Historic 1888 Shaftsbury Signature Quilt

Quilt Block #33 - Quilt Signers:

Burton Barrett

Burton A. Barrett was born in Hinsdale, New Hampshire on 28 September 1869 to Jewett G. Barrett and Lydia (Vaughn) Barrett. After the death of his father, Lydia marries Peter Elwell 4 January 1886. When the quilt was signed in 1888 Burton would have been 19. Minnie Amidon, his future wife, would have been 16 and both were single.

Minnie H. (Amidon) Barrett was born 29 November 1872. Only her mother Addie Amidon was listed on her birth certificate with the abbreviation Ill. for illegitimate) Four years after the quilt was signed Burton and Minnie marry on 20 January 1892 when she was 19 and he was 22.

The census of 1900 records Burton (30) and Minnie (27) living in Bennington on Mount Anthony Street. They have three children Elmer (7), Luella (5) and Arthur (9). The also have one boarder Albert Downs (58) and a servant Reuben Green (48).

The 1910 census documents the family living on Bennington Road. Burton (40) works in the knitting factory (the H. E Bradford Company which was founded in 1854). Minnie is now 37 and all of their children are still living with them. Elmer J. (17), Luella A. (15), Arthur H. (11) and there is one more daughter, Edith M (5). They no longer have a boarder or a servant.

Minnie dies 19 April 1951 at the age of 78 from an instant coronary occlusion. At the time of her death she and Burton were living on Union Street in Bennington. According to her obituary she was survived by Burton, her two sons, Elmer and Arthur, and her two daughters, Mrs. Frank A. Humpheries (Luella) and Edythe M. Barrett. Burton passes six years later on 25 April 1957 at the age of 87 from an acute coronary thrombosis lasting five minutes. His obituary names his occupation as a retired farmer, and a former teamster for the H. E. Bradford Co.

Burton and Minnie are both buried in Grandview Cemetery in Shaftsbury along with all four their children and their children's spouses.

Willie Young According to his birth certificate Willie Young was born 9 January 1875 to John and Mary A. (Elwell) Young in Shaftsbury. When Willie's name was placed on the quilt he was 13 years old.

The U.S. Federal Census of 1870 records Willie's mother, Mary Elwell (24) living in Shaftsbury with her parents Renaldo/Londa (46), and Mary (Corey) Elwell, the elder, (48). Mary Ann, the younger, had four siblings: Debra (no age), Fannie (17), Louisa (14), and Hattie (6). Also, in the household was Henry Corey (74 b. 1795). Henry was Mary Ann (the younger's) grandfather because Mary Ann (Corey) Elwell, the elder, was Henry's daughter. Mary Ann (Corey) Elwell the elder, and Charles Corey, the father of George Eli Corey and husband of Nellie Jane (Harrington) Corey (Block #14) were brother and sister.

The following year the Canadian census of 1871 lists John Youngs (23) living in Quebec with his father Abram (49), and step-mother Adelia (44). Other family members are his brothers, Sidney (23), William (17), who Willie was possibly named after, Andrew (14) and James (9) plus a sister Alice J. (11). John's mother Octavia died 10 February 1868, twenty-five days after giving birth to a son Daniel on 16 January 1868. Daniel died 5 June 1868 at the age of 4 months and 20 days.

Willie's grandmother, Mary Ann (Corey) Elwell died 13 February 1871 four years before he was born. His grandfather, Renaldo Elwell passed 19 October 1877 from Typhus Fever. Both are buried in Center Shaftsbury Cemetery.

The census of 1880 shows Willie (6) living in Dorset with his father, John Young (30), his mother, Mary A. (Elwell) Young (34), his sister Hattie Young (15) and brother Eddie Young (6).

A wedding announcement in the Bennington Banner on 15 October 1903 lists William/Willie as a guest at his brother, Edward H. Young's marriage in Winooski, VT to Miss Elizabeth Agnes Murphy. This researcher was unable to locate any other records for Willie Young after he attended his brother's wedding in 1903

According to John Arlin Young's death certificate, Willie's father dies 29 September 1908 from cancer of the jaw. Find-a-grave lists his cause of death as dying in an on-the-job accident at a soapstone factory in Chester Vermont where he worked. This researcher was unable to find this story in the Burlington Free Press, October 1, 1908 edition, however the Bennington Banner had a short statement about a Thom. Burke attending John's funeral, when he was killed in a soapstone quarry accident. There is documentation to support the Find-a-grave statement regarding his enlistment 15 February 1865 as a private in the Marine Corp. and gives a desertion date of 14 March 1865.

After the death of Willie's father his mother marries John's brother, Sydney S. Young on 1 June 1911 at the age of 64. She and Sydney live in Chester, Vermont.

A newspaper obituary of Willie's mother Mary Young reports she passed away at 73 years of age on Grafton Street, in Chester, VT. She was to be buried beside Willie's father, John A. Young in Brookside Cemetery in Chester, Vermont. Mary's second husband, Sydney, brother of John was buried beside his first wife, Samantha (Young) Young in Shaftsbury Center.

There is one possible burial site for a W. E. Young in Madrid, New York with the same birth year of 1875 but a direct link to Shaftsbury could not be found. Perhaps a descendant might have a hint as where to go for further research.