Stoughton Historical Society Newsletter Online Edition
VOLUME XLIX NO. 1 JUL-AUG-SEPT- 2019
Upcoming Events
September 16 – Harvest Dinner at Cedar Hill, 6:00 P. M. – We will kick off our fall programs by honoring some deserving volunteers and sharing images of Historical Society activities and the new historical signs that we have gathered since our Installation Dinner in June. As we did last time, we will have a golf cart and driver available to transport folks who want it, up to and back down from the clubhouse. If you plan to attend, please fill out the form on the last page.
October 5 – 1:00 pm to 3:30pm – Bus excursion from 6 Park St. to several of the historically significant sites in Stoughton, with emphasis on those where the Historical Commission has placed or will place signs. We will rent one or two buses, depending on the advance sign-up. Potential stops include Pearl St. Cemetery, Mill St., Southworth Ct. the Isaac Stearns house site, two locations at Ames Pond, the Bradley Lessa Playground, Mother Jones Corner on West St., and time permitting, the entrance to the Bird St. Conservation Area and the Dry Pond Cemetery. Commentary will be provided by Dwight Mac Kerron and David Lambert. We will not get out of the bus at every stop. Light refreshments and drink will be provided. The cost of a ticket will be $3 for adults and $2 for high school students and younger. A large part of the bus rental fee will be paid for by a grant from the Stoughton Cultural Council. If you are interested in attending, please mail us the form at the end of the newsletter. You may combine your payment with your check for the Harvest Dinner, if you plan to attend both.
November 3 2:00pm – Historian-actor Bill Lewis will portray James Madison, one of our most important Founding Fathers. Audience participation will be encouraged. More details to follow.
President’s Report
In April Gary Hylander had to bow out of his presentation on suffragette extraordinaire Alice Paul because of health issues. Fortunately, we had access to several other good sources and were able to go through with the program with the help of a clip from “The Great War,” a PBS series to which we have access via a Passport account. On-line information and images from the Alice Paul Institute in Mount Laurel, New Jersey were also very helpful. This presentation, which was on Powerpoint, with online links, becomes part of an inventory of programs that we are accumulating.
At about this time we acquired on eBay a page of an un-named doctor’s account book from the mid 1700’s. In it he lists accounts with several people from Stoughton, Medway, Medfield, and Dedham. The doctor bleeds a number of the patients and dispenses a variety of medicines including Rhammi Jalap, unguents, and chamomile. The people from Stoughton who are mentioned include Nathan Clark Jr., whose mother receives treatments in Medway, the Widow Gould, and Micah Allen, the latter being from Stoughtonham in 1766. Any bills before 1765 would have listed Stoughton, as Stoughtonham did not become a separate district until 1765. It is likely that most of these “Stoughton” people lived in the current Sharon or Foxborough, which would have been closer to the Medway/Medfield individuals in the account page. Further study of our tax records may be able to place the location of these individuals more precisely.
We received a visit from Alice Magee’s daughter-in-law, grand-daughter, and great grand-son. We showed Lois, Charlene, and Geoffrey Magee the parade movies and we talked for some time afterwards. We found out that Alice made money for many trips abroad by selling baked goods at places like the Brockton Fair and entering baking contests at fairs. The other workers at the Brockton Fair liked to buy her meatloaf sandwiches. She organized foreign travel expeditions and would receive a discount for that. She got reduced rates on Holland Cruises for her miles, and then a free cruise or two after she saved a doctor’s life on one of the cruises, when he was choking.
On June 10, we held our Installation Dinner at Cedar Hill and swore in our officers for the upcoming year: President – Dwight Mac Kerron, Vice-President – David Lambert, Treasurer – Joan Bryant, Recording Secretary – Evelyn Callanan, Archivist – Richard Fitzpatrick, Acting Curator – David Lambert, Clothing Curator – Janet Clough, Board of Directors – The President, the Treasurer, Denise Peterson, Joe Mokrisky, Lou Poillucci, and Rick Woodward. Corresponding Secretary – Jeanne DeVito Assistant to the Archivist – Ruthie Fitzpatrick, and Assistant to the Curator – Richard Pratt.
