Nute High School Principals, 1923-57

By Muriel Bristol | February 2, 2020

Continued from Nute High School Principals, 1891-21 [In which Edwin S. Huse’s tenure should have extended to Spring 1923].


The headmasters of Milton’s Nute High School for its thirty-third through its sixty-sixth years were: R. Harold Gillmore, 1923-26; Ralph G. Reed, 1926-29; Eshburne O. Judkins, 1929-31; Philip R. Burlingame, 1931-36; Austin L. Howard, 1936-39; Robert R. Anderson, 1939-42; John L. Knight, 1943-44; Elliot W. Burbank, 1944-49; and Walter J. Foster, 1949-57.

Nute High School - J.H. Willey
Nute High School. “Publ. by J.H. Willey, Milton, N.H. No. 4. Made in Germany”

Beginning in 1928 we have readily available for the first time annual Town Reports, with the annual reports of the Nute High School headmasters. An example of each headmaster’s annual reports have been included in the text.

Ralph Harold Gillmore – 1923-26

Ralph Howard Gillmore was born in Lynn, MA, September 8, 1894, son of Edward and Inez M. (Andrews) Gillmore.

Ralph H. Gillmore of Concord, NH, joined the 120 men and 43 women of the Freshman class (“Class of 1916”), which was the largest class to date, at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT, in September 1912 (Middlebury Register, September 27, 1912).

Gillmore, Ralph H - UNH
Ralph Harold Gilmore, 1917

RALPH HAROLD GILLMORE, “ROSIE.” Concord. Concord High. Mechanic Arts. “Rosie” transferred to New Hampshire from Colby in order to be closer to “the ideal of his dreams,” and also to take advantage of the excellent training given by our illustrious “Wood Shop Butcher.” As a social chap, “Rosie” is a leader, and is substantiated by a frequent visitor who hails from the metropolis of Concord. Bits of conversation which have been overheard during these periodic trysts, lead us to believe that Harold is not as quiet as our first impression indicated. However, we heartily welcome our rosy-cheeked Concord lad and we wish him the best of luck in this, his second choice of an Alma Mater. ΑΤΩ; Transferred from Colby (3) (New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts Yearbook, Durham, NH, 1917).

Ralph Harold Gilmore of Concord, NH, registered for the WW I military draft in Concord, NH, June 5, 1917. He was a self-employed farmer in Pembroke, NH, aged twenty-two years (b. Lynn, MA, September 8, 1895). He was of medium height, with a medium build, brown eyes, and dark brown hair.

He married in Concord, NH, June 30, 1917, Lena May Winslow, he of Concord and she of Chichester, NH. She was born in Chichester, NH, in 1897, daughter of Frank and Mary J. (Lake) Winslow. She was likely “the ideal of his dreams” mentioned in his college yearbook.

R. Harold Gillmore and his wife, Lena Gillmore, appeared in the Concord directory of 1919 as having moved to Chichester, NH, R.F.D. #14.

Ralph H. Gillmore, a high school teacher, aged twenty-five years (b. MA), headed a Casco, ME, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Lena M. Gillmore, aged twenty-two years (b. NH), and his son, Vernell W. Gillmore, aged one year, eight months (b. NH). Ralph H. Gillmore rented their house in Casco town.

R. Harold Gilmore appeared in the Maine Register for 1920 as principal of the Woodstock High School of Woodstock, Oxford County, ME.

There have been three new teachers on the faculty this year. Mr. Crooker was replaced by Mr. R. Harold Gilmore as principal. Miss Olive Chase was secured as an assistant. At the Christmas recess, she was obliged to undergo an operation on her throat, so she had to leave the faculty. Mr. Byron W. Barker was secured to take her place and serve out the school year. Mrs. Swan expects to terminate her teaching in June, after 14 years of faithful and efficient service as a teacher in Woodstock high school. She had also served two years as superintendent of schools in Woodstock (The Woodstock High School Eureka, Spring 1921).

R. Harold Gilmore appeared in a list of the high school headmasters and principals whose secondary schools had been approved by the NH Board of Education for the 1923-24 academic year. He was listed as the headmaster of the Nute High School, in Milton, which was classed as an A4 school. “Class A includes all schools with complete secondary programs … An attached number shows the number of years in the approved program” (NH State Board of Education, 1924).

R. Harold Gillmore, a high school teacher, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), headed a Hardwick, MA, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirteen years), Lena W. Gillmore, aged thirty-two years (b. NH), and his son, Vernell W. Gillmore, aged eleven years (b. NH). Ralph H. Gillmore rented their house on New Braintree Road, for $25 per month. They had a radio set.

Lena W. Gillmore, aged forty-two years (b. NH), headed a Pembroke, NH, household. She owned her house on the Pembroke Hill Road, which was valued at $4,000. She had resided in Hardwick, MA, in 1935. There appears to have been an enumeration error by which her husband was omitted from their household. Another enumerator recorded him on a supplementary page. R. Harold Gillmore, a public high school principal, aged forty-six years (b. MA), headed a Pembroke, NH, household in this same Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. He owned his house on Pembroke Street, which was valued at $4,000. He had resided in Pembroke in 1935.

Ralph Harold Gilmore of Pembroke, NH (RFD #4, Concord, NH), registered for the WW II military draft in Concord, NH, April 26, 1942. He was employed by the Town of Hardwick, MA, aged forty-seven years (b. Lynn, MA, September 28, 1894). Lena M. Gillmore, RFD #4, Concord, NH, was his contact. Their telephone number was Concord 698-23. He was 5′ 7″ in height, weighed 175 pounds, with brown eyes, brown hair, and a light complexion.

Ralph H. Gillmore appeared as a farmer in the Concord, NH, directories of 1943 and 1947. He and his wife, Lena W. Gillmore, had their house and farm at Pembroke Hill, R.D. #4.

R. Harold Gillmore appeared in the Concord, NH, directories of 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1960, and 1962. He and his wife, Lena W. Gillmore, had their house at 64 N. Main street. He was a farmer in 1947 and 1957, and retired in 1960 through 1962.

R. Harold Gillmore died in 1967. Lena M. (Winslow) Gillmore died in 1983.

Ralph Gerry Reed – 1926-29

Ralph G. Reed was born in Bridgton, ME, April 22, 1886, son of Wilbur M. and Carrie W. (Osgood) Reed.

He married in Haverhill, MA, September 18, 1909, Blanche Alma Favor, he of Bridgton, ME, and she of Franklin, NH. He was a teacher, aged twenty-three years, and she at home, aged twenty-three years. She was born in Hill, NH, March 16, 1886, daughter of Llewelyn D. and Alma A. (Caverly) Favor.

ALUMNI. [Class of] 1909 – Ralph G. Reed is principal of the High School at Marlboro, New Hampshire (Bates Student, February 1911).

Ralph Gerry Reed of Sherman Mills, ME, registered for the WW I military draft in Houlton, ME, September 12, 1918. He was employed as a teacher by the Town of Sherman, ME, aged thirty-two years (b. April 22, 1886). He was of tall height, with a slender build, blue eyes, and brown hair. His nearest relative was Blanche F. Reed of Sherman Mills, ME.

Ralph G. Reed, a high school teacher, aged thirty-three years (b. ME), headed a Sherman, ME, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Blanche A. Reed, aged thirty-three years (b. NH), and his children, Carol L. Reed, aged nine years (b. ME), Glendon Reed, aged six years (b. ME), Cherry Reed, aged one year, nine months (b. ME), and Stanley D. Reed, aged two months (b. ME). Ralph G. Reed rented their house on the Mills Road.

Reed’s daughter, Carol L. Reed, won the Nute High School Thrift Week essay contest in January 1927. The set topic was “Benjamin Franklin’s Contribution to American Independence.” Her winning Nute essay then moved up to be judged in the Strafford County essay contest. At that level, it was John Woodman, a Rochester sophomore, who won the Strafford County Thrift Week essay contest (Farmington News, February 4, 1927).

Ralph G. Reed’s third annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1928-29, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1928, i.e., for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1929.

Reed, Ralph G. - Detail
Ralph G. Reed

REPORT OF HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Members of the Board of Trustees:

I herein submit for your consideration my third annual report as headmaster of Nute High School.

The school year opened September 4 with an enrollment of eighty pupils, thirty-eight girls and forty-two boys. One boy registered later in the Fall making the total enrollment for the year eighty-one. During the first half year nine pupils have withdrawn from school leaving our enrollment at the present time seventy-two. The number of pupils leaving school has been greater than during the past two years, the reasons being justifiable in many instances. Three removed from town, two were unable to secure transportation, one was due to sickness and the remaining three were either indifferent to high school work or unprepared for it.

Nute High School has received creditable mention from the state department for several years for maintaining a high per cent attendance each year. This year we continued the good record for some weeks by having an average of 98% but epidemics of contagious diseases began to afflict us in December and soon afterward the prevailing epidemic of influenza began to make itself evident among the pupils in ever increasing numbers, on many days from twelve to twenty pupils being absent.

The splendid class which was graduated from the school last June left a gap in the scholastic, literary, musical, and athletic activities which is very difficult to fill and which will take time and effort to replace.

The tuition rate has been increased from sixty dollars per year to seventy-one dollars and eighty-two cents, this amount being the maximum amount allowed by the state to charge, the figures being based upon the annual per capita cost per pupil. There are twenty-eight tuition pupils registered at the present time.

Respectfully submitted,

RALPH G. REED, Milton, N.H., February 5, 1929.

Ralph G. Reed was headmaster at the Amherst, NH, high school beginning with the 1929-30 academic year. He submitted his third annual report, dated Amherst, N.H., February 1, 1932 (Amherst Town Report, 1932).

Ralph G. Reed, a town school teacher, aged forty-three years (b. ME), headed an Amherst, NH, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty years), Blanche A. Reed, aged forty-four years (b. NH), his children, Carol L. Reed, aged nineteen years (b. NH), Shirley B. Reed, aged twelve years (b. ME), and S. Duane Reed, aged ten years (b. ME), and his nephew, Arthur E. Reed, aged ten years (b. MA). They had a radio set. Ralph G. Reed rented their part of a two-family residence on Depot Street, for $12 per month. Their widowed landlady, Celia A. Fulton, private family housework, aged fifty-eight years (b. MA), occupied the other part. The whole was valued at $1,200.

Ralph G. Reed appeared in a list of the high school headmasters and principals whose secondary schools had been approved by the NH Board of Education for the 1931-32 academic year. He was listed as the headmaster of the Amherst High School, in Amherst, NH, which was classed as an A4 school. “Class A includes all schools with complete secondary programs … An attached number shows the number of years in the approved program.”

Ralph G. Reed died November 17, 1933. Alma A. (Favor) Reed died in Acton, MA, July 24, 1981.

REED – Of Acton, July 24, Blanche (Favor), wife of the late Ralph G. Reed. Mother of Mrs. Carol Coyne of Florida, Stanley D. Reed of Shirley, Mrs. Shirley Goodman of Acton, Mrs. Lorraine Fadden of Norway, Maine and the late Glendon T. Reed. Sister of Vera Favor of Tilton, NH. Also survived by several grandchildren and great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at a later date at The South Acton Congregational Church. Memorial gifts in her name may be made to The South Acton Congregational Church. Acton, MA 01720. Arrangements by The Acton Funeral Home (Boston Globe, July 26, 1981).

Eshburne Oscar Judkins – 1929-31

Eshburne Oscar Judkins was born in Upton, ME, January 31, 1893, son of Albert W. and Bertha L. (Morse) Judkins.

Eshburn Oscar Judkins of Upton, ME, registered for the WW I military draft in Upton, ME, June 4, 1917. He was a student, aged twenty-four years (b. Upton, ME, January 31, 1893). He was of tall height, with a slender build, blue eyes, and light brown hair.

Eshburn O. Judkins was inducted into the U.S. Army in South Paris, ME, July 25, 1918. He was promoted to Private First Class, September 20, 1918. He was overseas in Europe, between October 3, 1918 and October 21, 1919, where he was attached to various Army Ordnance detachments and departments. He was demobilized on November 4, 1919.

Eshburn O. Judkins appeared as a senior in the University of Maine’s Prism yearbook of 1924-25. He graduated in June 1925 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

ESHBURN O. JUDKINS, “Jud,” Upton. Gould’s Academy. [Major:] Mechanical Engineering. Ex-’16, ex-19, ex-22; Class Track (1), (2); Class Baseball (1), (2); Class Basketball (2); Varsity Basketball (3); Varsity Track (3); Track Club (3); “M” Club (3), (4); President, Dormitory Council (3), (4); Class Nominating Committee (3), (4); Senator, Students’ Council (4); Committee on Student Activities (4) (Prism, 1924).

Eshburn O. Judkins, aged thirty-three years, married (1st) in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, September 14, 1926, Lena Flora Estey, aged twenty-eight years, he of Upton, ME, and she of Oak Bluffs. She was born in Fitchburg, MA, January 12, 1898, daughter of Wallace A. and Flora J. (Ray) Estey.

Lena Flora Estey graduated from the Norton, MA, high school with the Class of 1916 (she was one of only four graduating Seniors), of which she was the valedictorian. Her valedictory address was entitled “Present Day Opportunities.” She also played a piano solo entitled “Scintillements.”

Two of last year’s graduates from the commercial department. Miss Helen Morgan and Miss Bertha Lincoln, entered business offices soon after they were graduated. A third graduate. Miss Lena F. Estey is attending Wheaton College (Norton Town Report, 1917).

Lena F. Estey appeared in the annual Oak Bluffs Town Reports as Librarian of the town’s public library, between April 1922 and December 1925. One might speculate – with no actual evidence – that a vacationing Eshburn O. Judkins met her at her library. Its hours were “Daily, except Sun., 2-5, 6-8” (MA Free Public Library Commission, 1924).

Healdville.  Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Judkins of Springfield, Mass., were recent visitors at A.O. Estey’s (Rutland Daily Herald, December 4, 1926).

Oscar E. Judkins (and his wife Lena Judkins) appeared in the Bristol, CT, directory of 1927, as a teacher, with a house at Rear 55 Maple street.

Boy Scout Notes. A full organization of Scoutmaster, two assistant Scoutmasters, five troop committeemen and two patrols of 16 Scouts was effected at West Pawlet last week. The leaders chosen are: Scoutmaster, E.O. Judkins; assistants, James Clark and John Morrow; troop committee, Clarence J. Watters, Arthur H. Morrow, W.O. Williams, Thomas J. Williams, and Ralph Beecher; patrol leaders, Glenn Fitzgerald and Watkin Griffith; scribe, John C. Williams. This makes the 30th troop to be organized in the council area (Rutland Daily Herald, February 27, 1928).

Arlington. County Spelling Contest. The winner of the Bennington county spelling contest, which was held in the Arlington Memorial High school Saturday afternoon, was Miss Mary Shaw of Bennington, with Miss Gertrude Levin of Manchester Center being second. The alternates were James Clarke of Manchester and Albert King of Readsboro. The judges were Capt. Herbert Wheaton Congdon of Arlington, H.C. Matthews, Principal of the Pawlet High school, and E.O. Judkins, principal of the West Pawlet school. Alva Noble of Readsboro acted as chairman of the committee to review the written papers, the contest being conducted by E.L. Bigelow of Manchester Center, superintendent of schools (Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, VT, May 21, 1928).

West Pawlet. Prof. and Mrs. E.O. Judkins have returned from a summer vacation. He will resume his duties Monday in the West Pawlet high school (Rutland Daily Herald, September 10, 1928).

West Pawlet. The staff teaching in the High school includes: Prof. E.O. Judkins of Maine, Mrs. Kate Richardson of Boston, Miss Myra Ellwell of Bennington, Miss Meredith Clapper of Selkirk, Fourth, fifth and sixth grades are being taught by Miss Fish of Wallingford and first, second and third by Mrs. Mary Jackson Hughes. Miss Hazel Roberts is teaching at Nelsonvllle and Miss Gertrude Tobin at Braintree (Rutland Daily Herald, September 13, 1928).

West Pawlet. Prof. E.O. Judkins went to Warren, N.H., Friday after Mrs. Judkins, who had been spending a month with her parents. They returned Sunday (Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, VT), April 29, 1929).

Robert Oscar Judkins, second child of Eshburn O. Judkins (headmaster, b. Upton, ME) and Lena Estey (b. Fitchburg, MA), was born in Rochester, NH, October 16, 1929 (Milton Vital Records).

E.O. Judkins’ first annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1929-30, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1929, i.e., for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1930.

REPORT OF HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL.

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Members of the Board of Trustees:

The school year opened September 3 with an enrollment of seventy-four, seventeen seniors, fifteen juniors, twenty-two sophomores, and twenty-one freshmen. We now have seventy-five pupils of which number twenty-four are tuition pupils.

Twelve pupils are registered for the college preparatory curriculum and sixty-three for the general business.

The general business curriculum program has been enriched and broadened by the substitution of junior business practice for commercial arithmetic in the freshman year, and the giving of a complete bookkeeping course in the sophomore year. These are to be followed by the introduction of typewriting and correspondence in the junior year and office practice in the senior year. Other commercial courses are commercial history and geography and economics and commercial law.

Extra-curricular activities consisting of base-ball, basket-ball, prize speaking, dramatics, the school publication, orchestra, chorus, and scholarship day round out the program.

To meet the state requirements and replace worn-out books it has been necessary to buy new texts for English, junior business practice, history of civilization, modern European history, and reference books for sociology and economics and law.

The attendance has been high and the school spirit good.

Respectfully submitted,

E.O. JUDKINS.
Milton, N.H., February 7, 1930.

Eshburn O. Judkins, a high school headmaster, aged thirty-seven years (b. ME), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Lena E. Judkins, aged thirty-two years (b. MA), and his children,  Mary Jane Judkins, aged one year (b. VT), and Robert O. Judkins, aged six months (b. NH). They rented their residence on the Farmington Road, for $25 per month. They did not have a radio set. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Sarah P. Haley, a widow, aged eighty-two years (b. NH), and her tenant, William S. Lougee, a fibre mill superintendent, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), on the one side, and Huon L. French, a high school janitor, aged seventy-seven years (b. NH), on the other.

Barbara Lena Judkins, third child of Eshburn O. Judkins (headmaster, b. Upton, ME) and Lena Estey (b. Fitchburg, MA), was born in Rochester, NH, January 22, 1931 (Milton Vital Records),

O. Eshburn Judkins, superintendent of schools, aged forty-seven years (b. ME, headed a Reed Plantation, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, E. Lena Judkins, housework, aged forty-two years (b. ME), his children, J. Mary Judkins, aged elevn years (b. ME), O. Robert Judkins, aged ten years (b. ME), L. Barbara Judkins, aged nine years (b. ME), and E. Geraldine Judkins, aged five years (b. ME), and his lodger, T. Stanley Ritchie, a hoop-shaving laborer, aged fifty-one years (b. ME). O. Eshburn Judkins owned their house at 16 Main Street, which was valued at $700. They had resided in the “same house” in 1935.

Lena F. (Estey) Judkins died in Lassen, CA, June 26, 1965. He married (2nd) in Arlington, VA, September 15, 1968, Marjorie Martin.

Eshburne O. Judkins died in Davis, CA, May 14, 1992, aged ninety-nine years. Marjorie (Martin) Judkins died in 2000.

Phillip Russell Burlingame – 1931-36

Philip Russell Burlingame was born in Springfield, MA, November 11, 1892, son of Frederick R. and Josephine I. (Story) Burlingame.

Philip R. Burlingame of R.F.D. #2, Three Rivers, MA, registered for the WW I military draft in Palmer, MA, June 5, 1917. He was employed as a farmer (“jointly with father”), aged twenty-four years (b. Springfield, MA, November 11, 1892). He was of tall height, with a slender build, gray eyes, and brown hair. He claimed an exemption for his “defective eyes” and his employment as a farmer.

He married in Palmer, MA, in 1919, Thelma J. Keith. She was born October 2, 1897. By 1900 (if not before), she was the adopted daughter of Lyman L. and Jennie M. (Burke) Keith.

Philip R. Burlingame, a construction overseer, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), headed a Palmer, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Thelma K. Burlingame, aged twenty-two years (b. MA, and his boarder, Harry Bradley, a construction laborer, aged twenty-one years (b. MA). His parents lived next door: Frederick Burlingame, a farmer, aged fifty-eight years (b. MA), and Josephine Burlingame, aged fifty-two years (b. RI). Philip R. Burlingame owned his house on Prospect Hill Road, with a mortgage, while his parents rented theirs.

Philip R. Burlingame appeared twice in the Manchester, NH, directory of 1924. He appeared with his wife, Thelma Burlingame, as an instructor, with a house at 47 Sagamore street. He appeared also, in both 1924 and 1925, as a teacher in the West Side High school, with a house at 673 Chestnut street.

Philip R. Burlingame appeared in the 1926 edition of the Meteor, which was the high school yearbook for Berlin, NH. He was a physical training instructor and baseball coach.

Philip R. Burlingame appeared in the Berlin, NH, directories of 1927 and 1930, as a high school coach, with his house at 360 Willard street.

Burlingame, Philip R - 1928Philip Burlingame, a public school instructor, aged thirty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Berlin, NH, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Thelma Burlingame, aged thirty-one years (b. MA), and his daughter, Barbara Burlingame, aged nine years (b. MA). They shared a rented two-family dwelling with the household of their landlord, Dubey Telesphore, an industrial agent, aged forty-four years (b. NH). They paid $35 per month in rent. Both households had radio sets. Their dwelling was on Willard Street.

The University of New Hampshire’s College of Liberal Arts conferred a Bachelor of Science degree upon Phillip R. Burlingame of Durham, NH, at its commencement held June 15, 1931 (Boston Globe, June 15, 1931).

SPRINGFIELD MAN HEADS NUTE HIGH IN MILTON, N.H. MILTON, N.H., Sept 1 – Nute High School began the Fall schedule today with a new headmaster, Philip R. Burlingame of Springfield, Mass. Mr. Burlingame was graduated from Springfield College, class of 1922, and from New Hampshire University, 1931. He has been the submaster in the High School at Berlin, N.H. for five years. Last year he was in the teaching staff at New Hampshire University in the department of physical education. A new teacher at Nute High School is Miss Mary Timmens, who will teach history and French. She is a graduate of New Hampshire University and has been teaching in the High School at Durham (Boston Globe, September 2, 1931).

Headmaster Burlingame took an active role in establishing an interscholastic basketball league with other schools in the region.

BASKETBALL LEAGUE FORMED AT DOVER. Philip R. Burlingame was elected secretary of the basketball league formed at Dover, November 7. He recently sent Farmington high school his report of the minutes of the meeting. At a meeting held in the American House hotel in Dover, attended by Headmaster Wright and Coach Riccardi of Newmarket, Headmaster Faunce of Epping, Headmaster Bannister and Coach Pellerin of Farmington, Headmaster Burlingame and Manger Roland Knight of Nute high of Milton, an attempt was made to form a basketball league for boys and also one for girls, consisting of Raymond, Epping, Newmarket, Pittsfield, Farmington, and Nute high schools. [Many other details followed regarding the league’s board, eligibility, trophies, etc., that have not been extracted here] (Farmington News, November 20, 1931).

Philip R. Burlingame’s second annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1932-33, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1932, i.e., for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1933.

REPORT OF HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Members of the Board of Trustees:

The forty-second year of this institution opened September 5 with an enrollment of seventy-nine pupils. Transfers to other schools and withdrawals reduced the registration until at present there are 69 pupils divided as follows: Seniors, 12; Juniors, 9; Sophomores, 18; Freshmen, 30. There are eleven tuition pupils as compared with twenty-four last year.

Reports from the State Department of Education show an increased rating by the Commissioner on the scholastic standard of the school over that of previous years.

The Otis Group Intelligence Scale given all members of the school showed an increase of from five to ten points on a like performance given last year, showing a mastering of fundamental processes.

The Woody Arithmetic Scale to determine efficiency in mathematics showed a marked difficulty on the part of all to handle fractions, the result showing the Seniors 87% perfect, Juniors 83%, Sophomores 82% and Freshmen 84%.

There has been a trend towards increase in those registering in the Classical Course this year, eight freshmen electing the Latin or College preparatory course as compared with three last year.

Realizing the value of visual education, field trips have been made by the various classes, the Senior United States Government group going to Concord for a day and attending the Legislature, Federal court, States Prison, Historical society and other places of interest. The Commercial department has visited a modern office and seen up-to-date office equipment being used. Physiography class students visit nearby places to witness effects of water and glacial erosion.

Athletics have been self supporting, and furnished a surplus for purchasing of a ten volume set of Standard History of the World for general reference and research work. It has also furnished money for many needed improvements about school including a new gravel road, a first aid and emergency room for girls which has been furnished with a couch, dressers, table and chairs. As a matter of safety a concrete slab has been poured to cover the unused well back of the school. Shrubbery set out by the graduating class of 1932 has been fertilized and cared for and has made good growth.

Several outstanding booklets, papers and projects of work have been completed. A reproduction of “The House of Seven Gables,” a carpenter job worthy of a master builder, is exhibited by Constandino DiPrizio, sophomore honor pupil from Middleton.

Attendance has been excellent and to date but five tardy marks are charged against the school showing an aptitude for promptness hitherto not exhibited.

The excellent condition of the school property is due in a large measure to the untiring efforts of Caretaker Tetherly, whose personal interest is highly commendable.

Respectfully submitted,

PHILIP R. BURLINGAME,
February 24, 1933. Headmaster.

WEST MILTON. The Church Night program was held last Thursday evening at Nute Chapel. The literary program was under the direction of Charles Hayes. Mrs. Daisy Curtis rendered two piano selections in her usual pleasing manner. Miss Myrtle Durkee rendered a vocal selection which was enjoyed by all. Headmaster Philip R. Burlingame gave a very instructive address on “Education.” Anyone not present surely missed a real treat. Refreshments were served by Mrs. Cora Garland and her assistants (Farmington News, September 22, 1933).

