Hill families served Middlebury

#Middlebury

The Middlebury Congregational Church and the 1890s Town Hall shown in this 1906 photo both burned to the ground in 1935. The present church is almost identical to the former one, but the new town hall is quite different. (Middlebury Historical Society postcard)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

While this article may appear to be about the town’s topography, it is instead about Hill families that served our town in various ways. This month, we focus on Carlos Eugene and Annise Fuller (Clark) Hill, who provided dedicated service to our town, primarily at our town hall.

The Middlebury Town Hall has been the center of our town government since at least the 1890s. The present building replaced the former one after a disastrous file in 1935 destroyed it. During the 19th century, towns developed these “halls” or centers to serve as places to vote, discuss and debate local issues, and many other functions. They also served as places to study; hence libraries were frequently located in them, and that was true in Middlebury, where the town hall housed our library until the 1930s.

One of my first recollections of our town hall was registering to vote there after moving here in 1975. Carlos Eugene Hill (1905-2002) was our town clerk from 1947 to 1977; only our first town clerk, Larmon Townsend (1777-1858), served a longer term, from 1807 to 1845.

As with many other Middleburians, Carlos had roots in Massachusetts and was born there, in Amherst, in 1905. His father, Fred (1874-1962), was born in Massachusetts and was a postal worker for the United States Postal Service, whence Carlos probably discovered his calling in public service.

His mother, Mary Alice Lyman, was born in Mesopotamia, Ohio. It was her father, Captain Carlos Parsons Lyman, who probably lent his name to her son, honoring a gallant soldier. Captain Lyman was a private in the 6th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and later a captain in the 100th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry, during the American Civil War. His letters and diaries provide a detailed record of much of his service and are archived in the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio.

Carlos married Annise Fuller Clark (1905-1984) in the Congregational Church in 1934, and both her parents (Harry E. Clark and Christina Lillian Clark) were born Clarks from disparate families. You can’t get more “Clark” than that.

She was likewise descended from Massachusetts folk, but also from old Middlebury families (Skilton, Chamberlain), and was the great-granddaughter of Middleburian Gould Smith Clark (1814-1889), husband of Maria Skilton (ca. 1812-1897). Gould’s jacket was given to the Middlebury Historical Society by Curtiss H. Clark, former editor of the Newtown Bee, a nephew of Annise. Annise was probably named for both her paternal grandmother and great-grandmother.

After marriage, Carlos and Annise moved briefly to Natick, Mass., and then to a home on North Street in Middlebury in 1942, where they raised their children, Constance, Christine and Norman. Annise died in 1984 and Carlos married Harriet Alice Holt (1921-2006) in 1988. The couple moved to Florida in 2000, where Carlos died just short of 97 years old.

Have you ever heard of the Roseanne Tea Room in Middlebury? Next month’s article will tell the story of the Roseanne and another of the Middlebury Hill families.

Bob Rafford is the Middlebury Historical Society president and Middlebury’s municipal historian. To join or contact the society, visit MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or call Bob at 203-206-4717.