By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | October 17, 2019
In this year, we encounter hand-fed birds, a Milton Three-Ponds horserace, a sled-dog craze, and a fire at the Travelers’ Rest.
It must have been a cold snowy winter for wild birds to eat from the hand.
Odd Items from Everywhere. Several in Milton Mills, N.H, are feeding the robins and pheasants, and they report that the birds are so hungry that they will eat from the hand (Boston Globe, February 20, 1926).
Fred Young’s trotter Early Dreams raced against Belvin at Milton Three-Ponds, as it had against Peter C. in the previous year.
Hoof Prints. Early Dreams, owned by Fred Young of Farmingham [SIC], N.H., and Belvin, owned by Eugene Littlefield of Berwick, Me., have been matched for $100 a side to race at Milton Three Ponds next Saturday (Boston Globe, March 15, 1926).
A Milton Mills sled dog “craze” sounds like it might have been fun, for sledders and dogs alike. It sounds also like another indication of a cold snowy winter.
Odd Items From Everywhere. Milton Mills. N.H., has been seized with the sled dog craze and everything from a hound pup to a police dog is being trained in some kind of harness for sled work. One of the latest to enter the ranks is a hound puppy which is enticed into drawing his coach by someone running ahead of him holding a hot dog. He has eaten frequently m his training when he outran his trainer. A common sight about the town is a dog running home dragging a pair of skis to which is hitched an empty dry goods box, the rider having been left in a snowdrift (Boston Globe, March 22, 1926).
Here we find the first newspaper mention of a Milton fire department, as opposed to a factory fire team or the Rochester fire department.
There were two Fred Downs in Milton: Fred Downs, son of Albert Downs, who lived at Plummer’s Ridge, and Fred Charles Downs, son of Arthur Downs, who lived at Milton Three Ponds village.
Fred C. Downs, an ice company laborer, aged forty-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Census. His household included his wife, Eva M. [(West)] Downs, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), and his children, Arthur F. Downs, aged fourteen years (b. NH), Hazel M. Downs, aged twelve years (b. NH), Annie V. Downs, aged eleven years (b. NH), Raymond F. Downs, aged five years (b. NH), and Doris E. Downs, aged eight months (b. NH). They resided in a rented house on Remick Street, in Milton village. (Remick, from 22 Silver and Church, in 1917; Church, from 32 So. Main to Silver).
MILTON, N.H., HOUSE DESTROYED BY FIRE. MILTON, N.H., Dec. 7 – The story-and-a-half house of Fred Downs, Main and Silver sts., was destroyed by fire early this morning and the loss will amount to $3000. Mr. and Mrs. Downs were away at the time and nothing was saved. The Fire Department responded to an alarm and the fire pump from Rochester was sent to the scene. The origin of the fire is unknown. The Fire Department kept the fire from spreading to other buildings. The place is known as “The Travelers’ Rest” and Mr. Downs caters to tourists in the Summer (Boston Globe, December 7, 1926).
Charles F. (Eva M.) Downs appeared in the Milton directory of 1930, with a house on Charles street.
Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1925; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1927
References:
Find a Grave. (2013, May 24). Eva M. Downs. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/130305339
Milton Observer 