MILTON. Nute high school started basketball practice Tuesday night, with Mr. Burlingame coaching (Farmington News, November 2, 1934).

Philip Burlingame, a public school teacher, aged forty-six years (b. MA), headed a Lancaster, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Thelma Burlingame, aged thirty-nine years (b. MA), and his children, Barbara Burlingame, a maid (private home), aged nineteen years (b. MA), and Robert Burlingame, aged nine years (b. NH). They owned their house at 37 Prospect Street, which was valued at $2,800. (William Fuller, superintendent of schools, aged fifty-four years, rented a house at 52 Prospect Street). They had resided in Milton, NH, in 1935.

Philip Russell Burlingame of Lancaster, NH, registered for the WW II military draft in Lancaster, NH, April 27, 1942. He was employed by Williams Brothers of Tulsa, OK, aged forty-nine years (b. Springfield, MA, November 11, 1892). Thelma J. Keith Burlingame, 37 Prospect Street, Lancaster, NH, was his contact. Their telephone number was Griffin 4692. He was 5′ 11″ in height, weighed 195 pounds, with blue eyes, grey-brown hair, and a ruddy complexion.

Philip R. Burlingame died in August 1964. Thelma J. (Keith) Burlingame died in Manchester, NH, in May 1986.

Austin Lucius Howard – 1936-39

Austin L. Howard, was born in Essex, VT, January 18, 1906, son of Ernest M. “Charles” and Ethel M. (Barnes) Howard.

Essex Junction. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Howard of Atlantic City, N.J., Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Whiting of Burlington, were guests on Monday of Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Barnes. Mr. Howard, who was a former resident of this village, came to Burlington to attend commencement at the University of Vermont from which institution his son, Austin L. Howard of Burlington, was graduated in the electrical engineering class (Burlington Free Press, June 17, 1931).

Austin Howard, headmaster of Nute high school, Milton, and Robert Anderson and Miss Ruth Paulson both also of Nute high school, were the judges of a prize speaking contest at the Alton high school on Friday evening, April 22, 1938, at 8 PM. The winners were to go on to compete in the interscholastic contest held at the University of New Hampshire, May 6, 1938 (Farmington News, April 29, 1938).(Robert Anderson, then a teacher at Nute high school, would become its next headmaster).

Austin L. Howard’s third annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1938-39, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1938, i.e., for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1939.

REPORT OF THE HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL.

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Members of the Board of Trustees:

I hereby submit my third annual report of the Nute High School which opened its forty-eighth year on September 6 with an enrollment of 76 pupils. Transfers and withdrawals have reduced the registration until at present there are 68 pupils divided as follows: Seniors, 9; Juniors, 15; Sophomores, 21; Freshmen, 23.

The attendance has been excellent, the average attendance to date being better than 96 per cent.

There has been one change in the teaching staff. Miss Mary Sherburne, B.A., replaced Miss Ruth Paulson.

One new subject, Biology, has been added to the curriculum.

New equipment which has been purchased this year includes the following: a complete set of laboratory apparatus for Biology; four Royal typewriters; one Burroughs adding machine. New text books were purchased for the following courses: Economics, Sociology, French I, and Biology.

Athletics have been self supporting and have furnished a surplus for the purchase of additional equipment.

As has been stated in past reports, there is still a big demand and need for Domestic Arts courses for the girls and Practical Arts courses for the boys. Estimates have been obtained on the cost of installing these courses in our school. By taking advantage of Federal Aid, one-half of the salary of the extra teacher needed to put this program in operation would be paid by the George Dean fund. The largest part of the cost would be for the initial equipment and this could be spread over a period of four years. It is estimated that the total additional cost of putting this program into operation will be fifteen hundred dollars for the first year, one thousand dollars for the next three years, and five hundred dollars for each year thereafter. There is no question but what these courses are needed by our boys and girls and I hope that they may be installed next year.

The many helpful suggestions of our Superintendent have been beneficial to the school and staff.

Respectfully submitted,

AUSTIN L. HOWARD, Headmaster,
February 10, 1939.

Austin Howard was headmaster of Alton, NH, high school beginning with the 1939-40 academic year.

ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mr. and Mrs. Austin Howard of Milton are to occupy the Mrs. Nellie Roberts house. Mr. Howard is the new headmaster of Alton high school (Farming News, August 25, 1939).

Austin L. Howard, a high school principal, aged thirty-three years (b. VT), headed an Alton, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Florence E. Howard, aged thirty-one years (b. ME). Austin L. Howard rented their house on Mitchell Avenue, for $20 per month. They had both resided in Burlington, VT, in 1935.

Austin Lucious Howard of Alton, NH, registered for the peacetime military draft in Alton, NH, October 16, 1940. He was employed by the Alton School Dept., aged thirty-four years (b. Essex Junction, VT, July 19, 1906). He was 5′ 11″ in height, weighed 220 pounds, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion. Florence Evelyn Howard was his contact.

Personal Mention. Mr. and Mrs. Austin L. Howard, who have been visiting relatives and friends for the past week, have returned to their home in Alton, N.H. (Burlington Free Press, March 2, 1942).

Local Briefs. Hold Birthday Party. A birthday party was given at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Smith for Mrs. Florence Howard and Edward Smith. Games were played, following which refreshments were served. Mrs. Howard and Smith received many gifts. They also were presented with large birthday cakes which were made and decorated by Miss Bertha Barnes. Mrs. Howard was presented with a corsage of American beauty roses by her husband (Burlington Free Press, April 28, 1942).

Personal Mentions. Mr. and Mrs. Austin Howard of Alton, N.H., spent the weekend with his mother, Mrs. E.A. Smith of 213 N. Winooski ave. They were en route to visit relatives in Worcester, Mass, and Hartford, Conn., before Mr. Howard leaves for Washington, D.C., where he has employment (Burlington Free Press, June 10, 1942).

Austin L. Howard married (2nd) in Albuquerque, NM, in 1951, Marjorie B. Harrison, he of Washington, DC (Albuquerque Journal, July 18, 1951).

Howard, Austin L -1961Austin L. Howard Dies Age 54; Taught at UVM. Austin Lucious Howard, former Burlington resident and electrical engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., died there Thursday at the age of 54. Mr. Howard and two associates installed the first hydrogen bomb ever tested in an airplane, relatives said. More recently, he was with the Vanguard and other missile projects as a technical research engineer. Mr. Howard was former instructor in electrical engineering at the University of Vermont, later headmaster of schools in Milton and Alton, N.H. In 1945, he transferred to Washington. He was active in many Burlington musical organizations, conducting his own orchestra. He also was a member of the Burlington Military Band and had previously been its manager. He also belonged to Burlington Lodge, F&AM. Mr. Howard was educated in the schools of Essex Junction and Burlington and was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1931. He was born in Essex Junction July 18, 1906, son of C. Ernest and Ethel (Barnes) Howard. He made his home in Brandywine, Md., and was a member of the Methodist Church of Horsehead, Md. Besides his wife, Marjorie Henderson Howard, he leaves his mother, Mrs. Ethel Smith of 28 Clarke St., Burlington; his father of Tampa, Fla.; a sister, Mrs. George Eiss of Watertown, N.Y.; an aunt, Bertha Barnes of Burlington; two uncles, Chester L. Barnes of Essex Junction and Floyd W. Barnes of Montpelier; three nieces, a nephew and several cousins. The funeral will be held Tuesday at 2 at the Corbin and Palmer Funeral Home, 71 S. Union St., the Rev. Charles Washburn of the Church of the Nazarene officiating, assisted by the Rev. Edward Foster of the Free Methodist Church. Calling hours at the funeral home Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 (Burlington Free Press, January 23, 1961).

Robert Rettig Anderson – 1939-42

Robert R. Anderson was born in Boston, MA, June 11, 1908, son of Ruth H. (Swanson) Anderson.

Robert R. Anderson married in Houston, Harris County, TX, October 10, 1931, Lalue B. Zappa, he of Houston, TX, and she of Alexandria, LA. Rev. Harry G. Knowles performed the ceremony.

MILTON MILLS. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Anderson of Dover were week-end visitors to town (Farmington News, June 7, 1935).

MILTON MILLS. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Anderson, who have been In Dover during the winter, are occupying their home on Main street (Farmington News, June 28, 1935).

Robert Anderson and Miss Ruth Paulson, teachers at Nute High school, as well as Austin Howard, headmaster of Nute High school (see above), were the judges of a prize speaking contest at the Alton High school on Friday evening, April 22, 1938, at 8 PM. The winners were to go on to compete in the interscholastic contest held at the University of New Hampshire, May 6, 1938 (Farmington News, April 29, 1938).

Anderson, Robert R - 1940
Headmaster Robert R. Anderson, A.B. University of New Hampshire 1936. French, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, U.S. History, General Mathematics (Purple & Gold, 1940)

Robert R. Anderson, a public school teacher, aged thirty-one years (b. MA), headed a Milton Mills household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Lalue B. [(Zappa)] Anderson, aged thirty years (b. LA). Robert R. Anderson owned their house on [Milton Mills’] Main Street, which was valued at $1,000.

Robert Rettig Anderson, of Milton Mills, registered for the peacetime military draft in Milton, October 10, 1940. He was thirty-two years old (b. Boston, MA, June 11, 1908), and was employed by the Trustees of Nute High School. His next of kin was Lalue B. Anderson. He was 5’8″ tall, weighed 150 pounds, and had  a light complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes.

Robert R. Anderson’s third annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1941-42, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1941, i.e., for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1942.

REPORT OF THE HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL.

To the Superintendent of Schools and Members of the Board of Trustees:

I hereby submit my third annual report of the Nute High School which opened its fifty-first year September 3, 1941, with an enrollment of 105 pupils. Eleven have withdrawn for the following reasons: 3 moved to another school district; 4 were not adapted to high school work; 3 went to work; and 1 because of poor health. Our membership of 94 on this date is divided as follows: post graduate, 1; seniors, 17; juniors, 20; sophomore, 24; freshmen, 32. Records show that during the years of World War I many pupils withdrew from schools before completing their secondary work. We in the school hope that this will not be condoned now, but on the other hand that our young people will be encouraged to remain in school to prepare themselves to be better qualified to serve their community and country.

There has been one change and one addition to our teaching staff. Mr. Laurent Bosse, who teaches Trades and Industries, replaced Mr. Luther Preston; and Miss Lurlene Gordon was added to teach all the sciences and Latin. Enrollment in our Trades and Industries courses increased to such an extent that it became necessary to employ a full-time teacher for those courses alone, whereas in the previous years a part-time teacher was adequate.

The following new subjects have been added to this year’s programs of studies: General Science, Human Behavior, and Consumer Buying. Otherwise, the approved program is the same as last, except the following alternates are substituted: Physics for Chemistry; Geometry for Trigonometry and Advanced Mathematics; Economic Problems for Sociology; the Home for the Family; Automotive Shop and Cabinet Making for Practical Mechanics; French II for French I; Latin I for Latin II. We are offering Art courses by correspondence from the University of Nebraska. Those pupils studying these courses under teacher supervision find them very much worthwhile and interesting. It is possible through this medium to add to our program at a reasonable cost many of those subjects for which special teachers are often necessary.

New equipment purchased this year includes: complete equipment for Automotive Shop, 1 Burroughs Adding Machine, 1 portable sanding machine, 1 microscope, additional Physic laboratory equipment, stapler, and a supply of Philgas. New textbooks were purchased for the following classes: Bookkeeping, Junior Business Training, General Science, Human Behavior, Consumer Buying. Due to the increased enrollment of most of our classes it was necessary to purchase new books for nearly every class.

We are again this year taking advantage of the help offered by the National Youth Administration to aid needy pupils in school.

The results of the State tests are as follows: 1 test above the State average, 1 at the State average, and 1 test below the State average.

We are continuing our daily activities period. As this program progresses it becomes increasingly evident that our facilities are inadequate. We hope that after this period of world conflict or even during it that arrangement can be made to offer a complete program of health and physical education.

During the summer vacation and early in the fall the following improvements were made in the school: new rubber matting was laid on the stairs, new electrical switches were installed for all the lights in the building, new shades were hung where needed on all the windows, and an office was constructed in the hallway on the second floor.

The girls in the Home Economics classes are continuing to serve hot noon lunches. We are making use of supplies from the Surplus Marketing Administration.

At present we are making a survey of the town and the surrounding school districts which this school serves to determine the feasibility of offering out-of-school youths National Defense training classes to be given in the evenings. It is possible to offer four such classes, one at a time – woodworking, metal work, automotive and electrical.

Athletics have been self-supporting and it is hoped that there will be a surplus to purchase baseball uniforms for the boys and softball uniforms for the girls. We were admitted a member of the Southeastern League at its meeting last October. It is hoped that the rules of good sportsmanship and clean playing and the opportunity of making friends with the young people of other schools will prove a benefit to our boys and girls.

We in the school appreciate the helpful suggestions of our superintendent, Mr. Howard L. Winslow, and for the splendid cooperation we have received from the members of the Board of Trustees.

Respectfully and sincerely submitted,

ROBERT R. ANDERSON, Headmaster. [February 1942].

SOUTHEASTERN LEAGUE ELECTS PRESIDENT. At the annual winter meeting of the Southeastern league, which was held recently at Northwood, the following officers wee elected: President, Robert Anderson of Milton; vice-president, Wilfred Pourier of Epping; and secretary and treasurer, Rischard S. Ricciordi of Pittsfield Schools represented at this meeting were: Alton, Coe-Brown of Northwood, Epping, Farmington, Nute, Pittsfield and Raymond (Farmington News, March 6, 1942).

KIWANIS CLUB SPEAKER THIS WEEK WILL BE ROBERT ANDERSON, MILTON. Headmaster Robert Anderson of Nute high school will be the speaker at the Kiwanis club meeting this Thursday evening. He will talk about “Aeronautics,” a course which is being given in many high school, including Nute. Election of officers will take place at this meeting and it is hoped that all members will be present (Farmington News, December 11, 1942).

Robert R. Anderson died in Washington, DC, February 10, 1961, aged fifty-two years.

Robert Anderson. Milton Mills – Robert R. Anderson, 52, of Washington, D.C., formerly of Milton Mills, died suddenly Friday in the U.S. Air Force Hospital, Andrews AF Base, Washington. He was born in Boston, but had spent much of his life in New Hampshire. He leaves his wife, Mrs. Lalue (Zappa) Anderson; one son, Robert Paul Anderson, both of Washington; his mother, Mrs. Seth F. Dawson of Milton Mills; Two sisters, Mrs. Helen Pierson of North Easton, Mass., and Mrs. Phyllis Gelaneau of Cheshire, Conn. Anderson was a World War II veteran, a lieutenant commander in the navy. He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations. He was past master of Unity Lodge No. 62 of Masons at Union. He attended Fessenden School, Newton, Mass., Tilton Seminary, Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampton School for Boys, Dartmouth College, and was a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He was principal of Nute High School for several years and at the time of his death was a training officer in the Air Research and Development Command of the USAF. Funeral services were at Peaslee Funeral Home, Union, Monday. Rev. Ernest Calvert officiated. Burial will be in Milton Mills Cemetery (Farmington News, February 16, 1961).

Scholarship. MILTON – Next June the first Robert R. Anderson Music Awards will be made according to an announcement from Principal John R. Callahan. These awards will total $50 and will be in the sum of $25 each to a boy and a girl in grades 9 through 12 who has contributed most to the music program at Nute High School. The recipients will be selected by the principal and music teachers. Academic grades of the pupils will not be considered and the same pupil may receive the award more than one year so a pupil has a chance of receiving $100 during his or her four years of attendance at Nute. Robert R. Anderson, in whose memory the awards are being given, taught at Nute High School prior to becoming principal. Throughout his time at Nute High School he directed the Nute chorus and band. Mr. Anderson left Nute to serve his country during the war. His untimely death was a shock to those who knew him as teacher, principal, counsellor and friend. Mrs. Ruth H. Dawson of Milton Mills, his mother, is the donor of the awards and his family selected music as that was one of his major interests (Farmington News, October 25th, 1962).

Mrs. Lalue B. (Zappa) Anderson died in Bradenton, FL, June 6, 1967, aged fifty-seven years.

Deaths in Tampa and the Bay Area. MRS. LALUE ANDERSON. BRADENTON. – Mrs. Lalue B. Anderson, 57, of 2803 19th Ave. W., died Tuesday. Born In Louisiana, she came here in 1962 from Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Eastern Star. Survivors include a son, Robert P. Anderson of Bradenton; a brother, Julian Zappa (Tampa Tribune, [Thursday,] June 8, 1967).

John Lewis Knight – 1943-44

John Lewis Knight was born in Topsham, ME, May 14, 1915, son of Raymond E. and Dorothy C. (Cheney) Knight.

John Lewis Knight married in Washington, DC, August 18, 1940, Jane Corbin Staggers. She was born in Fairmont, WV, circa 1914, daughter of Harvey H. and Mabel L. (Fleming) Staggers. She had been employed as a requisition typist by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Fairmont, WV, in January 1936. She received $720 per annum).

John Lewis Knight of Washington, DC, registered for the peacetime military draft in Washington, DC, October 16, 1940. He was twenty-five years of age (b. Topsham, ME, May 14, 1915). He was 6′ tall, weighed 140 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a light complexion. He gave his next of kin as [his mother] Dorothy Cheney Knight (as opposed to his wife of two months).

South Berwick Items. Mr. and Mrs. John L. Knight leased a house in Rochester and will move there the latter part this week (Portsmouth Herald, June 19, 1941).

South Berwick. Mrs. John Knight Honored At Party. Mrs. Dorothy C. Knight and Georgiana Chaney entertained at a dessert bridge in honor of Mrs. John L. Knight at the Eastman Community house yesterday afternoon. Present were: Mrs. Frederic L. Davis, Mrs. Philip Shorey, Mrs. Frances Whitehead, Mrs. Ruel B. Rideout, Mrs. John H. Burleigh, Mrs. John Knight, Mrs. William Leonard, Mrs. Harland Goodwin, Mrs. Benjamin Nealley, Mrs Charles E. Stevens, Mrs. Mabel Norton, Mrs. H. Fred Hadden, Miss Grace G. Yeaton, Mrs. Florence Wentworth, Miss Susan Miller and Mrs. Robert M. Tyrrall (Portsmouth Herald, July 17, 1941).

Rochester. Mr. and Mrs. John L. Knight, former residents, have returned to their home in South Berwick, after visiting friends here (Portsmouth Herald, September 5, 1942).

Knight, John L - 1958
John L. Knight, B.S. Bowdoin College. Graduate Study George Washington University and University of New Hampshire. Mathematics and Science (Somersworth High School Yearbook, 1958)

John L. Knight’s first annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1943-44, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1943, i.e., for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1944.

REPORT OF HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Trustees of Nute High School:

Looking over the mass of literature that came across my desk each morning, there can be little doubt that American Education has gone to war. These great piles of mail ask the schools to cooperate to sell bonds, collect scrap, teach wartime math, teach wartime physics, join the WAVES, join the WACS, join V-12, V5, offer adult courses, stress athletics, plow the roads, harvest the crops, take care of children, save paper, save fats, do rationing, and so forth, and so forth. And at the same time the schools are asked to do better teaching of the subject matter ordinarily included in its curriculum.

Lest the reader thinks this to be an alibi for any of our shortcomings, or an excuse for not having done some of things we should have done, let me explain that all this pressure that comes from the war and its activities is not nearly so hard on the teachers as it is on the pupils. Recognizing that there is a very great mental strain on the pupils in any school system makes it a little more difficult for the administration of a school to keep the academic standards high. If a boy works all night in a shop or factory can a school expect him to do good work in school the next day? Shall the school relax its standards and accept slipshod work in the classrooms as a result of this outside employment? Shall the school overlook the attendance records of those young people engaged in outside work? These and many other questions harass the schools in wartimes but most administrators are agreed on the over-all approach to the solution to the problems. Schools must be tolerant this year. As never before there must be a strong attempt made to show young people the advantage of and their duty to do good school work. (The Armed Forces have already gone on record officially concerning their whole-hearted recommendation that “getting an education is youth’s first and most important job”).

At Nute High School this year we have tried to keep the above general philosophy in mind in any of the changes made.

Quite obviously the above requires the cooperation of the home. Without it the school can do only a small part of the job. It has always been important that the school and the home work together for the welfare of youth, but more today than ever before is this necessary.

New Teachers. This year the Trustees elected to decrease the teaching staff by one teacher. To fill the vacancy in the Home Economic Department, Miss Catherine Guyer of Hanover, N.H., was chosen. Miss Guyer is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire.

New Schedule. With one less teacher than usual it was necessary to drop some of the elective courses. And in order to get in all the required courses a new schedule was made. This calls for one-hour recitation periods in place of the customary forty-minute periods. Since many of the pupils are taking five subjects in a five-period day there are few who have study time in school. Consequently much of the out-of-class study must be done at home. This new schedule has worked out very satisfactorily and pupils and teachers are in favor of its continuance.

Student Council. Anything new takes time to get organized, and the student council is no exception. Four members of each class comprise a group which handles student finances, arranges athletic schedules, assists in formulating policies of the school, and other tasks as they may appear. It is hoped that this democratic system of school management will not die of the difficulties that beset democratic processes: disinterest and slowness of operation. In a nation that has for a long time taken for granted the system of democracy it is hoped that boys and girls in school can learn that democracy is hard work – but worth working for.

General. Hot lunches are being served to about forty each day at an average cost of 10 cents. Fresh milk is sold under government subsidy for 2 cents per half-pint. It is greatly desired that regular medical and dental clinics be provided at the school. At present there are no funds provided for the school nurse to visit the high school regularly. Athletics are being carried on under difficulties. We have had a rather extensive basketball schedule this winter, and last spring we managed to get in a few baseball games, but transportation is still a problem.

Attendance. Below is a table showing the membership of the school:

Class; Enrolled; Dropped Out; Average Attendance Before Leaving; Reason for Leaving.

Senior; 14; 0; [Blank]; [Blank]
Junior; 18; 1; 7 Days; Left Town
Sophomore; 17; 1; 3 Days; Work
Freshman; 27; 4; 19 Days; 1 Work, 2 Left Town, 1 Sickness
[Total:]; 76; 6; 14 Days; [Blank]

As can be seen from this chart, we have been fortunate in having no more than two leave school permanently for work. We have not been so fortunate in the attendance day by day of those remaining in school. And many of the reasons for this attendance record are remediable. Sickness has caused many of the boys and girls to be absent, but there have been may who have stayed out of school for lesser reasons. Obviously a person who misses 15-35% of the school time can not keep up with his class. And in spite of teachers’ attempts to get pupils to male up work, there has been a noticeable dropping in the ranks of consistent absentees.

Consequently a provision has been made to help absentees make up the work missed. We now have a one-hour study hall at the end of the day, under teacher supervision, which guarantees an equal amount of time for study that the pupil has been absent.

As noted above, pupils missing a large percentage of time are handicapped when test come around. Most of our pupils could get passing marks if they were present each day and concentrated during their presence. The school tries to teach concentration, and good work habits. But attendance is very much in the hands of the parents. Parents who condone absences for insignificant reasons are in reality helping their children to fail courses and to develop bad school attitudes. 

In conclusion, a school like Nute High must make up its mind as to what end it shall serve. Shall the school close its eyes to the unpleasant facts of poor classroom work, high absenteeism, and become a diploma factory, granting diplomas to those registered in the school for the requisite four years – learn or not learn – as the pupils’ spirit moves? Or shall it demand a standard of accomplishment and citizenship before awarding its diploma?

Respectfully submitted,

JOHN L. KNIGHT, Headmaster 
[February 1944].

MILTON, N.H. NUTE HIGH SCHOOL: Day – Coed Ages 13-18. Est. 1891. John L. Knight, B.S. Bowdoin, Princ. Enr.: Day 75, Fac. 5. Tui: $90. Grades VII-VIII, High Sch. 1-4. Col. Prep., Secretarial, Dom. Science, Manual Arts  (Sargent, 1947).

[Class of] 1936. John L. Knight has joined the faculty of Cheshire Academy, Cheshire, Conn. (Bowdoin Alumni Magazine, November 1944). 

North Berwick. Mr. and Mrs. John L. Knight are in Hollywood Beach, Fla., to attend a life insurance educational conference. They also plan to visit Mrs. Knight’s mother, Mrs. Mabel Staggers of Avon Park, Fla. (Portsmouth Herald, March 22, 1954).

John L. Knight appeared in the Berwick (ME) directory of 1958, as a teacher at SHS [Somersworth High School], resident at Maple street in North Berwick.

John L. Knight and Jane C. [(Staggers)] Knight were divorced in San Diego, CA, in May 1977.

John L. Knight died in South Berwick, ME, July 12, 1996.

Elliot Winsor Burbank – 1944-49
Burbank, Elliot - Per Wendy
Elliot W. Burbank, 1919

Eliot W. Burbank was born in Sandwich, MA, July 8, 1896, son of Frank C. and Nellie A. (Taylor) Burbank.

Elliot Winsor Burbank of Worcester, MA, registered for the WW I military draft in Worcester, MA, June 5, 1918. He was a student at WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), aged twenty-one years (b. Sandwich, MA, July 8, 1896). He resided at 17 Somerset Street, in Worcester, MA. His nearest relative was [his father,] F.C. Burbank, of Sandwich, MA. He was of medium height, with a medium build, blue eyes, and brown hair. The registrar noted that Burbank was “sick at Carney Hospital, Boston, Mass., from a surgical operation.”

Elliot W. Burbank appeared in the 1919 Navy Directory, as an Ensign in the Naval Reserve Force in the 1st Naval District.

