Jane P. Cogan and daughters Annie and Grace - Northampton, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 19.522 W 072° 37.543
18T E 695632 N 4688632
The graves of Jane Princely Cogan and her two daughters Annie and Grace, all of whom drowned in flood resulting from the Mill River Dam Disaster, are located in Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, MA.
Waymark Code: WMWD6B
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/17/2017
Views: 1
Jane, Annie, and Grace Cogan were at home in their house on Main Street in the village of Leeds when the impact of the flood demolished their house and swept them away.
The graves Jane Princely Cogan and her two daughters Annie and Grace located in a family plot marked by a 10' high gray granite obelisk which is inscribed with her family name PRINCELY at the base.
A face of the obelisk is inscribed:
JANE P.
WIFE OF
HENRY COGAN
Æ 42 YRS.
THEIR CHILDREN
ANNIE J.
Æ 23 YRS.
GRACE P.
Æ 20 YRS.
DROWNED
MAY 16 1874
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 downstream villages of Haydenville, Skinnerville, and Leeds. 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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