NARRATOR (female voice)
You’re now standing in front of the town hall, and as you look up, you’ll notice the clock.
In May 1922, less than a year before he passed away, M. Pierre Desautels, a retired Farnham resident, drew up his will in which he wrote:
NARRATOR (voice of M. DESAULTELS)
“If, at the time of my death, the Corporation of the City of Farnham, having its office in the aforementioned city, does not have a clock with a chiming mechanism mounted above its City Hall, I bequeath to it the sum necessary to install a suitable one at that place within a year of my death. The sum in question shall be fixed by my executors, and shall not, in any case, exceed three thousand dollars.”
NARRATOR (female voice)
The first chiming sounds were heard in 1924. M. J. A. Myette, a Farnham jeweller, received the sum of $2,700 from the municipal council for the sale of this clock.
NARRATOR (voice of M. DESAULTELS)
“In August 1862, at the age of 19, I enlisted as a volunteer soldier to fight in the American Civil War. I was assigned to Company I of the 13th Vermont Infantry under the name of Peter-G. Dewey.
In January 1865, I joined the 26th New York Cavalry Regiment formed by men from Massachusetts, Vermont and New York. Our mission was to guard the Canadian-American border against attacks similar to the previous year’s St. Albans raid.
In June 1865, with the Civil War finally over, I ended my military engagement.
At the time of my death, 58 years later, I would be laid to rest in the St. Augustine cemetery in Montpelier, Vermont.”