(1st daughter of Samuel & Betsy Rossier)

Born:              April 23, 1876           Montgomery, Vermont

Died:              April 2, 1956            Milton, Vermont

Married:           Rolla Eaton Samson
                   Born: October 1, 1873    Enosburg Falls, Vermont
                   Died: May 10, 1964       Colchester, Vermont

Children:       Marion Louise       Elizabeth Corrette

Lillian Ida Rossier attended the Grande Ligne Institute in Canada. She later took a job at a home for elderly ladies in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was here she met Nellie who became her lifelong friend. As a young lady she held several positions as governess to children of some wealthy people in Philadelphia and in Boston. She traveled to Europe with one of the families and had an opportunity to get acquainted with some of her distant cousins in Switzerland.

On August 21, 1907, Lillian married Rolla Samson in the Baptist Church at Montgomery Center. Rolla was a well educated lawyer. He was a tall man with a very honest upright character reminiscent of a modern Abe Lincoln. When a young man he worked with his father, Joshua, plastering in houses. His mother, Corrette had died soon after his birth so he never knew her. He graduated from Enosburg Falls High School and went to Albany Business College. He worked part time selling "Kendall's Spavin Cure," a popular horse medicine. In 1900, he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School at Ann Arbor. He was recruited for a job as a traveling salesman for the West Publishing Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, the world's largest publisher of law books

Rolla and Lillian lived in Minneapolis and Rolla worked there about 18 years traveling over much of the northwest, principally in Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota. They had two daughters born to them: Marion in 1909 and Elizabeth in 1910. Rolla became tired of the constant traveling and in 1918 moved to Michigan to try farming and raising sheep. The living conditions on the farm were much more primitive than living in Minneapolis but the family managed. Rolla went into politics and was elected County Supervisor which he served for 8 years. The girls liked school and did very well. The nearest high school was about 25 miles away so they had to room and board away from home.

In 1927, they left Michigan and moved to Burlington so the girls could attend the University of Vermont where they both graduated. After 8 years in Burlington they moved to Newport. Rolla did some carpenter and masonry work there. They later moved to Milton, Vermont.

Lillian died in 1956. Rolla died in 1964. They are both buried in Milton.

Note of Interest: when Rolla was a boy one of his close playmates was Charlie Adams who went on to be the founder of the First National store chain.