This summer we were fortunate to have Katie Menice, a Stoughton High School graduate and a student at St. Anselms College volunteer at the Society. She took on the transcription of a notebook of hand-written accounts of Stoughton Fires from 1871 to 1921. These accounts appear to have been copied from local newspapers and it will be helpful to have them recorded digitally. Katie joined student volunteers Jahmare White-Savage and Zachary Mandosa, who also continued their transcriptions several times over the course of the summer.
We were open, and our lawn was well-populated as usual, for the 4th of July Parade in which we were represented by a stunning truck-mounted model of the Lucius Clapp Memorial, home to our Historical Society. It was designed and constructed by Rick Woodward, Linda Woodward, and Joanne Callanan. We thank all three for the amount of time and effort that they put into creating this colorful model, which was constructed out of fiber board and may be used again in future parades. There were Woodward grand-children on the float and a sign promoting “Bubble Day,” which happened later in the summer. Our sign was carried by Sophia Woodward and Zachary Mandosa with Jamie Woodward taking over for his father on the big-wheeled bicycle, and Rick Woodward riding a more conventional, if well-decorated, bike. Linda Woodward led the marchers, dressed in a period and patriotic costume.
We were also represented by the 1925 Ford model T station wagon, owned and driven by Bob Benson, with Vice-President David Lambert as a passenger. The wagon features a 177 cubic inch 4 cylinder engine producing 20 horsepower and the wood body is original. In its 94 years it has traveled around New England including a couple of trips up Mount Wachusett and has been in almost all Stoughton 4th of July parades since 1964.
We received a visit from Rob Armour of the Universalist Church, who was looking for information on one of their ministers, Massena Ballou. He was giving a presentation at the Church on August 11. In searching our files and in discussion with Mr Armour, I was interested to learn that Rev. Ballou spent the last decades of his life in Stoughton, after retiring from the ministry because of failing health. He later served as a postmaster in the Town. One of his sons was a successful horse-trader and another was Town Treasurer – Tax Collector for many years.
David Lambert spotted an Account Book of Stoughton School District Number Four up for bid on eBay. We were able to acquire it. It covers the years1820-1855 and concludes with the building of a new school, which David Lambert and I determined in 1871 was named the Tolman School. In 1852. Susan Clapp was paid $35 for 14 weeks of teaching school at $2.50 per week. J. M. Monk is paid $21 for boarding her for 14 weeks. This is the same Susan Clapp, whose diary we have transcribed from later in the 1850’s when she was teaching at her sister’s boarding school in West North Bridgewater and thereafter renting White’s Hall and then Capen Hall in Stoughton Center in which to teach a private school of her own. After the Civil War, she spent a year in North Carolina teaching freedmen under the auspices of the American Missionary Association. Later in her life she moved to Martha’s Vineyard (Convention City) where she married a Rev. Bradley and taught there for many years, with a Susan Clapp Bradley Chapel being named for her.
Susan Clapp Bradley’s obituary: One who has devoted her life to the aid of the deserving and to mission work among the lowly was Mrs. Susan Clapp-Bradley, aged 76, who died yesterday afternoon at her home, 82 Green Street. She had for some months been in declining health, although as long as able she continued her interest in the welfare and uplifting of the unfortunate. Her last hours were peaceful. The immediate cause was consumption.
