Abbie L. Stanton was born in Danville, Vermont in 1852. Her father Jeremiah, was a farmer and her mother, Betsey, was a housekeeper. Abbie grew up in a home that included her grandparents, parents, uncle, brothers, and sisters. From what we can tell, it was a very busy household.

In 1876, Harvey William Varnum married Abbie Stanton. His family, too, were farmers in Danville. They wanted to move out of the area and try something new. After they were married, they moved to Jeffersonville and built a beautiful home on Main Street. It is where the Visions of Vermont Gallery is today and is now called the Varnum House.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Varnum were very active members of the community. Mr. Varnum was an entrepreneur who founded the Rock of Ages Granite Quarries in Barre, Vt.  Mrs. Varnum kept the house and raised their son, Guy.

At that time, very few women had jobs outside of the house but they belonged to clubs. In 1898, Mrs. Varnum became a member of the Crescendo Club, whose goal was to have a free library for all of the Cambridge residents. They also had the goal that all of their members had to be lifelong learners. She had to present different topics to the club. They discussed topics such as women in politics, life in Europe in the Middle Ages, new textile techniques, and more. It was important to them that they learned about the world.

When her son was killed in WWI, Mrs. Varnum and the Crescendo Club had an idea about how to honor the young men of Cambridge who served in the war. They planted a row of maple trees on each side of Park Street in the village. The name was changed to Maple Street. This way, there was a living memorial for the young men. Today, there are a few maple trees left on Maple Street. When you walk by, look for them and remember that Mrs. Varnum helped plant them.

Mrs. Varnum loved to read and she was proud of the fact that the Crescendo Club had places where books were kept for the town residents. Carrie Carroll used her house as the first main library in Jeffersonville. When she died in 1921, Mrs. Varnum stepped in and had them move the books to her front parlor. This way, people still had access to the books. People came to her home to read and discuss different subjects. She made sure her library was open on Saturdays so the school children would have a place to gather.

When Mrs. Varnum died in 1927, she left her house to the Crescendo Club to be used as a library and community house. It was important to her that all of the members of our community had a place where they could meet as well as borrow books.

The new library opened to the public in 1939 and in 1941, it named the library after Mrs. Abbie Varnum.