Before Meadowspring: The Story of This Old Farm (Part 1)

Long before we called this place Meadowspring Farm, other families called this place home. Some stayed only a short time, while others remained for decades. The family with the longest history, and the earliest family we can trace to the property so far, was the Mason family. Their connection to this farm began sometime in the 1850s and continued until October 27, 1939.  

Early in our own journey here at Meadowspring Farm, we were discouraged and felt that knowing the history of the home would help to encourage us. We reached out to the Warner Historical Society and they graciously shared all the history they had of the home. It was an encouragement to begin to piece together parts of this home’s past. 

David Mason was born on February 5, 1825 in Washington, VT. The first record we have of him being in Warner was from the 1850 census. He was 25 years old and working as a farm laborer. The 1850 census also listed the Clark family, including 17 year old Hannah Clark (later Hannah Mason). David did not appear in the 1850 agricultural census, but by 1860, the records would paint a much clearer picture of his life as a farmer with a young family. 

We don’t know when either family first arrived in Warner, and so far, we haven’t found a record of David and Hannah’s marriage. What we do know is that by December 1855, they had begun a family together. Their first child, Roswell Lorian, was born on December 1st of that year. Roswell was named after Hannah’s father. Their second child, Rosilla Jane, was born September 8, 1858. 

By 1860, the records begin to give us a much clearer picture of this young family’s life in Warner and on this property. David appears in the agricultural census that year, farming 40 acres; 32 improved and 8 unimproved. The farm itself was valued at $500, with another $10 in farm implements. 

It was a small, working farm, referred to as a subsistence farm. This is a traditional type of farming where the farmer grows crops and raises livestock, primarily to feed themselves and their families. David and Hannah had two milk cows, two working oxen, seven sheep, and a pig. That year the land produced wheat, rye, Indian corn, peas and beans, and 30 bushels of potatoes. Their sheep produced 15 pounds of wool and the farm produced 130 pounds of butter. 

These old census entries are little more than lists of numbers, but reading them today, it’s hard not to picture the life the Mason family was living…the oxen working the land, sheep in the fields, potatoes coming out of the soil and butter being made from the cows’ milk. 

By 1880, the Agricultural Census would even record six hens and 50 dozen eggs produced on the farm that year. More than 140 years later, that little detail feels especially close to Meadowspring Farm’s heart. 

David and Hannah’s family would continue to grow. They had two more children, Otis Monroe, born February 1, 1861 and John Mason, born May 20, 1864. For roughly a decade, David and Hannah were building exactly the sort of ordinary family life the agricultural census allows us to picture. 

By the autumn of 1865, Hannah was expecting their fifth child but, then, in the span of only a few weeks, everything changed. Diphtheria would visit the Mason family. 

Seven-year-old Rosilla died on October 30th. Roswell died on November 12th, only weeks from his 10th birthday. One-year-old John died on November 17th and the following day, four-year-old Otis died. 

In less than 3 weeks, David and Hannah had lost all four of their children. 

When we first learned this piece of the Mason family history, it stopped us in our tracks. How do you survive a tragedy like that? How do you move forward after losing all four of your children in less than 3 weeks? How do you continue to live in the farmhouse? How do you return to the fields?

At the time, we were walking through the very beginning of our own difficult season with this property. What we were facing couldn’t begin to compare with the Masons’ loss, but learning their story changed our perspective. Suddenly, this wasn’t simply an old farmhouse we were struggling to preserve. It was a place that had held generations of life before ours…ordinary days, hard work, family, joy, and unimaginable grief. 

Knowing their story made us feel connected to this place in a way we hadn’t before. We had always known, simply from the age of the home, that other families had come before us. But knowing their names and learning some of the details of their lives made it different. This was no longer simply the history of an old house. It was the story of real people who had called this place home. Our fight to preserve the home became all the more significant to us. 

We don’t know exactly what David and Hannah felt in those weeks and months following the deaths of their young children. We cannot possibly know. But the historical record does tell us something important…they kept going.

Their story didn’t end that Autumn of 1865. 

NOTE: Historical information for this blog was generously provided by the Warner Historical Society and gathered from census, vital, and local historical records.