Hanson, Bertha B. (Bertha Brown), 1917-1994.

Monkton Iron Company, located at the falls in Vergennes, Vt., was founded in 1807 by a group of Boston merchants in response to the trade embargo on British goods imposed by the U.S. government. Iron ore for the operation came from Monkton and Bristol, Vt., and from the west side of Lake Champlain in New York State. The company's greatest success was during the War of 1812, when it made canonballs for the government and supplied the fleet of Thomas MacDonough. The depression that followed the war and the resumption of overseas trade led to the company's collapse in 1816 and eventual sale in 1830.

Bertha (Brown) Hanson was born in 1917 and spent her childhood in Huntington and Starksboro, Vt. She attended the North School in Starksboro and the Friends School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and received her B.A. from Earlham College and an M.A. from Claremont College. She taught at several Vermont schools before marrying Clifford W. Hanson. Together they operated a dairy farm in Starksboro. Her career in public service began in 1948 and continued throughout her life. She served as auditor, justice of the peace, and was a member of the Starksboro Planning Commission and the Addison County Regional Planning Commission. She was on a committee in the 1960s that considered whether Starksboro should join in building a regional high school; after Mount Abraham Union High School opened in Bristol, she served on its board of directors. She was a member of First Baptist Church and also attended services at the Starksboro Friends meeting house. Beginning in 1954 she wrote articles, chiefly appearing in the Starksboro town reports, focusing on the settlement of different sections of the town, its schools, industries, and historic buildings.