JAN-FEB-MAR – 2013

Upcoming Events

February 11 –7:00 P.M.  Stephen Puleo will lecture on his recent book, The Caning: The Assault which Drove America to Civil War, which concerns the attack on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, whose desk* we have on display at the Society. This event is co-sponsored by the Canton Historical Society, the Canton Public Library and the Stoughton Historical Society.  It will be held at the Canton Public Library’s Community Room, 786 Washington St. Copies of the book will be on sale and 10% of the proceeds will be divided between the sponsoring groups.   More details later in the Newsletter

March 17  Larry Barrett?   Library past and present-  We will hear a presentation from the new Director of the Stoughton Visiting Nurses, Janiece Bruce.  The presence of a town visiting nurse began with the hiring of Miss Alice Murphy early in the year of 1909.  Join us and learn more, both of the history and of their current services.

December 9 – Holiday Parade - Open House at the Historical Society Noon to 3:00 P.M., We will have light refreshments and all our publications available for sale, including a new edition of Stoughton Pvt. Edward Waldo’s Civil War Letters and Diary; “I did not Know there was so Many People in the World.”  Alfred Waldo wrote the entry quoted in the title, 150 years ago this December.

President’s Report

On September 10, we held our annual Harvest Dinner in the Wales French Room of the Stoughton Public Library.  As usual, we had plenty of good food and this year had a continual slide show of pictures from the Society’s activities during the past year, most of them taken by Hank Herbowy.  We awarded the Jack Sidebottom Service Award to Mary Kelleher and Dorothy Woodward, (posthumously.)  Mary has served as head of our Membership Committee since 1999, worked on all our yard sales, and for a number of years, she and her daughter Mary Theresa were responsible for addressing and mailing out our newsletter.  Fortunately, many members of Mary’s family were able to attend and witness her receiving the award. Dot Woodward joined the Historical Society in 1972 and soon became active in many of the Society’s activities and committees relating to the 250th Anniversary of the Town.  She did much of the research and commentary for the publication of Stoughton Houses: 100 Years – 1726-1826.   Dorothy, along with former Sidebottom Award winners, Alice Petruzzo and Anne Petterson, was also a moving force in the Stoughton Rail Road Station Restoration Committee.  Her award was accepted on behalf of the family by her son, Rick. Thank you’s to Joan Bryant for ordering the food from Bertucci’s and doing considerable cooking and to Danielle Bryant and Danielle Labant for serving it.  Also thanks to Jeanne DeVito and Evelyn Callanan, who ran the bountiful raffle, which, once again, helped us end the evening in the black.

On October 21, an overflow crowd enjoyed a spirited performance by The Stoughton Serenaders, directed by Helyn Hall.  They sang many old favorites from songs of the forties to “I believe” and often we sang along with them.  Quoting from Mark Snyder’s column in the Stoughton Patch: “There were solos and duets by 95 year old Albert Pass, Brad Russell, Rosemarie Amadeo, Dottie Burns, Larry Ward, and Jerry & Sylvia Miller (a married couple of 56 years.)  The songs included “Grand Old Flag, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Give My Regards to Broadway, America the Beautiful, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Cabaret, Without A Song, I'm Sittin' On Top of the World, Over the Rainbow, When You're Smiling, Don't Fence Me In, Shine on Harvest Moon, Bye Bye Blackbird, Sentimental Journey, Danny Boy, Sweet Caroline, Everybody Loves Somebody, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, I Believe, and 'Til We Meet Again.”    Following the singing we had an ice cream social, with ice cream donated by Crescent Ridge Dairy. Extra chairs (thirty were needed just to seat the Serenaders) were supplied by the Farley Funeral Home and transported and/or arranged by Joe, Hank, Brian and Dwight. Thank you’s also to Joe and Jeanne DeVito for suggesting and arranging the program and to Joan Bryant, Joanne Callanan and grand-daughter Samantha St. Clair, Evelyn Callanan,  Maureen Gibbons, Denise Peterson, Jeanne DeVito, and Teresa Tapper for being or helping the industrious soda jerks, or cleaning up after them.

