Research in the United Church of Ludlow’s archive in preparation for its May 2012 Birthday Celebration resulted in the surprise discovery of the original marriage record of Peter Thatcher Washburn, Esq. and Almira E. Ferris in 1839. Peter Washburn is important in Vermont history as an attorney, a Civil War hero, and the 33rd governor.

Hon. Daniel A. and Sarah E. Heald appeared at the United Church of Ludlow on Sunday, April 29 to give a sketch of their lives and importance in the church’s history. The visitors created excitement about the public Birthday Party of the church on Saturday, May 5th and Sunday, May 6th to which all are invited.

Daniel A. Heald was born in Chester in 1818 and grew up on a farm. He attended Chester Academy and Kimball Union Academy of Meriden, NH, and graduated from Yale in 1841. After moving to Ludlow, Heald was admitted to the bar in 1843. While in Ludlow, he practiced law, was a Representative and Senator in the Vermont Legislature, and built a large lumber mill in Healdville.

On Sunday, April 15, Dr. Daniel and Viola Cooledge visited the United Church of Ludlow to invite all present to join them at the church’s public Birthday Party May 5th and 6th.

Daniel was born in Ludlow in 1839. He matriculated in Black River Academy in 1858 but interrupted his studies to volunteer for the Civil War, where he was wounded, taken prisoner, and exchanged. He returned to B. R. A. and met Miss Alice Viola Marsh born in Plymouth in 1847. Viola said they fell in love, then Daniel began medical school at UVM, and they married in 1866. She was excited to experience New York City during his residency at Bellevue Medical. Dr. Cooledge opened a Ludlow medical practice in 1868. Later, the Cooledges opened a drug store on Main Street. Viola assisted in the store while raising five children. She became the first woman registered pharmacist in Vermont, and following her husband’s death in 1911, she managed the store herself until her death in 1934 at the age of 87. The store kept the Cooledge name for 75 years.

On January 28, 2004, the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior added the United Church of Ludlow to its august listing known as the National Register of Historic Places, an honor accorded to only a handful of Ludlow structures.  The Church building was completed in May 1892, and this year is the 120th anniversary of its construction.  By coincidence, it also is the 220th anniversary of the founding of the Church in 1792.

The Church’s bell was cast by the Holbrook Bell Foundry of East Medway (Massachusetts) in 1839, just 50 years after the US Constitution was ratified by the 13 states. The Holbrook Bell Foundry was established in1816, by Major George Holbrook. Major Holbrook earlier had established a bell foundry in Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1797. That business was successful but Holbrook had made the error of guaranteeing a “friend’s” borrowings and was obliged to make the payments and was financially ruined. Broken in spirit, he returned to his home town of Wrentham, Massachusetts, and, while there, he learned that a new bell was wanted for a new meeting house in East Medway and he secured a contract to cast it.