By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | September 12, 2019
In this year, we encounter a hotel sale, an ice horse auction, two farms for sale, an officer’s commission, draftsmen wanted, a minister receives a call, dogs for sale, the Spanish flu, and some wartime recipes.
This was also the year in which the Blue Book published its auto route straight thru Milton, Mrs. Demerritt donated her flowers, and the Great War ended.
The “only hotel” left in Milton went on the auction block in February 1918. (The Milton directory of 1917 had listed two others, as well as Central House in Milton Mills). To judge by its stated location – near the depot – The Sampson might have been a continuation under new management of Fred M. Chamberlain’s Phoenix House.
The Milton directory of 1917 had two entries for The Sampson. It was on Main street, “next to depot,” as opposed to “opposite B.&M. R.R. station,” but it was also on Main street, “near the depot (closed).”
AUCTION SALE OF “THE SAMPSON HOTEL,” IN MILTON, N.H. TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY, Feb. 5th and 6th. 20-room house, all furnished; stable and carriage shed, electric lights, bath, opposite B. & M. R. R. station; furniture in O.K. condition; the only hotel in town, 88 miles from Boston, State Boulevard to White Mountains. A good investment for a live hotel man in a live town. S.E. DREW, Auctioneer, Milton, N.H. Tel. 13-5 (Boston Globe, February 3, 1918).
The Sampson’s proprietor, John F. Quinlan, was born in Dover, NH, August 20, 1855, son of David and Katherine “Kate” (O’Connor) Quinlan.
He married (2nd) in Rochester, NH, October 7, 1903, Olive P. Sampson, both of Rochester. He was a widowed hotel proprietor, aged forty-eight years, and she was a milliner, aged twenty-eight years. She was born in Rochester, NH, circa 1874-75, daughter of Luther and Philinda C. (Garrette) Sampson.
John F. Quinlan ran the Hotel Wrisley in Dover, NH, when its wine room was breached in 1904.
BURGLAR ALARM WORKED. Frank H. Hurd Caught In Act of Robbing the Wineroom of the Hotel Wrisley In Dover. DOVER, N.H., Aug. 13 – Frank Herbert Hurd, a well-known local character, who is on the city dry list was caught by the police in the act of robbing the wineroom of hotel Wrisley, at 2 this morning, and was locked up. For the past six months proprietor John F. Quinlan has known that liquors were being stolen at frequent intervals from his wineroom but suspicion centered on no one. Recently be learned that the thefts occurred late at night. He accordingly had a burglar alarm connected with the room. At 2 this morning the alarm sounded and the police were telephoned to. Hurd was handily nabbed while filling a valise with bottles of whisky and other liquors. He had a small lantern and a key to the cellar door at the rear of the hotel. He admitted that he had been robbing the hotel for some time. Hurd is aged 50 and was formerly employed by the Boston & Maine railroad. but was discharged because of his drinking habits. He has worked around the local hotels a good deal and was thoroughly familiar with the Wrisley. He has a family. He was arraigned in the police court this morning. charged with entering and larceny. and was held for the September term of the Superior court in $1000 bonds (Boston Globe, August 14, 1904).
John Quinlan, a hotel landlord, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of six years), Olive Quinlan, aged thirty-three years (b. NH), his clerk, Laurence O’Brien, hotel clerk, aged twenty-eight years (b. Canada (Eng.)), and his servants, Thomas O’Brien, hotel servant, aged twenty-two years (b. Canada (Eng.)), Blanch O’Brien, hotel table girl, aged twenty years (b. Canada (Eng.)), Thomas Kelley, hotel servant, aged forty years (b. MA), Mary McMahon [?], hotel cook, aged forty years (b. Canada (Eng.), and Margaret Davis, hotel servant, aged thirty years (b. ME). Quinlan owned the house free-and-clear.
The residents of The Sampson were enumerated between the households of Hugh Beaton, B&M railroad station agent, aged thirty-six years (b. OH), Charles Houston, B&M railroad freight agent, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), and Charles E. Piper, railroad station helper, aged twenty years (b. NH), on the one side; and Robert E. Noland, state highway foreman, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), on the other side. (Robert E. Nolan would advertise for a State Road foreman in August 1913).
The enumerator made a sequence error in numbering the households. It might just be that Nolan and his boarders resided in the hotel, rather than next to it. (Nolan’s boarders were his twelve Italian immigrant highway laborers).
John F. Quinlan died in Rochester, NH, January 2, 1934. Olive P. (Sampson) Quinlan died in Rochester, NH, in 1962.
