Researchers at the Old Stone House Museum in Brownington are piecing together the stories of immigrant families who made the Northeast Kingdom their home, drawing on census pages, church registers, business directories, and a long-lost photograph.
The project traces Irish millwrights, French-Canadian parishioners, Italian grocers, and Swedish schoolteachers who crossed borders and stayed. Among the stories unearthed is that of William J. Monteith, who at 18 crossed from Quebec into Vermont alone in 1877. His father had come from County Monaghan, Ireland. Another is that of Inez Rossi, who arrived at age 10 from Cremona, Italy, in 1902 to join her parents Antonio and Matilda, who had opened a fruit store.
The work shows the public records that make such histories recoverable, from federal census data to local business directories and church ledgers.
NEK will be looking into whether the Old Stone House Museum plans to make its immigrant-history research available online for public access.
Photo: Oldstonehouse (Wikimedia Commons, Public domain). Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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