Milo Coe Story

Moment in the Lonely Woods – by Stanley A. Ransom

A traveler making the journey from West Hartland to West Granville is confronted with the necessity of traversing a lonely stretch of wooded road. The branches of the trees on either side interlace at the top and shut out most of the sunlight even on a bright midsummer day.

If a pedestrian, a stranger, and observant in nature, he is startled when midway in the sylvan gloom to behold a conventional cemetery monument by the roadside on which the following inscription appears:

Milo B., son of Harlow and Mary Coe,

Died October 18, 1851, age 11 years.

He was found dead in front of this monument supposed to have fallen from a cart in which he was riding and instantly killed.

Here is the story: Milo B. Coe lived in the house where I was later born, which is the first house over the State line in Granville, Massachusetts. As was the custom in those days, boys of what would now be considered the tender age of 11 years were entrusted with jobs out of proportion to their age.

It was in the fall of the years, October 18, 1851, to be exact, and consequently was the time for making apple cider. Milo was sent with a load of cider apples to a farm about two miles distance from his home where a cider mill was located. He was driving a pair of oxen hitched to one of those old-style two-wheeled ox-carts filled to the brim with loose apples. He was riding on the top of the cart in a standing position with only the usual whip to control the oxen. In addition, he was all alone and the road, at that time, as is still today, was through a long stretch of woods.

Just how it happened has never been definitely established. Some say that neighboring farm boys hid in the woods and threw stones at the oxen casing them to jump and throw Milo from the cart. Others say some animal may have been the cause of the oxen becoming frightened. The first that was known of the tragedy was when the oxen returned home without their driver and a search was started for the boy. He was found dead in front of the place where the present marker now stands. Death was due to a concussion, his head having come in contact with a large stone by the side of the road as he fell from the cart. He is buried in the Old West Hartland cemetery in the Coe family plot and not by the marker as some erroneously conclude.

Mile attended what was then the little red schoolhouse in West Hartland. A short time after his untimely death, his schoolmates raised some $35 (a sizeable sum in those days), and erected this monument at the scene of his death. For over 100 years it has been a familiar landmark to all who have lived in this neighborhood.

On the day of Milo’s death his mother had company in the person a neighbor who was making her a visit. All through the day Mrs. Coe remarked to her at frequent intervals, “I have a feeling that something dreadful will happen today.”  It was only a short time later that the men came bringing the body of Milo and laid him on the couch in the sitting-room.

This section of the road has recently been named the Mile Coe Road, in memory of the boy whose death was so tragic and untimely.

This is the story as I have heard it so many times from the old-timers who were our neighbors after my father and mother lived for nearly 30 years in the house where Milo was born, lived, and died.

A story from the Register Citizen newspaper, Wednesday September 12, 1984, written by Melanie O’Brien, titled “Milo Coe lived for 11 years, but he is remembered”

This is the story of an 11-year-old boy, a wooden ox-drawn cart, and a police officer interested in his community.

The boy is Milo B. Coe, a resident of West Granville, Mass., who died in 1851 after falling from an ox-cart loaded with apples.

The monument is a piece of granite erected in Coe’s memory by his schoolmates and placed on the exact spot of the accident. It was stolen 11 years ago and West Hartland residents never expected to see it again.

The police officer is Thomas Chappell of West Hartland, a member of the Metropolitan District Commission Police Force, who recovered the monument for his community. Coe died on October 18, 1851- very possibly a cool, crisp, sunny day, the kind of day people treasure. Coe was taking a cart full of ripe, red apples from his West Granville home to a farm about two miles away in West Hartland to be made into cider.

In his memory

Something or someone – no one is quite sure what – caused the oxen to be frightened, and Coe was thrown from the wagon. He struck his head on a rock and was killed instantly.

The oxen headed from home and his body was found alongside the road, which today is called Milo Coe Road and runs from West Hartland, through the dark, green Granville State Forest to Route 57 in West Granville, MA.

According to recorded history, in those days children from West Granville and West Hartland attended a little red schoolhouse in West Hartland. Coe’s schoolmates, saddened by his tragic death, joined together to collect $35, a princely sum in 1851, to erect a monument on the site of the accident. The stone relates the story of his death.

Years later two West Hartland residents, Perry Ransom and his son John, built a stone and concrete base for the monument.

Camped in forest

The sturdy base is still there, hidden in overgrown grass and brush, but the monument disappeared in March 1973 and until last week residents of Hartland never expected to see the simple tribute to the young boy again.

On Labor Day weekend, with the help of forest rangers from Granville State Forest and the state police, Chappell recovered the monument and it soon will be back in West Hartland, hopefully this time to stay.

The story of its recovery began several weeks ago. That’s when Chappell discovered an iron safe near the bottom of the Goodwin Dam in Colebrook and reported it to state police. While the safe was later reported stolen from a Canton restaurant, Chappell wondered if the incident could be connected with reports of a man reported to be flashing large sums of money in the area. The same man was also asking about the disappearance of a monument from the area years before.

Chappell was curious and began asking local residents about the monument. Finally he discovered a man camping in Granville State Forest. A 4-foot-high stone monument standing outside his tent was the same one stolen from alongside the road in West Hartland in March 1973.

According to the information supplied by Chappell and the state police, officers moved in on Labor Day, the last day campers were allowed in the forest and the statue was recovered.

While police are not releasing the name of the individual involved in the incident, they did say he wanted to return the statue, which for all these years lay hidden behind his garage.

According to two sources, the man took the statue on a dare while passing through the area. He returned to the area this summer with the intention to replace the statue on its pedestal or to return it to local authorities.

A state police spokesman said it is unknown whether there would be any charges brought against the man because of the amount of time that had passed since the monument was stolen.

Under state law, statute of limitations for a felony is five years, and for a misdemeanor, one year.

Leonard Ransom, a native of West Hartland, said he remembered local reaction when the monument was discovered missing. “People here were pretty disappointed. No one could understand why someone would want to do such a thing. As far as they were concerned it was like taking a stone from a graveyard.”, he said.

Hartland First Selectman William L. Flagg, who is also a lieutenant on the MDC force, praised Chappell’s work in locating the monument for the town. He said the monument is owned by the town, and would probably be turned over to the Hartland Historical Society. Flagg expects to bring the monument back to town this week.

Flagg noted it was the second time the monument was removed from its pedestal. The first time it was returned after a few days.

As for Chappell, a six-year veteran of the force, he just would like to see the monument back on the tree-shaded country road that has changed little since young Coe traveled on it 133 years ago bringing apples to a cider mill.