North Pownal is a hamlet in the bucolic town of Pownal nestled in the southwest corner of Vermont and the last residence of J.A.B. Wills and Anne Reed. The 1880 Bennington County Directory described North Pownal:
NORTH POWNAL, a post village situated on the Hoosick River, Troy & Boston R.R., and the Boston & Hoosac Tunnel R. R., contains a post office, three stores, one hotel, one church, (Congregational,) two blacksmith shops) one wagon shop, one saloon, grist and saw mill. The population is about ;6o. It contains a Good Templars’ lodge, which was organized in 1867. This lodge has an average of 50 members, and meets every Saturday in Good Templars’ Hall. It is one of the oldest working lodges in the State. The North Pownal Manufacturing Co. has been conducted since 1876 by A. C. Houghton & Co. in the manufacturing of cotton print cloths. They employ about two hundred and thirty operatives, and have some 16,000 spindles. Their annual manufacture of cotton cloth is about 5,000,000 yards, using about 1,000,000 pounds of cotton. The factory is on the Hoosick River. North Pownal Saw Mill is on the Hoosick River and owned by T. V. Me Cumber. It cuts about 30,000 feet of lumber annually. Mr. McCumber also runs the grist mill which is located at the same place. The mill has two run of stones. The manufactory of tin ware owned by Edmund Lillie is employing from ten to twelve men, and turns out about $ 1,000 worth of tin ware each month. The business was established in North Pownal in 1863. Pownal Valley Cheese Factory is situated about one mile from the village. It was built by a company composed of 1. F. Paddock, David Carpenter, William B. Arnold and S.W. Gardner. The milk from about 200 cows is used, and some 60,000 pounds of cheese are made annually.
The town is remembered as one of the locations the photographer, Lewis W. Hines, choose to showcase child laborers in textile mills in 1910 for The National Child Labor Committee. Today several of the photos are in the pubic domain US Library of Congress. To understand Lewis Hines’ mission, I encourage reading Joe Manning’s Mornings on Maple Street. His story of Addie Card, like the Wills Family, has connections to both North Pownal and Cohoes.
Another reason to North Pownal is remembered is its association with presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. They both taught school there early in their careers.
The Pownal Historical Society (Link is Here) and has lots of information. They transcribed cemetery burials in Pownal including the North Pownal Cemetery where J.A.B. Wills and Anne Reed are buried. Unfortunately, only Anne Reed’s name is transcribed in the website. Their headstone clearly states both names of the couple.
Railroads intersected and connected North Pownal with Cohoes, Troy, Schenectady and beyond. Manufacturing and commerce offered opportunities for workers, children and adults, in textile manufacturing. They were poorly paid and endured long working hours.
North Pownal was a busy place in the late 19th and early 20th century but it was also an agricultural area. In retirement from the iron mines of Essex County, NY, John Albert Berriman Wills (JAB Wills) farmed cash crop vegetables in North Pownal. His son, John A. Wills brought them to market, selling them to the textile factory workers in North Pownal and Cohoes. Most likely John A. Wills transported the vegetables and himself to Lansingburg, Troy, and Cohoes via the Fitchburg railroad line that ran from North Troy through Melrose, Schaghticoke, Valley Falls, Johnsonville, Hoosick Falls, Petersburg, Pownal and eventually all the way to Boston.
