OCT-NOV-DEC – 2014

Upcoming Events

November 7 - Veterans Day Programs in Stoughton: Breakfast for the Veterans (by invitation only) will be served at 8am at the Council on Aging-Senior Center, followed by a program for the students of the O’Donnell Middle School with Paul Monti long-time teacher at Stoughton High School and father of  Jared Monti, who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan. Joe DeVito and other veterans will also be interviewed and introduced. The latter program is open to the public and begins at 9 A. M.   SMAC will film the  program.

November 9 at 2PM – Local historian-lecturer Anthony Sammarco will present a program on “The History of the Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet Story.” Henry Pierce, who grew up on Highland Street and donated considerable funds for the construction of Stoughton’s Library, which is now our building, was a major force in the success of the Baker Chocolate Company.  Our Pierce Room at the Lucius Clapp Memorial is named after Henry Pierce. His younger brother Edward Lillie Pierce was the main speaker at the Dedication of Stoughton’s Town Hall in 1881 and also wrote the definitive memoirs and Collected Letters of Senator William Sumner, whose desk graces our lobby.  After the program we will enjoy a variety of chocolate goodies.

December 13 at 4:00 P. M.   Holiday Parade and Open House at the Historical Society.  We will be open at 3:00 P. M. with free food and drink and plenty of things to buy for the Stoughton-history-appreciating folks on your Holiday gift list.  We will also mail our maps and publications to anywhere in the United States for a nominal fee. President’s Report

We have had a busy three months since the last Newsletter.  At our Harvest Dinner in the Wales French Room at the Library, we enjoyed delicious food delivered from Bertucci’s, plus a ham and various other goodies cooked by Joan Bryant and assisted by our daughters Stephanie Barber and Deborah Spencer, with grand-daughter Sarah Spencer making her debut as an helper.  We presented the Jack Sidebottom Award for Distinguished service to the Stoughton Historical Society to Denise Peterson, who has been contributing to the Society in a variety of ways since she was a youngster.  Most recently her contributions have come by running our yard sales and serving on the Board of Directors.  Her name is now on the plaque at the Society. Hank Herbowy, one of the first Sidebottom Award winners, assisted in the presentation and, as usual, took a number of pictures of the event, which we will see at next year’s Harvest Dinner.

On October 4th, we survived misty, damp weather and pulled off our “last” Yard, Book, and Jewelry sale.  Those who helped in the sale, the preparation for it, or the clean-up: Denise Peterson, Joanne Callanan, Dwight Mac Kerron, Brian Daley, Joan and Lee Bryant, Pam Poilluci, Evelyn Callanan, Janet Clough, Millie Foss, Mary and Trisha Kelleher, Ruth and Dick Fitzpatrick, Helen Sears, David and Liz Griffin, Joe and Jeanne DeVito, Marcia and Vinnie Drago, Matt Orell, Mikayla and Mariah Williams, and Andrew Mac Kerron.  Pat Basler and the Library custodians helped us by taking away 40 boxes of left-over books during the following week.  It was not our most profitable yard sale, but we made more than enough money to pay for our pricey new mannequins, and we picked up two new members.  This will be our last yard sale for a while and we will use the extra space in the boiler room for storage of some of our overflow boxes, filled with Stoughton History.

The railings for the back stairs have now been completed, compliments of Stoughton Community Preservation funds, which make walking the steps considerably safer.   Thank you’s to Joe DeVito for his persistent efforts on the matter and also for his weather-stripping the door to Alice Petruzzo’s balcony.   Thanks also to Michael Barrett, of the Committee for Community Preservation, who located the remainder of the CPA money that was due us to be able to finish this job.   The storage and transport of our chairs upstairs has been greatly facilitated by the purchase of a chair trolley, which stores in a compact fashion all of our chairs, yet also makes them easily accessible for our programs.  Thank you’s to Richard Fitzpatrick and Brian Daley for assembling the device.