Mrs. Bradley was a woman of remarkable character and attainments in work for others, for very love of it her life was one long devotion to the help of the unfortunate and the needy. A woman of high Christian ideals, she exemplified in the truest sense the command of the golden rule and found her great happiness in working among those deserving sympathy and aid. She was a direct descendant of Roger Clapp, who came to this country and settled in Dorchester in 1632, and was born in Stoughton, June 7, 1832, the daughter of Benjamin Clapp and Ruth Drake-Clapp. She was one of quite a large family, brothers being James B. Clapp, B.R. Clapp and Samuel Clapp and sisters Ruth Clapp-Gurney and Mrs. Mary C. Monk. She was well educated, and during the early 60’s conducted a private school in the old house still standing at the corner of Pearl and Pleasant Streets at Brockton Heights, where ex-Mayor Albert R. Wade and other prominent citizens of Brockton attended in those days. Her sister, Mrs. Ruth Clapp-Gurney, was associated with her in the conduct of the school. Right after the civil war Mrs. Bradley went south as an American missionary, and there worked among and taught negroes, remaining in this work for some years. Later she carried on a mission school at Cottage City, Martha’s Vineyard, for Portuguese, and this work she continued until about three years ago, when she came to Brockton to reside permanently with her sister, Mrs. Ruth Clapp-Gurney, widow of Alpheus Gurney on Green Street. She was the widow of the late Stephen H. Bradley, formerly of Martha’s Vineyard, who died about [20] years ago. Mrs. Bradley was largely instrumental in starting the Wendell Avenue Congregational Church. She started the Sunday school which later developed into a school in that section. She had been a member of the Porter Congregational Church for a number of years since she took up her residence here. She leaves a brother, James B. Clapp of Sharon, and a sister, Mrs. Ruth Clapp-Gurney, of Green Street, this city. The other brothers and sisters are deceased.
The funeral is to be held at the late home at 2 Saturday afternoon and is to be private, Rev. Ira E. David of the Olivet Memorial Church is to officiate and burial will be at Union Cemetery.
Source: The Brockton Times, September 4, 1908, p. 3
Bubble Day was held on our front lawn on August 20. We hosted more than twenty children and adults, who enjoyed blowing or waving bubbles in many shapes and sizes. Pictures have been posted on Facebook and will be seen at our Harvest Dinner. Thank you to Rick and Linda Woodward, Ruthie Fitzpatrick, and Janet Clough for making this event happen.
In the course of doing research on the Stoughton Waterworks for a sign that the Historical Commission will place there, I came across several references to the Southworth Mill privilege, which is upstream from the pumping station on the branch of Steep Brook that flows northeast across School Street and through the site of the Joshua Britton Awl Factory, later the home of painter Charles Vermoskie. That reference rekindled my interest in the Southworth Factory, of which we have one classic picture. On that site, this large three-story factory was supposed to have produced the first cotton cord made by machine in Massachusetts. Dan Mark and I took pictures at various locations at the end of Southworth Court and along Pratt’s Court. With the help of Richard Fitzpatrick and John Carabatsos, we located several pictures of the mills on that site and also checked the maps from 1824 to the present. The Sanborn Insurance maps gave valuable diagrams, measurements, and descriptions of building construction for the major factories and mills of Stoughton. From them, we could also determine some of the changes in ownership of the factories on that site from1885 to 1949. Richard Pratt found two articles in the archives of the Boston Globe, which described fires in the shoddy mills on that site in 1903 and 1949. One of those articles referred back to a fire in 1890, a description of which we were able to locate in our hand-copied accounts of Stoughton fires from 1870-1921. We still had a lot of questions on how the mill might have changed over the many years when the Southworths owned it.
Other helpful information came from Col. Consider Southworth’s Account books and D. Hamilton Hurd’s History of Norfolk Country. Finally, we were able to we began to create a time line for many of the mills that had been on that site from 1824 to 1949. Much of the contents of what we learned can be found in pictures and commentary in this year’s Stoughton Community Calendar. That commentary includes more detail than we shall cover here, but we will add some further information, which has come to light since the writing of that commentary.
When Colonel Consider Southworth built the first factory on that site in 1824, it marked the transition in his business from the production and repair of shoes to the production of cotton thread. His son, Consider A Southworth, who had worked in Pawtucket at a cotton mill (Samuel Slater’s mill there was the first machine powered cotton factory in the country) joined the business. About 1826 Consider A. Southworth built a cord-twister, and he began to make cotton cord of various colors, used at that time to finish the tops of boots and shoes. These colored cords were made in the Southworth family until the advent of the sewing-machine changed the style of finishing, and the manufacturing of cording was given up in 1857, as there was no demand for the goods. “The Southworths made the first cotton cord ever manufactured in Massachusetts by water-power.” – D. Hamilton Hurd.
