The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-03-03
HAS BEEN POWNAL
TOWN CLERK FOR
FIFTY YEARS
Mrs. KayF. lampman Pefuses to
Longer Be a Candidate
TOOK CHARGE OF BOOKS IN 1866
Annually Elected Since Legislature
Amended Laws to Permit Women
to Hold the Office.

OF the town of Pownal for half
since the laws of Vermont were
amended so that a woman could hold
the title, Mrs. Mary F. Lampman has
positively refused to permit her
name to again appear on the town
ballot. For the first time in more than
generation the voters of Pownal are
going TO have a contest over the Of
fee of town clerk and the result OF
the contest may mean the removal of
the office from Pownal Center where
it has been located for more than fifty
years.
Mrs Lampman's first husband,
the late Daniel w. Kimball, was elect
ed town clerk at the annual meeting
in March, 1866. When she learned
that her recently acquired husband
was to be candidate for the office.
she raised O rumpus,' as she now
recalls the circumstance. and Issued
an edict that she did not propose to
add the duties of town clerk to her
household work. She had been given
better education than most girls of
her day, she wrote an excellent hand
and had taught school for number of
years before her marriage, and she
had suspicion that her husband
would be town clerk in name only.
She held out for some time but deeds
and other papers to be recorded began
to accumulate and the situation be.
gan to get on her nerves. Finally,
through "onpromise agreement
whereby she was to receive half the
fees. she took charge OF the books.
Since that year, 1856, the books
have been out of her possession but
twelve months. In 1868 Daniel A.
Dean was elected town clerk at the
March meeting and held the Office one
year. beginning with the year 1869
the Office of town clerk was in the
names Of different citizens of Pownal.
including her second husband, the
late NJ. +. Lampman, but the bust
ness has ever since been transacted
by Mrs. Lampman. In the early SOS
the legislature amended the statutes
so that women could act as town
clerks and she has since been annual
ly reelected.
During the half century that she
has been in charge of the Office only
one legal paper has been recorded on
the books of the town in any other
handwriting than her own. An attor-
ney for the Burden Iron Works of
Troy, which owns considerable real
estate in Bennington county, one day
called at the Office and asked that a
deed be recorded in his presence. The
clerk was too i'll to do the work and
the attorney himself made the record
which Mrs. Lampman verified and
signed.
Mrs. Lampman, who was 20 years
old last October, has passed her en-
tire life in Pownal. Her parents and
her grandparents were likewise ma
tives of the town and knew no other
home While narrating some OF the
unusual incidents of her life, Mrs.
Lampman said: There hasn't been
year since | was 13 that | haven't
earned money; not much some times,
but still some money. | taught school
the year | was 13 for Slip 1-2 a
week; 16 weeks for SIS. | grew tall
NuGH 1 NdS Il llltlG 6iiA anu 90 aA
ways cared more for the society Of
the older folks than did to play with
the children | appeared older than |
really was.
my first school was on the top of
Stamford mountain where @ North
Adams company ran some charcoal
kins. Several families lived at the
kilns and there were a half dozen
farms within walking distance of the
school house. They wanted q teach
er and after mother had let down my
dresses father took me to the chair
| man of the school committee. Moth
ing was said about my age and | was
| given the school had ten scholars
and some Of them were older than !
was. The daughter of the superin-
| tendent was one of the scholars. She
| was Is. When her mother found out
| that was only IL she made an awful
| fuss but | finished the term.
| 81 didn't teach at the coal kilns the
next year but in the Bushnell district
on the other side of the hill. That
| year was to have a dollar and a
half, but because was so young and
because people had found it out
father made an agreement with the
| chairman Of the school committee
that II there was any complaints was
to have - 1-2 cents a week taken out
There was boy in the school who
didn't behave very well and | had tc
punish him. never liked to punish
the children; I am afraid | was toe
tender hearted for my own comfort
However, gave him a couple of little
slaps. OF course his father made 9