On October 17, Dr. Paula J. Olsiewski, Stoughton High School Class of  1971 and current program director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation was a very deserving inductee into the Stoughton Hall-of-Fame for Extraordinary Achievement.  She was accepted to Yale University the third year in which female students could attend and continued to break barriers for females involved in science for the next forty years.  Our Society was represented by Evelyn Callanan and Brian Daley. Anthony Sarno paid a fine tribute to Joanne Blomstrom in his introductory remarks. She was the moving force in the creation of this award  The presentation can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmNDtSughaw

On October 19, we shared a wonderful program with Debbie and Bill Guertin, the children of Emily Guertin, as well as a number of former members of the Stoughton Grenadiers and their families.  We dedicated the antique 1837 Stoughton Grenadiers Storage box to Emily and Frank Guertin and placed a plaque on the box honoring Emily, our long-time clothing curator and her husband Frank, who was a Grenadier.  Donations made in Emily’s memory made possible the purchase of that storage box. We watched a video-history of the group, put together by Rad Williams and shared many memories of the formation of the group, the creation of their uniforms, the many events in which they participated, and a few stories about what happened in the back of the bus.  William Norton brought us several boxes of Grenadiers memorabilia and supplies, including many pounds of metal buttons, pictures, newsletters, sewing patterns, and various pieces of the uniforms.  Our new six foot plus mannequin, “Ethan” was attired in a full Grenadiers uniform, through the efforts of Janet Clough and Denise and Dave Peterson.  Dave drilled a hole in a Grenadiers boot so that Ethan could stand upright.  Joe Mokrisky brought the Maxim fire truck and was able to give former Grenadier Leo Mellyn a ride in it, pictures of which have made their way onto Facebook.  Richard Fitzpatrick located all of our Grenadiers files, and Jeanne DeVito sorted and chose documents and placed them on display.  More information on the men whose names were on the storage box and the earlier history of the Grenadiers can be found later in this newsletter.

On Sunday, October 26, Brian Daley and I stood duty at a Halloween Open House at the Society during which we distributed candy to groups of children and parents, led around the square by members of the police department, some of whom were in uniform and some in costume.  Well over 250 children and parents visited during the course of the afternoon. Each parent got a copy of one of our newsletters. Next year we should consider a more focused welcome to all these relatively young folks, whom we do not often see at the Society.  A special thank you to Brian Daley for setting up this year’s event and purchasing the candy.

In September, we received an inquiry from a Dr Timothy Brown, who was doing research on and requesting permission to use “A Peace Poem” written by Stoughton’s Esther Talbot in 1814. I referred the question to musicologist Roger Hall, who wrote the following response:

Esther Talbot’s “Peace”  by Roger Hall

On April 4, 1814, a ten year old Stoughton girl wrote a short poem about The War of 1812 which was then raging on. Esther Talbot, daughter of Richard and Rebecca Smith Talbot, felt she needed to express her wish for a peaceful settlement.   Her poem was written five months before Francis Scott Key wrote his famous lyrics for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”  At the age of only 17, she became a schoolteacher. Many of her pupils spoke highly of her. According to her obituary, she had an abiding faith in “Eternal Goodness” and the basis of her creed was contained in the legend which hung upon the wall of her room “Be not weary in well doing.” Her son, Henri L. Johnson, was the third President of the Stoughton Historical Society.  It was at that location that I found her poem, and because of its fervent patriotic expression, I set it to music twice.  First, in 1981, when it was performed by The Old Stoughton Musical Society Chorus under my direction at the Town Hall Centennial Concert, and then in 1990, it was performed in a revised version for vocal quartet, flute and piano in a Stoughton Public Library program titled, “A Stoughton Musicfest.”  Here is Esther Talbot’s short poem:

1. Come, gentle Peace, with smiling ray, Beam on our land a cloudless day; Beneath thy influence serene, The olive wears immortal green.

2. Come, gentle Peace, resume thy reign, With all thy virtues in thy train; And then Columbia's soil shall grow As verdant Paradise below.

The Peace song based on Esther Talbot's poem will be on a new CD of Roger Hall’s compositions that should be released by the end of November.  The CD is titled, "Gentle Peace."

More about the poem can be found at this web link: http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/PeacePoem1814.htm

Howard Hansen has made the point that our former President, the Henri Johnson mentioned above, in his eighties and frail, visited the Town fathers to inform them that the 200th Anniversary celebration of the Town was at hand and preparations should be made.  Thanks to his initiation of the matter, the Town rallied and eventually put together a huge celebration, something that will become more relevant to us as the 300th Anniversary of the first settler in Stoughton, Isaac Stearns and his large family arrives in 2016 and the 300th Anniversary of the founding of the Town occurs in 2026.  Let your Town Meeting Representative know if you believe that the Town should expend money to save The Thomas Glover Jr House (1750) in order to have it still with us for those celebrations.  