He married in Alton, NH, September 6, 1922, Lydia A. Jones. She was born in Alton, February 27, 1890, daughter of Albert J. and Clara M. (Chesley) Jones.

ALTON. Mrs. Elliot Burbank of Sandwich, Mass., is spending a week with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Jones (Farmington News, May 15, 1925). 

SANDWICH. The public schools opened today. Mrs. Elliot W. Burbank of Sandwich has been added to the teaching staff at the High School (Boston Globe, September 7, 1926).

Elliot W. Burbank, no occupation given, aged thirty-eight years (b. MA), headed an Alton, NH, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Census. His household included his wife (of eight years), Lydia J. Burbank, aged forty years (b. NH), his children, Elliot Winsor Burbank, Jr., aged six years (b. NH), and Albert C. Jones, aged four years, three months (b. MA), and his mother-in-law, Clara M. Jones, a widow, aged seventy-seven years (b. NH). Elliot W. Burbank owned their house in Alton Town, which was valued at $1,200.

Elliot Burbank, a public school teacher, aged forty-three years (b. MA), headed a Hanover, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Lydia Burbank, aged forty-six years (b. NH), and his children, Elliot Burbank, Jr., aged sixteen years (b. NH), and Albert Burbank, aged fourteen years (b. MA). Elliot Burbank rented their house on the Lyme Road, for $32 per month. They had lived in Alton, NH, in 1935.

Elliot Winsor Burbank of Alton, NH, registered for the WW II military draft in Laconia, NH, April 27, 1942. He was employed at the Hanover High School by the School District of Hanover, NH, aged forty-five years (b. Sandwich, MA, July 8, 1896). He resided at School Street, in Alton, NH, but he gave also a mailing address of Lyme Road, Hanover, NH. Mrs. Elliot W. Burbank, of School Street, Alton, NH, was his contact. They had no telephone number. He was 5′ 7″ in height, weighed 190 pounds, with blue eyes, gray hair (partly bald), and a ruddy complexion.

ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Albert, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Burbank, is a patient at Wolfeboro hospital, as a result of an automobile accident which occurred on the Loon Cove road last Friday (Farmington News, September 25, 1943).

ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Burbank and family, who have spent the summer at their Alton home, have returned to Hanover, where Mr. Burbank is a member of the high school faculty (Farmington News, October 8, 1943).

ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Burbank of Milton were visitors in town on Sunday (Farmington News, September 7, 1944).

Elliot W. Burbank’s first annual headmaster’s report, for the academic year 1944-45, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1944, i.e., for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1944.

REPORT OF THE HEADMASTER OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL.

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Trustees of Nute High School. I hereby submit the annual report of Nute High School which opened its fifty-fourth year on September 6th with an enrollment of sixty-nine pupils divided as follows: Seniors, 13, Juniors, 14; Sophomores, 19, Freshmen, 23.

The staff consists of five teachers as follows: Miss Marjorie E.  Goodwin – Commercial and Economics; Miss Bertha M. Leathers – English and History; Miss Beatrice Hastings – Home Economics and English; Mr. Stephen H. Perkins – Trades and Industries; Mr. Elliot W. Burbank – Mathematics and Science.

The old and new pupils were greeted with improvements which had been made within the building during vacation. The assembly hall had been entirely redecorated including the sanding and treating of the floor. The upper and lower halls leading to it were included in the work of the carpenters and painters. New composition treads and stainless steel edges replaced the old rubber treads on the stairs. In the laboratory a new fluorescent lighting had been installed in place of the old lighting fixture. Small philgas tanks have replaced the large cylinders thus reducing the annual expense for gas. The return pipes to the steam heating plant have been replaced at the request of the insurance inspector.

New equipment has been purchased for the laboratory including much needed apparatus and chemicals. New textbooks have been obtained for Sociology, Mathematics, Chemistry, and the Shop, together with books for class reference.

The boys in the shop classes, under the direction of Mr. Perkins, have aided several members of the community by doing various types of projects, such as cement work, putting up plaster board, and assisting and observing the construction of a garage. They are called upon to do repair work about the school premises This practical work has proved very beneficial to them. The flag pole which was blown down in the September hurricane has been painted and stored with expectations of its being erected in the spring.

As has been the custom, hot lunches are being served at cost to those pupils that wish them. The lunches are being prepared by the girls from the home economics classes under the supervision of Miss Hastings. Milk is also provided at noon for two cents a half pint due to a Federal subsidy.

The critical shortage of manpower has made it necessary to call on the boys to assist in snow removal.  This tends to upset the good attendance that has been enjoyed up to the winter months. Although these boys are performing a patriotic duty and a community service, their parents should recognize that time thus lost, unless made up, hampers their education.

The work of the Student Activities Association has been continued as a democratic student governing body. At present it is sponsoring musical clubs and a school orchestra. A period at the end of the school day makes time for extra-curricular activities. 

The Southeastern League was revived this year with the opening of the basketball season. Games are being played with its members. It is hoped that the rules of good sportsmanship and the making of new friends from the of other schools will broaden the outlook of our boys and girls.

I wish to thank our Superintendent, Board of Trustees, teaching staff and pupils for their fullest support. The success of Nute High School depends upon the continuation of this cooperative spirit.

Respectfully submitted,

ELLIOT W. BURBANK, Headmaster
Milton, N.H., January 29, 1945. 

NUTE HIGH SCHOOL, Milton, N.H. Head Master, Elliot W. Burbank, B.S. Univ. of New Hampshire. Est. 1890; Co-ed 12-20; Enrol. 75; Fac. 5; Dip. given. Sep. to June. Days: Mon. thru Fri. Grades IX to XII. Tui.: $90. Graduation from Grade 8 required (Dewart, 1946).

ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Burbank of Milton were in town over the week-end (Farmington News, June 21, 1946).

ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mr. and Mrs. Winsor Burbank [Jr.] were called to Sandwich, Mass., over the week-end to attend the funeral services of the former’s grandmother, Mrs. Nellie Burbank (Farmington News, January 24, 1947).   

Of Interest to Women. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Burbank, Alton, N.H., and Albert Burbank, Middlebury, Vt., have arrived in Coshocton. The wedding of Albert Burbank and Miss Susan Shireman, Cambridge rd., will take place in the Presbyterian church Wednesday afternoon at 4 o’clock (Tribune (Coshocton, OH), December 26, 1950).

State Board Okays Aid for Alton Schools. MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The state Board of Education has granted the School District building aid it had been denied on three previous occasions. Wednesday’s action means the town will receive some $120,000 from the state for a $400,000 bond issue floated several years ago for additions to Alton’s school system. The board previously held that Alton did not qualify for state building aid because its system did not meet minimum standards. But Elliot W. Burbank, chairman of the town board, said Alton’s school construction now qualifies for building aid. The $120,000 in aid will be paid to the town over the 20-year life of the bond issue. The state board also voted to issue the certificate of annexation for the Brookfield School District into the Governor Wentworth Regional School District. The unanimous vole came after the board heard lengthy arguments from proponents of the move and those who opposed it. In earlier action, the state board received a group of Nashua residents to discuss he proposed vocational institute to be established in Nashua. And it approved the exterior design for the Laconia Vocational Institute (Portsmouth Herald, February 9, 1967).

Lydia A. (Jones) Burbank died in Alton, NH, March 17, 1970. Elliot W. Burbank died in Alton, NH, September 5, 1977.

Walter John Foster – 1949-57

Walter John Foster was born in Salem, MA, September 18, 1907, son of John F. and Marie R. “Rosilda” (Cyr) Foster.

He married in Chicago, IL, August 5, 1933, Leona F. Priest. She was born in Lee, NH, September 3, 1908, daughter of William L. and Grace L. (Jenkins) Priest.

Walter Foster, a chemical lab worker in a leather finishing plant, aged thirty-two years (b. MA)  headed a Chicago, IL, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Leona Foster, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), and his children Cynthia Foster, aged five years (b. NH), and Patricia Foster, aged two years (b. IL). Walter Foster rented their house at 628 Barry Avenue, for $40 per month. They had resided in the “same place,” i.e., Chicago, IL, in 1935.

Walter John Foster of Chicago, IL, registered for the peacetime military draft in Chicago, IL, October 16, 1940. He was employed by the Hart Leather Finishing Co, aged thirty-three years (b. Salem, MA, September 18, 1907). He was 5′ 8″ in height, weighed 160 pounds, with blue eyes, back hair, and a light brown complexion.

Newmarket High Teacher Named To Milton Post. A Newmarket high school teacher has been named headmaster of Nute high school in Milton. Walter Foster’s appointment as head of the Milton school has been announced by Jonathan Osgood of Somersworth, head of supervisory union 56. Mr. and Mrs. Foster and two daughters, Cynthia and Patricia, will move to Milton in the fall (Portsmouth Herald, June 20, 1949).

MILTON, N.H. NUTE HIGH SCHOOL: Day – Coed Ages 11-20. Farmington Rd. Tel. 58-2. Walter J. Foster, B.A. Univ. of N.H., Prin. Grade VIII, High Sch. 1-4. Col. Prep, General Home Economics, Business, Manual Arts. Enr. Boys 65, Girls 65, Grad. ’48-’52 – 76; Entr. Col. ’48-’52 – 31. Fac. full-time 7, part-time 1. Tui. $235. Est. 1890 (Sargent, 1954).

Cynthia G. Foster married in Rochester, NH, June 20, 1955, James J. Brezinksi, she of Milton and he of Lebanon. She was a student, aged twenty years, born Dover, NH, daughter of Walter J. and Leona (Priest) Foster. He was a teacher, aged twenty-four years, born Lebanon, ME, son of Jacob and Andella (Androwski) Brezinski.

FOSTER – BREZINSKI. Milton – Cynthia G. Foster, daughter of Principal and Mrs. Walter J. Foster of Nute High School, and James L. Brezinski of Lebanon, were wed recently in St. Mary’s Church, Rochester (Farmington News ,July 21, 1955).

Walter J. Foster’s seventh annual principal’s report, for the academic year 1955-56, appeared in the Milton Town Report for 1955, i.e., for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1955.

REPORT OF PRINCIPAL OF NUTE HIGH SCHOOL

To the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Trustees of Nute High School:

I hereby submit my seventh annual report of the Nute High School which opened its sixty-fifth year, September 7, 1955, with an enrollment of one hundred and thirty-five. Transfers and withdrawals to date have left the present enrollment, of one hundred and twenty-nine, divided as follows: Seniors, 22; Juniors, 16, Sophomores, 29; Freshmen, 36; Grade Eight, 26.

The approved program of studies is the same as last year with the following alternates being substituted: Biology for General Science; French II for French I; Fused Geometry for Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry; Consumer Buying for Sociology; Human Behavior for Economics; Physics for Chemistry; The Home for The Family; Office Practice for Stenography and Typing; Bookkeeping for Business Law and Salesmanship.

The resignations of Mr. Louis Pagliuso, Mr. Wendel Nickerson, Mr. George Boyko, and Mr. Clyde Skelly were accepted and they were replaced by Mr. Harry Kimball of the University of New Hampshire, Mr. John Tierney of Keene Teachers College, Mr. Elton Young of the New England Conservatory of Music, and Mrs. Bertha Lord who returned to accept her previous teaching position. The veteran teachers were very happy to have Mrs. Lord return, but the jubilation was too short for Mrs. Lord became ill and had to resign. Three substitute teachers followed (Mrs. Buckler, Mrs. Nystedt, and Miss Worthley) before a permanent replacement could be found in Mr. Stuart Whipple, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire.

The lunch program is running smoothly again this year under the capable management of Mr. and Mrs. Harriman. We are serving approximately 86 meals per day of which about one-quarter are at reduced rates.

The Juniors and Seniors have been doing some automotive work in shop while the lower classes are engaged in woodwork. The usual projects have been made and several odd jobs repairing school equipment have been accomplished.

Physics students have been learning to make use of the forces found in our Universe; the flow of water and how to make it useful, the laws of motion, and heat and its uses.

The Eighth Grade Science class has learned a little about the soil, its conservation, and care. A sample of soil from one of the nearby farms has been sent to the Farm Bureau for analysis. The students have had an insight into the services of the Sanitation Department, atomic energy, and the extensive source of energy from the Sun.

The Seventh Grade did not have the opportunity to take Homemaking this year. The time usually allotted to them had been given to the Freshman and Sophomores because of the large group taking Foods and Clothing. This course has been divided into one semester of Clothing and one semester of Foods.

A course in Home Living is being offered to Juniors and Seniors this year. The units studied include: child care and development, home decoration, and home nursing.

The Home Economic laboratory has some new and very useful equipment. A Hardwick gas range was installed, making a total of three stoves, thus giving the students experience in both gas and electric cooking. A new Kenmore sewing machine has also been added.

The English classes are again using Practical English, the student magazine, and availing themselves of the many books of all types and grades furnished by the Bookmobile.

New equipment includes a set of lockers for the girl, twenty-four lockers for the boys, an electric belt sander, desks, chairs, combination locks, and two new typewriters. The policy of two new typewriters should be continued or increased for it is impossible to replace the machines at this rate as rapidly as they should be. The one electric typewriter we have came from government surplus and is now about useless. Electric typewriters are so much more expensive than manual machines, it has not seemed expedient to purchase another as more pupils can learn to type with the larger number of regular machines.

Extra-curricular activities are: Science Club, Volleyball and Softball under the guidance of Mr. Kimball; Student Council and prize speaking, Mr. Whipple; girls’ basketball, Mr. Tierney; baseball, Mr. Roberge; Nute Flash, Miss Goodwin assisted by Mr. Whipple; Dramatics, Miss White assisted by Mr. Kimball, Mr. Tierney, and Miss Goodwin; boys’ basketball and National Honor Society, Mr. Foster.

In place of the senior three-act play, the student body combined their talents and presented three successful one-act plays directed by Miss White, Mr. Kimball, and Mr. Tierney. In the spring, the Dramatics Club will enact two one-act plays for the student body.

In May the annual fashion show will be presented.

Last spring Miss Goodwin, Mr. Skelly, and Mr. Foster took a Psychology course, “The Construction of Classroom Tests,” given at Rochester by the University of New Hampshire.

The November issue of the New Hampshire Educator, the official journal of the New Hampshire Education Association, contains an article by Miss Goodwin.

The members of the Nute faculty are active in the newly formed Union 44 Teachers Association, which is a professional organization affiliated with the National Education Association. The Milton teachers entertained this group in December at Nute High School, with Mr. Robert D. Bailey, Executive Secretary of the New Hampshire Education Association, as the speaker.

We are again grateful to the Milton Parent Teacher Association for sending one of our students, Janice Griffith, to the Conservation Camp.

Again I wish to express sincere appreciation to the superintendent, trustees, teachers, and townspeople for their continued support.

Respectfully submitted,

WALTER J. FOSTER, Principal.

Walter J. Foster died in his home on Farmington Road (now Elm Street) in Milton, June 20, 1957, aged forty-nine years.

DEATHS. Walter J. Foster. Milton – Funeral services took place Sunday for Walter J. Foster, 49, principal at Nute High the last 8 years. He died suddenly last Thursday afternoon at his home on Farmington Rd. Edgerly Funeral home of Rochester was in charge of arrangements for rites at Milton Community church. Rev. Buell Maxfield officiated. Burial was in Newmarket. Mr. Foster was born in Salem, Mass., on Sept. 18, 1907. He graduated from University of New Hampshire in 1933. He taught in Newmarket before coming here. He was a member of Masonic and Eastern Star groups of Newmarket and regional and national educational associations. He leaves his mother, Mrs. Rosila C. Foster of Milton, his wife, the former Leona Priest, two daughters, Mrs. Cynthia Brezinski of Connecticut and Miss Patricia Foster of Milton, and 2 grandchildren (Farmington News, [Thursday,] June 27, 1957).

New Teachers Named.  Mrs. Foster Elementary Supervisor. Mrs. Leona Foster of Milton has been named elementary school supervisory principal for Farmington, Supt. Ramon Martineau said. She will also serve as music supervisor for local schools. A UNH graduate, Mrs. Foster has taught for 20 years in Newmarket and Hampton, and for the last 3 in Milton primary grades. She is the widow of Walter Foster, late Nute principal. Mrs. Foster will succeed Arthur Enman, who is moving to Manchester (Farmington, News, July 4, 1957).

Leona F. (Priest) Foster married (2nd) in North Andover, MA, June 19, 1961, Alexander C. Haskell. Alexander C. Haskell was born in Columbia, SC, April 25, 1902. He died in Natick, MA, November 30, 1992.

SCHOOL BOARD CHAIRMAN WEDS FORMER TEACHER. Their wedding Monday in No. Andover, Mass. has been announced by Mrs. Leona Foster and Alex C. Haskell of Grove st. Rev. Clinton W. Carmichael, a lifelong friend of the bride, performed the ceremony. Mr. Haskell, for many years owner of Haskell’s Dept. store, now Reed’s, is chairman of the Farmington School Board. Mrs. Foster, widow of the late principal of Nute High in Milton, taught in the local schools for two years and then has been to Germany the past two years. She completed a tour of teaching with the United States Army Dependent’s Education group last week and arrived by air early Monday at McGuire air base near Trenton, N.J. The couple plans trips to visit their respective grandchildren and then will spend the summer at their cottage, Merrymount, on Lake Winnipesaukee. The new Mrs. Haskell will teach remedial reading in local schools next fall, the same subject she taught servicemen’s children in Europe (Farmington News, [Thursday,] June 22, 1961).

Leona F. ((Priest) Foster) Haskell died in Florida, December 12, 1992.


To be continued.


References:

Bates College. (1911, February). The Bates Student. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=XflRY87cp3gC&pg=PT52

Find a Grave. (2010, January 17). Austin L. Howard. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/46770718

Find a Grave. (2019, May 1). Elliot W. Burbank, Sr. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/198775036

Find a Grave. (2013, December 9). Eshburn Oscar Judkins. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/121467476

Find a Grave. (2012, August 23). John Lewis Knight. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/95856181

Find a Grave, (2016, July 17). R. Harold Gillmore. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/167095519

Find a Grave. (2013, November 9). Ralph G. Reed. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/120078624/ralph-g-reed

Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission. (1924). Annual Report of the Board of Free Public Library Commissioners, for the Year Ending November 30, 1923. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=gLcYAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA6-PA29

NH State Board of Education. (1924). Report of the State Board of Education, for the Biennial Period Ending June 30, 1924. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=EWsaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA153

Sargent, Porter. (1954). Handbook of Private Schools.

Town of Oak Bluffs. (1923). Annual Financial Report of the Town of Oak Bluffs, for the Year Ending December 31, 1922. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=5F40AQAAMAAJ

W.P.I. (1919). Journal of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=DNYrAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA267

Milton in the News – 1952

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 26, 2020

In this year, we encounter a snow train meeting a snowplow, a truck accident, a convalescent home, cottages for sale and for rent, a lightning strike, Milton’s sesquicentennial celebrations, a new cottage for sale, a former music supervisor, a devastating barn fire, Red Gate farm for sale, a large Acton-side house for sale, and a former physician.

[This sequence of Milton news articles will be paused here for a time at Milton’s sesquicentennial year, so that other articles may be brought up into this same time period. Generally, these others might require more research, which means that my usual twice-weekly pace may slacken for a time].


The first Boston & Maine Sunday Snow Train of the season struck the plow of a Milton snowplow truck partially struck on the tracks.

346 Aboard First Sunday Snow Train. Reluctantly Quit Skiing at Call For Last Busses. By PAT HARTY. A crowd of 346 skiers and spectators rode the first Boston & Maine Sunday Snow Train of the season to the Eastern Slopes region of New Hampshire yesterday and had some of the best skiing of the year. They had an unscheduled experience when the train hit a snowplow in Milton, N.H. The plow became stuck in heavy snow and did not quite clear the track. The operators leaped to safety, but a piece of the plow frame swept the side of the diesel and broke a few windows in the train. No one was hurt. Snowshoes Too. Nova Kelso, a dentist’s receptionist in Boston, transplanted from Walla Walla. Wash., called one of her first days of New England skiing superb. She did most of her skiing in Oregon and was one of he country’s few women ski patrolmen. She doesn’t mind splinting a broken bone but claims handling a toboggan on a mountainside is really tough for a girl. They didn’t waste a minute, they kept the rope tows and the skimobile humming, and quit only when the word was passed that the last buses were leaving for the station, a mile away. However, skiers did not have a monopoly, as snowshoers, hikers and just plain spectators swelled the crowd. Peer Reed Owen, 65, of 275 Gallivan boulevard, Dorchester, brought along his favorite snowshoes and hiked to the summit of Cranmore Mountain. “That ice the skiers were falling on was no easier for my snowshoes,” commented Peer, “but I soon got above them and into soft snow. It was wonderful up there looking off at Mt. Washington in the distance.” Peer is a head janitor at Harvard University’s Business School, where he presides at Hamilton Hall. He brought along his 19-year-old son, Edward, who is a sophomore in the undergraduate college. Ed does not share his father’s love for the snowshoes, but skis. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Nesbitt, 74, and 72, respectively, were certainly the oldest folks on the train, but their spirits were among the youngest. They were the pair who organized a party of 79 skiers in Lawrence years ago in order to get the Sunday snow special to stop there. Their comments would qualify them as experts as they watched the stream of down-running skiers. Donald Guy, 8, son of the photo chief of the Associated Press, hated like fury to head for the station at the close of the day. Aid Olympic Fund. Henry Brown of Beverly, train conductor, was on hand early this morning to shake the hands of many of the train’s regulars. First to greet him was Sven Cederstrom of Beacon Hill, without whom the train wouldn’t leave the station. He and Henry rode the first one and they have not missed many since. Henry (Swampy) Paris of the Initou Ski Club of Woburn made the trip and sold decals for the Olympic Ski Team Fund en route. He realized $40 for the fund at half a dollar a throw. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Miselis at New London, Conn came the longest distance to ride up. They got up at 3:30 in the morning and took the 5 o’clock train to Boston. They brought their sons, Robert, 5, and Richard, 6, to take a ski lesson from Hannes Schneider, famed ski maestro of Cranmore Mountain. Neal Mahoney was in charge of the ski car, which is complete with every ski gadget known to man. John O’Rourke assisted him in fitting bindings to rental skis or fixing broken gear. Bjarne Johanssen, ski shop owner, and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Burt Lindahl of Brookline and Burt Shea of Somerville were on hand. Margaret and Mary Reil of Woburn, Bill Rouillard and Ed Hamilton oi Stoneham, and John and Dot Mason of Woburn were part of a group of 17 that came along from the Initou Ski Club. Nan Mulcahey was another Woburnite who sped down Cranmore all afternoon. Joan Hureau and Rita Lucarelli of Everett gave the rope tow a workout. Margaret Coppinger of Medford confided that she lives for the Winter and skiing. Summer is just something to be endured, she feels. The crowd of spectators who went to make up a crowd of close to 1500 at the skimobile were treated to a pretty sight this afternoon when 150 children, members of the junior ski program, went through their paces. They were having a dress rehearsal for a television and movie short they will make later in the week. The skiing was good here today with most of the crowd playing around on the North and South Slopes. The upper Rattlesnake and Arlberg trails as well as the lower Arlberg and North Conway trails got plenty of running. The snow was deep and the runs were well packed out. This may be the year when Snow Train crowds will again reach the 1000 mark (Boston Globe, January 7, 1952).


Ralph E. Treadwell [“Jr.”] of Milton Mills was hospitalized for injuries he received in a truck accident on Spring street in Farmington, NH.

MILTON MILLS MAN INJURED IN TRUCK CRASH ON SPRING STREET. Ralph E. Tredwell was taken to the Frisbie Memorial hospital early last Sunday morning, where he was treated for injuries sustained in a truck accident on Spring street, shortly before 1 a.m., on that date. The extent of his injuries are not known at present, but it was reported that he was still hospitalized early in the week. The accident occurred just north of Ricker’s garage. Tredwell was reported driving his truck toward Farmington village, on his return from a dance in New Durham. It is believed that the truck, with a snow plow attachment on front, struck a series of bumps, causing him to lose control of the vehicle, with the result that the truck went off the highway, and crashed into a tree. The truck was badly damaged, but was saved from complete demolishment by the snow plow attachment. Tredwell was taken to a local physician, who advised him to be taken to the hospital. The accident was investigated by Lawrence Lover, the officer on duty (Farmington News, February 29, 1952).

Ralph E. Treadwell married in Maine, October 20, 1953, Louise D. French. Ralph Treadwell appeared, with his wife, Louise Treadwell, in the Rochester directory of 1960, as a Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employee, with a house at 8 Mill street, East Rochester.

They removed to Honolulu, HI, between then and 1968. He died at Ewa Beach, Honolulu, HI, December 12, 1983.


Beatrix A. “Billie” (Bishop) Meunier, formerly of Northfield, VT, but reportedly resident at this time in Acton, ME.

Beatrix Meunier became proprietor of the Sunshine Lunch and Bakery in Newport, NH, in August 1946 (Burlington Free Press, August 9, 1946). She opened the eponymous Billie’s restaurant, in the Varney Block (at the intersection of Central and North Main streets), in Farmington, NH, in August 1950.

In March 1952, she planned to open a convalescent home on Charles street in Milton.

LOCAL BUSINESS WOMAN TO START CONVALESCENT HOME IN MILTON. Miss Beatrix Meunier, well known proprietor of Billie’s restaurant, has announced the purchase of the former Reginald Curtis dwelling property on Charles street in Milton. This is of considerable interest to people in this vicinity, as Miss Meunier also announced that following a series of repairs and renovations, she plans to open the large 16-room structure as a convalescent home. It is not expected, however, that the home will be open for business until sometime in late spring or during summer (Farmington News, March 28, 1952).

