July-Aug-Sept 2010

Upcoming Events

September 13 – Annual Harvest Dinner 6 P.M.  Wales French Room at the Stoughton Public Library. As part of the evening we will name the first five recipients  of the Jack Sidebottom Award for Service to the Stoughton Historical Society and display the plaques which will list their names as well the plaques which will honor the Presidents of the Stoughton Historical Society.  We have extended invitations to the Town Manager, Police Chief, and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. Please make your reservation, using the form on the last page of the Newsletter.

October 18 -  2 P. M. Stoughton’s  Selectmen Through the Years.  The impetus behind this program began when we tried to learn something about the twenty-eight men portrayed and named in one of our largest framed pictures.  Richard Fitzpatrick found the file card which identified them all as Selectmen, which, in turn, led Tony Alfano to begin to compile a list of all Stoughton Selectmen since the incorporation of the Town in 1726; eventually he was joined in the search by Bob Viola.  Several months ago, after Selectman John Anderson learned that we had been doing this research, we agreed to create a permanent exhibit for Town Hall, which listed all the Selectmen and the years which they served. This program will mark the completion of one stage of that project (we are still missing the records of the Selectmen between 1799 and 1853).  We will hear commentary from our members who worked on the project, and relate some of the stories of our Town’s first Selectmen, men like Hezekiah Gay, who, having land on the border of two precincts, chose to be in the Third Precinct (Stoughton) rather than the First Precinct (Canton) and his decision changed the boundary to this day. He eventually served on the Committee of Correspondence during the Revolutionary War period and also represented the town at the Great and General Court.

November 15 – Stoughton Industries - Soon after the building of the Town’s first cotton factory in 1813, Stoughton became a factory town, its rural and agrarian outskirts, notwithstanding.  This program, will give a brief history of Stoughton’s major industries including woolen goods, rubber products, shoes, shoe lasts, shoe counters, paratrooper boots, and machine tools.  This program will complement our exhibits, which include a recreation of the DeVito Confectionary Store, drawn from our own and the DeVito family collections.

President’s Report

Forty-seven of us attended the dinner and installation of officers for 2010 at the Backstreet Grille.  Later in the week, many of us oversaw our most successful yard sale yet.  I hope that the following list includes all who helped: Denise Peterson, Joe and Jeanne DeVito, Brian Daley, Gerry MacDonald and sons, Mary Kelleher, Ginger Hoffman, Helen Sears, Joan and Jacob Bryant, Evelyn Callanan, Maureen Gibbons and family, David Lambert, Ruth and Richard Fitzpatrick, Janet Clough, Millie Foss, Anne Klim, Shelly Obelsky, Christine Iacobucci, Linda Weiler, Theresa Camara, Peter Sciore, John Boulanger, Louise Dembrowsky, Heather McGinley, and Sean Dooley,  Thank you also to the many who contributed items, including several carloads of leftovers from the Bryant-Spencer families’ Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Yard Sale in Sharon. Our total sales inside and outside approached $1800, which along with a very generous separate contribution from Forrest Bird and the money received from those who contributed in Jack Sidebottom’s memory have offset some significant expenses for archival materials, display exhibits, monthly internet and phone bills, and the printing and mailing of the Newsletters.   We have decided that because of the great effort which it requires to run a full scale yard sale that we will have a limited indoor sale this fall, focusing on books, jewelry, and other smaller gift items. If you have such items to contribute, please drop them off or give us a call.

Our student intern this summer is Carissa “Missy” Petersile, who is entering her senior year at Stoughton High School.  She is transcribing the last installment of Ezra Tilden’s Revolutionary War Diary, the one of which we own the original copy, unlike the earlier two, and the one which inspired Howard Hansen to make his pilgrimages, retracing Tilden’s route to Claverack/Albany New York.  Missy was initiated to work at the Society by meeting Hank Herbowy’s request for her to hand copy a list of all of Stoughton’s shoe companies, as mentioned in a newspaper article written for the 200th Anniversary of the Town in 1926.  Missy has been working on Thursday evenings, as during the daytime, she holds jobs as a counselor in gymnastics at Camp Westwoods and as a general counselor at another day camp in Easton.

