Article #6 would have us join the Strafford County Regional Planning Commission, whose annual dues are currently $5,764.
Article 6: Strafford County Regional Planning Commission Membership Dues
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the Sum of Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Four Dollars ($5,764) and to authorize the Town of Milton Selectmen / Administrator / Planner to pay said sum to the Strafford County Regional Planning Commission as dues for its fiscal year July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 and thereafter to place the annual dues as may be adjusted from time to time into to[the] Town operating budget. (Majority vote required).
Estimated tax impact is $0.01 (One Cent).
Approved by the Board of Selectmen (3,0,0)
Approved by the Budget Committee (6,1,0)
We may note that the article’s language acknowledges frankly that those dues “may” be adjusted from time to time. That is to say, the annual dues will be adjusted upwards, both certainly and frequently. (There, I fixed it).
The bridge in question was already marginal when it was closed for the winter of 2010-11, because its revised load limit would no longer support snowplow equipment. The bridge was subsequently removed in 2012. It has been absent now for nearly eight years.
The stated justification for joining this regional planning commission was so that it might intercede on our behalf with the NH State Department of Transportation (NHDOT) in the matter of replacing the New Bridge Road bridge between Milton and Lebanon. A secondary justification given more recently was the regional planning commission’s assistance in helping us through the government-created regulatory morass in establishing conservation areas. (Thanks guys! Here’s $5,764 for your trouble).
Our Town planning entity wants “us” to join a Regional planning entity, complete with club dues, because the NH state planning entity (and its NH DOT planning entity) have passed us over in the matter of the bridge. Its projected replacement is years out from now, unless it gets postponed yet again. They might listen to us – or grant us more preferential treatment than those not paying these dues – if, and only if, we belong to this Regional planning entity.
Are we not paying already both Federal and State gas taxes to fund road and bridge improvements? (Those taxes being a substantial part of the per-gallon price). And have we not already set aside funds to pay for “our share” of this bridge? (As has Lebanon).
Assuming any part of the stated rationale was true, it would be the very definition of corruption on the part of the regional and state planners, as well as the NH DOT. That could not possibly be true, could it?
This channel is a very short span. During WW II, the army used pre-fabricated Bailey bridges to cross much wider bodies of water. They could be constructed from one side of a river – often under enemy fire – in very short times, days even. Those bridges could take the weight of heavy armored vehicles. Some postwar bridges of this type are still in use today.
Those unaware of the Hayekian “knowledge problem” might find themselves gobsmacked by the complete pig’s breakfast the various government planning entities have made of this. The bridge problem should not be a difficult one in itself. It is not as if they are going to build it themselves, as opposed to just paying contractors. The actual problem lies in it being planned by government. Add in other layers of government, such as the state and its DOT, and the governmental complexity, expense and delay only increases. (“Adding personnel to a overdue software project only delays it further”).
There is also the matter of the price. Without a price mechanism, government cannot “know” whether there should be many bridges or none at all, nor what they should cost. Their mechanism is the political means, for which it is evidently necessary to pay a “vig” to the government level above them.
To add in yet another layer of regional government will not help this at all. But it will cost us more than if we did not: $5,764 per annum more, at least to start.
Lebanon is considering simply abandoning this project. Alton pulled out of their regional planning commission two years ago. The petition by which they were liberated is available online. Just saying.
French immigrant John M. Carrecabe, of Lynn, MA, who would later be remembered as the pioneer of the leatherboard trade, lost his North Shapleigh, ME, satellite mill to a fire in 1884. He erected the Milton Manufacturing Co. paper mill, which adjoined Mill No. 2, a leatherboard mill, alongside the Salmon Falls River in Milton, in that same year. He produced paper and leatherboard there for some eight years prior to selling out to Seth F. Dawson, of Lawrence, MA, in 1892.
English immigrant Seth F. Dawson ran his mill operation as the Milton Leatherboard Company. He was its president, visiting Milton two days a week, until he placed it in charge of his son and namesake, Seth F. Dawson, Jr., around 1908-09. The son took up residence in Milton and presided over the mill for much of his life. The elder Dawson continued as Treasurer.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, leatherboard is an artificial leather made by a pulping and compressing process, typically from scrap leather or fibrous materials (as waste paper and wood pulp). Leatherboard replaced pure leather as a cheaper and tougher substitute in the making of shoe heels.
Power is a big factor in making leather board, as leather is a very hard stock, and in consequence leather board mills are situated where water power is available. A small leather board mill uses more power than would be required to run a large shoe factory. Proximity to centers where leather is cut is necessary and low priced coal is a factor. Sole leather pieces and skivings from sole leather are used but no upper leather waste. The leather is defiberized in large beating engines, a process which takes many hours. When the material leaves these engines it is in the form of a fibrous pulp. This pulp is formed into sheets on a machine which is an adaptation of a paper machine and these sheets are then dried. After the sheets are thoroughly dry they are rolled and finished (Shoe and Leather Facts, 1913).
LOCALS. A large quantity of old newspapers and papers of various kinds was shipped from this station to the leatherboard mill at Milton last week where it will be used in the production of leatherboard (Farmington News, July 27, 1894).
John M. Carrecabe – 1884-93
John M. Carrecabe was born in Laas, France, October 16, 1838, son of John M. and Rose Carrecabe.
Near the end of his life, John M. Carrecabe told the story of his origins to the American Shoemaking periodical of Boston, MA.
John Carrecabe of Lynn has had a remarkable career. He was born in Laas, France, 77 years ago. He ran away when ten years old and became an apprentice to a tanner. His father wanted him back home, but the tanner asked that he be allowed to stay. After serving a few years as an apprentice, his father gave him money. He went to London and then to Barcelona, from where he took a ship to South America. He worked in a tannery in Brazil for a while. Next he went to Cuba to visit a cousin. This cousin was killed by lightning and young Carrecabe took charge of his tannery and ran it until 1866. Then came an insurrection and his tannery was burned and he felt lucky to escape with his life and $3,000 in gold which he had inside of his belt. He came to New York and called on some Lynn men, with whom he had done business. They induced him to come to Lynn. He got work in the Tapley tannery, after much difficulty, for he was so small the tanners didn’t want to hire him. He was promised $5 a week, but he showed that he knew about leather exceptionally well, and $15 was put in his pay envelope. He tried to return it thinking a mistake had been made. Forty years ago he and his associates engaged in the manufacture of leatherboard. He has continued to make leatherboard and leatherboard products ever since. He built mills in Maine and in Milton, N.H., and he was among those who started the O.K. Shank Co. He recently started a shop at 460 Union street, Lynn, for making leatherboard products (McLeish, 1915).
John M. Carracabe, a morocco dresser, aged twenty-seven years, married in Lynn, MA, June 29, 1872, Annie Louisa Potter, aged eighteen years, both of Lynn. She was born in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 3, 1854, daughter of John P. “Polhemus” and Ellen M. (Balcolm) Potter.
[Ed.: Morocco leather was made from goatskin; a morocco dresser was one who tanned such leather].
LYNN, At 1.40 yesterday afternoon a blaze was discovered on the roof of an L of the house [at the] corner of Washington and Union streets, occupied by John M. Carrecabe, and owned by F.E. Abbott of the firm of R.A. Spalding & Co., Market street. The damage was very slight, but a small hole being burned. Sparks falling from the chimney of a shop adjoining caused the trouble (Boston Globe, March 13, 1879).
John M. Carracabe, a junk dealer, aged thirty-six years (b. France), headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie L. Carracabe, keeping house, aged twenty-five years (b. Nova Scotia), his children, John A. Carracabe, aged five years (b. MA), Mary E. Carracabe, aged three years (b. MA), Arthur M. Carracabe, aged two years, and <blank> Carracabe, aged one month, and his servant, Hannah Cahill, a domestic servant, aged fifteen years (b. Ireland). They resided on High Rock Avenue.
John M. Carrecabe of Lynn, a junk dealer, petitioned for U.S. citizenship in Lynn, MA, October 26, 1880. He renounced the government of France, where he had been born October 16, 1840 [SIC]. His application claimed that he had arrived as a child in New York, in April 1855 [SIC].
John M. Carrecabe of Lynn, MA, had a leatherboard mill at North Shapleigh, ME, from as early as 1881, until it burned February 5, 1884.
NORTH SHAPLEIGH – York Co. Pop. 25. On Portland and Rochester R.R.; Adams, N.Y. and B. Ex. Carrecabe, J.M. P.O., Lynn, Mass. Shapleigh Mill. S.P., East Wakefield, N.H., 8 miles. One 650-lb. and two 550-lb. engines. One 36-inch Cylinder. Water. Leather Board. 2500 lbs., 24 hours (Vance, 1881).
Trade Gossip. John M. Carricabe, leather-board manufacturer, North Shapleigh, Me., has been burned out (Lockwood, 1884).
NORTH SHAPLEIGH – York Co. Nearest Station Springvale, on Portland and Rochester R.R. American Ex. Tel. M.O., Springvale. Nearest bank, Rochester N.H., 33 miles. Carrecabe, John M. Office, Lynn, Mass. SHAPLEIGH MILL. Established 1860. One 600-lb. and two 500-lb. engines. One 38-inch cylinder. Water. One wheel 100-HP. Employes 5. Leather Board. 2,000 lbs., 24 hours. (Burnt February 5, 1884. Probably will not be rebuilt) (Bryan, 1884).
“10. [Left] Milton Mfg. Co. Erected by John M. Carrecabe, 1884. … 12. [Right] Mill No. 2, Leather Board”
According to the “Bird’s Eye View” map of Milton of 1888, John M. Carrecabe erected his Milton Manufacturing Co. paper mill, in 1884, at the foot of Mill Street. The map showed it (to the left of the smokestack) as being beside his Mill No. 2, the leatherboard mill (to the right of the smokestack).
John M. Carrecabe & Co., and others, of Lynn, MA, petitioned the Massachusetts Senate, in February 1887, requesting that telephone rates might be limited by law (Massachusetts Senate, 1887). They also petitioned the Massachusetts House of Representatives. (One wonders why, in so doing, they did not foresee the possibility of leatherboard prices being also set by law, rather than by the market).
LYNN. A horse attached to John Carracabe’s team, driven by John Pequette, ran away on Central square this morning, throwing the driver from his seat. The animal continued, and struck Alden Choate, a gentleman 73 years old, injuring him severely. Mr. Choate was removed to his home on Mason street. The driver was severely injured (Boston Globe, August 29, 1887).
MILTON – Strafford Co. Pop. 1,512. On Conway Branch, N. Div. of B. & M. R.R. Tel. office; nearest bank, Farmington, 5 miles; American Ex. Carrecabe, J.M., & Co. (Succeed John M. Carrecabe). P.O., Lynn, Mass. Two mills. Carrecabe Mills. Five 550-lb. and one 700-lb. engines. Three 40-inch Wet Machines. Water. Leather Board. 7000 lbs., 24 hours. New Mill. Six 550-lb. engines; one 72-inch Cylinder Machine. Water. Manilla and Wrapping. 8000 lbs., 24 hours (Vance, 1887).
John M. Carrecabe appeared in the Milton directories of 1887, 1889, and 1892 as a leatherboard manufacturer.
John M. Carricabe of Lynn, MA, was one of 20,000 “rich” New England residents that paid more than $100 in taxes in 1888. Lynn’s tax rate was $18.60 per thousand; Carricabe paid $478 (Luce, 1888). (Lewis W. Nute of Boston, MA, paid $1,744 (Boston’s tax rate was $13.40 per thousand)).
John M. Carricabe’s Milton Manufacturing Co. was running “day and night” in the Fall of 1888. After which it appears to have shut down for several months.
MILTON. The Milton Manufacturing Company is running at its utmost capacity, manufacturing leather board and paper. They employ some forty hands, running the twenty-four hours day and night. Burley & Usher, shoe manufacturers of the same place, are turning out twenty cases per day and have orders on hand to last well into the winter months. They give employment to some 200 hands, with a weekly pay roll of $1,400 (Farmington News, September 28, 1888).
NEW ENGLAND NEWS. The Carricabe paper works in Milton, N.H., are being run day and night (Essex County Herald, November 2, 1888).
NEW ENGLAND NEWS. The paper mill at Carricabe’s works, Milton, N.H, will start again soon, after having been shut down several months (Londonderry Sifter (South Londonderry, VT), June 27, 1889).
John M. Carrecabe appeared in the Lynn directory of 1890, as president of Milton Manufacturing Co., at 36 Harbor street, with his house at 64 Hamilton ave. By the time of the Lynn directory of 1891, i.e., at sometime during 1890, he had “removed to Milton, N.H.”
MILTON. J.M. Carricabe and family are at Drew’s Hotel for a few weeks (Farmington News, August 1, 1890).
MILTON. The Milton Manufacturing Co. are to resume work, next Monday, at the paper mill (Farmington News, August 29, 1890).
MILTON. J.M. Carricabe is doing business at the leatherboard mill, having increased the capacity this summer. He has also erected a large boiler for the manufacture of pulp, but it is not yet in operation (Farmington News, October 10, 1890).
From the following, it would seem that John M. Carrecabe suspended production again in 1892. His engineer spent the summer making shoes in Portsmouth, and he himself spent time at his home base in Lynn, MA. He sold his Milton leatherboard mill to a party of capitalists from Lawrence, MA, in late 1892. The next owner, Seth F. Dawson of Lawrence, presumably led that party.
WEST MILTON. Willie Swinerton, who was engineer for Carrecabe so long, is lasting in Portsmouth this summer (Farmington News, July 29, 1892).
MILTON. John Carrecabe returned from Lynn, Mass., Monday, for a few days (Farmington News, October 28, 1892).
MILTON. A party of Lawrence, Mass., capitalists have purchased the leatherboard factory of John M. Carrecabe and with several improvements will continue the business. Mr. Carrecabe will remain on hand until the stock is used up (Farmington News, December 9, 1892).
MILTON. Mr. John M. Carrecabe gives up possession of the leatherboard mill this week. The new company will take possession immediately (Farmington News, February 3, 1893).
