Bend low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars.
So near, a long arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy hum-strumming.
July 1. An open star cluster from Serpens (IC4756) may be viewable near midnight but may require binoculars.
July 3. Asteroid Herculina in Sagittarius may be viewable most of the night.
July 4. The Earth will be at its farthest point from the sun.
July 5. There will be an eclipse of the full Moon this evening between 23:08 and 1:53 am. The Moon will also be at its farthest point from the sun. The Moon will be closely passed by Jupiter.
July 6. The Moon and Saturn will rise and be close to each other.
July 8. Venus will be as bright as it ever gets in the sky this evening.
July 10. Venus will be at its farthest point from the sun.
July 11. The Moon and Mars will both rise and closely approach one another.
July 12. This date will bring the last quarter of the moon which will also appear smaller than normal.
July 14. Jupiter, in Sagittarius will be viewable most of the night.
July 15. Asteroid 2 Pallas from Sagitta will be viewable much of the night. 134430 Pluto, in Sagittarius will be viewable much of the night.
July 17. The Moon and Venus will rise and closely approach one another.
July 20. There will be a new Moon today which will pass close to the Sun. Saturn, in Sagittarius will be viewable much of the night.
July 22. Mercury will be at its farthest point from the Sun.
July 25. The Moon will be at its closest proximity to the Earth and will appear larger than usual.
July 26. Mercury will be at its highest point in the sky.
July 27. The Moon will be at first quarter.
July 28. The Piscis Austrinid meteor shower can be best viewed at 3:00 am.
July 29. The Southern Aquariid meteor shower will be best for viewing at 5:00 am … yes, just before dawn. The Capricornid meteor shower will be viewable most of the night.
References:
In-the-Sky.org. (2020, June 29). Guides to the Night Sky. Retrieved from in-the-sky.org
The Local Government Efficiency Task Force announced that its inaugural quasi-public meeting will be held today at 6:00 PM.
Its published agenda prefixed its title with the adjective “Remote,” which is meant apparently to signify a “public” meeting under the Governor’s Covid-19 workaround of closed meetings, without any public comment at all, that are “public” only in the sense that they are broadcast to the public or that the public may listen by telephone. Presumably, it is not intended to signify a remote local meeting, which would be to pile on another oxymoron. (The original one having been “government efficiency” or “local government efficiency”).
This new “task force” was initially identified also as an “independent” committee, which it would not be, – even in government speak – if constituted as discussed previously. An actual independent committee would be one composed mostly – if not entirely – of members who are not Town officials or apparatchiks.
A “Joint” committee would be one whose members are drawn from several different bodies or authorities, such as from the Board of Selectmen and School Board. A “Select” or “Special” committee is one appointed for a defined and limited time period for a particular purpose only. This might be termed alternatively an “Ad Hoc” (Latin for “to this” or “for this” purpose) committee.
The time period put forward for this Local Government Efficiency Task Force to fulfill its purpose has been estimated at twelve to eighteen months, or even longer, i.e., well after the current budget process, well after the next election, and perhaps even after the next budgeting process. It is truly amazing how these things “work.”
It would seem that those seeking tax reductions as precipitate as the tax increases have been might have to look elsewhere.
The Task Force’s agenda has six main topics: [1)] Introductions and Statements of Individual Goals, 2) Discussion of Ideas and Approaches, 3) Revenue / Tax Base Growth and Diversification, [4)] Operational Efficiencies, [5)] Organization, and [6)] Other Business.
Introductions and Statements of Individual Goals. In which we meet the members.
Discussion of Ideas and Approaches. In which we might hear of their general approach and their initial thoughts. I had once a boss that explained that consultants mostly return and support what management asked them to find at the outset. And that lies in the questions being asked below.
Revenue / Tax Base Growth and Diversification.a) What grows the tax base? b) What kinds of impacts do different types of growth have on the community? c) What opportunities do we have to create revenue brainstorming session (additional Solar Panel Farm, leasing of town facilities, advertising revenue possibilities), d. Other Ideas and Suggestions.
The questions all suggest that the Town government hopes still to continue merrily along at current or even larger levels, but that someone else might be found to foot the ever-increasing bill.
The questions do suggest some dim awareness that regulatory restrictions have hampered growth and, consequently, tax revenues. In this, the task force seems to have identified already the well-known Kindergarten principle: don’t hit people and don’t take their stuff. Regrettably, they seem to have taken away the wrong lesson. They hope to find and take more stuff.
They do not seem to consider “growth” to be a concern of property owners, as such, but a “communal” one. One supposes that they might next to be speaking of taxes as an “investment.”
Operational Efficiencies.a) What ideas do you have that might increase efficiencies? [E.g.,] Energy Conservation, Cooperative purchasing with school, regionally, Are there opportunities to combine departments / functions?, Are there other opportunities to regionalize?
It is better late than never to eliminate duplication, but it has been inexplicable that it has taken so long. There is an organizational efficiency that taxpayers should consider. Why would one ever establish, depend, or expand upon an organization that spends first and considers organizational efficiencies last?
Organization. a) Election of Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary; b) Review of and proposed amendments to Task Force By-laws (you are a subcommittee of the Board of Selectmen, so these are samples – any by-laws ultimately would need approval by the Select Board); c) Do you want to put together subcommittees for the areas Identified Above?
Strictly speaking, a subcommittee of the BOS would be composed entirely of members of the parent committee, i.e. the Board of Selectmen.
Well, we shall see, will we not?
We always carry out by committee anything in which any one of us alone would be too reasonable to persist. – Frank Moore Colby
A southern newspaper, published just days before the second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), took notice of an accident involving a Federal troop transport. Among the victims were the wives of several officers of the Sixth NH Regiment.
LATER FROM THE NORTH. Northern papers of the 16th instant have been received in Richmond. On the night of the 13th inst. the steamer West Point, with 197 convalescent troops from Newport News, for Burnside’s army, was run into at Aqula Creek by the steamer George Peabody. Capt. Travers. and sunk in a few minutes. Seventy-three lives were lost, including the wives of Major Dort, Lieut. Col. Scott, and Capt. Cummings, of the 6th N.H. regiment (Weekly Raleigh Register (Raleigh, NC), August 27, 1862).
I had occasion recently to visit a friend at her home in the Jamaica Plain district of Boston, MA. Among the several interesting things that we did was take a walk through Forest Hills Cemetery.
The cemetery was consecrated in 1848, and consists of 248 acres of cemetery paths and lanes. It has also a beautiful pond inhabited by turtles, geese, and other wildlife. Visitors may obtain maps at its main entrance that show the locations of at least some of the more famous people who are buried there.
It was certainly a pleasant walk and there is much to see in the way of monumental and funerary sculpture.
Joseph Warren (1741-1775)
Joseph Warren was a physician and patriot leader. He was a founding member of the Sons of Liberty, and president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He was killed leading militiamen at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
William Dawes, Jr. (1745-1799)
William Dawes was one of three dispatch riders that set out to warn that the British were marching on Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The other two riders were Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott.
William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879)
William Lloyd Garrison was an early and fervent abolitionist. He is best known as publisher of the radical anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, which was published between 1831 and 1865, and as a founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
That which is not just is not law. – William Lloyd Garrison
Lysander Spooner (1808-1887)
Lysander Spooner was also an abolitionist, as well as a lawyer and entrepreneur, but is best known as a legal theorist, scholar, and writer.
Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it. – Lysander Spooner
Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909)
Edward Everett Hale was the son of a Boston editor, as well as being nephew and namesake of famous orator Edward Everett. (Who spoke at length at Gettysburg before Abraham Lincoln delivered his short address). He was himself a teacher, minister, abolitionist, and writer. He was a founder of the Unitarian Church, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, and he wrote the famous patriotic short story Man Without a Country. (There is a statue of him in Boston’s Public Garden).
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. – Edward Everett Hale
Jacob Wirth (1840-1892)
Jacob Wirth was a German immigrant who founded in 1878 the Boston restaurant – one of its oldest – that bore his name. It closed its doors in 2018.
Grace S. Allen (1876-1880)
Grace Sherwood “Gracie” Allen was nearly five when she died. Her grave is marked with a portrait statue of her by sculptor Sidney Morse, who was a poet, editor, and friend of Walt Whitman. It is a soft white marble, which tends to fare poorly over time, but this one is encased in glass and is very well preserved. It is certainly worth a look.
Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953)
Eugene Gladstone O’Neill was a famous playwright. He was several times winner of the Pulitzer Prize. His play Long Day’s Journey into Night is considered one of the finest American plays of the twentieth century.
His last words: “I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room.”
E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)
Edward Estlin Cummings was an innovative and famous poet.
His grave was not easy to find. Admirers leave things there. I have heard they leave coins, stones, and scraps of poetry. On my visit there several pens had been placed beside the marker.
I wouldn’t give an inch of New Hampshire for all the rest of New England. – e.e. cummings
Thanks to Ms. Bristol, who helped me with my research. She observes also that Lewis W. Nute‘s first Boston employer, the ship chandler Thomas Simmons, is buried in Forest Hills, as is the White Mountain School artist, Frank H. Shapleigh, who painted pictures of Nute’s West Milton farmstead.
While “Staying at Home” recently, I decided to get my taxes out of the way once and for all. I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that I owed a larger-than-expected amount on my state income tax. I know they say we have no state income tax here in New Hampshire, but that’s baloney. If you have received more than $2,400 in income in interest, dividends, or annuities in one year, you will pay the State of New Hampshire a 5% tax on the total. Of course, they do have some of the usual exemptions for age and blindness (and why not deafness too – isn’t that discrimination?), but if that isn’t a tax on income, then I don’t know what is. They say it’s a tax on passive income, not earned income, but a tax is a tax, no matter what you call it.
However, what I did discover is New Hampshire has a great option available to take a credit against this income tax by making a donation to a school scholarship program. This 85% credit, not deduction, is part of the New Hampshire Education Tax Credit Program. It serves two worthwhile purposes: it helps children from families with less financial means attend non-government schools, and it gives state bureaucrats less money to waste. The latest data shows there were 413 students in the state benefiting from this program at 58 participating schools. This is a lowly participation rate of less than 1% of the 47,584 students who are income-eligible statewide. Still, to the families of those 413 students, even a mere scholarship of 15% of government school per-student spending means a lot.
So, how does the program work? As with all government programs, they come with their share of rules, conditions, and requirements. That said, the requirements don’t appear to be particularly onerous. To be eligible, the family members must be New Hampshire residents, the child must be between the ages of 5 and 20 (and not graduated from high school) or must be entering kindergarten for the first time or entering 2nd-12th grades and coming from a government school. The family’s income cannot exceed 300% of the federal poverty level, which in lay terms means $51,720 for a family of 2, $65,160 for a family of 3, and exponentially an additional $13,440 for each additional family member. There are only two government-approved scholarship organizations that qualify for the education tax credit program – the Children’s Scholarship Fund and the Giving and Going Alliance. I checked out both organizations before I gave my donation, and both seemed just fine to me. The Children’s scholarship Fund is for nonsectarian schools, and the Giving and Going Alliance is for the more faith-based crowd. Most important, the scholarships are awarded to students struggling in their current government schools to allow them to attend any school—private, religious, out-of-district government school, even home schooled—that the parents deem best for their child.
The tax credit program was established in 2012 by SB372 and launched in 2013. It only applied to business organizations, which could utilize the 85% credit against the Business Profits Tax (BPT) and/or Business Enterprise Tax (BET) or Interest & Dividends Tax (I&D). However, HB1686 extended the same credit to individuals to use against any I&D tax owing. The program has an annual cap of $6 million, and while contributions from donors have increased over the years from $20,000 in fiscal year 2014 to $381,000 in fiscal year 2018, it still has never gotten anywhere close to the cap.
For years, those who purport to help the poor have been on the offensive to kill the program or chop it down as much as possible. One of their favorite arguments is the program is for the benefit of “the rich.” The data does not support their claim. In the 2018-2019 school year, 61.4% of the students in the Children’s Scholarship Fund and 44.9% of the students in the Giving and Going Alliance qualified for free or reduced-price lunches.
Their next favorite argument is that the program “carves out” $6 million that would otherwise go to government schools. More bunk. Firstly, the maximum tax credit is 85% of the $6 million, which is $5.1 million. Secondly, up through March 8, 2019, the total tax credits claimed since the program started are only $2,218,254. That’s only 7.25% of what could have been claimed over a 6-year period.
Another favorite rant against the program is that it drives up property tax rates. Considering how small the program is, this is completely laughable. The funds that would have been paid to the state if the tax credits had not been claimed go to the general fund (a big black hole), and since only 24% of state funding goes to education, there’s a 76% chance the funds would have gone to other priorities than education. If you count every dollar given out on a per-student basis since the program began, it would only come to $12.66 per student. However, per the Department of Education’s Office of Student Finance, the total annual cost at government schools is an average of $18,991/student. Looking at it another way, even if you included all the educational tax credits claimed from 2014-2019 (6 years) and compared that to what the state spent in just the last fiscal year ($1.4 billion), that’s .16 of just 1%. Any way you slice it, the program is a drop in the ocean of what is spent at government schools.
If they were really so concerned about property tax increases, maybe they should look at the Veterans Tax Credit Program. Its numbers are huge compared to the peanut Education Tax Credit Program. In 2016, 54,790 veterans claimed $26.76 million in property tax credits through the veterans’ program as compared to a few hundred students. As an example, looking at Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest school district, in 2016, 2,797 veterans claimed the credit for a loss in tax revenue of $1.2 million. Contrast that with 27 students who received scholarships at a total loss in tax revenue of $133,534, which includes the additional grant for the federal lunch program. That’s roughly 11% of the veterans’ credit, so why go after peanuts if your real concern is high property taxes?
Of course, the real elephant in the room is the increase in state spending on education despite the steady drop in student populations. From 2009-2018, the statewide average decline in enrollment was 10.1%. However, spending and adding staff have gone in the opposite direction. From 1992-2015, New Hampshire government schools’ student-staff ratio declined from 8.6 to 5.8 (national average was 8.0 in 2015). It is the dramatic increase in non-teaching staff that is driving the wild spending. In 1992 the schools had an average of 19.6 students for every non-teaching staff member; by 2015, the number was down to 10.8 students for every non-teaching staff member. If schools are for teaching, why are so many non-teachers needed?
Despite all these extra resources at government schools, clearly one-size-fits-all doesn’t work for every child. Why begrudge children who do better in non-government schools (and for the most part are not from the upper echelons of society)? Such a large pool of students who are eligible for the federal school lunch program suggests that students who use the scholarship program tend to do worse in government schools and need extra attention and resources. So, by leaving government schools, that should not only reduce the burden there, it should reduce it even more since those who leave require more services. If the money truly followed the child, then this miniscule number of students should actually get more resources, not less. However, under the education tax credit program, the average scholarship for 2018-2019 was $2,301, and the rest of the tuition costs was shouldered by the families. Not to mention transportation costs, which parents have to arrange themselves. And yet these families manage to get their kids into better schools at great expense to themselves and are grateful for the program due to better outcomes for their children.
This is a win-win for everyone. Certainly, the parents and children are happier with the expanded choices afforded by the program. In surveys required by the program, 93.8% of the parents in the Children’s Scholarship Fund and 96.9% of the parents in the Giving and Going Alliance indicated that they were satisfied with the program. Government schools get to lose a few “customers” who are better served elsewhere anyway, and the foregone revenue has a negligible effect on their budgets. Perhaps the only losers are the power control freaks who cannot stand it when anyone opts out of their centralized control plans.
Lewis Worster Nute was born in Milton, February 17, 1820, son of Ezekiel and Dorcas (Worster) Nute. (The Worcester surname is sometimes rendered as Worster or Wooster).
Mr. Nute was born in Milton Feb. 17, 1820. He was son of Ezekiel and Dorcas (Worster) Nute, natives of Milton, and grandson of Samuel Nute, a native of Back River, Dover, who settled in what is now Milton, soon after the close of the Revolution. His ancestors were among the early settlers in Dover. Ezekiel Nute was a good farmer and for many years a deacon in the Congregational Church at Milton. His wife was one of the best of women. They had four sons, the second of whom was named Lewis Worster (Scales, 1914).
Lewis Worster Nute was a namesake for his maternal uncle, Lewis Worster, who was born in Milton, NH, April 4, 1815, but died there as an infant, December 18, 1815. Another maternal uncle, Isaac Worster, Jr., was an early and ardent Milton abolitionist. His maternal grandfather, Isaac Worster, was a proprietor of the Milton Social Library.
He attended the Nute school in West Milton, i.e., the Nute Ridge school. One of his teachers was John Brewster (1813-1886), for whom Wolfeboro’s Brewster Academy is named. Brewster was hired, just before he turned sixteen years of age, to teach the 1828-29 academic year at the Nute Ridge school. He ultimately became Wolfeboro’s benefactor to a similar extent as Nute became that of Milton (Parker, 1901).
He worked on the farm with his father until he was nineteen years old. When he was a small boy he went to school summer and winter, six weeks each; when he was a big boy he went to the winter school only; all big boys attended winter school. Those who think the “six weeks” schools were not of account are greatly mistaken. The best of them like that in Mr. Nute’s district were kept by college boys and the work done was first class and thorough. The boys went to these schools until they were eighteen or twenty years old. Mr Nute made good use of the time and easily mastered all the textbooks then available for school use. When he was nineteen years old he commenced teaching winter schools in the back districts and the committee said he did good work (Scales, 1914).
It was said of him also that he was “… not highly favored as regards educational privileges, being permitted to attend school only about six weeks each winter. He was so studious, however, and made such use of the limited opportunities offered that at the age of nineteen he engaged in teaching, continuing that occupation during two terms” (Hurd, 1882).
When he was twenty years old he left the farm and went to work in Boston as clerk in Mr. Simmons’ ship-chandler store (Scales, 1914).
Thomas Simmons (1791-1866) appeared in the Boston directories of 1839, 1840 and 1842, as a ship chandler at 7 India street. Simmons resided on Highland street in Roxbury, MA.
When he was twenty-one he commenced work in the boot and shoe business with Elmer Townsend (Scales, 1914).
Elmer Townsend (1807-1871) appeared in the Boston directories of 1840 and 1842, as a leather dealer at 4 Blackstone street, with his house at 17 Louisburgh square (on Beacon Hill).
There was also Elmer Townsend, whose connection with the trade began early in the ’40s, and who was as largely instrumental as any one man could be in laying a firm foundation for our present enormous business. He it was who, seeking new methods to extend the trade, introduced leather sewing machines and other improvements. William W. Wickersham, the inventor, in company with Messrs. Butterfield and Stevens, came to Mr. Townsend with the first model of a wax-thread sewing machine, and so pleased him with the possibilities of its usefulness that the firm of Townsend & Mallard became owners of the patent and set to work manufacturing and introducing the machines. Mr. Townsend eventually became the sole proprietor of the interest. It was an enterprise that required both pluck and perseverance, for the machine was comparatively rude when Mr. Townsend bought it, and as it stood when perfected it was covered by 100 or more patents for improvements, each one of which Mr. Townsend valued at $1000. The royalty paid to Elias Howe for a very simple attachment was disheartening in its burden, but it had a compensation in a corresponding royalty gained from McKay for his infringement. Mr. Townsend was also interested in many other improvements (Boston Globe, June 15, 1885).
AUCTION SALES (Boston Post, June 24, 1842)
A large dealer in babies’ shoes. – On Wednesday, a young stupid-looking fellow, named George Dewing, went into the store of Mr. Elmer Townsend, in Blackstone street, and lifted a package containing 26 pairs of children’s shoes, and was caught going out with them. Constable Hunt was sent for, and, after his arrest, Dewing confessed that he had stolen another package before, and told where they could be found. This lot contained 27 pairs of small shoes, and one pair of men’s. The first lot were valued at five dollars, which gave the court final jurisdiction, and Dewing was sentenced to two months in the House of Correction for stealing. The second lift was valued at eight dollars, which made the theft beyond the jurisdiction of the court, and the case was sent up to the Municipal Court. In the meantime he will reside in comfortable quarters at South Boston, subject to further orders. A third complaint has been preferred against him, for stealing shoes from another person, but the court did not think it necessary to go through another examination, as he was securely held upon the two first cases. The complainant was directed to lay his case before the grand jury, with the other two cases, and if he does, Dewing must be indicted and convicted of being a common and notorious thief. He tried to cry, but he couldn’t make it go – his lachrymal ducts refused to discount a single tear, and it was a dead dry cry that he made of it (Boston Post, May 22, 1840).
Lewis W. Nute married in Cohasset, MA, August 3, 1845, Priscilla N. Farrar [or Farrow], he of Boston, MA, and she of Cohasset. She was born in Cohasset, MA, December 6, 1819, daughter of Thomas and Priscilla A. (Nichols) Farrar. Both were aged twenty-five years.
His wife, to whom he was married Aug. 1 [SIC], 1845, was Priscilla Farrow of Cohasset, Mass. They had no children (Scales, 1914).
Quaker brothers T.P. & O. Rich formed a partnership in December 1841 (Boston Post, December 7, 1841). Lewis W. Nute began to work for them at about that time.
Later he worked with the firm of T.P. and O. Reit [Rich] & Company, remaining with them until 1848 (Scales, 1914).
Younger brother Otis Rich (1806-1876) had been active in the Boston leather trade from the 1830s.
LOST. – On Saturday, 28th Sept. was dropped from a truck coming from schooner Reeside, at Mercantile wharf to Otis Rich’s store, No. 38 Broad street, four sides red Leather, marked O. The finder will he suitably rewarded by leaving them at said store. oct8 3t (Boston Post, October 11, 1833).
The partnership of T.P. and O. Rich appeared in the Boston directory of 1846, as wholesale boot, shoe & leather dealers, at 38 Broad street. Otis Rich retired from the partnership about 1848, in order to engage in the California shipping trade (Boston Post, June 27, 1876).
Elder brother Thomas P. Rich (1803-1875) appeared in the Boston directories of 1848 and 1849, as a wholesale boot, shoe and leather dealer, and auctioneer, at 45-47 Pearl street. His passport described him as being 5′ 9″ tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a “blonde” complexion. He had also a high forehead, full chin, and a “prominent” nose. He became a Democrat state representative from Boston in November 1858. He and his wife died in their residence at the Parker House hotel, in Boston, some few months apart, in 1875.
