(One of twin sons of Samuel & Betsy Rossier)

Born:         September 10, 1891          Montgomery Center, Vermont

Married:      November 8, 1920            Viola Owen

Died:         January 18, 1962            Tampa, Florida

Occupation:   Farmer

Children:       Arthur       Gifford

Harvey worked on the Hiawatha Farm in Coventry, Vermont with his father and brothers until he married.

In 1920 Harvey married Viola Owen in a double wedding ceremony with his twin brother, Hardy, and Beatrice Owen, who was a sister to Viola. The two couples went to Niagara Falls for a few days. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Newport, Vermont. In 1921, they purchased a business block in Newport City consisting of 14 apartments and a store. Less than a year later they traded the block in as a down payment on two farms consisting of 360 acres in Sutton, Vermont. This was to be their home for most of their lives. Harvey served as a selectman for the Town of Sutton and as a deacon of the Sutton Baptist Church. Viola was active with the Ladies Aid Society. Both were long time members of the Sutton Baptist Church.

After retirement, they went to Florida for the winter months and kept a residence in Sutton on the West Burke Road for the remainder of the year. Harvey died in Florida from a heart attack on January 18, 1962. He was 70 years old. He is buried in Montgomery Center, Vermont. Viola died at the St. Johnsbury Hospital after a long illness. She died on Christmas day, December 25, 1966 at the age of 63. She is also buried in Montgomery Center, Vermont.

My Childhood Memories Of Harvey
by his son, Gifford

It seems that my father was quite a prankster when he was young. This story was told to me by Earl Ward who was one of the two hired men at that time. It had been a very hot day. The men worked in the fields all day and had just finished the night chores. The evening was still very warm. There was a room between the cow barn and horse barn that had a large concrete water tub to water the livestock. My father sat down on the edge of the tub to rest and visit with the farm help a few minutes before going up to the house. All of a sudden he told Earl to go to the house and tell Viola to "Come Quick!"

Earl sensed that something was about to happen so he rushed to the house and relayed the message. My mother made it to the barn in record time and just as she entered the room my father let himself fall into the water tub. He soon stuck his head up out of the water and said, "By George, Harry, this water is cold!".

My mother said, "Harvey, you darn fool!" She then made her way back to the house at a much slower pace.

For several years, my father kept a horse that would kick about every time you walked behind her. He finally traded her off and a few weeks later went looking at a different horse dealer for another horse. As he entered one of the dealer's barns, he immediately recognized his old horse. Thinking this could develop into an amusing situation, he didn't reveal that he knew the horse but instead, pretended to be interested in buying it. He asked many questions about where it came from, etc. The man told him it was a young horse from a prominent farm where it was highly prized. After giving the man a chance to make many false statements, my father said, "I notice you don't walk very close behind her; does she kick?" "Oh no," he replied, " she is very gentle." However the man made no effort to prove it. After a while my father told him all about the horse and that he had just gotten rid of her a few weeks ago. The man turned red in the face. Walking away, he muttered: "You didn't want to buy that horse anyway!"

Usually, when Fall came, the barn basement was emptied of manure and spread on the field so there would be plenty of room in the basement for the winter manure.

One Fall, for some reason, my father wasn't able to get this done. The basement became so full that it was necessary to haul some out in the middle of the winter. The big problem was that the winter had been so cold the outside of the manure pile was frozen solid. Efforts to hack away at it by hand proved futile.

My father remembered that he had a small amount of dynamite left over from blasting some stumps. He decided he would make a hole with an iron bar and put a part of a stick of dynamite in it. That might loosen up a place in the manure pile. He proceeded to do this but for some reason the fuse had gone out and the charge didn't go off. Now, he had a bigger problem. About the only way he could think of to get out of the dilemma was to put another charge on top of that one. This was soon done and both charges exploded. The cows bounced off the floor. The heavy planks that covered the gutter holes were blown off, manure flew out and stuck to the ceiling. Everything was a big mess but my father had accomplished his goal. The manure pile had loosened up. Needless to say, the milk production that night was down!

Another short story about my father as told by a hired man: in our barn there was a fair size trap door in the floor of the feeding area in front of the cows. Years ago, my father kept a couple of pigs down there, off to one side. He would use the trap door to go down and feed them.

One time, he forgot to close the cover of the trap door and he was carrying a bag of grain from one end of the barn to the other. He must have been in a happy mood as he was singing one of his favorite songs: "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." As he sang, "Glory, glory, Hal-le-lu-jah," his voice faded away. He had fallen through the hole, bag and all. When he landed, he seemed to find it necessary to finish the verse: "His truth is marching on." He could barely be heard by those up above. Then, he started to laugh at himself as he often did when an accident happened and no harm was done!