Carrecabe’s teenage son, John A. Carrecabe, who had been cashier at the Milton factory, might not have wanted to return to Lynn, MA. He took briefly a clerk’s job at J.D. Willey’s Milton grocery store. The younger Carrecabe perhaps remembered his father’s beginnings as a French runaway. He ran away himself to Manchester, NH, where he took another clerk’s job under an assumed name.
MILTON. John A. Carrecabe is clerking at J.D. Willey’s grocery store (Farmington News, February 17, 1893).
BOY LOST AND FOUND. Chief of Police Miller received word Saturday morning from John M. Carrecabe of Boston that he had good reason to believe that his 18-year-old son was here, having run away from home a few weeks before. Mr. Miller found the boy clerking for W.B. Atwood under the name of Frank Roberts. He immediately wired his father, who came here on the 3 o’clock train Saturday night. Accompanied by Mr. Miller, they went to Bina Hastings’ house where the boy was boarding. The boy was taken completely by surprise and promised to go home with his father. Both left for Boston on the midnight train. No motive was discovered for the boy’s running away. His father is a twine merchant in comfortable circumstances and the boy had received a good education and been cashier in his father’s factory at Milton, N.H. He first went to Manchester, N.H., and was under police surveillance there when his father arrived to bring him home, but escaped as soon as he caught sight of his father in the Manchester depot. Mr. Carrecabe was very grateful to Chief Miller for his prompt detention of the boy (St. Johnsbury Caledonian, March 9, 1893).
MILTON. Dana Tasker and John Carrecabe have returned from the World’s Fair. Several will leave Milton for Chicago the first week in October (Farmington News, September 22, 1893).
John M. Carrecabe reappeared in the Lynn, MA, directory of 1893, as being employed in Boston, MA, and having a house at 324 Western av. in Lynn, MA. His son, John A. Carrecabe, appeared as a clerk, who boarded at 324 Western av.
John M. Carrecabe appeared in the Lynn, MA, directory of 1897, as a dealer in leather, strawboard, and shoe findings, at 543 Washington street, but also for L.J. Richards & Co, at 587 Washington street, with his house at 324 Western av. His newly married son, John A. Carrecabe, had “removed to Salem,” MA. (Whose directory listed him as a manufacturer in 1897: John A. Carrecabe, shoe stock manufr, 277 Derby, h. 12 Dearborn).
Lynn Directory, 1897
Business Troubles. F.L. Bragdon & Co. shoe manufacturers, Peterboro, N.H., have assigned. A meeting of the creditors will be held Monday. Some of the Boston creditors are Mullen Brown, T.F. Boyle & Co, L.B. Southwick & Co., J.M. Carrecabe, W. E. Gilman & Co., Tripp giant leveler company, and the Wire grip fastening company. The assignees are A.J. Walt, S.M. Smith and E.W. Jones, all of Peterboro (Boston Globe, June 9, 1897).
John M. Carracabe, a leather dealer, aged sixty-one years (b. France), headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie L. Carracabe, aged forty-five years (b. Canada (Fr.)), his children, Mary E. Carracabe, aged twenty-three years, Espert W. Carracabe, a clerk, aged twenty years, Sabrina J. Carracabe, at school, aged eighteen years, and Annie L. Carracabe, at school, aged sixteen years, and his brother-in-law, Frederick Potter, a shoe stock fitter, aged nineteen years (b. MA). They resided at 324 Western Avenue.
George A. Leighton, a roofer, was found guilty of receiving 800 pounds of tar paper, which was delivered to him without the knowledge or consent of John M. Carracabe, the owner. Leighton, it appeared, made a deal with the shipper. He will be sentenced tomorrow (Boston Globe, October 10, 1900).
It would seem that John A. Carrecabe, the runaway son of 1893, was in some respects not quite right. He married in Lynn, MA, July 5, 1896, Angelina R. Hogue. But then he married again, bigamously, in Boston, MA, November 26, 1901, Angela M. O’Connor.
MISS O’CONNOR IN GOTHAM. LYNN, Dec. 6. – Angela O’Connor has not yet returned to the home of her youth, at 130 Fayette street, nor up to 11 o’clock tonight had her irate father found John A. Carrecabe, the alleged married man with whom she eloped. Mr. O’Connor contemplates doing all sorts of rash things to the man who he says enticed his daughter away – when he catches him. At the present time Mr. Carrecabe would be considered a fairly good risk by any insurance company, he being at least as far west as New York, while Mr. O’Connor remains in Lynn. Miss O’Connor has written to her sister from New York and expressed entire satisfaction with her new life (Boston Post, December 6, 1901).
POLICE WANT HIM. After John Carrecabe, a Lynn Man. Deserted His Wife to Marry Miss Angela O’Coancr. Visited Wife In Nashua Alter Wedding. She Had No Suspicion of Double Dealing. Believes the Young Woman Was Deceived by Him. LYNN, Dec. 11. The whereabouts of John Carrecabe and Miss Angela O’Connor, who left this city a week ago, after being married in Boston is still puzzling the police and Mrs. Carreeabe, who returned to this city today from a visit to Nashua. Carrecabe and Miss O’Connor were married Nov. 26, and two days afterwards he visited his wife at Nashua and told her he was going to New York, as he had secured a permanent position there. That the affair was planned far ahead is now generally conceded, and it is believed that Miss O’Connor was an innocent victim of his schemes. The return of the marriage has been made to the Boston city clerk, and this convinces the friends and relatives of the young woman that she insisted upon a ceremony being performed before she would accompany him. Since his desertion of his wife here and elopement with Miss O’Connor he has written his wife from Albany, N.Y., telling her he would return within a short time and advising her to be prepared to accompany him to New York. “The letter was kind and affectionate,” she said today, “and there was absolutely nothing about it to arouse my suspicions.” “I do not blame Miss O’Connor. She bas been made his dupe. He has deceived both of us, and especially me, for he visited me at Nashua after he had been married to Miss O’Connor. I do not know what I will do.” The story is a strange one. The O’Connors and Carrecabes live but a short distance apart, and Miss O’Connor was Carrecabe’s bookkeeper in the office of the small business he conducted. For nearly two years past he has been visiting the house of the young woman and her parents all the time believed him to be single. Repeatedly he spent evenings at the house. when his wife was at her home but a short distance away, and he also escorted the young woman to many places of amusement. Her friends are sure she did not know he was married. Mrs Carrecabe, who is also a young woman about 23, returned to this city today from Nashua, where she has been visiting for a week past. Her husband spoke about her going there to see friends, and she departed. Just after her departure he married Miss O’Connor and then spent a day and night in the company or his first wife In the New Hampshire town, returning to this city and departing with Miss O’Connor. Mrs. Carrecabe said today: “My husband and I have not had a quarrel, and if I had thought he was calling on another woman this thing would not have happened. While I was in Nashua I received letters from him, and all were in a loving vein. Of course I suspected nothing and it all seems like a nightmare. “While visiting he called on me, and we were together some time, and by never an action or word did he show that he was inconstant or tired of me. He told me he had a position in New York, and we planned to live there. He was to go on and see about the place, and send for me. When he left we had agreed on everything, and I looked forward with much pleasure to a life in New York. “Since his departure I received a letter from Albany, N.Y. I wondered what he was doing there. The letter explained that he would not go to work for several days, and so had taken a trip to that city. He said for me not to worry if I did not hear from him for some time.” “I certainly thought nothing was wrong until receiving word from my parents to return home, and I have come here to learn of this terrible affair.” Mrs. Carrecabe is prostrated over the action of her husband. She is a fine looking young woman and a good housekeeper. Application has been made for a warrant for the arrest of Carrecabe, and the police of the country will be asked to look out for him and the young woman (Boston Globe, December 12, 1901).
Mrs. John A. [Angelina R. (Hogue)] Carrecabe appeared at her own separate address on Minot street in the Lynn directories of 1902 and 1903. Her erstwhile husband, John A. Carrecabe, appeared as bookkeeper in the San Francisco, CA, directory of 1905. He was a hardware clerk, aged thirty-five (b. MA), and his wife (of nine years (first marriage!)), Angela M. (O’Connor) Carrecabe, aged twenty-nine years (b. MA), were both boarders in Portland, OR, in 1910.
John M. Carrecab, a shoe finding co. proprietor, aged seventy-two years (b. France), headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-eight years), Annie L. Carrecab, aged fifty-five years (b. Canada (Eng.)), his children, May E. Carrecab, aged thirty-three years (b. MA), and Sabrina J. Carrecab, a shoe machinery co. forewoman, aged twenty-eight years (b. MA). John M. Carrecab owned their house at 324 Western Avenue, free-and-clear. He had immigrated to the U.S. in 1860; Annie L. Carrecabe had immigrated in 1872. She was the mother of seven children, of whom five were still living.
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET. FOR SALE at 693 Western av., Lynn, Mass., brick house, 16 rooms, stable, garage, 2300 ft. land, great for investment, next block to the electric works on Center st; low price, $12,000. Inquire within or of JOHN M. CARRECABE, 78 High st., Boston, Mass. (Boston Globe, October 23, 1910).
MILTON. Mr. and Mrs. Espert Carricabe and little daughter of North Rochester were guests at Garland farm last Sunday (Farmington News, February 27, 1914).
One is reminded constantly that truth can truly be stranger than fiction. Long after his divorce John A. Carrecabe returned from years spent on the west coast and [re-] married (2nd) in Boston, MA, July 28, 1915, his bigamous wife of 1901, Angela M. Connor. He was a salesman, aged forty years, and she a bookkeeper, aged thirty-five years.
MALE HELP WANTED. WANTED. Man to run iron press; must know how to set dies. Apply 78 High st, Boston, JOHN M. CARRECABE (Boston Globe, July 9, 1916).
John M. Carrecabe died in Lynn, MA, April 7, 1918, aged seventy years.
DEATHS. CARRECABE – In Lynn, April 7, John M. Carrecabe, 70 yrs. Home private. High mass of requiem at St. Jean de Baptiste Church, Franklin St., Tuesday at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends invited (Boston Post, April 8, 1918).
John Andrew Carrecabe registered for the WW I military draft in Melrose, MA, September 12, 1918. He was forty-three years of age (b. March 17, 1875), and resided at 50 Warwick Road, Melrose, MA. He was employed as manager of John M. Carrecabe [Co.], at 307 Fourth Street, Chelsea, MA. His wife, Angela M. Carrecabe, of 50 Warwick Road, Melrose, MA, was his nearest relative. He was of medium height, with a medium build, blue eyes, and brown hair.
CHELSEA. John M. Carrecabe [Co.] of 307 4th st. informed the police that his factory was entered and an attempt made to open the safe by hammering the handle. Nothing appears to be missing (Boston Globe, September 9, 1919)
“Interior View at John M. Carrecabe Plant” (Shoe and Leather Facts, January 1920)
In 1921, the late John M. Carrecabe was “remembered as the pioneer of the leather-board industry” (Nickelson, 1921).
John A. Carrecabe of Lynn, MA, drowned in a boating accident at Buck’s Cove, on Sebec Lake, in Dover-Foxcroft, ME, June 9, 1929, aged fifty-four years. He was holding his wife Angela’s hand until, apparently exhausted, he sank in twenty feet of water, only fifty feet from shore (North Adams Transcript, June 10, 1929).
Annie L. (Potter) Carrecabe died in Swampscott, MA, November 8, 1934, aged eighty years.
DEATHS. CARRECABE – In Swampscott, Nov. 8, Annie L., aged 80 years. Funeral services will be held at her late residence, 23 Linden av., Swampscott. on Sunday at 2 p.m. Relatives and friends invited (Boston Globe, November 10, 1934).
Angela M. (Connor) Carrecabe died in Lynn, MA, in February 1944.
Seth Franklin Dawson [Sr.] – 1893-09
Seth Frank Dawson was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, July 19, 1847, son of William and Hannah M. “Anna” (Earnshaw) Dawson.
S.F. Dawson, Sr., who is treasurer of the Milton Leather Board Company of Milton, N.H., was born in England, in 1846, and was a babe of six months when his parents brought him to the United States and established the home at Lawrence, Mass. There he was reared and still resides (Scales, 1914).
Wm. Dawson, an operative, aged thirty-seven years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the First (1855) Massachusetts State Census. His household included Anna Dawson, aged thirty-seven years (b. England), David Dawson, an operative, aged sixteen years (b. England), Henry Dawson, aged fifteen years (b. England), Firth Dawson, aged thirteen years (b. England), Anna Dawson, aged eleven years (b. England), Seth Dawson, aged eight years (b. England), Jane Dawson, aged seven years (b. England), and Joshua Dawson, aged three months (b. MA). They shared a two-family dwelling with the household of Benjamin Simpson, a mason (b. NH).
Seth F. Dawson’s father, William Dawson, died of “lung fever” in Lawrence, MA, May 8, 1860, aged forty-two years. Hannah Dawson, a housekeeper, aged forty-two years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. Her household included Abel Dawson, a butcher, aged twenty-three years (b. England), Henry Dawson, an operative, aged twenty-one years (b. England), Seth Dawson, an operative, aged seventeen [thirteen] years (b. England), Anna Dawson, an operative, aged sixteen years (b. England), Firth Dawson, aged thirteen years (b. England), and Jane Dawson, aged eleven years (b. England). Hannah Dawson had personal estate valued at $50.
Hannah M. Dawson, a widow keeping house, aged fifty-two years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. Her household included William H. Dawson, a provisions dealer’s clerk, aged thirty-one years (b. England), Seth F. Dawson, a provisions dealer, aged twenty-two years (b. England), and Emma Jane Dawson, a woolen mill worker, aged twenty-one years (b. England). Seth F. Dawson had real estate valued at $1,500 and personal estate valued at $500. They shared a two-family dwelling with the household of John Haigh, a woolen mill worker, aged forty-seven years (b. England).