Also in September, we received a visit from Ken Craib, who has been researching his family’s past, most relevant to us, a Stoughton man Ewen Bryden, who married into the relatively wealthy, cotton industrialist James Beaumont family of Canton. What follows is a slightly edited and condensed version of several paragraphs Ken has since sent me on his research: The Bryden family of Stoughton arrived from New Brunswick, or possibly Eastport Maine, sometime in the 1840s.  Little is known of my GGG Grandfather Ewen C. Bryden prior to his arrival in Stoughton other than the names of his parents (Robert & Lillias) and his likely origin along the Canadian-Maine border.  The first record is a Publication of Marriage Intentions in October 1849 between Ewen Bryden (age 25), a bootmaker in Stoughton, and Ms. Sarah M. Beaumont (age 24) of Canton.  Probate records in Canton confirm that Sarah was the daughter of Textile Industrialist James Beaumont of Canton, and Abigail Gookin of Boston -- a lineal descendant from Daniel Gookin of early Massachusetts prominence.  Ewen and Sarah were married in Stoughton in December 1849 by Methodist Minister William Tozer -- being notable given all other Beaumont daughters appear to have been married in the First Congregational/Unitarian Church in Canton.

The Bryden family appears to have originally lived in North Stoughton. The 1850 US Census lists Ewen and Sarah as boarders of a Benjamin Tucker in Stoughton.  In the 1855 MA Census, the Bryden's are specifically noted as "residents of the North & East Villages of Stoughton" with many of their neighbors similarly employed in the boot industry.  Additionally, an 1858 Map of Canton and surrounding areas shows them living in North Stoughton next door to Jedidiah Tucker and near B. Tucker and James Tucker.  Most of the Bryden children were born during this time: Ewen Jr. (1850), Abigail (1852), Edmund (1855), and Walter (1857).  Daughter Mary Lilias was born in 1865.

Between 1858 and 1863 the family disappears from Stoughton - and has so far not been found in the 1860 US Census.  Ewen (often misspelled as Erven, Ewing or Euin) reappears in Stoughton in a 13 Feb 1864 Stoughton Sentinel article reference "Squads" furnishing volunteers for the Union Army.  "Squad 25" includes P. M. Withington, Benjamin Tucker, Martin Gay, Ewen Bryden and others - along with their squad's volunteer, George Washington Polk.  Records at the Historical Society show the family was living somewhere on Cedar St. as late as 1871, though by 1873 the Bryden's had purchased a home at 34 Walnut St.  On-line records from the Stoughton Assessor's Office indicate this property is the same as today's 144 Walnut St.  The Bryden's remained in this home until Sarah's death in 1905, whereupon ownership was transferred to their youngest daughter, and her husband Elmer Butman.

Various articles and Historical Society records highlight the Bryden's membership in the Old Stoughton Musical Society, attending the Stoughton H.S., the family's membership in the First Congregational Church in Stoughton, and participating in various activities in the life of the town.  However, by 1912 most of the family had either passed away or removed to other locations.  Ewen died in 1911 and is buried with Sarah at the Evergreen Cemetery in Stoughton.  Their eldest son, Ewen Jr, is also buried at Evergreen following a train accident in 1895; as are his children - Harold Ewen Bryden, Lucy Annette Bryden and Alice (Bryden) Cushman - from his marriages to Lucy A. Gay (daughter of Lemuel Gay, Jr and Emeline Monk) and Alice M. Hunt (second marriage after Lucy's early death in 1875).  Abigail Beaumont Bryden married Simeon Whipple of Lowell in 1880.  Edmund Bryden married Ann (Annie) Willard -- daughter of Boston Artist William Willard -- in 1878.  Walter Bryden left Stoughton for Putnam, CT around 1880: marrying Ms. Sarah A. Fitts and later becoming a member of the Connecticut State Legislature.  Mary Lilias Bryden, like her sister Abigail, taught school in Stoughton and the surrounding areas; subsequently marrying Pharmacist Elmer Butman of Somerville, MA.  Mary Lilias died 1912 and is buried with her parents at Evergreen Cemetery.     Ken Craib September 2014

I learned from Ken both that James Beaumont had married a Gookin and that James Beaumont’s oldest child died in Cape Verde.  I recall seeing a Beaumont name in the Gay Cotton Manufacturing Company records.  The conversation reminded me that Samuel Hodges Jr.’s younger brother, George Washington Hodges died on a trading expedition in Cape Verde as well, and it is quite possible that the younger Beaumont followed Samuel Hodges Jr., who had been a clerk and eventual owner of the GCMC to Cape Verde, where eventually both Hodges brothers, two children of Samuel Hodges, and young Beaumont died.

