Stoughton Historical Society Newsletter Online Edition
VOLUME XLIX NO. 2 OCT-NOV-DEC – 2019
Upcoming Events
December 7 Holiday Parade of Lights. The Society will be open from 4:00 pm to the conclusion of the Parade. Come inside, warm up, see our exhibits, drink some hot chocolate, and consider buying an historical present or two for someone on your holiday list, maybe even a membership to the historical society. Through the considerable efforts of Joe Mokrisky, we have acquired a number of bricks from the old high school. We are selling them as a fund-raiser for the Society at $5.00 apiece.
February 9, 2:00 P. M. E. A. Jones : Stoughton’s Man of Music
Stoughton musicologist Roger Hall will present this program in our Jones Room, which was named for E. A. Jones. “Edwin Arthur Jones was a man who truly loved his town and shared his music with not only townspeople but also in Boston. The program will highlight his musical life as a college student at Dartmouth and his music performed in Stoughton and also in Boston. His music was featured over the years in concerts by The Old Stoughton Musical Society and his masterpiece choral work, “Song of Our Saviour” received its world premiere in Stoughton in 1992.”
President’s Report
On September 16 we had a successful Harvest Dinner at Cedar Hill at which we presented the Jack Sidebottom Award for distinguished service to the Stoughton Historical Society to Richard and Ruthie Fitzpatrick and Janet Clough. Student volunteers Jahmare White-Savage and Zachary Mandosa shared the John Flynn Award. The families of all the award winners had been informed and many family members were present. Richard, Ruthie, and Janet have provided the backbone of our organization for the last ten years and we could not have gotten by without them!
On October 5, we had more than forty people show up for our bus tour in which we visited or passed by with commentary at least ten of the sites in Stoughton where the Historical Commission has placed, or will place, illustrated historical signs. David Lambert and I combined to provide commentary and I finally got to use our “new” bull-horn, which made speaking outside much less of a challenge. Visiting the site of the Southworth/shoddy mills at the end of Southworth Ct. took us to a place, which many of our passengers did not know about. There was a quiet, scenic pond, complete with cat-tails, swans, and a nicely shaded grassy area at which we could try to imagine the industrial hustle, bustle, and roar of machinery from 1824 to 1949. We visited the site of Stoughton’s first factory, the Gay Cotton Manufacturing Company at the sharp curve in Mill St., another spot, which is now relatively quiet and pointed out the foundation of the boarding house, where the workers in the factory, both male and female boarded.
At the corner of West and Central St., we paused briefly to look over at the Stoughton Water Works, mentioning that there had once been a large French and Ward mill pond between West St. and the Water Works and that Chemung Hill had come all the way down to Central St. The sign we will place at the Water Works will have good pictures of both the pond and the hill. We also paused at the Isaac Stearns house site, where we dedicated the first of the signs back in October of 2016, the 300th anniversary of Isaac Stearns, our first inhabitant, moving to Stoughton.
We continued on West St. to the beautiful Bradley Lessa Playground, which is behind the former home of Lucius Clapp, the successful farmer and sometimes teacher, teacher/librarian who gave $25,000 to fund the Stoughton Public Library, now our building, the Lucius Clapp Memorial. There we consumed light refreshments prepared by Joan Bryant, which were spread out on the picnic tables at the playground. We stopped briefly at “Mother Jones Corner” where the long straight run of West St. ends as the road departs from the old range line that it follows all the way from beyond Plain St. to this corner where it turns right toward Ames Pond.
It was a beautiful afternoon on which we could view the calm waters of the pond from the causeway, and imagine how that it had once been Trout Brook, running through Trout Meadow. At the swimming area we reminisced about how many of our children had learned to swim there and also learned that Janet Clough once taught swimming lessons there. The sign at that site shows the long lot that ran across (what is now) Ames Pond, following the County line all the way out to Bay Road where it came near “Iron Mine Meadow.” We returned via North Easton, where we got a glimpse of the Richardson Romanesque Gate Lodge to the Langwater Estate, noted where Al Savini’s and Stoughton Junction once had been on Rt 138, and traded many related anecdotes. We took pictures of our group on the front steps of our building and went our separate ways.