AUCTION SALES (Boston Post, June 24, 1842)
The business portion of Pearl street in 1848 was of very limited extent. The shoe trade at first took the southern side of the street. The largest business house here was undoubtedly that of T.P. & O. Rich, which was merged into those of T.P. Rich, Warren Mallard; Townsend & Mallard; Townsend, Mallard & Cowing; Rich, Cowing & Hatch and Cowing & Hatch. It is now extinct, but at one period of its existence this house led the trade in the amount of sales (Boston Globe, June 15, 1885).
Lewis W. Nute went to work next for Allen, Harris & Potter in 1848. Allen, Harris & Potter appeared in the Boston directory of 1846 as boot, shoe, and leather dealers at 57-59 Pearl street.
… then with Allen, Harris & Potter, with whom he remained until May 1, 1853, when he purchased an interest in the business, and the new firm became Potter, Elder & Nute (Scales, 1914).
Its partners were Freeman Allen (1800-1861), whose house was at 29 Pemberton square, Nathaniel Harris (1812-1880), whose house was at Brookline, MA, and John Cheney Potter (1812-1870), whose house was at Newton, MA. Franklin B. White (1830-1885) was an employee there from 1847. Silas Potter (1820-1891) joined as a silent partner in 1848 (he was no relation to the other Potter). He boarded at 3 Bowdoin street.
It looks like a contradiction, but it is the fact that while the amount of business done was very small compared with its present proportions, the Pearl street of the early days was very much the busiest, noisiest and most crowded place. It was choked with frequent blocks of vehicles, and wore altogether an air of enterprise and activity that would astonish many of the sedate denizens of the street of today. It was customary to extend business hours into the evening, and many a big sale was made “after supper” (Boston Globe, June 15, 1885).
Lewis Nute, a trader, aged thirty years (b. NH), headed a Boston, MA, household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Pris. Nute, aged twenty-seven years (b. MA). They shared a two-family dwelling in Ward Six with the separate household of William Spurden, a trader, aged thirty years (b. England).
Allen, Harris & Potter paid $800 in Boston taxes on its $125,000 in personal estate, i.e., their stock in trade, in 1852 (Boston Assessing Department, 1853).
P.A. Ames (1826-1909) proposed Lewis W. Nute for membership in Boston’s Columbian Lodge of Masons, to which he was initiated February 5, 1852. He was passed there, March 4, 1852, and raised there, April 9, 1852. (The Columbian Lodge, A.F. & A.M., was instituted by Paul Revere in 1795).
BAH! – The facility with which a class of Americans make themselves ridiculous, is just now receiving an illustration. A company of gentlemen from Massachusetts, calling themselves Knights Templars, are now paying a visit to Richmond and Virginia, and it is formally announced that the officers accompanying them are “Sir William Parkman, Sir John S. Tyler, Sir P. Adams Ames, Sir John A. Cumming, Sir Benjamin Dean,” etc. Yes, Sir-ee, Bob! (Berkshire County Eagle, May 27, 1859).
Preston A. Ames, a merchant, aged twenty-six years (b. MA), was a tenant in Isaac Little’s [Union House] hotel, in Hingham, MA, at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census.
In an alternate telling of this period in his life, we learn that Lewis W. Nute was taken ill about this time and nearly died. Upon recovering, he was taken into a partnership with “Potter & Co.”
When a young man Mr. Nute went to Boston to work for the leather firm of Potter & Co. He worked there for several years, when he was taken sick and nearly died. When he recovered he found that all his bills were paid and he was a silent partner in the firm. He was considered the best judge of leather in Boston (Boston Globe, September 6, 1888).
Allen, Harris & Potter appeared in the Boston, MA, directory of 1853, as dealers in boots, shoes & leather, at 57 Pearl street. Silas Potter, William H. Elder, and Lewis W. Nute formed a new partnership, May 1, 1853. Potter, Elder & Nute paid $608 in Boston taxes on its $80,000 in personal estate, i.e., their stock in trade, in 1853 (Boston Assessing Department, 1854).
Potter, Elder & Nute appeared in the Boston, MA, directory of 1854, as dealers in boots, shoes & leather, at 57 Pearl street. Potter, Elder & Nute paid $828 in Boston taxes on its $90,000 in personal estate, i.e., their stock in trade, in 1854 (Boston Assessing Department, 1855).
Potter, Elder & Nute had a letter awaiting pickup at the Charleston, SC, post-office in February 1854 (Charleston Daily Courier, February 17, 1854). The firm had perhaps a “drummer,” i.e., a traveling salesman, active in the area.
In those days before they had the present financial arrangement for exchanges, buyers used to bring their money here [to Pearl Street], buy their goods and pay for them if they were able to do so, and if not to take them on eight months’ time with the privilege of renewing for eight months more if they wanted to. Very few of the dealers in town had any concern in the manufacture of goods. It was not the custom of buyers from abroad to visit the factories as at present, nor was the convenient drummer then to be found. In order to meet the demand, the traders were forced to carry larger and more varied stocks than now. Then stocks had consigned goods but smally represented, and these were gathered by a system of barter then in vogue which necessitated the carrying of a stock of leather as well as of shoes. For this stock of leather the goods of Southern and Western merchants were often hypothecated in payment, and frequent purchases of leather were made upon the arrangement of turning over goods in payment for it before a shoe had been sold. The manufacturers made weekly visits to the towns, usually on Saturday preceding their stocks of shoes, which came from the railways and baggage wagons later. Small manufacturers sometimes came in with their one or two cases upon their shoulders. The goods were examined and a price set upon them, after which an adjournment was made to the cellar, where other prices were made for the leather stock, and the trade was then consummated by settlement, generally on the basis of two-thirds stock to one-third cash. It was not an uncommon thing to exact a round profit on the stock and then sell the shoes at another good profit above their normal cost; but this was thought to be fair, for the manufacturer was never at a loss to regain the cost of his productions, and the dealer had to run the risk of a Southern or Western repudiation. which was the curse of the times (Boston Globe, June 15, 1885).
Charles Brewster (1813-1893) kept a dry goods store in Ft. Madison, IA, and made periodic buying trips “in the east,” where he filled some of his inventory at Potter, Elder & Nute. In this transaction, and in several lawsuits against others that “repudiated” their debts, i.e., defaulted on them, the shoe dealers’ methods may be glimpsed.
In that [1854] year, he started his purchasing in Boston on February 28 with an order for shoes, boots, and leather trunks from Potter, Elder & Nute, totaling $760.38. Four days later, he completed purchases totaling $1339.85 in yard goods and men’s’ clothing from two other Boston houses (Pilcher, 1979).
Potter, Elder & Nute appeared in the Boston, MA, directory of 1855, as dealers in boots, shoes & leather, at 57 Pearl street, with partners Silas Potter, who had his house at 103 Harrison avenue, William H. Elder, who had his house at 1 Bulfinch street, and Lewis W. Nute, who had his house at 33 Myrtle street.
Lewis W. Nute, a boot and shoe dealer, aged thirty-five years (b. NH), headed a Newton, MA, household at the time of the 1855 MA State Census. His household included Priscilla Nute, aged thirty-five years (b. MA).
Potter, Elder & Nute donated $100 to the Seaman’s Friend Society in April 1855. They were one of the larger Boston donors. (Allen, Harris & Potter donated also $100) (Wilmington Daily Herald (Wilmington, NC), April 25, 1855)).
Goods were sent to St. Louis by water from here [Pearl Street] by the way of New Orleans. St. Louis was then the extreme Western market. There were other distributing points, like Louisville, Memphis, New Orleans and other points on the Mississippi. Chicago was not then known as a point of distribution. and competition was all in a southern direction. It took in those days two or three months to get goods from Boston to St. Louis. When gold was discovered in California [in 1848] a large market was opened there for boots and shoes, and they were taken around the horn, requiring six months for the delivery. To this day, notwithstanding the fact that goods are now so largely manufactured in California, a considerable trade remains with the Pacific slope, and not a few buyers from San Francisco, Oregon and other extreme Western points are seen during a year in Boston (Boston Globe, June 15, 1885).
Potter, Elder & Nute sued Richard Ritter in Sangamon County (IL) Circuit Court, in November 1855, to recover a debt. Ritter had given Potter, Elder, and Nute a promissory note but then failed to pay. Ritter retained the Illinois law firm of Lincoln & Herndon to represent him. Yes, Abraham Lincoln’s law firm, although this case was handled by his partner, William H. Herndon. Ritter agreed to a judgment against himself for $353.37. The court sold 280 acres of land that belonged to him to satisfy the judgment (Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 2006).
The firm of Potter, Nute, White & Bayley paid $800 in Boston taxes on its $100,000 in personal estate, i.e., their stock in trade, in 1856 (Boston Assessing Department, 1857). Potter, Nute, White & Bayley appeared in the Boston, MA, directory of 1856, as dealers in boots, shoes & leather, at 57 Pearl street, with partners John C. Potter, Jr., who boarded at Newton corner, Lewis W. Nute, who had his house at Newton corner, Franklin B. White (1830-1885), who had his house at Milton, MA, and James C. Bayley (1832-1883), who had his house at 14 Avon place.
POTTER, WHITE & BAYLEY, Manufacturers of Boots, Shoes and Brogans, Nos. 128 and 130 Summer Street; Factories Cochituate, Farmington, and North Abington. – One of the oldest-established and leading firms of boot and shoe manufacturers in New England is that of Messrs. Potter, White & Bayley, whose salesrooms and warehouse are so centrally located at Nos. 128 and 130 Summer Street. The business was established in 1839 by Mr. Amassa Walker, succeeded in 1848 by the firm of Emerson, Harris & Potter, in 1847 it became that of Allen, Harris & Potter, succeeded by Potter, Elder & Nute in 1853, and, then, again in 1856 by the firm of Potter, Nute, White & Bayley. In 1862 Mr. Nute retired and Mr. John C. Potter, Mr. Franklin B. White, and Mr. James C. Bayley organized the well-known firm of Potter, White & Bayley and who did so to advance their quality of product, and introduce fine hand-made and machine-sewed goods that are fully the equal of custom work. The decease of Mr. Bayley occurred in 1873 [1883], and of Mr. White in 1885, since which date Mr. Potter has actively conducted this immense in co-partnership with his son, Mr. F.C. Potter, a young man of great executive ability and sterling integrity, and Mr. H.M. Stephens, a popular salesman. The honored old name and style, a veritable trade mark, has been permanently retained and the house maintains its lead in the van of progress, with perfected and ample resources at command. Their factories are three in number, and situated respectively at Cochituate, Farmington, and North Abington. They are unusually extensive, substantial structures, fitted up with the latest improved machinery and appliances, and afford employment to upwards of fifteen hundred hands, engaged in the manufacture of the finest and medium grades of men’s and youth’s boots, shoes and brogans. The proprietors exercise closest personal supervision over their large concern, and are recognized authorities in their line, exercising the soundest judgment and the utmost care in the selection of leather and findings and noted for the elegance of cut and perfection of finish, as well as the essentials of strength and durability. These are the handsomest and most popular lines of men’s fine and medium wear on the market today, and the firm’s trade therein has attained proportions of great magnitude. They have three floors at Nos. 128 and 130 Summer Street, devoted to salesroom and carrying of a heavy stock. The importance of this to buyers is evident. These are not special sample lines, but the goods as will be shipped, every box subject to inspection, while, as regards price and quality the firm challenge competition. Their goods are in growing demand throughout the entire United States, and the interests developed are of appreciated value in maintaining Boston’s supremacy in this important branch of trade (American Publishing, 1889).
Potter, Nute, White & Bayley appeared in the Boston, MA, directory of 1857, as dealers in boots, shoes & leather, at 57 Pearl street.
L.W. Nute of the firm of Potter, Nute, White & Bayley, shoe & leather dealers, of 57 Pearl Street, appeared in a lengthy list of members of the Boston Board of Trade, in 1858 (Boston Board of Trade, 1858).
Lewis Nute, a shoe merchant, aged forty years (b. NH), headed a Newton (West Newton P.O.), MA, household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Priscilla Nute, aged forty years (b. MA), and Eliza Morgan, a servant, aged thirty-five years (b. Nova Scotia). He had personal estate valued at $1,000.
Potter, Nute, White & Bayley appeared in the Boston, MA, directory of 1861, as dealers in boots, shoes & leather, at 57 Pearl street, with partners John C. Potter, Jr., who had his house at Roxbury, Lewis W. Nute, who had his house at Newton Corner, Franklin B. White, who had his house at Milton, MA, and James C. Bayley, who had his house at 15 Union Park.
The Sheriff of Boone County, IL, held a sale of real estate seized from Henry L. Crosby of Belvidere, IL, August 28, 1861. The seizure and sale sought to satisfy an older court judgment against Crosby in favor of Nute’s prior firm of Potter, Elder and Nute. This would seem to be another case, similar to the Ritter case of 1855, in which footwear had been supplied to a merchant on credit, and that merchant then defaulting or “repudiating.”
SHERIFF’S SALE.BY VIRTUE of an alias Execution and Fee Bill, issued out of the Clerk’s office of the Circuit Court of Boone County and State of Illinois, and to me directed, whereby I am commanded to make the amount of a certain Judgment recently obtained against Henry L. Crosby, in favor of Silas Potter, William H. Elder, and Lewis W. Nute, out of the lands, tenements, goods and chattels of the said Henry L. Crosby, I have levied on the following property, to wit: Lots No. two and three, in Block No. forty in the Original Town of Belvidere, Boone County, Illinois, and the tenements thereon. Therefore, according to said command, I shall expose for sale, at public auction, all the right, title and interest of the above named Henry L. Crosby in and to the above described property, on Wednesday, the 28th day of August, 1861, at one o’clock, P.M., at the Court House, in Belvidere, Boone County, Illinois. Dated at Belvidere, this 6th day of August, 1861. HENRY F. JENNISON, late Sheriff of Boone County, Illinois (Belvidere Standard, August 20, 1861).
H.L. Crosby, a merchant, aged forty years (b. NY), headed a Belvidere, IL, household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. He had real estate valued at $1,500 and personal estate valued at $500.
American Civil War Brogan Shoes (Battlefield Trust)
Lewis W. Nute’s particular market niche was inexpensive Brogan and plow shoes. The term Brogan derives from the Irish Gaelic word bróg, meaning simply “shoe,” and its diminutive brógán, meaning “little shoe.” They were “little” in the sense that they rose only to or above the ankle, but not so high as boots. Brogans were an Army shoe style, from as early as the English Civil War, and were widespread in both armies of the American Civil War. (Thomas Jefferson wore Brogans to his 1801 inauguration). Generally, civilian Brogan and plow shoes were cheaper grades of work shoes popular especially in the south and west. Some Brogan-style shoes featured waxed uppers, presumably to make them water-resistant. Kip Brogans were made from calfskin.
Potter, Nute, White & Bayley sold 1,236 pairs of Army shoes to the Massachusetts Commissary General, for $1,335.60, in 1861. The Commissary General purchased at this time 45,113 pairs in all, from 17 different vendors, for a total of $73,986.60 (MA Adjutant General, 1862).
BOSTON BOOT AND SHOE MARKET. Saturday, October 12, 1861. No change in the general features of the market. The aggregate of sales has been fair for the season, but they are principally confined to one specialty, that of army goods; for these, rates of both stock and work are advancing, and while leather adapted for this purpose is eagerly sought for and sold readily for cash, there is no less inquiry for workmen, to whom good wages and constant employment are being given. The manufacture of sewed army shoes is now firmly established in Norfolk, Plymouth and a portion of Middlesex counties, but in other parts of the State it has not been so generally introduced and is not so flourishing. Government has recently been paying considerable sums to parties here holding contracts, and the effect is already visible in the trade. The shipments for the week compare favorably with those of the corresponding week of last year. New York has taken 5551 and Cincinnati 2262 cases, a considerable portion of which are army goods. – Shoe and Leather Reporter (New England Farmer, October 19, 1861).
The Town of Newton, MA, charged William Thomas $21.12 in property taxes for his house valued at $3,200 in 1862. (A “mil” rate of $6.60 per thousand [!]). Thomas owned three houses; this was the one “occ. by L.W. Nute” (Newton Auditing Department, 1863).
The shoe dealers of Pearl street had a visit from well-known and controversial Methodist minister and Whig newspaper editor, William G. Brownlow, of Knoxville, TN, in June 1862. He mounted a counter in the store of Nute’s former partners and delivered a speech.
Parson Brownlow was recently called upon to address a large assemblage of the shoe dealers in Pearl street, Boston. He entered the store of Messrs. Allen, Harris, & Potter, and, the fact becoming known a large number of his admirers rushed in en masse and filled the principal room. The Parson thereupon mounted the counter and delivered a characteristic address, which was listened to throughout with the most earnest attention and elicited deafening applause (Louisville Courier Journal, June 4, 1862).
Parson Brownlow’s daughter was famous also for having refused a demand by Confederate soldiers to remove a U.S. flag hanging at their Knoxville home. She held them off with a pistol. The family was expelled from Tennessee in April 1862. Brownlow would eventually be post-war Governor of Tennessee and a U.S. Senator from there.
Thomas Officer & W.H.M. Pusey, bankers, tax-paying & collecting agents, of Council Bluffs, IA, included Potter, Nute, White & Bayley, of Boston, Mass., among their references in a newspaper advertisement of November 1862 (Council Bluffs Nonpareil, November 29, 1862).
Lewis W. Nute continued with Potter, Nute, White & Bayley until, as one source had it, he “retired,” i.e., he left the partnership, in 1862, or, as in the following, he “took the entire business,” i.e., he bought out the others, in 1863.
In 1857 the firm changed to Potter, Nute, White & Bayley. In 1863 Mr. Nute took the entire business and held it as long as he lived. His specialty for a long time was the manufacture of brogans and plow-shoes. For a long time his wholesale store was at 27 High street, Boston. He had an extensive manufactory at Natick, Mass. His career was a remarkable one; strict in his business methods, honest in his dealings with his employees, and a large-minded citizen who loved and did not forget his old home in Milton (Scales, 1914).
Potter, Nute, Elder and Bayley were among the Boston contributors that collectively donated $35,000 to a fund for the benefit of the Western Sanitary Commission, in January 1863. Silas Potter gave individually (Forman, J.G, 1864). The Western Sanitary Commission funded medical supplies and nurses for Union soldiers in the western theater, as well as assistance to freedmen. (Nute’s nephew, George A. Nute (1842-1891), served in Company C of the Thirteenth NH Volunteer Infantry, from September 19, 1862, until June 21, 1865).
L.W. Nute signed a remonstrance addressed to the Massachusetts General Court (House and Senate) in April 1863. It opposed the establishment of a proposed Metropolitan Police force under the direction of the Massachusetts Governor.
To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court: The undersigned, citizens of Boston, or doing business therein, respectfully remonstrate against the passage of the Bill now pending in the General Court, providing for the establishment of a Metropolitan Police. George W. Messinger, Thomas H. Russell, Eben. Jackson, Wm. J. Hubbard, Patrick Donahoe, John Lee Watson, Herman Lincoln, Jas. O. Watson, James Paul, Wm. T. Eustis, E.L. Cunningham, Paul Adams, Jr., George E. Brown, John T. Clark, Jas. H. Beal, Theo. A. Gore, J.W. Tyler, Jas. G. Smith, Jno. S. Blatchford, Geo. K. Stevens, E.R. Seccomb, Nathan Crowell, Jonas Fitch, Fred. Howe, Hallet, Davis & Co., Wm. P. Ellison, Jos. T. Brown, I.C. Howes, L.B. Harrington, Otis Everett, Frank’n B. White, W.C. Crane, L.W. Nute, Sam’l C. Nottage, James C. Bayley, N.K. Skinner, John C. Potter, Jr., Henry E. Cobb, S.B. Smith, C.C. Batchelder, Benjamin Callender, Horace G. Tucker, Geo. E. Learnard, J. Edwin Hunt (MA Senate, 1863).
A “remonstrance” differs somewhat, if only in tone, from a petition, in that it seeks to correct officials who are engaged in making an error. Hundreds of prominent citizens, as well as the Boston aldermen, submitted remonstrances opposing this proposed police establishment. On this one signed by Nute, we may readily recognize the names of Thomas H. Russell, then a senior partner in the law firm that would craft Nute’s will (but later to be a senior Massachusetts judge); John C. Potter, Jr., Franklin B. White, and James C. Bayley, who were Nute’s partners in the firm of Potter, Nute, White & Bayley; and Henry E. Cobb, a prominent banker, who would be named later as a Nute executor.
L.W. Nute of Newton, MA, registered for the Civil War Class II military draft in Middlesex County, MA, June 20, 1863. He was a mechanic, aged forty-three years (b. NH), with no military experience.
Lewis W. Nute appeared in the Boston directory of 1867, as a wholesale dealer in boots, shoes and leather at 53 Pearl street.
Lewis W. Nute appeared in the Boston directories of 1869 and 1870, as dealing in boots, shoes and leather, at 55 Pearl street, with his house at 92 Worcester street.
L.W. Nute appeared frequently in newspaper financial columns that featured lists of Receipts of Leather and Hide deliveries. L.W. Nute was reported, on August 3, 1872, as having received 3 rolls of leather; and 10 rolls via the Boston & Providence Railroad in November 1872 (Boston Globe, August 3, 1872; November 7, 1872).
The Pearl Street “Colony” of boot, shoe and leather dealers, including Lewis W. Nute & Co.’s Pearl Street premises, was completely destroyed in the Great Boston Fire of 1872. Only some safes were saved. The 55-59 Pearl Street building was listed among those destroyed. Its owners were the Freeman Allen heirs and its assessed value was $25,000. The named tenants were Hofmes, Harlowe & Co, boots; Potter, White & Bailey, boots; and B.B. Blanchard & Co., boots. This fire of November 9-10, 1872 was Boston’s largest fire ever and remains one of the largest in U.S. history.
The Sixty-Acre Burnt District (in Red)
DEVASTATION! Pearl Street. All the magnificent stone buildings on Pearl street, throughout its entire length from Milk to Broad streets, are now but unsightly, misshapen heaps of ruins (Boston Globe, November 11, 1872).
