Volume XLIV No.3
Upcoming Events
March 15 at 2 PM – “Adam Capen Jr., Jonathan Capen, and the Capen-Reynolds Farm” – We will hear presentations from Karen Dropps, who within the past year did her Masters thesis on Adam Capen Jr. Dwight MacKerron will supplement her commentary with information on the Capens and their land, and representatives from the Friends of the Capen Reynolds will inform us of recent developments to upgrade the facility. We will also vote on a new member for the Board of Directors: Rick Woodward.
March 25 7:00 P.M. Sharon Historical Society, 16 High Street - "Tell no more lies than needs must": Facts of Life in the 1600s. Dwight MacKerron will give a presentation on the Stoughton -Canton -Sharon area and the extended Mass. Bay Colony in the mid 1600s. The title is taken from lines of a sermon, which was delivered at the Indian Chapel off of the current Indian Lane. The Town of Sharon has chosen “Caleb’s Crossing” by Geraldine Brooks for “Sharon Reads Together.” For more information: http://onebookonetown.org/tell-no-more-lies-than-needs-must/
April 12 at 2PM – Vice-President David Allen Lambert and his daughter Brenda Lea Lambert will introduce and give a presentation on their new book, Stoughton in the Twentieth Century (Images of America). “The town of Stoughton has seen many changes since its incorporation in 1726. Stoughton families and fortunes were transformed in the mid-19th century as they prospered from the production of shoets, wooden shoe lasts, and rubber goods. Farming dwindled, and industry was in full swing by the opening decades of the 20th century. Immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, and the Azores changed the cultural community as they started their own businesses and became a driving part of the workforce. The town also saw its share of tragedy, mourning the loss of resident George Quincy Clifford, who perished on the RMS Titanic, and sending its residents from the farms and the factories to World Wars I and II. Stoughton would celebrate its bicentennial in 1926 as a community united in building a better town, a vision still carried out by residents today.”
President’s Report
On November 9, the Society was edified and entertained by Anthony Sammarco’s presentation: “The History of the Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet Story.” It was doubly fascinating because of Mr Sammarco’s insights into Henry Pierce, who grew up on Highland Street in Stoughton and donated considerable funds for the construction of Stoughton’s Library, which is now our building, the Lucius Clapp Memorial. Mr Pierce was a major force in the success of the Baker Chocolate Company and also served as Mayor of Boston.
On December 13, the Historical Society was open before, during, and after the Holiday Parade. We received a number of visitors, whom we fed and escorted around our upgraded exhibits. Thank you’s to Richard and Ruth Fitzpatrick, Joe and Jeanne DeVito, Brian Daley, Janet Clough, Evelyn Callanan, Denise Peterson and Howard Hansen for holding the fort while Joan and I had another obligation. The Old Stoughton Musical Society presented a Holiday Concert that evening in the building, celebrating their 228th year! Richard, Ruth, Joe, Jeanne, Janet, Brian, and Evelyn were also instrumental in getting the Christmas tree and wreaths put up and then taken down.
Gutters at the Lucius Clapp Memorial
Joe DeVito has been concerned that the gutters at the Lucius Clapp Memorial have not been inspected since the roof was replaced in 2007. I noticed that one of the gutters was not draining properly and Joe informed Town Hall of our concern. No one seemed to know how the Town would perform the gutter check and cleaning, and Joe spent considerable time and many phone calls pursuing the matter with little success. Then one of our visitors pointed out that there appeared to be new staining taking place on areas of the ceiling. This discovery led to a series of events including the recruitment of Joe Mokrisky to relay our concerns to the Town Manager and after another miscommunication or two, the newly hired Paul Giffune came to inspect the building. He immediately agreed that work had to be done and within a few days the gutters were inspected and cleaned. Thank you’s to Joe DeVito for his persistence in the matter, Joe Mokrisky for addressing the matter emphatically, and Paul Giffune for finally making it happen.