Having cut all their ice for the season, the Porter Ice Company put twelve horses on the auction block in Boston at 2:15 PM on April 2.
McKINNEY BROS, 197 FRIEND STREET. 56 – HEAD OF INDIANA – 56 DRAFT HORSES. Just arrived: some of the best matched pairs and single horses you can find in Boston, from 1200 to 1900 lbs. 50 – HEAD – 50 Of the beat acclimated horses that have ever been offered for sale; in matched pairs and singles; will arrive at our stable Tuesday. April 2d; call and see the goods. REGULAR AUCTION SALE. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, AT 1 P. M. 78 Head of second class horses have already been consigned for this sale; some as good as grows; also plenty of cheap ones; express wagons, caravans, buggies and harness. AT 1:30 P. M. Smooth, a bay combination gelding, weight 1200 lbs., age six, perfectly sound with veterinary certificate; absolutely clever in harness and under the saddle a perfect beauty. Owner’s statement: “Smooth is a perfect horse. I have used him on the road and through the woods. He has a grand disposition.” Slick, chestnut combination gelding, weight 1100 lbs., 18 hands, age six years, perfectly sound with veterinary certificate, absolutely clever in harness and under the saddle: lady has ridden him on the road and in the woods. Owner’s statement: “Slick is a grand individual in every respect, with a grand disposition.” These horses can be seen and tried at 197 Friend St., Boston, Tuesday, Apr. 2d. AT 1:45 P.M. One black mare, 8 years old. 1100 lbs. perfect in every way, stands anywhere you leave her; one 6-post top wagon. 1 custom made harness, one top wagon, rubber tires; all these goods are in No. 1 shape; have been used by Gove & Mollens, 156 Federal st.. Boston. AT 2:15 P.M. 12 Head of horses from Porter Ice Co., Milton, N.H.; been used in the work of cutting ice: as they are wholesalers they cut all of their ice and have no further use for horses: absolute sale: horses range in weight from 1200 to 1500 lbs. in pairs and singles and all good workers. I.L. McKINNEY. L.L. HALL, Auctioneers (Boston Globe, March 31, 1918).
Farmington attorney Samuel S. Parker offered two more Milton farms for sale in April. (He had made a similar offer in the prior year for a farm that sounded very much like the first one in this advertisement).
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET. FARMS FOR SALE. A 40-acre farm in Milton, N.H., 1½-story house of nine rooms, stable connected, high land, with pasture, field and woodland; also a 50-acre farm in Milton N.H., l½-story house, with stable, 25 acres of woodland and rest field and pasture, two small ponds on place. Inquire of S.S. PARKER, Farmington, N.H. Su2t* ap21 (Boston Globe, April 21, 1918).
Harry E. Anderson became a 1st Lieutenant in the Medical Reserve in July 1918.
In the Milton directory of 1912, he had been a physician on Main street in Milton Mills, at its corner with Church street.
Harry Edward Anderson of Acton, ME, aged thirty years, registered for the WW I military draft in Acton, ME, June 5, 1917. He had been born in Limington, ME, April 1, 1887. He was married. He was employed as a physician and a York County deputy sheriff. He claimed an exemption for his position as a deputy sheriff. He was tall, with a stout build, grey eyes, and brown hair.
Special Dispatch to the Globe. WASHINGTON, July 31 – The following appointments were announced today by the War Department: First Lieutenant, Ordnance Reserve Spurgeon W. Howatt, 762 Broadway, Everett. First Lieutenant. Medical Reserve Harry E. Anderson, Milton Mills, N.H.; Frank G. Wheatley, 174 Adams st. North Abington. [Remainder of lengthy list omitted] (August 1, 1918).
Harry E. Anderson reported to Fort Oglethorpe, GA, August 22, 1918, where he was a 1st Lieutenant in the Medical Department. He was discharged December 21, 1918, “for the conv. [convenience?] of Government.”
Lock Box 11 advertised for two neat draftsman. Likely this originated in I.W. Jones’ engineering office.
MALE HELP WANTED. WANTED – Two neat draftsmen at once. Address lock Box 11, Milton, N.H. 3t au8 (Boston Globe, August 9, 1918).
The Congregational Church of Shirley, MA, made an offer to Rev. Francis S. Goodheart of Milton.
SHIRLEY. Church Calls New Pastor. At a business meeting of the Congregational church held Monday evening at 7.30 it was voted to extend a call to Rev. Francis S. Goodheart of Milton, N.H., to become pastor of the church, his salary to be $1200 per year and the use of the parsonage. Following the meeting of the church, a special meeting of the parish was held at which it was, voted to concur with the vote of the church. The salary voted to the new pastor is an increase of $300 over that paid Rev. J. Edwin Woodman, the last resident pastor, whose compensation was $900 and the parsonage, while Rev. Douglas H. Corley received $850 per year. Mr. Goodheart was notified by letter of the action of the church, and an announcement of his decision in the matter is expected within a few days (Hollis Times, August 16, 1918).