The first step in his business career was in the meat and grocery line, but eighteen years ago he established himself in the leather board business, in which he has successfully been engaged since that time. He is also an extensive dealer in real estate and has done much to improve and increase the real values of the township. He has taken an active part in the councils of the Republican party, has served as councillor two terms and as president of the school board two terms. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Pilgrim Fathers, and trustee and superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school. He married, October 26, 1876, Lizzie Abigail, daughter of Daniel Darius and Harriet (Standridge) Cutting, who were the parents of three daughters and two sons. Daniel D. Cutting was a farmer in Standridge, Canada, and came to the United States in 1854. He settled in Vermont, where he had purchased a farm and cultivated the same ten years. He then removed to the state of New York. Seth Frank and Lizzie A. (Cutting) Dawson had children: 1. Rose Edith, born November 3, 1877, married Arthur Barker, has three children. 2. Seth Frank. Jr. born June 17, 1879. 3. Florence Cutting, born November 20, 1887 (Cutter, 1908).
Seth F. Dawson appeared in the Lawrence directory of 1873, as proprietor of Seth F. Dawson & Co., provisions, on Garden street, at its corner with Newbury street. His house was at 22 Spring street. His widowed mother, Hannah Dawson, as well as his brothers, Henry Dawson, who was a clerk at Seth F. Dawson’s, and William H. Dawson, who was a clerk, all resided at 22 Spring street. Seth F. Dawson appeared also as Recording Steward, and Treasurer of Stewards, of the Garden Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
He married in Lawrence, MA, October 26, 1876, Elizabeth A. Cutting. She was born in Clarenceville, Quebec, Canada, August 30, 1853, daughter of Daniel D. and Harriet E.S. (Standridge) Cutting.
Seth F. Dawson was a city councilor in Lawrence, MA, in 1878.
MASSACHUSETTS. Wm. D. Stevens, formerly employed in the provision store of Seth F. Dawson in Lawrence, and who was arrested for selling mortgaged property in the fall of 1878, and was sentenced to nine months in the House of Correction, but appealed, furnished bonds, and afterward fled to Canada, was arrested at South Paris, Me., Friday, and brought to Lawrence Saturday and lodged in jail. While absent, Stevens figured prominently in the role of a reformed temperance lecturer, and brought a suit for $5,000 damages against a Conticook paper in consequence of alleged slanderous articles concerning his previous career (Boston Post, February 9, 1880).
Seth Dawson, provisions, aged thirty-three years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth Dawson, aged twenty-eight years (b. Canada), and his children, Rose Dawson, aged one year (b. MA), and Frank Dawson, aged one year (b. MA). They resided at 46 Summer street.
He was brought up in the leather business and about 1882 entered this business at Lawrence, Mass., carrying it on under the style of S.F. Dawson. In 1892 he removed the concern to Milton, organizing the Milton Leather Board Company. Here a large business has been built up, the output being 20,000 pounds every twenty-four hours, and employment being given to twenty-five men. He married Eliza A. Cutting, who was born at Potsdam, N.Y. They have two children, Mrs. Arthur Barker of Mass., and S.F., Jr. Mr. Dawson maintains his home at Lawrence but spends two days of the week at the plant in Milton. In politics he an independent voter. He belongs to the Odd Fellows and to the Pilgrim Fathers and with his family attends the Methodist Episcopal Church (Scales, 1914).
Seth F. Dawson appeared in the Lawrence, MA, directory of 1883, as a leatherboard manufacturer, at the lower end of Canal street, with his house at 46 Summer street. His mother, the widow Hannah [(Earnshaw)] Dawson, appeared as having died March 11, 1882. His brother, William H. Dawson, appeared as a clerk at S.F. Dawson’s, with his house at 68 Haverhill street. Another brother, Henry Dawson, had also his house at 68 Haverhill street.
Seth F. Dawson of Lawrence, MA, was one of 20,000 “rich” New England residents that paid more than $100 in taxes in 1888. Lawrence’s tax rate was $16.00 per thousand; Dawson paid $280 (Luce, 1888).
Seth F. Dawson experienced a destructive fire when his Lawrence mill storehouse burned on Saturday morning, April 20, 1889. (The suicide in the article below was merely an unrelated Lawrence event; Dawson would experience two more fires in Milton).
FIRE AND SUICIDE AT LAWRENCE. Lawrence, Mass., April 20 – The storehouse of the leather board mill of Seth F. Dawson, on the lower canal, containing 100 bales of jute and leather board pulp, was, with its contents, damaged $8000 by fire this morning. The cause of the fire is said to have been spontaneous combustion. Andrew Moyes, a section baud at the Pacific Mills, shot himself through the head this morning with a revolver. He left a letter saying that he was tired of life. He has been contributing to the press articles on Home rule in Ireland, and on the condition of the workingmen in this country. His employers recently discovered that he was the author of these articles, which fact seemed to worry Moyes. He leaves a wife (Fall River Daily Evening News, April 20, 1889).
LAWRENCE. An alarm of fire was rung in from box 72 at 12.35 this morning, caused by the discovery of flames issuing from the stock of leather board and jute in S.F. Dawson’s storehouse on Island street, which was partially burned Saturday morning (Boston Globe, April 22, 1889).
Seth F. Dawson was one of the party of Lawrence capitalists that purchased John M. Carrecabe’s leatherboard mill at Milton in late 1892. He and the Lawrence investors incorporated their venture in Maine, December 17, 1892, as the Milton Leatherboard Company.
MILTON. A party of Lawrence, Mass., capitalists have purchased the leatherboard factory of John M. Carrecabe and with several improvements will continue the business. Mr. Carrecabe will remain on hand until the stock is used up (Farmington News, December 9, 1892).
The Milton Leatherboard Company cut back on its staff in November 1893, as a consequence of the Panic of 1893.
NEW ENGLAND MILL NOTES. The Milton Leatherboard Co., of Milton, N.H., has made a reduction in the number of its employes (Burlington Independent, November 25, 1893).
Mr. John Morin, Morain, or Morian, of Lawrence, MA, lost his arm at the Milton Leatherboard Co., when it got caught in a moving driving belt that he sought to adjust. The accident was described in January 1894 as having occurred “recently.”
LOCALS. Deputy Sheriff J.E. Hayes served a writ on the Milton leather board mill proprietors last week in favor of a Mr. Morin who recently lost an arm by an accident in the factory and claims damages (Farmington News, January 19, 1894).
LOCALS. The case of John Morain vs. the Milton Leatherboard Company will be tried again at the coming term of the supreme court here in Dover, beginning Tuesday of next week. Morain claims damages in the sum of $10,000 for the loss of an arm while operating a machine in the company’s mill a few years ago. The case was first tried at the September term of court. Worcester, Gaffney, and Snow are counsel for Morain – Foster’s (Farmington News, February 8, 1895).
Verdict for Defense in a $10,000 Suit. DOVER, N.H., Sept. 14. The jury in the $10,000 damage suit brought by John Morian of Lawrence against the Milton Leatherboard company for the loss of an arm while adjusting a belt, returned a verdict for the defendant last night, and were discharged. The case was tried a year ago, when the jury disagreed, 11 to 1, in favor of the plaintiff (Boston Globe, September 14, 1895).
Milton Leatherboard Co. appeared in the Milton directories of 1894, 1898, 1901, 1904, and 1905-06.
LOCALS. On Tuesday morning the gong on the leatherboard mill at Milton could be plainly heard [from Farmington], the air was so clear (Farmington News, June 8, 1894).
The Milton Manufacturing Co. paper mill portion of the Mill Street mill complex was sold at auction to Alvah Shurtleff in June 1897. (Milton Leatherboard Co. continued under the Dawsons). After Shurtleff resumed active operation, there were a spate of worker injuries, some quite serious, over the next few years. The paper mill building burned down in June 1909. Twin State Gas and Electric thought to setup an electric power plant there in 1916.
MILTON. The paper mill, which was sold at auction last week, was purchased by Alvah Shurtleff for $13,000. Mr. Shurtleff will resume active operation in the mill at once (Farmington News, June 25, 1897).
MILTON. Ed Chipman, the boss finisher at the Milton leatherboard mill, is spending a few days with relatives in Lynn and vicinity. Both of the leather board mills and the paper mill are running full force night and day, there being a ready sale for all the goods that they can manufacture (Farmington News, March 30, 1900).
Edwin Chipman, a leather-board hand, aged thirty-one years (b. MA), headed a Milton (“Milton Village”) household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirteen years), Mary B. [(Drew)] Chipman, aged thirty-three years (b. NH),and his children, Bessie Chipman, aged twelve years (b. MA), and Alta D. Chipman, aged four years (b. NH). Mary B. Chipman was the mother of three children, of whom two were still living.
MILTON. Miss Susie Haley, daughter of Rev. Frank Haley, entered the employ of Milton Leather Board Company as bookkeeper on Monday (Farmington News, May 18, 1900).
Seth F. Dawson, a leatherboard manufacturer, aged fifty-two years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty-three years), Lizzie A. Dawson, aged forty-nine years (b. Canada), and his children, Rose E. Dawson, aged twenty-two years (b. MA), Seth F. Dawson, [Jr.,] aged twenty years (b. MA), and Florence C. Dawson, at school, aged twelve years (b. MA). Seth F. Dawson had arrived in the U.S. in 1850, and was a naturalized citizen; Lizzie A. Dawson had arrived in 1853. Seth F. Dawson owned their house at 46 Summer street, with a mortgage. Lizzie A. Dawson was the mother of three children, of whom three were still living.
MILTON. R.T. Barker is working for S.F. Dawson (Farmington News, December 7, 1900).
Camp Hedding was a Methodist camp meeting revival site founded in East Epping, NH, in 1863. It was sufficiently large and active that it had its own post office and railroad station by 1896.
HEDDING CAMP-MEETING ASSOCIATION (M.E.), HEDDING, N.H. Pres. Rev. J.E. Robins, Dover; sec., Rev. Wm. Ramsden, Rochester, N.H.; treas., Seth F. Dawson, Lawrence, Mass.; ex com., Christopher Button, Exeter, N.H., Rev. G.W. Norris, Lawrence, Mass., Alanson Palmer, Brooklyn, N.Y., John Young, Rochester, N.H., Wm. Brown, Auburn, N.H., Rev. J.L. Felt, Suncook, N.H. Annual meeting in August 1898 (Tower, F.L., 1897).
HEDDING CAMPGROUND. News of Interest to Portsmouth Friends of the Chataqua Meetings. On Sunday morning, Sunday school was held at Grace church Haverhill, under the charge of Rev. Otis Cole, and the junior department met in the Rochester house under the charge of Seth F. Dawson of Lawrence (Portsmouth Herald, August 5, 1901).
The Milton Leatherboard Company had a stone dam with a 25-foot fall in the 1901 U.S. Geological Survey report. Its water could generate between 200-300 horsepower.
MILTON. Frank Norton is making a trip through New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the interests of the leather board mill (Farmington News, November 15, 1901).
Seth F. Dawson experienced his second destructive mill fire when the Milton Leatherboard mill burned down on January 8, 1902. (The first having been his Lawrence storehouse).
MILLS DESTROYED BY FIRE. One Man Burned and Seventy-Five Out of Employment. Milton, Jan. 9. – The Milton Leather Board mills here, were burned yesterday, causing a loss of between $55,000 and $60,000. One man was badly burned. The fire started from an overheated pulley. Seventy-five men are thrown out of employment. The mill and yard cover over two acres of land, and on the premises a large quantity of lumber was piled, which was destroyed. The steam plant of them all had recently been fitted up with an additional new engine, and steam apparatus at the cost of $20,000 (Portsmouth Herald, January 9, 1902).
FIRE AT MILTON. The town of Milton was visited by a bad fire at an early hour Wednesday morning when the large leather board and shoe findings factory, owned by the Milton leather board company, was totally destroyed. The loss will be a bad blow to the people as well as the owners. The alarm was given at 7.45 and the Milton fire department responded promptly but the fire had such a start that their work amounted to but little. A man by the name of Dresser, who was among the last to get out of the mill, was badly burned about the head and arms, and was taken to his home in Lebanon, Me., after having his wounds dressed by Dr. Hart. The cause of the fire is supposed to be due to an overheated pulley, but the owners were unable to state sure. The loss is estimated at about $60,000, and is well covered by insurance. The machinery, which was of the latest improved pattern, is wholly destroyed, also the boiler and engine. The employees feel their loss badly, as some valuable watches and clothes were destroyed. The factory was a good one having been built about 12 years. It was two stories high, 185 feet long and 52 feet wide, with a boiler room 40×60, two stories in height. At this time business was rushing, a day and night crew being employed, in all about 80 hands. A large amount of stock was on hand (Farmington News, [Friday,] January 10, 1902).
MILTON. January 8, 1902. Wood building, used as leatherboard mill; owned and occupied by Milton Leatherboard Co.; building valued at $9,000; damage to building, $9,000; insurance upon building, $7,000; contents valued at $35,000; damage to contents, $35,000; insurance upon contents, $25,000; loss total, cause, slipping of belt (Brett, et. al., 1913).
Herman C. Dyer of Milton, who had been employed at the Milton Leatherboard Company for ten years, died accidentally when he fell off of a train in Rochester, NH, in December 1904. (His death was initially thought to have been a murder).
MILTON – Strafford Co. Pop. 1,625. On B.&M. R.R. M.O. and Tel. office; nearest bank, Rochester, 8 miles; Am. Ex. MILTON LEATHER BOARD CO. (S.F. Dawson, Jr., Pres.; S.F. Dawson, Treas.) S.P. at mill. Eight Beating and one Jordan engines; six Cylinder machines. Water and Steam. Leather board. 14,000 lbs., 24 hours (Lockwood, 1905).
MILTON – Strafford Co. Pop. 1,625, On B. & M. R.R. M.O. and Tel. office; nearest bank, Rochester, 8 miles; Am. Ex. MILTON LEATHER BOARD CO. (S.F. Dawson, Jr., Pres.; S.F. Dawson, Treas.). S.P. at mill. Eight Beating and two Jordan engines; six Cylinder machines. Water and Steam. Leather Board. 14,000 lbs., 24 hours (Vance, 1908).
Florence Cutting Dawson, of Lawrence, MA, died of tuberculosis in New York, NY, August 15, 1909, aged twenty-one years, eight months, and seventeen days. (She was the youngest daughter of Seth F. and Lizzie A. (Cutting) Dawson).
