Stoughton Historical Society Newsletter Online Edition
VOLUME XLIX NO. 2 JAN-FEB-MAR – 2020
Upcoming Events
March 8 2:00 P. M. The Mayflower Compact and Plymouth Colony
Vanessa Sherman will give a presentation on her studies. While a student at Bridgewater State University, Vanessa found evidence that the Mayflower Compact was still in use 16 years after being created in 1620. Previous to Vanessa’s discovery, historians believed that the Mayflower Compact was never used in the politics of Plymouth Colony. Her paper, “Testing Tocqueville: The Political Theory of the Mayflower Compact and Its Legacy,” was researched and written under the mentorship of Dr. Jordon Barkalow, associate professor of political science… Vanessa currently works at Brown University as an IRB specialist for the Human Research Protection Program in the Office of Research Integrity.“ It is appropriate that we have Vanessa bring us her findings during this 400th Anniversary year of the founding of Plymouth Colony.
April 19 2:00 P. M. – Stoughton’s Waters – Harris And Other Ponds and Brooks.
Dan Mark and Dwight MacKerron will present this program to begin a week of commemoration of Stoughton’s 50th Earth Day. The program will cover all of Stoughton’s waters, but will have a special focus on Harris Pond, earlier called Pinewood Lake, an area where Dan Mark grew up and one in which he has a special interest.
President’s Report
On February 9, Roger Hall presented an interesting and informative program on Stoughton’s Music Man, E. A. Jones. The program was dedicated to North Easton organist and historian, the late Richard W. Hill, (1938-2020.) Roger showed many photographs of Jones and also played a number of Jones’ musical pieces. He was excited to discover in one of our cabinets, with some guidance from John Carabatsos, a hand-written full score of Jones’ Easter Concert. Roger’s wife Gail was pleased to discover a long hand-written description/history of the Swan family, which was written by Edwin Arthur’s mother, Mary Swan Jones. Mr Jones was a member of the School Committee in Stoughton for many years and created Stoughton’s Town Seal in 1892, three years before our historical society was founded. The presentation included the following time-line:
•1853 – born on June 28. Lived at 7 Pearl Street, Father – Henry Jones, 1821-1888 (67) Mother – Mary M. Swan Jones, 1827-1902 (75) Brother – Henry S. Jones, 1850-1918 (68)
•1868– graduated Stoughton High School.
•1871 – Opus 1: Duo for Two Violins in G minor.
•1872 – Violinist playing in the World’s Peace Jubilee in Boston.
•1874 – Men’s glee club choruses at Dartmouth College. Graduated in 1876 as Class President. Moves to Baltimore.
•1878 – “Prelude & Fugue in G minor” for pipe organ. (Performed in our lifetimes by Richard Hill at Old West Church, Boston.)
•1881 – Revised cantata, “Song of Our Saviour” completed. •1886 – “Old Stoughton” for chorus published in Boston.
•1887 – “Easter Anthem” premiered at Town Hall. Published by White, Smith & Co. in 1890 as “Easter Concert.”
•1890 – Served on School Committee for 15 years.
•1893 – Orchestra leader in two concerts by The Stoughton Musical Society at the Chicago World’s Fair.
•1900 – “God Bless Our Native Land:” for new century.
•1911 – Died at Pearl St. home on January 11 at the age of 57.
•1921 – “Stoughton is back on the musical map” in Boston Sunday Globe.
•1925 – Memorial Concert “In Memory of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Jones” at Stoughton Town Hall.
•1980 – Interview with two women about E.A. Jones. R. H. Discovered Jones ms. music at Historical Society.
• 1981 – “Easter Concert” – modern day premiere. Also 1984.
•1984 – “E.A. Jones: His Life and Music booklet published.
•1985 – “Singing Stoughton: Selected Highlights from America’s Oldest Choral Society.” (1887, 1893)
•1986 – Premiere of two Dartmouth Glee Club choruses during Bicentennial season of OSMS – “In Concert” cableTV.
•1987 – E.A. Jones tribute concert & cable TV program.
•1990 – “A Stoughton Musicfest” at Stoughton Library.
•1991 – “The Stoughton Songster” booklet published.
•1992 – “Song of Our Saviour” – World premiere with soloists, chorus, pipe organ and orchestra. Boston Globe article.