On September 19, several of us attended a presentation at the Randolph Historical Society by President Henry Cooke on Randolph and the Battle of Antietam.  At the program, we learned about Randolph’s Captain Niles of the 35th Mass. Infantry, who died of wounds suffered at Antietam.  Stoughton Pvt. Alfred Waldo, also in the 35th, wrote in a letter to his parents while they were training at Camp Stanton in Lynnfield in August of 1862:

We have been expecting to come home on a furlough all of us and the captain said he would get one for us but the orders came this morning to grant no more furloughs for a longer period of 4 hours which would do us no good as we could not come home. The capt will do all he can for us. We have got some first rate officers. The Stoughton boys presented Capt. Niles with a handsome sword Sunday morning. The presentation speach was made by M.B. Hany.  Clearly, Waldo and the other Stoughton men liked and respected Captain Niles.

On September 28, 1862, Waldo wrote: “To day we received the news of the death of Capt. Niles, he died last night his body started No. this morning. Lieut. Palmer is not expected to live but a short time. Dr. Allen of Randolph arrived here last night.”  Niles’s death led to a huge funeral in Randolph, as it was the first Civil War death of a prominent person in the Town.  The Dr. Allen, mentioned by Waldo had been sent south to escort the body home. Many other Randolph men also died at Antietam, and to this day it remains the deadliest single day in Randolph’s history.  On display was the sword, which Waldo mentions in his journal, an ambrotype of Niles’s wife, detailed newspaper accounts of his funeral and other fascinating Civil War artifacts, which the Randolph Historical Society has graciously offered to lend us in conjunction with the 150th anniversary remembrances of the Civil War and the publication of our third edition of the Waldo Letters and Diaries: “I did not know there were so many people in the world.”

In October of 1862, Waldo wrote the first of a number of comments, which remark upon the slavery and race issue and recur for the next seven months.  Waldo uses the word “nigger,” both casually, with no apparent malice intended some of the time, but also pejoratively. On September 22, five days after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln had made a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet, which would take effect one hundred days later. “Frederick is the best looking place I have seen since I left Baltimore. lt is first rate farming land here. I should like to own one here but I should want niggers enough to work it. There will not be so many abolutionists when this war is ended as there is now.” In late November he writes: “There will be more democrats home if the army ever come than ever went from Mass. They alter their minds pretty fast. You need not say much about it but there is the largest part of the army that think it will never be settled by fighting.” The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect in January, and in February Waldo asserts that there are hundreds of thousands of men who are “death on this administration” and will not re-enlist.  Later comments describe the soldiers’ resentment regarding the presence of freed blacks and black soldiers in their midst. However, he is level-headed enough to acknowledge that although he would like to see some of the “nigger brigades” run away in battle, he does not want any of them to get shot. His concerns about the race and slavery issue disappear from the Diary and letters after April of 1863, although in one incident he expresses his apparently heart-felt concerns that a negro servant has died alone in the woods.  Also, despite his earlier stated objections, he remains in the army for the fifteen remaining months of his life.

In the first weeks of December, 1862, a massive Union force is assembling for the ill-fated assault at Fredericksburg.  “I thought that I had seen a good many soldiers before but I have never seen any side of what can be seen around here now. I did not know there was so many people in the world.  The massing of troops means more provisions are at hand;  “We are great thieves here but not so large ones as the old Regiments. Last night 2 or 3 of us went to the Quartermasters and when the guards back was turned took a box of hard tack which weighs 50 Ibs and carried it to our quarters. We don't mean to starve as long as there is anything to eat too. “I am having a pretty good time here. Get up in the morning about 6 o'clock and eat all I can get for an hour or 2 and then lay around and drill a little read and write do the chores etc. til dinner time then put on my afternoon clothes and go a visiting and look around til night. Then come home to supper and go into the woods and get some wood and make up a good smart fire in front of our tent and lay down and take some comfort of our lives.”  Waldo and the army are now feeling full of themselves:  “We are all agoing to fight (the) South. Til then if they want us to and then we shall commence to fight the N.”

The good times end with the Battle of Fredericksburg and his home town, friend, Augustus, with whom he has shared so many experiences in their service together, does not survive the battle: “ The next morning the battle infantry commenced and a hard one it was too. They shoved in brigade after brigade but they were mowed down by the hundreds. This battle took place just the other side of the city. They have it very strongly fortified and their grape shot makes sad work with our men. Gus was killed. He lay up side of a board fence and a cannon ball came through the fence killing him and 2 others. It took his left leg right off up next to his body so it only hung by a piece of skin it was bound up but he lived but a few minutes. We did not drive the rebs an inch that day. The battle field had more dead and wounded than any that I have seen yet. The next day they carried our wounded across the river all day and that night.”