Effects of Fire on Granite Walls – Pearl Street
Condition of Safes. A number of safes were taken out of the building on the left hand side of Milk street below the new Post-office, yesterday. These safes were of iron, lined, enclosed by a thick brick wall and protected by boiler iron. The contents were found intact. Johnson, Rust & Co., Nos. 85 and 87 Pearl street; L.W. Nute & Co. and Samuel W. French & Co., in the same building, preserved their books and papers. The contents of the safe belonging to Dunbar, Hobart & Whidden, Pearl street, were also found all right yesterday forenoon. Other parties were less fortunate. A safe belonging to J.M. Beebe & Co., Winthrop square, which was opened yesterday morning, contained nothing but a few charred books and papers. Another safe was taken from the site of Smith’s express office, corner of Water and Kilby streets, and on being opened the contents were found to be in a very bad condition. Messrs. Horswell, Kinsley & French, Winthrop square, recovered from their safe a small portion of gold coin which had been melted like lead, and a set of diamonds bedded in a shapeless mass in what had been the gold of an elegant brooch. Two vaults belonging to J.R. Bigelow, No. 43 and 45 Federal street, preserved their contents in fine condition (Boston Globe, November 16, 1872).
One of the ironies of this serious fire lies in its being fueled partly by taxation or, at least, by the desire to avoid taxation. It seems that materials and products stored in the attics and eaves of buildings were not subject to taxation, which occasioned those tax-free spaces being stuffed “to the rafters,” so to speak, with flammable materials.
L.W. Nute was elected to the Transportation committee of the New England Shoe and Leather Association, at its annual meeting held at 91 State Street in Boston, MA, January 15, 1873. He served with A.L. Coolidge, C. Coon, C.W. Hersey, and C.F. Parker (Boston Globe, January 16, 1873).
Yellow Fever raged in Memphis, TN, in October 1873, and donations were collected for its victims in Boston, MA, and throughout the country. (Milton’s Ice Industry sent five train cars full of ice (about six hundred tons) for a similar outbreak in September 1878).
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. THE CITY. The following additional contributions have been received for the Memphis sufferers by Geo. J. Dockray. agent of the Great Western Despatch Company, No. 25 Water street; L.W. Nute, $25; Moore, Smith & Co., $20. Previously reported, $1285. Total $1330 (Boston Globe, October 13, 1873).
Lewis W. Nute had some sort of business arrangement or relationship with the J.O. Wilson & Co. shoe factory of Natick, MA, by which he served apparently as its exclusive sales agent. Its partners were John O. Wilson (1821-1906) and his son, Edward H. Wilson (1845-1882), until the son’s death, and thereafter, Henry G. Wood (1853-1895). Nute might have been some sort of silent partner, investor, or contracting customer. (Some accounts go even so far as to imply that Wilson worked for him).
J.O. Wilson & Co., Manufacturers of Men’s, Boys’ and Youths’ Brogans and Plow Shoes. – The well and favorably known establishment of J.O. Wilson & Co., manufacturers of men’s, boys’ and youths’ brogans and plow shoes, is in all respects the leading, largest and best equipped firm in this branch of industrial activity hereabouts, and which since the inception of enterprise thirty-two years ago has maintained record of steady progress. This flourishing business was established in 1855 by the present senior member, the style changing ten years to J.O. Wilson & Son, who conducted it up 1881, when the firm name changed to J.O. Wilson & Co., and as such it has since been continued with uninterrupted success. The factory is a huge four-story structure 30×200 feet in superficial dimension, with two wings, each 30×60 feet in area, supplied with full steam power and equipped with the most improved machinery, devices and appurtenances, including a one hundred-horse power boiler and a sixty-horse power engine, forty stitching-machines, etc. (over two hundred machines of all kinds being in service), while employment is afforded to from three hundred and fifty to four hundred and twenty-five hands. The average daily output runs from five thousand to six thousand pairs, however, the shop having a capacity to turn out as high as seven thousand pairs a day when required, and a heavy and excellent stock is constantly carried. The trade extends all over the United States, the products being strong, coarse wear, entirely, and altogether an enormous business is done. The ownership consists of Messrs. J.O. Wilson and H.G. Wood, natives of Massachusetts and New Hampshire respectively, the founder of the business being now a gentleman of sixty-seven but active and vigorous, while Mr. Wood is a young man of push and enterprise. Mr. Wilson is the popular and respected president of the Five Cents Savings Bank, and is also a director of the Natick Gas Company and the Horse R.R. Company and a trustee of the Public Library, and deacon of the Orthodox Church. Lewis Nute & Co., No. 27 High street, are the firm to whom all orders for the above goods should be sent (International Publishing, 1887).
The young and enterprising Mr. Wood died suddenly in 1895, and Nute’s surviving partner, Charles H. Moulton, was a pallbearer at his funeral (Boston Globe, October 21, 1895).
J.O. WILSON & SON appeared in the Natick directory of 1873, as shoe manufacturers, on North Avenue, at its corner with Walnut street. His house was at Walnut street, corner of Grove street. J.O. Wilson received 11 rolls of leather from the Merritt & Company’s Express, and L.W. Nute received 4 rolls, in December 1873 (Boston Globe, December 10, 1873).
Mrs. L.W. Nute appeared in a list of subscribers to “Our Dumb Animals,” a publication of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), in May 1873 and May 1874 (MSPCA, 1874). Lewis W. Nute appeared in a list of subscribers to “Our Dumb Animals,” in May 1876 (MSPCA, 1876).
The following Boston Globe article cites L.W. Nute (and his contract manufacturer, J.O. Wilson & Son of Natick, MA) as being an exception to the general run of closures and business failures of the prevalent financial Panic of 1873. This worldwide economic recession was at its worst between 1873 and 1877. (The Globe article included also some snide allusions to Reconstruction-era southern black legislators, as being men of small understanding and oversized feet, for which they ordered from Nute the shinier variety of cheap work shoes).
NATICK. Shoe Business. The shoe business in Natick remains quite dull. Some factories are doing nothing. and others are making a half or a quarter their usual amount of goods. The only exception to this stagnant condition of things is the factory of J.O. Wilson & Son, who manufacture for L.W. Nute of Boston. Mr. Nute has kept his business going on as usual, and since November 1, 1873, Wilson & Son have manufactured for him 2457 cases of “brogans” and “plough shoes,” and are still at work filling orders at the rate of 130 cases a week. Their pay roll ranges from $8000 to $10,000 per month. which is punctually paid. Last year, they manufactured 4627 cases. This firm has just manufactured three pairs of “wax brogans,” No. 16, for a couple of colored Representatives-elect to the Mississippi Legislature. It speaks well for the future of Mississippi that she elects to her high places of trust men of large “understanding,” and if these are representative men of that ilk, whenever Mississippi “puts her foot down,” it behooves the people of adjoining States to look out for their corns (Boston Globe, March 23, 1874).
American House (per BPL)
L.W. Nute was elected to the Transportation committee of the New England Shoe and Leather Association, at its annual meeting held at 91 State Street in Boston, MA, January 30, 1874. He served with C. Coon, E. Hutchinson, H.H. MacWhinney, and C.F. Parker (Boston Globe, January 31, 1874).
The Mayor of New Orleans, LA, appealed to the Mayor of Boston, MA, April 18, 1874, for help in dealing with Mississippi River flooding. Over ten thousand acres were inundated. “Many thousands of families are ruined in their fortunes, and threatened with starvation.” Lewis W. Nute subscribed $50 for the “Louisiana sufferers” in April 1874. Over $30,000 was raised (Boston Globe, April 27, 1874).
L.W. Nute, and H.A. Turrel, both of Boston, were guests at the Maxwell House hotel in Nashville, TN (The Tennessean (Nashville, TN), November 29, 1874). Lewis W. Nute appeared in the Boston directory of 1875 as a wholesale boot and shoe dealer, on High street, at its corner with Federal street. H.A. Tirrill also appeared as such also, but at 45 Hanover street. (These were their post-fire addresses, both had been at 55 Pearl street in 1871).
Lewis W. Nute appeared in the Boston directory of 1878, as dealing in boots, shoes and leather, at 27 High street, and boarding at the American House.
Fires and Recessions Reduce Prices (Boston Globe, June 4, 1875)
Lewis W. Nute is here identified – either correctly or not – as owner of the Natick factory, which was being run by J.O. Wilson & Son. There seems to have been operating a rather complicated arrangement by which some employees had their own separate sub-employees or sub-contractors, who were paid out of the contracting employee’s check. Mr. Nute seems to have become involved in some dispute between two employees and, if the Boston Globe’s follow-on correction was more correct than their original article, he would seem to have judged incorrectly.
NATICK. Caught in the Act. C.O. Wilson, looked upon as being an honorable man of this place, was caught in the act of stealing from his employer yesterday, pay-day. It is not his first theft, but heretofore be has been successful. Wilson was foreman of the stitching-room in the factory of Lewis W. Nute, run by J.O. Wilson & son, and was hired by the month. John Moran is hired by the day in the same department, taking the place of his brother Andrew, who had the riveting by the case and paid two boys out of his pay. Since Andrew has left, Wilson has clipped the coupons and, at the end of the month, sent them into the office, representing the work being done as piecework. He would let Moran go to the office and collect the money, and turn the same over to him, he then paying Moran by the day and the boys by the week, putting the remainder in his pocket. Last month it amounted to $7.50, this month $22, and Moran would not give it up as was demanded. Mr. Moran saw Mr. Nute and told him the story, when he was told to keep the money and he should see Wilson in the morning. He did so, and [Wilson] told him to take his departure forever more (Boston Globe, August 7, 1879).
NATICK. A Correction Cheerfully Made. The Globe of yesterday contained an article which represented that Charles O. Wilson of Natick had been detected in stealing. The Globe reporter had the report of the theft, as he supposed at the time, from responsible parties, but an investigation of the case shows that be was seriously misled. The substantive facts are as follows: Mr. C.O. Wilson, the party charged with wrong-doing, is a middle-aged man who has from childhood resided in Natick and bears an unblemished reputation. Mr. Wilson worked in the factory of J.O. Wilson & Son and was foreman of the stitching room. One Andrew Moran had a job in the same room and employed a number of hands to rivet and eyelet shoes. Moran went to the office monthly with coupons on which he drew his pay by the case and paid his hands by the day, making a profit on his help. Moran was under Mr. Wilson, the foreman, and his habits became so bad that Mr. Wilson virtually discharged him. Mr. C.O. Wilson then proposed to J.O. Wilson & Son to add to his previous duties of foreman the duties of Moran, provided he could hire the help by the day and set the margin of profit Moran had previously received. This proposition was accepted, and C.O. Wilson then hired Moran’s brother John, who performed most of the duties formerly performed by his brother. Mr. L.W. Nute, the real proprietor of the factory, made the price for work, and of course Mr. Wilson did not steal from Mr. Nute. Wilson agreed to pay Moran $1.75 per day for his labor. and Moran informed The Globe reporter that Wilson paid him as per agreement. Moran said to the reporter that he found he had a chance to go for Wilson, and put up the job out of pure revenge. By repeated representations to Mr. L.W. Nute that things were going wrong, Moran secured his end in the discharge of Wilson by Nute. People who knew all the parties and the facts do not question the integrity of Wilson (Boston Globe, August 9, 1879).
Lewis W. Nute, aged sixty years (b. NH), and Priscilla Nute, aged sixty years (b. MA), were lodgers at the American Hotel on Hanover Street in Boston, MA, at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. Henry Rice, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), was its proprietor. There were twenty-one lodgers, and one hundred thirteen resident servants of various types. (The census enumerator complained of the difficulty of gathering accurate information regarding the American Hotel’s resident staff).
Lewis W. Nute commissioned artist Frank Henry Shapleigh (1842-1906) to paint a picture of his Nute Ridge farmstead, which is dated 1880, and of the view from that farmstead. Shapleigh was an artist of the White Mountain School.
THE FINE ARTS. Frank Shapleigh has divided his time between the White Mountains, his old stamping grounds in Maine, and Cohasset. From these localities he has brought home a crowded portfolio – memories of “the green and pleasant places” of interior New England and of the rough and wind-beaten coast of the Old Commonwealth. Mr. Shapleigh seems to have found an inexhaustible source of artistic inspiration in and about the places of his Summer’s sojourn. He shows us shady nooks in the fields and forests of Maine and New Hampshire, long stretches of sunny landscapes, glimpses of old-fashioned country farm-houses and grass-bordered country roads; and, turning from these, we have the scraggy cedars that cling to the rocks and bluffs of the South Shore, the sands and rocks and the long line of ocean with its burden of white sails. Mr. Shapleigh has worked earnestly and industriously, tbe past season, and has something to show for it worth the showing (Boston Globe, October 20, 1874).
One wonders how they met. Shapleigh’s paintings certainly appeared in exhibitions and galleries in Boston. The article above demonstrates some familiarity at least with Cohasset, MA, from which Mrs. Nute came. Shapleigh was a Boston native – and resident – but he and his parents had also life-long connections with Lebanon, ME.
Lewis W. Nute took Charles H. Moulton (1847-1915) as his partner in 1880, under the name Lewis W. Nute & Company. Moulton was born in Dover, NH, September 2, 1846, son of Josiah and Harriet (Allen) Moulton. Moulton had worked as paymaster for the Cocheco Manufacturing Company in Dover, NH, before he “came to Boston in 1871 and entered the employ of L.W. Nute, shoe manufacturer” (Chilton Company, 1915).
CHARLES H. MOULTON, Manufacturer of Boots and Shoes, No. 27 High Street. – Boston has long been noted as being the centre of the wholesale boot and shoe trade of the United States, and the command of large capital, coupled with the well-known energy and enterprise of the representative members of the trade, has permanently retained this supremacy. Prominent among the reliable and progressive houses extensively engaged in this important trade is that of Mr. Charles H. Moulton, whose office and salesroom are located at No. 27 High Street. Mr. Moulton owns and operates two spacious and well-equipped factories, one being at Dover, N.H., and the other at Natick, Mass. These factories furnish constant employment to 600 skilled operatives who turn out daily 1000 pairs of plow shoes and brogans. This extensive business was established twenty years ago, by Mr. L.W. Nute. In 1880 Mr. Charles H. Moulton became a partner the firm being known by the style and title of “L.W. Nute & Co.” On October 1888 Mr. Nute died after a successful career, when the business became the property of Mr. Moulton, who has since associated with him Mr. Charles E. Bigelow of New York, as special partner. Mr. Bigelow is president of the Bay State Shoe Company, and is a resident of New York City. The brogans, plow shoes, etc., manufactured by Mr. Moulton are general favorites with the trade and public, and are unrivalled for quality, durability, strength, and workmanship. All orders are carefully and promptly filled at the lowest possible prices, and the trade of the house now extends throughout all sections of the United States and Canada. Mr. Moulton was born in New Hampshire, and is a resident of Waltham, where he filled the office of alderman for several years. He is an enterprising and honorable business man, liberal and just in all transactions, and is achieving a substantial and well-merited success (American Publishing, 1889).
L.W. Nute & wf. [wife], of N.H., were arrivals at the American House hotel in Boston, MA, in November 1881 (Boston Post, November 2, 1881). Mr. & Mrs. Lewis W. Nute appeared in the Clark’s Blue-Book editions of 1882 and 1884, as residents of the American House hotel, in Boston’s West End.
An Unexceptional Table? (Boston Post, May 24, 1881)
Lewis W. Nute was a “special” partner in the Boston firm of Hersey, Whittier & Wyman, to the tune of $100,000, when it failed in August 1883. Hersey, Whittier & Wyman appeared in the Boston directory of 1882, as hide and leather dealers, at 276-78 Purchase street. Its partners were Charles W. Hersey (1837-1885), whose house was at 69 Newbury street, Justin Whittier (1848-1897), whose house was at Newton, MA, and Walter Forestus Wyman (1854-1919), whose house was at Chelsea, MA.
Hersey, Whittier & Wyman. – BOSTON, MASS., August 4. – The announcement will be made in the morning that the large shoe and leather firm of Hersey, Whittier & Wyman, doing business on Federal street. has failed with liabilities of half a million. The suspension, it is stated, is not brought about by the recent heavy failures in that line of trade, but is due entirely to other causes. The firm were sole-leather tanners and dealers in upper leather, 278 Purchase street,-and made an assignment of their property, for the benefit of creditors, to Wm. F. Mullin, of the firm of Mullin & Brown. The failure became known to but very few persons Saturday, and the announcement will be a surprise not only to the general public, but to the greater part of the shoe and leather trade. The firm have as branches Hersey & Co., tanners, of Moose River, N.Y., and George M. Botchford, tanner, of Glensdale, N.Y., and all three concerns go down together. Moose River branch consists of Mr. Hersey and Mr. Wyman, and the Glensdale branch of Botchford & Hersey. The firm have done a large business both in sole leather and in wax and kip, and combined liabilities of the main and branch houses aggregate $500,000. Indebtedness almost entirely to banks, very few notes having been given for merchandise. The assets are large, and the failure, the firm state, is due to the refusal of the banks, on account of the feeling of distrust which at present prevails in reference the shoe and leather trade, to take the firm’s paper as liberally as they have been accustomed to do. The firm is not involved at all in the affairs of F. Shaw & Bros., or any concern which has failed within the last few days. Lewis W. Nute, Natick, boot and shoe manufacturer, is a special partner for $100,000 until February 28, 1885. The firm has been considered worth $200,000 or $300,000, and its failure will tend to check the restoration of confidence which had begun to take place of distrust induced by the Shaw failure and those growing out of it (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 5, 1883).
Another Despatch. The suspension of Hersey, Whittier & Wyman naturally causes considerable uneasiness, as on the surface it seemed to indicate a general tendency to demoralization in the shoe and leather trade of the city. A careful analysis of the situation, however, leaves no cause for a panic or general alarm. It is possible that the firm will pay all their liabilities in full, and that Lewis W. Nute, of Natick, the special partner to the amount of $100,000, will be able to save a portion of his capital (Bangor Daily Whig & Courier (Bangor, ME), August 6, 1883).
BUSINESS REVERSES. Hides and Leather. Hersey, Whittier & Wyman, Boston, Mass., commission and tanners, failed; debts $493,747; assets $307,322 (Countin Room Company, 1883).
Nute might have preserved in this loss as much as $62,000 to $70,000 of his original $100,000 investment (Daily City News, September 7, 1883).
But as Shakespeare had it, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” The shoe market was experiencing generally a serious downturn, due to which Nute sought a wage reduction in Natick, MA. The J.O. Wilson & Co. workers went out on strike. In response, Nute sought to relocate a part of his manufacturing at least to Dover, NH.
Gleanings in New England. The McKay lasting machine operators in the shoe factory of L.W. Nute, 14 in number, at Natick, Mass., have left work, refusing to instruct green hands who have been employed to fill the places of former “linkers,” who left because of a reduction in prices (St. Johnsbury Index (St. Johnsbury, VT), November 22, 1883).
NATICK. There seems to be no change as yet in the condition of affairs at the shoe factory of J.O. Wilson & Co. Neither have there been the least signs or anything ungentlemanly on the part of the strikers. It is yet maintained that Mr. Nute will take his business to Dover, N.H., to the E.C. Keenear factory, which, it is said, he will have in operation a week from Monday (Farmington News, December 3, 1883).
The Dover City Council sought to “encourage” Nute’s proposed relocation from Natick, MA, to Dover, NH, by exempting him from taxation for a period of ten years. It passed the following resolution to that effect, December 6, 1883:
Resolved, &c. That the firm of Lewis W. Nute & Co., are hereby exempted from taxation for the term of ten years from date – providing they do a business amounting to $100,000 per year in the manufacture of boots and shoes in Dover, meaning hereby to exempt all machinery, stock, and all new buildings which shall be built and used by Messrs. L.W. Nute & Co. for the manufacture of boots and shoes in this city. Passed December 6 (City of Dover, 1883).
Lewis W. Nute & Co. took up some factory space at 10 Grove street in Dover, NH, which had been vacated or partially vacated by John H. Hurd & Co. (It passed to Bradley & Sayward after Nute’s death. Nute’s operation continued under the name of his surviving partner, Charles H. Moulton, in a new factory built by the Dover Improvement Association in 1892).
Bradley & Sayward; factory owned by the Kenney estate; built in 1861; dimensions, 60 x 40; built of wood; four stories; steam power; cost, $4,000; kind of goods manufactured, mens’ and boys; heavy brogans and plow shoes; number of hands employed, forty; yearly pay roll, $10,000. This factory was successively occupied by Goodwin & Kenney, Ira W. Nute, J.H. Hurd & Son, Lewis Nute & Co., Bradley & Sayward (NH Bureau of Labor, 1896).
Lewis W. Nute (Nute & Co.) appeared in the Dover, NH, directories of 1884, 1886, and 1888, as boot and shoe manufacturers, at [10] Grove street, corner of Third street. HORACE T. BABB, husband of Nute’s niece, Carrie A. (Nute) Babb, appeared as the agent for L.W. Nute & Co, boarding at Mrs. Hannah [(Nute)] Hatch’s, at 11 Sixth street, in 1884-88. Babb was a mill foreman and manager of long experience.
