The name AMENIA means “a pleasant place.” This name was coined by Dr. Thomas Young in 1762, when the Amenia Precinct was formed. Certainly, the picturesque views from DeLaVergne Hill and from Depot Hill Road confirm the appropriateness of the name, as do the pastoral scenes throughout the town.
Dr. Thomas Young arrived in Amenia around 1755 and married Mary Winegar, daughter of Capt. Garrett Winegar, of Amenia and Sharon, near Amenia Union. Dr. Young was not only a physician. He was a poet, known for his epic poem, “The Conquest of Quebec,” a writer of political pamphlets, and a Latin scholar, who also gave the State of Vermont its name. Young was an ardent patriot and a friend of the irreverent patriot, Ethan Allen of Salisbury, Connecticut.
Young is said to have been so impassioned for the cause of independence that he participated in the Boston Tea Party. But because he was not in “Indian” costume for the raid and was identified by the British, he had to flee for his life to Rhode Island. He later joined Dr. Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia at the military hospital there, treating wounded and sick soldiers. In 1777, he succumbed to a disease called “putrid fever,” which took his life within hours.
The Town of Amenia is proud to have had Dr. Thomas Young as one of its own citizens. Likewise, his daughter, Susanna Knies, is worthy of praise. Mrs. Knies lived at Amenia Union, aka Hitchcock’s Corners, and conducted a private school for girls. She died in 1801 and was buried in the Amenia Union Cemetery among other Winegar descendants buried there.
