By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | October 10, 2019
In this year, we encounter the death of Leander M. Nute, a horserace at Milton Three-Ponds, high waters brought by heavy rains, Rev. Arthur Jeffries accepting a call, the Bunker Hill sesquicentennial, a toddler’s drowning, a suicide, waitresses wanted, Harry Pinker’s close call, and the return of a lost pin.
Violin maker Leander Munroe Nute, a first cousin to Lewis Worster Nute, died in Portland, ME, on February 9. He was born in Milton, April 16, 1831, son of David and Lavina (Cook) Nute.
LEANDER M. NUTE, 94, DEAD AT PORTLAND. Oldest Dartmouth Graduate and a Violin Maker. PORTLAND, Me., Feb. 9 – Leander M. Nute, 94, oldest Dartmouth graduate, a violin maker, died this morning. Leander M. Nute was born in Milton, N.H., in 1831. After leaving school he taught for a time in the Pittsfield, N.H., Academy. He then entered Dartmouth, getting credit for one year on account of his teaching. He was graduated from the college in 1854 and had been for several years the sole survivor of his class. After leaving college he took a scientific course and thought that he wanted to be a railroad builder. His first job was on a project to run a railroad line from Saratoga to Sacketts Harbor. This was a failure, and the young man went West and worked in Michigan and Iowa. He then returned to the East and went into business as a shoe manufacturer in Berwick, Me., living in Somersworth, N.H. When he retired at the age of 68 he had 250 men on his payroll and his output was 1200 pairs a day. Then Mr. Nute decided to start a new career – one which perhaps had been for years his heart’s desire. He began making violins. Twenty years later he won first honors with one of his violins – his 278th – in the State competition of the Maine Violin Makers’ Association. For more than 20 years before his death Mr. Nute had made his home in Portland, Me. He had a shop there where he made his violins. Specimens of his work went all over the East. Mr. Nute was a Mason. His wife died many years ago (Boston Globe, February 9, 1925).
Trotter Early Dreams appeared in horse races as early as July 1915, and as far away as Detroit, MI. Early Dreams once won a $5,000 race.
Hoof Prints. Early Dreams, 2:03¾, and Peter C., 2:19¼, have been matched for a return race $100 side for next Saturday at Milton Three Ponds, N.H. Early Dreams is owned by Fred Young of Farmington and Peter C. by Frank Osgood of Rochester (Boston Globe, February 23, 1925).
Fred Young, a shoe shop sole layer, aged thirty years (b. NH), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Maude M. [(Young)] Young, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH), and his child, Doris M, Young, aged eight years (b. NH). They resided in a rented house on Silver Street Road.
Frank H. Osgood, a livery stable proprietor, aged fifty-nine years (b. NH), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth I. Osgood, aged thirty-seven years (b. NH), his children, Ernest L. Osgood, U.S. Army sergeant, aged twenty-three years (b. NH), and Donald G. Osgood, aged nineteen years (b. NH), and his lodgers, Frank Scicalo, a barbershop barber, aged twenty-seven years (b. MA), and Frank Salice, a barber shop barber, aged thirty-seven years (b. Italy).They resided in a rented house on South Main Street.
Heavy March rains required the removal of dam flashboards, but did not demand removing machinery belts.
SALMON FALLS FLOODED AS MILTONS PONDS FILL. EAST ROCHESTER, N.H., March 23. The heavy rainfall of the past 36 hours has caused Salmon Falls River to go on a rampage. The three ponds at Milton, which feed the Salmon Falls, have reached a high point and it was necessary this noon to remove flash-boards from the dam. Ice commenced to go out of the ponds this afternoon. The river lacks only a few inches of flowing over the abutments of the dam at Cocheco Company power house. Lowlands above the dam are completely inundated, while the interval below the brick mill is rapidly being flooded. Tonight mill officials stated that it had not been necessary to remove the belts at the mill. The only damage that the storm has done thus far is to leave rural roads in bad condition. In the North Rochester section at the Spaulding Pond, four rows of flash-boards were removed from the dam (Boston Globe, March 30, 1925).
Heavy rains washed away the flashboards of the Kennebunk Manufacturing Company dam at Milton Mills in December 1923.
Rev. Arthur Jeffries left the First Baptist Church in Athol, MA, to accept a call from Milton.