Old Glover to be demolished
After a number of twists and turns, it appears that, alas, we will not be able to save the 1750 Glover Jr. house at 480 Sumner Street, but we are taking contributions to make a professional documentation of the structure before it is demolished. David Lambert spent a frigid six hours taking pictures and recording video and I have spent several hours recording the stone walls on the grounds and in neighboring lots all the way out to Park St. If you would like to contribute toward the cost of a professional documenter, who will come in and make formal assessments and cataloguing of the structure of the house, the nature of the timbers, sheathing, the oldest wall paper, and the structure of the wall, please send your tax-deductible donation to The Stoughton Historical Society, Box 542, Stoughton, MA 02072 and designate Glover House on your check. Thank you to those who have already made contributions: Denise Peterson, Richard and Ruth Fitzpatrick, John Cody, Jo and Shelly Obelsky, Donald Interrante, Janet Clough, Dwight Mac Kerron, and John Morton.
Using GIS mapping system to find original range lines
Jeff Stephens, who introduced me to Bing maps several years ago (which have been very helpful in the location of stone walls) paid another visit to the Society seeking more information on the boundaries of the Ponkapoag Indian Plantation. In the course of our discussion he told me about Oliver, the Mass. GIS mapping tool, which is available online. Stoughton, but not some neighboring communities already had an online GIS map of the Town, but the Oliver system is easier to use and covers all of the state seamlessly, and most significantly, all of the original Dorchester Waste Lands/New Grant/South Purchase/South Precinct, as the land was variously called over several generations. This Oliver system now permits historical societies and other interested parties in Canton, Stoughton, Avon, Sharon, Foxborough, and Plainville to search for early lots lines of both the Maps of the 12 and 25 Divisions.
Using this tool, one can identify all property lot lines, including those remnants from the Map of the 25 Divisions which are exactly parallel to the Randolph boundary, the straight line which includes Canton’s eastern boundary, the Northeastern end of Stoughton’s and the Northeastern half of Avon’s boundaries with Randolph.. The angle of that line, originally South 27 ½ degrees East, (on the current Oliver map South approximately 32 degrees East) is the same angle as all the original ranges in the Map of the Twenty Five Divisions, stretching from Randolph, Mass. to Rhode Island. These range line are a half-mile plus a few rods apart. We have already made a rough diagram of these lines on the large composite topo map at the Historical Society which shows the full flattened triangle of Old Stoughton from the Great Blue Hill to the Rhode Island line. We had determined in earlier studies that the straight run of West Street was on the line between the ninth and tenth ranges, but the Oliver GIS mapping tool reveals to us a number of other range lines in Stoughton, Sharon, Foxborough, and further West.
One of the range lines runs very close to the straight run of Prospect St. all the way from Rt 139, continuing down Park Street until it begins to bend east, near Third Street. That line is approximately the division between the fifth and six ranges, which turns out to be significant because the Glovers owned land in the 6th and 7th ranges. When Thomas Glover Jr. gave the forty acres of land to William Monk in 1763 in payment for Monk’s substituting for him in the French and Indian War, William Monk built his house (now demolished) at 709 Park St., currently the site of Alger Way. This new information reveals, as one might have predicted that the 40 acre parcel, which Glover gave Monk was at the extreme eastern end of his land in the 6th Range. While searching the area, I followed a stone wall, which runs parallel to this range line, about 100 yards west of Park St; the wall runs from the old railroad bed, southerly, until it disappears into the houses on Ash Park Drive. This wall may have been the western boundary of the land, which Monk acquired from Glover with Park St. being the approximate eastern boundary.
Several other range lines also can be located on the Oliver GIS map. The straight run of Old Page Street near the site of the North Stoughton Railroad Station appears to be close to the line between the second and third ranges. The general direction and location of Sumner and Pearl Sts. also puts them close to the line between the sixth and seventh ranges.