SHIRLEY. Rev. Francis Goodheart of Milton. N.H., recently called to the pastorate of the Shirley Congregational church, has informed the local committee that he will be unable to give his decision until after Sept. 1, when he can put the matter formally before his church in Milton (Fitchburg Sentinel, August 23, 1918).
Simon Francis Goodheart of Milton, aged forty-five years, registered for the WW I military draft in Milton, September 12, 1918. He was born September 28, 1872, and was married to Sarah Lester Goodheart of Milton, who was identified as his nearest relative. He was employed as a clergyman by the [Milton] Congregational Society. He was of medium height, medium build, with brown eyes and brown hair.
Simon F. Goodheart, a Cong. Church clergyman, aged forty-seven years (b. Russia), headed a Shirley, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census.His household included his wife, Sarah L. Goodheart, aged forty-eight years (b. England), and his [step-] daughter, Esther J. Goodheart, aged ten years (b. VT). Simon F. Goodheart had immigrated in 1898, and Sarah L. Goodheart in 1916; both were naturalized. They resided in a rented house at 7 Front Street.
James J. Ham offered for sale two American Beagle rabbit hounds. He worked for the Milton Leather-Board Company and resided at 52 Charles street, near Toppan street, in 1917.
James Joseph Ham of Milton, aged twenty-nine years, registered for the WW I military draft in Milton, June 5, 1917. He had been born in Dover, NH, September 28, 1887; and was a mill hand at Milton Leather-Board Company. He had a wife and four children. Unusually, he had three years’ prior experience as a private in the “State” infantry, i.e., the national guard. He was a tall man, with a slender build, with gray eyes and brown hair.
DOGS, CATS, PETS, ETC. FOR SALE. TWO American beagle rabbit hounds, male and female; beauties. JAMES HAM, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, August 18, 1918).
His youngest daughter Mildred J. Ham, who no doubt had delighted in the little puppies, would only two months later be one Milton’s influenza victims of 1918 (see below).
James J. Ham, a leather-board laborer, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife Blanch C. [(Drew)] Ham, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), his children, Francis H, Ham, aged ten years (b. NH), Catherine B. Ham, aged eight years (b. NH), James J. Ham, aged five years (b. NH), Bernard W. Ham, aged two years and three months (b. NH), his nephew, William A. Miller, aged eight years (b. NH), his brother, Francis W. Ham, an ice company laborer, aged thirty years (b. NH), and his sister-in-law, Mary L. [(Corcoran)] Ham, aged thirty-one years (b. MA). James J. Ham owned his home, with a mortgage, on Charles Street.
No Milton-specific news articles have come to hand to illustrate the arrival of the so-called “Spanish” Influenza in Milton. Despite its name, the Spanish Flu (a subtype of the avian H1N1 virus) did not originate in Spain. It is just that Spain, not being a WW I belligerent, did not censor its news of the flu, which made it appear to be more prominent there.
The disease affected most heavily people aged between 20 and 40 years of age. This was partly because it over-stimulated the afflicted people’s own immune systems, which would be more fully developed and, therefore, more subject to over-stimulation, in that age range.
The deadly second wave of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 arrived in Portsmouth, NH, by mid-September. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, crowded with departing Great War soldiers and sailors, was a disease locus.
THE HERALD HEARS. That the Spanish influenza appears to have hit this city in some places (Portsmouth Herald, September 14, 1918).
The flu reached Milton within a week of its arrival in Portsmouth (based upon the illness durations given in Milton death records). The 1918 death records of the following ten Milton people mention influenza among the causes of their deaths. There may have been still more flu deaths, both in this year and the next, where pneumonia alone, or some other cause, was given as the cause of their death. (And there were likely other cases in “Acton side” and “Lebanon side” too).
- Elizabeth L. (Cunningham) Chamberlain died of pneumonia / influenza (duration eight days) in Milton, October 4, 1918, aged thirty-three years, ten months, and 9 days.
- Edith M. (Nute) Brown died of influenzal pneumonia (duration eleven days) in Milton, October 5, 1918, aged forty-three years, five months, and twenty-four days.
- Winfield B. Sinnott died of broncho-pneumonia / influenza (duration seven days) in Milton, October 7, 1918, aged thirty-five years and twenty-five days.