Franklin Dawson, a leatherboard manufacturer, aged sixty-two years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth A. Dawson, aged fifty-nine years (b. Canada). Franklin Dawson rented their house at 8 Jackson Terr. Elizabeth A. Dawson was the mother of three children, of whom two were still living (daughter Florence C. Dawson having died in the prior year).
Seth F. Dawson, a manufacturer, aged seventy-five years (b. England), headed a Lawrence, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth Dawson, aged sixty-nine years (b. Canada). Seth F. Dawson rented their house at 81 Saunders street.
Elizabeth A. (Cutting) Dawson died in Lawrence, MA, April 30, 1926. Seth F. Dawson, Sr., died in North Reading, MA, August 7, 1926.
Seth Franklin Dawson, Jr. – 1909-32
Seth Franklin Dawson, Jr., was born in Lawrence, MA, June 17, 1879, son of Seth F. and Lizzie A. (Cutting) Dawson.
S.F. Dawson, Jr., was educated at Lawrence, Mass. As soon as school days were over, he became actively connected with his present business, subsequently becoming head of the concern. On March 23, 1909, he was married to Miss Edith Ackerman, who is a daughter of Rev. G.E. and Eugenia Ackerman, and they have two children. Seth Willard, who was born at Lawrence, Mass., and Harold Cleveland, who was born at Milton, N.H., which is the family home. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson are members of the Congregational church. In politics Mr. Dawson is a Republican and fraternally is a Mason (Scales, 1914).
Seth Frank Dawson, Jr., married (1st) in Lawrence, MA, May 24, 1909, Edith Willard Ackerman, both of Lawrence. He was a manufacturer, aged twenty-nine years, resident at 8 Jackson Terrace; she was a teacher, aged twenty-two years, resident at 156 Garden street. She was born in Warsaw, NY, circa 1887, daughter of Rev. George E. and Eugenia (Van Wormer) Ackerman. Her father performed the ceremony.
MILTON. Robert M. Looney has gone to Lawrence, Mass., to act as best man at the marriage of Miss Edith Willard Ackerman to Mr. Seth Frank Dawson, Jr., which is to occur in that city on Wednesday evening, March 24, at 8 o’clock, in the Garden street Methodist church of which Rev. George Everett Ackerman, father of the bride, is pastor. Mr. Dawson has been engaged for quite a number of years in the leather board business in Milton, his father being the senior partner. Miss Ackerman is said to be an accomplished musician, having been organist at the University of Syracuse, N.Y. The spacious and pleasant house on South Main Street, owned and once occupied by Charles Tasker of Boston, has been fitted with electricity and otherwise prepared and furnished for immediate use and will be occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, on their return to Milton, which will be on Thursday, March 25, the day after their marriage. Mr. Dawson is most highly esteemed by all who know him and Milton may feel well honored by this addition to its numbers. Surely their many friends will wish the young couple a long and happy life (Farmington News, March 26, 1909).
Chiefly About People. Personal. Married, on the evening of March 24th, in the Garden Street Methodist church, Lawrence, Mass., in the presence of several hundred invited guests, by Rev. G.E. Ackerman, pastor of the church, Mr. Seth Frank Dawson, Jr., and Edith Willard Ackerman, daughter of officiating clergyman. Mr. Dawson is secretary and treasurer of the Milton Leather Board Company, and they will reside Milton, N.H. (Holliday, et al., 1909).
Dawson-Ackerman Wedding in Lawrence, Mass. Friends here of Dr. and Mrs. G.E. Ackerman, former residents of Chattanooga will be interested in the news of the marriage of their daughter Edith to Seth Frank Dawson, Jr., of Lawrence, Mass., where Dr. Ackerman has charge of the Garden Street M.E. church. Dr. Ackerman was for fourteen years a professor in the University of Chattanooga. According to the Lawrence Telegram: One of the prettiest of this season’s weddings took place last night at 8 o’clock in the Garden Street M.E. church when Miss Edith Willard Ackerman, daughter of the Rev. Dr. George E. Ackerman, became the bride of Seth Frank Dawson, Jr. The double ring service was used. The Rev. Dr. Ackerman officiated. Following the ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of friends and acquaintances of both the young folks, a wedding reception was held in the parsonage. A bounteous wedding supper was served by-a caterer. The bride looked charming in a gown of white sheath satin. Her tulle veil was caught up with orange blossoms sent to her by her uncle from Florida. She carried handsome white roses. The bride was attended by her sister, Miss Edna M Ackerman, in a handsome creation of point de spray lace over pink silk. She carried handsome white roses. Mr. Robert Looney of Milton, N.H., was best man. The auditorium of the church was adorned with potted plants and palms. The attendance was so large in the church that the following efficient corps of ushers were busy for an hour previous to the ceremony showing the parishioners and friends of the contracting couple into seats: Arthur Barker, Jerome W. Cross, Walter F. Lillis, Frank W McLanathan, Alexander Wilson and H. Christopher Chubb. Just previous to the wedding march, which was played by Miss Sadie Fearon, Miss Carrie Frazer of Syracuse, N.Y., sang “O Fair, O Sweet and Holy.” Following the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Dawson held a reception in the parsonage at which a large number of friends took the opportunity to shower congratulations on the newly wedded couple. The couple were the recipients of many handsome, costly and useful gifts, notably a complete set of valuable silverware from the parishioners of the church. They will reside at Milton, N.H, where a cozily furnished home awaits them. Master Richard Lord was ring bearer and little Janice Barker was flower girl. The two little ones gave the affair an additional charm. Seth Frank Dawson, Jr., the bridegroom, is the son of Seth F. Dawson, one of Lawrence’s best known and respected residents, who resides at 8 Jackson terrace. At present both Mr. Dawson and his son are engaged in the manufacture of leather board in Milton, N.H., where they are proprietors of the Milton Leatherboard Co. Mr Dawson, Jr., has long been a member of the Garden Street M.E. church and enjoys an extended circle of friends who were liberal In their well wishes for a most successful future in the new life into which he has just entered (Chattanooga Daily Times, March 30, 1909).
Milton Leather-Board Advertisement, 1912
MILTON. An alarm of fire was given Thursday evening of last week at about half past eight which proved to be the paper mill. It was all ablaze in a few minutes after it was discovered and soon fell to the ground. It has been considered unsafe for sometime past. Thirty-five or forty men were thrown out of employment by its loss (Farmington News, June 18, 1909).
Seth F. Dawson, Jr., a leatherboard manufacturer, aged thirty years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of one year), Edith W. Dawson, aged twenty-three years (b. NY), his child, Seth B. Dawson, aged three months (b. NH), and his mother-in-law, Eugenia Ackerman, a widow, aged fifty-eight years (b. NY). Seth F. Dawson, Jr., rented their house. Emma E. Looney, a widow [of Charles H. Looney], aged fifty-six years, was their neighbor. (Her household included her son (and Dawson wedding Best Man), Robert M. Looney, principal of Milton Grammar School). Eugenia Ackerman was the mother of three children, of whom two were still living. (Edith W. Dawson should have been listed as the mother of one child, of whom one was still living, but that information was omitted).
Chi – Syracuse University. [Class of] ’08 – Born to Mr. and Mrs. Seth Frank Dawson (Edith Ackerman) a son, Willard (Kappa Alpha Theta, 1910).
Fire in Milton. Fire early Wednesday destroyed the big mill of the Milton Leather Board Company and caused a loss that will reach $100,000. Fifty employees of the concern were thrown out of work by the fire. Starting from a cause not yet determined, the blaze sped with great rapidity and soon the whole mill was enveloped. The fire brigade of the mill assisted the Milton fire department in fighting the flames, but the building was doomed from almost the start of the fire. When the fire was discovered six persons were working in the mill and they escaped and gave the alarm. The president of the company owning the mill is S. Frank Dawson of Milton, and Seth F. Dawson of Lawrence is treasurer. Partial insurance (Farmington News, [Friday,] March 22, 1912).
“The New Plant of the Milton Leather Board Co., Milton, N.H.,” July 1913
See also Milton in the News – 1912 for further details of the Milton Leatherboard fire of March 1912.
State News. A large crew of Italians started on the construction of a concrete mill for the Milton Leatherboard Co., Monday (Farmington News, May 10, 1912).
A detailed description of the new mill facilities and features, complete with blueprints and photographs, appeared in a Concrete-Cement Age article of July 1913 (from which the following has been excerpted).
In 1912, there was constructed by Milton Leatherboard Co., at Milton, N.H., a new reinforced concrete mill, on the site of the former plant destroyed by fire. This mill is located on the west bank of the Salmon River in Milton village, about ¼-mi. below the reservoir dam. Mills of various kinds have occupied this site for a century and at least four are known have been destroyed by fire. Two wooden mills have been lost by the company in the past 12 years from fire [1902 and 1912]. A large proportion of the product manufactured by this company consists of leatherboards, made from leather scrap used for heeling in the manufacture of shoes. The location of the mill is admirably adapted to this purpose. First, by reason of an excellent water power; second, in having a spur track from the main line of the Boston & Maine R.R. closely paralleling the mill its entire length, and extending past the mill, over a trestle, several hundred feet. This simplifies the handling of raw stock into, and the finished product out of the mill. … Unique and distinguishing features of this plant are the beating engine tubs and wet machine vats which are entirely of reinforced concrete, and it is thought that this is the first instance of the kind in this country. Much credit is due S.F. Dawson [Sr.], treas. of the Milton Leatherboard Co., for originating the idea, and also for courage in opposition to adverse criticism in carrying it into execution. The results have thus far been most gratifying, as so smooth and symmetrical are the tubs in appearance that they may classed almost as works of art … The plant was designed, all plans furnished, and construction supervised by I.W. Jones, Cons. Engr., Milton, N.H. (Brett, et al., 1913).
MILTON – Strafford Co. Pop. 1,625. On B.&M. R.R. M.O. and Tel. office; nearest bank, Rochester, 8 miles; Am. Ex. MILTON LEATHER BOARD CO. (S.F. Dawson, Jr., Pres.; S.F. Dawson, Treas.) S.P. at mill. Eight Beating and two Jordan engines; six Cylinder machines. Water and Steam. Leather board. 14,000 lbs., 24 hours (Lockwood, 1913).
MILTON – Strafford Co. Pop. 1,625. On B.&M. R.R. M.O. and Tel. office; nearest bank, Rochester, 8 miles; Am. Ex. MILTON LEATHER BOARD CO. (S.F. Dawson, Jr., Pres.; S.F. Dawson, Treas.) S.P. at mill. Eight Beating and two Jordan engines; six Cylinder machines. Water and Steam. Leather board. 14,000 lbs., 24 hours (Lockwood, 1915).
A fire crew from the Milton Leatherboard Company turned out for the Hotel Milton fire of November 1915.
MILTON. It is now reasonably assured that Milton village will be illuminated with electricity and Twin State Gas and Electric Co. has looked over the site of the old paper mill with the view of locating the power plant there. If plans are consummated Milton Mills and Union also will be lighted (Farmington News, December 8, 1916).
Milton Leather-Board Advertisement, 1917
S. Frank Dawson, Jr., appeared in the Milton directory of 1917, as president and manager of the M.L.B. Co, at the foot of Mill street, with his house at 53 So. Main street, corner of Farmington road.
Seth Frank Dawson, Jr., of Milton, registered for the WW I military draft in Milton, September 12, 1918. He was thirty-nine years of age (b. June 17, 1879), and employed as president of the Milton Leatherboard Co. of Milton. His nearest relative was Edith A. Dawson of Milton. He was of a medium height, with a medium build, blue eyes, and brown hair.
Mrs. Edith W. (Ackerman) Dawson died in Milton, October 14, 1918, aged thirty-two years, and three days. (She was one of the Milton victims of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918).
LOCAL. Local club women and many friends learn with sincere regret of the death of Mrs. S. Frank Dawson, Jr., wife of the manager of the Milton Leatherboard Co., which occurred at her home in Milton, Monday, after a short illness of influenza. She was a splendid woman and very prominent in the affairs of the church, the Red Cross and the Woman’s Club (Farmington News, [Friday,] October 18, 1918).
Seth F. Dawson [Jr.] married (2nd) in Philadelphia, PA, November 27, 1919, Elizabeth Tennant. She was born in Ashly, PA, February 11, 1882, daughter of Linus E. and Sarah J. (Strong) Tennant. (The John Curtis Tennant in the announcement below was her brother, rather than her father).
MARRIAGES. DAWSON-TENNANT. At Philadelphia, Nov. 27. 1919, S.F. Dawson of Philadelphia and Miss Elisabeth H. Tennant, daughter of John Curtis Tennant, formerly of Wilkes-Barre (Wilkes-Barre Record, November 29, 1919).
S. Franklin Dawson, a manufacturing owner, aged forty years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth Dawson, aged thirty-seven years (b. PA), and his children, S. Willard Dawson, aged ten years (b. MA), and Harold C. Dawson, aged six years (b. NH). S. Franklin Dawson owned their house on Lower Main Street, Milton Village, free-and-clear. Emily E. Looney, a widow, aged sixty-five years (b. NH), was still their neighbor.
Milton Leatherboard company, of Milton, had eighteen male employees and zero female employees, for a total of eighteen employees, at the time of a New Hampshire state inspection in 1920 (NH Bureau of Labor, 1920).
MILTON – Strafford Co. P 1,128. On B. & M. R.R. M.O. and Tel. office; nearest bank, Rochester, 8 miles. MILTON LEATHER BOARD CO. (S.F. Dawson, Jr., Pres. and Supt; S.F. Dawson, Treas.) S.P. at mill. Five 3500-lb. Beating and three Jordan engines; six Wet Machines. Widest trimmed sheet, 48 inches. Water and Steam. Heeling Board. 30,000 lbs, 24 hours (Lockwood, 1922).
Seth F. Dawson, Jr., was elected as a Milton state representative in November 1924. He ran as a Republican (Portsmouth Herald, November 21, 1924).
Young Seth W. Dawson died in Tilton, NH, March 20, 1926, aged sixteen years, one month, and twenty days. (He died of influenza, as had his mother before him). Tilton, NH, was the site of the Tilton Seminary.
Milton Leather Board Co. appeared in the Milton directory of 1927, as leather board manufacturers, with Seth F. Dawson as Manager. Seth F. (Elizabeth T.) Dawson had their house on Main street.
Milton Leatherboard employee, William T. Wallace, was seriously wounded in a freak accident there on October 31, 1928. He died that same day in the Rochester hospital following an operation there, aged sixty-seven years, and nine months. His Rochester death certificate (signed by Dr. M.A.H. Hart of Milton) explained that he had been
Struck by a flying blade from a heavy steel fan in the drying room of the Milton Leatherboard mill on the side of his abdomen causing the bursting of a section of the intestines. He was taken to the Rochester Hosp. and died after his operation before recovering from the anesthetic.
MILTON. Many local friends, and especially the orders of Red Men and Pocahontas throughout the state, regret the untimely and tragic death of William S. Wallace of Milton, who died at the Rochester hospital last Monday as the result of injuries while at his employment in the Dawson paper mill last week. Mr. Wallace was a past great sachem of the Red Men of New Hampshire. For many years he was an employe of the Boston and Maine R.R. as the station master at Milton. Also he was a former business man of Milton (Farmington News, November 9, 1928).
MILTON – Strafford Co. Pop. 976. On B. & M. R.R. M.O. and Tel., nearest bank, Rochester, 8 miles. MILTON LEATHER BOARD Co. (S.F. Dawson, pres.; Chas. F. Jameson, treas.; M.J. Guild, supt.). S.P. at mill. Five 3500-lb. Beaters and three Jordans. Six Wet machines; widest trimmed sheet, 48 inches. Water and steam. Fibre and Innersole Board. 20,000 lbs., 24 hours (Vance, 1930).
Seth F. Dawson, a leatherboard manufacturer, aged fifty years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eleven years), Elizabeth T. Dawson, aged forty-eight years (b. PA), and his son, Harold Dawson, aged seventeen years (b. NH). Seth F. Dawson owned their house on South Main Street, which was valued at $4,000. They had a radio set.
Seth F. Dawson Retires. Seth F. Dawson, president of the Milton Leather Board Company, Milton, N.H., manufacturers of high grade fibre boards, retired last week after more than 35 years with the company. Mr. Dawson will spend a well earned vacation at his summer home at Great East Lake in Maine, before making his plans for the future. The remaining members of the firm are W.T. Rich, Jr., president; C.F. Jameson, treasurer and M.J. Guild, mill manager. Mr. Rich and Mr. Jameson are at the Boston office of the company, C.F. Jameson and Company, Inc., 142 Cambridge Street (Paper Trade, 1932).
Mrs. Elizabeth (Tennant) Dawson died in Rochester, NH, October 28, 1933, aged fifty-one years, eight months, and sixteen days.
Mrs. Elizabeth T. Dawson. Rochester, N.H., Oct. 28. (AP.) Mrs. Elizabeth T. Dawson, 51, former teacher of music at the University of Virginia and Stephen Girard College in Philadelphia, died suddenly today. Mrs. Dawson, prominent in church and fraternal circles in this city, was born in Ashley, Pa. She leaves her husband, Seth F. Dawson, a son, Harold C. Dawson, and a brother, J. Curtis Tennant of Philadelphia (Hartford Courant, October 29, 1933).
LOCAL. The sudden death of Mrs. Seth Dawson of Rochester, last Saturday, is sincerely mourned by many Farmington friends. She was an officer in Fraternal Chapter, O.E.S., in this town and was prominent in many other fraternal orders in Rochester. She was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Tennant of Pennsylvania and was married to Mr. Dawson in 1919. She was a fine musician. Much sympathy is expressed for the bereaved husband (Farmington News, [Friday,] November 3, 1933).
Miss Helen Anderson, 1942
Seth F. Dawson [Jr.] married (3rd) in Rochester, NH, September 5, 1936, Ruth H. ((Svenson) Anderson) Iovine, he of Milton, and she of Waco, TX. He was a manufacturer, aged fifty-seven years; she was a school teacher, aged forty-two years. Gardner S. Hall, a Rochester, NH, judge, waived the five-day waiting requirement. She was born in Boston, MA, circa 1894, daughter of Rev. Svante and Hilda C. (Lundgren) Svenson. (Her elder sister, Ingeborg V. “Ivy” Svenson, married Henry A. Townsend of the Townsend blanket mill family).
Mrs. Ruth H. Dawson’s son, Robert R. Anderson, was the principal of Nute High School in 1939-42. Her daughter, Helen Anderson, married in North Easton, PA, during WW II.
Today in SOCIETY. MARRIED YESTERDAY in North Easton [PA,] to Corp. George Healey of that town was Miss Helen Anderson, daughter of Mrs. Seth Dawson of Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, December 22, 1942).
Seth Frank Dawson of Milton registered for the WW II military draft in Milton, April 27, 1942. He was retired, aged sixty-two years (b. Lawrence, MA, June 17, 1879). His contact was Ruth H. Dawson, Milton; their telephone number was Milton 62. He stood 5′ 7″ tall, weighed 162 pounds, with gray eyes, gray hair, and a light complexion.
Seth F. Dawson, Jr., died in Rochester, NH, April 15, 1955, aged seventy-five years.
TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1955. Resolutions. Mr. Evans of Milton offered the following resolution: Whereas, Seth F. Dawson of Milton has passed away, and Whereas, Mr. Dawson was a former representative from Milton, therefore be it Resolved, That we, the members of the House of Representatives of the New Hampshire Legislature, express our deep Sympathy to the family in its bereavement, and be it further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House transmit to the widow, Mrs. Seth F. Dawson, a copy of these resolutions (NH House, 1955).
His widow went on to have a career in politics, which included over a decade as Milton’s NH State Representative. She was Milton’s NH State Representative as late as the 1974-75 biennial term (Portsmouth Herald, March 4, 1974).
MILTON CANDIDATES. Milton. – Local candidates in the primary next month include: For representative, Mrs. Mildred Galarneau, former correspondent for the News; Mrs. Ruth Dawson of the Mills, who served in 1958-59; both Republicans. For checklist supervisors, all Republican, George Longley, Charles Piper, Marion Roberts, Fred Eldridge. For Moderator, Lewis Piper, Republican; Everett McIntire, Democrat (Farmington News, August 7, 1962).
Pond Water Level Slated for Hearing. A piece of legislation of interest to Portsmouth area residents with property on Milton Three Ponds is due for public hearing tomorrow in Concord. The bill would bar draw down of water in the ponds to a level below 14.5 feet between June and Labor Day, this depth to be on the gauge at the dam gate in Milton. The bill, introduced by Clayton E. Osborn, R-Portsmouth, and Ruth H. Dawson, R-Milton, is due for a hearing by the House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee at 1:30 p.m. in Room 207 of the State House annex. A $200 fine is proposed for violation of the draw down limit (Portsmouth Herald, March 4, 1963).
MRS. DAWSON NAMED CHAIRMAN. CONCORD. – Mrs. Ruth Dawson of Milton has been appointed New Hampshire Conference Chairman for the 16tb Annual Republican Women’s Conference which is to be held April 22, 23 and 24 at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C. National Committeewoman Mrs. Rose Bovaird in announcing the appointment expressed pleasure in Mrs. Dawson’s acceptance of this important post. Long active in Republican affairs, Mrs. Dawson is the only woman ever elected from the towns of Milton and Middleton as Representative to the General Court. She has been elected a Representative for five terms and is a past Legislative Department Chairman for the American Legion. Mrs. Dawson will strive to have a record-breaking number of Delegates to the Conference in April. Mrs. Bovaird also appoint Mrs. Anita Carmen of Manchester as Publicity Chairman for the Conference (Farmington News, February 29, 1968).
Area Solons All Favor H.B. No. 1. Governor Walter Peterson’s controversial Citizens’ Task Force bill No. 1 found no opposition with legislators whose constituencies cover an area served by this newspaper. Representatives Ralph Canney, Robert Drew, Fred Tebbetts, all of Farmington; Rep. Ruth Dawson, New Durham-Milton; and Rep. Jakob Mutzbauer of Alton all cast favorable votes. The bill passed easily by a 246-127 margin in the House (Farmington News, February 6, 1969).
This afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its hearing on HB 81, a bill which passed the House on a voice vote and would prohibit law enforcement officers from also serving as bail commissioners. The bail commissioner operates on a fee basis, being paid for each call to determine whether bail is necessary, and how much, after an arrest. Each town or city has three commissioners and, in some cases, convenience has led them to also be police officers. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ruth H. Dawson, R-Milton, and Rep. Shirley Merrill, R-Lebanon, both testified against this practice at a House hearing, feeling “the prosecutor should not also set bail.” Rep. Merrill also testified as to complaints in Lebanon about the system. The bill passed the House on an uncontested voice last week (Portsmouth Herald, February 18, 1969).
Mrs. Ruth H. (((Svenson) Anderson) Iovine) Dawson died in Wolfeboro, NH, August 15, 1985.
To be continued …
References:
Brett, Allen, and Whipple, Harvey. Concrete-Cement Age (1913, July). Reinforced Concrete in Factory Construction. Some Details of Mill and Dam Work in Reinforced Concrete in Milton, N.H. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=D8VLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3
Luce & Bridge. (1888). Twenty Thousand Rich New Englanders: A List of Taxpayers Who Were Assessed in 1888 to Pay a Tax of One Hundred Dollars Or More. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=aAkPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA100
McLeish Communications. (1915). American Shoemaking, Volume 57. Boston, MA: American Shoemaking Publishing Co.
A recent post (January 31) on local social media asked a very good question regarding the so-called “fund balance.”
Last year (2019) the Milton Operating Budget was defeated and the Town operated under a Default Budget. The December Expenditure Report shows a surplus of $739,128.00. Will this be used to offset taxes, or will it be used to fund Warrant Articles in 2020?
Audience members at the Deliberative Session asked related questions. For those who did not already know, the official replies tell quite a tale.
The term “fund balance” might suggest that this amount is only what is left over when the necessary budget categories are covered – a sort of rounding error or spare change. That is only partly true.
The NH State Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) “recommends” that Towns collect a tax overage, above and beyond the tax amounts necessary to cover the Town budget. In replies to audience questions, it emerged that the DRA recommendation was formerly to collect an additional 5% to 15%. This year’s proposed budget is $4,562,047.
So, following the DRA’s recommendation would have the Town collecting this year additional funds above the Town budget of between $228,102 (at 5%) and $684,307 (at 15%). In a town with about 2,300 tax properties, that would be an average tax overage of between $99 and $298 per property.
It emerged also that the DRA has in recent years narrowed their recommended tax overage range to something that tops out at about 8%. This narrower range has been implemented already in various other NH towns, towns whose governments are better than ours.
At the Milton Deliberative Session the various members of the Board of Selectmen (BOS) amended any and all articles that gave an estimated tax impact. They replaced those tax impact estimates with – let us not mince words – the same tired old lie about there being no tax impact or, as former Selectman Lucier preferred it, no additional tax impact, as the money would come magically from the unexpended fund balance.
I am not dim enough to fall for that – at least not more than once – but are you? Just as the fictional Soylent Green foodstuff was found ultimately to have been made out of people [!], we discovered last year that fund balances are made out of taxes [!!]. They are simply the DRA’s recommended tax “overages” from last year, over-collected and never returned.
Now, the thing about “recommendations” is that you need not adopt them. Town officials with any concern whatsoever for the taxpayers they supposedly represent would operate always at the lower end of the DRA’s recommended range. They might even disregard the DRA’s bad advice all together. But we have instead $739,128 worth of Soylent Green in our fund balance.
Obviously, we need to elect officials that put our interests – and particularly our ability to pay – before the fevered dreams of Town departments. We have for many years been disappointed by the various boards and committees, perhaps even feeling something akin to betrayal.
The answer to the social media question above – and the whole point of their removing the tax impact language from the various warrant articles – is “YES, this BOS absolutely intends to spend ‘your’ fund balance on warrant articles and not on tax relief.” But only if you are dim enough to vote for their warrant spending.
Despite the stated rationales when it was created, profligate spending is the entire point of having a CIP plan and of overtaxing us to fill magic fund balances. Remember, by definition, government has no “capital,” as such, with which to “plan.” Everything they spend is removed from your pocket.
Hi there everyone and welcome to the March Edition of Celestial Seasonings 2020! March is the month during which we transition from winter into spring. We will change the time on March 8, and spring will begin on March 19. As I sit here writing this today in late February, the Sun is shining brightly and my thermometer says 55 degrees. Time to put down my tech gadgets and go outside for a Sunday afternoon stroll.
Happy reading my friends and I hope you find the many delights offered to us well worth the wait and astronomical show. Now let’s begin our journey into the night skies of March 2020 …
March 2. LC2602, an open star cluster from the Constellation Carina will display. The Moon phase will be the first quarter.
March 6. M44, our prolific Beehive Cluster will closely approach the Moon.
March 8. Clocks are to Spring forward at 2 AM (or before you go to bed Saturday, March 7, or after you wake up Sunday, March 8). Neptune may be seen at the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth in the evening (Wikipedia, 2019).
March 10. NGC3532, from the Constellation Carina is also referred to as the Pincushion, Football, or Wishing Well open cluster will be visible (Wikipedia, 2019).
March 11. The Moon will orbit its furthest point from the sun.
March 14. y-Normid meteor shower from the Constellation Norma will be visible.
March 15. Asteroid 27 Euterpe, a minor planet designation will reach its highest point in the sky close to midnight.
March 16. This date will bring the last quarter of the Moon.
March 18. The Moon, along with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will rise closely to one another.
March 22. Half of Mercury will be visible.
March 23. Mars and Pluto will rise together and be close to each other.
March 24. Venus will go to its furthest point from the sun. There will be a new moon which may appear smaller then normal for it will be at it’s farthest point from the Earth.
March 26. Venus will reach its highest point in the evening sky. 136472 Makemake, a minor planet designation will be visible most notably near midnight. Half of Venus will be visible. (in-the-sky.org, 2020).
March 27. Mercury will be as far away from the Sun as it ever goes.
