Collectible New England History Books For Sale

• Art
• California History
• New England History
• Geneaology

Take a look at the fascinating first 100 years of Windham County, Vermont

Title:

Publishing Info:

1774-1874 Centennial Proceedings and Other Historical Facts and Incidents Relating to Newfane, The County Seat of Windham County, Vermont

D. Leonard, Steam Job Printer, Brattleboro, Vermont, 1877. Presumed 1st edition.

Condition:

Very Good. Brown/Maroon cloth boards, 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 256 pgs. No jacket.  Beveled boards, light bumping & edge wear.  Blind stamped with bright gilt decoration & lettering on the cover. Spine shows some fading of cloth and gilt stamping. Headcap & endband bumped and slightly frayed, but book is square, straight, and tight.

Engraved portraits of prominent citizens throughout with tissue guards. Pages show some fading, but text and portraits are bright and clean. Overall Very Good condition.

Flyleaf has handwritten notes: "Frances Morse Kendall," "Keep in the Reed Family," and "Pages 159 to 172 - Morse History." Those pages have pencil markings related to the previous owner's ancestors.

History:

The chapter titled "Family Genealogies" begins on page 155 and "The Morses of Newfane" section is for the third family listed in the chapter, which may indicate the Morses were among the founders of the town. There are many other families included in the genealogy chapter.

The book includes many fascinating stories of the harsh early circumstances and hardships of the earliest settlers in this part of the country before it became the state of Vermont. Most of the stories are told as personal memories by town elders recalling their childhoods.

One story describes the the burning of the log cabin home of a local farmer, who died in the fire with his wife and five children. Another relates what the storyteller believes to be the last public whipping at a public whipping post before a state law was passed that created the first prison. "Old Mother White" was convicted of passing counterfeit money, lashed to the whipping post, stripped to the waist, and dealt thirty-nine lashes by the High Sheriff and seven of his deputies "...some of whom applied the blows with great vigor."

Price:

$89.00