Volume XLIV No. 1
Upcoming Events
August 28 –7 P. M. Historical Commission Public Hearing at Town Hall in the Great Hall on the Demolition - Salvaging of “Old Glover,” the ca. 1750 house at 480 Sumner Street. At this meeting we will review some Glover family history, hear from a professional timber-framer Arron Sturgis, and discuss the possibilities for moving or salvaging the house.
September 8 - 6:00 P. M.- Harvest Dinner at the Stoughton Public Library – Wales French Room. If you plan to attend, please fill out and send in the form at the end of this Newsletter.
October 4, 8:30 A. M.-1:30 P. M. Our annual Yard, Book, Gift and Jewelry Sale. Please drop off your donations at the Society during our normal hours, or give us a call if you need help transporting them. We could definitely use your help in setting up at 7:00 A. M. and/or cleaning up from 1:00 P M. on.
October 19 - A program on the Stoughton Grenadiers and a memorial tribute to Emily Guertin. We hope that former Grenadiers and their families will attend. Jeanne DeVito has mailed out more than twenty special invitations to former Grenadiers and members of the family of Emily Guertin.
President’s Report
On May 18, we enjoyed Civil War author Bill Marvell’s lecture and slideshow: “The Soldiers of ’62: Nine-Month Men and Volunteers for the Long Haul.” His presentation included many images, which most of us had never seen before and he specifically referenced the 12th Mass. and the 35th Mass., both of which had companies of Stoughton, Canton, and Randolph men. Unfortunately, conflicts with other programs in the area kept some of our regular-attending members away, but we had a number of people visiting the Society for the first time, many of whom were already quite knowledgeable about the Civil War and were able to appreciate the challenging nature of Mr. Marvell’s presentation. The event was made possible by a grant from the Stoughton Cultural Council.
We celebrated our Officer Installation Dinner at the Backstreet Grill on June 9. On June 11, I was pleased to visit the high school and present the John Flynn Award to Niko Yaitanes during the underclass awards assembly for the work he had done during the previous months transcribing the David Talbot Diary.
At about this time, we received word from Building Inspector Tom McGrath that the new owner had applied for a demolition permit for the ca.1750 house at 480 Sumner Street, which is described in detail in Stoughton’s Houses 100 Years: 1726-1786 and was also featured on a classic 1910 postcard: “Old Glover: the oldest house in Stoughton.” Vice President David Lambert immediately began compiling an impressive folder full of materials on the Glover family, which he passed along to me in my role as Chairman of the Stoughton Historical Commission. A number of events have since transpired, which may be more in the purview of the Historical Commission, than the Historical Society (although 90% of people in Stoughton tend to use the two names interchangeably). It is, alas, unclear whether or not the house and/or its 1850 barn (which is in much better shape than the house) can be “saved,” either by disassembling, storing, and re-assembling on some town-owned site or in the case of the barn, simply moved.
In any case, the possible loss of this house, one of Stoughton’s five oldest, and the one which most resembles its first footprint, has led to considerable research on the Glovers and the large house which Thomas Glover Jr. built when what we now as Stoughton was the Third Precinct of a much larger Stoughton. At that time, the current Canton was the First Precinct, and a larger Sharon, which included half of the current Foxborough, was the Second Precinct. This year’s Community Calendar will feature “Old Glover” on its cover and include (before final editing and possible cutting) a few pages of commentary to accompany that image, two other pictures of Glover gravestones in the Pearl Street Cemetery, as well as an image from the Map of the Twenty-Five Divisions, showing the Glover land in the 21st and 22nd lots.
One of the most exciting developments in this research has been the discovery that in 1867 a Stoughton woman, Anna Glover, compiled, wrote, and had published Glover Memorials and Genealogies: An Account of John Glover of Dorchester and his Descendants, a 600 page book, which includes hundreds of copied documents, wills, and biographical sketches of more than a thousand Glovers. From Anna Glover we learn that the history of the Glover family is intertwined at every stage with the Dorchester Proprietors, whose names appear on the Maps of the Twelve and Twenty-five Divisions. Anna copied original documents, which describe the disputes between the Proprietors, especially in the assignation of acreage in the second series of grants in the Twenty-Five Division land. The Glovers, whose ancestor John Glover was a founding member of Dorchester, along with Israel Stoughton, were “original” proprietors and the third and fourth generation Glovers believed that the original formula for granting land should still be followed, which by their calculations would give them 919 acres of land in what is now Stoughton, rather than the approximately 300 acres that various Glovers received. Nathaniel Glover Jr. went to England to plead their case to the King, but he died of smallpox before he could receive an audience, leaving a widow and four young children back in Dorchester. With his death, the Glovers abandoned their claims for the extra land and made peace with some of their former adversaries.
Our old maps tell us that the Popes and the Glovers were two of the first families to settle along what is now Sumner St. Back in Dorchester, the Popes had counter-sued the Glovers for attempting to claim some of “their” land, but once members of both families had moved to Stoughton, Glovers married Popes both in Stoughton and back in Dorchester and 52 year-old Thomas Glover marched beside a younger Ralph Pope (his brother-in-law) as the Stoughton Minute Men headed north to answer the Lexington Alarm, “the shot heard round the world.” Anna Glover copied an account that asserts that the elder Ralph Pope was a Colonel, leading that company, but Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution lists only the younger Pope as marching.
Many details, which will appear in the Community Calendar are omitted from this commentary, but for those who live at a distance and would like that commentary, email us and we will send it along to you or send along $5, and we will mail you a calendar. One may also find the relevant pictures of the Glover gravestones at Findagrave.com. Clicking onto that site and entering “Glover – Stoughton MA” will take you to images of the tombstones taken by our intrepid David Lambert. One poignant image is the broken gravestone of “Patty Glover” who was one of the Popes who married Elijah Glover in Dorchester and had two children there, but when the family moved to Stoughton, she and their third child to whom she gave birth in Old Glover, perished within the first year. A second poignant image is the tilted gravestone of the aforementioned genealogist Anna Glover; she is listed as being on the stone, but the only names which appear are those of her mother, father, older brother and sister. It is possible that her name is on the very bottom of the stone and now buried under dirt, grass, and moss.
Although there have been no programs at the Society this summer, considerable activity has taken place. We send belated thank you’s to Evelyn Callanan and Linda Woodward for all the work they have done outside, especially the transplanting and mulching of many plants including beautiful hostas, which were a gift from Richard and Marilyn Horowitz from their beautiful back-yard garden, dell. They have since sold their house and we are grateful they thought of us as a recipient for some of these exotic hostas. Rick Woodward donated considerable time and effort in building a version of Drum Rock for our Glen Echo float in the parade; Joe Mokrisky found a big truck for our float, but then the weather intervened and the Parade was washed out.
Brian Daley had done yeoman’s service with regular watering of our plants and newly reseeded lawn. The lawn was re-seeded because John Batchelder rallied the DPW forces to re-install our trolley tracks, this time setting them into a bed of cobblestones and reseeding the lawn, which had been chewed up by the heavy equipment needed to complete the task.
On behalf of the Historical Society I have donated almost one hundred sunflowers to first the Capen-Reynolds plant sale, when the sunflowers were 1-2 feet tall and then a batch to the Stoughton Farmer’s Market when they were 5-6 footers. We have also entertained a few hundred students from several of Stoughton’s elementary schools. The Historical Society is one of the planned destinations during their annual math scavenger hunt.
Several weeks ago, Davis Lambert discovered that our industrial strength dehumidifier was leaking onto the shelves beneath; fortunately, this potential disaster set off some productive responses. The company that has the town’s HVAC contract was sent over from the high school and not only repaired our dehumidifier, but a couple weeks later replaced the rusty pipes and one circulator pump connected to our boiler. According to the workmen, our fears of a potential disaster down there had been well-founded, as one flange in the rusty pipe was about to let go. All’s well that ends well, and once we have the work done on our back railing, we can turn our attention to our scores of historical windows, which are badly in need of glazing, painting, and general refurbishment. As usual, Joe DeVito has been instrumental in communicating the needs for repairs at the Society to the appropriate town officials and Town Manager Michael Hartman, Procurement Officer Maureen Doherty, and Selectman Joe Mokrisky have given vital assistance in the process of our getting the needed repairs. Joe DeVito, Brian Daley, and Dwight Mac Kerron all spent extra hours at the Society, opening early and remaining in shifts on the days the work was being done.
We also give posthumous thanks to the exceeding generosity of Helen A. Kapuski Lake, who left an substantial bequest to be divided between the Council on Aging, the Library, and the Historical Society.
Helen Lake’s obituary: Helen A. (Kasupski) Lake, 89, a lifelong resident of Stoughton, died peacefully at Braemoor Health Care in Brockton, Sunday, March 9. She was the wife of the late Harold S. Lake. Born in Stoughton, she was a graduate of Stoughton High School, Class of 1943. Mrs. Lake was a mender at Draper Bros. in Canton for 35 years before retiring many years ago. She was very active in helping veterans and was a member of the Amvets Ladies Auxiliary. She was also a member of the Massachusetts Catholic Womens Guiild at Immaculate Conception Church in Stoughton. An animal lover, in her free time, she enjoyed dining out, playing cards, working at the voting polls and traveling. Mrs. Lake was the sister of the late Albert Tibbetts and Grace Tibbetts. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews.
Helen’s gift was sufficiently generous that we will find ways to place her name onto an award given by the Society, a substantial acquisition, or both.
We have already made one substantial acquisition, the purchase of the 1803-1828 business ledger of Abel Fisher, who lived in Canton from 1767 to 1817, before moving to Ohio where the ledger covers the years 1818-1828. In the Canton years Abel Fisher runs a grist mill, manages the stage coach line between Cobb’s Corner and Boston, and transacts business with Elijah Dunbar, Paul Revere, and James Beaumont, the latter being an immigrant from England, who started the first machine-powered cotton thread factory in Massachusetts. Abel Fisher leases and then sells to Beaumont part of his mill privilege near what is now the Canton Viaduct. He lends Beaumont some of the capital he needs to begin his business, and since they are partners, Fisher’s ledger is undoubtedly the best available primary source, detailing the growth of Beaumont’s operation from the time the newcomer is charged by Abel Fisher for his and his wife’s room and board (backdated to Nov 4, 1802) to the first time Beaumont pays off Fisher in manufactured cotton thread to the final disposition of Fisher’s share in the business before he moves to Ohio. It was already clear from Elijah Dunbar’s 1806 Diary, that much of Canton’s commerce was involved in the construction, upkeep, and expansion of the Beaumont Factory, but the Fisher ledger supplies much more detail. We learn that Jere Vose, who grew up near my house on Highland Street drove the stage-coach for Abel Fisher for approximately $20 a month and brought back the Boston newspapers on the stagecoach, which Abel Fisher then sold to Canton citizens. Revolutionary War Veteran Ezra Tilden’s wife, Sarah, weaves cotton for Fisher and Beaumont, which may have brought her into contact with Deborah Sampson Gannet, who we know from other sources “picked” (cleaned) bales of cotton for James Beaumont.
he following is excerpted commentary compiled by Dan Casavant the seller of the ledger:
“Ledger measures about 15 1/2" x 7", and is leather bound. Earliest entry is May 1803 and goes for 196 pages, ending April 1817. After flipping the ledger over, the 2nd half begins with a recounting of the will and distribution of proceeds from the sale of Abel Fishers father's land, also in Ohio. Latest entry appears to be April 1825, on page 134… so we have 330 pages of manuscript in all…
“Beaumont visited Canton, where he was so pleased with the mill-privilege that he agreed to furnish the machinery; his partners, Lemuel Bailey and Abel Fisher, would erect a substantial dam and a building for a factory. The construction of the dam and factory progressed during the year of 1801, and the machines were running by 1802. The first work of the factory was the manufacture of wickyarn for candle-makers. Soon thereafter, the mill began to make yarn for warp and filling for domestic fabrics. The first piece of cloth made was for sheeting. Beaumont said of it: “This, in 1802, was the first piece of cotton cloth ever made in America from mule-yarn, either all or in part produced.” Beaumont was mistaken: Cotton cloth had been made in 1794 in a factory in New York, but Beaumont’s mill was nonetheless producing fine cloth that sold for 50 cents a yard.”
“On page 25, we see the account for Col. Paul Revere & Son beginning in 1809 up into 1814. Abel Fisher provides to Revere transportation via sleigh, turnips, does mason work on Revere’s well, carts nails from Boston, and he provides timber - Oak, Pine, Chestnut, and Cedar but the tonnage… at one point, noting that he delivers it to the furnace, which would be Revere’s rolling Mill”.
“By 1810, Abel Fisher is documenting the sale of much timber to many of the locals. He produces and sells Cheese in quantity. It appears that on page 80 (160) he purchases Captain Adam Kinsley’s farm, as this is a valuation of the farm, stock, rent of grandmother, etc….. the very last page of entries is two pages long, repairs to the Kingsley Farm, providing carpentry, lumber, labor, etc… even a mention of employees including Apollo, Drake, Elisha and Abel. This account covers from May 1813 to September 1816, and costs a total of $362.16. Kinsley was among those who received a government contract for the manufacture of muskets in 1808.
“We then flip the ledger over, and there is another alpha ledger, Abel Fisher’s Accounts at Ohio. These begin in 1818. Fisher is working on a Grist Mill, and making carriages and repairs, and parts. He documents the work his wife does as well, weaving cloth. He saws timber and provides timber for various things like Chest Lids. On page 5 (10) of the Ohio accounts, he is providing Cloth for Covered Wagons, cloth for two wagons!! He provides saws for the Punderson Mill. He appears to be distilling whiskey as he is selling this by the gallon. He is dealing in flax (for cloth), and he is documenting and selling the cloth and clothes that his wife makes: stocking, frock, shirts and many straw hats sold… and his agrarian pursuits. He is sawing and providing timber in a large way, as well as trading in farm animals and renting them out. He makes and sells a weaver loom, boards for a cherry chest…”(Dan Casavant)
Abel Fisher and his ledger connect not only to the Tilden and Dunbar diaries we have transcribed and published, but also to the recently transcribed, but not yet published diary of David Talbot, who writes of carrying corn to Fisher’s mill. It also has an obvious connection to the Nathan Drake letters, written to his son, Asa Drake, who had emigrated to Strongsville, Ohio in 1821. Abel Fisher arrives in Ohio three years earlier and the second half of his ledger (turned upside down and starting from the back of the Canton ledger) describes the Ohio years and offers the possibility of a direct comparison of life and expenses in New England with the same in Ohio.
On one of several loose pages, which were tucked into the ledger, Abel Fisher in February of 1817 responds to a letter from Azel Ames answering questions about fencing and ditching Abel had performed on a certain piece of land, next to one which Ames has since purchased. In his response, or what is most likely a copy of his response, he wrote that he is about to set off on a three-month journey to Ohio country with John Fisher, Amos Upham, Joel Morse, Thomas Shepherd, and Mr. Joel White. The following February the first of his Ohio accounts begin. He ends the earlier letter, “Mr Samuel Glover of Stoughton has talked that he would give you 125 dollars for your meadow lot, about 4 acres.” Samuel Glover was the third child of Thomas Glover Jr., was born in “Old Glover” and the father of Eleanor, Jarvis, and Anna the genealogist.
This ledger came at a price significantly beyond what we have previously paid for any historical document, but its many connections to our earlier cast of journal narrators AND the Helen Lake bequest made its purchase possible.
Archivist’s Report
Richard Fitzpatrick was taking a well-deserved vacation when this newsletter had to go to press; therefore I will mention a few things that I know we have received in the last several months and will let Richard complete the list in the next newsletter. – Dwight
Acquisitions
Eight boxes of scrapbooks and other materials, formerly in the possession of Edith Benjamin and delivered by Cathy Urell; A 1762 deed describing the sale from Benjamin Bird to Samuel Paul of a piece of land between their respective properties and also abutting Robert Swan’s land. The deed was witnessed by Seth Morton and signed by Joseph Hewins, Justice of the Peace. Price 14L 13s 4p. Strangely, I see no second dimension to the measurements, which are defined only by bounds, with no mention of distance or acreage. Possibly, the added defined bounds of Robert Swan’s land sufficiently describe the area. Purchased from eBay.
Richard also spent considerable time in trouble-shooting the ailing dehumidifier, partially disassembling it until we determined that the repairs were beyond our pay grade. We had a visit from Barabara Hanno of Petersham, MA, who was searching for information on Ebenezer Stearns, one of the sons of Stoughton patriarch Isaac Stearns and eventually a large land-owner. Barbara visited the Norfolk Registry of Deeds and later the Mass. Archives and discovered among other things that Ebenezer bought (or sold?) 132 acres of Trout Meadow from James Crosse in1739 and another 82 acres of the meadow in 1743 from Stephen Holland. Trout Meadow is the site of the current Ames Pond, before it was flooded by small dams, in the 1700’s, followed by the Oliver Ames dam in 1825, which created “the Great Pond,” as Oliver referred to it in his diary. Actually, Ebenezer’s purchase and/or sale of the 132 acres is ambiguous, since he is named as both the grantor and grantee on different book/pages for the same transaction with James Cross. Is it possible that what was being dealt was land from the northwest corner of the original 541 acre purchase by Isaac Stearns of John Glover?
Curators Report Acquisitions
A can of Bon Ami cleaning soap from Evelyn Callanan: a card table with different Stoughton businesses advertised on it from Michael Sheedan and Barbara K. Smith; a small, portable AM radio from Linda Woodward; an F. C. Phillips shoe grommet punch, purchased on eBay from a man in Charlotte, North Carolina, who claimed that it was an indispensable tool for his grand-father’s shoe-making, two generations ago.
-Brian Daley
Clothing Curators Report
Our latest donations are still in the process of being recorded in the various categories and headings so that they can be easily found when we wish to use them for displays. Among these items are hats worn by Mr and Mrs. Herbert Green when they emigrated to Stoughton from England in 1960. Mr Green’s hat is a suede cap with artificial fur trim. Mrs. Green’s hat is a man-made fur cloche. Both are in excellent condition. We have also received two girls’ dresses worn in the 1930’s by Evelyn Callanan. They are “best” dresses and in very good condition. Mrs. John O’Meara has donated the Stoughton Grenadier uniform worn by her husband, John. It consists of a waist coat, vest, breeches, and two blouses. This uniform will be used in October at the time of our Stoughton Grenadiers reunion. We are still trying to restore the lace yoke of the blouse donated several months ago. We also have some incomplete Grenadier uniform parts that need work. As always, extra hands are needed. We’d welcome you any Tuesday you are available.
-Janet Clough
Membership
New Members – Stephen and Barbara Smith, David Croft
New Life Member– Janet Clough