Above left: aerial photo of Enfield pre-reservoir
Above right: aerial photos in progression
Above left: View from Visitor Center at Quabbin. That's Mom on the right taking videos.
Above right: Map inside center of Enfield with the reservoir over it.
Below left: yellow #5 marks Enfield Center; black #27 with red arrow pointing to it marks Woodlawn Cemetery where Benjamin, Nancy and Frances were all originally interned.
Below right: Photo of Enfield center
In May of 2008, Mom, Dad and I went to the Quabbin Visitor Center off Route 9 in Ware, Mass. My main objective was to view the vital records for Enfield, since that is the town that Benjamin Gardner and Nancy Ryder resided in after their
marriage in nearby Pelham, the town Nancy was born in, in 1828.
Benjamin and Nancy had all 10 of their children in Enfield, from 1830, with the birth of my ancestor, Frances H. Gardner*, to 1848. Frances Gardner and Julia Gaylord were married in nearby Granby in 1850, then had their first daughter,
Isadore Francis, in Enfield. The family moved to Somers, CT and that is
where Nellie Estelle Gardner was born in 1864.
Benjamin and Nancy both died in Enfield and were buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery there. Francis died in Springfield and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery as well.
As well as confirming these vital statistics on microfiche, we were able to go through the actual town records of Enfield. Also in the Visitor Center is the history of how the Reservoir was made and pictures of the towns that were depopulated and leveled to accommodate it. I thought some of these photos and maps were of interest,
so I've included them here.
*According to Aunt Nonie's Notes and Letters, as well as his death record, Francis Gardner was thought to have been born in Auburn, NY. This has always greatly puzzled me. If it were true, it would mean that Benjamin and Nancy were married in Pelham, MA Sept of 1828, had their first baby, Mary Ann in April of 1829, who died three weeks later; then made the trip of over 200 miles to the other side of Syracuse, NY to Auburn, gave birth to Francis there in July of 1830, then made the 200+ mile trip back to have their third child, George, in August of 1832 in Enfield, where they remained until their deaths in 1885 and 1888. The Auburn, NY Town Clerk does not have Frances' birth on record. It didn't make any sense. But I entered Auburn as the town of his birth because that was the best information I had so far. His marriage record in the Enfield Town Record books says he was born in Hardwick, Mass, a town a few miles from Enfield. However, he is listed in the Enfield Records Book along with the other children of Benjamin and Nancy. For this reason, I have changed his birth town to Enfield in my file.