The “Annals of Brattleboro” was printed by the local company, E. L. Hildreth and Company. The Vermont Phoenix said the publication was “by far, the most important history of Brattleboro ever published”. The “Annals of Brattleboro” is a two volume-1100 page-set of books that encompasses Brattleboro’s history through the 1800’s. The first volume was published in late 1921 and the second volume came out in early 1922.
In 1922 H.S. Wardner, a reviewer of the “Annals” wrote, “In this handsome two-volume publication from the press of E.L. Hildreth & Company of Brattleboro, profusely enriched with illustrations, Miss Mary R. Cabot has revealed much of the pleasanter and gentler side of Vermont life from the time of Fort Dummer to near the close of the nineteenth century.”
“Of peculiar interest is the fact that Brattleboro is the oldest of Vermont towns in point of settlement. At and around the fort or block-house called Fort Dummer, within the present limits of the town, began the earliest permanent European settlement of Vermont.”
The reviewer went on to say, “Brattleboro became a Tory town. This assertion by itself is enough to arouse interest. The average person assumes that Vermont contained only stalwart Revolutionists. Brattleboro was unusual because men of standing and influence preferred allegiance to the Crown instead of American independence. Later, many of Brattleboro’s people preferred adherence to New York instead of Vermont’s statehood.”
Finally, H.S. Wardner wrote in the “Vermonter” magazine that, “The Annals of Brattleboro belong in every public library in Vermont and in the private libraries of all who love Vermont history.” These days, if you’d like to read the “Annals of Brattleboro ” you can find a free digital copy online at Google Books. The Brattleboro Historical Society also has hardcover copies of the book for sale in its Research Room.
In 1921 E.L. Hildreth created a pamphlet to announce the publication of the “Annals”. The pamphlet stated “The Annals is published to afford easy access to original sources of information concerning Brattleboro, from the taking up of land under the Indian deed of 1681 to the modern town of 1895.” According to the pamphlet, Brattleboro “had no part in the formation of the state of Vermont and was without political significance until after the Revolutionary War.” The publisher went on to point out that there is only one Brattleboro, and the town began as a unique, contrary settlement.
Another review of the “Annals” can be found on the Kipling Society website. Mary Cabot was a good friend of the Rudyard Kipling family when they lived here in the 1890’s and the Kipling Society has documented the relationship. The Society says Cabot’s two volume “Annals” presents a fair history of early Brattleboro and focuses a great deal on the writers, artists, architects and musicians of the area. The website also points out that the history has a lot of information about Brattleboro’s prominent families but does not record much of the history of the working class, immigrants or minorities.
In the preface to the first volume Mary Cabot acknowledges the sources she used to compile her “Annals of Brattleboro”. Hall’s “History of Eastern Vermont”, Burnham’s “History of Brattleboro” and Grout’s numerous publications were used extensively to piece together the early history of the community. Cabot lists over thirty sources for the information she presents in the “Annals”.
In 1856 Mary Cabot was born into a prominent Brattleboro family. She was the oldest of three children who survived into adulthood. One brother died at the age of three. Her father was Norman Cabot. He ran the Vermont Savings Bank for decades and her mother, Lucy Brooks Cabot, was a sister to George Brooks, of Brooks House and Brooks Memorial Library fame.
Mary received her formal education in a small, private school on North Street. She grew up on Terrace Street, in the same neighborhood as the school. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that Mary continued on to Brattleboro High School or the Glenwood Ladies Seminary. Her family and close friends called her “Molly”.
Mary Cabot never married and lived with her parents until their deaths. Over many years she compiled her “Annals of Brattleboro” but never professed to be an historian herself. She enjoyed sharing the local history she gathered with friends and neighborhood children. Her goal was to collect the many stories of Brattleboro history shared in multiple publications and place them in one set of books for easy access.
After the publication of her two volume history Mary continued to collect Brattleboro stories. She died in 1932 and in 1938, as part of a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression, her notes were typed up and bound into a 307 page 3rd volume of the “Annals of Brattleboro”. An exceedingly rare copy of the 3rd volume can be seen at the Brattleboro Historical Society Research Room in the Municipal Center.
Mary Cabot was also the President of the Mutual Aid Association, a local health care organization, from its beginnings in 1907 until her death. According to the Kipling Society website, Mary was not a lonely spinster like those portrayed in contemporary novels written by Brattleboro’s Mary Wilkens Freeman. Instead, she was a “Brattleboro socialite” who, in her later years, summered in Brattleboro and spent her winters in Boston or traveling to warmer climates with friends and relatives. One year she traveled with her nephew to Egypt.
The “Annals of Brattleboro” is a good source of information concerning Fort Dummer, the early development of town, the Water Cures, Estey Organ, organized religion, the coming of the railroad, industrial development along local waterways, the beginnings of the Retreat, prominent family genealogies, and community involvement in the wars of the 1700’s and 1800’s.