•1998 – “Ten Town Tunes – Music from Stoughton, 1770-1990 – includes several Jones tunes and biography from Dartmouth College alumni records.
This time-line only scratches the surface of the content in the program, which was on Powerpoint and might be accessed by contacting Roger Hall. At the conclusion of the program, Roger presented us with a dvd, which he had compiled of the music of E. A. Jones.
In late November we received word from Joe Mokrisky that he had been able to obtain a substantial number of bricks from the high school A building, after it was demolished. Joe delivered us a few bagfuls of bricks, which we sold quickly for $5 apiece to benefit the Historical Society and the Maxim Fire truck fund. In the week before Christmas, Joe contributed a back-challenging effort to load many bricks into his truck, which he later drove to the Society, where a team of volunteers unloaded the bricks. Richard Fitzpatrick found an historic tool in our collection, whose purpose was to carry bricks, seven at a time and this tool was put to good use. Over the next couple days with Joe’s taking two hours in the morning and my taking two hours in the afternoon, we sold a lot of bricks to folks who wanted to put them in Christmas stockings, rather than lumps of coal. We also got to meet many interesting people, pick up several new members, and share valuable conversations on a number of things beside the bricks from the high school. Many thanks to Joe Mokrisky for going the extra mile or three to get the bricks.
Among the important conversations we had was the one with Lisa Polvenin Perry, who grew up on Glover Drive, near the Bird St. Conservation Area. She recalled fondly her youthful adventures and misadventures in years past and also that there was an old cement slab in the ground just before Whitten Ave. intersects with Glover. I had spoken to her about Billy White’s field and my long search for the site of Billy White’s cottage, which Ken Bird remembered being there in 1916 and which John Stiles photographed while it was burning in the 1930’s. Lisa’s recollection of the cement slab gave me a specific spot and a trip there revealed the remnants of the stone wall, which is seen in the John Stiles photos and a small section of raised land with spruces now growing on it, that seems to be connected with the presence of the earlier house/cottage. The historical sign which is on the entrance to the Bird St, Conservation Area from Bird St. should read that the site of the cottage was 100 yards to the East. Our Billy White’s Field booklet needs to be reprinted and it will likely combine that field with Abel Farrington’s field on the other side of Plain St., where the Home Guard drilled and occasionally camped in WWI.
The next ten historical signs, sponsored by the Historical Commission and financed by the Community Preservation Act have been completed. The sign bases of eight of them are installed, and the signs should be on them by the end of February. Thank you’s to Thomas Fitzgerald and John Cook of the DPW for the installation of the bases. There will be three signs at Capen-Reynolds, two at Glen Echo, and single signs at Southworth Court, the Water Works, the Lessa Playground, Mother Jones Corner on West St. and Swan’s Tavern. The two signs at Glen Echo will not be installed until the land-scaping and road work is completed.
David Martin joined the Historical Society in January and immediately made his presence felt by identifying the location of Simpson St., and the large house and barns, which abutted it, appeared in two of our photos of the 1918 “War Gardens.” By locating Simpson St. in the photos, we could fix the location of the War Gardens in what is now called Lipsky field. Our pictures show high school students along with School Supt L. W. Robbins and teacher of agriculture at the high school Ernest Gilbert working in the long rows of vegetables on the “Robert Porter Estate on Canton St.” Considerable discussion of the area followed on Facebook sites, leading David and others to recall that sewage trucks used to dump their loads at the back of the field, and the metal man-holes and their covers still remain. Joe Mokrisky, who pumped a lot of septic tanks in his youth, told us that those man-hole covers connected to MWRA sewage, back when Stoughton was charged a flat rate. Did we have MWRA sewage before we had MWRA water? Before that time the disposal took place on Mill St. The Lipsky field pumping site closed when the MWRA moved to a fee for each truckload at the new soccer field site. By that time pumpers had to pay for each load by the capacity of their trucks and fees for septic pumping in Stoughton jumped considerably. Joe Mokrisky says that he can remember when you could have your tank pumped for $10.00. Alas, the water table under the Lipsky field contained things much more potent than sewage, as the toxic run-off from Brookfield Engineering and likely other industries created a plume of dangerous chemicals working their way underground, following the general flow of the water towards Pratt’s Court.