The commentary in the Community Calendar supplies a larger context of the early history of the Southworths in Stoughton and the shoddy mills that later produced wool shoddy at that location after the fire in 1890 led to the Southworth family to sell the site, which had been in their family for at least sixty-six years. However, that commentary does not include some relevant information on the changes to the milldam and factory during those sixty-six years under the ownership and management of several generations of Southworths.
According to H. Hamilton Hurd’s account, the original mill was 24’x38’ with a stone basement story. To complicate this tangle of Southworth owners, in 1828, Consider A Southworth and his brother Asahel started a new cotton factory on the site on Mill St., which previously housed the Gay Cotton Manufacturing Company and later Leonard Hodges, as described previously in several Newsletters. In 1835, sons Asahel and Jedediah Southworth took over operation of Col. Consider’s “original” mill, and in 1837, they added 14 feet to the length of the factory, but also started a mill in Canton because of lack of water at the Southworth Ct. site. After Jedediah’s sudden death, Asahel sold the Canton factory and returned to the Southworth Ct. site in 1839. He soon partnered with B. L. Morrison with the provision that his son, Consider would replace Asahel when he came of age.
In 1861, a forty-foot long hole appeared in the milldam, and shortly thereafter the firm was dissolved, only to re-form within a month, apparently without Mr. Morrison and adding 15 feet to the width of the mill. In 1866 a brick stack was built, a boiler and engine installed and the factory was enlarged to the dimensions seen in the classic picture on the cover of the Community Calendar. By then, it had two stories, a basement, a French roof and measured 34’ by 54’, affording 8500 square feet of available floor surface. In 1875, Asahel retired and son Consider ran the business, adding younger brother E. Kinsley Southworth in 1880. Kinsley is one of the workers identified in picture. The firm was re-named Consider Southworth and Bro. Woolen Yarns and Cardigan Jackets. A devastating fire in 1890 ended the business and the Southworth ownership, leading to the subsequent large and successful wool shoddy mills under different ownership, as described in the Community Calendar. The first was destroyed by fire in 1903, causing the death of one worker, and the second was destroyed by another fire in 1949, costing the life of the President of the Company. This fire marked the end of the cloth business on that site, which was purchased by Gill Machine, setting up another business, which lasted for more than thirty years and one deserving of its own separate historical account.
Brian Daley has moved to the Copley Nursing Home. I’m sure that he would appreciate visits or cards.
Archivists Report
Mrs. (Kenneth) Eileen Hughes of Royersford, PA sent us six postcard views of Stoughton. They had belonged to her late mother-in-law who had once lived in Stoughton. (We have other copies of all of them.) We purchased a page listing Medical Services Rendered to various individuals from Medway, Stoughton and Dedham. It appears to be page 172 of a ledger, with entries from May of 1758 to May of
1766. Linda Weiler, donated a New York Central RR Lantern. Paula (McGarvey) Beesan,
donated some Girl Scout and school materials. Janet Clough, donated Various Local, State and
National Political material.
We did research on two houses on Birch St for Michael Grima.
Linda Weiler, sorted, cataloged, and filed a large number of Stoughton Little Theater programs etc. and created a file for The South Shore Performing Arts Center, c. 1985-86. (Formerly State Theatre.) These material were donated by Gail and Roger Hall.
Two Girl Scout Hand Books c. 1950 7 1951 were donated by Bonnie Molin. We received some original documents re: William Joyce. . Reference 3/12/19 – Did some esearch on William F Joyce, alias Richard Perskenis, USMC, b. 16 Nov. 1940 in Brockton, MA.. He was KIA, 28 Mar 1966, in vicinity of Quang Ngai, Republic of Vietnam. He grew up on Perry St. and is listed as a resident in 1962, 63 & 64. The intersection of School St. and Perry St. was named in his honor on April 7, 1991.