Beatrix Meunier appeared in the Milton tax valuation of April 1, 1952, as owner of the Reginald Curtis homestead, which was valued at $4,300.


William P. Boivin advertised a new cottage for sale, as he had in the previous year. (He had previously offered similar “Little America” cottages for rent in 1949).

Summer Cottages and Houses. FOR SALE. New Lake Front Cottage. 4 ROOMS and flush, finished and furnished, ready to move in, electric pump, good well, pine trees on lot; good beach; loan can be arranged; price $4800. Write WM. BOIVIN, Box 51, Milton, N.H. SSu (Boston Globe, May 24, 1952).

William P. Boivin appeared in the Milton tax valuation of April 1, 1952, as owner of Lots 6, 7, Durkee cottage and 8 lots and cottages, Bowering, which was valued at $8,800.


Summer Cottages and Houses. STEVENS Cottages. Milton, N.H.; spacious, modern, lake boat, bathing. $50-$60. TR6-4577. dSu3t je6 (Boston Globe, June 6, 1952).

Shore, Mountain, Lake, Country. 112. STEVENS COTTAGES, Milton, N.H. Tel. Mil. 34-11. $50-$60 a week. Spacious, modern, bathing, boat. 3t j6 (Portsmouth Herald, June 10, 1952).

Florence E. Stevens appeared in the Milton tax valuation of April 1, 1952, as owner of five cottages and lots, which was valued in total at $6,700. (Earlier advertisements (those of 1944) place the Stevens Cottages on Northeast Pond).


Charles E. [Jr.] and Eva M. (Pearson) Perry lost their Goodwin road residence to a fire caused by a lightning strike.

MILTON DWELLING STRUCK BY LIGHTNING BURNS COMPLETELY. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Perry on the Goodwin road in Milton was struck by lightning during the electrical storm early Tuesday evening and was completely destroyed by fire that ensued. Mr. and Mrs. Perry were away from their home at the time and the blaze was not discovered until it had gained such headway that it became noticeable to neighbors in that section of town. The dwelling, which was one of the oldest structures in that area, was completely gutted before firemen could be notified. It is reported that the unfortunate couple had no fire insurance coverage (Farmington News, June 13, 1952).

The Heirs of Charles E. Perry [Sr.] appeared in the Milton tax valuation of April 1, 1952, as owners of a 50-acre farm, which was valued at $1,000.


Bad weather forced Milton’s sesquicentennial celebration from its planned location on the grounds of the Nute High school to the town hall building on Sunday, August 10, 1952.

As its name implies, the featured Goodall Sanford band was based in Sanford, ME. Norman I. Stansfield, a Sanford weaver, aged thirty-six years, was its manager, and Everett E. Firth, a Sanford music teacher, aged fifty-six years, was its director. In some of its reported concerts it featured as many as fifty musicians.

The principal speaker was Styles Bridges of Concord, NH, one of New Hampshire’s two U.S. senators. U.S. Representative Chester Merrow was also in attendance.

150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TOWN OF MILTON CELEBRATION, AUGUST 10. The town of Milton was incorporated in 1802, when it separated from Rochester, where formerly it was known as the Northeast Parish. Since the first settlement in 1760, the population has increased until now there are 1510 persons in town. They will be joined by many former residents and people from other communities in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the town at a program to be held on Nute high school grounds on Sunday August 10, from one to five in the afternoon. The Goodall Sanford band will be in attendance, the principal speaker will be Hon. Styles Bridges, and there will be other interesting and entertaining numbers. The committee in charge of the occasion consists of Chairman Lyman Plummer, Edward R. Stone, Maurice L. Hayes, Theodore C. Ayer, John G. Gilman, Leroy J. Ford, and Robert P. Laskey (Farmington News, August 1, 1952).

150th ANNIVERSARY OF TOWN OF MILTON. The town of Milton celebrated the 150th anniversary of its incorporation last Sunday, August 10, with a program that featured local and national participants. Although the rainy day necessitated the change of location from the scheduled Nute high school grounds to the town hall building, the interest of citizens and former residents and friends was not dampened in the least. The hall was filled by one o’clock in the afternoon, when the Goodall Sanford Band opened the ceremonies with a concert. The address of welcome was given by Lyman Plummer, who was chairman of the committee of arrangements. Then followed “The Star Spangled Banner,” by Joseph Barry, Pledge of Allegiance, and invocation by Rev. George F. Currier. The history of the town was given by John G. Gilman, chairman of the board of selectmen. Speakers for the occasion were Hon. Styles Bridges, Hon. Chester Merrow and Mayor C. Wesley Lyons of Rochester. Singing by the audience, benediction by Rev. Buell W. Maxfield and a concert by the band brought to a close the order of the day which made a very fitting observance of 150 years of progress in the town of Milton (Farmington News, August 15, 1952).

Milton’s centennial observance took place on August 30, 1902 and one of New Hampshire’s two U.S. Senators took notice of its bicentennial year in a speech on the senate floor on March 13, 2002.


William P. Boivin advertised a new cottage for sale, as he had in May and in the previous year.

Summer Cottages and Houses. FOR SALE. BRAND new water front cottage, Milton, N.H.: if you love to fish, swim and hunt, this is it; 4-room Summer home, furnished, refrigeration and gas; ready to move in; running water and your own private beach and wharf; price $4500. Write Wm. BOIVIN, Box 51, Milton, N.H. SuM (Boston Globe, August 3, 1952).

William P. Boivin appeared in the Milton tax valuation of April 1, 1952, as owner of Lots 6, 7, Durkee cottage and 8 lots and cottages, Bowering, which was valued at $8,800.


Here we learn that John Whelan of Durham had at one time been in charge of music education in Milton.

Durham Items. The John Whelans of Mast Rd. are moving this week to Munson [Monson], Mass., where Whelan will be supervisor of music in the public schools. He formerly was in charge of music for Durham, and Milton, N.H. (Portsmouth Herald, August 26, 1952).


WW II Veteran Paul R. McDermott and his wife, Geraldine M. (Davis) McDermott lost their huge barn and twenty-seven head of cattle in an overnight five-alarm fire. (A similar fire destroyed the Katwick’s West Milton barn and cattle in February 1948).

Paul R. and Geraldine M. McDermott appeared in the Milton tax valuation of April 1, 1952, as owner of the 70-acre Bailey farm and creamery, which was valued at $6,500. They owned also seven cows, valued at $875, and three neat stock, valued at $300.

27 HEAD OF CATTLE LOST IN N.H. BLAZE. Huge Barn Destroyed in Milton; Loss Given at $100,000. MILTON, N.H. (AP). – Fire, unofficially estimated at $100,000 damage, raced through a huge barn here last night and 27 head of cattle perished in the flames. Only five cows were saved by farmhands and neighbors who braved smoke and intense heat and entered the structure which belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Paul R. McDermott. The fire was discovered by Mrs. McDermott shortly before midnight when she noticed smoke emerging from the building. Fire companies from three towns helped fight the flames but the barn was leveled. No cause for the fire was immediately determined but firemen said new hay was stored in the building yesterday and they theorized spontaneous combustion may have been responsible (Brattleboro Reformer, September 9, 1952).

Paul R. McDermott appeared, with his wife Geraldine M. McDermott, in the Dover directory of 1953, as a farmer, with his house at 392 Central av.


New Hampshire Real Estate and Business Properties. Excellent Village Home in N.H. ATTRACTIVE, sound construction, 1½-story house, 7 rooms, large porch, sizable barn, 2-story workshop adjacent, suitable for business; good well, electricity, 1 min. walk to P.O. and stores, lakes and large shopping districts nearby; price .$4500. Address RED GATE FARM, Milton Mills, N.H., tel. 24-12. Su3t s21 (Boston Globe, September 21, 1952).

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore H. Ayer of Red Gate Farm, Milton Mills, announced the engagement of their daughter, Jane E. Ayer, to Donald E. Pearson of Manchester, NH, in January 1965 (Farmington News, January 7, 1965).

REAL ESTATE. IN ACTON, ME. State line property, 12-room house, could be used as two-family, guest, convalescent home or an ideal summer home. Near schools, stores, post office and churches; several large lakes nearby, plenty good fishing and hunting. Price $2900, cash or terms. CLARENCE DeVOID, BOX 93, MILTON MILLS, N.H. (Boston Globe, October 5, 1952).

Clarence E. Devoid came from Vermont. The $2,900 he sought for this large house would be worth $28,329 in current inflation-adjusted dollars.


Here we bid farewell to Dr. John A. Stevens, who appeared in various sources as a resident of Union, NH, in the period 1903-11.

LOCAL. Dr. John Andrew Stevens, aged 77 years, died Monday morning, October 6, at his home in Dover. Dr. Stevens at one time practiced medicine in Milton Mills, and later in New York state. He retired about twenty years ago. He was quite well known among older Farmington residents (Farmington News, October 10, 1952).


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1951; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1953


References:

Find a Grave. (2014, April 19). Beatrix A. “Billie” Meunier. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/128194272

Find a Grave. (2013, August 4). Charles Everett Perry, Jr. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/114912495

Find a Grave. (2002, November 27). Chester Earl Merrow. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/6957984/chester-earl-merrow

Find a Grave. (2003, February 4). Henry Styles Bridges. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/7146308/henry-styles-bridges

Find a Grave. (2015, August 6). Paul R. McDermott. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/150262322

Find a Grave. (2015, August 18). Ralph Ezekiel “Zeke” Treadwell. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/150926796

Find a Grave. (2016, June 23). William P. Boivin. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/165939126/william-p_-boivin

Wikipedia. (2019, May 20). Chester Earl Merrow. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Earl_Merrow

Wikipedia. (2020, January 8). Styles Bridges. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styles_Bridges

Milton in the News – 1951

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 23, 2020

In this year, we encounter a pair of Milton snowbirds, a letter to the editor, Milton cottages for rent or sale, a running child, the Minnewawa Council, Little America cottages for sale or rent, a summer job (and coffee cake recipe), a fatal auto accident, two toddlers killed in an auto fire, a hunting death, and Robert E. Jones’ birthday remembered.


Sisters Mrs. Ingeborg V. “Ivy” (Swanson) Townsend, of Milton Mills, widow of Henry Townsend, and Mrs. Ruth H. ((Swanson) Iovine) Dawson, of Milton, visited Orlando, FL, as tourists in February 1951.

I.V. Townsend, a widow, aged seventy-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills”) household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her boarder, Harold Dawson, a life insurance salesman, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH). Ingeborg Townsend owned her house on [Milton Mills’] Main Street, which was valued at $2,500.

Tourist Registrations. Mrs. I.V. Townsend. Milton Mills, N.H., Mrs. Seth F. Dawson. Milton, N.H. (Orlando Evening Star, February 14, 1951).

Mrs. Ingeborg Townsend served on the Frisbie Hospital open-house-day committee in September 1951 (Farmington News, September 28, 1951). Mrs. Ruth H. Dawson would embark upon a political career.


Milton Leatherboard manager M. James Guild wrote to the editor of the Boston Globe with his concerns that unbalanced budgets constituted a threat to democracy.

M. James Guild, a leather-board manager, aged fifty-two years (b. Scotland), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Eva [M. (Taylor)] Guild, aged forty-seven years (b. MA), and his children, Josephine C. Guild, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), M. James Guild, Jr., a leather-board laborer, aged eighteen years (b. VA), Frederick W. Guild, aged fourteen years (b. VA), and Kenneth S. Guild, aged ten years (b. NH). M. James Guild owned their house on White Hall Road, which was valued at $8,000. They had resided in the “same house” in 1935.

Meston James Guild of Whitehall Road, Rochester, registered for the WW II military draft in Rochester, NH, April 27, 1942. He was fifty-five years old (b. Wells, Somerset, England, March 7, 1897), and employed by the Milton Leather-board Co. of Milton, NH. His contact was [his wife] Eva Mertis [(Taylor)] Guild of Whitehall Road, Rochester. Their telephone number was Rochester 1162. He was 5′ 9″ tall, weighing 240 pounds, with blue eyes, grey hair, and a ruddy complexion.

What People Talk About. Our Own Stupidity and Ignorance Could Make Democracy Fold Up. To the Editor – John Harriman is right. Democracy is not going to fold before the bluster of Communism. Nobody I know of wants Communism or Socialism. Then what is going to make what we call democracy fold? Our own stupidity and ignorance – they could very easily cause it to fold up. We refer not to money, but the handling of money as the most important thing in the world. If an individual spends beyond his means, he ends at the poor farm. A state would probably be taken over by the Federal Government. If the United States becomes insolvent, with the resulting financial and social chaos, what is the result? The Government would take over control of everything and everybody. This would be a totalitarian state, any way you figure it; call it anything you want. This is the only thing that can destroy free enterprise or democracy. A free democratic government must, by the very nature of it, live within its means or, as we say, balance the budget. If it does not, it is bound to be a failure which means the end of that or any other system. M.J. GUILD, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, February 14, 1951).

Guild did not live to see $23 trillion dollar debts, which have been climbing under both parties at over a $1 trillion per year (and whose rate of increase is increasing). Many monetary analysts claim that debts of this size can never be repaid or outgrown; it can end only in a default or hyperinflation.


Summer Cottages and Houses. MILTON, N.H. 4-rm. lakefront cottage for rent, all conv., boating, fishing, swim. Aug. only. $50 wk. Write D 341 Globe. SSu (Boston Globe, May 5, 1951).

Houses for Sale. 120. A COTTAGE on Town House Pond, Milton, N.H., 3 yrs. old, $4,000, 5 rooms and bath, Youngstown kitchen cabinets, combination gas and oil range, tile floor in kitchen and bathroom, Elec. hot water, 2 bedrooms, living room, glassed in porch, full length copper screens on all windows. Completely furnished. Cement cellar under kitchen, 12’x12′. Call Rochester 780. 2t m11 (Portsmouth Herald, May 11, 1951).

REAL ESTATE. NEW HAMPSHIRE Highway Farm, $10,000 – House, 10 rooms, large sheds and barn, 90 acres, long high way frontage. C.T. BALCOM, Realtor; ME 4-2140. or Rte. 16, Milton, N.H. SSuW (Boston Globe, May 26, 1951).


Robert D. Runnells of Milton had a child run into the side of his car in Portsmouth, NH. You have seen perhaps the Crystal Motor Express freight trucks with their safety motto: “Behind a rolling ball comes a running child.”

Police Reports. Police reported that a girl five-year-old girl identified as Dona Jean Powell of 35 Profile avenue ran from behind a parked car into the side of a car operated by Robert D. Runnels, 19, of Milton, yesterday near her home. The girl was taken to Portsmouth hospital. (Portsmouth Herald, May 16, 1951).

The child, Donna Jean Powell, survived to graduate from Portsmouth High School in June 1963.


Milton long had a chapter of the unfortunately-themed Improved Order of Red Men (IORM) fraternal mystic order. Here several candidates are to have a higher degree conferred upon them in Manchester, NH.

Mystic Orders. Red Men. The 30th annual meeting of the Old Deerfield Conference will be held on Friday and Saturday in Manchester, N.H., in Odd Fellows Hall. 83 Hanover st. The Pocahontas Degree will be conferred on several candidates by Minnewawa Council of Milton, N.H., at 8:00 p.m. The annual business meeting of the Conference will be called at 9:00 a.m. Saturday. A reception and ball to Great Chiefs and guests at 8:00 p.m. New England will be represented by Great Chiefs from the several Reservations (Boston Globe, June 3, 1951).

Many of these mystic orders had their nineteenth century origins as mutual insurance benefit societies. The Red Men claimed to have their origins in the Boston Tea Party. Presidents Warren G. Harding, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt were in their time all members of the IORM.


William P. Boivin advertised a new cottage for sale. (He had previously offered similar “Little America” cottages for rent in 1949).

Summer Cottages and Houses. NEW COTTAGE FOR SALE, IN PINE GROVE on shore of Milton Lake, N.H., finished and furnished like a home, 4 rooms, flush, screened porch, good well, electric pump, will sleep 6 people, price $5200. Write WM. BOIVIN, Box 90, Milton, N.H. SSu (Boston Globe, June 16, 1951).

Summer Cottages and Houses. VACATION IN N.H. LITTLE AMERICA housekeeping cottages by the lake, boating, bathing, fishing, $35 to $45 a week; vacancy second week in July and the month of Aug. Write WM. BOIVIN, Box 40, Milton, N.H. SSu (Boston Globe, June 23, 1951).


Little House - FP400420Miss Edith J. Hodgdon, proprietor of The Little House (hotel) and Pantry in Northfield, VT, recruited her niece, Joyce Hodgdon of Milton Mills for some summer assistance. She had opened the hotel in 1940, changed its location in or around 1948 and, more recently, there had been a kitchen fire there in May 1951 (Burlington Free Press, May 21, 1951).

Edith J. Hodgdon, a commercial food work dietician, aged thirty-four years (b. VT), headed a Northfield, VT, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her hotel guest, Rufus C. Jones, a memorial granite salesman, aged forty-two years (b. TX). The hotel was situated at 9 North Main Street. Edith J. Hodgdon had resided in Boston, MA, in 1935; her guest had resided in Colfax, WA, in 1935.

Edith J. Hodgdon appeared in the Northfield, VT, directory of 1949 as proprietor of The Little House and Pantry, with her house at 40 So. Main street. The Little House and Pantry appeared as a restaurant and tea room at 40 So. Main street, with Edith J. Hodgdon as its proprietor.

Personal News Items. Miss Joyce Hodgdon of Milton Mills, N.H., a senior in Milton High School, is assisting at The Little House this summer. She is a niece of the owner, Miss Edith Hodgdon (Burlington Free Press, July 11, 1951).

And if Joyce Hodgdon were to have brought home to Milton Mills her Aunt Edith’s Quick Coffee Cake recipe, it would have looked like this:

Favorite Recipes of Famous Taverns. The Little House and Pantry. Next to the post office in the village of Northfield, Vermont, this restaurant, owned by Edith Hodgdon, specializes in real New England dishes. It is open from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., every day. Closed December 20 to January 5. Baked goods may be purchased in the Pantry.

LITTLE HOUSE QUICK COFFEE CAKE

    • ½ cup sugar
    • 3 tablespoons shortening
    • 2 eggs
    • 1¼ cups milk
    • 2½ cups flour
    • 4 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1¼ teaspoons salt

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, beat well. Stir in milk and dry ingredients. Spread in oblong 9 x 12 cake pan and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts. Bake in moderate oven. Serve warm with butter. Makes 12 portions (Ford Times, December 1956).


Herbert M. Drew of Milton is thought to have suffered a heart attack while driving to Farmington, NH, on the Farmington-Middleton road, i.e., the modern NH Route 153. Drew died and his wife was injured in the ensuing accident.

Five Killed in New England Road Accidents. Five persons were killed and several others were injured yesterday in a series of accidents through New England. In Farmington, N.H., Herbert M. Drew, 53, of Milton, N.H., was killed and his wife was seriously injured when their car careened down a steep embankment on the Farmington-Union road. Mrs. Irma Drew, 43, suffered a fractured right leg, head injuries, and a dislocated knee. She was rushed to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Dr. George McGregor of Durham, medical referee, said the accident may have been caused when Drew had a heart attack. He was treated for a heart condition recently. Drew died from the injuries suffered in the accident. Dr. McGregor said. (Portsmouth Herald, August 7, 1951).

MILTON MAN DEAD, WIFE HOSPITALIZED, AFTER AUTO ACCIDENT ON MIDDLETON ROAD. Herbert M. Drew, aged 53, a resident of Milton and recently employed as a chimney cleaner, lost his life, and his wife was hospitalized when the car he was driving plunged off the Farmington-Middleton highway last Monday morning between 9 and 10 o’clock. The accident occurred as Mr. and Mrs. Drew were on their way to work in Farmington and it is believed that Mr. Drew suffered a heart attack as the car was rounding a sharp curve in the road directly opposite the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Tibbets. The vehicle went out of control, plunged down over a steep embankment and turned over on its side. The front end of the vehicle crashed into a large pine tree, causing considerable damage. Mrs. Drew the only other passenger in the oar was taken to the Frisbie Memorial hospital in Rochester and was later removed to the Huggins hospital in Wolfeboro where she is being treated for head injuries, leg and hip injuries, with possible fracture of both and severe bruises. Dr. George MacGregor of Durham, the attending medical referee, pronounced the man dead upon arrival at the scene and the body was removed to the Norman L. Otis funeral parlor. Mrs. Drew is a well known beauty parlor operator in Farmington and her husband had been employed variously as a woodsman, chimney cleaner, and at other occupations. They lived a short distance from the accident scene. Rural mail carrier Harry Nute narrowly escaped being involved in the accident. At the time of the crash he was scheduled to stop at mail boxes only a scant few feet from where the Drew car left the road, however due to extra heavy mail he was a few minutes late and thereby escaped possible injuries to himself and damage to his car. Mr. Drew was born in Concord and survivors include his wife, Mrs. Irma Drew; a son Frederick Drew of Laconia; two sisters, Mrs. Arthur Foote and Mrs. Leonard, both of Concord; and three brothers, Harry of Bow, Chester of Meredith, and Andrew of Concord. Funeral services were held on Wednesday afternoon at the Norman L. Otis funeral parlor. Remains were taken to Bow (Farmington News, August 10, 1951).

Late in the evening of the same day as the accident, and less than a mile away on the same road, a drunken Milton Mills driver crossed over into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision in which seven people were injured, one of them hospitalized (Farmington News, August 10, 1951). (There was a serious roll-over accident on this road in December 1949).

Rita's Beauty Shop - FN500929CARD OF THANKS. I am deeply grateful for the cards, flowers, and many kindnesses and expressions of sympathy in my recent great misfortune. Mrs. Irma Drew (Farmington News, August 17, 1951).

Mrs. Irma Drew may have suffered after-effects from the accident in which her husband died. She published the following notice a year after she sustained her injuries.

NOTICE! MRS. IRMA DREW wishes to notify her friends and customers that she will be at Wolfeboro Hospital for a few days. Her shoppe will be open for telephone calls and future appointments, under the care of her apprentice, Miss Phyllis Masse (Farmington News, August 22, 1952).


Two young children burned to death in a horrible fire on Jug Hill Road in Milton Mills. Their family had only recently moved here from Gorham, NH.

Cornelius R. Murphy, a paper mill laborer, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Gorham, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of one year), Leah B. [(Cousens)] Murphy, aged twenty-two years (b. ME), his child, Mary E. Murphy, aged one month (b. NH), and his step-child, Bobby A. Poutin, aged three years (b. ME). Cornelius R. Murphy rented their house on Lancaster Road, for $10 per month, He had resided in the “same place,” i.e., Gorham, NH, in 1935, while his wife had resided in Portland, ME.

Cornelius R. Murphy (with wife Leah B. Murphy) appeared in the Gorham, NH, directory of 1948 as an employee of the BCo, i.e., the Brown Company, with a house on Upper Main street.

Sisters, 3 and 2, Burned to Death in Parked Auto. MILTON MILLS, N.H., Oct. 11. – Two little sisters burned to death in a fire which destroyed an automobile parked outside their parents’ farmhouse on Jug Hill road at noon today. The victims were Lynn Murphy, 3, and Donna, 2, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Murphy. The family moved here from Gorham only a month ago. Medical Referee George McGregor of Durham said he believed the children set the car afire while playing with matches. However, State Police were called in to investigate. The parents had missed the little girls, but had no idea they were in the automobile until firemen extinguished the flames. Lynn and Donna had been playing in the yard with their kitten when last seen alive. There are three other children, Adrian, 10; Cornelius Jr., 6, and Mary, 11 (Boston Globe, October 11, 1951).


Alphonse P. Plante of Dover, NH, son of Joseph E. and Marie E. (Lavertue) Plante, lost his life in a Milton hunting accident.

18 PERSONS DEAD IN NEW ENGLAND. Fires, Drownings, Highway Crashes Take Big Week-End Toll. HUNTER WOUNDED FATALLY IN N.H. Alphonse E. Plante. 21, of Dover, N.H., who had enlisted in the Marine Corps only a week ago, was killed when his shotgun banged against a stump and discharged into his abdomen while he was hunting in Milton, N.H. (Brattleboro Reformer, December 3, 1951).


Famous Milton-native Robert E. Jones’ birthday was remembered in syndicated newspaper birthday columns around the nation.

Today’s Birthdays. Robert E. Jones of New York, noted stage designer, born Milton, N.H., 64 years ago (Shreveport Times, December 12, 1951).


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1950; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1952


References:

Crystal Companies. (2020). About Us. Retrieved from www.crystalmotorexpress.com/about-us/

Find a Grave. (2011, September 15). Alphonse P. Plante. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/76570266

Find a Grave. (2014, June 2). Donna Lee Murphy. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/130751243/donna-lee-murphy

Find a Grave. (2014, August 4). Edith Julia Hodgdon. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/133853501

Find a Grave. (2014, June 2). Lynn Murphy. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/130751226/lynn-murphy

Wikipedia. (2019, September 24). Improved Order of Red Men. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improved_Order_of_Red_Men

Wikipedia. (2019, September 11). Robert Edmond Jones. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Edmond_Jones

 

Milton in the News – 1950

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 19, 2020

In this year, we encounter a retired headmaster’s lecture, chicken dinners at the Hotel Braemore, real estate, a Goodwin Road fire, highway construction, escaped Strafford County prisoners, and a West Milton camp for sale.


Dr. George E. Carmichael, a retired headmaster, was apparently an early “snowbird.” He gave a lecture to other retirees in Florida on the last survivor of Bunker Hill, i.e., Ralph Farnham of Milton Mills. (Ralph Farnham’s swan song appeared in various news articles of 1860).