Thank you to Joe Mokrisky for making the arrangements with the bus company, Joan Bryant for the food and drink, David Lambert for his commentary, and the Stoughton Cultural Council for footing the bill for the bus and advertising.
The final ten Historical Commission signs are completed and we hope that they can be installed before the solstice. The location of those signs: two at Glen Echo, two at Capen-Reynolds, and one each at Southworth Court, Swan’s Tavern, the Lessa Playground, Mother Jones Corner, and the Stoughton Water Works. In good time, we will have a booklet, which will give more information on each of these locations.
On Nov 3, re-enactor Bil Lewis presented James Madison for us. He shared with us that Madison was not a good public speaker, because he would get nervous, but he was very influential in smaller conversations. His physical frailty had kept him from playing a military role during the Revolutionary War, but his intellectual robustness and a great marriage served him well as the Father of the Constitution. Madison and Alexander Hamilton wrote a series of newspaper articles defending the Constitution during the ratification process and these articles came to be known as the Federalist Papers. Dolley Madison was a wonderful hostess as a first lady and had the good sense to move or hide valuables from the White House before the British burned it during the War of 1812. Lewis/Madison claimed that the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides” to some of us, saved Madison’s bacon when it defeated the Guerriere. We shared with him that the copper sheathing on the Constitution was made in Paul Revere’s mill in Canton
At the end of September we purchased on eBay the1804-1817 Day Book of Perez Packard of Stoughton and Easton.. We have since discovered that Mr Packard is buried in an unmarked grave on Flyaway Drive in North Easton. One of his daughters married a Stoughton Southworth, who moved to Easton and did considerable work for the Ames family. We also purchased two different sets of letters addressed to Robert Capen. He ran a bakery on the corner of Belcher and Capen Street. His brother Adam Capen Jr. lived in the same house. Many of the letters concerned debts accrued by the bakery.
In October we were visited by Loretta Jones White, who, at age eight, along with two sisters (they were triplets) was a boarder at Camp Whispering Willows, when it burned down in December of 1952. Their mother had died several years earlier and they had been placed in a foster home in Mansfield. After they had complained about bad conditions and abuses, they, along with one other child had been moved by the State to Whispering Willows just a few months before the fire. Loretta recalled conditions a Whispering Willows as being rough, with some of the older girls telling her that they were the ones, who actually did the cooking. In previous newsletters, we have discussed Camp Whispering Willows, especially in the context of the woman, Josephine Crawford, who inherited it from Dr Packard and set up an orphanage/summer camp, primarily for African-American children. A few years ago I met the Magnusson sisters, two white women, who recalled staying there during WWII, while their father, Earl, served in the War. Several years ago, we were able to help them find the large birdbath in the woods, on which of which they were sitting in an old picture.
Loretta Jones White, who is African-American, and turns eighty this year, recalled the night of the fire, when she was awakened from the communal sleeping room on the second or third story and fled to a back porch. She recalled looking down and seeing no way for her to get to the ground, as the fire was licking at the sides of the porch. She is puzzled that she cannot remember how she actually got down, but she does recall that a Stoughton fireman put his coat around her, as she shivered in the cold December air in just her night clothes. Twenty-seven children escaped the fire with the assistance of the 70-year-od Josephine Crawford, who was badly burned.
After the fire, which took the life of 15-year-old Anna Slade, the Jones children and their friend were sent back to the foster home in Mansfield, but the conditions remained unbearable and they were soon transferred to a foster home in Brockton, where she and her sisters spent the next ten years. She met her husband-to-be, Julian T. White in Illinois, where he was studying architecture. He sent her back home because she was “too much of a distraction to his studies,” but they married after his graduation. They moved to Louisiana, where her husband had been raised, and he went to Louisiana State University to take the exam he needed to become certified in Louisiana. He was the only African-American taking the test and had to take it in one room by himself, while all the white students took it in a larger room, nearby.