In our research for the Stoughton Grenadiers program, we found some interesting facts in the old record books, which involve many familiar Stoughton names.  The earliest book, which contains entries from 1803 to 1821 belongs to The Militia company in Stoughton of the 2nd R 2nd B 1 Division.  In August of 1803, Nathaniel Johnson was chosen Captain, Asa Waters Lieutenant, and Jason Holbrook Ensign.   Samuel Glover a son of Thomas Glover Jr., builder of “Old Glover” at 480 Sumner St. and father of  Jarvis and Anna Glover, the genealogist was absent on the 30th of August and subsequently paid a 1.66 fine.  The Oct. 10th training was canceled because of a “tremendous storm” Col Gill’s regiment did not turn out until the 11th.  Capt Johnson came and purchased  a dram which cost ten dollars Mr. Nathaniel Gay gave two dollars toward same the other part to be refunded to him by fines.  The purchase of a substantial amount of rum appears to be a necessity on all their training days and was financed by the fines, which the men paid either for being absent, or not fully equipped.

On May 7, 1805, Lieut. Asa Waters was elected captain with Jason Holbrook elected Lieutenant and  Consider Southworth Ensign, but the latter did not signify his acceptance at that time.  Hezekiah Gay was chosen third sargent The company was inspected and found to be “equipt” except John Pergrass and Jesse Drake. The whole rank and file was 48.  Those familiar with the Revolutionary War service of Stoughton men know that Asa Waters wrote an account of his service, which included the building of the fortifications on Dorchester Heights, leading to the British evacuation of the City of Boston soon thereafter.  Asa Waters did not serve another term as Captain of this later militia and we know from other sources that he worked with Oliver Ames in Easton, who referred to him as Captain Asa Waters.  His first wife, Lucy sold Dunstable cloth straw weave braid at the Captain Samuel Hodges store/tavern on Bay Road. Asa’s second wife was much younger than he, and at the time of her death, she was the last surviving widow on a pension from a Revolutionary War soldier.

In May 1806 there was a vacancy for Captain filled by Lt. Jason Holbrook.  Consider Southworth was named Lieutenant. and Azel Drake became the ensign after William Carr declined.  Uriah Capen was clerk.  In October, 62 men reported.  In May 1807 there were 53 men.   Aug 1807 Zebulon Waters and Asa Waters ju  were among the 26 men “drafted out of the box”  Sept 1807 Lt Southworth was elected captain and more fines were paid, more rum purchased.   November 1808  To conscript ten hundred and ten men and numbers for two brigades of infantry and cavalry. Reorganization?

1821  Capt Lemuel Drake sent four others to warn the company under his command that they must appear at the Stoughton Meetinghouse on Saturday the 29th inst of Sept at nine o’clock in the afternoon armed and equipped for military duty as the law directs.  Ditto for the first and second days of October.

The second book covers two eras of the Stoughton Grenadiers: 1822-1840 and 1869-1888

On Feb. 12, 1822  the West Company was disbanded and a company of Grenadiers started.   Among the signees is Abner Drake Jr., whose name appears as one of the donors of the Stoughton Grenadiers Storage box.  Jeremy Drake is chosen Captain.  (More details on Jeremy and other Drakes can be found in Sandee LeMasters’ compilation of letters written from Stoughton to Asa Drake in Strongsville, Ohio.  Jeremy is Asa’s younger brother.) The Grenadiers vote to have blue uniforms with red belts.

In 1836, Abner Drake Jr., who had joined in 1822, was on the Committee which reviewed the yearly finances. Nathaniel H Capen, the other man whose name appears on the box joined the Grenadiers in 1835.  Benjamin Drake was a Lieutenant and Captain in 1837.  At their appearance at the Quincy Meetinghouse on Sept. 16, 1837, there were 11 officers, 4 “musitions, 24 privets and 30 rank and file” as recorded by Samuel Capen – clerk.  Most of the expenses listed were to pay musicians to accompany them with a clarinet player, plus a bugler for all trainings and a fifer for muster.  In 1835 they hired Alanson Belcher, Jessie Holmes, and “Mr Joneson as musicians, each of whom received more than ten dollars for two and a half days of playing.

There is no mention of expenditures for the storage box. The last entry for this group is in July of 1840.  There is no mention of them disbanding, but the next entry in the book is in 1869

After more than thirty years passed, Jeremy Drake was elected President of the reincarnation of the Grenadiers Association in 1872 and served for six years.  They voted that they will attend the funerals of their members.  They meet once a year in September for a parade and dinner and wives were invited to their dinners.  Some years the Captain (who held a different position than the President) drilled the men before or after the dinner.   These men would be more than thirty years older than the Civil War veterans in the recently formed GAR. However, as members died, replacements were named and some of them were GAR men such as Jedediah Bird, A St. John Chambres, Ira Drake, James Hill, Lysander Wood, and Henry Monk.