TELLING ANOTHER STORY. A Statement of the Natick Troubles from the Manufacturers’ Point of View. (Special Despatch to The Boston Globe). NATICK, April 14. A representative of the McKay & Copeland Machine Company gave today the following statement in regard to the trouble between the firm of J.O. Wilson & Co. and the Lasters’ Union: “The trouble,” said he, “began last fall When L.W. Nute tried to bring about a reduction of the cost of his machine lasting. He had fourteen machines in the shop. It took two men and a boy about 18 years old to operate each machine. That there might be no injustice to his men he discharged the fourteen young men who had outgrown their occupation, proposing to employ fourteen lads who would be willing to work for its wages. By this move be ensured his operators an advance of two cents and his fitters the same price as before. He hired one or two new nickers. but they were run out of the factory by the disaffected operatives. His machine operators and fitters joined issue with the discharged nickers, and refused to enter his employ again. The machine operators incited the hand lasters, between whom and the firm there was no issue at all, to join them and form a lasters union. The union was formed and the hand lasters left the shop. ‘This caused the shutting up of the factory for some five or six weeks. The unaffected operators began to be anxious to resume work. They gave the hand lasters to understand that unless they pulled out from the machine lasters and went to work again they should obtain friends of theirs to do Mr. Nute’s lasting. and should protect them. “The result of this was that the hand lasters came back to work. The machine lasters were also anxious to come back if they could come at the old price. But the result was a cut-down, because the firm proposed to pay nothing extra for extra sizes or plow shoes; hut it is probable that the two cents advance offered the machine operators would have nearly compensated for the loss. Mr. Nute refused to allow the machine operators to come back at the old price, but did furnish employment to some of them at hand lasting. “The situation remained the same until the close of the present season. The firm in the meantime moved three of its lasting machines to Dover, N.H. Two of the remaining machines were run more or less by boys. At the close of the present season Mr. Nute discharged all his lasters and shut down his factory. “I want it distinctly understood that the boot and shoe trade do not recognize a man’s right to consider himself an employe after he has been paid off at the end of the season. The lasters claim that they are still employes. But we say that they are not. “The firm then procured some twenty new men from other places. Of this number. the Lasters’ Union was successful in gaining over only two or three. Last Thursday night there were five machines running and the new operators were doing good work. The Lasters’ Union used all means to buy off, drive off and intimidate the new men. They left the next day. The town authorities thus far have shown no disposition to afford the new men any protection. There is only one simple issue in this matter and it is this: Has Mr. Nute the right to employ twenty-two men and eleven lads at day wages to fill the place of his discharged help? Must he shut up his factory or employ his old discharged help? The firm employs a large number of men altogether, and the present policy which tends to drive them out of town is not exactly propitious for the business interests of Natick.” (Boston Globe, April 15, 1884).
WHAT THE LASTERS SAY. Statement of the Employes’ Side of the Story in the Natick Difficulty. (Special Despatch to The Boston Globe). Natick, April 17. – A member of the Lasters’ Union voiced the sentiment of his fellows today by making the following statement of the past difficulty at J.O. Wilson & Co.’s: “At the beginning of last fall’s sale, Mr. Wood of the firm called the ‘nickers’ to his office, and told them the firm was going to pay thirty cents per case for ‘nicking.’ They considered it boys’ work, and unless the men were willing to work at that price they would obtain boys. The men refused to accept, because it was a reduction from forty-five cents for regular sizes, fifty-five cents for extra ones, and sixty cents for ‘plows.’ “After discharging the ‘nickers’ Mr. Wood offered to let out to the operators by contract the lasting of the shoes for $1.40 per case, each operator to employ his own ‘fitter and nicker’ and to be responsible for the work. He suggested to them that they could have sixty cents by paying thirty cents to ‘nickers’ and fifty cents to ‘fitters.’ They informed Mr. Wood they would not accept of the contract under any’ conditions. He then told them the firm would hire ‘nickers,’ whereupon three men were put on. The operators were at their posts ready to work. One ‘nicker’ left of his own free will, on account of not being able to do the work, while the other two knew nothing of how to begin, and left in disgust. This obliged all operators to be idle, and they asked for work at handlasting and were refused. “The handlasters were interested in the actions between the firm and machine men. They saw that if the firm was successful in reducing the machine men, it was only a question of time when a similar state of affairs would follow for them. and they induced the men to join the Lasters’ Union for protection. The advisory board of the union sent a committee to the firm to make some adjustment. Not being successful they reported to the board a statement of J.O. Wilson to the effect that if the machine men would return to work he would give 55 cents per case to operators, 50 cents to fitters and 40 cents to nickers for all orders, which left a reduction of eight cents per case. The advisory board deemed it inexpedient to accept the compromise and ordered the lasters out, when the factory was closed for three weeks. At the end of this time the firm sent for the advisory board, to which they said in writing: ‘We will put all the lasters to hand lasting, machine men or not, at the price paid at last sale.’ This was accepted by the board and the men were ordered to resume work, and all machine men were soon at work except those who had obtained work elsewhere. The factory has since run till about the first of April, when they closed to take an account of stock, paying off their help as usual. “All was supposed to be harmonious until about ten days ago, when a new complication was the employment of out-of-town men to run the machines at a reduction, as these men told the Lasters’ Union. they were told by members of the union of the circumstances existing, when the new men stated that they were misinformed as to the condition of affairs and as they now understood the matter, were willing to leave town. The Thursday eight affair was condemned by the union, as they used their every effort to suppress the crowd. “Now, as to a few statements in Tuesday’s GLOBE from the firm’s point of view. The unaffected operatives in the factory had little, if any, stock taken in what they said. They were not recognized by the union in any way. The representative states that Mr. Nute discharged all his lasters and shut down his factory. His statement can be refuted by the language of J.O. Wilson, senior member of the firm, who, so long as any man has left his kit in his factory, does not consider him discharged any more than he does his uppers or sole leather ‘clicks’; but when he discharges a man tells him to remove his kit. It is acknowledged that the firm has a right to employ new help, but the Union claims a right to induce employes, in a legitimate way, to leave the shop when they are working tor a reduction. “He further slates that the officials show no disposition to protect the hew men. This statement is refuted by the Board of Selectmen. who claim orders were given for an extra force if needed, but as the chief of police did not see the necessity of it, he did not call for any help. “While the union men do not care to have any controversy with the McKay & Copeland Machine Company, they purpose to tell things just as they are, not to surprise the citizens with such statements as have appeared from the company. They were in substance contradicted the day before by J.O. Wilson in the local press.” (Boston Globe, April 18, 1884).
Full details have not come to hand as yet, but Nute’s newly-established Dover, NH, operation seems to have had a fire on May 1884 that damaged the factory and destroyed some of his materials.
New England Notes. The damage to L.W. Nute & Co. of Dover is considerably larger than at first supposed. Fifty cases of fitted uppers and 150 sides of whole stock were totally destroyed and the building slightly damaged. In all the amount will be near $7000, covered by insurance. Work will not be resumed till next week (Boston Globe, May 20, 1884).
New England Notes. Lewis W. Nute & Co.’s shoe factory at Dover, N.H., started up on full time yesterday forenoon (Boston Globe, May 12, 1885).
Franklin B. White, who had been one of Lewis W. Nute’s partners in Potter, Nute, White & Bayley, died in Milton, MA, June 10, 1885.
Death of Franklin B. White. Mr. Franklin B. White, of the firm of Potter, White & Bayley, died at his residence in Milton at 8 o’clock this morning after a brief illness of peritonitis. He was born in Quiney in 1831. Coming to Boston In 1847, he entered the boot and shoe house of Allen, Harris & Potter as a boy, and remained in the trade up to time of his death. The firm of Potter, Elder & Nute succeeded the house of Allen, Harris & Potter, and was in turn succeeded by the firm of Potter, Nute, White & Bayley. The present firm of Potter, White & Bayley was organized in the spring of 1865. James C. Bayley died about a year and a half ago. Mr. White was a director of the Bank of North America, and a director of the Boot and Shoe Exchange. He was also one of the most popular members of the Commercial Club. He has left a widow and one son (Boston Globe, June 10, 1885).
Lewis W. Nute & Co.’s new Dover, N.H., shop was highlighted as doing well by the beginning of 1886.
Dover, N.H. The shoe shops are now doing a good business. L.W. Nute & Co. have 125 employes, whose weekly pay averages $1500. They turn out 180 cases of brogans and plough shoes per week, valued at about $50 per case (Boston Globe, January 1, 1886).
L.W. Nute & Co.’s shoes were still popular and well regarded in its key southern and western markets. Goodbar, Love & Co. of Memphis, TN, but with a branch office at 24 High street, Boston, MA, advertised its shoes for sale.
Also, L.W. Nute & Co.’s Kip Brogans and Plow Shoes – the best Brogans made in the United States – heretofore handled by Goodbar & Co. (Memphis Appeal, February 5, 1886).
Priscilla N. (Farrow) Nute died at the American House hotel in Boston, MA, April 2, 1886 aged sixty-six years.
Another Factory Shut Down. Dover, N.H., May 1 – L.W. Nute & Co.’s shoe factory which resumed work last Monday after four weeks’ shut down has been closed indefinitely. This action resulted from the presentation by the Lasters’ Protective Union to the shoe factories here of a price list demanding an average increase of twenty-five per cent over old wages (Chattanooga Commercial, May 1, 1886).
FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 14, 1886. The Nute shoe factory, in Dover, started up Monday forenoon after a brief shut down. The Hurd shoe factory, which was expected to start up also, did not but will some day this week (Farmington News, May 14, 1886).
The Boston City Council voted, in January 1887, to seek the elimination of the tolls paid on harbor ferries running between East Boston and the main Boston peninsula. Many “modern” arguments were deployed in favor of this. Mr. Foss said it was a matter of “justice”; Mr. Morrison (Ward 1) thought East Boston’s residents were “entitled” to this service; Mr. McEnaney did not think that East Boston residents should be “compelled” to pay; and Mr. Whittemore thought it an opportunity for the legislature to decide. There being no such thing as a “free lunch” or, in this case, a “free ferry,” these councilors were proposing that the costs be paid instead by others that did not use the ferries (Boston Globe, January 21, 1887).
Mr. Frost thought it would set a bad precedent; Mr. Morrison (Ward 9) did not think the city should have to establish “free” ferries; and Mr. Webster observed rightly that if the tolls were removed, then East Boston housing rents would rise as an inevitable consequence. This misguided “free ferry” motion passed by forty votes (62.5%) in favor to twenty-four votes (37.5%) opposed (Boston Globe, January 21, 1887). Boot and Shoe Reporter, in its March 3, 1887 issue, included L.W. Nute & Co. among the sixty Boston boot and shoe companies that “… signed a remonstrance against any legislation giving the City Council authority to abolish the tolls on the East Boston ferries.” His former firm of Potter, White & Bayley signed too.
Lewis W. Nute was suffering by June 1888 – if he had not been before – from Bright’s Disease, i.e., an acute or chronic nephritis (kidney disease), with heart complications. He made out his last will and testament in Boston, MA, June 15, 1888. Shortly thereafter he returned to his Nute Ridge farmstead in West Milton. He experienced there what newspaper obituaries usually characterize as “a lengthy illness.”
LOCALS. Lewis Nute, the well-known shoe manufacturer, lies dangerously ill at his farm in Milton. His is a complicated case, being Bright’s disease, a valvular trouble of the heart, together with congestive symptoms. His recovery is improbable (Farmington News, August 10, 1888).
LOCALS. There is no improvement in Lewis Nute’s condition, and it seems that it must be only a question of a few days when he passes away (Farmington News, August 17, 1888).
LOCALS. There seems to be no change in Lewis Nute’s condition. Deacon Hussey is reported about the same as last week (Farmington News, August 24, 1888).
The Boston Globe and other papers reported falsely that Lewis W. Nute died on Wednesday, September 5, 1888. He was not a well man but, as with Mark Twain, the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. (However, their erroneous report did provide an interesting anecdote of his early career).
LEWIS W. NUTE DEAD. Boston’s Big Leather Dealer Expires at His Home. Dover, N.H., Sept. 5. Lewis W. Nute died this morning at the homestead at Milton. When a young man Mr. Nute went to Boston to work for the leather firm of Potter & Co. He worked there several years, when be was taken sick and nearly died. When he recovered he found all his bills paid and he was a silent partner in the firm. He was considered the best judge of leather in Boston. Shortly afterwards the name of the firm was changed to Nute, Potter, White, & Bailey. He stayed with them some years then sold out and went into business for himself with an office in Boston and manufactory in Natick, and five years ago he started the shop in Dover (Boston Globe, [Wednesday,] September 5, 1888).
LEWIS W. NUTE NOT DEAD. The report current, Wednesday, of the death of Lewis Nute proves to be unfounded, as he is still living. This is the second time that the press has had Mr. Nute dead, and we would advise our daily brethren down the river to be a little more cautious how they kill us off up here. We are all human, and all expect to die eventually, but let us do so of our own accord, please (Farmington News, September 7, 1888).
LOCALS. Mr. Geo. Nute of Massachusetts, with other relatives, came Thursday noon under the supposition that his uncle, Lewis Nute, was dead, having seen the account of his death in the daily press (Farmington News, September 7, 1888).
Lewis W. Nute actually died six weeks later in the Nute farmstead on what is now the Nute Ridge Road, in West Milton, NH, October 20, 1888, aged sixty-eight years, nine months, and three days.
LOCALS. Lewis W. Nute died at his residence at Nute’s ridge, Milton, Saturday morning, Oct 20. The remains will be buried in the Mount Auburn cemetery to-day, Thursday (Farmington News, October 26, 1888).
LOCALS. Lewis W. Nute left an estate of over a $1,000,000 (Farmington News, November 2, 1888).
TELEGRAPHIC SUMMARY, ETC. The late Lewis Nute, of Milton, N.H., left $25,000 for building a schoolhouse at that place, and $100,000 as a permanent fund for maintaining the school, in addition to numerous other public bequests (Baltimore Sun, November 6, 1888).
Boston Assessing Department. (1853). List of Persons, Co-Partnerships, and Corporations Who Were Taxed on Six Thousand Dollars and Upwards, in the City of Boston, in the Year 1852. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=Xf9JAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA05
Boston Assessing Department. (1854). List of Persons, Co-Partnerships, and Corporations Who Were Taxed on Six Thousand Dollars and Upwards, in the City of Boston, in the Year 1853. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=Xf9JAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA100
Boston Assessing Department. (1855). List of Persons, Co-Partnerships, and Corporations Who Were Taxed on Six Thousand Dollars and Upwards, in the City of Boston, in the Year 1854. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=Xf9JAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA105
Boston Assessing Department. (1857). List of Persons, Co-Partnerships, and Corporations Who Were Taxed on Twenty Thousand Dollars and Upwards, in the City of Boston, in the Year 1856. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=3SVNm1xEuVQC&pg=PT543
The Milton Board of Selectmen (BOS) have posted their agenda for a quasi-Public BOS meeting to be held Monday, June 15, at 4:30 PM.
Due to their concerns regarding Covid-19, there will be no public in attendance and, therefore, no public comment. The session may be watched remotely through the usual YouTube means or by teleconference. The links for both are in their original agenda, for which there is a link in the References below.
The Public portion of the agenda has a Limited Agenda, and some housekeeping items.
Under New Business is scheduled a single agenda item, albeit with two parts: 1) Update Regarding Covid-19 (Novel Coronavirus) Operational Activities/Plans. a). Beach and Summer Camp Operations Discussion with Possible Action, b). Town Hall Hours and Operations Discussion with Possible Action.
Third ReopenNH Rally at NH State House, May 16 (Milton Observer)
Update Regarding Covid-19 (Novel Coronavirus) Operational Activities/Plans. One supposes, by the very terms of the meeting announcement, that the Covid-19 is still among us. We will evidently hear an update on those things with which the BOS has been active.
Governor Sununu announced yesterday, June 11, that his “Stay at Home” order expires Monday, June 15, i.e., the day of the BOS meeting. Gatherings will no longer be limited to ten people. Gyms, racetracks, charitable gaming facilities, libraries and funeral homes will be allowed to reopen, with modifications. Indoor movie theaters, amusement parks, performing arts venues and adult day centers may reopen Monday, June 29, with some restrictions.
a). Beach and Summer Camp Operations Discussion with Possible Action. Newspapers have published photographs of fair-sized crowds at Jenness State Beach in Rye, NH, from Friday June 5. In Milton, the BOS discussion might feature red tape X’s on the beach at six-foot intervals?
b). Town Hall Hours and Operations Discussion with Possible Action. As of today, open “by appointment.”
There will be the approval of prior minutes (from the Workshop session of May 20, 2020, the quasi-Public session of May 29, 2020, the quasi-Public session of June 1, 2020, and the Non-Public session of June 1, 2020), and BOS comments.
Here follows a transcription (with annotations) of the last will and testament of Milton benefactor Lewis W. Nute. It may have been written in the American House hotel on Hanover Street in Boston, MA, which was then his principal residence, or in the nearby State Street office of his attorneys. It is dated [Friday,] June 15, 1888.
Downtown Boston in 1883, with the American House
Nute died on his family farm on Nute Ridge in West Milton, NH, on Saturday, October 20, 1888, and this last will was proved in Suffolk County Probate Court, in Boston, MA, on Monday, November 19, 1888 (Suffolk County Probate, 608:62).
Lewis W. Nute – Will – Proved Nov. 19, 1888
I, Lewis W. Nute, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby make and publish this my last will and testament hereby revoking all wills heretofore made by me.
I. I constitute and appoint as executors of this my will and as trustees whenever a trust in herein created, Charles H. Moulton, of Waltham, John Q. Henry, of Newton, and Henry E. Cobb, of Newton, all of Massachusetts; and I direct that they be exempt from giving surety on their bonds in either capacity.
Requiring a surety bond for executors of such a large estate – even a bond based upon posting a percentage only – would have imposed a significant financial burden on them. Even propertied men might have struggled to raise so much liquid cash. (Every $1,000 Nute bequeathed would be worth today about $90,000. (A $20 “double eagle” gold piece from 1888 would have today the gold value of about $1,800 in modern Federal Reserve paper money)).
Boot & shoe merchant Charles Henry Moulton (1847-1915) of Waltham, MA, had been Lewis W. Nute’s partner in the firm of Lewis W. Nute & Company since 1880. He was born in Dover, NH, September 2, 1846, son of Josiah and Harriet M. (Allen) Moulton. He was a fellow Mason, having joined Waltham’s Monitor lodge in 1883. He was a banker when he died in Waltham, MA, June 7, 1915, aged sixty-eight years, nine months, and five days.
Boot & shoe merchant John Quincy Henry did not long survive Nute, dying of apoplexy, i.e., a stroke, in Boston, MA, December 21, 1888, aged sixty-six years, one month, and twenty-three days. He was born in Rutland, VT, circa 1822, son of William and Catherine A. Henry. The will’s provisions for replacing an executor and/or trustee would have been employed right from the start.
Banker Henry Eddy Cobb was born in Hartford, CT, June 21, 1839, son of Andrew B. and Lydia M. (Eddy) Cobb. He would be later mayor of Newton, MA, in 1896-98. He died in Newton, MA, February 2, 1908, aged sixty-eight years.
II. I give and bequeath unto my beloved brother, Samuel F. Nute, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars.
Nute’s younger brother, Samuel Freeman Nute, was born in Milton, July 8, 1827. He died in Peabody, MA, August 14, 1893, aged sixty-six years, one month, and six days.
Samuel F. Nute married in Portland, ME, August 25, 1853 Josephine Wyatt Page, he of Milton and she of Wakefield, NH. She was born in Wakefield, NH, April 7, 1832, daughter of David and Caroline (Jones) Page. Josephine W. (Page) Nute survived her husband, dying in Melrose, MA, May 12, 1913, aged eighty-one years, one month, and five days.
In his own last will, dated April 23, 1891, Samuel F. Nute of Wakefield, NH, appointed his wife, Josephine W. Nute, as his executor and left her all his estate, both real and personal, excepting $5, which he left to their son, Frank I. Nute. “My reason for not providing more for my said son is he being financially in condition not to be in need of further provision by me” (Essex County Probate, 497:319).
III. I give and bequeath unto my beloved nephew, George A. Nute, the sum of twenty-five thousand (25,000) dollars & to his wife, Ann J. Nute, the sum of twenty thousand (20,000) dollars.
George Albert Nute was born in Charlestown (Boston), MA, March 17, 1842, son of Lewis W. Nute’s elder brother, Cyrus W. Nute (1817-1876), and his wife, Almira (Banfield) Nute (1817-1890). He died in Natick, MA, January 22, 1891, aged forty-eight years, ten months, and five days.
George A. Nute married (2nd) in Natick, MA, April 12, 1877, Anna J. (McDavid) Henderson, he of Natick and she of Augusta, ME. He was a shoe cutter, aged forty-three years, and she was aged thirty-six years. It was the second marriage for each of them. She was born in Augusta, ME, August 15, 1851, daughter of John and Margaret (Bunting) McDavid. She died February 9, 1925.
IV. I give and bequeath unto my beloved nephew, Frank I. Nute, the sum of ten thousand (10,000) dollars; and to his wife, Lizzie F. Nute, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; and I give to each of the children of said Frank I. Nute and Lizzie F. Nute, who shall be living at my decease, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars.
Frank Isaac Nute was born in Milton, March 22, 1854, son of Lewis W. Nute’s younger brother, Samuel F. Nute (1827-1893), and his wife, Josephine W. (Page) Nute (1832-1913). He died in Melrose, MA, January 25, 1918.
Frank I. Nute married in Goshen, NH, May 30, 1880, Elizabeth Frances “Lizzie” Trow, both of Goshen. He was a minister, aged twenty-five years, and she was aged twenty-four years. She was born in Goshen, NH, July 19, 1855, daughter of Perkins and Elizabeth F. (French) Trow. She died in Salem, MA, December 25, 1922.
Frank I. and Lizzie F. (Trow) Nute had children Samuel F. Nute (1881-1907), Willie S. Nute (1885-1885), and Harold W. Nute (1891-1918).
V. I give and bequeath unto my beloved niece, Carrie A. Babb, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; and to her husband, Horace T. Babb, the sum of three thousand (3,000) dollars.
Carrie Ann Nute was born in Boston, MA, August 28, 1844, daughter of Lewis W. Nute’s elder brother, Cyrus W. Nute (1817-1876), and his wife, Almira (Banfield) Nute (1817-1890). She died in Dover, NH, February 7, 1911.
Carrie A. Nute married in Farmington, NH, June 12, 1871, Horace T. Babb, both of Farmington. He was a mechanic, aged twenty-eight years, and she was aged twenty-five years. He was born in Barrington, NH, September 8, 1842, son of Joseph T. and Mary B. (Tibbetts) Babb. He died in Dover, NH, November 26, 1911.
VI. I give and bequeath unto Harriet Souther, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, sister of my late wife, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; and to Edward T. Souther, of said Cohasset, nephew of my said wife, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; to Thomas R. Farrar, of said Cohasset, brother of my said wife, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; to Sarah F. Maxwell, of Melrose, Massachusetts, sister of my said wife, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; to Lewis N. Maxwell, of Winchester, Massachusetts, nephew of my said wife, to Sarah Priscilla Mason, of New York, niece of my said wife, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; to Edwin R. Maxwell, of said Melrose, nephew of my said wife, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars.