Retired Teacher Will Give Talk. “The Last Survivor of Bunker Hill” will be the lecture topic of Dr. George E. Carmichael, Milton Mills, N.H., at 2 p. m. today at the Tourist Center Lounge. His talk is sponsored by the International Retired Teachers Association. Dr. Carmichael is retired headmaster of the Milton Mills Preparatory School. Dr. Arnold D. Collier, president of the teachers organization, has extended an invitation to members of the Friday Night Club and the New Hampshire Society to attend the Monday meeting (Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, FL), January 16, 1950).

Dr. George E. Carmichael is principally remembered as the founder of the Brunswick Preparatory school of Greenwich, CT, which he founded in 1902, and of which he was headmaster until 1933.

His obvious Milton Mills connection was his wife, who was a daughter of Everett F. and Carrie B. (Ricker) Fox of Milton Mills. George E. Carmichael, a teacher, aged thirty-seven years, married in Milton, December 25, 1912, Helen G. Fox, aged thirty-one years, he of Greenwich, CT, and she of Milton. Rev. Myron P. Dickey, then of Kennebunk, ME, performed the ceremony.


Al Braman turned over the proprietorship of the Hotel Braemore to his wife, Madeleine (Van Reybroeck) Braman. She advertised reasonable rates, hotel dining room hours, and special chicken dinners.

HOTEL BRAEMORE. Milton, N.H. Special Chicken Dinners $1.00. Open 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Transient rooms, $1.50 single, $3.00 double. Some furnished 2-room Apts. Reasonable weekly rates. Madeleine Braman, prop. (Farmington News, February 3, 1950).

Madeleine (Van Reybroeck) Braman was born in Moerkerke, West Vlaanderen, Belgium, July 6, 1896. She died in Inglewood, Los Angeles, CA, January 28, 1977.


Henry H. Pillman had still his Mountain View camp for sale, as he had in the previous year.

Summer Cottages and Houses. MILTON. N.H. Shore front camp, $3300 ; also lots. Call LY 5-4311 (Boston Globe, April 9. 1950).


FARM, VILLAGE HOMES. 6-RM. house, 5 acres, oil furnace; near school, stores and church; $2300. Brook H. Jedrey, Milton Mills, N.H. (Boston Globe, April 16, 1950).


Realtor Chester T. Balcom of Melrose, MA, offered several Milton properties for sale. He would seem to have had a local agent or representative with a Milton telephone number.

REAL ESTATE. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Route 16, 8 single and double cabins, furnished, running water, flush toilets, sinks, stoves, electric lights, septic tanks, excellent fishing, swimming; prominent location. C.T. BALCOM. MElrose 4-2140 and Milton, N.H. W AMS AM Su (Boston Globe, April 19, 1950).

REAL ESTATE. MILTON, N.H. – Colonial, 8 rooms, steam heat, barn, 25 acres, in field and woodland, $5700. C.T. BALCOM. Realtor. MElrose 4-2140; Route 16, Milton, N.H.; tel. Milton 41-32. SSu (Boston Globe, May 6, 1950).


Leslie W. and Hazel A. (Perkins) Anderson had a two-alarm fire that damaged the second story of their two-story Goodwin Road house.

Leslie W. Anderson, a shoe shop wood heeler, aged forty-four years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Hazel A. Anderson, aged forty-two years (b. NH), his children, Ellaine A. Anderson, aged sixteen years (b. NH), and Lena E. Anderson, aged fifteen years (b. NH), and his boarder, Jacob M. Swinerton, a shoe shop treer, aged thirty-seven years (b. NH). Leslie W. Anderson owned their house, which was valued at $1,200. They had resided in Farmington, NH, in 1935.

Leslie Walter Anderson, of Goodwin Road, Milton, registered for the WW II military draft in Rochester, NH, April 27, 1942. His mailing address was P.O. Box 71, Farmington, NH. He was aged forty-six years (b. Stoneham, MA, June 21, 1895), and worked at the Rondeau Shoe Co. in Farmington, NH. Hazel A. Anderson, of Goodwin Road, Milton (or P.O. Box 71, Farmington, NH), was given as his contact. Leslie W. Anderson was 5′ 10″ tall, weight 163 pounds, and had brown hair, brown eyes, and a light complexion.

FIRE DAMAGES HOME OF LESLIE ANDERSON IN MILTON. Fire of unknown origin cause considerable damage to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Anderson on the Goodwin road in Milton last Monday night. The blaze, which originated in an upstairs room of the two-story house, was discovered by the Anderson family who were occupying the first-floor rooms at the time. They immediately called the Milton fire department and firemen were quickly dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, the Milton fire chief called for assistance from the Farmington fire department and Chief Gibbs sent Farmington’s new tank truck unit. The two departments worked together as a team, and the superb performance of the tank truck, soon had the fire under control, but only after one room of the house was gutted and other portions of the upstairs considerably damaged. Damage is unofficially estimated at close to $1,000 (Farmington News, April 21, 1950).

In the Milton taxpayer inventory, i.e., property assessment, of April 1949 (for the year 1950), Leslie Anderson’s property included the 90-acre Hersey farm ($200) and its woodland ($200), the 45-acre Daniel Goodwin farm ($150) and its woodland ($150), the 45-acre George Goodwin farm ($250) and its woodland ($100), and the 5-acre Canney farm ($1,000). His residence, and the property damaged by fire, would seem to have been the 5-acre Canney farm.


Highway construction in Milton was being “figured,” presumably by the NH State Department of Transportation, for May 11.

New England Building Projects. According to Gainey’s Construction Newsletter the following is a partial list of projects now being figured. Silver Lake Elem Schl, Athol, Extn., May 11; Sanders St. Elem. School (Addn & Alts), Athol, Extn., May 11; New Church & Parish Hse. (Alts), Quincy, May 11; Elementary School, Dover, N.H., Ext., May 11; Bridge, Conway, N.H., May 11; Highway, Milton, N.H., May 11; Theatre & Stores, Littleton, N.H., May 12; Parochial School, Salem, May 12; Concr. & Stone Msnry. Bridge & Approaches, Grafton County, N.H., May 16; Install Fire Detection System, Chelsea, May 17; Day Sq. Station, E. Boston, May 18; Alt. to Four Schools, Lexington, May 18; Elem. School Addn., Hadley, May 22; Hospital (Alts. & Addn.), Brattleboro, Vt., May 23; Pierce Elem. School, W. Newton, May 23; Hospital, Fort Kent, Me., May 26; Hospital (Addn. & Alts.), So. Braintree, May 31; Housing Project 200-2, Worcester, June 2; Motor Vehicle Storage Bldg., North Scituate, RI, Abt. June 16 (Boston Globe, May 7, 1950).


Bernard G. Sprague of Acton, ME, pled “not guilty” to charges of setting fire to the Milton Mills Knights of Pythias hall. He was held until bail could be determined.

Bernard Sprague, a lumber (firewood) chopper, aged twenty years (b. Waterboro, ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Virginia [M. (Smith)] Sprague, aged twenty years (b. VA), and his child, Irving Sprague, aged one month (b. ME). Bernard Sprague rented their house on the Milton Mills Road, for $3 per month.

Bernard Sprague enlisted in the U.S. Army in Portland, ME, May 25, 1943. He had a grammar school education (as did most people). In civilian life he had held what the army classed as semi-skilled jobs: “chauffeurs and drivers, bus, taxi, truck, and tractor.” He was born in Maine in 1920, and stood 68″ (5′ 8″) tall.

Maine Man Held for N.H. Grand Jury on Charge of Arson. ROCHESTER. N.H., April 28 – Following a hearing in Municipal Court today, Judge Justin A. Emery found probable cause to hold Bernard Sprague, 30, of Acton, Me., for September grand jury action on a charge of arson. The state alleged that Sprague set fire to the wooden three-story Knights of Pythias building, owned by the town of Milton, at Milton Mills. N.H., on April 20. The building was nearly destroyed in a blaze fought by firemen of five communities. Sprague, represented by Municipal Judge Errol S. Hall of Farmington, pleaded not guilty. County Solicitor Alfred Catalfo presented eight witnesses, including two women, who were across the street and testified they saw Sprague enter the building a short time before the fire broke out. Defense presented no evidence. As bail was beyond the jurisdiction of the local court, Sheriff Wilfred J. Pare and Deputy Sheriff Hervey Tanner took Sprague, father of several children, to the House of Correction (Boston Globe, April 21, 1950).

On August 6, after three months in jail, Bernard Sprague and another prisoner, Leonard I. Boutin, overpowered Strafford County’s head jailer, took his keys, and escaped. Boutin, who had a prior drunk-driving conviction in his native Vermont, was “working off” his time on a Strafford County drunk-driving charge.

Prisoners Who Fled N.H. Jail Sought. DOVER. N.H. Aug. 7 (AP) – Police searched today for two prisoners who escaped from the Strafford County Jail near here. Bernard Sprague, 30, of Milton Mills, and Leonard Boutin, 37, of Vermont, overpowered and injured the head jailer, Daniel Cronin of Dover, late yesterday afternoon. A jail official said the two escapees hid in a dark corner near the main door of the jail and rushed the head jailer as he was releasing another prisoner to help with evening chores. Cronin’s hip was injured as the two fleeing men pushed him to the floor. A cordon, consisting of local and state police end deputy sheriffs, surrounded the area, but no trace of the convicts was found (Boston Globe, August 7, 1950).

Posse Searches For Two Escaped Prisoners in Dover. Two prisoners, who fled the Strafford county jail in Dover late yesterday, are still on the loose today. Sheriff Wilfred Pare said all-night search for the men was unsuccessful, although a posse made up of deputies, state and local police combed the wooded areas near the jail. Pare said the men are Bernard Sprague, 30, of Acton, Me., who faces the Superior court in September on a arson charge, and Leonard Boutin, 37, of Bennington, Vt. Boutin is working out a $199 fine assessed by the Somersworth municipal court on a drunken driving charge (Portsmouth Herald, August 7, 1950).

ONE OF TWO ESCAPED PRISONERS IS CAPTURED. MILTON MILLS, N.H., Aug. 8 (AP). – One of two prisoners who broke out of Strafford county jail in Dover after slugging a guard Sunday was captured in woods today. Leonard Boutin, 37, surrendered without a struggle to a posse headed by Sheriff Wilfred J. Page (Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, VT), August 9, 1950).

Two Strafford County Jail Fugitives Back. STATE AP NEWS. Dover, Aug. 9. – Two prisoners who slugged a guard and broke out of Stratford county jail last Sunday were back in custody today. BERNARD SPRAGUE, 30, returned to the jail last night with his wife, Virginia, 23 [30], and six children ranging in age from one to seven. Mrs. Sprague said: “I told the sheriff if I could find him I was going to make him give himself up.” She didn’t give any details, SPRAGUE arrived at the jail as a posse was searching for him in a wooded area in Milton where Leonard Boutin, 37, was captured without a struggle several hours earlier. Sprague and Boutin escaped by overpowering Guard Daniel Cronin and seizing his keys. Sprague was awaiting a hearing on an arson charge. Boutin serving an eight months sentence (Nashua Telegraph, August 9, 1950).

The Town Warrant for Tuesday, March 13, 1951 included Article 32: “To see if the Town will vote to retain the Knights of Pythias lot in Milton Mills Village for use as a park in future years, allowing the Selectmen to sell a narrow piece adjoining the property of Mr. Lombard.”

Nothing has come to hand regarding the disposition of Sprague’s case. He died January 3, 1959, aged thirty-eight years.


Harlan Feyler of Farmington, NH, offered to swap a nearly completed four-room West Milton house for a car of equal value.

FOR SALE. CAMP 12 FT. by 20 ft. with addition of 15 ft. by 20 ft. most completed for four-room house, on lot of land 125 ft. by 75 ft., with spring of water on lot. Located in West Milton, three miles from Farmington, excellent hunting. Will sell or swap for car of same value. Harlan Feyler, Charles St., Farmington (Farmington News, December 8, 1950).

“The essence of the [voluntary] exchange is that both people make it because they expect that it will benefit them; otherwise they would not have agreed to the exchange. A necessary condition for an exchange to take place is that the two goods have reverse valuations on the respective value scales of the two parties to the exchange” (Rothbard, 1970).


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1949; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1951


References:

Find a Grave. (2010, August 25). Bernard C. Sprague. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/57688337

Find a Grave. (2013, August 4). George Edgar Carmichael. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/114887435

Van Atta, John. (2017). A Brief History of Brunswick. Retrieved from admissions.brunswickschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BRIEFHISTORY_ATTA2.pdf

Wikipedia. (2019, December 16). Brunswick School. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_School

Wikipedia. (2019, July 17). Voluntary Exchange. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_exchange

 

Milton in the News – 1949

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 16, 2020

In this year, we encounter a mountain-top farm for sale, a favorite poem consoles, Boston hooligans, the twelfth winter carnival, Nute Ridge as an underground railroad station, a drowning tragedy, more real estate offerings, and a miraculous escape.


The F.C. Tanner of this farm advertisement was likely a misprint for S.C. Tanner, the Milton store proprietor, former state representative, and, of late, realtor for Country Properties realty.

REAL ESTATE. FARM, VILLAGE HOMES. N. Hamp. Summer Home, $3000. 40 ACRES on mountain top, view fields and woodland; blueberries, hunting, fishing. and skiing; near lake and village; 7-rm. house & barn; electricity, telephone. R.F.D. Write or call F.C. TANNER, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, January 9, 1949).

As usual, one finds oneself astonished to learn how little housing costs were as a proportion of one’s income before government interventions in the real estate market. The $3,000 asking price for a house, barn, and forty acres of land would be equivalent to only $32,640 in modern inflation-adjusted currency.


The Boston Globe editors ran a regular column in which its readers might request reprints of their favorite poems or song lyrics. Lois J. Colby had a favorite poem about traveling a stony path.

SONGS and POEMS of LONG AGO.

If there is a favorite song or poem which you would like and are unable to find, write to the editor of Everybody’s Column. Our readers are pleased to send in old favorites requested. Editor.

Reward

O what a stony path I trod
To find my way to you – and God.
So many turns I took were wrong
I blundered endlessly along
Yet, as I stumbled, so I grew,
And found at last, my God – and you.

Lois J. Colby, Milton Mills, N.H. (Boston Globe, January 9, 1949).

Lois Jeanette Keddie was born in Newton, MA, circa 1912-13, daughter of Arthur W. and Clara M. (Wentworth) Keddie.

Arthur W. Keddie, a woolen mill finisher, aged twenty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920)  Federal Census. His household included his wife, Clara Keddie, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), and his children, Lenora F. Keddie, aged eight years (b. NH), and Lois J. Keddie, aged seven years (b. MA). Arthur W. Keddie owned their house on Church Street, free-and-clear, without any mortgage.

Lois J. Keddie married (1st), in Belmont, NH, September 7, 1930, William I. Colby, from whom she was divorced October 13, 1933. She married (2nd) in Milton Mills, 1935, Alfred H. Shea. One might like very much to learn that – as in the poem – she found at last what she sought. However, she and Alfred H. Shea were living apart in 1940.

Lois J. Colby, a blanket mill weaver, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her daughter, Barbara Colby, aged nine years (b. NH). (Lois J. Colby was said to be divorced). She rented their house in Milton Mills Center, for $8 per month.

Perhaps it was her daughter that fulfilled for Lois the reward of the poem.


Milton visitors to Boston fell afoul of city slickers several times in the past. Here six Nute high school lads were accosted by rowdies.

What People Talk About. More Boston Rowdyism. To the Editor – About 7:20 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 29, one group of six of our Nute High School lads suffered a short surprise attack in Boston from a “mob” of not fewer than 22 others. This occurred within sight of the North Station and a traffic officer. The assailants were undoubtedly boys of that locale. Said premeditated, cowardly assault caused some pain to our group and financial loss to at least one parent. These attacks are nothing new but are now too frequent, even for Boston. The Garden, or any other part of town, may not be on our itinerary in the future. If they are we may come prepared to do battle on more even terms the next time. I suggest a few pilgrimages by the good citizens of Boston to parts of their own city, to see some of the sights. S.H. PERKINS, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, January 21, 1949).

Herbert S. Perkins, a shoe shop stitching finisher, aged forty-three years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Rosemond Perkins, aged forty-six years (b. NH), and his children, Herbert S. Perkins, Jr., aged twenty-three years (b. NH), Constance J. Perkins, aged sixteen years (b. NH), and Robert E. Perkins, aged six years (b. NH).

By 1949, Robert E. Perkins would have been fifteen years of age, i.e., Nute high school age. He might have been one of the victims, or at least in a position to have heard about it (and tell his father).


Notice was here given of the Teneriffe Sports club’s twelfth annual winter carnival. It featured downhill and slalom ski races by age classes and the coronation of a carnival queen.

TENERIFFE SPORTS CLUB’S WINTER CARNIVAL, MILTON, N.H. The Teneriffe Sports club’s twelfth annual carnival is scheduled for Saturday, February 19. At 9 a.m., the junior boys’ races will be run. The slalom races will begin at 10 o’clock. The classes are to be divided so that youngsters in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades will be competing against one another, and an additional group will include those in the seventh and eighth grades. The prizes will be given to the winners of the combined events. On Saturday afternoon, at one o’clock, the downhill race for those in high school will be held. The slalom race will start at 2.30 p.m. The prizes will go to the winners of the combined events. On Sunday afternoon at one, men’s and women’s races will be [take] place, with the downhill run as the lead-off attraction. The slalom will follow at 2.30 o’clock. The men’s and women’s races will be run in together, although separate trophies will be awarded. The trophies this year will be a little more special, and will go to the winner of the combined events, because it is the opinion of the committee that this method is fairer to the all-round performer. An especially fine award will go also to the team who has the best combined time. The meet is invitational and letters have been mailed to the Abenakis of Wolfeboro, Bauneg Bog club of Sanford, Me., Concord Ski club, Panda Outing club of Biddeford, Rochester, and Garrison Outing club of Dover. Entries on the carnival queen must be in not later than February 12, and are limited to girls from the ages 14 to 25. The queen will be named and coronated at the carnival ball to be held on Saturday night at the Strand building (Farmington News, February 1, 1949).


Extracted here from a lengthier letter to the editor regarding the census is the story of a Nute Ridge farmer whose farm served as a station on the underground railroad. The author was Farmington storeowner Ned L. Parker, whose son, H. Franklin Parker, had served briefly as one of Nute Chapel’s ministers.

An amusing story is told of a “station,” located on Nute Ridge in the neighboring town of Milton. A sympathetic farmer, who had on occasion aided these unfortunate people, on repairing to his barn one morning to feed his cattle, was confronted by a huge black man who rose up from the haymow and whose entire raiment consisted of a “swallowtail” coat. This slave had escaped from Virginia and was on his way “up through,” as the trail to Canada was called. The good farmer provided a hearty breakfast and suitable clothing and permitted the fugitive to remain concealed in his barn until nightfall. Then this member of the underground conveyed his black brother to a “station” in Alton from which point he eventually made his way to Canada and freedom (Farmington News, March 25, 1949).

Perhaps one would not call this situation “amusing,” but it remains instructive. For those who remain confused as to the difference between what is right and what is legal, i.e., some politicians’ or court justice’s scribbles, what the sympathetic West Milton farmer did was illegal and what the pursuing sheriffs and slave-catchers did was perfectly legal.

(See also Milton and Abolitionism).


Mrs. Phoebe C. (Whitten) Willey lost sight of her toddler in the yard, who then drowned in nearby Hart brook.

WEST MILTON CHILD DROWNED IN BROOK. A tragic note was struck in the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Willey of West Milton, when their son, Everett C. Willey, aged three years and eight months, was accidentally drowned in the Hart brook, a short distance from their home, last Saturday afternoon. The child, who had been playing in the yard, wandered off and was missed by Mrs. Willey, who sought the aid of neighbors. After a search of the locality, Robert Badger and Charles Ellis discovered the child’s body in a deep part of the brook. Investigation of the accident was made by Dr. Forrest L. Keay of Rochester, medical referee of Rochester, who announced that death was due to accidental drowning. Survivors include his parents, two sisters, Florence and Gwendolyn, and three brothers, Murray, Milton, and Norman. Funeral services were held Monday at the Norman L. Otis funeral parlor, with Rev. Charles Shelley of the Nute Ridge chapel officiating. Remains were taken to Somersworth for burial (Farmington News, April 1, 1949).

Charles A. Willey was born in Auburn, NH, March 22, 1896; son of George and Melvina (Kelley) Willey.

He married (1st) in Candia, NH, November 7, 1914, Gertrude M. Tuttle. Their children included Norman, Murray, Milton, and Gwendolyn. She died in Rochester, NH, March 20, 1936. He married (2nd) in Chichester, NH, April 17, 1945, Phoebe C. Whitten.


Henry H. Pillman had still his Mountain View camp either for sale or for rent, as he had in the previous year.

Summer Cottages and Houses. MILTON, N.H.; for rent, large camp on lake, sleeps 8, conveniences. LY 5-6927 SSu (Boston Globe, June 18, 1949).

Summer Cottages and Houses. MILTON, N.H. Large shore front camp, flush toilet, running water; $38 wk.; open July 30 on. LY 5-6927 (Boston Globe, July 17, 1949).


Bill Boivin (formerly of Rochester, NH) had eight new Little America cottages for rent on Route 16. (These cottages appeared still on Milton tax rolls of the late 1970s (and possibly beyond)).

Summer Cottages and Houses. VACATION AT N.H. LITTLE America cottages by the lake at Milton, N.H., Route 16, 8 new cottages, 3 and 4 rooms. screened porches, boats. bathing and fishing. $35.00 and $43.00 weekly. For reservation write BILL BOIVIN, Box 138, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, July 31, 1949).

William P. Boivin, a garage salesman, aged forty-six years (b. NH), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Louise Boivin, a shoe shop packer, aged thirty-two years (b. NH). William P. Boivin owned their house at 30 Hancock Street, which was valued at $1,800.


Assuming it is extant, it should not be too hard to identify a 1790 Cape Cod-style house on the main [White Mountain] highway.

REAL ESTATE. NEW HAMPSHIRE. PARTLY furnished 1790 Cape Cod, 7 rooms, bath, lav., oil heat, 2 long living rooms, on main highway; also small guest house in rear on river connecting with large lakes: excellent location for year-round antique shop, guest house, etc. C.T. BALCOM, Realtor; MElrose (Mass.) 4-2140, or Route 16, Milton, N.H. SSu (Boston Globe, August 7, 1949).

Note the ease with which establishing a year-round antique shop or summer hotel is proposed.


Robert P. Laskey of Milton Mills had a miraculous escape from death when his convertible rolled over on the Farmington-Middleton highway. (Said highway sounding like the modern NH Route 153).

MILTON MILLS MAN UNINJURED IN AUTO ACCIDENT SUNDAY NIGHT. Robert Laskey of Milton Mills escaped injury in an auto accident which occurred last Sunday evening on the Farmington-Middleton highway near the home of Alden Emery. Mr. Laskey was driving his convertible towards Farmington and failed to make a curve in the highway. The vehicle turned completely over and was badly demolished, however, Mr. Laskey was extricated from the wreck and taken to the office of a local physician, where he was found to be uninjured, but suffered shock as a result of a severe shaking up. Chief of Police Elmer F. Clough investigated the accident (Farmington News, December 9, 1939).

Twenty-eight-year-old Robert P. Laskey rolled over in a convertible automobile with no roll-bar and no seatbelts. He was a very lucky man. Well, he was unlucky in having the accident in the first place, but lucky in everything else.

Alden C. Emery, whose house was near the scene of the accident, resided at Charles Street North in Farmington, NH, close to its intersection with the West Milton Road.


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1948; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1950


References:

Find a Grave. (2018, May 23). Charles A. Willey. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/189983077

Find a Grave. (2013, August 14). Robert P. Laskey. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/115422035

Milton’s Nute Chapel Ministers of 1922-53

By Muriel Bristol | January 12, 2020

Continued from Milton’s Nute Chapel Ministers of 1890-21

Nute Chapel - Nute ChapelThe Nute Chapel was often described as a “union” church, which is to say it functioned as a non-denominational church or, as our sources more charmingly put it, as an “undenominational” church. In this period, it was frequently termed a “Community church.”

The Nute Chapel ministers of this 1922-53 period included Mrs. Abbie V. (Hartland) Bennett (continuing on from the death of her husband, Rev. George A. Bennett), Rev. H. Franklin Parker, Rev. Theodore J. Poelman, Rev. E. Lincoln and Mrs. Marion S. (Turner) Bigelow, Rev. Charles E. Shelley, and Rev. F. David Spruance.

Mrs. Abbie Victoria (Hartland) Bennett – 1922-26, 1927-28

Abbie V. Hartland was born in Sandwich, MA, September 20, 1863, daughter of Charles and Hannah Hartland. She married in Brockton, MA, September 20, 1884, George A. Bennett, both of Brockton. He was a confectionary dealer, aged thirty-one years; she was at home, aged twenty years.

Rev. George A. Bennett, pastor of the Nute Chapel in 1920-21, died in Milton, NH, October 12, 1921, aged sixty-eight years and one day. His widow, Mrs. Abbie V. (Hartland) Bennett, ran the Nute Chapel for several years after his death.

WEST MILTON. Mrs. Abbie Bennett, who has been at the home of her son in Florida since the death of her husband, has come back to Nute parsonage and is to occupy and preside as pastor of Nute chapel through the coming months. She is fully able to attend the duties pertaining to church work and we are glad she is to be with us again (Farmington News, April 21, 1922).

