte T. Tumbers of Cavendish, aged 33 years on 18 Jan. 1837. (She made her affidavit before Judge Calvin French of Proctorsville 7 July 1837.) "I am the youngest daughter of Peter Tumber and Phillis Tumber, deceased. I have known and been acquainted for many years with Prince Robinson, a Black man, late of Rutland and with his wife now is Widow Anna Robinson, now living in Rutland.

 

That my father and mother were both Black people; and I have often heard both, my father and Prince say that they were African-born and had been imported and sold as slaves in this Country before the Revolutionary War.

 

My father was last a slave to a Quaker by the name of Tripp, who gave my father his freedom when he supposed Tumber had arrived to the age of twenty-one year, which was soon after the war, and then he went to reside in Roxbury, Mass. [He married in Roxbury, Charlotte’s mother Philesta “ Phillis” Vaughan 24 Feb. 1780].

 

 I have often heard my parents say that Prince and his wife moved into Cavendish with them about 42 years ago (1795). Prince was lawfully married to Anna, his present widow, also a Black woman, during the Revolutionary War and I have always understood it was on Long Island. I have heard my father tell a great deal about a Mr. Clark, a justice of the Peace, who was said to have married Prince and Anna, that he knew Mr. Clark.

 

I have often heard both Prince and Ann tell the same story, that they were married while Prince was in the Army by the same Justice of the Peace, Mr. Clark. I have many times heard a great deal more from both of them about their service in the war. I have also heard Prince relate that he was to be free when the war closed, and that he was freed accordingly. I have no doubt that my father related the story of Prince and Anna's marriage from his knowledge of the fact; as he was always an upright and conscientious man, and would never assent anything that he did not know or believe to be true."  Signed Charlotte T. Tumber. 

 

Affidavit of Josiah French of Cavendish, 15 Sept. 1837: "I, Josiah French of Cavendish.. aged 72 yrs.  "I was acquainted with Peter Tumber, deceased for about 40 yrs. previous to his death which took place five or six years ago and during all the above time said Tumber was an inhabitant of the Town of Cavendish, and as I believe he was reputed to be a man of good moral character, and sustained a good reputation for truth and veracity. He was a very industrious man and had acquired a small property consisting of a farm of about 50 acres. He was a man of good natural abilities and intelligent for one of his grade. He was believed to have been a soldier in the American Army of the Revolution.  I further testify and say that I am acquainted with Charlotte T. Tumber, daughter of Peter Tumber and Phillis Tumber, have been acquainted with her for fifteen or twenty years. She has the reputation of a very honest person and a person of truth and veracity, sustaining a good moral character as for as I am informed. —Josiah French (before Calvin French, Justice). —

 

Affidavit of Jabez Proctor of Cavendish:,  "I, Jabez Proctor of Cavendish, aged fifty-seven years, do depose and testify: I was acquainted with Peter Tumber for about forty years previous to his death which took place five or six years ago and that he was during said period, a resident of Cavendish aforesaid. His general reputation for truth and veracity was good. His uniform moral character was considered good and he was not reputed as being in the habit of embellishing stories. I have understood from him and I should think from others, that he was a soldier in the American Army of the Revolutionary War.

 

Said Tumber did not draw a pension to my knowledge, having died near the passage of the Act of Congress of 7 June 1832, and could not, I suppose draw under the Act of March 18, 1818 in consequence of having acquired by industry, a small farm of about 50 acres of land and some stock and other property. He was an intelligent man for one in his grade and respected. I also further testify and say that for a number of years I have been somewhat acquainted with Charlotte T. Tumber and that so far as I am informed, she sustains a good moral character and was reputed as being a person of truth and veracity and further this deponent sathe not. —Jabez Proctor (before Judge Calvin French).