Hi Fletch, Vince and All, I had two points to share on this topic. Several weeks ago my mom and I attended a Colby Clan reunion in East Orange VT. which is just outside Barre, VT. The host John Colby had been raised on the family farm there and was the next in line to take over the farm. Jim reported that he had seen a small round thing on the wall of a relatives home in Barre that had changed his life, that being a thermostat. <<grin>> John has lived all his adult life in Virginia working for the federal government. One comment he made was that it was heartbreaking to him to return home to see how lazy local folk had become that the trees were all grown up, the fields disappearing and the views being obstructed. At the time I wondered what he thought of NH folk living here in the second most forested state in the union. So I think your supposition of overgrown fields is most likely. We stayed at a friends house in Barre and she told of an author who was doing a reading or book signing or the like at Peacham regarding a book she had authored about a Peacham family story. Sorry I do not remember the book title. This was an assigned book for a reading group that my friend belongs to. From our conversation and other contacts I've had it appears that the Peacham Historical Society is active and knowledgeable about these matters. Sorry I don't have more details, Sherry -----Original Message----- From: Fletcher Blanchard <fab@Klink.Net> To: BLANCHARD-L@rootsweb.com <BLANCHARD-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Wednesday, September 09, 1998 3:37 PM Subject: BLANCHARDs in northern VT >Hi List members - > >Last week, I took a little R&R and spent a few days in northeastern >VT, the so-called Northeast Kingdom. This includes the counties of >Essex, Caledonia, and Orleans. Betsy Blanchard Burr reported to >the List this spring about descendants of Benjamin 5 Blanchard of >Hollis, NH who moved to Peacham, Caledonia Co., in the 1780s; >this Benjamin being a descendant of Thomas B. I see also that Vince >Falter mentioned Peacham in his 15 July post about Blanchards who >moved from there to IL in the late 1850s. Last year, Sherry Gould >posted quite a bit of information about some of these Peacham >families. By the way, these examples were found using the Index-Line >Databases (plug). > >Once you go north from St. Johnsbury, you begin to wonder what >attracted people to this part of the state; quite mountainous with few >cleared fields for pastures or crops though they may, after all these >years, have become overgrown. I believe that some of the Loyalists >fled to Canada through this region and today, it seems that once you >cross the border, the land looks much more favorable for agriculture. > >We took our 2 young grandsons across to Coaticook, the first village >of any size in this part of southern Quebec. I found 81 Blanchards >in the >local phonebook but this covers all the communities in the >neighborhood of Sherbrooke, 35 miles further north. There were only >3 Blanchard listings >for Coaticook and since none of these was a business address, I didn't >have the nerve to barge in on a private residence. > >Not much genealogy here but thought those of you with connections >to this part of VT might be interested. Fletch > >