ATHOL CHURCH CALLS REV. H.T. JOSLYN. Formerly Was Minister at Charlestown. Word has been received from Athol that Rev Howard T. Joslyn, a former pastor at the First Baptist Church, Charlestown, has been extended a call to occupy the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in that town. Since the resignation of Rev. Arthur Jeffries, to accept a pastorate at Milton, N.H, the Athol church has been without a Lutheran pastor (Boston Globe, April 4, 1925).
Luther B. Roberts, of Milton Mills, and William P. Farnham, of Lynn, MA, both attended the Battle of Bunker Hill sesquicentennial celebrations. Their grandfathers had participated in the battle.
GRANDSON OF BUNKER HILL SOLDIER HERE. Luther B. Roberts, Milton Mills, N.H., Is Nearly 80. Luther B. Roberts of Milton Mills. N.H. nearly 80 who has been visiting relatives near Boston, is a grandson of John Roberts who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. His grandfather was born in 1753 at Dover Point. N.H., where the Roberts’ ancestors settled on land they bought from the Indians in 1673. John Roberts came to Boston in 1774 just in time to join the Revolutionary forces at Bunker Hill. He served for two years and was one of the men sent to Montreal by way of Lake Champlain. While on this trip he stopped at a hospital where an older brother, Moses, had died and there he found the man who had attended his brother in his last illness and who had buried him. Moses served in the French and Indian War. John Roberts married in 1778. There were 10 children. Luther’s father, Jere, was next to the youngest. John Roberts lived to be 93. His son, Jere, outlived all the other children and passed his 85th birthday. Mr. Roberts, who has been visiting his niece, wife of Speaker Hull of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, is going home to Milton Mills in a day or two but he will return to witness the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, June 17. He is active, his mind is as keen as ever and he has been mentally lively always, At his age he does look back a bit and reflects about friends. Luther Roberts was born in Waterboro in 1845. He learned his A B C’s in a red schoolhouse. “I’ve come from driving an ox team when I was 16 to see all the great improvements that there are now,” he says. He has been in active mercantile life. In 1878 he was a member of the New Hampshire legislature. In 1915 and 1916 he was in the legislature in Maine, representative from Portland. For four years he was a member of the Supreme Lodge of the order of Knights of Pythias. He and his wife, who was Nellie C. Berry, live now at the Berry homestead. Their one child living is Mrs. Eva Roberts Wood of White Plains, N.Y., who has two children. William R., and Janice. (Boston Globe, April 9, 1925).
Agusta Berry, aged eighty-four years (b. NH), headed a Milton Mills household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. Her household included her brother-in-law, Luther B. Roberts, a lumberman, aged seventy-four years (b. ME), and her sister, Nellie C. Roberts, aged seventy-five years (b. NH). Augusta Berry owned their house on Main Street in Milton Mills Village free-and-clear.
“HARDLY A MAN IS NOW ALIVE.” (By International News Service.) Milton Mills, N.H., June 24. William P. Farnham, eighty-six, of Lynn, Mass., is the only man on record who can remember having seen and talked with a survivor of the battle of Bunker Hill. He visited the grave of his grandfather, a revolutionary soldier, to refresh his memory in order to help entertain the guests of the Bunker Hill day celebration in Charleston, Mass. (Huntington Herald (Huntington, IN), June 24, 1925).
William Farnham, a shoe factory cutter, aged eighty years (b. ME) headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. He resided at 97 Essex Street.
See Milton in the News – 1860, regarding William P. Farnham’s grandfather (and Milton in the News – 1909, for a reprise). See also Milton in the News – 1877 (and Milton in the News – 1894), regarding his paternal aunt, Joanna Farnham, and her nesting trunks.
Idroiga L. “Edith” Pasjkowska, daughter of Joseph E. and Mary (Kenpskoi) Pasjkowska, died in an “accidental drowning” at Depot Pond, August 12, 1925, aged four years, five months, and seventeen days. She had been visiting in Milton for four days at the time of her death.
REVERE GIRL 4, LOSES LIFE AT MILTON. N.H. MILTON, N.H., Aug. 12 – Miss Edith Podeski, from Revere, Mass. was drowned at Depot Pond today. She was 4 years of age, and was on a vacation in care of Mrs. Conley of 98 Proctor av., Revere. The child wandered from the cottage where she was stopping, and a search resulted in the finding of the body in a few feet of water. The body was brought ashore by Raymond Boyle of Rochester (Boston Globe, August 13, 1925).
FOUR LOSE LIVES IN NEW ENGLAND WATERS. WILLIAM IRVING BOYCE, 17, Roxbury, at Foxboro. MARGARET McNAY. 13, of Manchester, N.H., at Crystal Lake. EDITH PODESKI, 4, of Revere, at Milton, N.H. HAROLD BRIDGHAM, 45, of Maine, at Sunset Lake, South Braintree (Boston Globe, August 13, 1925).
Henry J. Connolly, a fish store salesman, aged thirty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Revere, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Margaret Connolly, aged thirty-six years (b. MA), and his children, Mary H. Connolly, aged thirteen years (b. MA), Elizabeth E. Connolly, aged eleven years (b. MA),and Margaret G. Connolly, aged seven years (b. MA). They resided in a mortgaged house at 98 Proctor Avenue.
Ernest O. Day, of Acton-side in Lebanon, ME, shot himself with a revolver in the early hours of August 13, 1925.
Ernest O. Day, a sawmill laborer, aged thirty-five years (b. ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Beatrice R. Day, aged thirty-three days (b. ME), and his children, Alice M. Day, aged thirteen years (b. ME), and Harlan W. Day, aged ten years (b. ME). They resided in a mortgaged house on the South Acton Road (near its intersection with the Springvale Road).
MILTON MILLS, N.H., MAN TAKES OWN LIFE. MILTON MILLS, N.H., Aug. 13 – Ernest A. Day, 28, a farmer of this town, shot and killed himself with a revolver about 2 o’clock this morning. His home was at Mothers Corner. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Day (Boston Globe, August 13, 1925).
BRIEF BITS OF WORLD NEWS. Kills Self at So. Acton. Sanford, Me. Ernest Day, 40, killed himself by shooting himself through the left temple with a revolver at his home In South Acton. He leaves a wife and one son (Portsmouth Herald, August 15, 1925).
We cannot know why at this remove – who can know another’s heart? – but it is a fact that he and his wife were at odds, and that his daughter had died in May (after the birth of her own daughter). He may have been ill, perhaps painfully, incurably ill..
Union’s Tox-a-Way Inn sought three refined girls to work as waitresses. The Tox-a-Way Inn was a 200-year-old wayside inn that had reopened in 1924 under new management (who had a Milton Mills telephone number).
ATTRACTIVE TEA SHOPPE AT UNION. One of the most attractive Tea Shoppes and Auto Inns has opened at Union, N.H., known as Tox-A-Way Inn. Its furnishings are wonderfully attractive, cuisine most excellent and entirely different than usually found at such places. There is nothing in New England that will compare with it. Kitchen is all electrically equipped with electric ranges, broilers, toasters, percolators, waffle irons, etc. All the furniture was made to order, being reproductions of old Windsor Colonials. It has a large dining room for regular guests finished in dark birch, a large tea room finished in colonial gray, and private dining rooms, the chambers are furnished in Belgian gray oak and birch, many of the rooms having running hot and cold water. It is sure to be not only popular with autoists and friends entertaining, but will prove a most attractive place for fishermen and hunters. It is under the management of Mrs. J.R. Huey and Mrs. Robert Smith, her daughter. 1t j17 (Portsmouth Herald, July 17, 1924).
WANTED. WANTED – 3 refined girls for waitresses at Tox-a-Way Inn, Union, N.H. Tel. Milton Mills 35-21 or Ports. 297-6 (Portsmouth Herald, August 20, 1925).
The refined girls hired here would have waited upon inventor Thomas A. Edison, orchestra leaders Paul Whiteman and Jacques Renard, Mrs. Susanna Tarkington (wife of author Booth Tarkington), and governors of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Frank L. Smith was going too fast on the steep down-grade on Wiggin Hill when his car went into a ditch and turned turtle. (One of the few driving restrictions of 1906 was reducing speed when proceeding downhill).
AUTO CRASHES CLAIM TOLL OF FIVE DEAD. Five May Die as Result of Injuries – Quincy Man Crushed Beneath Car on Way to New Hampshire. NORTH WAKEFIELD, N.H., Aug. 23 – Frank L. Smith, 44 years old, of 79 Glendale road, Quincy, was instantly killed; Mrs. Clara Isora Dustin of Tremont st., Quincy, and Mrs. Henry T. Cushman, now of Milton Mills, N.H., and recently of Boston, received minor injuries when a large touring car in which they were riding overturned on Wiggin hill shortly after 8 o’clock this morning. According to witnesses of the accident Smith was driving at high speed. Attempting to lessen the speed of the machine in order to negotiate the steep down grade he applied the brakes. The machine went into a ditch. Smith was crushed beneath the overturned car. The two passengers were thrown clear. Mrs. Dustin sustained a fractured arm, cuts about the head and face, and Mrs. Cushman suffered with body bruises. Little information could be obtained about Smith other than he lived in Quincy and was employed as an auditor. The automobile bore a Massachusetts registration plate 110,012 (Boston Globe, August 24, 1925).
Frank L. Smith, a shipyard bookkeeper, aged thirty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Quincy, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth J. Smith, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), and his children, Hazel L. Smith, aged fourteen years (b. MA), and Elizabeth Smith, aged thirteen years (b. MA). They resided in a rented dwelling at 118 Sagamore Street.
Despite Clara Isora Duncan’s injuries being characterized as minor ones, she died in the Rochester Hospital, on Charles Street in Rochester, NH, September 15, 1925, aged forty-nine years, two months, and twenty-one days. Her primary cause of death was a general sepsis of wounds on her back; the contributing causes were a fractured left elbow, fractured right clavicle, wounds on her forehead and her whole back, which were macerated and had become infected. (Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, but it was not in general use until 1942).
Mrs. May E. (Thayer) Cushman, who was bruised only, was the sole long-term survivor. She and her husband were living in Farmington, NH, in 1930.
BOY BURIED IN SAND CAVE AT MILTON. Milton Mills, Sept. 4 – The sudden collapse of the top of a cave which he and four young companions had been digging, almost cost the life of little Herman Pinker yesterday afternoon, when he was buried several feet deep. His companions dug furiously for a few minutes, but seemed to make no headway. One of them, Lester Marsh, ran to his home and summoned his brother, Ithal, who finally reached the boy. He was still breathing, but was unconscious. He was hurried to his home, where he was revived by a pulmotor (Portsmouth Herald, September 4, 1925).
Lester E. Marsh, aged fourteen years at this time, and his older brother, Ithiel E. Marsh, aged sixteen years, were children of George W. and Eva M. (Burrows) Marsh of Acton, ME.
Edward L. Osgood married (2nd) in Lebanon, ME, May 24, 1925, Edith M. Whitehouse, both of Lebanon.
The new Mrs. Osgood is here said to have been sorting potatoes when she found another woman’s gold pin. (Properly prepared and stored potatoes may last for between four and nine months).
PIN, LOST SIX YEARS, FOUND IN POTATO. Special Dispatch to the Globe. MILTON, N.H., Dec. 15 – While sorting a few potatoes at her home yesterday Mrs. Edward L. Osgood found a large gold pin attached to one of them. The pin, which was made from a gold piece, bore the date 1888 and the initial W. Inquiries resulted in the information that the pin had been lost in her garden nearly six years ago by Mrs. Eliza Wentworth of Sanbornville, N.H. It was returned to the owner (Boston Globe, December 16, 1925).
Mrs. Eliza M. (Hanson) Wentworth, the source of the potatoes, had presumably lost her gold pin in her potato field, nearly six years before. It had attached itself there to her 1925 crop and passed thereby on potatoes sold to Mrs. Edith M. (Whitehouse) Osgood. (The two women may have been related: Mrs. Wentworth’s mother had been also an Edith Whitehouse: Edith (Whitehouse) Hanson.
Eliza M. (Hanson) Wentworth, widow of Fred M. Wentworth, and a forty-eight year resident of Sanbornville, Wakefield, NH, died in Milton, April 11, 1926, aged sixty-three years, nine months, and seven days. She died of cancer, with which she had been afflicted for eight months, i.e., from about the harvest time of the potatoes in which her gold coin pin was discovered. M.A.H. Hart, M.D., of Milton, reported her death.
Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1924; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1926
References:
Find a Grave. (2012, June 19). Eliza M. (Hanson) Wentworth. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/92202617
Find a Grave. (2013, September 1). Ernest O. Day. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/92953470/ernest-o-day
Find a Grave. (2015, May 23). Leander M. Nute. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/146875372
Find a Grave. (2013, August 16). Luther B. Roberts. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/115578547
Wikipedia. (2019, October 6). Booth Tarkington. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booth_Tarkington
Wikipedia. (2019, October 1). Paul Whiteman. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Whiteman
Wikipedia. (2019, September 12). Thomas Edison. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
YouTube. (1931, October 17). As Time Goes By – Jacques Renard (Paul Munn, vocal). Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsbld2jLzTc
Youtube. (1933, September 11). It’s Only A Paper Moon – Paul Whiteman (Peggy Healy, vocal). Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbB4Qgw6jZw
Milton Observer 