Two Things

Sadly, these days it is not uncommon for an Easton resident to pass away in Florida and then return to Easton for burial. The Easton Historical Commission is reviewing the life of Hugh Washburn who may be the first person to die in Florida and be buried here. He passed away in January, 1828. In Florida, Massachusetts.

The Cemetery Commission is going to be placing a stone for Hugh Washburn, a Revolutionary War veteran, in the Thomas Manley cemetery. This was recommended by Chaffin way back in 1886! Washburn was born in Bridgewater in 1750 and was probably named for the famous Scots immigrant and iron master Hugh Orr with whom his family had some land dealings. In his day Hugh Orr was a more important figure in Massachusetts industry than John Ames, the father of our first Oliver. The Washburn family was prominent in our area as well. Descendents of the family served as Senators and Governors in many dstateslaborer. He married Catherine Packard in 1782 and had several children including one, Calvin, who served in the War of 1812 and may be buried in the same cemetery as his father. Another child, Catherine, only "partially" able to care for herself as an adult.  Hugh served extensively in the Revolutionary War and applied for a pension in 1818. He told his story to someone who wrote it down and then he made his mark. In the petition he says that he is unable to work due to lameness. The pension request was extensive and had several sworn records by people who remembered his service. The pension was approved as was another petition by his widow.

I'm assuming Hugh was illiterate because he made his mark in 1818 rather than signing his name, but a so far unsubstantiated source indicates he was declared mentally incompetent a year later, and John E. Howard was made his guardian. Still, Hugh was listed as a head of a household in the 1820 federal census. The real mystery is his death in Florida which allegedly took place in January, 1828. There is no doubt about the date of death, but why a mentally incompetent lame man would be in Florida, Massachusetts in January is beyond me. I've been in Florida, MA in January. It's damn cold and in 1828 there were probably huge snow drifts as opposed to the sleet storm of 2008.

Florida, Massachusetts is about as high in the Berkshires as any place can get. It became a town in 1805 and has just under 25 square miles making it just 5 square miles smaller than Easton. In 2010 Florida had a population of 752; Easton had a population of 23,000. In 1850 the population of Easton was 2,337 while that of Florida was 561. If Hugh did indeed die in Florida, there has to be a good story attached to it. Right now we just don't know what it is.

Second thing. For those of you waiting for part two of the weather app story, please hang on until tomorrow. You've probably heard of the supposed magical powers of the seventh son of a seventh son. My dear cousin Robin claims the same uncanny reputation for members of our family. We hadn't talked since the wedding of the century (her son Will the artist) back in the Spring. I really felt the urge to reconnect and was writing down her number when the phone rang and Robin was on the other end! OK maybe the family does have a sixth sense, but why didn't it warn me the last time I was about to be stabbed in the back at a local non-profit? Reiki master Robin claims that my power runs in the "connection to nature" department. All this is neither here nor there for what I'm about to share. As you might imagine, Robin is the least technological of our interrelated group of cousins so I was shocked when she told me she had bought an IPad and shouldn't we link up on FaceTime. I had completely ignored FaceTime on my IPad, but soon to be Grandma Robin had learned that it was a program that allowed users of Apple products to see each other during phone conversations. Yes, I know about Skype, but I had never done a visual phone connection before. It seemed like a page out of science fiction, but we finished our conversation actually seeing each other talk. For me, it was a "Mr Watson, come here I want you" moment. Now if we can only find a way to get her husband's herb encrusted roast beef through the internet, I won't have to drive to New Jersey for the holidays.