Discussions at the Historical Society and on Facebook revealed that DiCastro leased the land for farming and James MacNamara leased at least one of the barns in the middle fifty years of the Twentieth Century. Another interesting feature of the land is a raised, but now grown-in road-bed that runs from the rear of the gas station ¾ of the way to the Southworth Court factory site. Its surface is close to ten feet higher than the meadow below. It would be instructive to know which of the factories may have had that road, which required considerable labor and expense, constructed. Was it the Southworths before 1890, the first shoddy mill 1891-1903, or the second shoddy mill, The Stoughton Garnet Company, 1904-1949, which had this road constructed? It would have been a more direct route to Stoughton Center and the railroad station.
I also discovered a large stone foundation on the other side of old Gill Machine property, just below 107 Pratt’s Court. It has an earth berm, which at one time would have led the stream past it. A woman who grew up in the neighborhood recalled playing in it as a child and having been told that it was a nail factory. Could this building be the Luther Southworth screw factory, a photograph (the smaller picture) of which is on this year’s Community Calendar? We have not been able to locate this factory previously, but we may be getting warmer. The woman recalled finding rusty nails at the site, but it is possible that a rusted screw begins to look like a rusty nail.
The Hospital in Stoughton Center: Another discussion of Stoughton history was triggered by a John Carabatsos post on Stoughton Massachusetts Scrapbook-Photos & Memories of the crayon factory which once sat behind our building in the former Randolph Savings loom and two large white houses just beyond it up Pleasant St. Some people claimed that there had been a hospital there, while others asserted that it was further up Pleasant St or on Summit Ave. Some had relatives who had died in this hospital and others were born there, but there was no clear consensus of its location until Richard Fitzpatrick found in our files a 12-page illustrated booklet of The Norfolk Medical Center at 29 Pleasant St. with a picture on the cover that makes it clear that it was in the second house beyond the factory. There are pictures of an operating room, a delivery room, examining rooms, an electrotherapy room, and semi-private rooms. The staff included more than twenty people: Superintendant – Helcn C. O’Brien, R. N.; Resident Physician – Arthur E. Bridges, M. D.; Surgeons – Dr M. F.Barnett FACS, Chief; and Drs Buckley, McCann, Brides, Leeder, and Fritz. Both of these houses were demolished in the process leading up to the construction of the Randolph Savings Bank and the adjacent parking lots.
The Town Engineering Department gave the Society many old maps, blue prints, and complete sets of aerial photos, as well as the metal drawers in which we will store many of them. This collection contains many fascinating documents, not the least of which is a map which resembles our 1890 lithograph produced by the Bailey company which reproduces all the buildings in and near the Center. The map we just received is from more than a decade earlier, as it was drawn before the construction of the Town Hall or the current train station. The Mystic Rubber Company has a factory near the site of what later became Corcorans on Canton St. Also present are large structures further down Canton St just beyond the current Simpson St., and just East of the railroad tracks, which appear to be drying racks where the rubber produced in the factory was “cured” in the sunshine. These racks appear to be one hundred yards wide and more than 100 yards in length.
Several weeks later, at a meeting of the Board of Selectpersons, we were presented by Town Manager Robin Muksian Grimm with two framed documents, which formerly had been hanging at Town Hall: a map of downtown Stoughton in 1876 and a copy of the $1000 “Waterloan” the Town of Stoughton got from the Old Colony Loan and Trust Company of Boston. Without charging for billable hours, we have determined that the loan may have been taken out in 1892 and was payable by 1916.
Kiara Yaitanes, Briget Yaitanes, and Zachary Mandosa have continued their work as volunteers on Thursday evenings. Kiara is still working on the transcription of “Stoughton Fires…” Briget continues to copy entries from the Town Reports of the Stoughton Conservation Commission, from its formation in 1963 up to the present. Zachary has completed his transcription of John Flynn’s1955 Diary and taken up Michael Sullivan’s WWI diary in which the War is now over and Michael Sullivan has returned to Boston in 1918. The diary continues through several more years. We are trying to find Michael Sullivan’s connection to Stoughton.
Planning continues for the celebration of Stoughton’s 50th Earth Day during the week of April 18-25. Kathleen Sylvester leads the planning committee on which Ardis Johnston, Janet Clough, Rick and Linda Woodward, and Dwight Mac Kerron also serve.