One should be able to find more signs of the lines of the thirty six ranges as far west as the Rhode Island line. In Sharon, there is an extended line on the boundaries of properties on Eisenhauer Drive, Aspen Road, and Hampton Road, which is apparently the range line between the eleventh and twelfth ranges. The highest parts of Mountain St. in Sharon, generally follows the next range line to the west. In fact much of the land south of Lake Massapoag in Sharon shows boundaries, which are either range lines or parallel to them. I recall reading somewhere that the upper half of the Sharon-Foxborough boundary was along a range line and my rough calculation reveals it to be the line between the 18th and 19th ranges. Certainly Lamson Road in Foxborough and long runs of East Belcher Road and Central St. in Foxborough run parallel to the range lines. It will take further study to determine which, if any, of these are actually on range lines.
One can understand why many early roads might tend to be along range lines, since chief surveyor and map-maker James Blake determined that the range lines would be a half mile, plus a few rods apart, and that the extra rods would not be part of the land owned by the proprietors within that lot. This method of division of the lots left a small area where a road could be placed, without taking land from the owners of the contiguous lots. “Lines is about South 27-1/2 degrees East (variation of ye Needle The Parellel Lines between which ye Lots are laid out, are endevoured to be run at half a mile & 4 Rods distance from each other, but ye 4 Rods is not reckoned in ye Measure of the Lots. The course of ye Parallel excepted) and the Land between those Parellels is called in ye Proprietors Records Ranges of Lots, & are numbered from one to 36, beginning next to Brantrey Line.” The mini ranges, only sixty-six feet wide, to my knowledge, have not been studied, beyond being commented upon in the commentary of subsequent historians. Often, topographical or population features intervened and caused the roads to wonder from their “original” possible sites within this sixty-six feet, one of the clearest examples being the “Road to Dorchester Swamp” curving around the swamp, the arc of which we continue to see in Cedar Street. The earliest roads such as Bay Road preceded the division of the land into ranges and followed their own course, which was often determined by earlier Indian trails.
Artifacts located off Old Page Street
Ryan Powers, a new member of the Stoughton Historical Society has made some interesting discoveries while he was in the process of locating the site of the former Railroad Station in North Stoughton. Ryan has made a number of trips to the site with a metal-detector and brought some of his discoveries back to the Society. Ryan and several of the rest of us have learned some history in the process, but have many questions still to be answered. In what appears to be an old cellar hole not far from the road to the west of Old Page Street, Ryan found a Carlos III coat button, which according to artifacts.org was a brass coat button which represents an 8 real coin made during the reign of Carlos III. “Rather than being date specific, this and smaller cuff link buttons were stock patriotic button patterns made over a period of years in honor of this popular sovereign.” The cellar hole may have been from a Nightingale or a Goldthwaite residence, as we will hear later. Ryan has graciously donated this button to our Society and we plan to have it on display by the time of our next meeting.
Ryan Powers continued his explorations in January, when the ground was still bare, and February’s epic snows had not yet descended upon us. He came on a Thursday evening with some bullets, balls, and shotgun shell bases, which he had found. As luck would have it, Jacob Tapper and his wife were visiting the Society that evening and Jacob sat down with Ryan and passed along some of his considerable knowledge on the identification and history of the projectiles and casings.
Research and Recollections of the various Page Streets
Ryan’s adventures and discoveries on Old Page Street set off a review of what we know about the Page Streets and their history. Old Page Street in Stoughton and York Street in Canton, are most likely close to the original course of Pigwacket Way/Road, which connected Curtises Corner in what is now Avon to what is now Randolph St., which linked west to Canton Corner and the First Parish Church. Our 1749 Map of Stoughton settlers shows a William Nightingale as the only inhabitant of the west side of the road in that general area. The 1771 and subsequent tax records reveal no Nightingales, but they do list a Jacob Goldthwaite. A 1794 map at the Society shows a Captain Jacob Goldthwaite living on the west side of what becomes (Old) Page Street, just north of Cincinnati Rd, which eventually becomes Wales St. A History of Avon, Massachusetts by William Hanna mentions William Nightingale as an early settler and Daniel Nightingale and Jacob Goldthwaite are noted as Minutemen from East Stoughton.
