Alanson Dyer (1800 - 1872) was born in Clarendon but spent his adult life in Rutland where he operated several businesses and owned property. His grandfather George Dyer (1736 - 1817) was the first of the Dyers to come to Clarendon in the latter 1790's. Alanson was a well known and successful entrepreneur who simultaneously had a butcher shop, a shoe & boot manufactory, a hotel, tavern, and livery stable. He was as well active in politics and community affairs. His hotel and businesses were on West St.
There was this one other thing though. Something happened to his body after he died. The article below from the May 27, 1874 Burlington Free Press tells the story of Alanson being exhumed from the old West Street Cemetery to be re-interred in the Evergreen Cemetery. The men who exhumed him claimed he had petrified and weighed as much as 1,200 pounds. The story found its way to newspapers across the country and even generated a rebuttal in the June 6, 1874 edition of the Rutland Daily Globe. H.A. Cutting, MD and State Geologist said it was impossible for Dyer to have petrified and that he instead had likely formed adipocere, a wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat tissue under certain wet conditions. He further maintained that Dyer's weight wasn't any heavier than the 145 pounds he weighed when he was buried.
The cover photo is the tombstone for Alanson and his 2nd wife Emily (Fisher) Dyer (1813 - 1888), his daughter Susan (Dyer) Davis (1833 - 1913), her husband Nicolas Davis (1827 - 1891), and his grandson William Alanson Dyer Davis (1853 - 1909).
Alanson's 1st wife, Betsey (Warren) Dyer (1810 - 1828) had died 6 weeks after giving birth to their son Alanson Dyer Jr. (1828 - 1859).
An actual obituary for Alanson hasn't been found, only the death notice below from the March 22, 1872 Rutland Weekly Herald. This is unusual given his prominence in Rutland and the fact that his wife and oldest daughter were alive and in Rutland. Similarly nothing was found concerning Alanson Jr's death Oct. 10, 1859 beyond a simple statement more than a year later in the Oct. 25, 1860 Rutland Weekly Herald. It likely took that long for word to reach Rutland from Peru.
Drowned in the Harbor at Paita, Peru, Oct. 10, 1859, Alanson Warren Dyer, only son of Alanson Dyer of this place, aged 31 years 10 months.
Again, the son and namesake of a prominent member of the community dying in an exotic place not garnering an article in the paper is unusual. Paita is a large city now but in 1859 it was a small but important whaling port of call on the northern coast of Peru. What was young Alanson doing there? Given his father's entrepreneurial spirit, it could be young Alanson was in business there catering to the whaling industry in some fashion.