Electa Knight - Williamsburg, MA - Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death on Waymarking.com

Electa Knight (the gravestone misspells her last name) was Sarah Ward's sister. She lived in the house with Sarah and her husband Jeremiah. Both Sarah and Jeremiah escaped their house but Jeremiah went back into the house trying to save Electa. Soon after they left the house, both were swept away by the flood from the breaking of the dam. Electa Knight is buried to the right of her sister and brother-in-law. At 80 years old, she was the oldest victim of the disaster.

The grave of Electa Knight is to the left of his wife and sister-in-law. The gray gravestone 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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