Elizabeth W. Kingsley - Williamsburg, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 23.744 W 072° 44.158
18T E 686340 N 4696198
The grave of Elizabeth W. Kingsley, who drowned in flood resulting from the Mill River Dam Disaster, is located in Village Hill Cemetery on Village Hill Road in Williamsburg, MA.
Waymark Code: WMWC0E
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/11/2017
Views: 0
Elizabeth W. Kingsley was the wife of the carpenter Elbridge G. Kingsley. She was alone in the house when the flood hit. Her husband survived because had just left the house to get his shoes repaired.
The grave of Elizabeth W. Kingsley and her husband Elbridge G. Kingsley marked by a gray marker with separate inscriptions divided by vertical line. The marker is inscribed:
FATHER
ELBRIDGE G. KINSLEY
DIED
June 8, 1889
Aged 78 yrs.
MOTHER
ELIZABERH W. KINSLEY
WIFE OF
ELBRIDGE G. KINSLEY
DROWNED IN THE MILL RIVER FLOOD
May 16, 1874
Aged 66 yrs.
KINGSLEY
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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