During the late Spring, we had a number of visits from Roy Butters, who lent us a photo album kept by his mother, the former Ingrid Larson, who, since Ernie Shaw was her boyfriend, spent considerable time on Highland St. with the Shaw family in her youth, even occasionally accompanying them on wood-cutting expeditions.  The Shaws are my neighbors and it was interesting to see the pictures of Highland Street as a dirt road with clear views down to Ames Pond.  These pictures inspired Millie Foss (to whom we wish a speedy recovery from her broken bones) to produce some of her own photographs of Highland Street from the same period and for me to be able to gather more stories from Millie, Roy, and my neighbor Charlie Shaw.  Roy’s father began a beagle hunt club on the land behind what is now Cynthia Walshes’ place off Park St. This club eventually merged into the C W Welch/Stoughton Fish and Game organizations. Roy, who worked many years at F. Gilbert Hills State Park in Foxborough, seems to have hunted on most of the land from Lake Massapoag to Brockton.  Highland St. lore was further expanded by John Kent of North Easton, who claimed that when the ship he was serving on near Iceland in WWII, picked up the survivors of a civilian ship which had been torpedoed, the only man alive on one of the life rafts (and who had collected six dead bodies of his ship-mates) was a young man who was one of the “state children” who had grown up at the McGlaughlin farm on Highland St.  Charlie Shaw is skeptical about this story, having known all of the children who were raised at the McGlaughlin farm, so further research is needed here.

Jack Dembrowsky took me on my first tour ever of the Belcher House and the surrounding property, which was open, since extensive repair work was being done inside.  What a beautiful place! David Lambert is gathering materials on the Belcher House for this year’s Community Calendar.  We also appreciate the words of apprciation Jack’s daughter Elizabeth wrote in a letter to the Stoughton Journal regarding the historical signs, placed at five different sites in the Bird St. Conservation Area.

Joe Mokrisky had the fire truck up and running for the HOT 4th of July Parade, which a number of us watched from the front of our building.  The 4th was also the date when we published the revised booklet on Billy White’s Field. It is twelve pages with commentary, pictures, maps, a copied page of a newspaper, and obituaries for Billy White and his father.  After drawing a blank from those of you at our dinner in June, I have finally found someone who remembers playing golf on Billy White's field.  Jack Hurley, visiting the Society a couple weeks ago with his brother Lou, and son, Charles, remembered that it was a nine-hole course and that he also played baseball in one corner of the field.  John Stiles took pictures of Billy White's cottage burning and Dave Lambert found the March 24, 1927 edition of the newspaper describing the fire.  It turns out that local middle school teacher Henry Holland was staying in White's house when it burned; Joe DeVito remembers playing pranks on his teacher Henry Holland, some years later.  Holland's prized Great Dane perished in the fire.  A neighbor, Arthur Jones, heard the dog barking inside, but was unable to save him.  Art Jones may have been the father of Pete Jones, who taught Forrest Bird how to trap, and who lived in his latter years in a camp on Highland Street.   Charlie Shaw recalls that his mother used to patch Pete Jones’s shirts by reversing the collars and also remembers riding in Pete Jones truck to take a load of loam over to the cemetery on Center Street in Brockton.  Copies are $3 ($2 for members) and you may order one by mail if you send $5 to SHS, Box 542, Stoughton, MA 02072

Jack and Lou Hurley also contributed interesting recollections of events near their farm on West Street. There were varying stories on whether it was Skunk Whitten or Mortimer Lamb who did paintings at the Palisades Ledges and rock where Paul Trotta and friends spent their summers before WWII.  Tim Daly and his brothers camped out at Ames Pond on the peninsula for several years during the depression and had several large canoes at their camp.  They would get their drinking water at the Hurley cattle water trough up toward the Williams house, and also pick up food from the CCC for breakfast, things such as oats for oatmeal etc.

Charlie Starkowsky visited the Society in July, after having attempted to find the original plans for Plain Street Estates the housing development which went in at Billy White’s field.  Charlie believes that those original plans should give some clues as to the location of the road leading in to Billy White’s cottage.