Lewis W. Nute’s late wife had been Priscilla N. Farrar (1819-1886). (Her surname was often spelled as Farrow). She was born in Cohasset, MA, December 6, 1819, daughter of Thomas and Priscilla A. (Nichols) Farrar. Her siblings, all younger than she, were Mary Farrar (b. 1821), who apparently died young, Elizabeth Harriet “Harriet” Farrar (1825-1902), Sarah Farrar (1828-1903), and Thomas R. Farrar (1831-1916).
Harriet Farrar married in Cohasset, MA, February 8, 1846, Edwin F. Souther (1822-1901). They had two children, Edwin F. Souther, Jr. (1846-1929), who was named in the will, and George F. Souther (1851-1856).
Sarah Farrar married in Boston, MA, March 6, 1848, Richard F. Maxwell (1821-1923). They had children Lewis Nute Maxwell (1849-1932), who was named in the will, Sarah P. Maxwell (1851-1921), (wife of William W. Mason) who was named in the will, Edwin R. Maxwell (1854-1932), who was named in the will, and Mary H. Maxwell, who died young.
A Victorian-era Frodsham Gold Watch (Catherine Southon)
VII. I devise and bequeath to Lewis W. Nute, son of my said nephew George A. Nute, if he shall survive me, and to his heirs forever, my farm with the buildings thereon situate in the Town of Milton in the State of New Hampshire, and consisting of about two hundred acres, except such lot as shall be selected and set apart out of said farm by my trustees for the purpose of erecting a chapel as hereinafter provided and for the grounds attached thereto not exceeding one acre with suitable approaches thereto, together with all the household furniture, fixtures, stock, horses, carriages, harnesses, wagons, tools, farming implements of every description, and all the personal property pertaining to or used with said farm at the time of my decease. Also my Frodsham gold watch and chain, and all my jewelry and articles of personal and household use and ornament.
Lewis Worster Nute [2nd] was born in Natick, MA, October 25, 1880, son of George A. Nute (1842-1891) and his wife, Anna J. (McDavid) Nute (1851-1925). He died in Boston, MA, March 6, 1943.
This grandnephew and namesake of Lewis W. Nute was only eight years of age when he inherited the Lewis W. Nute farm, its stock, tools, appurtenances, furniture, and his granduncle’s gold watch. The Middlesex County court – he lived in Natick, MA – appointed a guardian for him in 1889 to protect his interests, as distinct from those of his parents.
Lewis W. Nute [2nd] married, circa 1908, Florence M. Seaverns. She was born in Cambridge, MA, September 4, 1874, daughter of William H. and Susan L. (Guffney) Seaverns. She died in Brookline, MA, January 31, 1928.
VIII. I give and devise to the said Town of Milton, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; the same to be invested by said Town and the income thereof to be expended from year to year by the Selectmen of said Town to keep in repair the Cemetery of said Town and the lot therein where my parents are buried; the first care to be of said lot.
Parents Ezekiel Nute (1794-1859) and Dorcas (Worster) Nute (1797-1869) are buried in the Hayes Cemetery, which is situated on the north side of Farmington Road (NH Route 75) in Milton, between Governor’s Road and the Hare Road.
IX. I give and bequeath to said Town of Milton, the sum of fifty thousand (50,000) dollars; the same to be invested by said Town and the income thereof used by the Town for the maintenance and support of the common or district schools therein; but one-tenth of the income of said fifty thousand dollars and any increase thereof shall be annually used for the support of a school in the district in that part of said Town where said farm is situated.
Milton’s common or district schools would later be closed one by one, mostly in the 1920s. One supposes that the Milton Grammar school might be defined as a sort of continuation or successor to those district schools. It might be more difficult to stretch the definitions for the Nute Ridge school, which was particularly identified as being entitled to its own dedicated 10% of the annual interest money. A later school superintendent fretted in his annual report about possibly having to forfeit that 10% if the Nute Ridge school were to be closed, which is likely why it was the very last of them to be shuttered (save the Milton Mills school, which was not a district school, as such).
X. I give and bequeath to the Orthodox Congregational Church and Society occupying the Meeting-House at Milton Three-Ponds, so called, in said Town of Milton, the sum of ten thousand (10,000) dollars, the same to be invested and the income thereof to be applied to the support of preaching by said Church and Society; but no part of the principal of said ten thousand dollars shall ever be used by said Church and Society for building purposes, but a portion of said income may be used from time to time for the repairs of said Church and Society’s Meeting-House and Parsonage.
Rev. Frank E. Haley (1835-1904) was then in his second pastorate as Congregational minister at Milton Three Ponds. He would later be the first librarian at the Nute High School and Library (to be succeeded after his death by his widow and then his daughter).
Nute Chapel
XI. If during my life I shall not have done so, I direct my executors to erect a chapel with a suitable library room therein, near or on my said farm in said Town of Milton, at a cost not exceeding the sum of ten thousand dollars; and I hereby give to my said Trustees and their successors the further sum of thirty thousand dollars, the income of which shall be forever used for the support, care and maintenance of said chapel, and for the providing of preaching, and the purchase of books for the use of the minister and Sabbath School for the library in said library room. And I hereby authorize my said Trustees to set apart out of my said farm and to designate my [by] marks and bounds a lot for said chapel with grounds attached thereto, not exceeding one acre, with suitable approaches, the title to said chapel and lot to remain with said Trustees and their successors.
The term “viz.” (or “vizt.”) used in sections XII and XIV below is an abbreviation of the Latin term or phrase vidēre licet (“it is permitted to see”). It was used commonly to introduce a list or series. In this case, Lewis W. Nute is about to list semi-annual allowances (or life estates in interest money), which he has labeled (a) through (g). They are to be interest payments only on principal amounts held for the time being in trust, as distinct from the outright bequests that he detailed above for many of the same parties.
XII. I give to my said Trustees the following named sums upon the Trusts hereinafter set forth: – viz.;
(a). The sum of fifty thousand (50,000) dollars in trust to pay over the net income as often as once in six months to my said brother, Samuel F. Nute, during his life; and at his death in trust to pay over and distribute the said net income at their discretion to the deserving poor of said Town of Milton, employing therein such individuals or corporate agencies as they shall see fit; and with power at any time to transfer and convey the principal of the trust fund to any corporation which may be organized with the approval of my trustees for the time being for the purpose of providing charitable relief to the poor of said town.
The “deserving poor” would have been thought to encompass those that could not work, such as the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled, as distinct from those whose poverty arose from their own vices and failings, such as imprudence, sloth, gambling, drunkenness, etc. (We should note that he intended the charitable relief to be dispensed via private entities, such as individuals, churches, incorporated charities, etc., rather than governmental ones).
(b). The sum of thirty-five thousand (35,000) dollars in trust to pay over the net income thereof as often as once in six months to my said nephew, George A. Nute, during his life; and at his death to pay over and distribute the principal of said trust fund in equal shares to and among his then surviving children and the issue of any child or children deceased, such issue taking by right of representation.
Per Stirpes. Distributing assets per stirpes (sometimes called “by right of representation”) means that assets will be divided evenly among heirs, but if one of the heirs predeceases the testator, their children (if any) will split their deceased parent’s share. The surviving child or children “represent” the deceased parent in the division.
(c). The sum of twenty thousand (20,000) dollars in trust to pay over the net income thereof as often as once in six months to Ann J. Nute, the wife of my said nephew, George A. Nute, during her life, and at her death to pay over the net income thereof as often as once in six months, to Ann J. Nute, the wife of my said nephew, George A. Nute, during her life; and at her death to pay over and distribute the principal of said trust fund in equal shares to and among her then surviving children and the issue of any child or children deceased, such issue taking by right of representation.
This section above had some duplicate wording stricken out and initialed by the registrar, as having been stricken out also in the original.
(d). The sum of thirty thousand (30,000) dollars in trust to pay over the net income thereof as often as once in six months to my nephew, Frank I. Nute, during his life; and at his death to pay over and distribute the principal of said trust fund in equal shares to and among his then surviving children and the issue of any child or children deceased, such issue taking by right of representation.
(e). The sum of ten thousand (10,000) dollars in trust to pay over the net income thereof as often as once in six months to Lizzie F. Nute, wife of my said nephew, Frank I. Nute, during her life; and at her death to pay over and distribute the principal of said trust fund in equal shares to and among her then surviving children and the issue of any child or children deceased, such issue taking by right of representation.
(f). The sum of twenty-five thousand (25,000) dollars in trust to pay over the net income thereof as often as once in six months to my niece, Carrie A. Babb, during her life; and at her death to pay over and distribute the principal of said trust fund in equal shares to and among her then surviving children and the issue of any child or children deceased, such issue taking by right of representation.
And upon the decease of either the said George A. Nute, Ann J. Nute, Frank I. Nute, Lizzie F. Nute, or Carrie A. Babb, leaving no issue him or her surviving, then I direct that the principal of the trust fund held for his or her benefit during his or her lifetime be added to and become a part of the Nute High School and Library Fund, hereinafter created. And I direct that none of the beneficiaries for life to whom the income of any trust fund is herein given shall have any power of assignment or anticipation of such income, and that no part of such income shall in any way be subject to the chain of any creditor of such beneficiary.
One may have seen advertised occasionally modern arrangements by which one may sell a pension, annuity, or structured settlement for lesser amounts of immediate cash. That is to say, one sells one’s “anticipation” of future payments to someone with a longer economic “time preference,” or one uses the anticipated future payments as collateral for an immediate loan. Nute herein forbade such arrangements.
(g). I give to said trustees the sum of one hundred and twenty-five thousand (125,000) dollars in trust for the benefit of Lewis W. Nute, son of the said George A. Nute, and in trust to expend so much of the income thereof from time to time for the support, maintenance and education of the said Lewis W. Nute, as in their judgment shall seem best; and when he shall reach the age of twenty-five years, to pay over to him the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the principal of said trust fund; and when he shall arrive at the age of thirty years, to pay over to him the further sum of twenty-five thousand dollars; and after he becomes of the age of twenty-one years, to pay over to him the net income of said fund & of any increase thereof but without any power of assignment or anticipation on the part of said Lewis W. Nute; and upon his death to pay over the remaining trust fund equally to his children and the issue of any deceased child or children, such issue taking by right of representation. If he shall decease leaving no issue him surviving, then said Trustees shall pay over the remainder of said trust fund to be added to the Nute High School and Library Fund as hereinafter created.
XIII. After the payment of the above legacies I give out of the residue of my estate, in case the same shall suffice therefor, to the said Town of Milton, the sum of one hundred and twenty-five thousand (125,000) dollars as a fund for the purpose of erecting, establishing, and maintaining in said Town a Free High School and Library for the free use of the inhabitants thereof; to be known as the Nute High School and Library; said fund with the addition to be made thereto as hereinbefore provided to be kept as a separate fund and known as the Nute High School and Library Fund. And I direct that of said fund no more than twenty-five thousand dollars be expended in the erection of any building or buildings, and that the same be erected, and that said School and library be established and maintained in that part of the Town of Milton known as Milton Three Ponds. And that no part of any such fund be at any time loaned to said Town or invested in its notes or obligations. And if at any time the said Town shall see fit to have said School and Library incorporated, the fund herein given and all additions thereto and any and all property acquired for said school and library may be by said Town or by my said Trustees paid over and transferred to the corporation so formed; provided however, that the same shall always remain as a High School and Library for the free use of the inhabitants of said Town and shall preserve the name above given.
XIV. All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate and property of whatever nature and wherever situated, including all lapsed legacies, I give and bequeath in equal shares to and among such of the following named four persons as shall survive me, viz.: – George A. Nute, Ann J. Nute, Frank I. Nute, and Lizzie F. Nute; provided however that if either of the four shall decease before me leaving children, his or her share shall go equally among such of said children as shall survive me, and the issue of any such child deceased, such issue taking the share of such child taking the share by right of representation.
XV. I empower my said Executors and the survivor of them to sell any of my real or personal estate except that which is herein specifically devised or bequeathed, either by public or private sale, without the aid of any Court, and to make the requisite deeds and transfers; and I empower my Trustees in like manner at their discretion to sell, exchange, invest or reinvest any and all the property which shall at any time be held upon the trusts hereof, investing the proceeds of such sales upon the like trusts; and my executors or trustees and their successors may continue in any of the trusts herein created any investments made by me during my life and it is my desire that they be continued unless in their judgment they ought not to be so, and, in case by reason of sales or otherwise they shall have occasion to make new investments, I direct that they may be made in those securities in which the Savings Banks or other institutions in this Commonwealth are from time to time authorized to invest their deposits. My trustees shall be entitled to a fair compensation for their services; they shall be chargeable only for such moneys, stocks, funds and securities as they shall respectively actually receive, not withstanding their respectively signing any receipt for the sake of conformity, and shall be answerable and accountable only for their own acts, receipts, neglects or defaults, and not for those of each other, nor for any banker, broker, or other person with whom trust moneys or securities may be deposited, nor for the insufficiency or deficiency of any stocks, funds, or securities nor for any other loss, unless the same shall happen through their own willful default respectively. Upon all sales by my trustees or executors, their receipts shall exempt the purchasers from all liability as to the application of the purchase money.
The words “my trustees,” or “my trustee,” in this my will, shall be construed and taken to mean the trustees or trustee for the time being whether original or substituted; and the words “children” and “issue,” shall be construed and taken to mean children and issue by blood and not by adoption. In case of any vacancy in the number of my trustees by reason of death, declination, resignation, or otherwise, and so often as the same shall occur, the same shall be filled by appointment by my surviving or remaining trustees or trustee by a writing signed and sealed by them or him, and any trustee so appointed shall be exempt from giving surety on his bond; and if such appointment be not made within ninety days after such vacancy occurs a new trustee shall be appointed by the Court having jurisdiction for that purpose, and I give the remaining or surviving trustees or trustee all the powers herein given to my trustees.
The section above suggests that – after a thorough re-reading of the whole – some points were thought to be unclear or open to other interpretations than those intended and were here clarified.
XVI. I authorize my executors to continue my business of manufacturing and selling boots and shoes until the first day of May or November which shall next follow my decease.
The Dover Improvement Association had built a factory in Dover, NH, for Lewis W. Nute, in 1886. After his death they rented it to the Charles H. Moulton Shoe Company, who occupied it until about 1903.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fifteenth day of June, A.D. Eighteen hundred and eighty-eight. Lewis W. Nute (Seal).
50 State Street, Boston, 1886-95 (BPL)
Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the above-named Lewis W. Nute as and for his last will and testament, in presence of us, who, at his request, and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto set our hands as witnesses. W.G. Russell. Thomas Russell. H.H. Sanborn.
William G. Russell and [his son,] Thomas Russell, appeared in the Boston directory of 1889, as lawyers with the law firm of Russell & Putnam, whose offices were at 50 State street, rm. 59, and who had their house at 178 Beacon street. Miss H.H. Sanborn appeared as being employed at 50 State street, rm. 59, with her house at 41 Circuit street. (She was likely their stenographer).
The building occupied now by the Milton Free Public Library was originally Milton Mills’ “Little Red Schoolhouse” building. (The library was then situated where the historical society is now). In this period it taught students at the primary, intermediate, and grammar levels.
Little Red School House Library. The Milton Free Public Library (“Little Red School House”) is located on half an acre in the center of Milton Mills. The architecture is French Second Empire style with a mansard style roof and dormer windows upstairs. The foundation is brick. The style is unique to Milton Mills – no other buildings in town have the same style – however it was popularly used in public buildings at the time of its construction. There have been no significant exterior renovations other than maintenance (i.e., painting and replacing rotten boards). It contains two rooms downstairs which currently operate as the library. As one enters the building, the first thing seen is a beautiful staircase that branches off in two directions. The upstairs consists of one very large room, and a bell tower with a functioning bell. The floors are hardwood and the walls are plaster (Milton Free Public Library Trustees, n.d).
The Milton Mills school teachers identified in this 1912-1952 period were Mary E. (Wilson) Hill, Ethel E. Jeffers, Herbert H. Trufant, Norma M. Page, Helen G. Snow, Jessie L. (Tinker) Walsh, Margaret E. Durgin, Etta R. Thurston, Helen M. Dunnells, Manora T. (Tuttle) Clayton, Rosamond E. (Piper) Pike, Carolyn H. Eaton, Elinor I. Leonard, Marion L. (Goodwin) Stanley, Doris E. (Rowell) Lowd, Ellen G. (Hannaford) Akers, Richard D. Gale, Leslie E. Lowry, Jr., Martha E. Hefler, Paul G. Spilios, and Elizabeth J. Lambert.
Mary E. (Wilson) Hill – 1912
Mary Eleanor Wilson was born in Farmington, NH, in November 1864, daughter of Henry W. and Lucy A. (Whitehouse) Wilson.
Mary E. Wilson graduated from Rochester High School with its Class of 1884. She appeared later with other graduates in an 1884 graduation program rediscovered in 1941. She was said to have become since “… Mrs. Canney, mother of Ralph W. Canney, who conducts a poultry farm in the Meaderboro section” (Portsmouth Herald, December 19, 1941).
Mary E. Wilson married (1st) in Farmington, NH, October, 2, 1895, Henry J. Canney. He was born in New Durham, NH, in June 1863, son of Thomas H. and Isabel R. (Dolby) Canney. She divorced him in Strafford County Superior Court, October, 13, 1897. (He died in Concord, NH, May 26, 1948 (Farmington News, June 4, 1948)).
Henry Wilson, a farmer, aged sixty-one years (b. PA), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-eight years), Lucy A. Wilson, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), his daughter, Mary E.W. Canney, a school teacher, aged thirty-five years (b. NH), and his grandson, Ralph W. Canney, aged three years (b. NH). Henry Wilson owned their farm, free-and-clear. Lucy A. Wilson was the mother of two children, of whom two were still living. Mary E.W. Canney, who was divorced, was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living.
Mary W. Canney married (2nd) in Rochester, NH, January 19, 1907, Horace G. Hill, she of Farmington and he of Lee, NH. Both were forty years of age, she was a school teacher, and he was a farmer. He was born in Lee, NH, circa 1866, son of John W. and Mary J. (Coldwell) Hill.
LOCAL. Henry Wilson of Merrill’s Corner, an old member of Sampson Post, G.A.R., of Rochester, who for a long time had been suffering from cancer, died Jan. 29, in a hospital in Boston, and his body was brought home Sunday evening. He was a farmer and for over a quarter of a century had lived on his farm; his native place was Philadelphia. He was 72 years of age and is survived by a wife, a son, Joseph Wilson of North Adams, Mass., and a daughter, Mrs. Mary Hill, who lives at home (Farmington News, February 4, 1910).
Henry W. Locke, a lumber operator, aged forty years (b. NH), headed a Barrington, NH, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of sixteen years), Hattie B. Locke, aged thirty-nine years (b. NH), and his boarders, Elizabeth E. McNeff, a primary school teacher, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), and Mary W. Hill, a primary school teacher, aged forty-five years (b. NH). Henry W. Hill owned their farm, free-and-clear. Mary W. Hill, twice married (fourteen years in present marriage), was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living.
Mary W. Hill appeared in the Farmington directory of 1912, as a teacher at the Merrill’s corner school in Farmington, boarding at Mrs. L.A. Wilson’s house, near the school. Mrs. Mary Hill appeared or appeared also in the Milton directory of 1912, as a teacher at the Milton Mills Grammar School, boarding at 27 Western avenue, in Milton Mills. (John Lowd appeared as retired, with his house at 27 Western avenue).
Horace G. Hill divorced Mary W. Hill in Strafford County Superior Court, March 29, 1917. He alleged abandonment.
Ralph Canney, a general farmer, aged twenty-three years (b. NH), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his mother, Mary W. Canney, a county school teacher, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), his grandmother, Lucy A. Wilson, a widow, aged seventy-four years (b. NH), and his great uncle, Mr. Whitehouse, a widower, aged eighty-five years (b. NH). Ralph Canney owned their farm, with a mortgage.
Sarah Twombly, a fibre mill bookkeeper, aged fifty years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. Her household included her servant, Mary Canney, a private family housewife, i.e., housekeeper, aged sixty-five years (b. NH). Sarah Twombly owned their house on the Wakefield Road, which was valued at $2,000. They had a radio set.
She may have been the Mary Canney that was living in Rochester, NH, as late as 1939.
Ethel E. Jeffers – 1912
Ethel E. Jeffers was born in Tamworth, NH, August 27, 1890, daughter of Fred L. and Gertrude M. (Gilman) Jeffers.
Fred L. Jeffers, a lumber wagon driver, aged forty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Tamworth (“South Tamworth Village”), NH, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty-two years), Gertrude M. Jeffers, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), and his daughter, Ethel E. Jeffers, aged nineteen years (b. NH). Fred L. Jeffers owned their house free-and-clear. Gertrude M. Jeffers was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living.
South Portland, ME, paid Ethel Jeffers $198 in salary between September 16, 1907, and January 31, 1908, as a teacher in its Ward Four school.
During the year of 1907 there has been but one change in the teaching force of the Knightville schools. Miss Jeffers taking the place of principal’s assistant left vacant by the resignation of Miss Percival (Receipts and Expenditures, South Portland, ME, 1907-08).
ETHEL E. JEFFERS appeared in the Milton directory of 1912, as a teacher at the M. Mills school, who boarded at 27 Western ave., M. Mills. (John Lowd appeared as retired, with his house at 27 Western avenue).
Ethel E. Jeffers married in Tamworth, NH, December 2, 1917, Frederick H. Whiting, both of Tamworth. She was a teacher, aged twenty-eight years, and he was a farmer, aged twenty-two years. He was born in Boston, MA, June 6, 1896, son of Frank A. and Abbie C. (Hobson) Whiting.
Fred Whiting, a farm laborer, aged twenty-four years (b. MA), headed a Tamworth, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ethel Whiting, a school teacher, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), and his daughter, Elenor Whiting, aged one year (b. NH). Fred Whiting rented their portion of a two-family house from his parents, Frank A. Whiting, a farmer, aged sixty-two years (b. NH), and Abbie H. Whiting, aged sixty-four years (b. MA).
Fred H. Whiting, a construction carpenter, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), headed a Madison, NH, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twelve years), Ethel J. Whiting, aged thirty-seven years (b. NH), Elenor R. Whiting, aged eleven years (b. NH), Fred H. Whiting, aged nine years (b. NH), Jean A. Whiting, aged five years (b. NH), Virginia Whiting, aged three years (b. NH), Shirley Whiting, aged two years (b. NH), and Mary Whiting, aged one year (b. NH). Fred H. Whiting owned their house, which was valued at $2,500. They had a radio set.
Fred H. Whiting, a finish mill salesman, aged forty-five years (b. MA), headed a Madison, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twelve years), Ethel J. Whiting, aged forty-six years (b. NH), Fred H. Whiting, auto mechanic trade school, aged nineteen years (b. NH), Jean A. Whiting, aged fifteen years (b. NH), Virginia Whiting, aged fourteen years (b. NH), Shirley Whiting, aged twelve years (b. NH), and Mary Whiting, aged eleven years (b. NH). Fred H. Whiting owned their house at Silver Lake, which was valued at $2,500. They had all lived in the same house in 1935.
Fred H. Whiting died in 1964. Ethel E. (Jeffers) Whiting died in Conway, NH, in March 1983.
Herbert H. Trufant – 1912-17
Herbert Harold Trufant was born in Hackettstown, NJ, May 24, 1874, son of Isaiah and Sarah R. (Gross) Trufant.
SITUATIONS WANTED. WANTED – Situation as companion or nurse by educated young man. Address H.H. TRUFANT, care J.C. Churchill, Winthrop, Mass., daTu7t au22 (Boston Globe, August 22, 1894).
Herbert H. Trufant married in Boston, MA, November 19, 1899, Grace E. Towle, he of 14 Kelton Street, Boston, and she of North Parsonsfield, ME. He was a R.R. gateman, aged twenty-five years, and she was a teacher, aged twenty-three years. She was born in Effingham, NH, August 23, 1876, daughter of George W. and Clara M. (Pierce) Towle.
Herbert H. Trufant, a R.R. gateman, aged twenty-six years (b. NJ), headed a Boston, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of one year), Grace E. Trufant, aged twenty-three years (b. NH). Herbert H. Trufant rented their house at 14 Kilton Street.
Herbert H. Trufant, with his wife Grace E. (Towle) Trufant, appeared in the Wakefield, NH, directory of 1908, as a teacher.
H.H. Trufant, a public school teacher, aged thirty-six years (b. NJ), headed a Wakefield, NH, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of ten years), Grace E. Trufant, aged thirty-three years (b. NH). Grace E. Trufant was the mother of one child, of whom none were still living.
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET.New Hampshire Farm. FOR SALE, 185 acres, well divided. will carry 15 head, buildings first-class condition, 1¼ miles to RR, P.O., store, etc., on R.F.D., telephone in house, near neighbors; no brokers; price reduced to $2200 for immediate sale. H.H. TRUFANT, Sanbornville, N.H. (Boston Globe, May 29, 1910).
Herbert H. Trufant appeared in the Milton directory of 1912, as a teacher, and principal, of the Milton Mills Grammar School, with his house 1 mile south of Milton Mills.
Herbert H. Trufant of Milton Mills registered (No. 1654) his 10 h.p. Cadillac automobile with the NH Secretary of State, between January 1 and August 31, 1912.
Herbert H. Trufant appeared in the Milton directory of 1917, as a principal of the Milton Mills Grammar School, with his house at 41 Church street, Milton Mills.
Herbert H. Trufant appeared in the Quincy, MA, directory of 1918, as a superintendent, with his house at 31 Appleton street, A.
Herbert H. Trufant, a R.R. clerk, aged forty-five years (b. NJ), headed a Quincy, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Grace E. Trufant, aged forty-three years (b. NH), and his son, Robert S. Trufant, aged nine years (b. MA). Herbert H. Trufant owned their house at 100 Charles Road, with a mortgage.
Herbert H. Trufant became next principal of the Parsonsfield Seminary, a private boarding school in Parsonsfield, ME. (Parsonsfield is bounded on the west by Effingham and Wakefield, NH. Kezar Falls is a village of Parsonsfield).
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET. FOR SALE – New Hampshire farm, nice all-year or Summer home; eight-room house, piazza, white (with green blinds), large barn, icehouse, excellent well and spring, situated on hill, fine view of the mountains, land slopes to ford, 10 minutes’ walk to village, mail delivered, nine miles to Burleyville railroad station, near neighbors. Address Owner, H.H. TRUFANT, Kezar Falls, Me. (Boston Globe, June 19, 1921).
SCHOOLS. Co-Educational Schools. PARSONSFIELD SEMINARY. North Parsonsfield, Maine. For boys and girls. In the foothills of the White Mountains. 209 acres, 4 buildings. Invigorating air. All sports. College preparatory course with certificate privilege. Domestic Science. Endowment permits $450 to cover all expenses. Booklet. Herbert H. Trufant, Principal. Box E, Kezar Falls, Me. (Harper’s Bazaar, May 1922 (also July 1922)).
History of Parsonsfield Seminary. Fourth Quarter Century. Mr. [Wesley A.] Sowle was principal for the Spring of 1919 and for the next school year. Then came Herbert H. Trufant, son of the much loved Isaiah Trufant of the preceding period. Near the end of his fourth year, not being in a suitable physical condition to withstand the duties as a principal of Parsonsfield Seminary, he was advised by his doctor to discontinue his work. Much to the regret of both teachers and pupils he left a short time before the end of the school year 1924. Under his management the school prospered and I am sure all students at that time will recall how kind and helpful Mr. Trufant always was to them, yet firm when occasion called. No matter how busy with his own duties he was always ready to help the most humble student with a knotty problem in algebra or give counsel and advice when needed. He did not regain his heath and on March 25, 1925, he passed away at his home in Effingham, N.H. (Towle, 1932).
MISCELLANEOUS. LOST – A Knight Templar’s watch chain between Little Building and Atlantic, Mass.; reward. H.H. TRUFANT, 37 Faxon road, Atlantic, Mass. (Boston Globe, May 2, 1924).
Herbert H. Trufant died in Effingham, NH, March 25, 1925, aged fifty years, ten months, and one day. (He had been resident there only ten weeks, having previously resided in Boston, MA. His occupation was teacher).
SANBORNVILLE. Word has been received here of the death of H.H. Trufant in Massachusetts. Mr. Trufant was a teacher in the Grammar school for several terms (Farmington News, April 17, 1925).
Mrs. Grace Trufant appeared in the Boston directories of 1926, and 1927, as assistant matron at 232 Centre street, in Dorchester, MA, residing on the premises. The Industrial School for Girls was at 232 Centre street in the Dorchester section of Boston, MA. (Mrs. Ethel C. Barry was the matron).
Grace E. (Towle) Trufant died in Kankakee, IL, October 24, 1964.
Norma M. Page – 1926-28
Norma M. Page was born in Milton, NH, in 1903, daughter of Robert and Ida (Sibley) Page.
Robert Page, a barber, aged forty-three years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ida S. Page, aged forty-five years (b. MA), and his children, Norma M. Page, aged seventeen years (b. NH), Irma S. Page, aged eleven years (b. NH), Robert W. Page, aged nine years (b. NH), Ruth E. Page, aged seven years (b. NH), and Charlene A. Page, aged four years, ten months (b. NH). Robert Page owned their farm on Upper Main Street, in Milton Village, free-and-clear.
Norma M. Page appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1926-27 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. She had thirteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1928).
Norma M. Page appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1927-28 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. Margaret Durgin appeared with her in the same capacity, which implies a succession from Page to Durgin during the year. They had seventeen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1929).
Norma Page was a teacher in the Shatswell school in Ipswich, MA, in the 1928-29 academic year. Thereafter, she appeared as Norma Paige. Norma Paige was a teacher in the Shatswell school in Ipswich, MA, in the 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1936-37, and 1937-38, and 1939-40 academic years.
Norma Page appeared in the Milton directory of 1930, as a teacher, with her house at Robert Page’s, at Milton Mills. ROBERT PAGE (Ida S.), appeared as a barber, at Milton Mills.
MILTON MILLS. Miss Norma Page and her friend, Miss Leah Wilson, teachers in the public schools near Boston, spent the week-end at Miss Page’s camp near Lovell lake (Farmington News, October 19, 1934).
ELECTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS. Miss Gertrude Ciolek was employed as a substitute in the first grade at the Shatswell school, due to a heavy enrollment in Grade One. This grade was divided, with Miss Ciolek in charge of one division. Miss Norma Paige is the other first grade teacher (Report of the Town Officers of Ipswich, For the Year Ending December 31, 1937).
PERSONALS. Miss Norma Page of Ipswich, Mass., was the weekend guest of Miss Elena Wilson of Rye (Portsmouth Herald, October 25, 1939).
PERSONALS. Miss Norma Paige, a teacher at the Shatswell school in Ipswich, Mass., spent the weekend as the guest of Miss Elena Wilson of Rye (Portsmouth Herald, December 12, 1939).
PERSONAL MENTION. Miss Norma Paige of Ipswich Mass., spent the weekend as the guest of Miss Elena Wilson of Rye (Portsmouth Herald, January 23, 1940).
Henry Merson, a granite works manager, aged fifty-four years (b. Scotland), headed an Ipswich, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Isabelle S. Merson, aged fifty-two years (b. Scotland), his son, James S. Merson, a lithograph co. researcher, aged twenty-eight years (b. Scotland), and his lodger, Norma Page, a grade school teacher, aged thirty-eight years (b. NH). Henry Merson owned their house at 22 East Street, which was valued at $6,000. Norma Page and James S. Merson had attended three years of college, and Henry Merson and Isabelle S. Merson had attended four years of high school.
Norma Paige was a teacher in the Shatswell school in Ipswich, MA, in the 1940-41, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1943-44. 1944-45 academic years.
CHANGES IN PERSONNEL. Norma Paige, who has been a teacher in Grade I in the Shatswell school since her coming to this community seventeen years ago, resigned in June to accept a position in the school of Malden, Massachusetts. Miss Paige has done an extraordinary amount of in-service training while she was in Ipswich. Her departure is regrettable (Report of the Town Officers of Ipswich, For the Year Ending December 31, 1946).
Norma Page appeared in the Malden, MA, directories of 1948 and 1949 (Paige), as a teacher at the Glenwood School, resident in Melrose, MA.
Helen G. Snow – 1926-27
Helen G. Snow was born in Eaton, NH, March 22, 1903, daughter of Mark R. and Annie M. (Dennett) Snow.
Mark R. Snow, a spool mill teamster, aged thirty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Conway, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie M. Snow, aged forty years (b. ME), and his children, Russell P. Snow, a shoe factory laborer, aged eighteen years (b. NH), and Helen G. Snow, aged sixteen years (b. NH). Mark R. Snow rented their farm.
Helen G. Snow graduated from Plymouth State College, in Plymouth, NH, with its Class of 1923.
Helen G. Snow appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1926-27 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-three enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1928).
Helen G. Snow, a public school teacher, aged twenty-seven years (b. MA), resided at the Y.W.C.A., on Chatham Street in Worcester, MA, at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. She was one of sixty-six residents there, one of three residents who were public school teachers, and one of four residents that had their own radio sets.
Josephine E. Cawley, a widow, aged seventy-two years (b. Canada (Eng.)), headed a Worcester, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her daughters Bessie Cawley, an electric light stenographer, aged forty-nine years (b. Canada (Eng.)), and Mary L. Cawley, a grammar school teacher, aged thirty-seven years (b. Canada (Eng.)), and her lodger, Helen Snow, a grammar school teacher, aged thirty-two [thirty-seven] years (b. NH). Josephine E. Cawley rented their house at 2 Avalon Place, for $35 per month. Mary L. Cawley and Helen Snow had attended three years of college, and Josephine E. Cawley and Bessie Cawley had attended four years of high school. They had all resided in the same place, i.e., Worcester, MA, in 1935.
Helen G. Snow died in Brookline, MA, October 16, 1990.
In Memoriam. Helen G. Snow, [Class of] ’23, Madison, N.H., October 16, 1990 (Plymouth State Update, 1991).
Jessie L. (Tinker) Walsh – 1926-35
Jessie Louise Tinker was born in Wolfeboro, NH, July 1, 1895, daughter of Charles L. and Elizabeth (Whiteworth) Tinker.
Jessie Louise Tinker married in Wolfeboro, NH, April 7, 1917, Earle Leonard Walsh, both of Wolfeboro. She was a teacher, aged twenty-one years, and he was a machinist, aged nineteen years. He was born in Lebanon, ME, May 18, 1897, son of George L. and Carrie M. (Briggs) Walsh.
George L. Walsh, a general farmer, aged forty-nine years (b. NH), headed a Wakefield, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Carrie Walsh, aged forty-seven years (b. ME), his children, Earle L. Walsh, a garage mechanic, aged twenty-three years (b. ME), Charles B. Walsh, an electric co. electrician, aged eighteen years (b. NH), Ralph W. Walsh, aged thirteen years (b. NH), his grandson, Earling Walsh, aged one year (b. NH), his daughter-in-law, Jesse L. Walsh, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), and his boarder, Jeremiah Hodsdon, aged seventy-seven years (b. NH). George L. Walsh owned their farm, free-and-clear.
Jessie L. Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1926-27 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1928).
Jessie L. Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1927-28 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1929).
Jessie L. Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1928-29 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had nineteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1930).
Earle Walsh, a garage mechanic, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills Village”) household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twelve years), Jessie L. Walsh, a grammar school principal, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), his children, Leonard Walsh, aged eleven years (b. MA), and Marilyn Walsh, aged seven years (b. NH), and his father-in-law, Charles A. Tinker, a widower, aged seventy-five years (b. ME). Earle Walsh rented their house on Church Street, for $10 per month. They had a radio set.
Jessie L. Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1931-32 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-one enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1933).
Jessie L. Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1932-33 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had sixteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1934).
Jessie L. Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1933-34 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-four enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1935).
Jessie Walsh appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1934-35 academic year as teacher of the Grammar grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-one enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1936).
MILTON MILLS. Teachers of the local grammar school, Mrs. Jessie Walsh, Mrs. Manora Clayton and Mrs. Rosamond Pike, went to Manchester last Thursday to attend the teachers’ institute. They report interesting sessions, with splendid speakers (Farmington News, October 19, 1934).
At Milton Mills Mrs. Walsh resigned to accept a position in the Wolfeboro Union and Mrs. Etta M. Thurston, who had formerly taught in the same school, was elected (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1936).
Earle L. (Jessie L.) Walsh appeared in the Wolfeboro, NH, directory of 1940, as a funeral director, on North Main street (412), with his house there too.
Earle L. Walsh, an undertaker, aged forty-two years (b. NH), headed a Wolfeboro, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Jessie L. Walsh, a public school teacher, aged forty-three years (b. NH), his children, Earle L. Walsh, Jr., aged twenty-one years (b. MA), and Marilyn Walsh, aged sixteen years (b. NH), and his father, George L. Walsh, aged sixty-nine years (b. NH). Earle L. Walsh owned their house on North Main Street. Jessie L. Walsh, Earle L. Walsh, Jr., and George L. Walsh had all attended four years of high school, Earle L. Walsh and Marilyn Walsh had attended one year of high school.
Jessie L. (Tinker) Walsh died in Wolfeboro, NH, in March 1969.
Margaret E. Durgin – 1927-28
Margaret Ethel Durgin was born in Concord, NH, October 11, 1890, daughter of Luther W. and Ida A. “Annie” (Lockhart). Durgin.
L.W. Durgin, an iron foundry manager, aged sixty-three years (b. MA), headed a Concord, NH, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty-nine years), Annie L. Durgin, aged forty-nine years (b. Canada), and his daughter, Margaret Durgin, aged nineteen years (b. NH). L.W. Durgin rented their house at 13 Summit Street. Annie L. Durgin was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living.
Luther W. Durgin, a cast iron foundry manager, aged seventy-two years (b. MA), headed a Concord, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie Durgin, aged fifty-eight years (b. New Brunswick, Canada), his daughter, Margaret Durgin, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH), and his boarder, Elsie Alexander, a State hospital social worker, aged thirty years (b. NH). Luther W. Durgin owned their house at 13 Summit Street.
Miss Margaret E. Durgin appeared in the Concord, NH, directory of 1924, as a teacher at the Concord High School, boarding at 13 Summit street. Annie L. Durgin appeared as the widow of Luther W. Durgin, with her house at 13 Summit.
Margaret E. Durgin was secretary of the Mount Holyoke Collège Class of 1913. Her entry in its 1924 alumni catalog gave her career to date:
MARGARET E. DURGIN. 13 Summit Ave., Concord, N.H. Tchr 13-14 Waterbury, Vt., 14-15 Concord, N.H.; clerk 20- New Haven, Conn.; Rumford Press 21 Concord, N.H.; supervisor instruction 24 Boston Rubber Shoe Co., Malden (Mount Holyoke College, 1924).
Miss Margaret E. Durgin appeared in the Concord, NH, directory of 1926, as having her house at 13 Summit street. Annie L. Durgin appeared as the widow of Luther W. Durgin, with her house at 13 Summit.
Margaret Durgin appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1927-28 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. Norma M. Page appeared with her in the same capacity, which implies a succession from Page to Durgin during the year. They had seventeen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1929).
Annie L. Durgin, a widow, aged seventy-nine years (b. Canada (Eng.)), headed a Concord, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her daughter, Margaret E. Durgin, marketing manager of the League of New Hampshire Arts & Crafts, aged forty-nine years (b. NH). Annie L. Durgin owned their house at 13 Summit Street, which was valued at $5,000. Margaret E. Durgin had attended five years of college, and Annie L. Durgin had attended eight years of school.
Margaret E. Durgin died in February 1980.
Etta M. (Richards) Thurston – 1927-28, 1935-44
Etta May Richards was born in Owl’s Head, ME, September 15, 1881, daughter of William E. and Climena J. Richards.
Albert F. Richardson of the Eastern State Normal School at Castine, ME, recommended that twenty-eight persons of the Class of 1906, including Etta M. Richards, of Rockport, ME, be granted their diplomas. He noted that they were already teachers of experience, having taught an average of sixty-five weeks (Maine Department of Education, 1907).
Climena J. Richards, (a widow) own income, aged sixty-six years (b. ME), headed a Rockport, ME, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. Her household included her children, Walter G. Richards, a barge engineer, aged thirty-seven years (b. ME), Anna M. Richards, a private family servant, aged thirty-five years (b. ME), and Etta M. Richards, a public school teacher, aged twenty-eight years (b. ME), and her grandchildren, Fred D. Achorn, an odd jobs laborer, aged thirty years (b. ME), and his wife, Carrie I. Achorn, aged twenty-five years (b. ME). Climena J. Richards owned their house on Mechanic Street, free-and-clear; she was the mother of ten children, of whom eight were still living.
Etta Mae Richards married in Auburn, ME, June 25, 1918, Jason Francis Thurston, she of Newport, ME, and he of Auburn. She was a school teacher, aged thirty-six years, and he was a grocer, aged forty-six years. (She was his third wife). He was born in Middleborough, MA, April 16, 1872, son of Francis T. and Marcia E. (Weston) Thurston.
Jason F. Thurston, a minister, aged forty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Belmont, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Etta M. Thurston, a school teacher, aged thirty-eight years (b. ME), his son, Dwight P.B. Thurston, aged fifteen years, and his boarder, Clara L. Davis, retired, aged sixty-one years (b. ME). Jason F. Thurston rented their portion of a two-family house on Depot Street.
Etta R. Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1927-28 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had fifteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1929).
ACTON CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH REOPENED. ACTON, Me., Nov. 6. Reopening services of the Acton Corner Congregational Church, which has been closed for many years, were held today, beginning with a service this afternoon at which Rev. J.F. Thurston of Milton Mills delivered the address of welcome. He was followed by Rev. Dr. Caswell of Laconia, N.H., and Rev. J.C. Bearse of Sanford, speakers. In the evening a praise service and dedication took place, with a sermon by Rev. Ernest Seymour of the New England Evangelistic Association of Boston. Etta May Thurston was soloist (Boston Globe, November 7, 1927).
Etta R. Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1928-29 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had seventeen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1930).
Jason F. Thurston, a Congregational clergyman, aged fifty-eight years (b. MA), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twelve years), Etta M. Thurston, aged forty-eight years (b. ME). Jason F. Thurston rented their house, for $60 per month.
At Milton Mills Mrs. Walsh resigned to accept a position in the Wolfeboro Union and Mrs. Etta M. Thurston, who had formerly taught in the same school, was elected (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1936).
Etta Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1935-36 academic year as teacher of Grades 7-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had fifteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1937).
Etta Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1936-37 academic year as teacher of Grades 7-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had thirteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1938).
Etta Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1937-38 academic year as teacher of Grades 5-6-7-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-one enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1939).
Etta Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1938-39 academic year as teacher of Grades 5-6-7-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-three enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1940).
Etta Thurston appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1939-40 academic year as teacher of Grades 5-6-7-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had fifteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1941).
Jason F. Thurston, aged sixty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Etta M. Thurston, a public school teacher, aged fifty-eight years (b. ME). Jason F. Thurston owned their house on Main Street, in Milton Mills, which was valued at $500. They had resided in the same house in 1935. Jason F. Thurston had attended three years of college, and Etta M. Thurston had attended two years of college.
Superintendent Howard L. Winslow noted Mrs. Thurston’s departure from the Milton Mills School in his report on the 1943-44 academic year:
We secured a good teacher locally to succeed Mrs. Thurston at Milton Mills. Mrs. Thurston resigned late in the summer to take a more advantageous position in her home town in Maine. Mrs. Marion Stanley took her place (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1944).
Mrs. Thurston may have taken a more advantageous position in her hometown of Lebanon, ME, but only for a single year. She appeared in a list of Alton, NH, teachers for the 1945-46 academic year. She and her husband took up residence in the Congregational parsonage there.
ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Alton schools will reopen next Wednesday, September 5, with the following list of teachers: Headmaster of the Alton high school, Henry Hastings; assistants, Miss Anne Garguilo, Miss Ellamarie Nourse, Mrs. Eleanor Hayes; 7 and 8 grades, Mrs. Annie Harris; 5 and 6 grades, Mrs. Etta Thurston; 3 and 4 grades, Mrs. Elizabeth Parker; 1 and 2 grades, Mrs. Una Dearborn (Farmington News, August 31, 1945).
ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mr. and Mrs. Jason Thurston have moved into the Congregational parsonage (Farmington News, October 12, 1945).
