Borderland Civil War History

Sarah Powell Giddings of Enosburgh, Vt. self published a narrative of her experiences with her Civil War veteran husband, Alexander Louis Giddings. Repeated abandonment from her childhood, the death of her sister has the consequences of limited attachment capacity. Her writing is decorated with christian biblical references. The prevalence of spiritualism renders her faith-based text peppered with arcane moments.

1899 her book arrived and she spent the rest of her life in Enosburg; until 1927, when Dr. Hinman signed her death certificate. As a wife of a masonic lodge member, her expanded view of safeness created a constellation of beliefs. She felt threatened by the local Masonic lodge. Members of the lodge, by her own account, intimidated her by failing to compensate her when planning a street extension. The direct fear they provoked was being locked away in a mental hospital. Communities were often placing indecent, non-compliant women in these sanitariums.

Her daughter was taken, within three months of her mother's death to the Vermont State Psych Hospital. There she spent most of her son's childhood. Grace Giddings Lowden's son, Thomas Lowden, stayed with his uncle Hugh and Lulu Giddings, on Maple Park. Grace kept her mother's home, in the 1940 census. The local historians tell me they were unaware of her time in the hospital. They report that she kept boarders, as her mother had.

The research of this particular Giddings family reveals no surviving descendants. Sarah Powell Gidding's book is available at archive.org; titled “In the Enemies Land”, 1899. This writer is looking for more input/feedback/commentary to further develop a local memorial to celebrate the elevation of women who write.