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Notes for HIRAM SYLVESTER BARTON:
Excerpt from a letter sent to Dana Barton Berry by her Cousin Thomas Newton Barton in @ 1980.
"He* ....found that our Grandfather (Hiram) left Shaftsbury (Vermont) around 1902. He left a teaching job for Schenectady and the rather new G.E. Plant there.
Left back in Shaftsbury were his two brothers Edwin and Arthur Myron, Liz, Grandfather Myron and Arthur Sedgewick's widow. It appears that Edwin was killed by a train in 1924 and Arthur Myron was committed by the townspeople to a mental home. He had set fire to Arthur Sedgewick's house which was across the street from the main Barton house. The estate was then held by the women of the family until the 1930's or so. The State of Vermont intervened with its transfer to our Grandfather Hiram because of a large bill or debt owed to the Retreat in Brattleboro where young Arthur Myron was sent earlier. After payment of this bill --- around a thousand dollars was left and was divided between grandfather Hiram and his sister Liz. The State must have auctioned off everything. I've found some old photos at Dad's which were taken around 1900. They're family photos of Great-Grandfather Myron, Hiram & Liz & Arthur, Myron, etc. Quite evident is the rich appearance of the interior, bear rugs & fancy wallpaper, a piano and so forth. Rather well for 1900's living standard, it must have hurt Grandfather Hiram greatly to see it all go to strangers. The loss of two brothers in his life however, was no doubt the most tragic time for him.
This info on the last years of the Bartons in Shaftsbury is still sketchy in places but the general idea is correct. When you visit your Dad next time you might look into it further. I'd be anxious to learn or confirm more on this. I am sending a donation to the Historical Society and hope someday to gather funds from all of us Bartons to help repair several of the old gravestones. The donation allows for an inscription of some sort to be placed inside the old church --- I wrote "In memory of Gardner Barton of Shaftsbury Vermont from all of us who have followed; We are one."
*Richard Burton Barton, elder son of Hiram. The Bartons had two sons, the younger being Wilbur Gardner Barton.
From Tom Barton's notes in the family scrapbook:
"Hiram and his sister Eliza were both school teachers in Shaftsbury,VT. Hiram's brothers Edwin and Arthur did not marry. Hiram continued his teaching profession until before 1908 when he moved to Scotia, NY to begin a new career with the General Electric company in Schenectady. He held a position as a clerk for the Purchasing Department until he suffered a nervous breakdown and was told by the doctors to get a job that would take him outside. He married in 1911 to Elsie Mae Reinhart and moved into a home on Catherine St. in Scotia, NY. Their two children were born there in 1912 and 1917 respectively. In 1919 Hiram and Elsie Mae bought a home on Albany St. Hiram began a new career with Friehofer's Bakery of Schenectady, NY. Hiram operated a bakery truck at the Friehofer's Bakery until his death in 1944 of heart failure."
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