WEST MILTON. Owing to the bad traveling, the attendance at town meeting from West Milton was very slim, and would have been slimmer, had not Abbie Bennett, pastor at Nute chapel, and Elvah Kelley announced they were going if they went on snowshoes, which instilled courage in some of the men. Town clerk, Harry L. Avery, and treasurer, Everett F. Fox, were elected without opposition. Fred M. Chamberlain was elected a member of the board of selectmen for three years. Fifty dollars was appropriated to make the spring on Silver street suitable and sanitary for public use. One hundred dollars was appropriated to beautify the grounds near the railroad station at Milton, the work to be done under the direction of the Womans’ club (Farmington News, March 16, 1923).

WEST MILTON. The sleighing except on the drifted cross roads is rather thin and hardly worth the name of sleighing. The doctors are using their autos. Mrs. Hayes and Mrs. Kelley attended the service at Nute chapel last Sunday. Mrs. Abbie Bennett called on Mrs. Thurston one day last week and also on other families in this vicinity (Farmington News, February 20, 1925).

WEST MILTON. The snow is still going and our roads are getting very muddy. Not many can remember such a mild and pleasant February. Mrs. Abbie Bennett visited the people on the West Milton road on Thursday of last week and found it pretty hard traveling part of the way (Farmington News, February 27, 1925).

WEST MILTON. There is plenty of mud in our roads just at present and it grows deeper. The attendance at Nute chapel increases every Sunday as the weather grows warmer. Let us hope as the ground settles there will be still more. Mrs. Bennett, who has been suffering from neuritis severely all winter, had the misfortune to fall on the ice recently and of course, fell on her lame arm, but without much injury (Farmington News, March 20, 1925). 

WEST MILTON. Mrs. Abbie Bennett is to go South after Christmas to spend the winter (Farmington News, November 27, 1925).

Abbie V. (Hartland) Bennett moved South again to Miami, FL, in October 1926 to spend the winter with her son, Charles A. Bennett. The language of that time did not suggest that she would be back (See Farmington Boy Will Be Pastor at Nute Chapel below), but she returned for a final year in June 1927.

WEST MILTON. Mrs. Abbie Bennett, who has returned home from a much needed rest with her son in Florida, resumed her duties as pastor of Nute chapel and preached to a good congregation who extended her a warm welcome. Many friends are pleased to note her improvement in health. H. Franklin Parker, who has given such universal satisfaction as her supply during the winter, was present at the service and received many hearty compliments from members of the parish. Next Sunday he will begin his duties as the summer pastor of the church at North Barnstead (Farmington News, June 17, 1927).

FURNITURE SALE. The following and other pieces of household furniture will be offered at private sale this SATURDAY AFTERNOON, Sept. 1st. One divan, 1 chamber set extension dining table, with chairs, office desk, organ, etc. NUTE CHAPEL PARSONAGE (Farmington News, August 31, 1928).

Charles A. Bennett, a widowed Florida employee, aged thirty-seven years (b. VT), headed a Miami, FL, household at the time of the 1935 Florida state census. His household included [his mother,] Abbie V. Bennett, a housekeeper, aged seventy-one years (b. MA). Charles A. Bennett had graduated from college, and Abbie V. Bennett had graduated from high school. They resided at 3139 S.W. 25th Street.

Charles A. Bennett, a U.S. Govt. employee, aged forty-eight years (b. VT), headed a Miami, FL, household at the time of the 1945 Florida state census. His household included [his second wife,] Johanne C. [(Cowart)] Bennett, a deputy clerk, aged forty-four years (b. FL), and [his mother,] Abbie V. Bennett, a widow, aged eighty-one years (b. MA). Charles A. Bennett had graduated from college, Johanne C. Bennett had graduated from high school, and Abbie V. Bennett had graduated from grammar school. They resided at 1825 N.W. 21st Street.

Mrs. Abbie V. (Hartland) Bennett died in Miami, FL, February 27, 1950.

GREATER MIAMI DEATHS. Mrs. Abbie Bennett, 86, Dies at Home of Son. Mrs. Abbie Victoria Bennett, 86, died early today at the home of her son, Charles A. Bennett, 1825 NW 21st st. A native of Sandwich, Mass., she came to Dade county 21 years ago. Surviving, besides the son, are two daughters, Mrs. A.F. Weeks, Somersworth, N.H., and Mrs. Jane Hill, East Pepperell, Mass., 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Services will be conducted by Dr. Nevin H. Schaaf, pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Coral Gables, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Glass funeral chapel. Burial will be in Lee, N.H. (Miami News, February 27, 1950).

Rev. Harry Franklin Parker – 1926-27*

Harry Franklin Parker was born in Rochester, NH, May 12, 1904, son of Ned L. and Mary A. (Hussey) Parker.

James F. Hussey, own income, aged seventy-seven years (b. NH), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of fifty years), Sarah A. Hussey, aged seventy-five years (b. NH), his daughter, Mary A. Parker, aged forty-one years (b. NH), his son-in-law, Ned L. Parker, a dry goods retail merchant, aged forty years (b. NH), and his grandson, Harry F. Parker, aged five years (b. NH). James F. Hussey owned their house at 27 Tappan Street, free-and-clear. Sarah A. Hussey was the mother of three children, of whom one was still living. Mary A. Parker was the mother of one child, who was still living.

James F. Hussey, own income, aged eighty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his daughter, Mary A. Parker, aged fifty years (b. NH), his son-in-law, Ned L. Parker, a proprietor of a dry goods store, aged forty-nine years (b. NH), and his grandson, Harry F. Parker, aged fifteen years (b. NH). James F. Hussey owned their house at 27 Tappan Street, free-and-clear.

FARMINGTON BOY WILL BE PASTOR AT NUTE CHAPEL. Beginning Sunday, October third, H. Franklin Parker will become pastor at Nute Chapel in West Milton and will occupy the pulpit of that edifice for the first time on that date. In this office Mr. Parker succeeds Mrs. Abbie Bennett, whose pastorate in that community has covered a period of several faithful years. Her resignation was prompted by a desire to join her son in the South and to retire from continuous service in the ministry, where she has given a fine account of her ability and conscientious consecration. While sincere regret is expressed on all sides by Mrs. Bennett’s resolution to go out from the community, Mr. Parker’s advent is heartily welcomed because of the universal friendship that he enjoys from his early and often renewed associations here. He is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ned L. Parker, lifetime residents and influential citizens of Farmington. He received his elementary education in the public schools and was graduated from Farmington high school in the class of 1923. He has given an excellent account of himself with a year of training at the Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, Me., and last year was a student at the Gordon Bible college, Boston, where he retains registration and hopes eventually to complete his studies for the ministry. Mr. Parker’s idea of interrupting his school course with a period of preaching, and parish work has been reached in deference to his health and further concluded by the unprecedented success which he has enjoyed in the upbuilding of the church in North Barnstead, where he has preached during the past summer. He concluded his services there last Sunday and received substantial tokens from the parish. Not only was Mr. Parker able to draw out and interest large congregations, but throughout the parish he made his influence manifest with a spirit of organization and a material increase in the spiritual and financial assets of the church. This same zeal and energy he will carry to his new field of endeavor and it is assured that he will receive the hearty cooperation of the people, who are numbered as his friends. For a time Mr. Parker will hold only Sunday morning service and Sunday school (Farmington News, October 1, 1926).

NUTE CHAPEL. Next Sunday service at the chapel will be made more impressive with the observance of Palm Sunday and in accord with the sentiment of the day, H. Franklin Parker will speak on the subject “The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.” Mr. Parker has given this theme especial preparation and a large congregation is hoped for (Farmington News, April 8, 1927).

Rev. H. Franklin Parker gave the invocation at a Pomona meeting held at the Lewis W. Nute Grange in April 1927.

LOCAL. H. Franklin Parker, who has enjoyed remarkable success as the temporary pastor of the Nute chapel at West Milton, during the absence of Mrs. Bennett in Florida, will continue his duties there for the present at least, with a farewell sermon next Sunday, and very soon will resume his summer pastorate at North Barnstead. In parish and pulpit Mr. Parker has qualified as a clergyman of exceptional ability and proven that he is capable of attracting interest and supervising the work and prosperity of a church in almost any community. He has securely entrenched himself in the hearts of his parishioners and sincere regret at his leaving is mingled with a spirit of hearty welcome at the return of the regular pastor of Nute chapel, Mrs. Bennett, who is improved in health after a much needed rest (Farmington News, June 10, 1927).

PERSONAL. H. Franklin Parker was at home from his studies at Gordon College in Boston and spent the week-end with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ned L. Parker (Farmington News, February 17, 1928).

PERSONAL. H. Franklin Parker is having a few days’ vacation from his theological studies in Boston and is at home (Farmington News, March 16, 1928).

H. FRANKLIN PARKER TO BECOME PASTOR AT CHICHESTER, N.H. Franklin Parker, one of the most promising young ministers of this locality, and son of Mr. and Mrs. Ned L. Parker of this village, has accept a call to become the settled pastor of the First Congregational church at Chichester, where he is no stranger and a popular favorite, having supplied that pulpit for several weeks. The call to that church is a decided compliment to Mr. Parker’s ability, as formerly the parish has been presided over by clergymen of long established reputations. While Mr. Parker is still a theological student, he has had considerable preaching experience and has given a good account of himself. He has trained two years at the Gordon Bible college in Boston, has preached a successful year at the Nute chapel, West Milton, and has been the summer pastor at the North Barnstead church for three seasons. Especially in the last named pulpit he has pleased not only a discriminating summer parish but has been a substantial influence in the upbuilding of the church. Wherever Mr. Parker has been associated with the people in his work or social connections he has gained a good will and fellowship that will accompany him in his new undertaking. As a theologian Mr. Parker combines a serious-minded purpose with sensible thinking and a faculty of expression that teaches without commanding. Those that know him best have no misgivings about his success as his profession was not chosen at random but rather was born of a mature sense of responsibility and a desire for service in the spiritual cause. Mr. Parker will preach his first sermon as the settled pastor at North Chichester next Sunday and will be glad to see familiar faces in his congregation at any time (Farmington News, November 9, 1928).

“The Reverend H. Franklin Parker was called to the [Chichester] church in 1928 and preached here for forty-one years – longer than any other pastor to serve in our pulpit!” (Hope in Christ, n.d).

H. Franklin Parker married in Chichester, NH, October 7, 1929, Alice D. Marston, he of Farmington and she of Chichester. He was a clergyman, aged twenty-five years; she was a stenographer, aged twenty years. She was born in Chichester, circa 1909, daughter of Nathan J. and Alice (Parsons) Marston.

H. Franklin Parker, Congregational ministry, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), headed a Chichester, NH, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Alice Parker, aged twenty years (b. NH). H. Franklin Parker rented their house on the Valley Road, for $5 per month.

Harry Franklin Parker, a church clergyman, aged thirty-five years (b. NH). headed a Chichester, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Alice M. Parker, aged thirty years (b. NH), and his son, David F. Parker, aged three years (b. NH). Harry Franklin Parker rented their house on the Pittsfield Road, for an unspecified amount.

Parker, H Franklin - BG881218.jpgMATING GAME. After 62 years, he’s an institution of marriage Preacher has heard vows of 1,200. By Bob Hohler, Globe Staff. CHICHESTER – Rev. H. Franklin Parker had just donned a railroad conductor’s cap – to remind him that he likes “to get people on the right track and keep them going” – when Michael Valenti pulled into Parker’s driveway with a marriage license. Valenti and his fiancee. Susan Leighton, wanted a holiday wedding – a small ceremony at Leighton’s family home in Barnstead. And they wanted Parker, known by some in these parts as “Marryin’ Sam,” to officiate. “Why not?” Leighton said later in a telephone interview. “He’s married just about everybody else around here.” Parker, soon to celebrate his 86th Christmas, is one of New Hampshire’s last old-time country preachers. Worn Bible in hand, he has spent much of his life crisscrossing a short stretch of the Suncook Valley east of Concord, marrying more than 1,200 residents, three generations of the Brown family of Epsom among them. Parker has gone to mountaintops and hospital wards to pronounce couples husband and wife. He has accommodated couples seeking hasty weddings, marrying them next to the old pedal-powered organ in his study or under the solitary cherry tree in his front yard, just up the road from the 140-year-old Chichester Country Store. And two years ago, in exchange for a cord of wood, Parker stood in the chill of an 18th-century gristmill in Loudon to marry a 47-year-old dairy farmer and a 42-year-old Concord secretary who had arrived on the farmer’s doorstep for a blind date on Valentine’s Day and never left. Both had been married twice before. “One reason so many people come to him may be that he doesn’t judge them that way,” said Ruth Hammen of Chichester, who was baptized and later married by Parker. “He doesn’t feel it’s his place to judge.” Last week. Parker wanted Valenti to answer only one question – had he and Leighton known each other long enough to give their marriage a strong foundation? – before he would agree to marry them. Is it any wonder Parker’s favorite television show is “The Dating Game”? “Everything else is pretty boring,” he said. For 62 years, Parker has entered hundreds of families’ living rooms – and welcomed hundreds more couples to his own – to begin marriages. He has kept the ceremonies short because he says people like it that way. And he has etched each wedding date, among other events great and small, in a diary that traces the lives of a popular country preacher and his flock. It is a story of mutual affection, beginning with Parker’s arrival in Chichester – soon after electricity – in 1926. Before he “retired” in 1969 after 41 years as pastor of the Chichester Congregational Church, Parker often doubled as a circuit rider, delivering five sermons a Sunday at churches in Chichester, Epsom, Barnstead and Gilmanton Center. His congregation grew so wide, according to Carole Brown of Epsom, that she “didn’t even know what church he was affiliated with” when Parker performed her wedding ceremony 10 years ago. “All I knew,” Brown said, “was that he. married everybody,” including Brown’s husband’s parents and grandparents. Later, Parker tracked many of the couples he married. He sometimes delivered a single red rose to women who had given birth. He baptized the children, knitted them mittens for Christmas and wrote them stories when they were sick. And he saw many of them again in his jobs as town librarian, historian, ballot clerk and chaplain for the Chichester Grange. “Rev. Parker’s a landmark, like one of those old country doctors,” said Robert Feeny of Pittsfield, whose wedding Parker conducted 37 years ago. Parker often scanned local papers to learn which area residents had been admitted to hospitals and nursing homes, and once visited more then 1,000 patients in a year. He told many of them his philosophy of life – a Latin phrase [Per aspera ad astra] that he translated as “through adversity to the stars.” “If we get to the stars,” he told the patients, “some of us will get there only through adversity.” And when congregants died, Parker conducted their funerals, sending many of them off with a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier that ends: “I know not why His islands lift their fronded palms in the air, I only know I cannot drift beyond His love and care.” Through the years, Parker has seen the coffins of dozens of men and women he once baptized lowered to their graves. But he has no philosophy of death. “It’s just one of those elements you have to reckon with,” he said. “I take it as it comes.” Recently, Parker has gotten out less and less. He still cuts firewood, gardens and walks to the store, waving his cane to passersby. He visits the local nursing home and hospital about once a week. When someone asks him to conduct a funeral service, he does. And he still performs small weddings. But big weddings worry him. “My memory doesn’t serve me as it ought to anymore.” he said, rocking slowly in his chair as a grandfather clock ticked behind him. “If I slipped up, it would be embarrassing to everyone.” So he stays at home more, sometimes sitting before his 12-inch television to watch Rev. Robert Schuller broadcast from the Crystal Cathedral. Other times, he writes poetry. Or sits by the woodstove, reading aloud to his wife, Alice, before entering the book title in his diary on the day he completes it. And when he has the energy, Parker pumps the pedals on his church organ – adorned with his childhood teddy bear – and plays spiritual tunes, among them his own composition, the “Chichester Hymn.” He regrets that his falling eyesight prevents him from driving 10 miles to Concord to see a performance of Handel’s “Messiah.” But he yearns for little else. “I’ve had a simple, uneventful life,” Parker said. “Others have drifted along, but I’ve gone at my own pace and gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it.” Now the “Happy Holidays” welcome mat lies at Parker’s front door, and much of his flock is returning. Many couples, renewing an annual tradition, are stopping by with good wishes. Some are bringing gifts. Others are sending cards. And most are saying thank you. Among them will be Feeny, who credits Parker with “tying a good tight knot” for him and his wife of 37 years. Parker is “a minister you can look up to,” Feeny said. “He’s an honest, upright man who is always there when you need him, night or day.” Hammen, too, will pay a visit soon, giving Parker a date book to help him chart another year of his life. Hammen remembers when Parker stood by her family eight years ago after their house was destroyed by fire. “It was no great big thing,’ Hammen said. “But that’s not Rev. Parker’s style. In his own way, he has showed a lot of us around here that sometimes the simplest gifts make the greatest impressions” (Boston Globe, December 18, 1988).

Rev. H. Franklin Parker died in Epsom, NH, December 14, 1997.

Rev. Theodore John Poelman – 1928-30

Theodore J. Poelman was born in Groningen, Holland, in 1883, son of Miender G. and Lammchiem (Rozee) Poelman.

THE PUTNEY COLUMN. Theodore J. Poelman to be Ordained. The ordination of Theodore J. Poelman, pastor of the Congregational church, will take place Wednesday afternoon and evening, Oct. 11. The council will meet in the afternoon and the ordination will take place in the evening (Vermont Phoenix, October 6, 1916).

THEO. J. POELMAN OF PUTNEY ORDAINED. Ecclesiastical Council and Ordination Program Yesterday – E.C. Crosby of Brattleboro Moderator. (Special to The Reformer.) PUTNEY, Oct. 12. Theodore J. Poelman, who came here recently to be pastor of the Congregational church, was ordained to the gospel ministry as a Congregational minister last evening in the church here, following an ecclesiastical council in the afternoon. At the council Edward C. Crosby, delegate from the Centre church in Brattleboro, was elected moderator and Rev. A.V. Woodworth of West Brattleboro scribe. After the examination of the candidate it was voted to ordain him, and in the evening the following ordination program was carried out: Solo, Hollis Cobb; invocation, Rev. A.V. Woodworth; scripture, Rev. C.W. Mock of Newfane ; Sermon, Rev. Richard H. Clapp of Brattleboro, whose text was John 1:6, “There was a man sent from God”; solo, Mrs. H.L. Bailey; prayer of ordination, Rev. W.S. Gooch of Westmoreland, N.H.; charge to pastor, Rev. W.R. Curtis of Westminster West; right hand of fellowship, Rev. C.W. Mock; charge to people, Rev. A.V. Woodworth; benediction by the pastor. Rev. Mr. Poelman attended Hope college in Michigan and the Gordon training school in Boston. Before coming here he had a pastorate one year in East Lebanon, Me. He is an earnest worker and the church looks forward to larger things under his leadership (Brattleboro Reformer, October 12, 1916).

Rev. T.J. Poelman Resigns. At the Sunday morning service Rev. T.J. Poelman, pastor of the Congregational church, tendered his resignation to take effect Sept. 1, much to the surprise and regret of the congregation. Rev. Mr. Poelman has been with the church a year and has labored zealously for the up-building of the church. A meeting will be called to act upon his resignation (Vermont Phoenix, August 3, 1917).

PUTNEY. The committee of the Congregational church has been instructed to interview Rev. T.J. Poelman to see if he will reconsider his resignation (Brattleboro Reformer, August 18, 1917).

WESTMINSTER WEST. Rev. Walter Curtis exchanged pulpits with Rev. T.J. Poelman of Putney Sunday morning (Brattleboro Reformer, August 23, 1917).

PUTNEY MINISTER IN AUTO ACCIDENT. Rev. T.J. Poelman Was Accompanying Boy Scouts on Outing when Car Overturned – Not Badly Hurt. (Special to The Reformer.) PUTNEY, Sept. 4. Rev. Theodore J. Poelman, pastor of the Congregational church here, was cut and bruised in an automobile accident which happened soon after 11 o’clock yesterday, but he was not seriously hurt. The Boy Scouts raised a flag in the village in the forenoon, and Rev. M.W. Russell made an address and there was singing of patriotic hymns, after which the boys left for Spofford lake for an outing. About the last to leave were Rev. Mr. Poelman and Allen Wood, son of Henry Wood of West hill, who started in Dr. L.H. Bugbee’s Ford automobile, the pastor being at the wheel. Near the Divoll place south of the village they turned out for another car and their machine tipped bottom upwards with the occupants under it. The young man was not hurt, but Rev. Mr. Poelman was cut and bruised, and on account of his wounds bleeding he returned to the village and gave up the trip. The automobile was badly damaged (Brattleboro Reformer, September 4, 1917).

PUTNEY. Rev. T.J. Poelman Engaged. The engagement is announced of Miss Helen F. Guptill, a prominent school teacher of Berwick, Me., daughter of Frank S. Guptill, to Rev. Theodore J. Poelman of Putney, pastor of the Congregational church. Miss Guptill is at present teaching in Rollinsford, N.H. (Brattleboro Reformer, April 23, 1918).

Rev. Mr. Poelman to Leave. Much to the surprise of the people it is announced that last Sunday was the last in the pastorate of Rev. T.J. Poelman, pastor of the Congregational church the last two years. Mr. Poelman’s plans are not completed, but the past few weeks he has been suffering with throat trouble, and a rest is needed from pastoral work (Brattleboro Reformer, August 9, 1918).

Theodore J. Poelman married in Berwick, ME, September 5, 1918, Helen F. Guptill, he of Putney, VT, and she of Berwick, ME. He was a clergyman, aged thirty-five years (b. Holland), and she a teacher, aged twenty-five years (b. Berwick, ME). She was born in Berwick, ME, daughter of Frank S. and Helen M. (Pinkham) Guptill.

Theodore J. Poelman, Jr., was born in Wakefield, NH, July 15, 1919, son of Theodore J. Poelman (a clergyman, aged thirty-five years (b. Netherlands)), and Helen F. Guptill (aged twenty-five years (b. Berwick, ME)).

Rev. T.J. Poelman, of Wakefield, NH, received and accepted a call to the Federated church, of Chepachet, [Glocester,] RI (Congregationalist, June 1921). He served on the Chepachet Old Home Days committee in August 1921. Rev. T.J. Poelman, formerly of Chepachet, RI, now of Lansing, MI, accepted a call to Johannesburg [MI] (Congregationalist, December 11, 1922).

WEST MILTON. Rev. and Mrs. Poelman attended a monthly supper at Wakefield, a former pastorate, and visited friends recently (Farmington News, November 16, 1928).

Theodore J. Poelman, clergyman, and his wife, Helen F. Poelman, appeared in the Milton directory of 1930, as resident in Farmington, R.D. [Rural Delivery].

WEST MILTON. Rev. Theodore Poelman, who has officiated as pastor at Nute chapel for nearly two years has resigned and preached his farewell sermon on Sunday, February 23. All those who know Mr. Poelman believe he has given his best and most conscientious efforts as pastor of the church and a citizen of the community, and his resignation is the source of sincere regrets in many quarters. He will remain for a time, with his family, at the parsonage, and later expects to move to Berwick, Me. The pulpit will be filled by a supply until a regular appointment is made by the trustees (Farmington News, March 14, 1930).

WEST MILTON. Rev. T.J. Poelman and family have moved to Farmington (Farmington News, March 28, 1930).

Theodore J. Poelman, a Congregational clergyman, aged forty-six years (b. Holland), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eleven years), Helen F. Poelman, aged thirty-six years (b. ME), and his children, Theodore J. Poelman, Jr., aged ten years (b. NH), Grace H. Poelman, aged nine years (b. ME), John H. Poelman, aged four years (b. MI), and Miriam F. Poelman, aged one year (b. ME). Theodore J. Poelman rented their Farmington house, for $15 per month.

Rev. Theodore J. Poelman and his wife, Helen F. Poelman, appeared in the Rochester directories of 1931 and 1939 as having a home at 71 Winter street.

PUTNEY, Rev. T.J. Poelman of South Wolfboro, N.H., a pastor here several years ago, visited friends in town over the week end (Brattleboro Reformer, November 16, 1944).

The American Bible Society published and provided scriptural material for use in public schools. The National Education Association supported a National Bible Reading program that included those Bible materials in school curricula in 1944-45 and published an article about it.

We quote from three of the many letters prompted by this article: Mrs. Helen F. Poelman of South School, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire: It seemed such a splendid thing for our NEA publication to send this “upward reach” through the medium of its public-school teachers. I hope many schools did what we did – read them (NEA, 1945).

Rev. Theodore J. Poelman died in Wolfeboro, NH, February 17, 1956. Helen F. (Guptill) Poelman died August 14, 1958.

HELEN FAITH POELMAN, widow of the Rev. Theodore J. Poelman, who died in 1956 after retiring as minister of Union Congregational Church, South Wolfeboro, N.H., died August 14 at the age of 65. Her survivors include two sons, four daughters, thirteen grandchildren, two brothers and two sisters (United Church Herald, 1958).

Rev. Edgar Lincoln Bigelow & Rev. Marion S. (Turner) Bigelow – 1930-44

Edgar Lincoln Bigelow was born in Northampton, MA, May 25, 1888, son of William H. and Julia K. (Rood) Bigelow.

Edgar L. Bigelow, a widowed chocolate mill painter, aged thirty-one years (b. MA), headed a Malden, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his son, John L. Bigelow, aged one month (b. MA), and his mother Julia K. Bigelow, a widow, aged fifty-seven years (b. MA). They shared a two-family residence with the household of Albert Schindler, a farm laborer, aged forty years (b. MA).

Edgar L. Bigelow married [(2nd)] in Northampton, MA, in or after 1920, Marion S. Turner. She was born in Cambridge, MA, March 5, 1899, daughter of William and Carrie L. (Varney) Turner.

FOR SALE. FOR SALE. One spring sleigh, one surry. Phone Morgan 29-15. Rev. E. Lincoln Bigelow, Holland. 31-33 (Express and Standard (Newport, VT), August 4, 1922).

NORTH HOLLAND. Rev. E. Lincoln Bigelow is driving a new Ford. Rev. and Mrs. E.L. Bigelow motored to Swanton last Thursday (Express and Standard (Newport, VT), August 18, 1922).