Julian White passed the test and later joined the faculty at LSU teaching architecture. His office was in the room where he had had to take the test, alone. He also had his own architectural business. Julian and Loretta were married for fifty years and had five children. Julian T. White died in 2011 and an atrium at the school has since been named for him. Loretta said that the recent stories concerning the conditions of immigrant children in the news led her to recollect her own childhood. She found our stories in the Newsletters on Whispering Willows via Google, and a few phone calls led to her coming to visit her relatives in the area and the Stoughton Historical Society. We were very glad to make her acquaintance and hear her story.
Other visitors to the Society have included Barbara Shaw Hanno of Petersham, MA and Charlene Shay Keith of Keene, NH, both descendants of Isaac Stearns son, Ebenezer, who married Thankful Clapp. Barbara noted that Loring Puffer, who was a speaker at the original dedication of the stone at the Isaac Stearns home-site in 1899, was also a descendant via the Ebenezer-Thankful line. Barbara and Charlene were in the area visiting Stearns-related sites and also visited Easton Town Hall where they were able to get a photo of the original document in the Town records of Ebenezer’s ordination into the Baptist ministry by Isaac Backus, who is considered a major founder of the Baptist movement in New England. We were glad to be able to share information with our two visitors, as well as learn a considerable amount about Ebenezer’s life, after he left Stoughton.
We have received several visits from Barbara Lacivita, who donated a few old tools taken from the basement of 357 Page Street. More importantly, though, she introduced us to the story of Joseph M Page, who lived in that house with his widowed mother Almira and four siblings in the mid 1800’s. This information has set off some extensive research, during which we found the records of the farm in 1850, where Almira and her children produced 300 lbs of butter from two cows. Their ancestor Charles Page of Walpole, MA acquired some of the land when he married Mary Wales of Stoughton in 1778, after serving in the Revolutionary War and married Mary Wales of Stoughton. Charles and his descendants are the source of the name, Page St. We will have much more to share on Joseph M. Page in the next Newsletter.
Kiara Yaitanes, accompanied by her mother, Briget Yaitanes, has joined our group of student volunteers on Thursday night. Kiara, who is a student at the O’Donnell Middle School has taken up the transcription of “Stoughton Fires…” Briget is copying entries in the Town Reports of the Stoughton Conservation Commission, from its formation in 1963 up to the present.
These records will be useful in the celebration next Spring of Stoughton’s 50th Earth Day. Kathleen Sylvester initiated the formation of a planning committee on which Ardis Johnston and I now serve. We will celebrate the Town’s 50th Earth Day with a variety of programs extending over a week, or more, some of them, we hope, in each elementary school. Kathleen’s plans to rewrite and expand the Guide to the Bird St. Conservation Area, which she wrote in 1976. We are adding Janet Clough to our Committee and have applied for a grant from the Stoughton Cultural Commission to help celebrate Earth Day next year and to print the new booklets. Watch for other Town Boards and Committees to come on board. If you would like to be a part of these celebrations, please contact any of us.
Jahmare White-Savage and Zachary Mandosa continue to volunteer on Thursday nights. Jahmare’s transcriptions of Michael Sullivans WWI diary have reached the point where the Armistice has arrived, ending the War, but not the service nor the diary of Mr Sullivan. Zachary continues his transcription of John Flynn’s diary of 1955. By the way, John Flynn’s diary in December of 1952 notes the sirens of the fire trucks passing by, as they headed up Plain St. to the fire at Whispering Willows, where one of the fire-fighters (unbeknownst to Mr Flynn) would wrap his coat around the shivering, eight-year-old Lorretta Jones.
On November 16, your intrepid President led a group of sixteen people on a hike from the Lessa Playgorund on West St. in to the site of Girl Scout Camp Waluhiyo near CW Welch Pond in the Bird St Conservation Area. The weather was brisk, and we were honored to have with us two women, who had attended Camp Waluhiyo. One of them was Linda Paine, who brought two grandchildren with her. Also with us were members Dan Mark and Andrew Mac Kerron, as well as two fathers, who had camped out near the pond with their boy scout sons, just a few weeks earlier. Eric Studer, who lives across the street from the Lessa Playground, demonstrated that he knows his trees, as he accompanied his son. On our way in, we met a bow-hunter heading out, and we all shared the woods amiably.
