Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

{William H. [born May 20, 1830, lived in Portland] was the only child of William G. Conant [b.Dec. 25, 1805, Alfred; d.April 8, 1888, Alfred] The granite memorial was reportedly donated to Alfred by William H.’s daughters to honor their father and grandfather. The Nathaniel Conant (William G.’s grandfather) was one of the early settlers in Alfred, arriving in town circa 1770 from Beverly Massachusetts. Nathaniel was the largest landowner in town and founded a large sawmill at Alfred Mills. They were very prominent in town affairs.

William G. was a storeowner and built in 1841 what is now the Alfred Country Store that faces the green, a few steps from his memorial. In 1871, William G. donated money to build the Conant Chapel that stands next to the Congregational Church that also faces the green. Guess they wanted to be remembered. Many Conants left Alfred and were very successful in mercantile and banking pursuits. Alas, no Conants currently reside in Alfred though more than a few townsmen have Conant blood coursing through their veins.

The memorial was erected in 1911 when Alfred Water District installed the water system in the village. It’s original purpose was a horse trough though it had a human drinking fountain on the park side. The advent of the automobile rendered the thing less useful and the memorial has not been plumbed up for many years. We plant flowers in it today.}

Comments (0)

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment