JULY-AUG-SEPT – 2013

Upcoming Events

September 16 at  6:00 P. M. Annual Harvest Dinner with slide show of some of the year’s events at the Wales French Room of the Stoughton Public Library.  Please fill out the form on the last page if you would like to attend.

September 28  9:00 AM – 2:00 PM – Yard, Book, Jewelry and Gift Sale – We have resumed accepting donations.  Please drop off your yard sale items at the Society during the day on Tuesdays or Thursday evenings.  We also can use help, especially setting up the items early in the morning of the sale.

October 20 2:00 P. M.  David Lambert will present a slide show of historic Stoughton pictures, which have been posted on the Facebook site “The Stoughton Time Machine.”  These pictures range from 25 to 150 years old and have evoked many responses from Stoughton residents, past and present. You will not need to be on Facebook to comment on them at this meeting.

President’s Report

May was a busy month with the Mass Memories Road Show and our Installation of Officers dinner at Backstreet Grill.  At the Road Show, we had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of former Stoughton resident Holly Sawyer, who brought in a number of pictures and followed up with a visit to the Society, subsequently joining, and bringing along her father, Clifton Sawyer who had made copies of some wonderful old pictures of the Evans farm and gas station at the corner of Central and Washington Streets in the early 1900’s.  At that time, Central Street stopped at Washington St. and did not continue on to Pleasant St. After sharing his pictures with an appreciative David Lambert and Brian Daley, Mr. Sawyer followed up by offering a generous donation which will buy us a new message sign out front and other archival materials.  We thank him for the donation and the pictures. He is planning to send more and we look forward to seeing them.

The Hansen School presented the Historical Society with a check for $300 to pay for the refurbishment of our sign.  The money came from their yearly fundraiser and we thank the Hansen School and especially school nurse Susan Rock for thinking of us.  More on this presentation in the Archivist’s Report.

On June 15, we participated in the Stoughton Civil War Re-enactment and Parade, which began at the train station with David Lambert re-enacting the presentation of the American flag by Sylvanus Phinney to Company I of the 12 Mass. Infantry (re-enacted by Sgt. Mark Nickerson and comrades) as they departed for training.  Mr Phinney presented the flag, the authentic version of which resides in its case currently on display in the Pierce room.  For much more information on the history of the flag, see our website http://www.stoughtonhistory.com/   After the ceremony the re-enactors, led by President Abraham Lincoln (Bob Grover) and Mary Todd Lincoln (Denise Lochiatto) and accompanied by the aforementioned Mr Phinney and Company I, the Norwood Union Brigade, Tom McGrath, Reggie Medeiros Kowalczykowski and several others from Town Hall , all in period costumes, some of which were lent from our collection with the supervision of clothing curator Janet Clough. Re-enactors from the Sanitation Commission set up their booths on the lawn of the Historical Society, and the Old Stoughton Musical Society performed at the Charles Large Gazebo.  Your President presented remarks on the roles of Edward Waldo and Charles Eaton in their respective campaigns on that date, and we sold a number of copies of the newly-published Charles Eaton Journal. Thank you’s to Brian Daley, Janet Clough, Richard and Ruth Fitzpatrick, Evelyn Callanan, Joe and Jeanne DeVito, Denise Peterson, Karen Dropps, and Matt Orell, for supplying coverage at the Society or at our table at Faxon Park.  We also owe a special thank you to Head Librarian Pat Basler, who, as usual, did a fine job of co-ordinating all of the above events.

Just prior to the re-enactment, we completed the transcription and introduction for Charles Eaton’s Civil War Diary and with the help of the Stoughton Cultural Council published 70 copies. Special thanks to Win Southworth of  North Carolina, a descendant of Stoughton manufacturer Consider Southworth, for letting us make a photo-copy in 2008 of the Eaton Diary.  The transcription of the diary began in the summer of 2011, when Kevin and Michael Viola of Houston, Texas, the grandsons of Stoughton Historical Society member Bob Viola, served as summer interns.  The transcription was completed in May of 2013 by volunteer Matt Orell.

Charles Eaton’s diary has opened up for us a broad new focus on the campaign to take Port Hudson, Louisiana in the summer of 1863 and the eventual “rebellion” in June of 1863 of the nine month enlistees from the 4th Mass.  We have added many pictures from the seat of war in Baton Rouge and Port Hudson to our Civil War display.

The seventeen-year-old Charles Eaton’s diary begins at Camp Joseph Hooker in Lakeville, Mass. in the middle of a passage referring to another Stoughton man, Jedediah Bird, who as an “orderly” intervenes to stop a fight. This beginning reflects the fragmented nature of the diary as it has come down to us.  Each of the individual entries is coherent, but there are lengthy gaps in the narrative, only one of which is explained within the text. On May 31, 1863 Eaton writes, “John Mills brought me my diary today and said he found it. I lost it the 22nd.”

The two entries mentioned above reflect the two locations where most of the diary is written.  The first describes an incident, apparently in October of 1862 at Camp Joseph Hooker, where Eaton’s 4th Massachusetts, Nine Month Infantry is formed and where it trains until December 27, when it departs for a two-week sojourn in New York City.  The Regiment leaves NYC by steamer on January 15 and arrives in Louisiana some time before January 30.  The rest of the diary covers the campaign in Louisiana through July 5, when Eaton is a prisoner inside the Confederate citadel at Port Hudson.  His last entry: “[July] 5th, Sun. Our officers (prisoners in here) were brought down here today because two of them escaped last night. I have cut one of the posts of the pen most off and shall try to escape the first opportunity. It is hard cutting with a dull jack knife.”

As one might expect, there is a stark contrast between the tedious, but relatively easy life at Camp Joseph Hooker and the campaign in Louisiana where 7000 Union troops (including Eaton’s tent-mate) eventually succumb to a variety of diseases and 4,000 more are combat casualties. The research involving Eaton’s Company A, comprised primarily of men from Stoughton and Canton, has branched out into Company D from Randolph, from which Pvt. James F. Dargan wrote a much more extensive diary, which includes descriptions of his enlistment, camp life, gossip about fellow soldiers, military discipline, and other aspects of his service. We acquired a bound photocopy of this diary (only 200 were ever printed) for a month through inter-library loan.  Another man from a Lowell company in the 4th had his shorter journal published and analyzed in My Unknown Soldier: A History of the 4th Mass. Inf. Regiment in the Civil War by Nancy O. Weber.

It is fascinating to discover how each Diary adds information not found in the other.  Eaton’s section of his diary describing the steamer trip to Florida is missing, but James Dargan, who is on a different steamer, describes it in great detail. We hope to share our accumulated information with fellow historians Henry Cook of Randolph and William Hanna of Taunton with an eye towards a future shared presentation.  Here is a James Dargan entry on the deaths of a Randolph man and a Stoughton man: “Monday, March 30th, 1863 …Sad and mournful news from the General Hospital. Many a man has the Regiment (which was composed of eleven companies) lost even back at Camp Hooker but now for the first time has Death invaded the ranks of Company D.  Capt. W. Shedd & Private Charles Packard are now numbered with the dead. Packard belonged in Stoughton, and leaves a wife to mourn his loss. The greatest mystery, attending his decease and funeral, is that no one pretends to know where his remains lie. Shedd was a robust, good-natured whole-souled fellow, a native of Randolph and beloved by the entire company. When the news reaches home of his death, great will be the grief manifested by his sorrow-stricken parents, sisters and brothers.  Tuesday, March 31st, 1863 – Pleasant drill and inspection today. The remains of Corporal Bill (as he is familiarly termed) were laid in the grave. It has been said ‘the evil men do live after them, the good is oft interred with their bones, but it is vice versa with our Comrade. None knew him but to love him, none named him but to praise”, and as we discuss the virtues and merits of this clever boy” the tear of regret will intrusively swell” when we remember him who was respected and whose memory will be cherished by all. Packard’s body cannot be found, the undertaker at the Hospital remarks “that he supposes that he is deep enough at least so he won’t be apt to disturb anybody.” Consolation surely when the first news his officers and comrades had of his sickness was that he was missing. But then what can he be done when fifty dead bodies daily are carried out of the General Hospital, deaths from wounds and innumerable other curses. The records and report of the Hospital furnish these figures no stretch of the imagination endeavoring to awaken in unsophisticated breasts pity. For the half-starved suffering “Defenders of the Constitution”.

On their trip back to Massachusetts from Port Hudson, the 4th Mass. travels up the Mississippi, where they cross paths with the Edward Waldo's 35th Mass. in Cairo, Illinois, and both Dargan and Waldo comment on the meeting. The men of the 35th ask the 4th where their colors are. Apparently they had been taken away from the Regiment because of the refusal by a number of the men to serve beyond their nine month enlistment, and General Banks chose to make an example of them. The 35th is comprised of 3-year men, who see themselves as real soldiers, whereas the nine month men of the 4th, even without their "mutiny" are not seen as full-fledged soldiers, somewhat similar to the way the men of the Revolutionary War's Continental Army looked down upon the 3-6 month state militia recruits like our Ezra Tilden.

Edward Waldo writes to his parents on August 16, 1863: … While we were at Memphis Tenn., the old 4th came in there on the Steamer No. America. our boat was coaling up then and I did not get a chance to see any of the boys but Ben Phillips he looked as tough as an ox. when we arrived at Cairo we stopped there one day and the 4th arrived there just before we left. I saw Charles Eaton, Henry Johnson, Gil Bell, George F. Littlefield and Charles Littlefield of E. Stoughton.  David Ward was there but I did not get a chance to see him. They thought that they had seen pretty hard times, but I guess if they had been marched around as the 9th Corp has They talk as if they had been in some pretty hard fights But I guess if the 1st one that they went into they had left 300 of there comrads on the field and other fights in proportions would think that they had seen harder times.

Undoubtedly, Waldo had heard the men describing their ordeal at Port Hudson, including the failed assault during which Eaton was captured, but Waldo, who had survived Antietem and Fredericksburg, was not prepared to accept the “hard fights” that the 4th had endured as comparable.  He was without a doubt correct regarding the scope of the respective battles, but to be fair, the heat, mud, mosquitoes, and reptiles of the Louisiana bayou country presented the men in the 4th with an environment consistently more of a threat to their health than anything the 35th experienced, except for their couple months near Vicksburg,  during which time it should be noted that Waldo suffered sunstroke and straggled behind the regiment for several days.

Waldo goes on to serve for another year before he suffers the wound at Spotsylvania Courthouse, which costs him his arm and then his life.  Eaton returns to Stoughton in August of 1863, but dies (consumption is listed as the cause in the Town Report) the next January at age eighteen.  His grave is in Evergreen Cemetery.

On a different journal front, David Lambert and I have completed the transcription of Elijah Dunbar’s Almanac diaries for the years 1762, 1763, and 1806.  Roger Hall has written an accompanying essay on Dunbar’s musical contributions.  We look forward to a joint meeting with the Canton Historical Society in November to present a program and celebrate the publication of these diaries, which will be made possible by grants from both the Canton and Stoughton Cultural Councils.  We owned the two diaries from the 1700’s and the Canton Historical Society owned the one from 1806.  The diaries, terse as they are, contain a wealth of information on activities and people in Stoughton/Canton both before and after the American Revolution and the formation of the separate Town of Canton.

In the early journals, the young Elijah lives with his father, the Rev. Samuel Dunbar, who served as the minister of the First Parish for almost fifty years.  By 1806, Samuel has been dead for more than twenty years and Elijah has inherited the old homestead. Many of the farm tasks mentioned in the 1806 journal are similar to the ones in the 1762-63  entries, but there are also important differences and changes. Elijah Dunbar writes of a terrible drought in 1762 and also insects damaging the crops in 1763. In comparison, the agricultural year of 1806 is relatively trouble free.  As a 21-year-old, Elijah spent many days cutting and installing wooden rails for fencing. In 1806 Elijah’s workers, his youngest son James and a hired hand, Asa Morse also spend many days cutting rails, but also boring holes in the posts which will hold the rails, a method of making fences apparently not used in 1762-3.  The young Elijah spent considerable time planting, harvesting and spreading flax to dry. It was an important crop from which linen would be made, but by 1806, there is no mention of anyone growing flax; linen had been replaced by cotton cloth, aided by the increased availability of cotton thread from James Beaumont’s (who socializes with Elijah Dunbar) cotton factory.  The ledgers and diaries of the Ames family of West Bridgewater and Easton show the same progression.  In the 1700’s, workers of Captain John Ames’ blacksmith shop were often excused to spread and dry flax, but said practice is rarely, if ever, mentioned after Oliver Ames comes to North Easton in 1804.

Elijah owns or leases much more land than his father ever worked, including significant woodlands from which the 1806 Dunbars are continually cutting both firewood and large logs for bridge planks, hammer helves, and the largest timbers in house and barn construction.

We do not know if Daniel T. V. Huntoon had access to our early journals, but we know that he had seen many others, including the one from 1806, since he quotes from it: “He (Elijah Dunbar) was possessed of great mathematical talents, which he undoubtedly inherited from the Rev. John Danforth, and observed the transit of Venus on June 3, 1769. He astonished the loafers about Blackman's shop on the morning of June 24, 1778, by telling them the exact moment when the eclipse of the sun would begin ; it was, said he, " as I had projected it." On the 16th of June, 1806, he writes, "Fair and serene view of y*" total eclipse of y^ sun, — a grand and sublime spectacle."  Huntoon does not include the fact that in the next day’s entry, Dunbar hints that he may have celebrated the event a bit too vigorously: “self partially being unwell but I found ½ gal of rum= 3/ ) gal of beer.” One cannot help but wonder the present location of all the other diaries which Dunbar wrote and to which Huntoon had access, but are now lost.

Volunteer Karen Dropps, who has become a regular at the Society is continuing her work on the Capen files.  She writes: Over the past few months, The Capen files have grown.  I have been working on going through Town reports, vital records and poll taxes to better understand what roles the family had in town.  Adam Capen Jr. for example was a tax collector and Auditor in town for many years. My research is now focusing on Adam Capen Jr.. While going through date books, many interesting facts about his later life have come to light.  One would be on November 16th 1901 he write : “At Jonathan’s, Rode to Randolph with the Officers of the Randolph and Stoughton Electric Rail Road on their trial trip,  The first time the cars were over the road”. I am following more up on his connection and fascination with the rail road to further show how the rail road plated in his life, and in the life of those in Stoughton.

New insights into the laying of the stone on the southeast corner of the Ponkapog Reservation have come from Adam Capen Jr.’s journal.  He writes of his involvement in the preparation and participating in the ceremony in April of 1896.  On the preparation he writes on April 13th: “Went to N. Easton in forenoon, helped Robert level off the plowed ground near the ash trees in Davenport’s land, so that the procession can drive over it better next Monday to put up a corner bound at the southeast corner of the Ponkapog reservation”  And later about the ceremony on April 20th he writes: “Went to the Southeast corner of the reservation for the Ponkapog tribe of Indians to set a bound to mark the corner; a large number were present, had many speakers and much good singing”

Karen also prepared a picture board on the Capens for our 4th of July Open House.  We were represented in the parade by Rick Woodward riding his high-wheeler, Linda Woodward in costume, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick and David Griffin carrying our sign, and Joe Mokrisky driving the fire truck.  Kudos to Joe Mokrisky for organizing a wonderful parade.

On a recent trip to Maine, we stopped at York, largely because of the following lines from Huntoon (which can be read on our website onto which David Lambert has scanned many chapters from Huntoon)  “"John Wentworth, one of the first settlers of the town, appears to have been appointed constable in 1714, and died about 1716. His house was situated on Burr Lane. He was the ancestor of a numerous posterity, many of whom remain in town. He left York, in Maine, on account of difficulty with the Indians, sometime between 1690 and 1700.

It is a touching incident in our local history that the emigrants, driven from the place of their first settlement in the Province of Maine, should have named the new place of their residence "York," and that this name should have been applied to a part of our town from that time to the present."  

I later shared this information via email with Joel Lefever, Executive Director of the Museums of York and he responded: A Wentworth family was in York in the 17th century – they left before the York Raid of Jan. 1692.  Banks, History, p. 270-271.

“John Wentworth”  “This new arrival, late ‘of Cutchechah,’ where he was taxed in 1668, was son of Elder William Wentworth of Exeter, Wells and Dover and, coming here in 1675, bought the house and lot of Isaac Everett on the northeast side of the County Road (York County Deeds iii, 15).  He lived here for ten years with his wife Martha and their children and had a land grant in 1686 (T.R. I, 87), and soon after removed to Falmouth.  He was driven from there at the destruction of Fort Loyall in 1691, settling at Newbury.  Later he removed to Canton Mass. In 1704 and was dead before January 1710.  His wife Martha survived with children John, born 1676, Charles, born 1684, Edward, born 1693, Shubael, Elizabeth and Abigail.  John Wentworth, his oldest son, was living in 1730 in Stoughton, Mass.  (Deeds xvi,52.)”

To the extent that these Wentworths may have had a part in naming “York” it is interesting to note that they had already left York before the infamous Candlemas Massacre of 1692. In York today, there is a large rock currently marked with a plaque near which 200-300 Abenaki warriors left their snowshoes before they attacked the Town, burning houses, killing almost 100 people, and taking another 80 back to Canada as hostages.  The town was eventually rebuilt slightly further inland. It would be fascinating to determine what other York refugees settled in the York section of what is now Canton, leading to Glen Echo’s earlier name of York Pond.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of long-time Historical Society member Connie Azevedo and thank Chris Peduto for her memorial contribution made in Connie’s name. We also mourn the sudden death of Thomas Macy, who, along with Patricia Bridgman had portrayed John and Abigail Adams twice at our Society in the last two years.  He had been performing a Sturbridge Village the day before his untimely passing.

The Friends of the Capen-Reynolds have sent along the following: Capen-Reynolds Farm Committee Schedules Video Presentation on Sept. 12.  The Capen-Reynolds Farm Uses and Development committee, a sub-committee of the Conservation Commission, has been holding meetings with an objective of hiring a design professional to explore possible uses for the Capen-Reynolds Farm property. This sub-committee was established through a vote of the 2012 town meeting with a $20,000 allocation from the CPA’s Open Space and Recreation funds.

The meetings held to date have centered on ways of seeking public input and refining a scope of work for the design professional that will be procured with the CPA funds. A video presentation has been prepared to air on the local cable channel to familiarize people with the farm located at the junction of Pine and Pleasant Streets, and its benefactors Frank & Bertha Reynolds. A public meeting is scheduled for Thursday September 12th at 7 PM in the Wales-French room of the Stoughton Public Library to view the video and to solicit public comments and suggestions.

Archivist’s Report – Acquisitions from donors –Phil Yaitanes: a copy of the by laws of the Town of Stoughton from 1937.  John Carabatsos: State Spa coupon, State Theater ticket stub, Boy Scout letter re: NY World’s Fair, 1939, 1941 SHS graduation program, 1943 Columbus Day Dance program – San Salvador Council. Diane Radvilas:  Lithuanian Club Incorporation Paper, Constitutiona and By-laws, 50th Anniv. Booklet, SJHS diploma for Arthur Edward Radvilas , a packet of pictures including many scenes at a (yet to be identified location) camp-beach at Ames Pond , and various SHS sports pictures c. 1930’s.  Jean M Rogers: photo of Dorothy Jean’s Bakery c. 1950-60 including notables Gov Volpe celebrating ”Mass. Baker’s Week,” Rocky Marciano’s cake, and Bozo the Clown on the WHDH set of “Romper Room.”  Connie Azevedo: Announcement of menus at the 250th Anniv. Ball in 1976.  Brian and Diane Klim: Booklet “This is Stoughton,”  “A Citizen’s Guide to our Town” 10th Ed. Published by the League of Women Voters, photo of Stoughton Grenadiers c. 1976, SHS Sports Annual, 1980-81, Pub. By Stoughton Boosters Club.  The Hansen Elementary School presented the Society with a print of “The Torn Hat” around which Helen Hansen structured her first school-wide learning activity soon after the Chemung School opened fifty years ago.

Joseph Brown donated his painting “Clara Barton caring for the wounded,” which arrived just in time to be put on display for the Stoughton Civil War Parade and Re-enactment and fit in nicely with the ladies of the Sanitary Commission, who set up their booths on the lawn of the Historical Society.  Evelyn Callanan: a SHS Music Department Winter Program 1997 and Commencment Programs for 1995 and 2000.  Sandy Spector: a framed print of New England Architectural Heritage 1656-1886.  Rick Woodward: a cancelled bankbook that had been issued to “The Friends of Conservation” c. 1988-1992.  Denise Peterson: copies of two photos of the Immaculate Conception Church, Clifton Sawyer: a number of pictures of Evans family holdings around the intersection of Central and Washington Streets including Bill Evans’ gas station and the family farm c. 1918-1920. John Fernandez: a Boy Scout handbook, which was formerly owned by long-time scoutmaster Reuben Willis c. 1920 and a photo of Reuben Willis.  John Fernandez was a scout and then a scout leader in Troop 57 for fifty years before retiring and moving to Florida. Lucila M. Lauron: a framed document autoriazing the formation of an HUT known as Capt. Thomas R. Healy (MC) USNR. HUT No. 1 to be located in Boston.  The group known as “retreads” were veterans of WWI who were called back to duty for WWII. Two purchases from eBay: an unsigned letter threatening to burn down the Universalist Church if they did not refrain from condemning the GAR’s fund-raising lottery. David Lambert has since provided a number of news clippings related to this event.  One large ledger 1860-67 and two large daybooks 1854-1863 and1863-1866 from R. S. Swan’s Groceries and Hardware Store and a photo of the store

I mounted the GAR Memorial postcards given to us by Beth Larson and have them on display in our Civil War exhibit.  I assembled various news clippings regarding the Boston Marathon bombings and Ruthie Fitzpatrick has completed her re-cataloguing of our school files and the new numbers are being entered into the Past Perfect computer catalogue by Matt Orell..  - Richard Fitzpatrick

Curator’s Report

We had visits to the Society by two separate groups of ninth grade students from Joseph Bridgeforth’s classes and also many third grade classes  on their math scavenger hunts from most of Stoughton’s elementary schools. The students were interested in the artifacts, and we received a lot of nice comments from the students.  We completed the Civil War Exhibits with a uniform lent by David Lambert and a painting of Clara Barton nusting two soldiers on the Gettysburg battle-field, which was painted and donated by Joseph Brown.

I planted new flowers in the pots in front of the building, and with regular watering, they are still doing nicely.  The ropes on our flagpole were replaced with the help of the Stoughton Fire Dept and their serial ladder. Many thanks to them.  The flag was lowered to half staff after the Marathon bombings and at Memorial Day, the latter in honor of our deceased Veterans.

Acquisitions

From a room of items being discarded at Town Hall; a United States ballot box made in 1889 by the New Haven Car Register Company, two surveyor’s tripods from the same era.
–Brian Daley

Clothing  Curators Report

In the past couple of months we have received the following items for our collection:  Korean War era Army uniforms from the family of Thomas C Barrett through the courtesy of David Lambert.  They consist of a complete dress uniform, summer uniform, fatigues, and two caps. All are in good condition.  We are planning on identifying the ribbons that are on the uniform.   Joe DeVito has donated items given him by his family from the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center of Sagle, Idaho. They are a printed T-shirt  and a cap autographed by Dr. Forrest Bird. Dr. Bird is a Stoughton native born in June of 1921. He attended school in Stoughton and was honored in 2009 with being named to the Stoughton High School Academic Hall of Fame.  Dr. Bird is member of the National Inventor Hall of Fame, has received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President George Bush in 2008, has been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2009 by President Obama, and has been featured on a CBS news special “Forrest Bird, Birdman of Idaho”. Dr Bird has many inventions to his credit  the most famous of which is the first reliable mass produced mechanical ventilator. A sign in the museum states “Bird can resuscitate any thing from an elephant to a chipmunk”. He was the one who assisted in the moving of Shamu the whale by providing ventilation during the move. At age 93, Dr. Bird is still going strong.

We are pleased to have all of the above items as a part of our collection.
-Janet Clough

New Member - Holly Sawyer