New Enterprises. On a cold Sunday night in February, a fire of unknown origin, carried by a strong north wind, swept the buildings on the business corner in Holland, including the Methodist church. Men gathered to the scene and led by the pastor of the church, fought heroically, but all efforts failed and in a very short time all that was left of the little white church was a pile of twisted steel and charred timbers. The energetic pastor, Rev. E. Lincoln Bigelow, who knows no defeat and in whose vocabulary the word “can’t” is not known, led his people to the town hall for worship; and almost before the ashes of the old meeting house had grown cold he had inspired his people to build another house of worship, and secured pledges for $1500 towards this enterprise. A neat chapel will, probably be built this summer to house this congregation (Express and Standard (Newport, VT), April 27, 1923).

EAST ORANGE. Rev. E. Lincoln Bigelow is again occupying the pulpit at the Union church here after being confined to his home some time with whooping cough (Groton Times (Woodsville, NH), January 25, 1924).

WEST MILTON. Mr. Bigelow of Milton occupied the pulpit at Nute chapel Sunday, March 2. There was a good attendance (Farmington News, March 7, 1930).

E. Lincoln Bigelow, a Community church minister, aged forty-one years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of ten years), Marion S. Bigelow, aged thirty-one years (b. MA), and his children, John L. Bigelow, aged ten years (b. MA), William E. Bigelow, aged eight years (b. VT), Florence H. Bigelow, aged six years (b. VT), Elise M. Bigelow, aged five years (b. VT), and Gerald E. Bigelow, aged two years (b. ME). He rented their house on the Nute Ridge Road, for $10 per month. They did not have a radio set.

BAKERSFIELD. The Rev. and Mrs. E.L. Bigelow and family of Milton, N.H., visited friends in town last week. Mr. Bigelow occupied the Methodist pulpit for a short time ten years ago (Burlington Free Press, August 13, 1931).

NUTE CHAPEL PARSONAGE RECEIVES SURPRISE VISIT. Honoring Mrs. Bigelow’s Birthday. Rev. and Mrs. Bigelow Commence Sixth Year in this Pastorate. Thirty-five friends and parishioners assembled at the parsonage Monday evening on the occasion of the birthday of Mrs. E. Lincoln Bigelow. The party was arranged as a surprise by Mrs. George Lloyd. A most enjoyable evening was spent with music, games and social repartee, all of which was spiced with delicious refreshments, which included two birthday cakes, the gifts of parishioners. Mrs. Bigelow also found it necessary to acknowledge several other gifts and the hearty felicitations from the company. The party broke up at a reasonable hour, with many expressions that are characteristic of the fine spirit that exists in this community, and compliments to the pastor and his wife for the fine work they have done during their five years in this parish. Rev. and Mrs. Bigelow will enter their sixth year of local service next Sunday. It is significant to record that the average Sunday morning worship attendance for the year just closed was 41 people. Several have been converted under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. Bigelow. Sunday school attendance has increased materially. Nute chapel weekly cottage prayer meetings enjoy the reputation of being the largest in this vicinity. A choir has been started and is progressing well. The Thursday evening church programs have come into special prominence and are attracting large numbers. In 1934 Mrs. Bigelow was the author of two Christmas pageants, bot of which were staged and presented publicly by her in other quarters. The social functions connected with the chapel and parish are always attended with spirited interest and usually by much appreciated interest from outside localities. The prayer meeting group which was started three years ago at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Perry now has an active membership of 72 and further good work is being contemplated for the welfare of church and community, with plans for an enlarged and more interesting summer church program which will include outside speakers and special music (Farmington News, [Friday,] March 8, 1935).

A volunteer crew cleared away fallen limbs and trees from the Hurricane of ’38 at the Nute chapel parsonage’s woodlot in January 1939.

Bigelow, EL - 1958
“‘I thee wed …’ Bigelow [center] has performed hundreds of wedding ceremonies, many of them in the parsonage parlor. The home of a country minister is always open to his parishioners – but seldom on happier occasions than the wedding of a local couple” (Together, April 1958).

E. Lincoln Bigelow, no occupation listed, aged fifty-two years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Marian Bigelow, aged forty-one years (b. MA), and his children, John Bigelow, a news worker, aged twenty years (b. VT), William Bigelow, aged eighteen years (b. VT), Florence Bigelow, aged sixteen years (b. VT), Elsie Bigelow, aged fifteen years (b. VT), and Gerald Bigelow, aged twelve years (b. ME). E. Lincoln Bigelow rented their house on the Nute Ridge road, which was valued at $1,500.

Miss Elsie M. Bigelow succeeded her mother, Rev. Marian S. (Turner) Bigelow, as Nute Ridge Grange master in January 1942.

WEST MILTON. Pastor Bigelow of Nute chapel has made contributions to the food situation by having slaughtered, this past week, two hogs which netted over three hundred pounds of pork. If each of us could do as much the coming year, what a help it would be, locally at least (Farmington News, March 19, 1943).

Now 402 Sales and ANOTHER YANKEE AUCTION! Thursday, Aug. 17, 10:30 A.M. – All Day at Nute Chapel Parsonage, NUTE RIDGE, WEST MILTON, N.H., For the pastor and his family to vacate for removal to new pastorate. Good Merchandise, accumulated from many years of housekeeping, two generations, some choice antiques. Complete assortment of household furnishings, tip-top table, Salen rocker, ladderback and Windsor chairs, kitchen cabinet, chiffonier, chest of drawers, bureaus, electric washing machine, cabinet, circulating heater (coal, wood, oil), beds, springs, mattresses, kitchen ware, silverware, china, 5 in. pewter plate, cameras, clocks, lamps, room and scatter rugs, and other articles too numerous to mention, Ford V-8 chassis, engines, bodies, and miscellaneous parts, 1935 Hudson sedan (no wheels). No jacking, no bid in – All sales final – Sale date positive – Refreshments. Rev. E. Lincoln Bigelow, Sub., Carl B. Canney, Auctioneer (Farmington News, August 11, 1944).

Rev. and Mrs. Bigelow went next to a parish in Danville, VT. (Her parents remained in Farmington, NH).

Edgar Lincoln Bigelow died in Berlin, VT, August 17, 1970. Marian S. (Turner) Bigelow died in Walden, VT, November 15, 1972.

Rev. Charles Edward Shelley – c1945-51

Charles E. Shelley was born in Boston, MA, February 6, 1910, son of George W. and Wilhelmina P. (Gould) Shelley.

George W. Shelley, a sign painter for R.H. White Co., aged fifty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Boston, MA, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty-three years), Wilhelmina Shelley, aged fifty-seven years (b. MA), his children, Eleanor A. Shelley, and insurance file clerk, aged twenty-four years (b. MA), Ernest D. Shelley, a pub. acct. clerk, aged twenty-one years (b. MA), Charles E. Shelley, metal plant blueprints, aged twenty years (b. MA), and Harold K. Shelley, aged eighteen years (b. MA), and his sister-in-law, Myra B. Gould, aged sixty-nine years (b. RI). George W. Shelley owned their house at 1 Richfield Park, which was valued at $8,500. They had a radio set.

Wilhelmina Shelley, a widow, aged sixty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Boston, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her son, Charles Shelley, a wholesale clothing co. shipper, aged thirty years (b. MA), and her sister, Myra B. Gould, aged seventy-nine years (b. RI). Wilhelmina Shelley owned their house at 1 Richfield Park, which was valued at $4,000. (It was now rated as half of a two-family, the other half being valued at $4,000). Wilhelmina Shelley supplied the census information.

Charles E. Shelley married in North Reading, MA, August 7, 1943, Mildred I. Downs. She was born in Lawrence, MA, April 14, 1919, daughter of Walter S. and Agnes L. (Seavey) Downs.

CHARLES E. SHELLEY TO BE ORDAINED TO MINISTRY AT NUTE CHAPEL MONDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 21. The ordination of Charles Edward Shelley to the gospel ministry will be held at Nute Chapel at Nute Ridge, Milton, next Monday evening, August 21, beginning at 7:30 o’clock. Mr. Shelley is popularly known to many people in Farmington, and a number of the local residents are expected to be in attendance. The service of ordination will be presided over by Rev. Buell W. Maxwell, pastor of the Milton Mills Baptist Church, and Jeanette MacCorkle will serve as organist. Among the expected guests will be Rev. Maxfield, Mrs. MacCorkle, and Rev. Leslie D. McInnes, pastor of the Blaney Memorial Baptist church of Dorchester, Mass. Rev. Paul Scruton, pastor of the Contoocook Baptist church, Rev. John Godfrey, pastor of the West Lebanon Baptist church, Me., Rev. Robert S. Stansfield, pastor of the Second Baptist church, Auburn, N.Y., Rev. George Schilling, pastor of the True Memorial Baptist church of Rochester, Rev. Douglas B. MacCorkle, pastor of Immanuel Baptist church of Newton, Mass., Rev. Thomas Hawxwell, pastor of Farmington Baptist church, Rev. Ralph Townsend, pastor of East Rochester Baptist church. Following the services an informal reception will be held in the vestry (Farmington News, August 18, 1950).

PASTOR RESIGNS. Rev. Charles E. Shelley has resigned the pastorate at Nute chapel having been called to a new field of service. His last Sunday will be November 4 at the chapel and he and his family will move soon thereafter to Glen. This will terminate six years of service at West Milton (Farmington News, October 19, 1951).

Rev. Charles E. Shelley held subsequently parishes in Glen, NH, West Townsend, MA, and Merrimac, MA.

WEST TOWNSEND. Charles E Shelley of Glen, N.H., with Mrs. Shelley, the former Mildred Downs, and their two daughters, Barbara and Ruth, will move into the Baptist parsonage tomorrow, and next Sunday, Rev. Mr. Shelley will give his first sermon as pastor of the First Baptist church. He preached his farewell sermon Sunday in the Glen church where he has been pastor for two years. He was ordained in 1951 [SIC] at the Nute Chapel at Milton. N.H.. where he held a pastorate for six years. He is a graduate of Gordon college. Boston (Lowell Sun, October 12, 1953).

Charles E. Shelley died in Amesbury, MA, September 18, 2000. She died in Merrimac, MA, December 21, 2004.

Rev. Frederick David “David” Spruance – c1952-53

Frederick D. Spruance, Jr., was born in San Francisco, CA, December 30, 1927, son of Frederick D. and Gladys Cope (Wilson) Spruance.

Spruance, David - SE690628Gladys Cope, a Citgo co. stenographer, aged thirty-nine years (b. PA), headed a San Francisco, CA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her son, David Spruance, aged twelve years (b. CA), and her lodger, Richard Jones, an assistant insurance actuary (life insurance co.), aged fifty years (b. VA). Gladys Cope rented their house at 1295 Thirty-Ninth Avenue, for $32 per month.

He graduated from Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL, in 1948. Frederick Spruance married in Preston, CT, July 7, 1949, Jean Dawley. She was born in Preston, CT. circa 1927.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH [Farmington, NH]. Thanksgiving Service. Thursday at 10 A.M. In observance of this national day of giving thanks to God for all his blessings, a special service will be held in this church, to which all are invited. There will be musical selections including a solo by Mrs. Jean Spruance, and a brief message by the pastor. Everyone is invited to bring in a scripture verse of praise and other ministers will be participating in the program (Farmington News, November 28, 1952).  

Rev. David Spruance received his Master of Divinity degree from Gordon College in 1953. He and Jean (Dawley) Spruance left Nute chapel in late 1953 to take up missionary work in Tucuman, Argentina.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH [Farmington, NH]. Rev. and Mrs. Spruance of Nute chapel have recently been appointed as missionaries to South America and they will be with us to tell of the work they are planning to do there (Farmington News, October 9, 1953).

MIDDLETON GOSPEL CHAPEL. At a business meeting Thursday it was voted to contribute $100 for the year 1954 to Rev. David Spruance and his wife, Jean, to help support them in their Missionary work in Argentina (Farmington News, December 18, 1953).

Rev. F. David Spruance died in Dresher, PA, June 11, 2015.

Rev. F. David Spruance, D. Min., December 30, 1927 – June 11, 2015. Rev. F. David Spruance, D. Min., of Dresher, Pennsylvania died Thursday, June 11, 2015 at his residence. He was 87 years old. Dave was born December 30, 1927 in San Francisco, California, son of the late Frederick David Spruance, Sr., and the late Gladys Cope (nee – Wilson). He is the beloved husband of Jean Spruance (nee – Dawley); father of John Spruance and his wife Carolina, Deborah McPeek and her husband Kevin, David M. Spruance and his former wife Patricia, Mark Spruance and his late wife Joanne, and Alicia Copa and her husband David; grandfather of Joshua, Aaron and his wife Grace, Micah, Jeffrey and Joel Spruance and his wife Julia, Christopher and his wife Kristine and Jack McPeek and his wife Saskia, Natasha Yeoman and her husband Joshua, Camille Kinder and her husband Nathan, and Dorliza, Dorcas, and Daniel Copa. He is also survived by his 9 great grandchildren.

Dave was born and raised in San Francisco, California. He attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, where he met his future wife, Jean Dawley. The two were married July 7, 1949 on her family’s farm in Preston, CT. He graduated from Wheaton with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. Dave received a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts in 1953, a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas in 1977, and a Doctorate in Ministry degree from Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado in 1982. He served as a missionary for WorldVenture, formerly CBFMS, in the city of Tucuman in Argentina from 1956 until 1983, where he established a seminary. Dave also served in a campus crusade in Manila in the Philippines before returning to the United States where he served in an interim capacity for a number of church congregations. He finished his active ministry with the Chelten Baptist Church in Dresher, Pennsylvania and with the Seminary of the East, where he was both a professor and Dean of the school. He retired in 1992 at the age of 65.

Relatives and friends were invited to his memorial service on Sunday, July 19, 2015 at 2:30 P.M. at Chelten a Church of Hope, 1601 Limekiln Pike, Dresher, PA 19025 [URL omitted] where donations may be made, in lieu of flowers, in his memory (Wetzel, 2020).


References:

American Baptist Historical Society. (1994). Baptist Women of North America. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=D2fkAAAAMAAJ

Banks, Marjorie G.H. (1985). Through the Open Doors of the First Congregational Church, Wakefield, New Hampshire. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=Qw_nAAAAMAAJ

Burgess, Gideon Albert, and Ward, John T. (1889). Free Baptist Cyclopaedia. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=3GXiAAAAMAAJ

Congregational Conference and Missionary Society of Maine. (1918, July). Congregationalism in Maine. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=PTkbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA366

Congregational Publishing Society. (1921, November 21). The Congregationalist. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=4G00AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA611

Ditson, Oliver, and Company (1897). The Musical Record. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=-WYPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA7-PA31

Find a Grave. (2016, January 11). Edgar Lincoln Bigelow. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/156976745

Find a Grave. (2014, May 25). George A. Bennett. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/130332153

Find a Grave. (2011, September 8). Rev. Theodore Poelman, Sr. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/76185964

General Conference of Free Baptists. (1909). Free Baptist Register and Yearbook, 1909. Retrieved from www.onemag.org/register/1909Register.pdf

Granite Monthly Company. (1894). Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=tVwSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141

Hope in Christ Church. (n.d). Church History. Retrieved from hicnh.com/about/our-history

Hurd, Duane Hamilton. History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis. 1886

Mitchell-Cony Company. (1908). Town Register: Farmington, Milton, Wakefield, Middleton, Brookfield, 1907-8. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=qXwUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA102

National Council. (1921). Congregational Year-Book Statistics for 1921. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=vRA8AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA459

Nute Ridge Bible Chapel. (2013). Nute Ridge Bible Chapel. Retrieved from www.nute-chapel.org/index.html

Scales, John. (1914). History of Strafford County, New Hampshire, and Representative Citizens. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=nGsjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA516

Together. (1958, April). Vermont Minister. Chicago, IL: Methodist Publishing House

Milton in the News – 1948

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 9, 2020

In this year, we encounter a new ski tow, an outboard motor dealer, a serious barn fire, Mountain View cabins for sale and for rent, Ice Box cabins for rent, a Milton larceny, a country colonial house for sale, and a plane crash.


Al Braman of the Hotel Braemore announced a new ski tow at Teneriffe Mountain, to be opened for business on Saturday, January 10.

SKIERS. Brand New Ski Tow Opens Saturday at Milton, N.H., Halfway to North Conway. SKI ALL DAY FOR $1.00. Rooms and Meals at HOTEL BRAEMORE. Next to R.R. Station. AL BRAMAN, Mgr. Rates $2 per day. Meals Extra. NO RESERVATIONS NEEDED. TEL. MILTON 26-3 (Boston Globe, January 9, 1948).

Next to this Hotel Braemore advertisement was another for Boston & Maine Railroad “Sunday Snow Trains.” It offered round-trip tickets from Boston to North Conway or Intervale, NH, for $3.25 “plus tax.”


Glidden’s of Milton appeared in a list of New England Scott-Atwater outboard motor dealers.

America’s Sportsmen Agree With These Dealers On Scott-Atwater. None But the Best Carry Scott-Atwater – Visit Your Dealer. [Excerpted from lengthy list:] GLIDDEN’S, Milton, N.H., Tel. 23-3 (Boston Globe, February 1, 1948).


Dr. Arthur D. Katwick lost his Bonny Acres dairy farm barn, cattle, horses, and farm equipment in a disastrous West Milton fire.

Arthur Katwick, an osteopathic physician (at home), aged thirty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Stoughton, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Alice S. Katwick, a nurse, aged thirty-one years (b. Canada (Eng.)), and his daughter, Alice A. Katwick, aged two months (b. MA). Arthur Katwick owned their house at 70 Park Street, which was valued at $3,250.

Stoughton Doctor’s Barn in N.H. Razed by Fire; Loss $50,000. WEST MILTON, N.H., Feb. 11. – Thirty-six head of registered Guernsey and Holstein cattle and four horses perished and valuable farm equipment was destroyed early to day when fire of undetermined origin levelled the large barn at Bonny Acres dairy farm here, owned by Dr. Arthur D. Katwick of Stoughton, Mass.. with a loss estimated at close to $50,000. The barn was part of the ancestral property of Lewis W. Nute, a Milton native and Massachusetts shoe manufacturer, whose money made possible the Nute High School, the public library, and the chapel at Nute’s Ridge (Boston Globe, February 12, 1948).

N.H. Fire Loss $50,000. MILTON, N.H., Feb. 12. – Fire Chief Herbert Downs estimated a $50,000 loss by fire yesterday that destroyed a Nute Ridge barn and 40 head of livestock owned by Dr. Arthur D. Katwick of Mass. The chief said he believed the blaze started from an overheated electric water pump. Included the loss were 36 purebred cattle, four horses, a tractor and beach wagon. Firemen saved the house, located across the street (Fitchburg Sentinel, February 12, 1948).

Herbert A. Downs, a leather-board mill machine tender, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Wilma F. [(Warnecke)] Downs, aged twenty-two years (b. NH), and his children, Arthur W. Downs, aged three years (b. NH), and Sharon E. Downs, aged one month (b. NH). Herbert A. Downs owned their house on the Farmington Road, which was valued at $1,000. Guy L. Hayes, the antique corset collector of July 1945, lived next door.


The Lynn telephone number has changed, but this is one of several properties that Henry H. Pillman, Jr., sought to sell in the previous year. Pillman ran the Mountain View rental cottages

REAL ESTATE. MILTON, N.H. 1300 FT. shore frontage, 6 A., house, barn, bungalow, 2 camps; $8500. Call LY 5-6927 (Boston Globe, February 15, 1948).

This property was advertised still in April. By May, the advertiser was willing to sell the component parts separately.

Summer Cottages and Houses. MILTON, N.H. – Lake shore camp, $930; bungalow, $2500: camp lots, from $300 to $500. Call LYnn 5-6927 (Boston Globe, May 9, 1948).


Henry R. Sweeney advertised again his Milton “Ice Box” cabins with its home-cooked meals. (Chicken dinners might have been on offer, as they would be advertised in future years).

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Plan your summer vacation Now. THE ICE BOX. Route 16; Tel. 26-4, Milton, N.H. Cabins in pine grove and on lake shore. Modern plumbing & elect. Steam heat. Bathing, boating, fishing. Children welcome. Rates $38.50 per week per person, includes three home-cooked meals daily. SPECIAL JUNE RATES. H.R. SWEENEY, Mgr. (Boston Globe, May 23, 1948).

Note that Mr. Sweeney’s per-person prices have increased 10% from the $35.00 of 1947 to $38.50 in 1948.


Mr. Pillman here sought to rent the vacation properties that he had advertised for sale in the spring (see above).

Summer Cottages and Houses. FOR RENT – On Lake Shore at Milton, N.H., bungalow, $32; 2 duplex units, $28 each; boating, bathing, fishing. LY 5-6927 (Boston Globe, June 13, 1948).


The rather astounding trail of mainly Durham, NH, events recounted here – and criminal charges preferred – involved Milton only as the scene of a breaking, entering, and larceny charge.

Durham Divorcee Held In Ax-Assault, Larceny. Guilty pleas to individual charges of aggravated assault with the end of an ax on a 66-year-old Massachusetts man, and breaking, entering and larceny in the daytime were entered in Durham municipal court today by Mrs. Ellen Madelyn Walton, 40-year-old divorcee. Stockingless and garbed in a khaki army shirt over a plain print dress, the Durham Point camp resident appeared in cool reserve as Judge Bradford W. Mclntire held her in $1,000 bail on each charge. The assault took place Tuesday at the middle-aged mother’s Middle road camp when, she told police, she became involved in an argument with Robert Livesey, 66, of 11 Charter street, Newburyport. Appearing in court in a blood-caked shirt with his unbandaged face showing evidence of a recent, brutal beating, Livesey was not called upon to testify. The charges were brought by Strafford County Solicitor Frank W. Peyser who said Mrs. Walton committed the break and larceny at the Milton, N.H., home of Catherine Boyd a short while after the altercation with the Massachusetts man. Occasionally shifting the position of her tattered sneakers, the Durham Point woman showed no other evidence of possible concern over the arraignment as Judge Mclntire ordered Livesey held in $100 as a material witness to appear before the September term of the Stratford county grand jury. Police reported this morning Livesey was discovered about 7 o’clock Tuesday with deep gashes in his skull by State Trooper Clifton Hildreth, Durham Police Chief Bourgoin and Sheriff Stephen W. Scruton. Arriving at the Durham Point camp on a routine call, the three Police officers then rushed Livesey to the Durham Center office of Dr. George McGregor for emergency treatment. At the close of the trial, Mrs. Walton declared she could procure the bail money from her 22-year-old son whom police have been unable. to locate (Portsmouth Herald, July 7, 1948).


Mr. Pillman continued to advertise a portion at least of the vacation properties that he had advertised earlier in the year (see above).

Summer Cottages and Houses. FOR SALE. Camp at Milton, N.H., 3 rooms, completely furnished, sleeps 5, screened porch, good well, beach, 1 block from main highway. get kiddies in the pines; price $2500. Write P.O. Box 424, Rochester, N.H. 3t Jy27 (Boston Globe, July 27, 1948).


FARM, VILLAGE HOMES. MILTON, N.H. WHITE MT. Hwy. No. 16, old country colonial, 25 acres, 9 rooms, furnished inside and out, near lakes and mountains, high altitude, modem conveniences, Excellent summer or permanent farm home. Price $9000. GEORGE O. MACAULEY, owner, Plummers Ridge, Box 177, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, August 22, 1948).

George O. MacAuley, a saw and steel miller, aged thirty-two years (b. MA), headed a Groton, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Louise K. [(Cunningham)] MacAuley, aged thirty-two years (b. MA), and his daughter, Betty L. MacAuley, aged eleven years (b. MA). George O. MacAuley owned their house on Elm Street, which was valued at $1,400.


A Canadian pilot traveling from Boston, MA, to Bangor, ME, made an unscheduled landing in a Milton field.

FLYERS ESCAPE INJURY AS PLANE HITS STONE WALL. MILTON, N.H., Sept. 8 (AP). Two men flying from Boston to Bangor, Me., had to continue their journey by bus tonight when their light plane struck a stone wall and crimpled under the impact. Joseph Digiacinto, 24, of Frederickton, N.B., and an unidentified companion, had landed on a large field here after they had lost their bearings (Rutland Daily Herald, September 9, 1948).


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1947; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1949


References:

Find a Grave. (2016, September 19). Dr. Arthur D. Katwick. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/170189957

Find a Grave. (2017, October 1). George Otis MacAuley. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/183898814

 

Milton in the News – 1947

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 5, 2020

In this year, we encounter a poultry farm for sale, Ice Box cabin rentals, a car thief captured, Mountain View cottage rentals, Robert Jones at Tanglewood, a navy veteran’s recollections, the Braemore Hotel, and Henry H. Pillman, Jr., offering shorefront properties for sale.


Stanley C. Tanner, of Country Property realtors, offered for sale a Milton poultry farm and its appurtenances.

BUSINESS CHANCES. N.H. Poultry and Grain Business. $50,000 BUSINESS yearly, on state highway, near village, 25 acres, house for 1400 layers, brooder house for 2000 chicks, range shelters for 1700, 2-story granary, garage and office bldg., walk-in refrigerator, tool house, storage sheds, running water to all bldgs. and range, platform scales, all in first class condition; $9000 stock in trade and truck at market price. S.C. TANNER, Country Property, Milton, N.H.; tel. 53 (Boston Globe, February 16, 1947).


Henry R. Sweeney of Newton, MA, is here identified as the manager of the Milton Ice Box cabins and grille.

