Book I
1798-1915
This book is currently out of print.
Every year more and more people come from out-of-town to visit the graves of their families and to trace family histories. Interest in genealogy has skyrocketed and accounts for a sizable portion of tourism. The Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing and the Stowe Area Association find that 60% of all Vermont tourists come to the state for history-related purposes (compared with 50% nationally). A large part of those historical purposes concerns genealogical information found in cemeteries.
Air pollution, theft, vandalism, the elements and improper maintenance destroy cemetery memorials and obliterate their inscriptions. Cemeteries are the history of a community. In order to preserve the history of Stowe and Stowe cemeteries, the Stowe Cemetery Commission and certified genealogist Pat Haslam have collaborated to produce the Annotated Cemetery Book. Book I includes the work from Ms. Haslam's 28 years of Stowe research, extensive cemetery maps, photographs and lists everyone buried in Stowe cemeteries. Information from long lost, but recently recovered, old records and maps is a part of the book as well.
The Book includes many whose remains are buried and whose ashes are scattered in Stowe, but outside the cemeteries. The Book commemorates the 200th anniversary of the burial of young Willie Utley who was the first person to be buried in Old Yard Cemetery. This Book will be used and cherished by residents and tourists alike, and is dedicated to the memory of those who remains rest in Stowe.
The 350 page book is illustrated and has an every-name index, cross-indexed with maiden names of wives where known. Ms. Haslam has annotated the inscriptions by checking vital records for death dates not inscribed on memorials and by comparing them with cemetery record books, the 1919 Gravestone Inscription File, and her own personal collection on families. She enlisted the help of the Stowe Historical Society to assist in the remaining work at the River Bank Cemetery, the last Stowe Cemetery completing this project.
Book II
This is a must companion to Patricia Haslam's Book I, the 1998 The Annotated Cemetery Book, Stowe, Vermont, 1798-1998: Histories and Inscriptions. Not an update nor errata, this Book documents more than 300 newly-discovered burials with no grave stones, and brings to 39 the known Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Stowe. This Book is the result of discoveries made by Ms. Haslam during the preparation of her 1998 book where she found there were more burials in Old Yard, West Branch, and Riverbank Cemeteries than corresponding markers. Who were these people?
Using the burial record books of Old Yard/a.k.a. Center Cemetery, the West Branch and Riverbank Cemeteries and "Record of Age and Death of Stowe People" by Jess S. Towne 1896, Ms. Haslam identified and then cross referenced those names WITHOUT grave markers. For verification, Stowe and Vermont Vital Records and the U.S. Census were three of the primary sources consulted. The compiler's 38 year collection of family information, published genealogies, online databases and other secondary resources were also used.
For those researchers and family historians who are fairly certain that an ancestor died or was buried in Stowe, this Book is a major time saver. For example: Little was known about Mr. Kelsey and Mrs. Z.W. Bennett. A search of the 1810 census revealed Giles Kelsey was living with son Nathan. By consulting the KELSEY GENEALOGY, 1950, Ms. Haslam found that this Mr. Kelsey is identified as a Revolutionary War soldier from New Hampshire who died at Stowe, 9 Oct 1824. Mrs. Z. W. Bennett is known now as Sophia, wife of Zebina, age 41 died 25 June 1837.
For those who have a general interest in the people of Stowe, this book will quench their curiosity.
The Book contains facsimile pages from the four burial books, extensive annotations, photos, a list of epidemics in Stowe and causes of death during the 19th century. The Book is 8.5"x 11" and has a leather-flex, TRADE COVER with a sewn binding.
This unique resource and methodology may be the first of its kind. It will be invaluable to historians and genealogists.