We have received a grant from the Stoughton Cultural Commission and have enlisted the support of the Board of Selectmen, the Town Manager, the Conservation Commission and the Community Preservation Commission. I will lead a nature walk to an as yet undetermined location on the morning of April 18, and we will have our program on April 19, as mentioned earlier. There will be an exhibition at the new Stoughton High School from 4:00-8:00 pm on Earth Day, April 22. Many Town Boards and Commission in Stoughton will have tables at this exhibition, and there will be contributions from Stoughton’s elementary schools. More events are in the planning stage. If you would like to be a part of these celebrations, please contact any of us.
Curator Richard Pratt and Archivist Richard Fitzpatrick have been inspired to find more information on Joseph M. Page. Barbara Lacivita donated a few old tools taken from the basement of 357 Page Street and 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. Richard Pratt has researched the Pages and determined the ancestor for which Page Street was named. Richard Fitzpatrick has studied Joe Page’s autobiography The Reminiscences of Uncle Joe Page and shares some of Joe’s memories of his Stoughton childhood. Their contributions follow:
Origin of Street Names – Page Street
Have you ever paused to consider the origin of the name of a public street in your town? The origin of the names of some streets seems obvious. Washington St., Lincoln St., Pond St. and Main St. are a few common examples. (Though if you live in Hingham, you would be wrong to assume that Lincoln Street was named for the 16th President!) Early maps of Stoughton show unnamed roads that would eventually be given names. Some maps show a road in North Stoughton, which ran in a southeasterly direction from the Canton line toward what is now Avon, formerly known as East Stoughton. Other old maps show a trail, dating back to at least 1664, which was called Pigwackett Road. This road would eventually be named Page Street after the Page family that settled on that road in North Stoughton.
Charles Page, born in Walpole in 1750, was the progenitor of the family which settled in Stoughton. Charles arrived in Stoughton from Walpole after his service in the American Revolution. As a Private in a Walpole militia company, he had marched on the Lexington alarm of April 19, 1775. Just a month later, on June 1 st , 1775, he married Hannah Withington of Stoughton, in Stoughton. Charles can then be found on the roll of one of the two companies sent from Walpole to Rhode Island in December, 1776 in response to the arrival of the British fleet in Newport. Sadly, his wife Hannah died in Walpole on January 23, 1778, just 3 weeks after the birth of their 2nd daughter, also named Hannah, who also died just 28 days later. When you research the history of colonial families you often find tragic life events, such as the death of a spouse at an early age or that of a child. Life was harsh, but it had to go on, and often with a number of children left to raise. In this case, Charles was left with a two-year-old daughter named Becka. Within eight months of the death of his 1st wife, Hannah, Charles Page of Walpole and Mary Wales of Stoughton filed intentions to marry in Stoughton. Mary was the daughter of Moses Wales and Elizabeth Belcher Wales.
The Norfolk County Registry of Deeds shows that Charles owned property in Stoughton by 1782 and purchased an additional 10 acres from Mary’s siblings in that year. Since this property abutted property which he/they (Mary had the right of dower) already owned, it is likely that the Page family’s beginning in Stoughton was facilitated by the sale or gift of land from Mary Wales’ parents. The Wales family owned large tracts of land in North Stoughton. (So that’s surely the source for the naming of Wales Street, which runs off of Page Street.)
Records indicate that Charles and Mary Wales Page had nine children who reached adulthood. Maps and property records would show that many of these children and, eventually, grandchildren and great grandchildren would inherit and add to the extended Page family holdings in North Stoughton. In our next Newsletter, we’ll continue with the saga of the Page family and touch on the high and low points as one extended family navigates through the 19th century and beyond. -Richard Pratt
EARLY BOYHOOD OF JOSEPH M. PAGE
I (Joseph M. Page) was born in North Stoughton, Massachusetts, May 20th, 1845. My great- grandfather, Charles Page, went out under the call of Paul Revere and fought through the Revolutionary War. The Pages were quite numerous in that war, there being 172, according to the records as I find them. The first flag, which was used by the Massachusetts Militia from 1600 until the beginning of the Revolutionary War, was in possession of the Page family, and was carried by Nathanial Page. It was the first and only flag at the battle of Lexington and is now preserved in the City Hall of Bedford, Mass.
