Hello all,
Re the discussion on Truman E. Carpenter and the Starkey House in Middlebury. This gets
away from the Campbells a bit, but relates to the Starkey House that Rieta mentions. If I
may, my father's (Merton S. Davis, Sr.) sister, Emily Elizabeth Davis married Fred
Lemual Starkey (1872-1964), son of John & Caroline Starkey.
According to my father, his parents Albert and Cora Spaulding Davis and their children
lived in the Starkey Hotel, located right on the main drag in Middlebury, from 1903 to
1905, where they helped Fred L. Starkey, proprietor, run the hotel. Albert Davis ran a
livery for the hotel (meeting guests at the railroad depot), Cora Spaulding Davis was in
charge of the kitchen, and their daughter, Emily Elizabeth Davis, waited tables. Fred L.
Starkey later married Emily in 1908. Sometime later Fred and Emily Davis Starkey had a
farm on the property and from as early as I can remember, the old Starkey Hotel was their
home for many years until they died. As a matter of fact, there was an old dresser with
mirror that my parents got from the old Starkey Hotel, which they painted and used to help
furnish their lake property. Later I had it and had it taken down and refinished. More
recently my brother, Merton S. Davis, Jr. has it in his home.
Is the Starkey House Rieta mentions the same as the Starkey Hotel that I speak of?
I'm happy to know Caroline Starkey's maiden name was Palmer. Thanks Rieta. Fred
and Emily Davis Starkey named one of their two daughters Caroline after her grandmother
Starkey.
Betty Davis Phillips