By Sharon Lakey
Robin Rothman has always been a bit of an enigma. She is a lone walker on the streets and roads around Danville; she is that small woman standing among the few at the St. Johnsbury post office, holding signs promoting world peace; she is the woman who draws our attention to the details in our surroundings through the thread of a fine-line ink drawing.
By Sharon Lakey, Danville Historical Society
“Until I began to compile lifelong information, I didn’t realize the full range of gifts Meg was giving to others throughout her life, without the slightest wish for praise.” Charles A. Robinson, 2013
On July 2, 2013, a mystery came to an end in Danville: our anonymous donor passed at 88 years of age in Pennsbury Township, Pennsylvania, and the requirement of her anonymity was lifted. It is with humility and pleasure that I relate some of what I have learned about this remarkable woman, Meg Robinson. Much of this knowledge comes to us through her husband, Charles, who has graciously answered questions and, as a good historian himself, provided documentation of the important events of her life.
By Gary Farrow, Danville Historical Society
A complicated family and mental illness pushed and pulled a man who became one of the most accomplished generals in the Civil War.
The news was slow in February ’64: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation decree, freeing slaves only in rebel states, had become law January 1, but its true consequences had yet to be determined; the winter months had closed down the war in Virginia and reports from the eastern-centric press about events in the lower South, absent some epic battle, continued to be spotty. However, there was a minor campaign in mid-February against a town in Mississippi that helped cement the improbable rise of a Union commander. His relationship with U.S. Grant would catapult him to become the General and Chief’s co-architect and collaborator in a new military strategy that was waged against the South.
By Patty Conly, Director of the Danville Historical Society
Image Above: For-Clifs barn in the middle of North Danville village. PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN (LANGMAID) LYNAUGH
There is a unique charm about the quaint and picturesque village of North Danville, nestled in the northeastern corner of Vermont. It has remained essentially unchanged in many ways for the past century. Just ask anyone who lives there presently or has lived there at any time in the past. Some of the faces and names have changed, but their memories and legacy remain through friends and relatives still living in the community. There is a strong sense of willingness to help one another that has endured generations of families living in the village, as well as those living in houses or on farms on the outskirts of town. North Danville was once bustling with mills and businesses centered around its prime location on the Sleepers River, which runs parallel to the lower part of the village. Today most of those businesses are no longer in existence; however, several long-standing family owned farms are still thriving.
The name Langmaid has been associated with farming in this area for many generations, and their family farms continue to dot the landscape in and around Danville. But, there is a unique character about the Cliff Langmaid farm, now known as the For-Clifs farm in the heart of North Danville. It was renamed to reflect current owner Cliff Langmaid and his father and former owner, Forrest Langmaid. The uniqueness lies in the fact that it is a working farm situated right in the center of the village. You simply cannot pass through the North Danville without noticing the big red barn.
In the summer months, as you approach from Danville and make the turn heading into the village, you will likely see the emerald green hillside pasture dotted with black and white Holsteins grazing in the field amid yellow dandelions. If you happen to drive through around milking time, you may have to wait patiently as Plynn Beattie or Lee Langmaid Beattie act as temporary “traffic control cops” to stop cars and direct a parade of cows sauntering across the road making their way to the barn. This is a less familiar scenario now in many small towns across Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom. However, it is still a rare find in the epicenter of North Danville!
By Gary Farrow, Danville Historical Society
Civil War history often gives short shrift to the fact that the conflict precipitated the largest refugee crisis ever seen on the American continent. Before we read Danville’s North Star reports for January of 1864, it is necessary to understand how the Union was handling the freedmen problem that was created by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on Sep 22, 1862.
The Proclamation declared that if a rebel state did not return to the Union by January 1, all slaves would become free. However, slaves did not wait until the beginning of the year; they began streaming toward Union lines and the refugee crisis was on. One reporter wrote, “There were men, women and children in every state of disease or decrepitude often nearly naked with flesh torn by the terrible experiences of their escape.” But if ex-slaves thought they had a better life, they were often mistaken. “Often the slaves met prejudices against their color more bitter than they had left behind.”