Map of the Central Vermont Railroad, circa 1879
1852
Friday Aug 20th Left Bellows Falls at 1/2 past 7 and
arrived at Burlington about two. Went
to Mrs Stetsons found the house shut up
At the house opposite they told us she had
gone to Mrs Mills and went there and had
some dinner and all went to Mrs Stetsons to
tea Mrs S Ames Fred & Helen stopt at Pittsford
Willie Gilmore died this afternoon
Evelina would not learn of it for several days, but her young great-nephew, William Lincoln Gilmore, died today of dysentery. (She added the information later.) Barely a year old, Willie had been ill for several weeks, and Evelina had visited his parents, Augustus and Hannah Gilmore, a few times before she left North Easton. His death was sad news.
Not knowing about it, however, and full of her own worry for her own son, Evelina was open to the journey she and other family members were on. By way of the Vermont Central Railroad, presumably, she, Oakes Angier, and Almira Ames traveled another 100+ miles today from Bellows Falls to Burlington, Vermont, while Sarah Lothrop Ames and her two children, Fred and Helen, got off at Pittsford. Although the map in the illustration above dates from 1879, the line itself was first developed in the 1840’s.
Burlington was Oakes Angier’s destination, the place where he would stay for several weeks to rest and, it was hoped, recuperate from his pulmonary illness. The threesome spent the night with Mrs. Stetson, a friend of the family.