Linda Weiler has spent many hours researching the history of Pine Street and has added some of her own childhood recollections. Here are a few excerpts from her work:
The early history of Pine St. seems to be occupied mostly by the Capen family. They were one of the nine earliest families to move to Stoughton from Dorchester. In the mid 1700s, Jonathan Capen (B. 1724 D. 1813) settled on land not far to the west of the current Glen Echo Blvd. from Pleasant St. to York Pond (now Glen Echo Lake) and not far from the southeast cornerstone of the Ponkapoag Indian Plantation.
On an old path leading to Monk’s Meadow from Pine St, and after crossing a small brook is a slight elevation which is supposedly the site of the 1st home that Deacon Jonathan Capen built. Nuff Wills, a tenant of Capen’s is said to have lived in this house after Capen built a new house, (according to Canton historian, Huntoon.) Frank Reynolds wrote that in 1947 remains of this old cellar were still there. Jonathan Capen was appointed as guardian of the Ponkapoag Indians on June 17, 1767. He moved closer to Pine St. building a small house and barn and later making it a big two story when his son John (B. 1755 D. 1837) and wife (Patience Drake) needed more room. This house at 224 Pine was called “The Old Place”. Later, George Capen (Adam Capen’s brother) lived here with his family and still later Frank and Loretta (George’s granddaughter) Davenport lived here. It burned almost to the ground on December 3, 1898, but some parts were used in rebuilding. This is the only one of the 3 earliest houses listed in the 1794 town report still standing today. It was on nearly the same location and from early 1900’s til today, 3 generation of the Dahlin Family have lived here. Warren Dahlin, recently told me in the 1920’s that his Grandmother (Clara E. Dahlin) baked Swedish pastries and sold them to people of the area. She had a few tables set up in the yard so they could sit and enjoy them.
The 2nd earliest house and barn built in 1759 was at (20 Pine St.) (The York St. end) by John Wadsworth which had numerous owners, among them, Ruel Packard. In 1854, John and Milley Sulloway bought this 48 acre farm which included the pond, named Sulloway Pond, which to us was now Bohnenberger’s Pond, where we skated many winters. In the early 1900’s Carl and Emma Bohnenberger bought this farmhouse and large cow barn almost sitting on Pine St with fields all around and these buildings were still standing when everything was torn down in the 1950s. This made way for houses to be built going up a ways on York St. creating Lillian Rd. As kids, my cousins and I were sent down to buy eggs from Emma and enjoyed listening to her German accent. Carl Bohnenbergers brother (Frederick) was proprietor of the farm for a while and built a house at the top of the hill ( 63 Pine) where later Joseph and Phyllis Bohnenberger lived with their 3 children.
The 3rd earliest house (282 Pine) was built by David Wadsworth in 1788 for John Capen and was later occupied by many different families. Charles Hardwick (a bookkeeper) lived here and sold the place in 1916 to Patrick Smyth and another member of his family (Thomas Smyth) built a house next door (296 Pine). The Fentons were the last family to own (282 Pine ) and in the 1990’s it and a dilapidated barn behind it where the Fenton’s kept their horses were torn down. The other house (296 Pine ) was town down later and today 2 new houses are in these locations. Also, there is a smaller road on the west side of the Fenton’s house and 4 houses were built there in late 1900’s and they have a Pine St. address. This makes the 3 earliest houses, not including the Capen Reynolds farm which even though many fields and acres are on Pine St has an address of Pleasant St where it is facing.
