Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/author/todd-vibert/)
The coronavirus pandemic is affecting us all, our small town and across the entire nation. This was also true of the Spanish influenza from 1918 to 1919 when 675,000 Americans lost their lives. At that time, Granby was a small agricultural community but not immune to its effects as well. Six citizens lost their lives.
Last month I discussed two native Granby residents, Harry Wilcox and William Case as having served in the Spanish-American War in 1898. They were born in Granby, but lived outside of Granby after the war.
“Remember the Maine, the Hell with Spain” was the cry from U.S. citizens after a United States Court of Inquiry determined that in the Spanish-held Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, an underwater mine had blown up the U.S. battleship, the Maine. After the court’s decision, President McKinley asked for 125,000 men to volunteer for two years to help fight Spain in support of Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain.
Each time I drive by the house at 28 Copper Hill Road, I think of George Guay. Guay lived in that house while running his grocery store for nearly half a century.
The stone house at 109 West Granby Road is where Helen Green lived all her life. Green was the first woman from Granby to represent the 7th District in the state legislature and she dedicated her life to public service and education.
From 1921 to 1946, the house at 225 Salmon Brook Street was owned by Dr. Ernest Pendleton. From 1921 to 1928 Dr. Pendleton lived on the first floor with his family and ran a hospital on the second and third floors.
In 1881, Dr. George Edwards and his wife, Anna Eliza Holcomb purchased the house at 250 Salmon Street to raise their two sons, Gaston and Stanley.
The other day, as I was walking through the Granby Cemetery, a gravestone caught my eye, that had AVERY written on the top and COLTON beneath it, specifically, Fred M. Colton. Across the street, I could see the Town Hall Complex and the Public Library, where 100 years ago, it would have been farm fields.
The historic houses in Granby have sheltered many prominent individuals, but none more so than those along Salmon Brook Street. As you drive south past the center green, you’ll notice a large American Gothic-style house on your right.
I have always enjoyed reading tombstones in Granby Cemetery. Each stone has a short biography of the person buried there.