Sixty seven men appeared for the parade in September of 1873 and they were accompanied by the North Easton Band.  Ira Drake became a Captain in 1879.  Ellis Drake (inventor of the baseball cover) was added as a member in 1879, as was George Dutton, the GAR Commander.  In 1881, Charles Barrows was named as a successor to Nathaniel H Capen, who joined the Grenadiers in 1835 and is listed as one of the purchasers of the 1837 Grenadiers Storage container.  Ira Burnham (who will rise to prominence as head of the Stoughton Rubber Company) was added in 1884.  The last entry was in September 1888.

We also have the journal/scrapbook of Ezekiel Beals, who attended many Stoughton Grenadier Association events beginning in 1871 as a substitute for the deceased Albion Richmond.  Beals devoted several pages to the cards he had saved, which were sent to him for various events.  The last Grenadiers notice is dated 1890 with an announcement of the Twenty-first Annual Parade at 9:00 A. M. “at the usual place” with “Dinner at 1 o’clock at Town Hall.”  Beals’ journal entries begin in 1839, he is married in 1840, and he lists many other events over the next fifty years, which have yet to be studied. However, one entry does stand out: “ 1880 Feb 27 Great fire in Stoughton,  S Drake’s Hotel, Mrs Ames’ house, Atwood’s Stable, 19 hosses, most of his carriages $1000 worth of Bob’s harness &c  Northern Building Brown house, Captain Eli’s house &c.” -Dwight Mac Kerron

Archivist’s Report  - Acquisitions

Eight boxes of scrapbooks and other materials, formerly in the possession of Edith Benjamin and delivered by Nancy Urell, (not Cathy as stated in the previous report;) more than 50 copies of Stoughton High School newspapers c. 1992 -2006 donated by Ruth Weiner; various Town Reports, Persons listed and Finance Reports 1930-1980 from Carrie Sievers; a roll of 16mm film re: Stoughton in the 1950’s, purchased by the Society from Richard McCabe of Stoughton; a large portrait of the Class of 1943 and another of a Shawmut Woolen Mills summer outing at King Phillip – Lake Pearl, Wrentham, MA. 1948 from Barbara Faunce Marley; eight poll tax books c. 1906-1918, 1942 Town Report and 1950 Person Listed from Lou Poillucci; Finding Your Father’s War: A Practical Guide to Researching and Understanding Service in WW II donated by James Fitzpatrick; boxes of written Grenadiers materials, newsletters, pictures,etc. dress and uniform patterns etc. from Bill Norton

I have created a folder for Dr Robert Lanza, started a folder on St. James Parish with several old and new items, including the 50th Anniversary booklet, and added approximately 30 items to the Capen boxes re: Bertha Reynolds, mostly copies of items regarding a display held at Smith College in 1985.   We have been sorting out the voluminous material from the Stoughton Women’s Club. When duplicates have been accounted for, they will be added to our previous files on The Women’s Club.  I have also spent considerable time prepping and painting the four tall display cabinets we acquired along with the display cases from Wyman Jewelers. Ruthie Fitzpatrick has continued to catalogue items, cleaned the bathrooms, and cleared out and straightened out the area in front of the fireplace in the Reading Room.

–Richard Fitzpatrick

Curators Report Acquisitions

A collection of items from the Stoughton Grenadiers including a large drum, buckets of large and small metal-cast buttons, musket slings, buckles, belts, socks, garters and other items donated by Bill Norton, a former member of the Grenadiers; a lock stitch sewing awl made by C. A. Myers Co. of Chicago from Evelyn Callanan; a pair of bricks from the remnants of the Gay Cotton Manufacturing Co. boarding house foundation on Mill St. from new member Ryan Powers.

-Brian Daley

Clothing Curators Report

We did not have a report form Janet when this Newsletter was printed, but she has done considerable work preparing for the Grenadiers Program, assembling and dressing our new mannequins and recently attending a conference in Taunton on clothing preservation.  Such conferences suddenly let you know that one should replace certain things such as the archival tissue paper in all of our clothing boxes every five years, therefore guaranteeing that Janet could use some help.

Membership

New Members – Karl and Mary Walsh, Paul McShane, Mark  Hudson, and Ryan Powers