In 1903, Pliney Capen sold 10 acres (161 Pine) house and barn to Albert and Morilla Whiting (my Great Grandparents on my mother’s side). When they died, part of this farm was given to one of their daughters (Susan Whiting Orr,my Grandma) and she in turn gave her 3 children land to build on and in 1949 my 2 uncles and father built 3 houses (Wilbar 153, Bishop, 147 and Orr 137 Pine St.) In the early 1940’s , Sam and Helen Connell and family bought (161 Pine) which included the house and barn with 4 acres. Their oldest daughter was my childhood friend and everyone loved this place to play because the Connell’s always had animals- chickens, goats,pigs, horses, and a cow at one time. There was the barn with hay to jump in, a brook to catch frogs in and sometimes Helen would make us goat milk frappes.
Beside my Aunt and Uncle’s house since replaced recently by a new one at (137 Pine) was a path. This was Robert’s Path to us in 1949 because a man (Robert Shea) had built a small house deeper into the woods for him and his Mom. He had been in the war and was told he was shell-shocked and we seldom saw him. His house ended up burning down some time in the 1950s, him not being there at the time. This path went up the hill and parted up the top in two ways, one to Hansen’s store on Pleasant St and the other to Gaby’s store on Washington St. ( Rte 138). Always in summer we would walk or bike, buy popsicles, and sit on the cement stoop at Hansen’s and enjoy them. This path in the mid 1960’s became the No. School Rd. and the new school was built at the top of the hill, having the first class in 1969. Two other exit roads were created, Lowe Ave and Lowe Ave Ext. Later, No. School’s name was changed to Joseph Dawe School to honor the beloved principal who served many yearsthere. The school’s address is (131 Pine St.) Another early farm and barn (140 Pine) across the street from us was built in early to mid 1800’s where
Joe Devito and Evelyn Callanan’s mother’s family (DeLuca) lived for a few years in early 1900s. This burned down in 1909 and was built up again with different occupants and sometime in the 1950s, Charlie and Evelyn Large and family lived here and had a fire, but the house was salvaged and repaired. The Christopher family lived there many years after and the house was town down around 2010 and a new one replaced it.
Before that, though, in the late 1950s many acres of land surrounding (140 Pine ) were sold to a builder (Corcoran) who developed Deady Ave and Trowbridge Circle. Many new houses in this area and up and down Pine St were built in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1949, there were only 15 houses on Pine St. The Leif family house (256 Pine) was built in the early 1900s. Another Leif house (248 Pine) was built later, the other one torn down, land was sold and Ruth Rd. coming off of Pine was developed, named after the mother of the Leif family. Ronald Way off Ruth Rd is named for one of her sons. Her daughter, Elizabeth Leif was president of the Stoughton Historical Society from 2001-2002.
In 1936, Harry Cohenno and family built a home on the hill (233 Pine) and the Toupence house (203 Pine) was built in early 1900s by Carl Bruckner. One other house that was built in mid 1950s was (1 Pine) where Patrick Large (Charlie Large’s brother) lived with his family.
Once, when the Brinks robbery in 1950 had taken place, we knew of this old abandoned cellar on the path (now Deady Dr.) to Glen Echo Lake which was still partly standing. We took hammers from home and tried removing bricks in the fireplace in search of the Brinks money because one of the men involved was Specs O’Keefe who lived on Glen Echo Rd. and the F.B.I. had come by our neighborhood asking questions, but of course, we didn’t find anything. Recently, I found out that this was the remains of a cottage that was left when the 1909 fire occurred at (140 Pine).We also used to ride our bikes to Indian Oven on Old Maple St. with spades and dug for arrowheads. So, some history of this area was known to us kids.
When we were a little older and went on the Glen Echo Path, as you got nearer to the lake, was a small cabin and each time we tried to pass by this scary (to us ) man would come out of the cabin with a rifle of buck shot in his hands and when we said, “We just wanted to swim,” he would let us through to the lake. He was actually the caretaker of the Inn.
The land where Robert Shea lived, going up to (63 Pine) was sold, creating Brad Rd and Darling Way where a number of houses were built in the 1970s and 1980s. All of these roads coming off Pine St are dead ends, except Deady Dr., which even though it turns to dirt in the middle comes out on York St./Indian Lane..