On July 27, we hosted four middle school students from the summer enrichment program and their teacher.  I gave them a presentation on our maps and early Stoughton history for half an hour and then Joe Devito took them through some of the local history in his lifetime, including the businesses in the Square and DeVito family stories.  The students later wrote thank you notes, which we found dropped off under the front door. They all seemed to remember Joe’s stories of stores in the square and rolling pins being used for family discipline more than my commentary on the Map of the Twelve Divisions.  Hmmmm. 😉

On August 3, Donna Centamore visited the Society and donated some fascinating materials, which she had purchased at an auction in Brockton, back when she was researching the genealogy of the Packard family.  We have only scratched the surface of the materials, which include many unidentified photographs, possibly of Easton and a folder of typed/carbon documents which appear to be historical essays/articles written on individuals in Abington, East Bridgewater, and our own Jedediah Southworth.  The most intriguing documents, however, are scores of (sometimes slightly moldy) small pieces of  paper, receipts, tax lists, instructions to pay individuals, often soldiers, a list of scores of people who had paid money and even more who had received money in Stoughtonham/Sharon between the 1760’s and 1790’s, especially during the Revolutionary War.  Here are a few samples in edited summary: Stoughtonham 10/16/78 Rec of Benj Hewins…2L 2S in full for nursings of Widow Tupper of last winter in the year 1778  - Hannah Smith; 1779 Jere Gould charges 8L 12S for transporting of Polly Tucker and her three children to Mansfield in Dec. last.  June 1778; Stoughtonham borrowing 35L 6S from Jacob Estey; Hannah White, Daniel Richards, Benjamin Gannet., Deborah Hewins, Elkanah Jordan are all lending the town money which gets repaid to them by the constables from “their rates.”  The Town borrowed from Estey to pay Saml III and Jonathan Billings III, Eleazar Blackman, and John Hewins 9L 12s each man for their mileage to Springfield; 1778 Please pay Joseph Swift 43L 5S. 1779 Bridget Greatreats rec $6=020? For keeping school.;  David Tarrext?? Getting paid bounty 13L 6s Sept 18, 1778 “for ye second year of my enlistment; 1778 “for my paying forty pounds to eight men 6p per mile for their mileage to Fishkill on Hudsons river reputed to be two hundred miles…” It is also fascinating that most of the slips are designated “Stoughtonham,” although from 1779 on slips use either “Sharon” or “Stoughtonham.”   Considerable research will be forthcoming and we will share all of these materials with the communities from which they come, or which they discuss.

In the last newsletter, I neglected to mention the gift of the CD “Old Stoughton Musical Sampler”  which musical historian Roger Hall made to the Stoughton, Canton, and Sharon Historical Societies at our joint meeting on March 21.  Thank you, Roger. Since that meeting, Roger has also given a presentation at the Canton Historical Society.

With the help of a Cultural Council grant, we are creating an illustrated time-line, which will be permanently displayed at the Society as an introduction to Stoughton history.  It is a challenge to limit ourselves to twenty or thirty events, which is probably all that a large, visually attractive time line would allow.  It may look something like this: (a slightly modified version of the David Lambert-assembled time-line on stoughtonhistory.com.