My father, Elisha Page, was one of a family of twelve. My mother was a Wightman, and her grandfather was the Duke of Argyle, of England. He was very kind-hearted and when the terrible epidemic of the “Itch” broke out in the whole of Ireland, he erected over two-thousand stone posts, protruding from the ground seven feet and being made rough on the outside, and it is stated that those suffering from the itch would back up against the posts, rub their backs, and say “God Bless the Duke of Argyle”. My father (Elisha) was one of the first, if not the first, chain of store man he having six stores, one in Stoughton, Easton, Avon, Randolph, Brighton, and Bridgewater, Mass. (Ed. Note: The town of Avon was known as East Stoughton until 1888.) He erected his own shoe-shop, 40 feet square, two stories, in which he made his shoes and boots. He also had his own slaughter-house in which his livestock was killed and a large stable for ten horses, thus fitting himself for caring for his stores. His physical health however, was not sufficient. He was taken with tuberculosis and was sick for two years, thus everything pertaining to his business was neglected. When he died at the age of 34 years, he left my mother with no property whatsoever, but with five children to care for. I recall two incidents pertaining to my father. One was as follows: a cousin, son of my father’s sister, who lived a short distance away, was three years old when I was aged two and a half years. We went down to the slaughter-house one day and saw them knock a steer in the head. Immediately I became imbued with the idea that we could do that and I would be the steer. We went to the chopping block back of the house, I laid my head on a log and my little cousin struck me in the head with the blade of an axe, cutting a large gash, the scar of which still remains with me to remind me of the incident. Although I was only two and a half years old I remember this incident because, seeing the blood frightened me so that I screamed. My father took me to a pump, got a bucket of water and washed the blood from my head, saying to the people gathered around there, “Don’t tell Almira”. (That was my mother’s name). My father died April 14, 1848, at the age of 34 years.
One incident brought about by his death was that he called my brother, Elisha, and myself to his bedside just as he was dying, and there had us promise we would never use intoxicating liquor as a drink, or use tobacco in any form, and that we would never take the name of God in vain. Of course, being so young at the time, the reason I recall this incident is that my mother kept it in mind all through my boy-hood; and I am pleased to say that both my brother, who died four years ago, and I, have kept that pledge to my dying father all these years. Upon closing up the estate of my father, not much was left and my mother was compelled to care for us by working the little farm which father left which consisted of twenty acres, was highly mortgaged and afterward foreclosed. Farming in those days was very different from that of today. The first thing that had to be done in the spring was to pick up the stones off the corn ground (field) that had been thrown out by the frost during the winter. Then the ground was plowed by one horse, which had to be led by myself when I was old enough.
After plowing the ground came what we called striking it out—Making a furrow three feet apart North–South, and East-West, and then a large forkful of manure was placed at each intersection. We then trampled the manure with our bare feet, and placed five grains of corn in the center, star shape. Two pumpkin seeds on one side and on the other side, six beans. Then this was all covered with hoes. When the corn came up, and the other vegetables, it was plowed by one horse, hoed, plowed again, and, ”laid by”. Along in September the corn field was gone through with what was called “shoemaker knives”, and the stalks cut off just above the ear and the tops bound up in bundles for fodder. When fall came, the stalk, with the ear, was cut down close to the ground, hauled to the barn and then the “husking bee” took place. One of the customs in those days was whoever found a red ear at the husking bee kissed the girl of his choice who was there with him. Whole families came to help with the husking bee and instead of dancing and picture shows such as the young enjoy now, the young folks delighted in kissing parties and the old games among which were “Post Office”, “Clap in Clap Out” and “Ring around the Rosy”. We boys always saw to it that some red kernels of corn were planted.
