A retired teacher’s ties to Millerton’s founding days

MILLERTON — A framed portrait of Levi P. Hatch — the village’s first “druggist” and one of Millerton’s founding professionals — hangs on Diane Price’s wall, connecting her to history she didn’t know she had.

The discovery began in 2013, when she read a magazine article on the village’s founders and realized she had a connection to Hatch. He was Price’s great-grandfather.

“He was considered one of the nine founding professionals,” Price said. The discovery came decades after Price first moved to Millerton in 1961, when her father, Bill Doughty, relocated the family there to be closer to his parents, Millerton natives Roy and Mae Doughty.

The discovery, sparked by the article and later expanded through research by local amateur historian Sarah Hermans, cemented Price’s connection to a community that she had been in love with since she was a girl.

Hatch arrived in Millerton by train, according to research completed by Price and Hermans, and settled in the village, where he soon met Lottie Mae Scribner, who lived on nearby Silver Mountain. The two married, though the exact date is unknown, and lived in a house on Elm Avenue — also known today as Route 22. The pair had four children.

Price’s grandmother, Mae Hatch, was the youngest of Levi and Lottie’s four kids. Price describes her as a talented musician who could play piano by ear and never had formal lessons.

“She played for the grange dances,” Price said. Mae married a Poughquag resident named Roy Doughty and the pair also settled down in Millerton.

A framed photograph of Levi Hatch, right — Diane Price’s great-grandfather — and his family.Photo by Nathan Miller

Roy Doughty, Price said, worked at Dutchess Auto in the early days of the automobile industry. But a stroke forced him to take a less-intensive job as a tax collector. Roy and Mae also had four children — Helen, Erma, Richard and Price’s father William “Bill” Doughty.

Bill Doughty graduated from school in Millerton in 1936 and was drafted into World War II in 1941. During the war, Bill served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He moved to Pittsfield, Mass., upon returning to the states and settled down with a resident of that town named Rita Mazur, Price’s mother. The pair married in 1946 and had three children — William Jr., known as “Mike;” Diane, born in 1949; and Patrick.

But quiet suburban life was not necessarily in the cards at the time, as conflict began to brew in the Korean peninsula. Bill was eventually drafted for the second time to serve during the Korean War, and his family moved from Pittsfield to New Smyrna Beach in Florida for about three years, Price said.

After his service ended, the ‘60s had arrived and Price’s grandparents’ health was deteriorating. Prior to the move to Florida, her family regularly made road trips from Pittsfield to Millerton to visit and care for her grandparents. But in 1961, her family moved to Millerton permanently, where her mother and father lived out the rest of their lives.

Price was 13 when her family moved to Millerton permanently. She said she already loved the community, describing it as close-knit, safe and entertaining.

“In 1961, I went to the movies and I met a boy,” Price said. “I sat with that boy and my parents knew about it before I got home.”

At the time, Price had no idea about her great-grandparents — if she’s being honest, Price never knew much about her own grandparents, either.

“I was too stupid to ask back then,” Price said. “I feel bad that I never asked and I never ask my father about his experience in the war. He never talked about it.”

But Price still felt tied to her family and the community she lived in — a bond that has only strengthened over time. After just a few years of living in Millerton, Price went off to college in 1967 and felt so homesick she couldn’t speak to her father on the phone. It took a weekend visit and pep talk from her older brother, Mike, to get her out of the funk.

Upon graduating from college in 1971, Price returned to Millerton and began teaching at Webutuck Elementary School. She lived and worked in the village, raising two daughters, and still lives on Maple Avenue with her husband, Roger Price, who taught math at Webutuck High School.

She said the community has changed dramatically since she moved here in the 1960s. At the time, everybody knew each other. The highlight of the weekend was the Friday night train bringing visitors from New York City. But opportunities in the community declined over the decades, and now many people who grew up in the area feel they have to leave to make a living.

“What industry is there?” Price said. “What reason do we have for children or teenagers or adults to stay here? Where can they work and make a decent living?” Those questions have been on her mind for decades, she said, as she watched her students and her own children grow up and leave Millerton to find work and build their lives.

Despite the anxiety, Price looks back fondly on her upbringing in the village and the community that still exists here. She said she never wanted for anything growing up, and her parents provided ample emotional support as well. The community was full of caring people that looked out for each other, and although neighbors are mostly strangers these days, that thread of safety and looking out for one another still holds.

“Every day is a gift,” Price said. “How can I be anything but grateful for the life that I lived?”