Sarah R. and Viola Belle Collyer - Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death on Waymarking.com

Sarah R. Cowling Bartlett's first husband was Gershon Collyer who died in 1871 at age 24. Viola Belle was their daughter. Sarah's second husband was Livingston Bartlett. Sarah and Viola Belle were inside the house closest to the dam. They were the first victims of the Mill River Dam Disaster. They are interred along with Gershon Collyer.

Sarah R. (Bartlett) and Viola Belle Collyer is marked by a gray marker which is inscribed:

In 1865 The Hampshire Reservoir Company build a dam three miles north of Williamsburg, MA on the east branch of the Mill River. The dam was built for corporate mill owners for the sum of $35,000. It was 42 feet above the bed of the stream, holding back 90 acres of water with an average depth of 24 feet.

On May 16, 1874, the dam collapsed. It was determined at an inquest that poor supervision and faulty workmanship of the contractor, caused the dam to give way. Water swept down through Williamsburg and the villages of Haydenville, Leeds, and Skinnerville. The disaster cost included: 144 lives lost, 750 people were made homeless, and damage to buildings, personal property, bridges, dams, roads, factories, and mills amounted to over one million dollars. One third Williamsburg was devastated in the largest disaster in New England of its time.

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