March 28. The Moon and Venus will rise close to each other.
The Presidential Primary election took place on Tuesday, February 11, 2020. 1,239 Milton voters took either a Democratic or Republican primary ballot.
As is usual, None-of-the-above won the election, in that about 60% of Milton’s registered voters gave the primary election a good leaving-alone and did not vote for any of the proffered candidates (nor did they write-in any other person).
Democratic Primary Ballots
696 Milton voters took a Democratic Party ballot. Of those, 195 (28.02%) voted for Bernie Sanders, 156 (22.42%) for Pete Buttigieg, 145 (20.83%) for Amy Klobuchar, 40 (5.7%) for Joseph R. Biden, 39 (5.6%) for Elizabeth Warren, 35 (5.03%) for Tulsi Gabbard, 33 (4.74%) for Tom Steyer, 17 (2.44%) for Andrew Yang, 6 (0.86%) for Deval Patrick, 3 (0.43%) for Michael Bennet, 2 (0.29%) for Julian Castro, 2 (0.29%) for Kamala Harris, 1 for Cory Booker, 1 (0.14%) for Ben Gleib Gleiberman, and 1 (0.14%) for Tom Koos.
In the Write-In category, 11 (1.58%) voted for Donald J. Trump, 6 (0.86%) for Mike Bloomberg, 2 (0.29%) for Mitt Romney, and 1 (0.14%) for Barack Obama.
The Democratic Party candidates in the 1-2-3 positions (bolded) received vote totals in a range that might get them a seat on the Milton Board of Selectmen in a Town election.
Republican Primary Ballots
543 Milton voters took a Republican Party ballot. Of those, 483 (88.95%) voted for Donald J. Trump, 29 (5.34%) for Bill Weld, 3 (0.55%) for Mary Maxwell, 2 (0.37%) for Larry Horn, 2 (0.37%) for Stephen B. Comley, Sr., 1 (0.18%) for Matthew John Matern, 1 (0.18%) for Eric Merrill, 1 (0.18%) for William N. Murphy, and 1 (0.18%) for Joe Walsh.
In the Write-In category, 17 (3.13%) voted for Bernie Sanders, 3 (0.55%) for Joseph R. Biden, 2 (0.37%) for Elizabeth Warren, 1 (0.18%) for Pete Buttigieg, 1 (0.18%) for Amy Klobuchar, and 1 (0.18%) for Tom Steyer.
Donald J. Trump received vote totals that would definitely get him a seat on the Milton Board of Selectmen, but the others not so much.
Why Are We Paying for This?
As usual, one might well question this exercise’s rationale. In the prior election cycle, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) argued in Federal court that they were a private organization that was not bound by the actual election results. That is to say, they could select whomever they wanted as the Democratic candidate, regardless of who won any actual primary elections. The Republicans had made similar arguments years earlier in refusing to seat Ron Paul delegates.
All of which begs the question: If these are just private club elections, as argued by the DNC, whose results the private clubs are not bound to respect, exactly why are these private club elections being conducted at public expense?
President George Washington, as well as other founding fathers, argued in his Farewell Address against having any political parties at all, let alone publicly funding their private club elections.
However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion (Washington, September 17, 1796).
Can Milton send an invoice for its primary election expenses to the respective parties’ “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled” functionaries? On behalf of Milton’s 60% majority, that is, who might wish to free themselves from subsidizing those parties’ “unjust dominion.”
You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’ (George Bernard Shaw).
Is there no limit to the lengths school administrators will go to undermine families?
Judging by House Bill 1459, a bill I recently weighed in against in a public hearing in Concord, their nerve shows no bounds. Under current law, parents have to give written permission for their children to fill out non-academic surveys. HB1459 would change parental permission needed from “opt-in” to “opt-out,” thus placing the burden on all parents to deny permission, rather than on school bureaucrats to obtain permission.
Why such a big deal over some innocuous questions in a survey? Under the law’s definition of a “non-academic survey or questionnaire,” it is “designed to elicit information about a student’s social behavior, family life, religion, politics, sexual orientation, sexual activity, drug use, or any other information not related to a student’s academics.” First and foremost, what business is it of busybody school administrators to pry into students’ and their parents’ family lives? Where I come from, we call that snooping, pure and simple. These are extremely personal areas—and definitely not in the province of school officials. In case they’ve forgotten what they get paid for, it is teaching the basics like the 3R’s, literature, history, science, and maybe a pinch of The Constitution once in a while, not probing into private lives.
The information the nosey parkers are going out of their way to obtain should be extremely alarming to any parent. Just think about the questions that could be asked in these surveys. Are there firearms in your house? Do your parents ever hit or spank you or your siblings? Do your parents ever leave you alone in the house? Have you ever seen marijuana or other recreational drugs in your house? Have you ever tried to kill yourself?* When you have sex, how often do you and/or your partner use a birth control method such as birth control pills, Depo-Provera shot, an implant, ring, patch, male or female condom (rubber), foam, diaphragm, or IUD?* How many adults have you known for two or more years who do things that are wrong or dangerous?* What political parties are your parents registered under? Who will your parents vote for in the next presidential election? Do your parents smoke or vape? By including the text “or any other information not related to a student’s academics,” the surveys could legally ask just about anything. Whatever happened to privacy and all those millions of privacy forms we see all the time that are supposed to protect our privacy? If it’s wrong for big corporations and private companies in the voluntary sector to share our data without our permission, why is it OK when government school bureaucrats do it? It is well documented that when government employees get hold of personal information, they sometimes misuse the information for nefarious personal purposes. And, even if not for personal misuse, can you just imagine what overzealous Child Protective Services bureaucrats would do with the survey data if it got into their overreaching hands?
(*Questions excerpted from a survey given to students as young as 5th graders).
All the survey results are supposed to be anonymous and kept confidential, but especially with declining student enrollment and smaller populations in many of New Hampshire’s rural towns, it wouldn’t be difficult for the snoopers to figure out where the responses came from—and possibly pay a surprise visit to a child’s home to check up on his “family life.” Data collection is one of the favorite ways for government bureaucrats to justify expanding their “services” in order to obtain more funding and personnel. Judging by the number of special interest groups who testified in favor of the bill, clearly they were looking for more business if only the schools could provide more data.
So how would the system of getting permission work under HB1459? Right now, if the school doesn’t receive the signed permission slip back from the parents, it’s a no go for the survey to be given to the student. Under HB1459 however, all the school would need to do is send written notice home to the parents via the student, and no signed permission slip would need to be returned. There was much ado by the bill’s proponents that the problem now is permission slips get lost in the shuffle of paperwork and never make it back to the school. The implication is that parents want to grant permission but logistics get in the way. From raising my own son, who always managed to lose not only papers being sent home but even the folder that contained the papers (“No homework, Dad!”), I can definitely agree with the proponents that indeed papers do get lost. However, their solution to the vanishing papers issue doesn’t solve the problem because the permission slip might never make it home in the first place; thus, by default the parents will be deemed to have given permission without ever having seen the permission slip.
Here is a real-life example how this scheme works in practice and enables bureaucrats to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. When I lived in San Francisco, the city was pushing its own government-owned electricity supplier CleanPowerSF over Pacific Gas & Power. Of course, they wanted enough rate payers to choose CleanPowerSF to make it financially feasible, so they have been “opting in” the entire city, one neighborhood at a time, over the last few years stealthily. When the issue happened to surface, a friend of mine who is a certified political junkie and in tune to what goes on at City Hall confessed that he didn’t even notice that he had been “opted in” to CleanPowerSF. He quickly opted out once he realized what happened, but considering that he is well read and generally informed, can you just imagine how little of the general public would even be aware of what had occurred right under their noses? In the olden days, when phone companies used to switch people over to their company without their permission, this was called “slamming” and was widely condemned. If it was wrong for “evil” corporations to pull this shenanigan, why is it suddenly OK when government officials do it? Where is the outrage now?
Also worth mentioning are comments made during the hearing I attended. One committee member noted that he heard from past similar surveys that older students weren’t taking them seriously and were filling in bogus answers. After all, if you’re taking drugs or sleeping around, would you really want to take a chance of your parents finding out, even though the results are supposed to be anonymous? So, after wasting limited resources to gather this data, even if the snoopers didn’t misuse it, it might not even be accurate in the end. Another point was brought up by the only other person to oppose the bill: who is vetting these surveys before subjecting the students to them? The lack of oversight really concerned her over the inappropriateness of some of the questions.
Lastly, should there be any question as to the motivation and purpose of the bureaucrats, one of the letters sent home to parents announced that the survey itself would be available for viewing during school hours at the school. Of course, most parents are at work during school hours, so why not just send the survey home for parents to view it themselves before granting permission? OK, for those concerned with wasting taxpayer dollars on hard paper costs, why not just post it online for all parents to see? In fact, parents complained about not being able to take the survey home for review, and some had to file several Right-To-Know requests to get hard copies. The breathtaking depth of the snoopers’ nosiness is surpassed only by their zeal to deceive and circumvent parents.
The bill is currently pending in the NH House Education Committee. If it makes it out of committee to the floor, I will keep an eye on how Milton’s representatives and senator vote on it. It and the shameful surveys are further evidence that something has gone really awry at government schools.
Legiscan. (2020). HB1459: Relative to non-academic surveys administered by a public school or a chartered public school to its students. Retrieved from legiscan.com/NH/bill/HB1459/2020
The bad ideas prevalent elsewhere have begun to arrive on Milton’s doorstep. Cash on delivery.
In this warrant article, Article #3, the Milton School Board, the Milton Board of Selectmen, and the Milton Police favor hiring a School Resource Officer (SRO), i.e., a police officer, for the Milton school system. They propose to split the cost between them. That is to say, the taxpayers will foot the entire bill, but partly in their School taxes and partly in their Town taxes. This article concerns only the Town portion of the costs.
Article 3: School Resource Officer
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Eighty-nine Thousand Seven Hundred Sixty Dollars ($89,760) to be added to the Milton Police Department General Operating Budget to Fund a School Resource Officer. This sum will be for half a year for 2020 and will then become a full year position in 2021 and will become a new line in the Police Department General Operating Budget. This sum will be for salary, FICA, Retirement, Medicare, Workers’ Comp, and Insurance cost. (Majority Vote Required).
Estimated tax impact is $0.18 (Eighteen Cents).
Recommended by the Board of Selectmen (3,0,0).
Recommended by the Budget Committee (6,1,0).
The division between budgets, as well as errors made in calculating the correct amounts, make it difficult to state the actual bottom line for this innovation. Between salary, benefits, pensions, etc., it would seem to be well north of $100,000. That is to say, it will be at least double the average salary of a Milton taxpayer. The “million dollar” Police department price tag, of which so many have complained, will become the 1.1 million dollar Police department. Some might think that enough on its face to reject this article.
In recommending it, it was said that it would allow for a revival, potentially even an expansion, of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. An audience member pointed out that there have been literally hundreds of academic studies of this program. Nearly all of them rated it as having been completely ineffective, and many claimed it was actually counter-productive, in that it actually induced greater drug involvement.
Our results confirm the findings of a previous meta-analysis indicating that Project D.A.R.E. is ineffective. This is not surprising, given the substantial information developed over the past decade to that effect. Critics of the present analysis might argue that, despite the magnitude of our findings, the direction of the effect of D.A.R.E. was generally positive. While this is the case, it should be emphasized that the effects we found did not differ significantly from the variation one would expect by chance. According to Cohen’s guidelines, the effect size we obtained would have needed to be 20 times larger to be considered even small. Given the tremendous expenditures in time and money involved with D.A.R.E., it would appear that continued efforts should focus on other techniques and programs that might produce more substantial effects (West, et al., 2004).
Another advantage put forward was the opportunity to foster a relationship of trust between students and police. That would seem to be a very poor lesson to learn at school, compared with what lawyers tell us. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, long ago, that the police may lie to you (Frazier v. Cupp), and that they are under no obligation whatsoever to either help or protect you (Warren v. District of Columbia; DeShaney vs. Winnebago; Town of Castle Rock vs. Gonzales). That same audience member pointed out that any good attorney would advise you to never even speak to the police, let alone trust them.
Milton Police Facebook Banner
The Milton Police Facebook site has for years featured a Thin Blue Line flag as its header, which might tell you something about their culture. It supposedly signifies that they are all that stands between society and chaos. However, in many places, Thin Blue Line displays are regarded instead as a kind of “gang” colors. For that reason, many departments prohibit their display on uniforms, vehicles, Facebook displays, etc. It does not project a relationship of trust, quite the contrary in fact. We stick together against you. (Desecrating a U.S. flag in this manner is not a crime, although the U.S. Congress has tried several times to make it so. (It would take a constitutional amendment to criminalize flag desecration)).
One is reminded of the shenanigans that took place a couple of summers ago. One or more Milton police officers disappeared off the payroll amidst a flurry of secret 91-A meetings. In the final meeting, the records were unsealed, but only for the police chief, so that he might include some of its information in his personnel records. The taxpayers are not to know what happened, we are not to be trusted with that information. The Thin Blue Line.
The final argument in favor of a SRO was that that officer would be on hand to better document any incident. That is to say, they would be better prepared to move a student into the criminal justice system: the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
The Milton Board of Selectmen recommended this unanimously, as is their usual practice.
The Milton Town warrant has upon it several articles with competing ideas that cannot be reconciled. This one concerns forcing most taxpayers to subsidize the particular “hobby horse” of a few.
The world is not on fire, nor is it going to end in ten or eleven years. These are false notions that can be denied, both easily and truthfully.
Who can even say what the “correct” temperature is or should be? It has been within quite a wide range during humanity’s tenure. There is a strong natural bias towards the temperature prevailing “now” as being the ideal one, but that is all it is, just a bias. I believe they call it a normalcy bias: a bias in favor of that with which one is familiar.
The Roman empire encountered what might be called adverse climate change in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. In Roman Britain, the warmer trend prevailing up to that time had allowed for an expansion of farming to formerly marginal upland areas. They even had viniculture, which requires warmer temperatures. Its population boomed, as did that of the Roman empire in general.
