Person:Walter Boomhower (2)

Walter and Ada Slade apparently met in the State School in Vergennes, Vermont. We have obtained electronic copies of the handwritten diaries for the school for the years 1908 and 1909. Interesting entries are: Sunday, March 8, 1908 Five people were baptized at the Baptist church, among them Walter Boomhower. Friday, May 29, 1908 Graduation exercises took place during the evening...Graduates were Walter Boomhower ...Ada Slade... Sunday, July 12, 1908 Mr. Barss, Mr. Cuttings and all the sick boys excepting Boomhower were better today. Mr. Boomhower's temperature rose to 104 at noon and the nurse was obliged to spend the night with him. Wednesday, August 5, 1908 Boomhower sat up for the first time today. Friday, September 11, 1908 W. Boomhower, who after his illness, went home for a little rest, returned today to become an Officer here. His vacation has much improved his physical appearance. He was an officer and she was a sewing mistress. The 1910 census for Vergennes, Addison, VT taken on 19 Apr 1910, shows them both living at the school. It shows his age as 18 and hers as 19. Walter David Boomhower married Ada Cornelia Slade 10 Jun 1910 in Bennington, VT. They must have lived there for a while because both their children were born there. I have a note that they returned to Vergennes in 1917. Ada died there in the flu epidemic of 1918. Ada was returned to Bennington for burial in Hattie Perry's plot in the Village Cemetery. Walter and his two children, Walter, Jr. and Blanche stayed for a time with his sister-in-law, Lura and her husband George Foucher who had been with him at the time of her death. From Charlotte Foucher's (Lura and George's daughter) manuscript we have the following description: "And so it was settled, to everyone's satisfaction, I believe. Shortly after the beginning of the New Year, 1919, Walter returned alone to Vergennes, and Blanche and Walter, Jr. remained with their aunt and uncle." Katherine Foucher says that when Walter returned for his children he learned that Lura and George had legally adopted them and he had no legal right to them. Walter then married Grace Gilman and they had two children, one died as an infant and the other was named Edwin. On 7 Apr 1927 Walter, while walking on the railroad track near Waterbury, VT, was struck by the north bound milk train. Both legs were severed and he subsequently died in Heaton Hospital in Montpelier, VT.

1. ↑ Ancestry.com - World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. (Ancestry.com).