There is also a 12 acre parcel of wooded land between (224 Pine) and (160 Pine). Listed in 1947 as owners are #1 Town of Stoughton, #2 Conservation Commission 2018, and #3 Capen Reynolds Memorial Area.
We made use of many native plants in this area. A boggy area in Reynolds field had cranberries (since died out), blueberries and blackberries in a lot of places and checker berry leaves we used to chew on in the woods. There were still apples and pears to eat left from my Great-Grandparents’ orchard behind our houses. In late summer each year, Bertha Reynolds would call my Aunts or Mother and say, “Tell the girls its jelly-making time,” for the concord grapes that were abundant in her backyard. In the woods behind our field was a natural spring where watercress grew. Many years ago, supposedly, there was a pipe once, bringing this spring water down to Pine St. for people to use.
In 1901, according to Frank Reynolds book, town water came to his home and instead of horse cars, and the Randolph Stoughton trolley cars ran on electric power, replacing the horse-drawn ones. In 1912, the Pine St. telephone line was constructed. In 1925, the Edison Electric Illumination Company of Boston gained permission from the owners of property on Pine St, to construct and maintain the high tension lines. And finally, this one mile cart path of Pine St. was paved in July 1939. – Linda Weiler
Archivist’s Report
Acquisitions: a record book for the Stoughton school district No. 4: May 8, 1820 through March 7, 1854. The purchase was on ebay from a J. Tregoe of Hagerstown, MD. Bonnie Molin, donated an Old Stoughton Musical Society 200th Anniversary poster from 1986. Kathy Carpenter donated a wedding certificate of Albert Whiting & Rilla Gould, who were married in the North Stoughton Methodist Church, by Bradford P. Raymond, pastor there from 1871-1873. This couple is Linda Weiler’s great grandparents. Timothy Ross, of Stoughton, donated a 1907 street directory, a notice for GAR Grand Army Fair at Town Hall Dec. 17,18,19,20 & 22 1884, and a 1900 Almanac. Diane J. Radvilas, of Stoughton donated a July 22, 2019, news clipping of the Closing of Stoughton High School 1925-2019; A 4 x 6” post card size ad for the election of A. Leonard Anderson & Edmund L. Daley for School Committee. A receipt dated 1926 for milk sold by Paul Youkon, of 142 Morton St. Stoughton. A wallet sized card, ad for Billy’s Cab Co. (c 1933) with Train and Bus time tables on the back. An American Tabacco Co. “Lucky Certificate” 0.01 Cash Value if used before 9/1/1932.
A news clipping, Stoughton Pony League. (Undated, possibly 1960-61). A 1985-86 Jones School Yearbook. And a Stoughton Arts Council Scrapbook, 1980 – 1984. Dave Lambert brought in a number of items from the old Stoughton High School; 1994-95, Mathematics League, First Place plaque.2000 Girl’s Softball, Hockamock League, Championship plaque. 2001 Boy’s Football, Hockamock League, Championship plaque. 2002 Boy’s Basketball, Hockamock League, Championship plaque. 2003 Boy’s Soccer, Hockamock League, Championship plaque. 2004 Boy’s Basketball, Hockamock League, Championship plaque. 2005 Boy’s Basketball, Hockamock League, Championship plaque. 2005 Girl’s Softball, Hockamock League, Championship plaque.
Ruthie & I donated two programs from the New Stoughton High School Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Ruthie has started a new folder for the new High School and a photo album for the Town’s anniversary celebrations
We have added to our information on Susan Clapp Bradley. Her husband was Stephen Herrick Bradley, a Tailor, b. Madison, CT in May 1805, m. 1st. Harriet Butler, Feb. 3, 1842, m. 2nd ? m. 3rd. Susan Clapp a school teacher from Brockton on Oct. 7 1885. He died Nov. 29, 1888, at Cottage City, Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Interred Oak Grove Cemetery, Oak Bluffs, Dukes County, MA. Susan Clapp was born June 7, 1832 in Stoughton, Norfolk County, MA and died Sep. 3, 1908, Brockton, Plymouth County, MA. Burial is in Union Cemetery, (Corner Center & Lyman St.) Brockton, Plymouth County, MA. The Bradley Memorial Church, Oak Bluffs Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, was named after her by Rev. Oscar E. Denniston, who was the pastor there for 40 years.