Richard Pratt and I searched for our file on Confederate money. Richard found thirteen of seventeen items. The remaining four and a letter describing the source of same has not been found as yet. In the process we found a March 3, 1863 Ten Cent Fractional Currency (Paper) This currency was donated to the Stoughton Historical Society, by Linda Weiler’s Great Grandmother in 1931.
Linda Woodward, donated 38 photos of Stoughton’s July fourth Parades. Ten from 7/04/76 – 77. Fourteen (14) from 1987, and fourteen from (14) from 1988.
Patricia Yeomans, delivered a 1928 Stoughton High School graduation program and a 1982 Scrapbook of news clippings of The Stoughton against SMUT campaign. -Richard Fitzpatrick
I catalogued materials on most days and made a scrapbook of 1926 Bicentennial materials, hoping to add to it before the Tricentennial. I did various sweeping and cleaning tasks and picked up the 2019 yearbook at Stoughton High School and the 2018 Persons Listed at Town Hall. -Ruthie Fitzpatrick
I continue the long process of scanning and cleaning up all of Frank Reynolds negatives. Frank had precise notations with dates, locations and subjects for all of his photos. He was quite an interesting man. – John Carabatsos
Linda Weiler and Dan Mark are also regular volunteers with Linda especially interested in the history of Pine Street. Dan has many interests including the history of Bay Road, “Old Albert’s,” and the Stoughton Little League.
Curator’s Report
Rich Pratt has been serving consistently as an assistant curator on Tuesdays. He sends along the following gifts and acquisitions: A Stoughton High School cheerleading megaphone from Susan Stewart Racicot. Stoughton High School 25th Reunion silver plate for the Class of 1943, bottles of glycerin and oil of wintergreen from Oullet’s pharmacy from John Carabatsos. Small pencil sharpener with the logo “Ingram’s Jenny Station.” Plaque with gavel and pin; American Legion Past Commander Norfolk City from Fred Diamond, delivered by Joe DeVito. Stoughton High School football from 1999 for the 74th Thanksgiving game: Stoughton 33 – Canton 0, Stoughton High School basketball, 1998, signed. Both were purchased for us by David Lambert
Clothing Curator’s Report –
With the help of Denise Peterson and Joanne Callanan, we have moved the Grenadier uniforms and boxes of paper items into one location. The clothing items have been renumbered and labeled. The boxes have lists on the outside of them which tell of their contents. The collections of pewter buttons, haversacks, canvas bags, and other items used by this group are in the bottom of the cabinet where the clothing items are hung. Yet to be completed is the task of getting all of this information into our computer. This move and consolidation of Grenadier equipment has freed up room on our storage racks and in the clothing storage boxes.
Sofia Woodward, who will be entering Middle School this fall, was a big help for a few weeks this summer. Sofia sewed on labels and helped moving items back into the proper storage spots. She skillfully took on the tasks of printing out the correct identification numbers on the tapes and sewing them in place. I look forward to having her work with us again in the future. Thank you Sofia.
David Lambert procured a large amount of Stoughton High School sports uniforms at the auction that the school held. We have had the help of Dan Mark in identifying which sport each item represented. We have selected and labeled two for each team. The remainder of these sports uniforms will be for sale. Maybe you need a Christmas present for an alumni of SHS. And again, time is needed on our computer to record the new donations.
I enjoyed being a small part of Bubble Day. The parents and grandparents who brought their families, were very appreciative of our efforts and a few did “tour” our displays, -Janet Clough
Membership
New members: Pat Hart, Robert and Heather Kirby, Priscilla Winroth, Don Williams
The Harvest Dinner will be held at the Cedar Grill at 1137 Park St. on Monday September 16 at 6:00 P. M. The cost will be $25 per person. Mail your check to Stoughton Historical Society, Box 542, Stoughton, MA 02072
Buffet: Chicken Parmesan, home-made meatballs, ziti in marinara sauce, green salad, soft rolls, coffee, and dessert.
Stoughton History Sightseeing bus tour on October 5th – 1:00 – 3:30 $3.00 per adult, $2.00 per child, eighteen and under. Mail check to Stoughton Historical Society, Box 542, Stoughton, MA 02072