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Rooted in Addison’s History: Sharing Memories with The Clark Family

photo provided Erwin & Janet Clark celebrate their heritage and the down of Addison that seven generations have called home.

Tuesday October 7, 2008

By Cookie Steponaitis

    When Isaiah Clark arrived in Addison, Vermont in 1788, his family had already invested five generations in the soil of Connecticut. He brought his wife and six children with him to Addison and settled in a home he built just north of Addison Four Corners. Blessed with large families and longevity of his children, Isaiah left behind a legacy of Clark’s that continue today to call Addison home. While visiting with and Janet Clark this past week, this reporter got to know Isaiah and his five generations between him and Erwin, each with its own dynamic story. With each new folder the Clark’s opened, and with each new tale told, two things are clear. First, that Erwin and Janet Clark are incredible sources of information for not Addison history, but surrounding towns as well. Second, the Clark family and Addison are inseparable.

    Isaiah and his descendents left history is a number of ways. Some oral stories have come down through each generation, but a series of written journals, accounting logs, cemetery lists, and letters offer the researcher and observer a candid look at life in Addison spanning five generations. Janet Clark is a Clark twice over.

    Not only have she and Erwin been married for forty-six years, but their families are even related, eight generations back. The couple first met in Corn-wall when Erwin went with his family to visit Janet’s family. This practice was simply called “visitin”. Sunday after church, people would meet and gather at other homes to have Sunday dinner. He was twelve and she was seven. Many of the Clark family journals include entry after entry with news from these gatherings. The social connections of life in Addison were tight and interwoven. All of the Clark men were involved with agriculture so they would see and meet up with folks from all parts of town.

    Anchor points in the community include the town hall built in 1872 and the church built in 1816. They have remained at the heart of the town and the four corners. Erwin remembered that when his brother was born at the Mary Fletcher Hospital, the doctor commented that it “seemed like an awful long way to drive to have a baby.” Later when his sister was born at Porter Hospital and another doctor remarked that it, “seemed a long way to go to have a baby,” his family just gave up on the idea and Erwin was born at home. Reading through Erwin’s grandmother’s journal in addition to countless references to weddings, funerals, and family gatherings, Janet noticed that there were numerous references to, “ so and so, eating dried apples and getting sick,” Comments went on to mention that these people would get better in about nine months.

    Erwin and Janet had four children and all are around in Addison. Two even live next door. Erwin is the fourth generation of his family on the family farm and he himself farmed from 1962-2002. Today the farm is rented to others and Erwin and Janet have more time to spend on one of their favorite hobbies, researching and documenting history. Erwin’s father wrote a book called The History of Addison, in 1976 and since then Erwin and Janet have expanded their search and compilation of vast collections of photos, data and references to people, buildings and events in Addison history. When Janet married into the family, she became the official recorder of the stories. “Father would sit and tell stories by the hours,” she recalled. “That coupled with any interest in genealogy led to my research. It is impossible to research Addison and not learn about the towns around here. In addition to town records, our letters, diaries and journals, other books like Smith’s History of Addison County. I have found and saved many other sources of stories of Addison’s past. One special project was to figure out all of the residents of the Grand View Cemetery and to see how each was related to whom. There are 15 couples Erwin is descended from buried here.”

    While we were discussing the different generations of Clark’s and their roles in local and national history, we happened upon an alternate topic that fascinates many residents, but few know much about, the Grand View Hotel that was on Snake Mountain. Built in 1874, the hotel sat on the western face and the road up to it followed the trail that is still in place. The Clark journals include references to the dances held up there and that Grandmother Clark stayed overnight on several occasions. After more research, Janet discovered this was possible without causing social scandal because the local Constable was her father and he was on duty at the dancers. Showing me copies of the registry from the hotel and letters, it became clear that the hotel was busy not only with the social elite, but many of the locals. The 68 foot observation Tower allowed people a view of the valley and 47 different churches in Vermont and New York State.” For ten cents you could make ascension on a fair day, and no one complained about what being a waste of money.”

    On July 4, 1862 there was a Civil War recruitment rally on the top of the mountain. Addison lost fifteen men in the Civil War. Two thousand Vermonters attended that rally that day. Again, records show the men who fell in Gettysburg, including a Clark and those of other long time Addison families. Abandoned in the 1920’s, the hotel was ransacked and basically disintegrated by the 1950’a. At the end of WWI it ceased being a viable place to go, as it was difficult for the automobiles to make the trip up the road. The land now belongs to the State of Vermont.

    While time passed and the stories rolled on, it became clear that Erwin and Janet need to write their own book, coupling stories of the Clark family as it enters 2009 with the sixth and seventh generations firmly in place near the farm and the soil of Addison. This reporter may be back to the Clark Farm in order to focus on other Addison sotires, including the Addison Volunteer Fire Department and Tri-Town Water District. Erwin has seen a lot of the world as he served in the Air Force from January 1955- November 1958, but there was never a question in their mind that the Clark homestead was their roots, their joy and their base of operations. Tracing their own roots all the way back to the 1600’s is only one base of operations. Tracing their own roots all the way back to the 1600’s is only one of their accomplishments. As caretakers and historians, they have carefully preserved, recorded and documented the story of Addison for the past two hundred plus years. Isaiah would be very proud. “Connections are everywhere,” Erwin commented to me just before I left. Indeed they are. Going home I found my grandfather had worked on the Clark Farm, yet another piece in the fabric of life in Addison County.

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