Jason F. Thurston [of Alton, NH,] died in Concord, NH, December 16, 1945.
ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Much sympathy is extended to Mrs. Jason Thurston, teacher of the fifth and six grades in the Central school in the death of her husband, Rev. Jason Francis Thurston, which occurred at a Concord hospital last Sunday afternoon He was a native of Middleboro, Mass., and was born April 16, 1882, and graduated from Greenwich, R.I., academy and ordained Methodist minister. Besides his wife, a daughter and four sons survive him. Funeral services were held at Milton Mills, Wednesday; burial will be in Middleboro (Farmington News, December 21, 1945).
ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mrs. Etta Thurston received word last week of the death of her brother (Farmington News, June 14, 1946).
ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mrs. Etta Thurston left town Tuesday for her home in Milton Mills (Farmington News, June 21, 1946).
Etta M. (Richards) Thurston died February 14, 1966.
Helen M. Dunnells – 1928-29
Helen Martha Dunnells was born in Newfield, ME, March 31 1905, daughter of Lester M. and Mable G. (Chick) Dunnells.
Miss Helen M. Dunnells was a friend or acquaintance of Miss Ferne C. McGregor of West Milton’s Nute Ridge school.
WEST MILTON. Miss Helen Dunnells of Newfield, Maine, spent the holiday with Miss Feme McGregor (Farmington News, June 3, 1927).
Helen M. Dunnells appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1928-29 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. She had eighteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1930).
Helen M. Dunnells married June 27, 1929, Norman L. Wentworth, she of Newfield, ME, and he of Acton, ME. He was born in Acton, ME, July 25, 1903, son of Harold E. and Hattie M. (Lowd) Wentworth.
Norman L. Wentworth, a B&M file clerk, aged twenty-seven years (b. ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of one year), Helen M. Wentworth, aged twenty-five years (b. ME). Norman L. Wentworth rented their house. They had a radio set.
Norman Wentworth, a steam railway telegrapher, aged thirty-six years (b. ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Helen D. Wentworth, aged thirty-five years (b. ME), and his children, Joyce E. Wentworth, aged nine years (b. ME), Harlan E. Wentworth, aged four years (b. NH), and Erlan C. Wentworth, aged four years (b. ME). Norman Wentworth rented their house on Fox Ridge, in South Acton, for $12 per month. Helen D. Wentworth had attended one year of college, Norman Wentworth had attended four years of high school, and Joyce E. Wentworth had attended four years of school (to date).
Helen Wentworth of Acton, ME, was one of fifty additional jurors called to Alfred, ME, for October 20, 1964, for the York County murder trial of Joseph R. McDonald. The State accused McDonald of having killed Maine State Trooper Charles C. Black in a South Berwick, ME, bank robbery, July 9, 1964 (Biddeford-Saco Journal, October 16, 1964).
Norman L. Wentworth died in Acton, ME, December 15, 1991. Helen M. (Dunnells) Wentworth died in Sanford, ME, March 28, 2012, aged one hundred six years.
Manora T. (Tuttle) Clayton – 1931-37
Manora Tuttle was born in Wakefield, NH, October 3, 1890, daughter of Daniel N. and Ora F. (Tibbetts) Tuttle.
William W. Berry, a general farmer, aged sixty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Wakefield, NH, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-two years), Elizabeth C. Berry, aged sixty-seven years (b. NH), and his boarder, Manora Tuttle, a public school teacher, aged nineteen years (b. NH). William W. Berry owned their farm free-and-clear. Elizabeth C. Berry was the mother of no children.
UNION. Miss Manora Tuttle of Wakefield spent a few days with Mrs. Hilton Goodwin last week (Farmington News, January 6, 1911).
Manora Tuttle married in Wakefield, NH, June 29, 1919, Frederick W. Clayton, she of Wakefield and he of Madison, NH. He was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, in 1870, son of George and Sarah (Wilson) Clayton. She was a teacher, aged twenty-eight years, and he was a widowed machinist, aged forty-eight years.
Fred (Manora) Clayton appeared in the North Andover directory of 1920, as a mechanic, with his house at 111 Main street. Albert W. Clayton, who had an auto repairs business in Haverhill, MA, resided at 111 Main street.
Fred Clayton, a machine operator, aged forty-nine years (b. England), headed a North Andover, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Menora Clayton, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH). Fred Clayton rented their house at 111 Main Street. He had immigrated into the US in 1893 [1883], and had been naturalized in 1899.
Frederick W. Clayton, a general laborer, aged fifty-nine years (b. England), headed a Madison, NH. household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of ten years), Minora T. Clayton, aged thirty-nine years (b. NH), and his children, Frederick W. Clayton, Jr., aged nine years (b. NH), and Mary F. Clayton, aged one year (b. NH). Frederick W. Clayton owned their house, which was valued at $1,500. They did not have a radio set.
Manora T. Clayton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1931-32 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-seven enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1933).
Frederick W. Clayton died on Main Street, in Milton Mills, March 7, 1932, aged sixty-two years.
Manora T. Clayton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1932-33 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had nineteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1934).
Manora T. Clayton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1933-34 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had sixteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1935).
Manora Clayton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1934-35 academic year as teacher of the Intermediate grades at the Milton Mills school. She had fourteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1936).
MILTON MILLS. Teachers of the local grammar school, Mrs. Jessie Walsh, Mrs. Manora Clayton and Mrs. Rosamond Pike, went to Manchester last Thursday to attend the teachers’ institute. They report interesting sessions, with splendid speakers (Farmington News, October 19, 1934).
MILTON MILLS. Mrs. Daniel N, Tuttle and Miss Abbie Tuttle of Wakefield were callers at the homes of Mrs. Manora Clayton and Mrs. Ralph Hurd, recently (Farmington News, November 23, 1934).
MILTON MILLS. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Hurd had their son John, Mervyn Hurd and son, Mrs. Manora, Clayton and two children, Frederick and Mary Francis Clayton for Thanksgiving (Farmington News, December 7, 1934).
Manora Clayton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1935-36 academic year as teacher of the Grades 4-5-6 at the Milton Mills school. She had nineteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1937).
Milton Mills has at present only 34 pupils and unless there is a considerable increase there the State Department will insist that only two teachers be employed next year (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1937).
Manora Clayton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1936-37 academic year as teacher of the Grades 4-5-6 at the Milton Mills school. She had sixteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1938).
The only change in teachers since the last report is at Milton Mills. Three rooms have been consolidated into two, and Mrs. Manora Clayton released because of illness (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1938).
Manora T. Clayton, a public school teacher, aged forty-nine years (b. NH), headed a Wakefield, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her children, Frederick W. Clayton, aged nineteen years (b. NH), and Mary F. Clayton, aged eleven years (b. NH). Manora T. Clayton rented their house at 10 “State Road Heading West from E. Wakefield to Wakefield,” for $8 per month. They had resided in a Rural place, i.e., one having less than 2,500 inhabitants, in Strafford County in 1935. Manora T. Clayton and Frederick W. Clayton had attended one year of college, and Mary F. Clayton had attended five years of school.
Manora T. (Tuttle) Clayton died in September 1964.
Rosamond E. (Piper) Pike – 1930-40, 1963-64
Rosamond Elizabeth Piper was born in Wakefield, NH, October 6, 1888, daughter of James A. “Arnold” and Laura A. (Evans) Piper.
Rosamond E. Piper appeared in the Milton directory of 1909, as a teacher at the Plummer’s Ridge School, with her home at J.A. Piper’s. James A. Piper appeared as a farmer, with his house five miles north of the Milton depot, and two miles south of the Union depot.
Arnold Piper, an odd jobs carpenter, aged fifty-two years (b. ME), headed a Milton household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty-two years), Laura Piper, aged forty years (b. NH), his children, Rosanna Piper, a town school teacher, aged twenty-one years (b. NH), Grover C. Piper, aged seventeen years (b. NH), and his mother-in-law, Melvina Evans, aged sixty years (b. NH). Arnold Piper owned their house free-and-clear. Laura Piper was the mother of fur children, of whom three were still living. Melvina Evans was the mother of four children, of whom four were still living.
Rosamond E. Piper appeared in the Milton directory of 1912, as having her home at J.A. Piper’s. James A. Piper appeared as a farmer, with his house five miles north of the Milton depot, and two miles south of the Union depot. (Philip G. Pike appeared as a meat peddler, boarding at 18 Highland street, Milton Mills).
Rosamond E. Piper married in Portsmouth, NH, January 3, 1912, Phillip G. Pike, both of Milton. She was a teacher, aged twenty-three years, and he was a butcher, aged twenty-one years. He was born in Milton, May 28, 1890, son of Robert S. and Fannie (Roberts) Piper.
Philip G. Pike, a retail butcher, aged twenty-nine years (b. ME), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Rosamond E. Pike, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), and his children, Louise E. Pike, aged seven years (b. NH), and Philip D. Pike, aged four years (b. NH). Philip G. Pike rented their house.
Philip G. Pike, a retail grocery merchant, aged thirty-eight years (b. ME), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills Village”) household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eighteen years), Rosamond E. Pike, a grammar school teacher, aged forty-two years (b. NH), and his children, Louise E. Pike, aged seventeen years (b. NH), and P. Damon Pike, aged fifteen years (b. NH). Philip G. Pike owned their house on Highland Street, which was valued at $1,000. They had a radio set. (They lived next door to his parents).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1931-32 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. She had nineteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1933).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1932-33 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-five enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1934).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1933-34 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. She had eighteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1935).
Rosamond E. Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1934-35 academic year as teacher of the Primary grades at the Milton Mills school. She had eighteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1936).
MILTON MILLS. Teachers of the local grammar school, Mrs. Jessie Walsh, Mrs. Manora Clayton and Mrs. Rosamond Pike, went to Manchester last Thursday to attend the teachers’ institute. They report interesting sessions, with splendid speakers (Farmington News, October 19, 1934).
MILTON MILLS SCHOOL NOTES. Grades I, II, III. Marion and Daniel McGrath are absent because of illness. Margaret Hale, Roger Pike, Norman Valley, Wilson Dunbar, Harvey Fletcher, Gloria Wentworth, Jane Woodbury, Stephen Woodbury, Mary Clayton, Lillian Goldthwaite, Ann Goodrich and June Runnels were neither absent nor tardy during the six weeks’ period. Mrs. Pike is reading “Folk Tales Every Child Should Know” during morning exercise this week. Miss Northway, R.N., visited the primary room Monday morning. Grades IV and V Report cards were given out Monday for the first time in six weeks. June Wentworth, Roland Pike and Charles Downes received 10 in both columns of spelling on Friday. Alfred Patch, Ann Woodbury, Paul Valley, Fred Clough and Ruth Nute received 100 in one column and 96 In the other. Grades four and five made attractive Indian rug designs in drawing last Friday. Alfred Patch visited a dentist, Monday forenoon. Mrs. Clayton has finished reading “Anton and Trine,” a story of the Alpland during morning exercises. Grade five drew maps in history on Monday, showing the routes of Magellan and Columbus. Grade four drew a map of the voyages of the North men and also a Viking ship. Grade five is memorizing some very good proverbs. Mr. Winslow visited us Monday afternoon. Grades VI, VII VIII. Marilyn Walsh and Maurice Fletcher had 91, Nathalie Willey, Parker Spinney, Jenney Ramsay and Kathleen Thomas had 83 in their arithmetic Monday. Virginia Laskey did the best in her self-testing drill in grade seven. Miriam Willey, Harold Roberts, Fred Spencer and Harry Fletcher had superior work In their problems in grade eight, Monday. Those who had 100 in spelling Monday, were Jennie Ramsay and Kathleen Thomas. In grade six Virginia Laskey, Elizabeth Ramsay, Leon Clough, Leon Hersom and Willard Feeney, in grade seven; Miriam Willey, Fred Spencer, Clifton Hersom and Harold Roberts, in grade eight. Mrs. Spinney visited us Friday noon. We are learning the poem “America for Me.” The sixth grade drew maps of Italy in their study of Europe in geography. The seventh grade had a test on Asia last Thursday. Virginia Laskey, Elizabeth Ramsay and Leon Clough got E. They also had a test in history last Friday. Those who got 80 or more were Virginia Laskey Elizabeth Ramsay Leon Clough, Leon Hersom and Willard Feeney. For writing we have the word “Vie.” Reports will be given out for the first time this week. Mr. Winslow visited us Monday afternoon. Miss Northway, our school nurse, visited us Monday and Friday afternoons. Arnold Nash drew some good witches on our blackboards, Monday, and also colored them well (Farmington News, October 26, 1934).
Rosamond E. Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1935-36 academic year as teacher of Grades 1-2-3 at the Milton Mills school. She had thirteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1937).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1936-37 academic year as teacher of Grades 1-2-3 at the Milton Mills school. She had twelve enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1938).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1937-38 academic year as teacher of Grades 1-2-3-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-five enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1939).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1938-39 academic year as teacher of Grades 1-2-3-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-four enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1940).
Rosamond Pike appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1939-40 academic year as teacher of Grades 1-2-3-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had eighteen enrolled students (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1941).
Philip G. Pike, a retail meat market clerk, aged fifty-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills”) household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eighteen years), Rosmon E. Pike, aged fifty years (b. NH), and his son Damon Pike, an auto factory mechanic, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), his daughter-in-law, Beatrice Pike, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), and his grandson, Wayford Pike, aged nine months (b. NH). Philip G. Pike owned their house on Highland Street, which was valued at $700. Damon Pike had attended four years of high school, Philip G. Pike had attended two years of high school, and Rosmon E. and Beatrice Pike had attended eight years of grammar school. (One might suspect that Philip G. and Rosmon E. Pike’s educational attainments were reported in reverse order, as were their ages).
During the summer Mrs. Rosamond Pike moved from Milton Mills and resigned to take another position near her new home. Miss Carolyn Eaton, of Salisbury, Mass., a graduate of Salem Teachers’ College, was secured to take the vacant position (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1941).
Phillip G. Pike died January 16, 1960.
There was one change at Milton Mills, Mrs. Doris Lowd could not return to her teaching position because of ill health. A number of factors, i.e., shortage of teachers, three classes in one room, and low salary scale prevented the hiring of a teacher qualified to teach the three primary grades. Mrs. Rosamond Pike is teaching the primary grades at the present time and will fill out the year (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1963).
Rosamond E. (Piper) Pike died in January 1972.
Milton Mills. We extend our sincere sympathy to the family of Mrs. Rosamond Pike who passed away at a nursing home last Wednesday (Farmington News, [Thursday,] January 27, 1872).
Carolyn H. Eaton – 1941-43
Carolyn Hervey Eaton was born in Newburyport, MA, March 19, 1915, daughter of Charles A. and Annie M. (Ryan) Eaton.
Charles A. Eaton, a garage mechanic, aged forty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Salisbury, MA, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie M. Eaton, aged forty-two years (b. MA), and his children, Anne M. Eaton, aged sixteen years (b. MA), Caroline H. Eaton, aged fifteen years (b. MA), and Charles A. Eaton, Jr., aged ten years (b. MA). Charles A. Eaton owned their house on Fourth Street, which was valued at $2,000. They did not have a radio set.
Miss Carolyn H. Eaton appeared in the Salisbury, MA, directory of 1932-34, as boarding at 3 Fourth street, P.O. Newburyport, MA. Charles A. (Annie M.) Eaton appeared there as a night watchman, with his house at 3 Fourth street, P.O. Newburyport, MA.
Charles A. Eaton, a shoe shop stationary fireman, aged fifty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Salisbury, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie M. Eaton, aged fifty-two years (b. MA), and his children, Anne M. Eaton, a shoe shop shoe worker, aged twenty-six years (b. MA), Caroline H. Eaton, a public school teacher, aged twenty-five years (b. MA), and Charles A. Eaton, Jr., a new worker, aged twenty years (b. MA). Charles A. Eaton owned their house at 3 Fourth Street, which was valued at $1,800. They had all resided in the same house in 1935. Caroline H. Eaton had attended four years of college, her mother, Annie M. Eaton had attended three years of college, her sister, Anne M. Eaton, had attended four years of high school, her brother, Charles A. Eaton, Jr., had attended three years of high school, and her father, Charles A. Eaton, had attended eight years of grammar school.
During the summer Mrs. Rosamond Pike moved from Milton Mills and resigned to take another position near her new home. Miss Carolyn Eaton, of Salisbury, Mass., a graduate of Salem Teachers’ College, was secured to take the vacant position (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1941).
Carolyn H. Eaton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1940-41 academic year as having taken over for the 1941 portion of the year from Rosamond E. Pike, as teacher of grades 1-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had seventeen enrolled students.
Carolyn H. Eaton appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1942-43 academic year as teacher of grades 1-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-five enrolled students. His report also noted in his report that
Miss Carolyn Eaton was regretfully released to take a more lucrative position of one grade at Durham. A graduate of Keene Teachers’ College, Miss Elinor Leonard of Rochester, has taken her place (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1944).
Boston University conferred a M. Ed. degree upon Carolyn H. Eaton at its summer commencement in Boston, MA, August 16, 1952 (Boston Globe, August 17, 1952).
Carolyn H. Eaton returned to Boston, MA, on a P.A.A. [Pan-American Airlines] flight from Shannon, Ireland, April 9, 1958. Her address was 3 4th St., Ring’s Is., Newburyport, Mass., her age was forty-three years.
Elinor I. Leonard – 1943-45
Elinor Iola Leonard was born in Dover, NH, November 12, 1922, daughter of George R. “Raymond” and Alice L. (Pike) Leonard.
Leon L. Brock, an automotive salesman, aged thirty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Somersworth, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Alice L. Brock, a restaurant dietician, aged thirty-three years (b. NH), his step-daughter, Elinor I. Leonard, aged seventeen years (b. NH), George W. Leonard, aged seventy years (b. NH), and his housekeeper, Nellie V. Bodwell, a private family housekeeper, aged forty-five years (b. MA). Leon L. Brock owned their house at 261 High Street, which was valued at $3,500. Leon L. Brock had lived in Dover, NH, in 1935, Alice L. Brock and her daughter, Elinor I. Leonard had lived in Brattleboro, VT, in 1935, George W. Leonard had lived in the same house in 1935, and Nellie V. Bodwell had lived in Salmon Falls in 1935. Leon L. Brock and Alice L. Brock had attended four years of high school, and Elinor I. Leonard had attended three years of high school (as yet).
Miss Carolyn Eaton was regretfully released to take a more lucrative position of one grade at Durham. A graduate of Keene Teachers’ College, Miss Elinor Leonard of Rochester, has taken her place (Annual Report, For the Year Ending January 31, 1944).
Elinor Leonard appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1944-45 academic year as teacher of grades 1-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-five enrolled students.
Superintendent Howard L. Wilson explained in his 1944-45 report that
Miss Leonard resigned to be married, and Mrs. Doris Dowd [Lowd] succeeded her at the Milton Mills Primary School.
ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED. Mrs. Alice Leonard Brock of the Crown Point section of Strafford announces the engagement of her daughter, Miss Elinor Iola Leonard, to Lt. Robert H. Rollins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Rollins of Keene. Miss Leonard attended school in Farmington and is a graduate of Somersworth high school and Keene Teachers’ College. She has been teaching in Milton Mills. Lt. Rollins is a graduate of Keene high school and was attending the University of New Hampshire when he entered the U.S. army air corps. For the next three years he has been in the Burma-India theatre (Farmington News, August 31, 1945).
Elinor Iola Leonard married in Rochester, NH, October 13, 1945, Robert Harrison Rollins, she of Strafford, NH, and he of Keene, NH. She was a teacher, aged twenty-two years, and he was a lieutenant in the U.S. army air corps, aged twenty-two years. He was born in Nashua, NH, in 1923, son of Raymond H. and Leona M. (Lazett) Rollins.
Robert H. Rollins died in 1991. Elinor I. (Leonard) Rollins died in Clearwater, FL, October, 10, 2010.
ROLLINS, Elinor Iola Leonard 87, of Clearwater for 20 years, formerly of North Easton, MA, passed away peacefully on Oct. 10, 2010 with her loving family by her side. She was the beloved wife of the late Robert H. Rollins. Born in Dover, NH on Nov. 12, 1922, she was the daughter of the late Raymond and Alice (Pike) Leonard and the step-daughter of the late Leon K. Brock. She was the loving mother of Richard D. Rollins and his wife, Carol, of Piscataway, NJ, William R. Rollins and his wife, Michelle, of Blackstone, MA, the late Leonard Rollins and his wife, Margaret Rollins of Carlisle, MA; her cherished seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A graduate of Keene State Teachers College in 1944, she taught at the Milton Mills Elementary School, Milton Mills, NH. She was a member of the VNA-Visiting Nurse Association of North Easton, and a member of the Eastern Star. Elinor enjoyed golfing and was an active member of the Brockton Country Club, and also was a member of the Bridge Club for 37 years. Devoted to her family, she will be greatly missed. Graveside service will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 11 am at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne, MA. In lieu of flowers donations in memory of Elinor may be sent to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114-2699, would be appreciated. Cartier’s Funeral Home, Bellingham, MA (St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, FL, October 24, 2010).
Marion L. (Goodwin) Stanley – 1943-46
Marion Louise Goodwin was born in Lebanon, ME, July 14, 1906, daughter of Charles B. and Mary A. Closson (Morrison) Goodwin.
Charles B. Goodwin, a general farmer, aged sixty-two years (b. ME), headed a Lebanon, ME, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-three years), Mary A. Goodwin, aged sixty-one years (b. NH), his daughter, Marion L. Goodwin, aged twenty-three years (b. ME), and his sister-in-law, Minnie E. Closson, aged fifty-six years (b. NH). Charles B. Goodwin owned their farm. They had a radio set.
Marion L. Goodwin married in Lebanon, ME, September 12, 1939, Harold B. Stanley. He was born in Lebanon, ME, November 12, 1910, son of Edwin S, and Elizabeth A. (Mason) Stanley.
Superintendent Howard L. Winslow note Mrs. Marion Stanley’s arrival at the Milton Mills School in his report on the 1943-44 academic year:
We secured a good teacher locally to succeed Mrs. Thurston at Milton Mills. Mrs. Thurston resigned late in the summer to take a more advantageous position in her home town in Maine. Mrs. Marion Stanley took her place (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1944).