The Early History of Stoughton; originally the South Precinct of Dorchester

• 1629  - A Royal charter was granted to a trading company.   The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England.
• 1630 An order given that the region known as Mattapan should be called Dorchester.  Chief Chicatawbut consented to occupancy of Dorchester by Bay Colony English.
• 1657 (December 7) - Dorchester town meeting created the 6,000 acre Ponkapoag Plantation, for Indians ONLY.
• 1666 (October 8) Regent Kitchamakin conveyed all Indian land beyond Neponset Mill to the English
• 1668  - Dorchester Proprietors drew lots for land grants; many would never live on their new land, but eventually sell it.
•  1684 (June 4)   Deed of tract south of "Blew'' Hills; "40,000 acres - excepting and beside 6,000 allotted to Indians."
• 1692  -  William Stoughton appointed as Chief Justice of Superior Courts. Presided at witchcraft trials.
• 1698  - Allotment of the Twelve Divisions on July 29 into acres, quarters, etc. with John Butcher as surveyor.  (map)
• 1707 - First church structure in area; Church of Christ on Packeen Plain (in the current Canton.) The New Grant established in 12 Divisions to 480 members called the Dorchester Proprietors; who received twelve times the number of acres they owned in Dorchester in “Dorchester South Precinct;” the territory now comprising Stoughton, Canton, Sharon, Avon, Foxboro and parts of Dedham, Westwood, Walpole, Norton, Wrentham and Brockton.
•  1713  - Proprietors incorporated as a district; now completely independent of Dorchester.  All undivided land as yet unsold was henceforth known as The 25 Divisions; most of it along the full length of Colony line, which separated Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Bay Colonies.  This land was sold by 1726. (map)
• 1716  - First house built in present town of Stoughton constructed on West Street by Isaac Stearns
• 1726 (December 22)  Petition granted for a township.  The town would be named for William Stoughton. (image of our Town Charter)
• 1727 (January 2)  First town meeting held in George Talbot's home.   First Board of Selectmen: Nathaniel Hubbard, Joseph Hewins, Joseph Tucker, William Crane and George Talbot.  - Town surveyed for tax list. Found 7 saw mills, 2 grist mills, 4 iron works, 121 houses, 275 persons taxable, 763 neat cattle and horses. Occupations: Farmers, carpenters, lumbermen, cobblers, weavers. No books or periodicals, except the Bible, an almanac, Watts Hymns and a catechism.

I received a call from Josh Olshin at the Library on August 10, asking for information on the Whispering Willows camp, which was formerly on the site of the current Camp Westwoods.  They had been contacted by two sisters, Shirley and Barbara Ruane, who had spent two years of their life there, when the family was abandoned by their mother and their father was entering the military in 1940.  After a series of emails and phone calls, the next day, John Cloninger, one of the current owners of Camp Westwoods, Maureen Crossey, a resident and treasurer at Packard Manse, and I managed to give the two sisters a tour of the two sites, to which they were returning for the first time.  The sisters had a picture of the two of them sitting on a large stone birdbath at the camp almost seventy years ago; John knew that it still existed, although obscured by plant growth. With some restraining of the shrubbery, we managed to get pictures of them sitting on the same birdbath, and John showed us a number of interesting sites on the property, including the path they would have taken to walk from their dormitory over to the kitchen-dining room which is in Packard Manse.  To complete the tour, Maureen took us through the kitchen and the rest of the manse. You may be seeing more of this story in the Stoughton Journal.  All of us involved realized that we needed to learn more about Camp Whispering Willows.  I had learned somewhere recently about a Professor (or Doctor?) Watts, who was a companion to Ms. Crawford, who had inherited the property from Dr. Packard and ran a camp for inner-city African American youth.   We would like as much information as possible from all of you regarding this camp and the Crawford-Watts endeavors.  Both of their names are on the deed. We know that there were fires and fatalities at the Camp, which eventually led Ms Crawford to close it.  Please call, email, or write us with any information you can contribute.

Archivist’s Report

Richard Fitzpatrick reports: Spent a number of hours over several weeks with Shelly Obelsky trying to understand the operating requirements of of Past Perfect 4.0  (Progress has been slow.) I have also spent considerable time learning the ins and outs of the old card file system.  Every time I think I understand it, something new turns up. For, example, our Rare Books section appears to have its own completely separate numbering system, which runs parallel to our larger card catalogue numbering system, but pertains to a completely different set of documents, thereby complicating our task of developing the centralized index in Past Perfect.  Ruth Fitzpatrick has completed three new archivally safe picture albums taken from the deteriorating scrapbooks of Sid Weiler and John Stiles; she has also written accompanying indexes and is now writing captions for the manufacturing exhibit.  Shelly Obelsky has been learning the PP 4.0 program and entering the information from our card catalogue into PP 4.0. We have purchased a label maker and a variety of mellinex envelopes for the preservation of our documents

Tony Alfano reports on his work for the past year:  I have been working on a quick reference in-house book that includes the below listed information:

• RECORD OF THE TOWN OF STOUGHTON'S SELECTMEN FROM 1727 (JANUARY 2)
• FIRST TOWN MEETING HELD IN GEORGE TALBOT'S HOME.,
• FIRST BOARD OF SELECTMEN: NATHANIEL HUBBARD, JOSEPH HEWINS, JOSEPH TUCKER,  WILLIAM CRANE AND GEORGE TALBOT TO 1798 (Bob Viola researched for this time frame.)     NO RECORDS AVAILABLE AT THE TIME FOR THE PERIOD 1799 TO 1853.
• FROM 1853 TO 2010 (Tony Alfano researched for this time frame).   ALSO INCLUDED WITHIN THIS BOOK THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:
  • STOUGHTON TIME LINE INCLUDING THE CHRONOLOGY FROM JOHN E. FLYNN'S BEYOND THE BLEW HILLS, AND OTHER HISTORICAL EVENTS RESEARCHED AND INCLUDED BY OUR LOCAL HISTORIAN / GENEALOGIST DAVID LAMBERT.
  • NAMES OF IMPORTANT PEOPLE THAT HELPED STOUGHTON AND OUR COUNTRY GROW. i.e. -THE 1774 MEETING AT DOTY'S TAVERN IN STOUGHTON, WHICH BEGAN THE WORK ON THE SUFFOLK RESOLVES:  PARSON SAMUEL DUNBAR - SAMUEL ADAMS - DR. JOSEPH WARREN, (including a map of the route Paul Revere took to deliver the Suffolk Resolves to Philadelphia.)
  •  BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF STOUGHTON RESIDENTS.
  • TOWN OF STOUGHTON'S VETERAN ROLL OF HONOR: REVOLUTIONARY WAR    CIVIL WAR,  WORLD WAR I,  WORLD II, KOREAN WAR,  VIETNAM.
  • FIREFIGHTERS THAT HAVE DIED IN THE LINE OF DUTY
  • MAP OF STOUGHTON SHOWING LOCATIONS OF THE HOUSES ((1726-1826)
  • COPIES OF PAGES FROM THE TOWN OF STOUGHTON’S ANNUAL REPORTS.

In addition to the above I've been working on a special project for the Town of Stoughton Selectmen.  I've put together a display piece listing all of the known Selectmen i.e. These pages will be put within a swing rack that will be displayed at the town hall.  Bob Viola and I are currently researching the Town of Stoughton's Moderators. –Tony Alfano

Acquisitions

Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of William Browning donated by Robert and Julia DeVito of Lady Lakes, FL;  Map of N. Stoughton (c.) 1876, donated by Sandie Barber; History of The Grange: 1867-1967; First Century, also a Grange manual, and Viola Gay’s membership certificate, all donated by Norma Raymond; photographs of the altar at the Immaculate Conception church, before, during, and after renovations and a photo of Fr Callahan, donated by Jane W. Sheehan; photograph of Kimball School, 5th Grade (1941-42), donated by Celia Andrade of Canton; framed photograph of San Salvador Council 200, Knights of Columbus Annual Breakfast, taken in front of Town Hall (undated) donated by John D. Anderson; Historical papers, photographs, and memorabilia re: Sharon, Easton, and Stoughton 1770-1950 donated by Donna Centamore of Brockton.

Curator’s Report

We have been searching for artifacts and pictures to accompany the Stoughton Manufacturing exhibits and helping Joe DeVito assemble the displays, after removing the  exhibits on Stoughton Schools Through the Years. Donations: several wood-flag ice-fishing rigs from Roy Butters; a Grange 50-year pin from Norma Raymond .

- Brian Daley

Clothing Curator

The Clothing Department has been looking through our collection for clothing that would be appropriate for the upcoming display of the DeVito store from Stoughton Center.  The display will be centered in the 1920's and our problem is finding clothing that will fit the manikins that we have available. Also, we have no male manikins and so we have had to "alter" one of the female ones. Hopefully we can help to complete the scene is a period correct way that those who view it will find pleasing. - Janet Clough

Welcome to New member: Ken McColl and new Life member: John Fernandez