Henry R. Sweeney (and his wife, Claire E. Sweeney) appeared in the Newton directory of 1945 as supt. of the Holtzer Cabot Elec. Co. (Roxbury), with a house at 131 Sargent street, Newton.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Plan your summer vacation Now. THE ICE BOX. Route 16; Tel. 26-4, Milton, N.H. Cabins in pine grove and on lake shore. Modern plumbing & elect. Steam heat. Bathing, boating, fishing. Children welcome. Rates, $35.00 per week per person, include three home-cooked meals daily. SPECIAL JUNE RATES. H.R. SWEENEY, Mgr. (Boston Globe, April 20, 1947).

Mr. Sweeney seems to have expanded his meal amenity from three meals per week to three meals per day. Other sources describe the motel cabins as each sleeping four persons. (The Ice Box cabins and grille appeared also in the years 1939, 1941, 1945, and 1946).


Another oft-paroled career criminal passed through Milton on a three-state crime spree. He burgled an electrical appliance store in East Wakefield, NH, and stole an automobile in Milton Mills.

Samuel J. Latray, cell block clerk, aged thirty-one years (b. Canada (French)), was an inmate at the Clinton Prison, at Dannemora, NY, at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census.

Samuel J. Latray, No. 45694, aged forty-one years (b. Canada (French)), was an inmate at the Auburn State Prison, at Cayahoga, NY, at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census.

Vermont Official Questions Letray. PORTLAND, Me, April 22 (AP). Samuel J. Letray, 48, who New York, Vermont and New Hampshire officials and Federal agents questioned here in connection with breaks and car thefts in three states, waived extradition to New York and two charges of being a fugitive from justice were nol prossed in municipal court. – The fugitive warrants allege Letray fled from New York after committing 20 counts of burglary in Columbia County, N.Y., and that he violated his parole from Clinton Prison, N.Y. Letray was questioned the past several days by Sgt, James W. Russell and Cpl. James J. Buckley of the New York State Police. Alfred Franzoni, detective chief for the Vermont attorney general; Sheriff John M. Leighton, Carroll County, N.H., Sheriff Stephen Schutton, Strafford County, N.II., , and Police Chiefs Thomas Redden and John Melak of Rochester and Conway, N.H., respectively. Leighton and Letray admitted a break in [at] an electrical appliance store at East Wakefield, N.II., and the theft of a car at Milton Mills, N.H. Letray and the New York officers left tor New York immediately after the court proceedings. Cpl. Buckley said that when he was paroled from prison I.etray had been serving 15 years to life imprisonment and that he faced the possibility of life imprisonment as an alleged fourth offender. Franzoni said he came here to question Letray about “at least 10 breaks” in Vermont. Fred Wyman, 19, of Old Orchard beach, an alleged accomplice of I.etray, was scheduled to appear before U.S. Commissioner Richard K. Gould tomorrow on a charge of interstate transportation of a stolen car (Bennington Evening Banner, April 22, 1947).


Mountain View cottages were available for rent. Its rates were competitive with those of the Ice Box cabins (in April above). The Mountain View cabins were somewhat less expensive, but offered no home-cooked meals.

Summer Cottages and Houses. Mountain View Cottages. ON the lake shore at Milton, N.H., 9 miles from Rochester on route 16, running water, flush toilet, screened porches, sandy beach, boating. bathing, fishing. $26 and $32 per week a cottage. For reservations call Lynn 2-8402 Sunday alter 8 p.m. or any weekday (Boston Globe, June 15, 1947).

Harry H. Pillman, Jr., of Lynn, MA, used the same Lynn telephone number in selling Milton shore front property (in September below).


Milton native and famous theatrical designer Robert E. Jones interrupted his Milton vacation to consult with the director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA.

Designer Visits Conductor. Robert Edmond Jones, famous theatrical designer, has spent the past two days in Lenox, consulting with Serge Koussevitzky, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the management plans for staging the “music for all” field day July 29. Mr. Jones interrupted his vacation in Milton, N.H., to come to Tanglewood (Berkshire Eagle, July 10, 1947).

Robert E. Jones’ parents, Emma J. (Cowell) Jones and Fred P. Jones, had died in Milton in April 13, 1941, and November 10, 1941, respectively.


Mr. Courtemanche’s letter is here included because it is so distinctly dated “Milton, N.H.,” but there is some reason to believe that the common Milford-Milton-Wilton confusion may have taken hold of the Boston Globe editor.

VETERANS’ FORUM By HAROLD PUTNAM. Your “laugh dept.” mentioned “Fink” and “Bull.” If that is C.E. Bull, our old skipper of the U.S.S. Gilligan (DE 508), he sure is a good authenticator – as the Japs found out at Okinawa. I was with him 64 days and nights, and he was a fighting captain. Incidentally, our exec’s name was “Wolf.” – Nelson A. Courtemanche, Milton, N.H. Answer – The same, sir! (Boston Globe, August 1, 1947).


Alfred E. “Al” Braman kept the Braemore Hotel at Teneriffe Mountain in Milton at this time. (It appears to have been a neighbor (or possibly a successor) of the Teneriffe Sports Club).

Braman, Uncle Al - July 1943 - Shirley Gosselin
Alfred E. Braman, 1943 (Photo: S. Gosselin)

Braman was born in Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada, November 12, 1891. He, his Belgian-native second wife (of five years), Madeleine (Van Reybroeck) Braman, and his daughter, Dorothy Braman (b. Boston, 1921), immigrated to Boston in 1937.

Alfred Ernest Braman registered for the WW II military draft in Boston, MA, April 27, 1942. He was fifty years of age (b. Hampton, New Brunswick, November 12, 1891). He was 5’7″ tall, weighing 186 pounds, with hazel eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion. He wore glasses “for working purposes.” He was employed at the Irvington Rooms hotel, at 8 Irvington Street, Boston, MA, and resided at 845 Boylston Street, Boston, MA. Dorothy Leon [his daughter] of 19½ Jackson Place, Jamaica Plain, was listed as his contact.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. BRAEMORE HOTEL, MILTON, N.H., AT TENERIFF MOUNTAIN. Boating, Bathing, Fishing. Boston busses pass door. Near R.R. station. Rates reasonable. A great place to spend a week-end. AL BRAMAN, MGR. (Boston Globe, August 10, 1947).


Harry H. Pillman, Jr., of Lynn, MA, offered several Milton shore front properties for sale. Note that the telephone number is the same as that for the Mountain View rental cottages of June (above).

FARM, VILLAGE HOMES. MILTON. N.H. – 1300 ft. shore front on lake. Large house, barn, 3-rm. bungalow and 2 cottages. Price, $8200. Call LY 2-8402 (Boston Globe, September 21, 1947).

FARM, VILLAGE HOMES. MILTON, N.H. – CAMP LOTS. SHORE front lots, $350; back lots, $200. Ly 2-8402 or write HARRY H. PILLMAN, JR., 49 Haviland av., Lynn (Boston Globe, October 5, 1947).

Harry H. Pillman, hurricane clearance labor, aged forty-three years (b. MA), headed a Malden, MA, household at the time of the Sixteen (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Constance Pillman, aged forty-seven years (b. Canada (Eng.)), his children, Harry P. Pillman, a typewriter repairman, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), Pearl Pillman, a retail grocery clerk, aged twenty years (b. MA), Ruth Pillman, aged nineteen years (b. MA), and Stanley Pillman, aged seventeen years (b. MA). Harry H. Pillman owned their house at 1 Andrew Court, which was valued at $4,000.

(Mr. Pillman was employed still in clearing damage from the Hurricane of ’38, well over a year after that powerful storm).


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1946; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1948


References:

Wikipedia. (2019, December 20). Serge Koussevitzky. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Koussevitzky

Wikipedia. (2019, September 25). Tanglewood. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanglewood

Milton in the News – 1946

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 2, 2020

In this year, we encounter the death of a Navy Yard fireman, a farm for sale, two carbon monoxide deaths, a missing war bride, the death of Mrs. Hart, sheep wanted, and rental cabins available at the Ice Box.


Fred J. Savoie of Milton died in the hospital of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, of smoke inhalation he suffered while fighting a submarine fire.

Fred J. Savoie, a leatherboard mill finisher, aged forty-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ruby [(Ellis)] Savoie, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), and his children, Jacqueline P. Savoie, aged fifteen years (b. NH), Maurice M. Savoie, aged thirteen years (b. NH), and Arnie N. Savoie, aged twelve years (b. NH). Fred J. Savoie owned their house on Main Street, Milton Community, which was valued at $1,500. They lived quite close – only a house apart – to Dr. and Mrs. Hart (see below).

Portsmouth Fireman Dies In Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Fred J. Savoie of Milton died yesterday at the U.S. naval hospital at the Portsmouth naval base where he had been a patient for eight days suffering from smoke inhalation reportedly received while fighting a blaze aboard a submarine at the base a week ago. A member of the fire department at the base, Mr. Savoie was born in Dover, the son of Joseph W. and Delia Burns Savoie. He had been a resident of Milton for the past 20 years. He was 49 years old. He served in World War I and was a member of the Oscar Morehouse post, American Legion, of Milton, the Milton fire department and Rindge lodge, Knights of Pythias, East Rochester. Survivors include his wife. Mrs. Ruby Savoie: two daughters, Jacqueline and Elaine Savoie: a son, Maurice, all of Milton, and a sister, Mrs. Jennie Wentworth of Farmington (Portsmouth Herald, January 24, 1946).

Fire Victim’s Funeral. MILTON, N.H., Jan. 24. Funeral services will be held in the Community church here Saturday for Fred J. Savoie, 49, Portsmouth navy yard fireman who died at Portsmouth naval hospital yesterday as the result of smoke inhalation. A member of the family said Savoie was overcome by smoke a week ago when he was helping to extinguish a blaze in a submarine (Fitchburg Sentinel, January 24, 1946).


Here is offered for sale a six-room farmhouse on thirteen acres of land along Route 16 (1,000 foot frontage).

REAL ESTATE. FOR SALE – MILTON, N.H. 6-RM. HOUSE in exc. cond., bath, h. and c. water, steam heat, hardwood firs throughout, 13 A. land, 2 in till., bal. in pine, birch and maple, 1000 ft. frontage on highway, located on Route 16, main route to White Mountains, beautiful location, price $7200. photos on request. BENWAY AGENCY, 12 Central St., Farmington, N.H.; tel. 3153 (February 10, 1946).

We may note again the extent to which Federal housing guarantees, subsidies, and interventions are artificially affecting the housing market. The $7,200 asking price would be equivalent to “only” $93,672 in inflated modern dollars. (Itself a problem). To an assessor’s eye, such a property would be worth multiples of even the inflation-adjusted price.


Two Milton teenagers appeared in a list of fourteen New England weekend fatalities. They died of carbon monoxide poisoning in nearby Barnstead, NH.

14 Weekend Deaths Caused by Mishaps. Boston, March 11 (AP). At least 14 persons were’ dead In New England today as the result of accidents over the week-end. The chief causes were fire, train-auto collisions, carbon monoxide poisoning and falls. Arthur Marchildon, about 60, died of suffocation and burns in a fire that swept the upper floors of a four-story lodging house In the downtown area of Lowell. Several score persons were driven to the street just before dawn and two other men suffered injuries. One death was indirectly the result of an accident. In Newton, Mass., Miss Mary H. Merrill, nurse’s aide at Wellesley hospital, suffered a fatal heart attack rushing to help four persons who suffered only minor injuries when their car hit a pole near her home after a tire puncture. In Eaton, Me., Earl P. Carlow, 27, and Donald R. Theriault, 18, both of Robbinston, Me., were killed when their car crashed into a halted Maine Central Railroad train at a crossing. Two sailors, Lorimer L.L. Herrmann, 23, and Charles L. Savage, 23, of the New London submarine base, were fatally injured at Branford. Conn., when their car crashed into a tree. Another double fatality was at Barnstead, N.H., where the bodies of Erving W. Williams, 19, and John W. Pennell, 17, both of Milton, N.H., were found in an automobile. Medical Examiner Lester R. Brown said monoxide poisoning killed both. Coal gas fumes cost the life of Mrs. Birdena Washburn, 48, housekeeper in a Skowhegan, Me., home. In Lowell. Mass., five-year-old Richard Bellerose was killed under the wheel of a truck. Eleven-year-old Robert Argrayes died similarly at North Lincoln, Me., and In -.Monson, Mass., Hugh Toner, 74, was fatally injured by an automobile while crossing a street (North Adams Transcript, March 11, 1946).


Leland H. Jenness, a machinist, aged twenty years (b. Strafford County, NH), enlisted in Manchester, NH, January 6, 1942, for service in the U.S. Army. He was sixty-seven inches tall and weight 153 pounds.

Bridegrooms Left Waiting at the Depot for 2 War Wives. Not a single unwclcomed bride waited last night at South Station to be claimed by a tardy husband. Instead two nervous bridegrooms paced the train platform and pleaded with the M.P.’s assigned as bride escorts, to find two missing brides who didn’t arrive, as scheduled, on the last night train from the west coast. One of them, James E. York Jr., had flown from Houston, Tex., where he is stationed, when his sister wired him that the Red Cross was sending his Australian bride to their Melrose home, 229 Main street. He got to Melrose in time to meet the train but did not meet his bride. At a late hour, no word had arrived for either bridegroom to tell why he’d been left waiting at the station door. Afraid She’s Changed. The other disappointed bridegroom, Leland Jenness of Milton Mills. N.H., was in Boston early yesterday afternoon when he hoped his wife from Australia would arrive. As the last train pulled in, his worried expression brightened. “I’m pretty nervous,” he said, “even if I was married for eight months before I left for home. But that was 11 months ago, and maybe she’s changed.” He didn’t have a chance to find out last night, for a check of the passengers disclosed only one bride – an American girl, claimed by a young Navy lieutenant, who grinned a little complacently as he took in the situation and remarked something about the advantage of marrying “closer to home” (Boston Globe, March 12, 1946).

Details are scant, but Leland H. Jenness, then of Milton Mills, and his missing Australian war bride, Mrs. Iris Mona (Coles) Jenness, were reunited.

They had moved to California by 1961. (We may note that California is closer to Australia).


Mrs. Estelle K. (Draper) Hart, wife of Dr. M.A.H. Hart, died while on a lengthy visit to Bedford, MA.

Malcolm A.H. Hart, a medical doctor, aged seventy-eight years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940). His household included his wife, Estelle L. [(Draper)] Hart, aged seventy-six years (b. VT). Malcolm A.H. Hart owned their house on Main Street, Milton Community, which was valued at $2,500. They lived quite close – only a house apart – to Fred J. and Ruby Savoie (see above).

Deaths and Funerals. Mrs. Estelle L. Hart. BEDFORD, June 22. Funeral services for Mrs. Estelle L. (Draper) Hart, 82, wife of Dr. M.A.H. Hart of Milton, N. H., will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 in the Community Church at Milton. She died here Thursday. Mrs. Hart came to Bedford from Milton last November. She was a member of the Woman’s Relief Corps, Woman’s Club, Daughters of the American Revolution and Community Church in Milton. Besides her husband, she leaves two sons, M. Wentworth Hart of Bedford and Ezra D. Hart of Andover; a brother, George U. Draper of Fairhaven, Vt., and a sister, Mrs. Charles A. Bullock of Bristol, Conn (Boston Globe, June 23, 1946).

Mrs. Hart was likely visiting with her son, M. Wentworth Hart, at the time of her death. Marion Wentworth Hart, a meat store clerk, aged forty-nine years (b. NH), headed a New Bedford, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elise [(Nicholas)] Hart, a dry goods store clerk, aged forty-seven years (b. MI), his daughter, Marion Hart, a Consolidated Gas co. file clerk, aged twenty-three years (b. CT), and his mother-in-law, Eliza [(Webster)] Nicholas, aged seventy-one years (b. Nova Scotia). Marion Wentworth Hart rented their house at 38 Great Road, for $20 per month.

(The Harts had suffered a comprehensive property fire in March 1921, from which they had rebuilt. Mrs Hart’s letter to her Fairhaven sister-in-law featured in the news of that event).


L.H. Baldwin advertised for sheep with which to stock his Milton farm.

LIVESTOCK. WANTED. 24. SHEEP wanted: 20 thrifty 1946 lambs, 10 yearling ewes. L.H. Baldwin, Milton, N.H. (Rutland Herald, July 25, 1946).


The Ice Box cabins and its attendant grille continued in business into the post-war period.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. THE ICE BOX. Route 16, Milton, N.H. Cabins in pine grove on lake, boating, bathing, fishing. Rates include free home-cooked meals with steam-heated cabins, $35 a week per person. Golf 7 miles. Train and bus service. Box 219, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, August 4, 1946).

The rental cabins were advertised also in 1945. Three home-cooked meals from the grille were included with a week’s rental. Presumably, those renters, and a walk-in trade, might purchase extra meals there. Ice Box grille workers were mentioned in 1941 and 1939.


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1945; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1947


References:

Find a Grave. (2014, May 13). Leland H. Jenness. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/129751318

 

Milton in the News – 1945

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 29, 2019

In this year, we encounter a POW, a heavy snowstorm, real estate for sale, Mrs. Willey on a visit, advertising by the Ice Box cabins (and grille), antique corsets, and a family of ministers.

This was the year in which World War II concluded. Units of the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics met at Torgau, Germany, on April 25. The U.S.S.R. captured Berlin by May 2. The Japanese surrendered in September after having been twice atom-bombed in August.

Estimates of World War II deaths run between 70 to 85 million people (of which “only” 20 to 25 million were military deaths).


Lester E. Marsh, an Acton-native, and former Milton Mills resident, was reported to be a prisoner in Germany.

Recent War Casualties. Reported by Families on Receipt of Official Government Notice. ARLINGTON. Pvt. Lester Marsh, USA, 34, of 1067 Massachusetts av., formerly of Milton Mills, N.H., is a prisoner in Germany. He went overseas in September. He is son of Mr. and Mrs. George Marsh, Milton Mills, N.H., is married and has two children, George, 3, and Lester Jr., 12 (Boston Globe, January 13, 1945).

George W. Marsh, proprietor of a blacksmith shop, aged sixty-one years (b. ME), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Sixteen (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Eva M. [(Burrows)] Marsh, aged forty-nine years (b. NH), and his grandson, Lester Marsh, Jr., aged seven years (b. ME). George W. Marsh owned their house “near Milton Mills, New Hampshire,” which was valued at $1,000.


A particularly strong January blizzard hit Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Neighboring Acton, ME, was hard hit. Drifts there ran to fifteen feet in height and had to be twice cleared due to high winds.

Snow Blocks N.E. Roads. One Maine Town Is Isolated, Farm-to-Market Roads Cut Off in Vermont, Bay State. BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Wind driven snow drifts, frozen solid in some New England communities by added crusts, of sleet and hail tonight gave highway crews rugged battles in their efforts to contact one Maine town and to break passages through some farm to market roads in rural western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. At least one death was caused, that of Hugh S. Newell, 64, a Bath, Me, shipyard worker, who attempted to walk six miles to his home in North Newcastle after his car bogged in the snow. He slogged three miles and fell dead of exhaustion. Acton, Me, population 400, cut off since Monday, still was isolated tonight as crews bucked drifts which in some places measured 15 feet. High wind increased the depth of many drifts in this and other parts of Maine. Gov. Maurice J. Tobin ordered two heavy snow plows of the Massachusetts department of public works and a sno-go machine to western Massachusetts to break paths through some snow-clogged farm to market roads in the towns of Worthington, Cheshire, Chesterfield, Peru and Plainfield in the Berkshires. Similar reports of plugged secondary roads, used in transportation of milk and milk products .to market, came from southeastern Vermont. In the isolated town of Acton, Me. none of the residents was reported suffering from lack of fuel or food. Mail was brought in by Everett Wiggins, RFD carrier, who came over the snow four miles from Sanbornville, N.H, on snowshoes. One highway, from Milton, N.H. to Acton, cleared yesterday became clogged again today when high wind drifted the snow again. Town officials ordered dynamite used to break away through 10 foot snow packs six miles north of Dover-Foxcroft. State crews working from Shapleigh toward Acton managed to force, their way one-eighth of a mile in six hours, so heavily was the snow stacked. These efforts from, the outside were being matched, in effort at least, by Acton men and boys, trying to shovel their way out of the town. Two thousand bushels of apples stored in South Acton were in danger of freezing because employes were unable to reach the plant to tend fires. The storm in Maine was the fifth of the month and the second heaviest. It raised the snow depth in Greenville and Presque Isle to 36 inches. The heaviest fall yesterday was 13 inches at Caribou. Meanwhile, conflicting reports of coal supplies were prevalent in Boston. Edward Larkin, president of the Retail Fuel Institute, foresaw adequate incoming shipments of coal, while Solid Fuel Administrator Harold L. Ickes refused an appeal from Acting Mayor John E. Kerrigan, for a special allocation of 20 cars of nut coal above Boston’s quota. There is no danger of a coal famine and new arrivals will replenish our supply before we run out, Larkin asserted. Acting Mayor Kerrigan requested all coal dealers to scrape their coal pockets for all possible anthracite and to turn it over to the bagging plant at the Boston Ice company which would make the coal available in 100 pound bags for emergency cases (Rutland Daily Herald, January 31, 1945).

Harry F. Wiggin, a farmer, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), headed a Wakefield (South Wakefield (Sanbornville)), NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Myra [(Witham)] Wiggin, aged fifty-seven years (b. NH), his son, Everett F. Wiggin, a farmer, aged thirty years (b. NH), and his nephew, Delmore E. Witham, aged twenty-six years (b. NH). Harry F. Wiggin owned their farm in South Wakefield, near Route 16, which was valued $3,000.


Stanley C. Tanner here advertises several real estate properties for the Country Property realty office.

REAL ESTATE. BOYS’ OR GIRLS’ CAMP SITE. TRI ECHO LAKE, Milton, N.H., 7 acres, 1300 ft. of shore frontage, good bathing, ¼ mile from village, trains and buses; 1 7-room cottage with heat, bath, fireplace, garage and stable; 1 3-room cottage and garage; 1 two-story building with living room 19×30, kitchen 14×20, room 16×16, screened porch 8×40, 6 rooms up and large sheathed attic; barn 30×60, good lake view. tel. and electricity, price $8500. S.C. TANNER, Country Property, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, March 18, 1945).

REAL ESTATE. FARM, VILLAGE HOMES. N.H. SUMMER HOME. HIGH elevation, quiet mountain home, 40 acres of field and woodland, fruit and berries, old Cod house of 6 rooms and modern bath, furnace, gravity water, fireplaces, all its old features, household furnishings, barn 30×40 with farming machinery, good hunting and fishing, 2 miles to trunk line and lake; price $3000. S.C. TANNER, Country Property, Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, April 15, 1945).

Stanley C. Tanner, a real estate broker, aged forty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteen (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Cordelia D. Tanner, aged forty-four years (b. Canada (Eng.)). Stanley C. Tanner owned their house in the “Milton Community,” which was valued at $1,900.


We encountered in the previous year Mrs. Grace C. (Fletcher) Willey, president of the NH Federation of Women’s Clubs. Here she was the overnight guest of Mrs. Taft of Greenville, MA. Mrs. Mary Taft was president of the Greenville Women’s Club.

GREENVILLE. Mrs. J. Herbert Willey of Milton, N.H., president of the New Hampshire Federation of Woman’s Clubs, was an overnight guest of Mrs. Taft Thursday (Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, MA), April 14, 1945).


The Ice Box cabins and grille are here advertised. They were mentioned previously in 1941 and 1939.

“THE ICE BOX” ROUTE 16, MILTON. N.H. CABINS in pine grove on lake, bathing, fishing, boating, good safe sandy beach, rates include 3 home-cooked meals with cabin, $35 wk. Per person, golf 7 miles, train & bus service. R.F.D. Union, N.H., Su4t Je17 (Boston Globe, June 17, 1945).


Collectors have their little fancies, and finding a better or older pair of ladies corsets appears to have been that of Mr. Hayes.

OWNS ANCIENT CORSETS. MILTON, N.H, July 18 (INS). A pair of ladies corsets made in 1770 is in the possession of Guy L. Hayes. He has been trying to duplicate them or discover an older pair (Journal News (White Plains, NY), July 16, 1945).

Guy L. Hayes, a building carpenter, aged sixty-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Nellie D. Hayes, aged sixty-three years (b. NH), and his son, Phillip G. Hayes, a building carpenter, aged thirty years (b. NH). Guy L. Hayes owned their house on the Farmington Road, which was valued at $200.


Joseph B. Bubar is here identified as pastor of the Milton Mills Baptist church, as his father and siblings were associated also with the Baptist ministry.

Five Sons Follow Dad Into Ministry. By United Press. ALLAGASH, Me. The Burbar family has a virtual monopoly on the Baptist ministry in this big woods section of northern Maine. All five sons of the Rev. Benjamin C. Bubar are following in their father’s footsteps as Baptist ministers. Rev. Bubar, who has preached in nearly every Baptist Church in Maine, entered the ministry 45 years ago. Benjamin, 28, is pastor of the North Vassalboro, Smithfield, and East Winslow Churches. Joseph, 26, is pastor of a church at Milton Mills, N.H. John, 19, is attending the Providence, R.I. Bible Institute and spends his summers doing pastoral work. David, 17, is pastor of the Baptist Church at Blaine. The youngest son, Paul, is a freshman at Milton, N.H., High School and also plans to enter the ministry. A daughter, Rachel, 23, assists the oldest brother (Munster Times (Munster, IN), October 16, 1945).

Jos. B. (Ruth H.) Bubar appeared in the Gloucester, MA, directory of 1948 as minister of the Pigeon Cove Federated Church, resident at 138 Granite Street, Pigeon Cove [Rockport, MA].


Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1944; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1946


References:

Find a Grave. (2014, May 16). Everett F. Wiggun. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/129866406

Find a Grave. (2013, August 2). Lester E. Marsh. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/114802601