We will now enlarge and reproduce this 1794 map as an extension of the 1726 and 1749 maps, which we already have on display showing early residents. All three were created on the same template from the 1831 map. The earlier two have been “corrected” by removing Ames Pond and other bodies of water, as well as some roads, which did not yet exist in the 1700’s. We will do the same for the 1794 Map. Captain Jacob Goldthwaite is also shown on the 1831 map. This research raises the question as to when there became a street named “Old Page,” since it was the original Page Street. There was no Street called Old Page St. in the poll tax records until 1915, when Fred A. Morrill, 20, and a farmer is listed as living at 30 Old Page Street. In our records of old houses, 259 Page St. house, which is on the course of NewPage1 and was occupied by James Leathers in 1936 had been built as early as 1854, when Elmira Page was living there.
One 1876 map shows a double street (presumably, Page and Old Page,) descending from the junction with Maple Street, but the 1894 topo map, reprinted in 1932 shows only a single street. The 1938 topo map shows a single street, but also a road in to a single house, which may be the aforementioned Morrill house. There are definitely some contradictory clues here, but at this time I surmise that “New” Page1 was built in the 1850’s and that Old Page was not mentioned in the poll tax records, simply because no one lived on it.) New Page1 extended from Maple Street to where Old Page currently reconnects to Page, 300 yards south of the Maple St. Junction. From that point south, it followed the current Old Page, past the North Stoughton Railroad Station until it reconnected to the current Page Street near the Avon line at Bodwell St. With the building of Route 24 in the late 1950’s, New Page2 was built to completely by-pass the lower part of old Page, the Railroad station site etc., giving us the current straight run of Page Street from Maple St to Bodwell St.
Various people have contributed their recollections: Willard Thorn: “I know a little about the area where Page St crosses Rt 139. Good friends of my mother, George and Geneva Hill used to own the corner where Target is now. They raised sheep there. When Rt 24 was put through, it cut their property into 7 pieces and ended the sheep farm. You can still see remnants of their fences as you drive along the road from 139 near the theater to BJ’s.”
Joanna Gibson recalls her mother telling of walking to the station in North Stoughton to catch the train when she was going to school elsewhere, and Joanna also recalls going as a child in the early days of WWII down to the railroad tracks at that location and seeing many freight cars which were being stored on the tracks. Obviously the line was not being used for through trains at that time.
Howard Hansen contributes the following: “The original Page St., 'Pigwackett Way" was on "Old" Page Street from just south of Bodwell Street and D'Angelo's. The entrance to the sub shop from Bodwell Street is just to the right of the old road; looking northerly you will see the old railroad bed now is the gas transmission line. This is behind where the tractor trailer trucks park for Dunkin' Donuts. If you walk through briars and leaves at the corner of the parking lot, which was cut out from the road bed, you will then have to climb about 6 or 8 feet up to the road bed. You will see a big Chestnut(?) tree next to the asphalt remnants of the old road. From that tree to the south about 25 to 50 ft. is the fieldstone foundation to the North Stoughton railroad station. The old road continues until you come to a fence that abuts Route 24.
To get to the other side of the highway, go back to the old railroad bed and walk easterly out to the present Page Street, turn left and walk under the Route 24 bridge at the entrance to BJ's. Go northerly to Maple Street. Maple Street ends at Old Page Street where the newer Page Street and that big brick V-shaped garage stores bricks, blocks and stone building supplies. When you go southerly on "Old Page" Street you will see one house on left and Maltby's Tree office and trucks. The road has a sharp turn to the left heading to Glancy Trucking's Garage. That is approximately where Caleb West's two-story Victorian house stood. "Major" West was a veteran of both WWI and WWII. His address in 1942 is 127 Page Street. This is near where the "Newer" Page Street joined the original road. In the early 1920's the High Tension Electric Towers were constructed and the ledge required Page Street to be relocated. That "hairpin" turn in front of Glancy Trucking is the newer Page Street. Until 1959-60, this road was a bit higher under the high tension lines. Route 24 construction required Page Street to go under a bridge. Thus, the present Page Street was excavated to allow the construction of a bridge that would be on the same level as the highway.
My father delivered groceries to Caleb West in the late 1940s and well into the late 60s. I do remember him driving the old Ford "Woodie" down the old road, but I don't recall the North Stoughton RR Station still standing. In the spring of 1990, one Sunday morning, Muriel Curtis Cushing and her husband Phillip (?) met me at the back steps of LCM when I was cleaning the Clapp School bricks. I remember her name very well as Arnold "Red" Holmes' (12-22-16 to 1-17-15) wife was Muriel Curtis. The Curtis family is among the Alden kindred, and the Mr. and Mrs. Cushing were from Duxbury.
Mrs. Cushing remembered her mother telling how Muriel's grandmother, Emily L. Curtis, was the Station Agent living at the North Stoughton Railroad Station. Passengers would wait in the living room. Emily was widow of Frank L. Curtis who in 1905 was assistant station agent. She took over the agent duties. She moved from the Curtis homestead on Turnpike Street (opposite Dunkin Donuts and South Shore Bank) bringing along her child. For a little girl it was exciting to live at the railroad station. She "entertained" the visitors and would announce when she saw the train coming.
Elsie Simmons father worked for the Post Office and sorted mail on the train that went from Braintree to Fall River to meet the steam boats carrying mail to and from New York City. The Simmons family moved to North Stoughton in 1908 and lived on the Canton end of Page Street. She would ride with her mother in a horse-drawn wagon to meet her father at the North Stoughton Station. In the summer, they waited in the shade of the big chestnut tree. I did take Mrs. Cushing to meet Elsie Simmons. I believed they corresponded with each other. I don't know whether any of that correspondence is in the HS archives.
Elsie appeared on Dick Murphy's early cable show and told about the day the team of oxen moved the house that became Emory Hawes, Adam Mackie's, Andersen's and Page's II. Elsie rode on the rig while it was rolling down Page Street. Elsie was the High School Librarian and her sister Mabel was the Latin teacher. Until 1938, the store was also the North Stoughton Post Office. I suspect that the Post Office closing coincided with the end of train service and the North Stoughton railroad station.” -Howard Hansen
Patty Casserly contributed the information that her mother’s maiden name was Page and that she lived on the corner of Old Page and Maple Street for many years. Patty’s grandfather worked at the N. Stoughton train station. Our conversation eventually worked back toward Old Maple Street, which before 1840 was the route from the Capen-Reynolds farm to Page Street with a short jog on the Turnpike. Patty mentioned a ski area off Old Maple St. on Tolman Hill, which was run by Bob Snow, who had married a Phillips. Howard Hansen identified this operation as the Brockton Ski Club. “The Brockton Ski club was located off [Old] Maple Street where is now the judge Rotenberg Home. The club operated from about 1950 to about 1958 or 1959. About 1958 Doctor Nobel bought the property and built the house at the top of the hill in 1959. I was working for Harry Capen Tolman at the time as a "caretaker" when the wells were being drilled for the house. Tolman didn't want to split the cost of bringing town water up the hill from Maple Street--- it wasn't called "Old" until this house was built.” “Bob Snow was son-in-law to Fred Phillips. I forgot who the other members of the club, but I think Bob Sharp, possibly Doris and Mickey Bishop, Lorraine (Grant) Haron, Ginny Fields (Harry Tolman's granddaughter). The ski slope ended at the old road.
The old winter scene paintings hanging in the Wales French Room at the library, painted by Mort Lamb are on that section of (Old) Maple Street. Maple Street was the end of Pleasant Street until about 1840. It was the way to East Stoughton from Stoughton center. Pine Street ended on Maple Street. There is a photo, by Frank Reynolds, of that road at the end of Through the Years to Seventy. It was after 1840 that Pleasant Street continued out to Turnpike Street.