- Mildred J. Ham died of lobular pneumonia / influenza in Milton, October 8, 1918, aged five years, eight months, and nine days.
- Charles E. Thompson died of lobular pneumonia / influenza in Milton, October 13, 1918, aged twelve years, one month, and four days.
- Edith A. (Ackerman) Dawson died of lobular pneumonia / influenza in Milton, October 14, 1918, aged thirty-two years, and three months.
- Willard C. Burrows died of influenza (duration one day) in Milton, October 15, 1918, aged one year, one month, and twenty eight days.
- Olwen Tanner died of acute nephritis / influenza in Milton, October 23, 1918, aged two years, nine months, and fourteen days.
- Flora P. Elliott died of influenza (duration four days) in Milton, December 31, 1918, aged sixteen years, seven months, and eighteen days.
- Alma M. (Oliver) Witham died of broncho-pneumonia / influenza in Milton, December 31, 1918, aged thirty-two years, five months, and thirteen days.
In the same December 5 post-war issue of the Portsmouth Herald that announced the end of wartime censorship, civilian influenza death estimates were finally published as of that date. The death toll continued to climb from there through the winter and into the spring of 1919.
INLUENZA’S DREADFUL TOLL OF DEATHS. Nearly 350,000 Civilians Died Since September 15, of Disease. (By Associated Press). Washington, Dec. 4 – Between 300,000 and 350,000 deaths from influenza and pneumonia occurred among the civilian population of the United States since September 15, according to estimates of the U.S. Public Health Department (Portsmouth Herald, September 15, 1918).
About 28% of the U.S. population contracted the Spanish Flu, and between 500,000 to 650,00 died of it. Worldwide, somewhere between 50 million and 100 million people died in the Spanish Flu pandemic.
In the final days of the Great War. Mrs. P.W. Merrill, of Milton, NH, shared two “war time” recipes in the Boston Globe. An armistice was declared for the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of 1918. The Great War ended on Monday, November 11, 1918, at 4:00 PM Milton time.
WAR TIME RECIPES of New England Housewives. SQUASH PIE. Bake squash in an earthen dish, well covered, until soft; then put through a coarse sieve. Measure out 1 cup to each pie; beat 2 eggs with 2-3 cup sugar, pinch of salt, cinnamon, clove, ginger and a little nutmeg; add 1 pint of milk. Bake in a rather slow oven, as too hot an oven causes it to boil, and then it becomes watery, MRS. P.W. MERRILL, Box 63, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, November 9, 1918).
A wood-fired “rather slow oven” translates to 325° to 350° in a modern oven. (A West Milton squash pie recipe, with some additional suggestions for a better edge crust and oven times, will appear in Milton in the News – 1919).
WAR TIME RECIPES of New England Housewives. WALNUT CAKE. One-half cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 3-4 cups flour, 2 1-2 teaspoons baking powder, whites 2 eggs. 3-4 cup walnut meats. Cream butter, add sugar and then egg yolks well beaten; add milk slowly and flour sifted with baking powder. Carefully fold in whites beaten until stiff; then add nut meats. Bake 45 minutes in moderate oven; cover with boiled frosting, to which has been added 1-4 pound marshmallows, melted over hot water, with 2 tablespoons boiling water. Put nuts on top. MRS. P.W. MERRILL, Box 63, Milton. N.H.(Boston Globe, November 11, 1918).
A wood-fired “moderate oven” translates to 350° to 375° in a modern oven.
(See Milton Cookies of 1895-96, Milton Mills Oyster Fritters Recipe of 1895, and Miss McClary’s Candies and Such for some Milton recipes of a generation earlier. See also Milton in the News – 1919 for a West Milton squash pie recipe).
The United States suffered the loss of 116,708 military deaths and 757 merchant marine deaths, for a total of 117,465 deaths in the Great War. It paid monetary costs of $32 billion, which was 52% of its gross national product.
Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1917; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1919
References:
Find a Grave. (2013, November 21). Elizabeth Lumsdun “Lizzie” Cunningham Chamberlain. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/120624668
Find a Grave. (2016, April 28). Harry E. Anderson. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/161764838
Find a Grave. (2003, September 2). Rev. S. Francis Goodheart. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/7827403/s_frances-goodheart
Find a Grave. (2012, November 25). Winfield Barry Sinnott. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/101248627
Wikipedia. (2019, September 1). Oven Temperatures. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oven_temperatures
Wikipedia. (2019, August 31). Spanish Flu. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
Wikipedia. (2019, August 6). World War I Casualties. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties
Milton Observer 