Susan Clapp Bradley had founded a mission called the Oakland Mission, in Oak Bluffs on Masonic Avenue. Mrs Bradley ministered to the immigrants from Portugal and the Azores and assisted them in becoming naturalized citizens. Rev. Oscar Dennison who had been working at the Seamans Bethal, in Martha’s Vineyard was brought to the Oakland Mission to be Susan Clapp Bradley’s assistant. After her death in 1908, he started at the same location the Bradley Memorial Church. (Quoted from The Vineyard Gazette-Martha’s Vineyard News via Rev. Roberta Williams, First United Methodist Church of Stoughton, whose last assignment, was on Martha’s Vineyard)
Barbara Lacivita, donated a few pages, and later a complete copy of REMINISENCES OF UNCLE JOE PAGE (Joseph M Page.) Dwight MacKerron, Richard Pratt, Richard Fitzpatrick & Linda Weiler, have all done research on Joseph M. Page. Here is a little of what we have found: Joseph Milner Wightman Page, 1845-1938, was born in North Stoughton , MA May 20, 1845 the 5th and youngest child of: Elisha Page, 1813-1848 & Almira Ann Maria Wightman Page, 1808-1898. M. 31 Aug 1834, Stoughton, Norfolk County, MA Grandson of William Page, 1793-1852 & Esther N. Spear, 1794-1850. M. 26 Apr 1812, Stoughton, Norfolk County, MA. Great, Grandson of Charles Page, 1750-1831 & Mary Wales, 1761-1806. M. 11 Sep 1778, Stoughton, Norfolk County, MA (Charles Page, fought through the Revolutionary war. And is interred in Pearl St. Cemetery.) Great, Great, Grandson of Thomas Page 1720-1786 & Sarah Robbins, 1722-1805. M. 8 Sep 1741 Walpole, Norfolk County MA. Interred in Terrace Hill Cemetery, Walpole, MA. Joseph M Page’s mother had a brother Joseph Milner Wightman after whom he was named, he was the first Democratic Mayor elected in the City of Boston. His mother’s grandfather was the “Duke of Argyle” -Richard Fitzpatrick
Curator’s Report
We have begun a project to examine our holdings of artifacts which have been donated to the Society since our founding in 1895. These artifacts range from china dolls to civil war artillery shells. We are conducting a systematic inventory of the items to make certain they are properly identified in our database. As we go through the items we verify the item number, description and location. We also include comments on the condition and, when known, the donation provenance. Given the extent of the collection this will be a long-term project. Acquisitions: A train lantern with red lens from the New York Central System and a 1914 Friendship Calendar from Linda Weiler; three tools used in an indoor oven from Phyllis and Robert Thompson; a Class of 1930 Stoughton High School ring owned by James J. McArdle and donated by his son John McArdle; four farm tools used on the old Page farm, on Page Street, from Barbara LaCivita; a 1 ft. ruler with advertising for Carleton F. Holbrook “Quick-Way” Truck Shovels, Cranes, etc. from Katherine Carpenter; a Goddard Hospital “100 Hours Hospital Service” pin from Paula McGarvey. -Rich Pratt
Clothing Curator’s Report
The latest move in trying to better organize the articles of clothing given to our care has been to separate items that were made for the bicentennial celebration. These are the pieces of clothing that we allow people to wear for special occasions. I have gone through our records and have isolated these items in a separate area so that we have easier access to these clothes. We do have in our storage, but not in our collection records, clothing that are duplicates or not appropriate for saving which can be borrowed for your next “costume” event.
Thank you to all for the very appreciated congratulations and the honor of receiving the John Sidebottom Award at our dinner. Now I have to get to work and earn it! -Janet Clough
Membership
New members: Brittany & Lyn Costello, Dan Mark, Lisa & Brian Panacy, Barbara Hanno, Bill Conopka, Jack & Betsy Morrissy