Anne Story (1741-1817)
Born in Preston, Connecticut. At the age of 14, she married Amos Story, and together they produced five children. Wanting something better, they decided to move to the “New Hampshire Grants”, where land was plentiful and the children could have good lives.
In 1774 Amos and their 13-year-old son Solomon headed north to build a home on land they had purchased in the town of Salisbury. Finished with the cabin by the spring of 1775, they were clearing land for planting when a large maple twisted and pinned Amos to the ground, killing him.
Solomon returned to Connecticut with word of Amos’ death, and Ann decided the loss would not be in vain: she would bring her children to the home their father had built for them.
She rebuilt the cabin after Indians burned it, this time over a crevice in the rock, to provide an escape route. A tunnel was dug to the Otter Creek, through which a canoe could pass. The family slept in an underground room.
Ann became a valued aide and advisor to the colonists during the Revolution, saying, “I cannot live to see my children murdered before my eyes – give me a place among you and see if I am the first to desert my post.” The patriots used her cabin for rest and shelter and as a message drop, and she became known as “The Mother of The Green Mountain Boys.”
In Salisbury, a monument stands in Ann’s memory, on the site of the original cabin.