Marion Stanley appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1944-45 academic year as teacher of grades 5-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-eight enrolled students.
Marion Stanley appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1945-46 academic year as teacher of grades 5-8 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-eight enrolled students.
Superintendent Austin J. McCaffrey explained in his 1945-46 report that
Mrs. Ellen Akers of Sanbornville, last year of Newmarket, succeeded Mrs. Marion Stanley, who left teaching Grades V-VIII at Milton Mills. We were fortunate indeed to have such little turnover in a year which brought many changes to out New Hampshire schools (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1946).
Elementary: As principal and teacher of Grades 5-8 of the Milton Mills school, Mr. Richard Gale was selected to replace Mrs. Ellen Akers who resigned in February 1949. (We were fortunate to procure the services of Mrs. Marion Stanley to complete the last school year). Mr. Gale was graduated from Clark University in 1948 and attended the University of New Hampshire during the summer of 1949 (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1949).
John B. Folsom, combined principal of both the Milton Mills and the Milton Elementary schools, noted in his second report (of the 1956-57 academic year), Mrs. Marion Stanley’s return to teaching, but this time at the Milton Elementary School.
PERSONNEL. Mrs. Marion Stanley, known to all of you, replaced Mrs. Foster as teacher of Grades 6 and 7, and Mrs. Zoe Wormwood, who formerly taught in Maine, replaced Mrs. Kimball of Grades 4-7, at Milton Mills (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 19**).
Harold B. Stanley died in Milton, June 29, 1962.
MILTON. TEMPORARY PRINCIPALS. Milton – The Milton School Board has named Miss Marjorie E. Goodwin to take over the principal’s duties at Nute High School until a new principal is elected. Mrs. Marion Stanley is in charge at Milton Elementary School and Mrs. Doris Lowd at Milton Mills (Farmington News, September 13, 1962).
Marion L. (Goodwin) Stanley died in Rochester, NH, January 4, 2002.
MILTON – Marion Louise (Goodwin) Stanley, 95, of Milton died Friday, Jan. 4, 2002, at the Rochester Manor. The daughter of Charles B. and Mary Closson Goodwin, she was born at the family home, Pine Grove Farm, in West Lebanon, Maine, on July 4, 1906. She graduated from West Lebanon High School in 1924, attended the University of New Hampshire, majoring in French, and graduated in 1928 with a bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts. She married Harold Bradley Stanley on Sept. 12, 1939, in West Lebanon, Maine, and had been widowed since 1962. Marion started her teaching career at West Lebanon Grammar School, walking from Milton early each morning to start the fire in the wood stove at the school. She later taught for 15 years at Milton Mills and Milton, retiring after 27 years of service to the community. She continued to serve the community through her activities in the Milton Women’s Club and Milton Women’s Union, where she served in various leadership positions, including president and recording secretary. She has been a member of the Order of the Eastern Star sine April 18, 1944. Marion was an adventurous spirit who loved to travel, enjoyed the outdoors, and knitting, crocheting and making crafts. She continued to knit and crochet caps, mittens, scarves and slippers for nursing home residents and other local charities. Marion will be remembered as a wonderful teacher, for her unselfish acts of kindness and for her work at the annual summer bazaars. Marion is survived by her cousin, Alice Hodsdon of Yarmouth, Maine. Family and friends may call Monday, Jan. 7, 2002, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the R.M. Edgerly and Son Funeral Home, 86 South Main St., Rochester. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. in the chapel of the funeral home with the Rev. Linda Rackliffe officiating. Burial will take place at the Rochester Cemetery in the spring. Memorial donations may be made to the New Hampshire Farm Museum, Milton, or the Milton Community Church Building Fund.
Doris E.A. (Rowell) Lowd – 1944-49, 1955-63
Doris E.A. Rowell was born in Solon, ME, June 13, 1902, daughter of Perley A. and Myrtle B. (Cooley) Rowell.
Perley A. Rowell, a saw mill laborer, aged forty-two years (b. ME), headed a Solon, ME, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Myrtle B. Rowell, aged thirty-seven years (b. ME), and his daughter, Doris E.A. Rowell, aged seventeen years (b. ME). Perley A. Rowell owned their farm on Pleasant Street.
She married August 29, 1925, Albert P. Lowd, she of Solon, and he of Acton, ME. He was born in Acton, ME, January 11, 1902, son of Archie T. and Clara M. (Page) Lowd.
Albert Lowd, a general farmer, aged twenty-eight years (b. ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of four years), Doris Lowd, aged twenty-seven years (b. ME), his children, Enid Lowd, aged three years, four months (b. ME), and Lois Lowd, aged one year, nine months (b. ME). Albert Lowd rented their house. They resided next to the household of Archie Low, a farmer, aged sixty years (b. ME).
Albert Lowd, a dairy farmer, aged thirty-seven years (b. ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Doris Lowd, a public school teacher, aged thirty-seven years (b. ME), his children, Enid Lowd, aged thirteen years (b. ME), and Lois Lowd, aged eleven years (b. ME), his mother, Clara Lowd, a widow, aged seventy years (b. NH), and his sister, Marion Lowd, a public school teacher, aged thirty-two years (b. ME). Albert Lowd owned their farm, “near Milton Mills,” which was valued at $2,500. They had all lived in the same place, i.e., Acton, ME, in 1935.
Doris Lowd appeared in the Milton School Superintendent’s report for the 1945-46 academic year as teacher of grades 1-4 at the Milton Mills school. She had twenty-four enrolled students.
For reasons, upon which we have no control, it has been necessary to transfer Miss Elizabeth J. Lambert to the Milton Grammar School, Grades III and IV. Mrs. Lowd has replaced Miss Lambert at the Milton Mills school, Grades I-IV (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1955).
MILTON. TEMPORARY PRINCIPALS. Milton – The Milton School Board has named Miss Marjorie E. Goodwin to take over the principal’s duties at Nute High School until a new principal is elected. Mrs. Marion Stanley is in charge at Milton Elementary School and Mrs. Doris Lowd at Milton Mills (Farmington News, September 13, 1962).
Mrs. Doris Lowd retired from the Milton Mills School after the 1962-63 academic year.
There was one change at Milton Mills, Mrs. Doris Lowd could not return to her teaching position because of ill health. A number of factors, i.e., shortage of teachers, three classes in one room, and low salary scale prevented the hiring of a teacher qualified to teach the three primary grades. Mrs. Rosamond Pike is teaching the primary grades at the present time and will fill out the year (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1963).
Doris E. (Rowell) Lowd died in Milton Mills, in April 1965. Albert P. Lowd died in Milton Mills, in December 1975.
Ellen G. (Hannaford) Akers – 1947-49
Ellen Gertrude Hannaford was born in Roxbury, ME, circa 1894-95, daughter of Orlando and Emma (Ladel) Hannaford.
Ellen Gertrude Hannaford married in Roxbury, ME, December 22, 1915, Lewis Webster Akers, she of Roxbury and he of Andover, ME. She was a school teacher, aged twenty-one years, and he was a laborer, aged twenty-four years. He was born in Andover, ME, circa 1890, son of Lewis G. and Annie (Andrews) Akers.
Superintendent Austin J. McCaffrey explained in his 1945-46 report that
Mrs. Ellen Akers of Sanbornville, last year of Newmarket, succeeded Mrs. Marion Stanley, who left teaching Grades V-VIII at Milton Mills. We were fortunate indeed to have such little turnover in a year which brought many changes to out New Hampshire schools (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1946).
Elementary: As principal and teacher of Grades 5-8 of the Milton Mills school, Mr. Richard Gale was selected to replace Mrs. Ellen Akers who resigned in February 1949. (We were fortunate to procure the services of Mrs. Marion Stanley to complete the last school year). Mr. Gale was graduated from Clark University in 1948 and attended the University of New Hampshire during the summer of 1949 (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1949).
Richard D. Gale – 1949=50
Richard David Gale was born in Providence, RI, May 15, 1921, son of Frank H. and Janet M. (Goulburn) Gale.
Frank Gale, a utility salesman, aged fifty-six years (b. MA), headed a Pawtucket, RI, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Janet Gale, aged fifty-five years (b. RI), and his son, Richard D. Gale, a post office clerk, aged eighteen years (b. RI). Frank Gale owned their house at 78 North Bend Street, which was valued at $4,000. Frank Gale had attended four years of college, Janet Gale had attended three years of high school, and Richard D. Gale had attended two years of high school. They had all resided in the same house in 1935.
Richard D. Gale appeared in the Pawtucket, RI, directory of 1947, as a student, residing at 78 North Bend street. Frank H. (Janet M). Gale, a collector for BVG&E Co, had their house at 78 North Bend street. He appeared in the Pawtucket, RI, directory of 1949, as having removed to New Durham, NH.
Elementary: As principal and teacher of Grades 5-8 of the Milton Mills school, Mr. Richard Gale was selected to replace Mrs. Ellen Akers who resigned in February 1949. (We were fortunate to procure the services of Mrs. Marion Stanley to complete the last school year). Mr. Gale was graduated from Clark University in 1948 and attended the University of New Hampshire during the summer of 1949 (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1949).
Richard D. Gale died February 27, 2015, aged ninety-three years.
Richard D. Gale
Richard D. Gale. Richard D. Gale formerly of Endicott and Hebron, CT passed away of natural causes at the age of 93 on February 27, 2015 surrounded by family. Dick (as he was known by his many friends) was born in Providence, RI to Frank and Janet (Goulburn) Gale in 1921 and was predeceased by his wife of 67 years, Eleanor F. (Baxter) Gale. Dick was the proud father of his children Janet, Mary, David, George and proud grandfather of his grandsons. Dick and Eleanor met while serving in the Navy during World War II and were lifetime members of the American Legion. Their joint interest led them to be active participants in the local and Dunkeswell, England preservation of B-24’s in which Dick flew over 60 missions as a crew member. Dick attended the University of Rhode Island, completed his Bachelor’s degree at Clark University and received his Master’s degree in Education at Plymouth University. Dick began his lifelong career in education first in one-room school houses in NH; then serving as school Principal in CT; followed by a move to Endicott where served as Principal and later as an Assistant to the Superintendent. Dick cherished his family and friends. He enjoyed outdoor adventures in the White Mountains; hiking the Long Trail with his son; climbing Mount Rainier; and playing tennis with colleagues and friends. After living a continuously active, productive and engaged lifetime, Dick will be remembered for his enthusiasm for life, engagement with community issues, lifetime interest in the education of children; long lists of “things to do” and for always planning ahead. Dick Gale’s Celebration of Life was held in NH where he was buried alongside his wife, Eleanor Gale (Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, May 17, 2015).
Leslie E. Lowry, Jr. – 1950-52
Leslie Erwin Lowry, Jr., was born in Chicago, IL, September 17, 1920, son of Leslie E. and Anne A. (Watt) Lowry.
Leslie E. Lowry, a fire alarms co. salesman, aged sixty years (b. VA), headed a Newton, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Anne Lowry, aged fifty-four years (b. VA), and his children, Leslie Lowry, Jr., aged nineteen years (b. IL), and Richard Lowry, aged fifteen years (b. IL). Leslie E. Lowry rented their house at 21 Royce Road, for $70 per month. They had all resided in Chicago, IL, in 1935.
Leslie E. Lowry, Jr., appeared in the Newton, MA, directory of 1948, as a student, resident at 146 Lincoln street, in NH [Newton Highlands]. Leslie E. (Annie A.) Lowry appeared as foreign office manager, for the Gamewell Co. (UF), with their house at 146 Lincoln street, NH. (Jean Lowry, widow of William Lowry, resided there too).
Leslie E. Lowry, Jr., married in Newton, MA, in 1949, Jane Hill. She was born in Newton, MA, February 23, 1923, daughter of Donald M. and Katherine L. (Gage) Hill.
Leslie E. Lowry, Jr., was principal of the Milton Mills school for the 1950-51 and 1951-52 academic years.
At Milton Mills School Martha Hefler and Leslie Lowry replaced Mrs. Doris Lowd and Richard Gale (Annual Report, 1951).
Brookline. Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Lowry and son of Milton Mills was an Easter guest of her mother, Mrs. Katherine Hill, at her home here (Nashua Telegraph, April 5, 1951).
Brookline. Mrs. Leslie Lowry and son Milton Mills are spending the summer with her mother, Mrs. Katherine Hill, in West Brookline (Nashua Telegraph, July 7, 1951).
Mr. Paul Spilios, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, replaces Leslie Lowry who accepted a teaching position in Attleboro, Mass. Miss Elizabeth Lambert, also a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, with experience in Hebron, Me., replaces Martha Hefler, who is now teaching in Goffstown (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1952).
Jane (Hill) Lowry died at Lady Lake, FL, March 28, 2007. Leslie E. Lowry, Jr., died at Lady Lake, FL, October 5, 2007.
Martha E. Hefler – 1950-52
Martha Ellen Hefler was born in Milton, MA, in 1928, daughter of William A. and Geraldine M. (Doyle) Hefler.
William A. Hefler, a baker, aged forty years (b. MA), headed a Brookline, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Geraldine M. Hefler, aged thirty-eight years (b. MA), and his children, William A. Hefler, Jr., aged fifteen years (b. MA), Ann P. Hefler, aged fourteen years (b. MA), Martha E. Hefler, aged twelve years (b. MA), James R. Hefler, aged ten years (b. MA), and David O. Hefler, aged two years (b. MA). William A. Hefler rented their house at 29 Smith Road, for $110 per month. They had all, except the toddler, resided in the same place, i.e., Milton, MA, in 1935. William A. Hefler had attended four years of college, Geraldine M. Hefler had attended two years of college, and the others various year of school.
Miss Martha E. Hefler of Milton, MA, appeared in a group photograph of camp counselors and staff at Camp Watnananock, on Sunset Lake, in Greenfield, NH, in August 1947. She was a senior counselor (Nashua Telegraph, August 7, 1947). [Very grainy image].
At Milton Mills School Martha Hefler and Leslie Lowry replaced Mrs. Doris Lowd and Richard Gale (Annual Report, 1951).
Boston University conferred a Master of Education (M. Ed.) on Martha E. Hefler, August 16, 1952 (Boston Globe, August 17, 1952).
Mr. Paul Spilios, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, replaces Leslie Lowry who accepted a teaching position in Attleboro, Mass. Miss Elizabeth Lambert, also a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, with experience in Hebron, Me., replaces Martha Hefler, who is now teaching in Goffstown (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1952).
Martha Hefler appeared in another photo from Camp Watananock, on Sunset Lake, in Greenville, NH, in August 1953, She was by now the head counselor (Nashua Telegraph, August 21, 1953).
Martha E. (Hefler) Verville.
Paul G. Spilios – 1952-53
Paul George Spilios was born in Milwaukee, WI, January 28, 1924, son of George and Anna (Syrios) Spilios.
George Spilios, a retail candy store merchant, aged fifty-two years (b. Greece), headed a Milwaukee, WI, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Antonia Spilios, aged fifty-five years (b. Greece), his children, Anne Spilios, aged eighteen years (b. WI), Paul Spilios, aged sixteen years (b. WI), his brother, Daniel Spilios, a suitcase factory sewer, aged fifty-five years (b. Greece), and his granddaughter, Elizabeth Tararelus, aged three years (b. NY). George Spilios rented their house at 3105 South 11th Street, for $40 per month. They had all resided in the same place, i.e., Milwaukee, WI, in 1935.
Paul G. Spilios of New York, NY, enlisted in New York, NY, as a private (branch immaterial (warrant officers)), February 27, 1943. He was single, with one year of college. He was 67″ tall and weight 156 pounds.
Mr. Paul Spilios, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, replaces Leslie Lowry who accepted a teaching position in Attleboro, Mass. Miss Elizabeth Lambert, also a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, with experience in Hebron, Me., replaces Martha Hefler, who is now teaching in Goffstown (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1952).
Paul G. (Helen A.) Spilios appeared in the Dover, NH, directory of 1953, as a teacher, at Milton Mills, with his house at Wilbrod avenue.
The School Board of Portsmouth, NH, named Paul Spilios of Somersworth, NH, as an English teacher at the Portsmouth junior high school, at a salary of $4,115 (Portsmouth Herald, May 14, 1958).
Paul G. Spilios – 1962
Paul (Helen) Spilios appeared in the Somersworth, NH, directory of 1960, as an employee of the Cocheco Manufacturing Co. in Dover, with his house on High street, near Central park, P.O. Dover, R.D. 3.
The University of New Hampshire planned a six-week summer institute for elementary teachers in the summer of 1966. Paul Spilios was to be a guest lecturer.
UNH faculty and staff members who will serve as guest lecturers include William A. Brady, director of instructional services for WENH-TV; Keith Nighbert, manager of WENH-TV; Dr. Walter N. Durosi, director of the UNH Bureau of Educational Research and Testing Services; and Paul Spilios, UNH Audio-Visual Center coordinator (Portsmouth Herald, March 9, 1966).
Paul G. Spilios died in Richmond, NY, January 22, 1970, aged forty-five years.
Paul G. Spilios. DOVER – Paul G. Spilios, 45, of 4 Willard Ave., audio-visual coordinator and lecturer in education at the University of New Hampshire, died unexpectedly yesterday at the home of his mother in Richmond, N.Y. Born in Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 28, 1924, he was the son of George and Anna (Syrios) Spilios. He was an Army veteran of World War II and a member of the Christian Believers Fellowship of Dover. He attended Columbia University and the Army Specialized Training Program at Princeton University. He was awarded a bachelor of arts degree by UNH in 1951 and his master’s in 1961. He was a teaching fellow in 1962-63, and pursuing doctoral studies al Boston University m 1963-69. He taught English and history at Portsmouth High School, English at Dover High, and also was principal of the Garrison Elementary School in Dover. Mr. Spilios was past president of the Dover Teachers Association. He had attended a professional conference in Miami, Fla., and was visiting on the return trip with his mother and sister in Richmond Hill. Survivors include his mother; his wife, Mrs. Helen (Polychronis) Spilios; a daughter, Miss Mary Ann Spilios, and a son, James D., both of Dover; two sisters, Mrs. Mary Taxarthis of Miami. Fla., and Mrs. Ann Barone of Richmond Hill; and several nieces and nephews (Portsmouth Herald, January 23, 1970).
Fund Assisted. Dover High School students recently contributed nearly $201 to the Paul Spilios Memorial Fund, established in memory of the University of New Hampshire Audio-Visual Center official who died earlier this year. To date more than $1500 has been given to the fund established to assist needy UNH students. From left arc: Merrill Chasse and Sterling Jordan, Dover High students; Mrs. Marsha Kennedy, fund chairman; Thomas Munson, director for Dover public schools; Marie Donahue, chairman of the Dover High School English department and Raymond Havey, Dover High School projectionist (UNH Photo) (Portsmouth Herald, June 3, 1970).
Elizabeth J. Lambert – 1952-55
Elizabeth Lambert was born in Norwich, CT, circa 1929, daughter of Gustave and Beatrice S. (Freeman) Lambert.
Gustave Lambert, a truck driver, aged thirty-eight years B. CT), headed an Norwich, CT, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Beatrice S. Lambert, aged thirty-four years (b. CT), and his children, Elizabeth J. Lambert, aged eleven years (b. CT), and Sallyann Lambert, aged ten years (b. CT). Gustave Lambert owned their house on the Old Canterbury Turnpike, which was valued at $4,500. They had all resided in the same house in 1935. Beatrice S. Lambert had attended four years of high school, Gustave Lambert had attended eight years of school, Elizabeth J. Lambert had attended five years of school, and Sallyann Lambert had attended four years of school.
Lemont Children Give Party for Schoolmates. A Hallowe’en party was given for a group of schoolmates by Virginia and Mason Lemont at their home on Woodlawn avenue recently. With a background of decorations in orange and black, children performed traditional stunts of the season, including bobbing for apples and eating doughnuts from a string. Feature of the refreshments was a 50-pound pumpkin centerpiece filled with flowers. Those attending were Sally and Elizabeth Lambert, Natalie Paul, Phyllis Tilton, Janet Trefethen, Harvey and Richard Matt, Roy Armsden and Irvin Lawler (Portsmouth Herald, November 4, 1943),
Miss Elizabeth A. Lambert appeared in the Exeter, NH, directory of 1949, as a student (U. of N.H.), boarding at Gustave Lambert’s, at r.f.d. 2 in Kensington, NH. Gustave (Beatrice) Lambert appeared as a farmer, with his house on Moulton Ridge road, at r.f.d 2 in Kensington. Miss Sally Ann Lambert, appeared also as a student (U. of N.H.), boarding also at Gustave Lambert’s.
Mr. Paul Spilios, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, replaces Leslie Lowry who accepted a teaching position in Attleboro, Mass. Miss Elizabeth Lambert, also a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, with experience in Hebron, Me., replaces Martha Hefler, who is now teaching in Goffstown (Annual Report, For the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1952).
Miss Elizabeth J. Lambert was transferred from Milton Mills School to the Milton Elementary School, where she taught Grades 3-4 in the 1955-56 and 1956-57 academic years.
For reasons, upon which we have no control, it has been necessary to transfer Miss Elizabeth J. Lambert to the Milton Grammar School, Grades III and IV. Mrs. Lowd has replaced Miss Lambert at the Milton Mills school, Grades I-IV (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1955).
Miss Lambert resigned from her position at the Milton Elementary School at the conclusion of the 1956-57 academic year.
Mrs. Frances Scott, with experience in Rochester and Maine, replaced Miss Lambert, who resigned at the end of last year to accept a position in her home town (Annual Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1958).
Miss Elizabeth Lambert taught Grades 1-2 in Kensington, NH, in the 1957-58 academic year. Her students and those of Mrs. Pearl Marston (Grades 3-5) participated in the Memorial Day program at the Town Hall (Kensington Town Report, For the Year Ending December 31, 1959).
Miss Elizabeth J. Lambert appeared in the Exeter and N.H. directory of 1960, as a teacher at the Kensington Elementary School, resident on Moulton Ridge Road in Kensington, NH, RD 2 in Exeter, NH. Gustave (Beatrice C) Lambert appeared as a Kensington Selectman and farmer, with his house on Moulton Ridge road, in Kensington, NH, RD 2 in Exeter, NH.
Continued in Milton Mills’ Teachers, 1953-68. (The Milton Mills School closed after the 1967-68 academic year).