Then the climate cooled. Yes, temperatures cooled towards what they are now. The Romans were not best pleased with the change. It became harder to sustain populations that had expanded under what the Romans had regarded as “optimal” conditions. The barbarians became restless and advanced across Roman frontiers. The Romans pulled out of Britain in 409 A.D. They left a nice note, advising the Britons to take care of themselves.
The same thing happened later with the Greenland Viking settlements. They established settlements there that lasted for hundreds of years. Then the prevailing temperatures cooled, again towards the ones experienced now. The Viking settlements struggled against this cooling trend, but their populations dwindled and finally they just “winked out.” Current temperatures were just too cold for them.
Article #23 seeks to socialize the expense of owning so-called “Green” technologies. It might be more accurate to say that it seeks to “further” socialize them, to the Town level, as the Federal government is already subsidizing them to the tune of 30% off. State governments are on the bandwagon too.
Article 23: Optional Tax Exemption: Solar, Wind-Powered, Wood Heating Systems (Submitted by Petition).
To see if the town will vote to adopt the provisions of RSA 72:61 through RSA 72:72 inclusively, which provide for an optional property tax exemption from the property’s assessed value, for property tax purposes, for persons owning real property, which is equipped with solar energy systems, wind-powered energy systems or wood heating systems intended for use at the immediate site. Such property tax exemption shall be in the amount of 100% of the assessed value of qualifying equipment under these statutes. (Majority vote required).
Estimated tax impact is $0.74 (Seventy-four Cents).
Not recommended by the Board of Selectmen (0,3,0). [Amended to 2,1,0, Chairman Thibeault and Selectman Rawson voting to recommend that Milton taxpayers subsidize these energy systems, while Vice-Chairwoman Hutchings declined to do so].
Not Recommended by the Budget Committee (0,4,3).
The “estimated tax impact” is a bit deceptive. (But no more than the amounts estimated by the Town in general). That would be the estimated tax impact at the current numbers of such systems. Were those numbers to increase, then the tax impact would increase correspondingly.
Town taxes are as high as they are due to excessive Town budgets. Do not be sidetracked by variations in rates and valuations. Those are factors only in covering ever-increasing Town budgets. Despite what some Selectmen have put forward, it is not an accomplishment to lower the rate slightly while increasing the valuation greatly. (Be sure to ask “The Question” (of last year) of any and all candidates).
The Town taxes anything not nailed down, literally. People have been heard asking about structures on wheels. Why would two Selectmen recommend that “Green” systems be exempted from valuation and, therefore, exempted from their taxation?
One might answer that 1) this does not affect them: their Town budgets can still increase despite this measure, and 2) they believe in Global Warming (or its necessary rebranding as Global Climate Change) or, at least, they would like to “signal” that they do.
This measure absolutely does not reduce taxes by the value of these energy systems, it merely “redistributes” those taxes onto the backs of those that do not have them. Those who do not believe that the earth is on fire will be forced to subsidize the “Green” energy beliefs of those who do.
If one does believe in Global Climate Change, one should put one’s own money where one’s mouth is, rather than forcibly appropriating the money of others for that purpose.
“There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one’s own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others.” – Franz Oppenheimer
References:
Fall of Civilizations. (2019, March 25). 4. Greenland Vikings – Land of the Midnight Sun. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=dep69ARBNpE
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | February 23, 2020
Here we find a 1916 recollection of two competing industrial soap salesmen – “No. 34” and “Jim” – and their sales trip to Milton Mills.
Based upon the manufacturers, hotelier, and storekeeper mentioned, it would seem that the sales trip described must have taken place in or around 1877. The Waumbeck Company had its origins in the early 1870s; Ira Miller (1826-1902) had by this time transferred his Central House hotel to Crosby B. Remick (1849-1919), and opened his eponymous store, as he did in 1877; and Edward Brierley (1817-1878) was still living. David H. Buffum (1820-1882), a principal at the Great Falls Manufacturing Company, has not yet arrived on the scene. John Townsend (1807-1891), retired founder of the Townsend blanket mill, was then about seventy years of age, while his son, Henry H. Townsend (1842-1904), founder of the Miltonia Mills, was then about thirty-six years of age.
A GREEDY COMPETITOR.
In my early days in the soap trade, there seemed to be a broader field than there is to-day. True, there were fewer salesmen on the road selling mill soaps. As I recollect, there were two of us in New England territory, representing large houses, and, occasionally, a small maker of soap among the competitors would go out himself, and sell some mill. But the bulk of the trade was handled by my competitor and myself, I will call him Jim. There surely ought to have been trade enough for both of us. One morning I met him on the Eastern Division of the Boston & Maine Railroad, coming from Boston. He was not very amiable, rather out of sorts with me. For the truth was, I had been rather busy with the mills on that division. I had been to Great Falls the day before and sold them. The son of the owner had told me that his father had gone to Milton Mills, together with Mr. Briarly, superintendent of a felt mill he owned there to Briarly’s camp at East Pond on a fishing expedition. This is in explanation of what happened after Jim and I reached Milton Mills. We both got off at Union, N.H., and took the stage over to Milton Mills. Jim rode on the inside, I on the outside. He
DID NOT MAKE MUCH TALK,
and I, after one or two attempts to converse with him, subsided. The facts were that on a previous trip I had been to the mills and sold the Waumbec Company a car and sold a sample five-cask lot to Briarly Felt Mills; also sold Townsend a sample order, I have forgotten the number of packages, and had run over the month before and got encouragement from Briarly that my soap was proving very satisfactory and that he expected to give me a car order, which was my errand on the day Jim and I were on the way to Milton Mills. We arrived about dinner time, went in to dinner together. We had begun to eat when Jim started up from the table and said he had a bad attack of the toothache and could not eat. I finished my meal, while Jim walked down to the Briarly mill at least one-half mile from the hotel. Before he came back I had interviewed Henry Townsend, whom I saw coming across the square, and sold him. This left nothing for Jim except a possibility of changing Briarly
AWAY FROM HIS PROMISE
to me. Jim came back, hot and mad clean through. “Why couldn’t you have told me Briarly was down to East Pond fishing,” he said, and “saved me this walk?” It was a very hot day In August. I asked him how long he supposed I was running his business. He made me no answer, but turned to Remick, the hotel proprietor, and said, “How many horses have you got in the barn?” Remick said, “Six.” “I want them,” said Jim, “and I want you and the fastest one of the lot to drive me to Briarly’s camp.” I had not been on the road long, but I had learned a little forbearance against pushing business on a mill man when he was on a pleasure hunt away from his mill. So I began to remonstrate with Jim against going to the camp. He just laughed at me. I tried to get one of the six horses that Jim had commanded, but Remick reminded me that I had heard Jim hire the whole bunch. I told Remick that would be the last time he would have the pleasure of my company, and was making a few other
REMARKS NOT COMPLIMENTARY
to him. When a salesman for a dye-stuffs house who was at dinner with me and had driven in from Sanford, Me., saw the fix Jim had me in, he stepped up and said it was his first trip to this country, that he had no acquaintance, and if I would introduce him to the owner of the felt mill I might ride with him. I gladly accepted his invitation. Meanwhile, Jim and Remick had started for East Pond. The dye man drove a piebald horse, not any snap to him. When he got opposite Briarly’s mill, he balked up. I sprang over the wheel, saying to my friend that his horse couldn’t do me any good. I ran all the way back to the village, and entered a grocery store kept by Ira Miller. I will say that, before going on the road to sell soap, I was eight years in a wholesale grocery store in Boston. Miller had been a customer, and when he came in to buy goods, he was always boasting about the fine horses he had. I had not him for three or four years. As soon as I got my breath, I said, “Ira, have you got a good horse?” “The best in the state,” he replied.
“HITCH HIM UP,”
and drive me to East Pond.” That horse was harnessed and put in a rig in very quick time. As we rode along, I explained to Ira the trouble I was in. That was a grand horse of Ira’s. We overtook friend Jim and Remick about five miles out. I said, “That is what I am after, Ira,” pointing to Jim. They were moping along, thinking they had done me up, I suppose. When I spoke to Ira, he said, “Hang on to the seat,” and like a shot we went by them. I looked back, and Jim had the reins away from Remick, and the whip in his hand, and was lashing that horse into a run, but that horse was not in it with Ira Miller’s animal. We left them out of sight and drove into the lake shore. “Change sides,” said Ira, who rose up and I slipped under him. At the camp I found Mr. Briarly, booked his order for a car of soap, just as he had promised me, when Jim and his friend drove into the woods. I told Ira to drive me to Wolfboro Junction, which he did. Pretty soon Remick left Jim there. But he would not fraternize with me, and staid up at the end of a long platform away from me. I had mischief enough left in me to go to the telegraph office and wire in the order I had taken. No 34.
The Mitchell-Cony directory of 1908 set forth the following sequence of occupants of the Brierley felt mill at Milton Mills.
On the site of the shoe factory occupied by Andrews Bros., Edward Brierly erected a felt mill about forty years ago, where he carried on a large business, employing a fair number of hands until it was burned in the spring or early part of the summer of 1873. He rebuilt the mill soon afterward, and the property later came into the possession of David H. Buffum of Somersworth. After Mr. Buffum’s death, his son, Harry Buffum, sold it to Varney & Lane, who began the manufacture of shoes. The next owners of the factory were the Gale Shoe Co., of Haverhill, who, after several years of successful operation, leased the property to Andrews & Co., of Everett, Mass., who, under the name of the Boynton Shoe Co., carry on the industry successfully at the present time (Mitchell-Cony, 1908).
English immigrant Edward Brierley erected his felt mill at Milton Mills “about forty years ago,” i.e., about 1864. It burned in the spring or early summer of 1873, and was rebuilt “soon afterward.” It came later into the hands of felt manufacturer David H. Buffum. After his death (December 1882), his son, Harry Buffum, sold it to Varney & Lane, who began to manufacture shoes, rather than felt. Next came the Gale Shoe company, and Andrews, Wasgatt Co., dba Boynton Shoe Co. After Boynton Shoe Co., and beyond the Mitchell-Cony sequence, came Timson & Co.
With the exception of the original Edward Brierley operation, and, briefly, David H. Buffum, Jr., few, if any, of the following company officers resided in Milton Mills. Their main factories were elsewhere, and they employed local superintendents to manage their Milton Mills “country factory” satellites.
Edward Brierley – c1864-79
Edward Brierley was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, May 19, 1817, son of John and Mary Brierley.
Edward Brierley arrived in the U.S. at New York, NY, December 24, 1841. He married, probably in Lowell, MA, circa 1843, Margaret M. Thompson. She was born in Ireland (alternatively given as Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland) in 1812.
Agnes Jane Brierley, daughter of Edward and Margaret Brierley, was born in Lowell, MA, June 17, 1844. Margaret Briley was born in Lowell, November 15, 1845. Frances Brailey was born in Lowell, May 17, 1847. Edward James Brierley was baptized in Lowell, MA, June 24, 1849.
Edward Brierley resided in Lowell, MA, when he was naturalized in the local police court there, May 31, 1851.
Edward Brierley and his family paid a visit to the “old country” in 1852. Edwd. Brierley, aged thirty-six years (b. England), Margt. Brierley, aged thirty-five years (b. England), Agnes Brierley, aged eight years (b. England), Francis Brierley, aged five years (b. England), and Edwd. Brierley, aged three years (b. England), returned together in the 1500-ton packet ship Daniel Webster, in 1853. The Daniel Webster, Captain Howard commanding, departed from Liverpool, England, January 30, 1853, and arrived in Boston, MA, on Saturday, February 26, 1853.
Marine Intelligence. ARRIVALS AND CLEARANCES AT BOSTON. Saturday, February 26. Arrived Ship Daniel Webster, Howard, Liverpool Jan. 30; brig Montrose, Poland, Penacola (Boston Globe, March 5, 1853).
Edward Brierly established a block printing business at Milton Mills in 1850 [more likely in or after 1853] and after a few years of successful business purchased a saw mill and privilege on the site of the present Brierly mill where he soon began the manufacture of felt goods. The rapid increase of his business soon compelled him to make extensive additions and in a short time he had extensive mills on both sides of the river doing a very remunerative business (Scales, 1914).
Daughter Frances M. Brierley died October 26, 1860, aged thirteen years (buried in Milton Mills). Edward Briley, a factory operative, aged forty-three years (born England), headed a Milton Mills household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Hannah [SIC] Briley, aged forty years (born Ireland [SIC]).
An “enterprising” Edward Brierley was mentioned in the Vulpes letter of January 1864, as being about to build a mill in Milton Mills.
Daughter Agnes J. Brierly of Milton Mills, N.H., was a junior at the Abbot Female Academy in Andover, MA, in July 1864. Among other subjects, she was a pupil in instrumental music. She married in Boston, MA, June 7, 1870, Henry H. Townsend, a merchant, she of Milton, NH, aged twenty-six years, and he of Boston, aged twenty-seven years. (He was a member of Milton Mills’ Townsend blanket factory family).
Edward Brierly, a felt manufacturer, aged fifty-three years (born England), headed a Milton Mills household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included Margaret Brierly, keeping house, aged fifty-four years (born Scotland), and Edward J. Brierly, a clerk in a felt manufactory, aged twenty-one years (born MA). Edward Brierly had real estate valued at $3,000 and personal estate valued at $2,000.
A William Brierley (1828-1894), also an English immigrant, appeared in Milton at this time. He would seem to have been a younger half-brother or cousin of Edward Brierley, in whose mill he was working. (He had in 1870 a wife, Elizabeth E. Brierley, and children, Edward J. Brierley, John W. Brierley, Sarah A. Brierley, and Cora H.J. Brierley).
Edward Brierley was mentioned also in the Milton business directories of 1869-70, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1876, and 1877.
In the summer of 1873 these mills were entirely destroyed by fire thus sweeping away in an hour the accumulations of years of hard labor. Mr. Brierly soon began the erection of a new mill but losing largely by the insolvency of insurance companies he became somewhat embarrassed and was obliged to compromise with his creditors. His health soon after failing he was unable to recover his former financial position and at his death the property went into other hands and has since been operated by other parties (Scales, 1914).