Despite, or possibly because of the grave circumstances, Edward needs his sleep;  “A soldier by the name of Wright and I went into one of the houses and slept. We got up in the morning and went down where we left the Regt. and it was gone and the pontoon bridges were taken up and the city had been evacuated by our forces during the night and there amongst the Rebels. We did not know what to do, whether to try to get across the river or stop and get taken prisoners but we decided to go across and get a boat and put her for our lines. Wednesday there was men detailed from all Divisions that were in the battle to go over and bury the dead under a flag of truce. I was detailed for our company. I went over & buried Augustus and marked the grave so that if there is a chance and his folk wish to they can get his body.   …. You wanted to know if we had to carry off the things of them that were killed. The rebels saved us the trouble. there was not but a very few men that had a thing on their bodies. Not a thread of any kind. Gus had on all of his clothes but a shoe.  A few weeks later he writes: “Do Augustus folks ever say anything about sending for his body? I heard that Charles Upham was coming out after it.”

The identity of Gus proved elusive to us for several years, because there were no men named Augustus among Stoughton’s casualty lists, but further research has revealed that Avery A. Capen, who died at Fredericksburg, had the middle name Augustus.  He is named as one of three Capen children on a family stone at the Evergreen Cemetery: “A. Augustus Capen 1844-1862.”   David Lambert has seen to it that his grave is now marked with a flag.

We have two new volunteers at the Society helping us enter the items in our card catalogue into the Past Perfect Museum Computer Program.  Matt Orell, a graduate of Stonehill gives us a full day from 10:00-3:00 on most Tuesdays, and Caroline Cusack, a senior at Stoughton High School works on Thursday evenings 6:00-8:00.  Between the two of them, they have added close to 1000 entries. We greatly appreciate the work that these two efficient, fast-typing, computer literate volunteers are contributing!  Occasionally I will pick up a card that they have just entered and re-connect with (or get side-tracked by) interesting pieces of our history; for example, the following Town expenses: “1848  Tho’s Tolman Esq., for assistance about that part of Canton set off to Stoughton 1.00.  1851 A payment to Jefferson Jones 829 lbs of hay. 6.21 and Almshouse coffin (after larger bills for his care) for Isaac Ward 3.50.”  The former is the only reference I have yet been able to find in Town documents, which relates to the transfer of the lower half of York Pond from Canton to Stoughton and the latter may give us the name of one of the people buried otherwise anonymously at the Poor Farm Cemetery off School St.  We also learn that Jefferson Jones, a West Street farmer mentioned in the Drake Letters and a likely builder of some of the stone walls in the Bird St Conservation Area near the Easton line, was also a supplier of the Poor Farm.

We have an exciting new development to announce regarding the Elijah Dunbar 1762-63 Almanac Journal, which is being transcribed by David Lambert and Roger Hall.  A recent visit to the Canton Historical Society confirmed that they indeed do have an 1806 journal of said Elijah Dunbar, written in the same almanac page format.  They have graciously agreed to permit us to transcribe and include this journal in our upcoming publication and we have applied for Grants from both the Canton and Stoughton Cultural Councils to cover costs of the printing and circulation of these journals.  It will be interesting to compare the journals of the 22 year-old Samuel Dunbar, who is getting married and beginning a family in 1762-63, to that of the 65-year-old father of ten, who is still doing the physical labor of haying, harvesting, threshing, and cutting and hauling wood, but now with the help of his youngest son James. A few early tidbits:  He buys shoes, and diligently records the settling of accounts for James and Hannah, his two youngest, and also an Asa (possibly a hired man or grandson) who works with them. He writes, “Young people have Ball at Upham’s all Night,” March 4, 1806. He contracts with Nathaniel Morton to build a new barn and stable for him and the progress in the building thereof occupies many entries.  When the heavy frames are raised on June 21: ‘have 17 hands beside the carpenters and our hands. Very windy, but no sad accident happened,” (unlike the day described in his diary more than 40 years earlier, when young Isaac Fenno fell to his death while helping guide the church steeple into place.) He also mentions the “grand spectacle” of a total eclipse of the sun on June 16, 1806. We hope to find something that Elijah wrote about the newly forming singing society in 1806.   Of course, by 1806, Canton and Stoughton have become separate towns. We look forward to working with the Canton Historical Society in learning about and developing background material for many the people and places mentioned in the journal, which will tell us more abut the shared and separate history of both of our towns.

