EXCERPTS FROM
STRANGE NEW ENGLAND
BY THOMAS D ’ AGOSTINO & ARLENE NICHOLSON
PRESENTED BY
THE HAYDEN FAMILY CURSE
Do you believe in curses ? Many scoff at such rants brought forth from the tongues of those who feel wronged for one reason or another . In the case of the Hayden family of Albany , Vermont , most had no chance to render their opinion until it was too late .
In 1798 , William Hayden married Silence Dale . They moved from their Braintree , Massachusetts residence to the region of Craftsbury , Vermont , thanks to the financial aid of Silence ’ s wealthy mother , Mercie Dale . Mercie was , at the time , a widow and thought it wise to move in with the young couple . William had grand plans for their future and began borrowing money from the aging old woman with the promise of paying back every penny . This scenario became a regular incident in which Mercie complied for some time , yet had not received a single shilling of recompense .
With money borrowed from Mercie , William purchased a large tract of land that would later become the town of Albany . With this , William began to work on business ventures , build a mansion and live the life of a noble , all on his mother-in-law ’ s savings . Every time Mercie demanded her money from William , he would come up with some excuse to defer the payment .
The day came when she refused any more advances on his loans and demanded what was owed to her . After all , he had a grand mansion , lots of land and several other holdings . This was when things began to go wrong for Mercie . She suddenly took ill . As her condition worsened , she feared her son-in-law was poisoning her , but her daughter refused to believe William could be so nefarious . Desperate and ailing , Mercie arranged to room with her friend Sally Rogers who lived nearby . She knew her son-in-law was trying to be rid of her so he would not have to pony up the vast amount of money he owed her . As she left the splendid mansion she had so unwillingly funded , she placed a curse on William , stating , “ The Hayden family shall perish in the third generation , and the last to die shall do so in great poverty .”
William laughed off the curse made by the old woman as the ranting of a delirious hag . Mercie died a short time later and was buried in the Rogers family lot . Perhaps she intended the curse to take effect long after her daughter was gone to relieve her of such grief in her lifetime . Soon after Mercie ’ s passing , William ’ s luck began to change . Some of his more dubious dealings started to catch up with him , and he found himself fleeing Albany , eventually settling in Farnsworth , New York , where he died in 1846 , an impoverished , broken man . Out of the nine children he had fathered , only two , one son and one daughter , reached adulthood .
46 VERMONT MAGAZINE