In the last article about the Waitsfield Mehuron family’s history, Civil War hero Allen Ebenezer Mehuron had come home to Tucker Hill in Fayston. He was recovering from a serious illness he got while marching and fighting. According to a document he was discharged, “February, 4, 1863. By reason of Surgeon’s Certificate of Disability. Ainsworth Post No.36. Grand Army of the Republic. Department of Vermont.”
Though it took some time to fully recover, a Fayston neighbor captivated his interest. She was from Donegal, Ireland, and had two brothers who also fought in the Civil War. Miss Margaret Maxwell and Allen E. Mehuron married in 1865. He was 27 and his bride 26. They wasted no time starting a family: A daughter Mattie Louisa Mehuron was born in 1866, a son Thomas in 1868 and a daughter Jennie E. in 1869. And it is Thomas who fascinates me because my husband is Thomas Mehuron II and my youngest son Thomas Mehuron III. As a grown man the first Thomas strikes me as a jaunty fellow because he sported a thick handlebar mustache. His twin horses were well known throughout The Valley as Jo and Dan Patch. That’s pretty cute. He was 34 and had enjoyed a long bachelorhood until a younger woman from another prominent Valley family caught his eye: Miss Julia Adams Folsom.
Though she was only 22, 12 years his junior, they married on December 23, 1902. A party at the turn of the century at Christmas time! A Christmas card sent to the couple invokes the feeling:
When a family is gathered
around the hearth,
And the Yulelogs merrily blaze,
May my many bright wishes
For Christmastide,
Bring joy for the rest of your days.
In the auction lot of Mehuron archive materials where I found the card were also hundreds of letters and party invitations from other historic families. Eurichs, Palmers, Joslins, Folsoms, Boyces, Richardsons, Joneses, young Doctor Shaw, and his sophisticated musician wife and on and on. (Interesting that one of the Shaw girls would eventually marry Thomas and Julia’s son Elmer.). It is clear from the evidence in this old lap desk that the families of the Mad River Valley at that time kept close and remained so.
Thomas and Julia Mehuron bought a circa 1830 house on North Road that was referred to as the Albert Lockwood home. The couple lived there throughout their marriage.
Thomas A. Mehuron was a farmer, a husband, and the father of the future founder of Mehuron’s Supermarket, Elmer Mehuron, as well as the future teacher and author Ruth Mehuron McGill.
The Order of the Eastern Star
Julia was the daughter of George W Folsom, a very prominent man. It seems all of his girls were smart and educated. Three of them taught at one time or another until they married.
His Julia may have been young when she met Thomas Mehuron but she was a spitfire. She had already had a career teaching at several of the one-room schoolhouses that existed across the Mad River Valley. Her annual salary was $244.08.
She was also a member of the Waitsfield Federated Church, the Ladies Auxiliary, the Waitsfield Home Bureau, and the Vermont Arts and Crafts Society. She led 4-H groups for many years during World War I which started in 1914. We have photos of her fundraising outdoor banquets at their home on the North Road near the Pine Brook Covered Bridge. All this on top of raising a family and running a farm.
Though I have written about Julia before I did not have this new lot of family artifacts. It turns out that she was a devoted member of the Eastern Star. Julia regularly paid her two dollars a year to belong to the Waitsfield Chapter called Morning Star, Number 23. And the membership cards from 1939 to 1947 were in a wooden lap desk from the auction. Pamphlets that list the officers of the group repeatedly name her as the organization’s treasurer. But what is this organization? What does it stand for and what did it mean to her?
From the General Grand Chapter website:
“The foundation of the Order utilizes beautiful and inspiring Biblical examples of heroic conduct and moral values. These portray the noble principles which should adorn the personal lives of all Eastern Star members. Eastern Star strives to build an environment for our members, and our Order, that is truly dedicated to Charity, Truth, and Loving Kindness by uplifting each other and through service in our local communities.”
That sounds good. But I also found an article titled, “No Christian Woman Should Ever Join the Order of the Eastern Star.” And many statements about the organization being shrouded in mystery.
The earliest membership card I found was 1939. Julia would have been almost 60 when she joined. It must have been upsetting that the Great Depression was still raging and there was constant talk of war in Europe as the Nazis took power. A bright moment was in 1941 when her son Elmer opened Mehuron’s Market. Her husband Thomas died in 1943 at the age of 75 and Julia lived alone after becoming a widow at 63. The world was changing rapidly — and so was she.
The Eastern Star group met monthly. Some of her close friends belonged. Selecting worthwhile projects to benefit the community hardly seems like the devil’s work. The projects probably made her many talents relevant. The selected readings in the documents are quite beautiful. Inspirational. The group suited her needs at the time.
Julia died in 1952 when she was 72. She and Thomas are buried side by side in the Irasville Cemetery, next to Mehuron’s Market.
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