On October 5, a contingent of us from the Historical Society attended the Academic Hall-of-Fame presentations for 2012 at Stoughton High School.  Receiving this year’s awards were Lynda Tyer Viola, Class of 1980 and Peter Green, Class of 1973.

On October 6, the Historical Society had a couple tables at the opening of the Farmer’s Market at Trackside Plaza, at which we distributed “Farming in Stoughton” historical booklets, sold a few of our other historical booklets and a fair number of ornamental small squashes and pumpkins from my garden, and acquired one new membership.

On the morning of Election Day, we had our own set of voters at the Society, listening to and scoring the entries in the VFW Voice of Democracy contest.  The judges were Joe and Jeanne DeVito, Ruth Fitzpatrick, Joan Bryant, Brian Daley, and Faith Crandall.  The winners will be announced at a later date.

The annual Veterans Day program was held at the O’Donnell Middle school. Joe DeVito originated and for the past nine years has coordinated this program jointly with David Guglia, Assistant Principal at the middle school .  The 8th grade students get to meet Veterans from many wars and hear their stories.  Joe reports the students are always very well behaved and interested.

Congratulations to our Vice President and Webmaster David Lambert on being named chief genealogist of the New England Historical Genealogical Society.  David’s role at NEHGS, as well as his life-long passion for our Town’s History make him an invaluable resource for our Society.

Memorial Contributions 

Carrie Seivers has made a very generous contribution in memory of her late husband, Bill Seivers.

Archivist’s Report - Acquisitions

• Jacqueline Weiler donated several photographs:  A picture of a horse drawn trolley car in Stoughton Sq. c. 1901; a picture of trolley car on the Canton St. /Cushing St. trestle c. 1910 and a picture of the Tolman School c. 1938-39, with Miss Penney the teacher;  a Brockton Phone book 1932; an Acme Boot co. Service award photo c. 1979; a photo Post Card of The Adams Express Co; (This building was located in the old Ellis Block, where the Rite Aid Medical Pharmacy is located now.) Several 1938 hurricane photos;   an undated picture, of two boys on a Harley Davidson Motorcycle.
• On-Line purchase by Dwight:  A Drake School photo of a third grade class; the teacher was identified as Miss Beatrice E. Barrett.
• Lawrence Thomas, of So. Easton, donated a copy of “History of Norfolk County Massachusetts with illustrations” By D. Hamilton Hurd. published by J. W. Lewis & Co. in 1884. He has also recently given us some Stoughton related newspapers, phone books and Town Reports.
• Margaret E. Flynn, who passed away on June 30, 2011 at the age of 92. Left two paintings to the society in her will. She was the daughter of the late John Flynn, past president of the Stoughton Historical Society from 1948 – 1955:  One is painted by F. Mortimer Lamb (1861 – 1936) and is of a road through the woods in autumn. It is painted in oil, on hard board. The other one was painted Charles Vermoski (1905 – 1984) and is of a bubbling brook or small stream. It too is painted in oil, on hard board.
• Connie Azevedo donated 15 B&W pictures of the Railroad Station that she had taken for an introductory course in American Architecture.
• Mary Collins, of California, who was here for one day to do some research left us several pages of family group sheets concerning the Wentworth family: Charles Wentworth, (1684-1713), his Son Amariah Wentworth, (1710-1799) his Son, Elijah Wentworth, (1744-1810?)  Also Jonathan Capen, ( -1813), John Shepherd, (1699-1781) & John Fenno, (1665-1741)
• Joe Divito, has provided us with two 9” x 12” color photographs of Branderson Ruggerio and his son when they were rebuilding the chimney of the Railroad Station c 1984-5.
• Evelyn Callanan, has given us some photographs of the class of 1948 celebrating Class Day?. She also has given us a script of a Play/Skit written and directed by Helen Hansen.
• Frank Meninno, Curator of the Easton Historical Society, gave us a portrait of Father Thomas Norris, the first priest assigned to the St. Mary’s parish of Stoughton from 1872-1878.
• Carrie Seivers gave us three framed lithographs of the Stoughton Central, Old Colony train station, a South-western view of Stoughton, (central part,) and a North-eastern view of the central part of Sharon.
• George E. Brooks,  Emeritus Professor of History at Indiana University sent us an article he wrote, “American Trade with Cabo Verde and Guine, 1820’s-1850’s: Exploiting the Transition from Slave to Legitimate Commerce,” which includes information on the role of Samuel J Hodges in the commerce of the Cape Verde Islands.   
• Hank Herbowy sorted by date and boxed scores of donated copies of the Stoughton Chronicle.

