Excerpt from A Monograph on the Origin and Early Life of Brattleboro It has been well said that, In gathering up the memorials of the fathers we best manifest our regard for posterity. The motto is full of force, truth and beauty; not unlike to which is another, that He who is not proud of his ancestors, either has no ancestors to be proud of, or else he is a degenerate son. But that this generation of ours is not wholly indifferent to the memory of its ancestors, the early settlers of Col. Brattle's Borough, might be shown in several ways, especially in the steadily increasing interest which so many are now taking in the earthly resting places which these early fathers set apart for themselves, their families, and for those who should come after them. During the past few years, much has been done - indeed, much is still being done to-day, to improve and beautify the sacred grounds in which the material parts of our kindred of the olden times, were lovingly laid, long ago, to rest. But to adorn and beautify the graves of those whose blood now flows in our veins, is not the whole of our duty, or rather privilege, toward them. It is but a becoming, helpful, inspiring pleasure for us to know something of their worthy deeds, their toils, trials, struggles, the difi'iculties they encountered and conquered, the unique heroism with which not a few of their lives were crowned. To gather up, put on record and remember the various valuable facts that have regard to our old-time brave, self-denying fathers, and mothers too, is due alike to them, to the God they served and to ourselves, their children and children's children, for whom they lived, toiled and prayed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.