The hill was originally owned by Frank Mitchell who owned the farm later known as George "Pete" Sharp's property. Harry Tolman owned on the westerly side of (Old) Maple Street and the triangle between Pleasant, Pine and Old Maple St. He used to receive phone calls from the Universalist and Congregational Churches asking if they could hold sunrise services on the ski slope on Easter Sunday. He referred them to Pete Sharp.” Howard Hansen.
-Dwight Mac Kerron
Archivist’s Report - Acquisitions
Document from 1817 instructing Eliphalet Monk and men in his company of Grenadiers to assemble at Stoughton Meetinghouse to elect officers of the company donated by the H. Stanley Bresnick Foundation of St. Paul, Minnesota; postcard photo “Stoughton Square Looking North” postmarked Keene, N. H. from an anonymous donor; photocopy of First Graduating Class St. Mary’s School1932 from Jim and Anna Byron; illustrated poster of activism and related activities at Packard Manse in the 1970’s from eBay.
Did research on former Grenadier Ezekiel Beals, who died March of 1891; age 73 years, 10 months and 13 days. Spent a lot of time re-locating the 1953 aerial photos of Stoughton. Found, catalogued, and filed a 1773 document concerning work on roads, including many signatures of local residents such as Thomas Doty, Royal Crane, Puffer etc. Also researched the Meade Rubber Company, finding photos for a visiting consultant working with the South Shore Rail project.
Ruthie Fitzpatrick is cataloguing a box of Alice Belcher Hodges’ notes on the Swan and Belcher genealogies, which were donated by Donna Hodges via Maureen Gibbons and David Lambert. Karen Dropps has begun cataloguing a box of various Capen papers. We have set up a new loose-leaf notebook for Evelyn Callanan to compile a record of maiden names from the obituary file to which Evelyn adds entries almost every week. We purchased new trash barrels and a medium-length ladder and set up and took down the Christmas decorations, got out some of the furniture stored downstairs for appraisers to evaluate, repaired the leaking tank in the men’s room and replaced a handle. An ongoing task is trying to clear up loose ends on my desk.
Josh Olshin from the Stoughton Public Library has borrowed several of our high school yearbooks to be scanned along with others the library already has. This project will eventually make the yearbooks available online. –Richard Fitzpatrick
Curators Report Acquisitions – A McCormack tin, cream of tartar box from Linda Woodward; a glass coke bottle which was stamped Dec. 25, 1923, donor unknown; a coat button from the time of Carlos III of Spain (1759-1788 donated by Ryan Powers, who found it using a metal detector in a cellar hole on Old Page St. two wooden interior doors from the Thomas Glover Jr. house of yet-to-be-determined age. They have colonial style metal latches. I assisted Richard Fitzpatrick in hanging up the outdoor Christmas wreaths and the indoor Christmas tree and taking these decorations down after Christmas.
-Brian Daley
Clothing Curators Report
The past few weeks we have spent trying to put some order into the new acquisitions from the members of the Stoughton Grenadiers. All of the items that they left with us have been listed and now we must determine under which section of our collection they should be cataloged or if they should all be kept together under a new heading. The items that previously had been donated are spread amongst our various collections. For example, clothing items are under the 904 Fabrics heading while gun slings are under the 910 and 940 headings. These questions are still to be decided,
Among the new items that have been donated are two women’s blouses with hand painted decorations done by the donor, Denise Peterson in the 1970’s. We are still working on trying to repair a women’s top from the late 1800’s on which the lace is badly deteriorating. The fabric is black as is the lace and is difficult to work on except in good daylight.
Other activities included following along with Mr. Hartwell of Hartwell Antiques as he verbally assessed some of our possessions. I took notes for Joe DeVito and learned much from listening to Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell.
-Janet Clough
Membership
Welcome to new member/advertiser Lou Kafka.