–Richard Fitzpatrick

Curator’s Report

I have found information from our files on the Railroad Station both for Dwight’s article in the Community Calendar and inquiries from the Selectmen regarding the amount of money expended by the Town in the earlier restoration of the station.  I, along with several other members of the Society attended the Academic Hall of Fame program at the High School and the program at the Randolph Historical Society on the Battle of Antietam, which we hope will lead to our borrowing and displaying some of their artifacts during the upcoming year.  We have put on display our two newly acquired painting from Mortimer Lamb and Charles Vermoskie and added items from our collection including newspaper articles on both men, Lamb’s beret, which he wore while painting and a small sketchbook. We are slowly replacing our Titanic-George Clifford displays with the paintings and our Lehan Ford display is being replaced by a collection of children’s games and puzzles from 1885-1900.

Acquisitions

A 1948 GE portable radio with both battery and cord and a box of Williams Mug shaving soap from Evelyn Callanan.  A new American flag and a PW-MIA flag to be flown outside the Society from Veterans Agent Mike Pazyra

–Brian Daley

Clothing Curator’s Report

We have received a quilt from 1884 donated by James B Crofwell.  This quilt was found several years ago in a barn located at 1030 West Street.   It is a Crazy Quilt and is embroidered with names and initials of the Vaughn family. This quilt is currently on display.  Along with that display is the Crazy Quilt donated several years ago by the Timmons Estate. This quilt was badly in need of work to stabilize the deterioration of many of the fabrics on its face.  Our member, Helen Sears has spent at least 50 hours over the past summer doing a wonderful job of preserving this item.  We are very grateful for the time and talent she has expended in order to preserve an item of Stoughton history.

Also on display at this time is the wedding dress worn in 1936 by Mary McNamara which has been donated by her daughter, Julie Gitto.

–Janet Clough

Membership

Welcome to new members: Jim and Amy Puliafico, Julie Estey and family, Jerri Ward, and Mindi Rodrigues.

Consider Giving a Holiday Gift of Stoughton History

Historical Society Publications (Member prices are for one copy only)

• NEW! Historical Coloring Book $3/M$2
• NEW!  Map of location of nine glacial boulders and ledges between Bay Road and Bird St. $3/$2  
• Memories of Glen Echo $5/$3,  NEW!
• “Working Historical Notes on Glen Echo/York Pond…with glossy maps” $5/M$3
• The Story behind Stoughton’s Napoleons (Cannon) Model 1857 12 Pounder Guns $3/M$2
• Excerpts from the Civil War Diary and Letters of Stoughton Private Alfred Waldo   $3/M$2
• Billy White’s Field (expanded with new photos and content added) $5/M$3
• Reproduction of our History of Stoughton Time-Line Panels on glossy photo  paper $2.00 Members $1.00
• Historical Maps of the 12 (1695) and 25 (1726) Divisions $15/M10 each (a ten page booklet of commentary, free, when you buy both of these beautiful colored maps.)
•  October Stories by James Barber $13.00
• The Drake Letters from Stoughton to Strongsville  $20/M15
• “Exult O Americans and Rejoice”: The Revolutionary War Diaries of Ezra Tilden 15.00/M10.00
• A Stoughton Sampler: 1895-1995;   $15./M $10
•  The Civil War Diary of Stoughton Private Alfred Waldo: $20/M$15
• Images of Stoughton,  Postcard Images of Stoughton both by David Allen Lambert - $22.00 @ M/ $20
• Booklets: Price for each copy; $3/M$2
  • A Few Farms of Dry Pond, A Walk Through the Dry Pond Neighborhood of my Youth by Ernest Gilbert
  • Pleasant Pines Farm- Frank Reynolds entries on his work at  the Capen-Reynolds Farm in the early 1900’s.
• Updated color-coded trail/topo maps of the Bird St. Conservation Area - $2.00
• Large topo map(with two-foot elevation lines) of Bird St Conservation Area, showing stone-walls and lot lines - $10.00    

To order by mail, add $5.00 to your total purchase.  For the large maps, add $8. The Stoughton Historical Society, Box 542, Stoughton, MA 02072