GRAFTON — A rare look at Civil War families in Grafton will be the focus of a special presentation by Thomas E. Fontaine on Thursday, Aug. 4, at 5 p.m., at the Brick Meeting House on Upper Main St.
Speaking from the very location where meetings and discussions took place during the Civil War, Fontaine will discuss the history of the town and its residents at this Grafton Historical Society-sponsored meeting, according to a news release.
In the course of his research for a coming children's historical novel, Fontaine unearthed many interesting facts about the lives of families in Grafton during the Civil War. Who were they, and how did they participate in the war? These are some of the questions Fontaine will address in the presentation and in his coming book.
The presentation will immediately follow a short annual meeting of the Grafton Historical Society.
Fontaine first became interested in Grafton and its Civil War soldiers when he taught at Grafton Elementary School in the late 1980s. During that time he wrote a children's novel for his students about a real person, Henry C. Spring, a 14-year-old who joined the Union army to become a messenger. The Grafton Historical Society is in the process of publishing that book, titled “The Messenger Boy of Grafton, Vermont.”
Fontaine is currently a science and math teacher at Kurn Hattin Homes in Westminster and has been working with the GHS to update and produce the book for children at the sixth-grade reading level and above.
The society has contributed many of its historical photos to help convey life in Grafton. The book will be for sale in September. Elementary school teachers can obtain a preview in August by contacting the Grafton Historical Society.