News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1896-01-16
"DIEO OF CHOLERA"
The History OF Eighteen Graves In the
Country Churchyard at Sandy Hill.

The History OF Eighteen Graves In the
Country Churchyard at Sandy Hill.
In the old graveyard of the Sandy
Hill district, in the town Of Dansville,
are 8 graves, the time stained stones of
which, below the names and dates in
scribed thereon, bear the words, "Died
of Cholera. The time covered by the
dates is from Aug. "a to Sept 5, 1884
Ia days. The settlement thereabout,
in 1884, was an isolated one among the
pines that then covered northern Steu-
ben county, and composed of not moro
than threesoore souls. The story of how
it fell victim to the scourge that carried
one-third Of its population away is told
by an old resident.
Among the earliest settlers in the
Sandy Hill district was John Brazil, who
came with his wife and seven children in
1917 and began clearing up farm. Ho
was Pennsylvania German, eccentric,
but kindly and lovable. A physical pc
culiarity of this pioneer was that his
teeth were all double, every one of them
being sound when he died at the age of
80. In 1884 great many Germans be-
gan settling in that part of Steuben
county. They came from New York up
the Hudson river to Albany, thence to
Buffalo by the Erie canal, and the rest
of the way as they could.
In the summer Of 1884 five Germans
came to the Sandy Hill district, where
they had purchased land Of agents and
became guests of Brazil. They had
walked from Buffalo, where they had
left their families In the kindness of
his heart Brazil sent teams to Buffalo to
fetch the latter in. He had a vacant
loghouse on his farm, which he placed
at the disposal Of the emigrants until
they could put up houses on their land.
Mrs. Brazil helped some of the women
in washing clothes the day they arrived.
That evening she was taken violently
i'll and died in great agony the next day,
Aug. "a. Doctors had been summoned
from Dansville. They said Mrs. Brazil
had died of cholera morbus. Some of
her neighbors insisted that it was d case
of malignant cholera and forbade a
public funeral Mrs Brazil was buried
on Thursday. On Saturday two of her
daughters were Frustrated with the dis
ease One Of them died the same night.
While her plain hemloCk coffin was be-
ing made q brother was seized with the
malady and shut himself i'll the barn,
where he died while his sisters body
was being taken to the graveyard One
by one the emigrants fell victims to the
disease, A Mrs. Kerch and her children
died within three days. Between that
time and Sept 80 eight others fell vic
TINS to the plague. All We're buried,
after the funeral Of Mrs. Brazil, with the
clothes they wore or wrapped in the
bedding On which they died. 1t was
afterward learned that on the way from
Albany to Buffalo sister Of Mrs. Kerch
died after symptoms such as had attend
ed the victims at Sandy Hill. She was
buried, but her clothing was kept and
placed in a trunk. That clothing was
some that Mrs. Brazil assisted in wash
ing on the arrival Of the emigrants at
the Brazil farm.
Near by the Brazil farm was the Stone
farm. The Stones came from Massa-
chusetts. Mrs Stone brought with her
the seeds Of sweet apple that grew il
an orchard Oh her fathers farm il that
state. She planted them and raised a
fine orchard Of the same variety of ap-
Piles. III the season Of 1885 the trees
bore apples that were as sour as they
had been sweet before, and their fruit
was sour ever afterward. One of those
trees of that original orchard is stand
ing yet and bore apples for the last time
three years ago. They were sweet-the
first sweet apples it had borne since
1834.-Bath IN. " Letter in New
York Sun.