My mother was extremely religious. My father was a Methodist, my Mother, an Episcopalian, my three sisters, Congregationalists, my brother and I, Baptists. My mother would not let anything interfere with her reading a chapter in the Bible and a prayer from her Prayer Book each day and I, being the youngest, recited the Lord’s Prayer every morning after breakfast. Saturday night all secular papers and books were put away and the Sunday school Lesson brought out. The other literature was not brought into use again in the home until Monday morning. Sunday morning at 10:00 o’clock I was sent to Sunday school and remained for church services which began at 11:00 o’clock and lasted until 12 o’clock. In the afternoon at 3:00 o’clock I attended church services, and again at 7:00 o’clock at night. My mother was a firm believer in the Bible, being positive that the passage was true which states: “Not a sparrow falls to the earth without the Master’s notice”; and she never made arrangements to go any place without first prefacing her plans by saying “Providence permitting”. Although my mother had five children to care for, when a loved schoolmate of hers died in poverty and left a daughter two years old, my mother adopted her. She is still living (in 1937) in the old home town, having married, many years ago, one of the leading men of the village, Elisha Hawes. (Mrs. Annie (Page) Hawes) There were no sewing machines in those days and everything was made by hand. In order to support us children, my mother sent to the Hood Factory in what was at that time called “Stoughton Center”, and which was a branch of the Boston Factory, brought hood material from there to our home and, assisted by two sisters, she made the hoods. My sister, Lizzie, when she was seventeen, secured a position as one of the Public School teachers, near our home, and taught there until she was twenty-five when she was engaged by the Boston school officials, and taught in that city until her death, at the age of sixty-five. She placed her salary with my mother and thus aided in caring for the smaller children. Digressing for a moment, a bill was introduced in Congress two years ago I think, by a noted senator, prohibiting the making of hoods in the homes of families, claiming there might be infection spread this way. This of course was possible, but when I read it I recalled the days when my mother furnished bread and butter for a family of six by doing the very same work, and I sent a letter to President (Franklin D.) Roosevelt, calling his attention to this bill, and saying, “ If you permit this Bill to become Law the name of Roosevelt will be condemned forever, for many women are earning a living this way for their families, just as my mother did.” The bill did not pass.
My school education was altogether different from that of today. The school house had an upper and lower room, and when you finished your studies in the upper room, that was graduation.
(Taken from Chapter I of THE REMINISCENCES OF UNCLE JOE PAGE 1937) –Richard Fitzpatrick
Archivists Report
We received five scrapbooks full of Programs and news clippings of Stoughton Little Theatre Productions from Robert Gelly, of Brockton. The scrapbooks are the collection of Charles Large who had roles in many Little Theatre productions.
– Research for one James F. Bergan, proved to be non-productive.
-We received large number of maps and prints from the town Engineering Dept. and two file cabinets as well. Dan Mark, Richard Pratt and Richard Fitzpatrick spent most of one day re-arranging the archive room to accommodate them. The cabinets have been cleaned and we have started to fill them. However all of these new acquisitions remain to be sorted, researched, labeled, and inter-filed with existing material. This is a major project, expected to take several weeks. –Richard Fitzpatrick
Curator’s Report
We are continuing our project to examine our holdings of artifacts and log them into our inventory system. Acquisitions: In addition to old picture of the house at 304 Pearl Street, Michael Jakielaszek donated a number of old tools found at the property. -Richard Pratt
Clothing Curator’s Report
We have dismantled our Girl Scout display and cleaned and returned all the items to their storage locations. I have spent time in the Society’s Past Perfect program entering the information on all of the Girl Scout materials that were newly acquired. We are now displaying photos and items celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the North/Dawe School. Liz F. Griffin has donated several items from her costume collection. Included are gowns from the 1930’s, a wedding bridesmaid’s dress, a gown from the Town’s celebration of the 250th , men and women’s clothing from the 1970’s, as well as a maternity coat from an earlier period. All these items must now be catalogued. -Janet Clough
Our condolences to the friends and family of our long-time member Dolores Rodrigues. She always attended our two, yearly dinners and was a beloved figure in the community. We thank the family for mentioning the Stoughton Historical Society as the organization where donations could be sent in her memory. Rest in Peace, Dolores. We have received donations in memory of Dolores Rodrigues from James and Kimberly Patridge, Neil and Eliza Corbett, Martha O’Connor, John and Mary Sweeney, Joseph and Jeanne DeVito, and Cecilia Andrade. General donation: Stephen Farrell.
Membership
New members: Meryl Eisenstein, Dee Fletcher, Jeanne Kerrigan, Bert and Jennifer Durand, David Martin, and Bob Robello.