Henry, Laura Day, Mary, Lillie, & Carrie Birmingham - Northampton, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 19.546 W 072° 37.592
18T E 695564 N 4688675
The graves of Henry and Laura Day Birmingham and their three daughters Mary, Lillie, and Carrie, all of whom drowned in flood resulting from the Mill River Dam Disaster, are located in Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, MA.
Waymark Code: WMWD80
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/17/2017
Views: 0
Henry Birmingham was the superintendent of a woolen mill on the Mill River in Williamsburg that was in the path of the flood waters and Laura Day and her children were at home in Williamsburg. All were swept away with the flood.
A 12' high granite obelisk with the family name BIRMINGHAM at the base marks the graves of the five members of the Birmingham family. The dadoes above the base of the obelisk are inscribed on three sides:
Henry Birmingham
AE 47 yrs
Laura Day
His Wife AE 48 yrs
Mary AE 20 yrs
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Lillie AE 15 yrs
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Carrie AE 8 yrs
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Children of Henry &
Laura Birmingham
All drowned in
Mill River Flood
May 16 1874
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One moment, – the anguish, the terror –
The next – all suffering was o'er
In the "watery chariot" taken
To the beautiful evergreen shore
The father, the mother, dear sisters
A household in heaven complete
All there – the circle unbroken
The home that on earth was so sweet
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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