WANTS. WANTED – A second-hand church or factory bell weighing about (900) nine hundred pounds; good tone. Also a second-hand Otis elevator for four stories. Address E. BRIERLEY & SON, Milton Mills, N.H. (Boston Globe, April 22, 1874).
(See also news articles of 1873, regarding the fire, and news articles of 1874, regarding the reconstructed mill).
Edward Brierly of Milton Mills filed for a U.S. patent (No. 166,450), June 1, 1875, for a frame for dying cloth (U.S. Patent Office, 1875).
MILL SUSPENDED. GREAT FALLS, N.H., Aug. 10. – Brierley’s felt mills, at Milton. N.H., have suspended, throwing forty hands out of employment. Cause assigned, No sales for the goods already on hand (Boston Post, August 11, 1875).
Edward Brierly died in Milton Mills, July 7, 1878, aged sixty-one years.
His widow, Margaret M. Brierley, keeping house, aged sixty-six years (b. Ireland), headed a Milton household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. Her household included her boarder, John Condon, a wool sorter, aged twenty-six years (b. SC), her niece, Agnes Condon, a housekeeper, aged seventeen years (b. NH), and her help, Rollin C. Town, a laborer, aged twenty-six years (b. NH).
Margaret M. (Thompson) Brierly died in Milton, July 30, 1888, aged seventy-five years.
The last will of Margaret M. Brierly of Milton Mills, dated May 17, 1886, and proved in Strafford County Probate Court, in September 1888, devised all of her money on hand or at interest to the children of her son, Edward J. Brierly, and the children of her daughter, Agnes J. Townsend; and the rest and residue to her son, Edward J. Brierly, and her daughter, Agnes J. Townsend. Mary E. Berry, Georgie W. Marsh, and Elbridge W. Fox witnessed her signature.
Son Edward J. Brierley, appeared in the Milton directories of 1880, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1887, and 1889, as a Milton Mills grocery merchant (and manufacturer of washing powder (1880-82)). (It was he that spoke up for the Varney & Lane strikers of 1889).
MILTON. We are sorry that our genial friend, Brierley, of the Mills felt shop, did not receive the election on the civil board at Acton (Farmington News, March 13, 1891).
He and his son, Leroy T. Brierley, appeared in the Milton directories of 1900, and 1902, as keeping a general store at 41 Main street in Milton Mills, with a residence at A.S., M.M., i.e., Acton, ME, side, Milton Mills. [Springvale Road].
Edward J. Brierley, a grocer, aged fifty-one years (b. MA), headed a Acton, ME, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of twenty-seven years), Hannah E. [(Lowd)] Brierley, aged fifty-one years (b. ME), and his children, Francese Brierley, aged twenty-three years (b. ME), Helen Brierley, aged twenty-one years (b. ME), Bertha Brierley, at school, aged nineteen years (b. ME), and Ralph Brierley, at school, aged twelve years (b. ME). Edward J. Brierley owned their house, free-and-clear. Hattie E. Brierley was the mother of five children, of whom five were still living.
LOCAL. Leroy T. Brierley of Milton Mills, who is well known by many people in this vicinity, having been employed in his father’s store for the past eight years, has gone to Boston and secured a situation on the Grove Hall surface cars of the Boston elevated railway (Farmington News, July 10, 1903).
Edward J. Brierley died in Acton, ME, January 30, 1906, aged fifty-six years, eight months, and fourteen days. Hannah E. (Lowd) Brierley died in Acton, ME, in 1927.
David Hanson Buffum (and Sons) – 1879-88
David H. Buffum was born in North Berwick, ME, November 10, 1820, son of Timothy and Anna (Austin) Buffum.
He married in Somersworth, NH, January 26, 1853, Charlotte E. Stickney. She was born in Great Falls, Somersworth, NH, April 19, 1831, daughter of Alexander H. and Betsy H. (Chesley) Stickney.
David H. Baffum, a bank cashier, aged thirty-nine years (b. ME), headed a Somersworth (“Great Falls P.O.”), NH, household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Charlotte Baffum, aged thirty years (b. NH), Edgar S. Baffum, aged four years (b. NH), Harry Baffum, aged two years (b. NH), and Cathe. Ainwright, a domestic, aged seventeen years (b. Ireland). David H. Baffum had real estate valued at $5,000 and personal estate valued at $10,000.
David H. Buffum, a manufacturer, aged forty-two years (b. ME). registered for the Class II Civil War military draft in Somersworth, NH, June 30, 1863.
Charlotte E. (Stickney) Buffum died March 8, 1868.
David H. Buffum, a woolen mill agent, aged forty-nine years (b. ME), headed a Somersworth (“Great Falls P.O.”), NH, household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included [his children,] Edgar S. Buffum, aged fourteen years (b. NH), Harry Buffum, aged twelve years (b. NH), David H. Buffum, Jr., aged seven years (b. NH), and Charlotte E. Buffum, aged two years (b. NH), [his half-sister,] Sarah Hussey, keeping house, aged forty years (b. ME), and Mary Pillsbury, a domestic servant, aged twenty-one years (b. ME). David H. Buffum had real estate valued at $25,000 and personal estate valued at $50,000.
David H. Buffum was elected a NH State Representative from Somersworth, NH, and was twice elected to the NH Senate. He was Senate President in his second term (Metcalf, et. al., 1878).
Aside from these important manufacturing enterprises, he [Hon. D.H. Buffum] has been several years a partner with L.R. Hersom in the wool pulling and sheep-skin tanning establishment on Berwick at Great Falls, and has, furthermore, extensive manufacturing interests at Milton Mills (Metcalf, et. al., 1878).
D.H. Buffum appeared in the Milton directories of 1880, 1881, and 1882, as a Milton Mills manufacturer of felt cloth, piano and table covers.
David H. Buffum appeared in the Great Falls directory of 1880, as agent and treasurer of G.F. [Great Falls] Woolen Co., with a house on Beacon street. Edgar S. Buffum appeared a boarder at David H. Buffum’s. The Great Falls Woolen Co., with D.H. Buffum as its agent, was situated on Woodvale street.
WATER-POWERS AND MANUFACTORIES. A fine water-power at Milton Mills is occupied on Acton side of the river by a large felting-mill, erected on the site of a smaller one in 1873, the first having been destroyed by fire. The present mill was erected by E. Brierley & Son, and was exempted from local taxation for ten years. D.H. Buffum & Co. became the proprietors and operators in 1879. All kinds of felting goods are manufactured here, giving employment to about 40 skilled operatives and $250 000 capital (Clayton, 1880).
David H. Buffum, a woolen manufacturer and ex-State Senator, aged fifty-nine years (b. ME), headed a Somersworth (“Vil. of Great Falls”), NH, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his children, Edgar S. Buffum, a woolen manufacturer, aged twenty-four years (b. NH), Harry A. Buffum, an apprentice to a woolen manufacturer, aged twenty-two years (b. NH), David H. Buffum, Jr., at school, aged seventeen years (b. NH), his [half-] sister, Sarah Hussey, a housekeeper, aged forty-five years (b. ME), and his servant, Agnes Davis, a servant, aged twenty-five years (b. NH).
David H. Buffum died in Somersworth, NH, December 29, 1882, aged sixty-two years.
D.H. Buffum appeared in the Milton directories of 1884, and 1887, as a Milton Mills manufacturer of felt cloth, piano and table covers. C.A. Dockham’s textile industry directory of 1884 included further details:
Milton Mills; Milton. Buffum, D.H., & Co., felt, piano and table covers, horse blankets, etc., 6 sets felt cards.
Buffum’s felt mill had a 15-foot stone dam in George F. Swain’s report on Milton Water Power in 1885. D.H. Buffum’s Sons appeared in the textile “Blue Book” directory of 1888, as Milton Mills manufacturers of felt piano [&] table covers, etc. They had one water wheel, two boilers, and six sets of felt cards (Palmer, 1888).
David H. Buffum, Jr.
DAVID HANSON BUFFUM [JR.]. David Hanson Buffum was the son of David Hanson Buffum and Charlotte Elizabeth (Stickney) Buffum. David H. Buffum, the elder (1820-1882), was born at North Berwick, Me. He became a woolen manufacturer, being interested in mills at South Berwick and at Great Falls and Milton Mills, N.H. He was descended from Robert Buffum of Yorkshire, England, who settled at Salem, Mass., in 1634. The Stickneys came from Stickney in England to Rowley, Mass., in 1638. Mrs. Buffum (1831-1868) was born at Great Falls, N.H. Buffum was born in the same place on October 1, 1862. He prepared for college at the Great Falls high school and at Phillips Exeter. He was a member of our freshman glee club, football team, and ball nine, on which he played third base, and he threw a baseball farther than any one else in the class – 305 feet. He was a member of Eta Phi, but left college during sophomore year. He had roomed in freshman year at 82 Wall Street, and in sophomore year at 464 Chapel Street. From 1883 to 1886 Buffum was employed with D. Buffum’s Sons at Milton Mills. Wearying of factory occupations, he went to the car shops of the Boston & Maine Railroad at Waltham, Mass., and had turned to civil engineering when he died in Somersworth N.H., on March 19, 1893. He was unmarried. His older brothers are graduates of Yale, – Edgar S. Buffum, of Newtonville, Mass., in ’77, and Henry A. Buffum, of Rockland, Me., in ’79 (Yale University, 1913).
The Kimball Brothers’ Shoe company of Lynn and Haverhill, MA, considered moving a portion of their production to a three-story mill building in Milton in November 1888, but did not. The Lynn shoe firm of Varney & Lane opened a branch factory there instead. Henry A. “Harry” Buffum is said to have sold the mill to the Varney & Lane Shoe Company.
Varney & Lane Shoe Company – 1888-90
Charles Wesley Varney was born in North Berwick, ME, July 30, 1838, son of Calvin and Eliza (Nowell) Varney.
He married, circa 1864, Ellen N. Lane. She was born in Exeter, NH, November 17, 1840, daughter of Elbridge G. and Elizabeth M. (Moses) Lane.
Charles W. Varney, a shoe manufacturer, aged forty-one years (b. MA [SIC]), headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ellen N. Varney, at home, aged thirty-eight years (b. NH); his children, Louise N. Varney, at school, aged sixteen years (b. NH), Lucia D. Varney, at school, aged thirteen years (b. NH), Fred L. Varney, at school, aged nine years (b. MA), Ada M. Varney, at school, aged six years (b. MA), and Ralph W. Varney, at home, aged ten months (b. A); his brother-in-law, Elbridge G. Lane, a clerk in store, aged thirty years (b. NH); his boarder, Ida Lane, at home, aged twenty-eight years (b. ME); and his servants, Sarah Willey, a servant, aged sixty-five years (b. NH), and Maggie Healey, a servant, aged twenty years (b. Ireland). They resided at 7 Commercial Street in Lynn, MA.
Current News. The citizens of Milton Mills, N.H., are raising the sum of $3,000 for the establishment of a shoe factory in the old Buffum felt mill, which will employ 400 hands. If the amount is raised Varney and Lane of Lynn, Mass., will put in the machinery and commence operations in a few weeks. The shop will be a boom to the town (American Engineer, 1888).
Lynn Shoe Firm’s Country Shop. Dover, N.H., Sept. 7. – Varney & Lane of Lynn, Mass., have made arrangements to run the shoe shop recently occupied by Buffum & Co., at Milton Mills. Machinery will be at once put in and work commenced as soon as possible (Boston Globe, September 8, 1888).
Varney & Lane advertised for shoe cutters for its new Milton Mills plant in May 1889.
The Labor Field. The hands in the employ of Varney & Lane, Milton Mills, N.H., are on strike for an advance in wages. The citizens of the town have voted to support the strikers, and boarding-house keepers and merchants have decided not to board or furnish any aid at any price to workmen who may be obtained to fill the places of those who are out. The firm threaten to remove their business to Lynn. Following are the prices that the workmen have been paid by Varney & Lane together with the rates paid in Lynn for the same work:
The firm claim to have paid full, average, country-factory rates and consider it unjust that prices for making a $1 shoe should be compared with Lynn prices on a $2 to $4 shoe. They have always maintained agreeable relations with their employees, and have paid ruling union prices in Lynn. They state that they will finish up the work they have on hand at Milton Mills, N.H., if possible; if not, they will take it to Lynn. They talk of fitting up the old Donovan factory on Box place for the purpose (Shoe & Leather Reporter, 1889).
Varney & Lane appeared in the Shoe and Leather Annual directory of 1890 as shoe manufacturers in both Acton, ME, and Milton Mills (but not thereafter).
SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD. State Arbitrators Hold Conference with Varney & Co. LYNN, July 10. — The State board of arbitration, which consists of Charles H. Walcott of Concord, Ezra Davol of Taunton and Richard P. Barry of Lynn. came to Lynn this morning to give a bearing on the labor trouble at C.W. Varney & co.’s shoe factory. The difference between the firm and the operatives is a question of price, and the operatives ask that the firm pay the same as ether firms are paying for the same grade of work. The firm expressed its willingness to submit the matter to the State board of arbitration for adjustment and so notified the board. The result was a meeting of the board at City Hall at 10 o’clock this morning. Charles W. Varney, representing the firm, was present, but the operatives were not represented. The conference between the board and the firm was a private one. While the local council is not willing to take part in the hearing, yet the members are willing to meet the firm and discuss matters with the view of settling their differences. The operatives have placed their case in the hands of the local council, and will follow its suggestions. The operatives say that they having nothing to arbitrate, as they simply ask for such prices as have already been established by the State board of arbitration (Boston Globe, July 10, 1890).
[Lucian Newhall] had it [a Lynn South Common Street factory] until 1870 when C.W. Varney it with his brother. They did business under the style of the Varney Bros., and subsequently T.W. Varney & Co. The company was E.G. Lane, Jr., who is now associated with Mr. Varney in the capacity of partner. This has been a fortunate building for the owners, all of whom were successful while doing business in it, none of whom have ever failed. The factory of C.W. Varney & Co., which they now occupy, has a capacity of over fifty cases per day. It goes without saying that the members of this firm are men of integrity, and they are now making a stylish and popular price line of foot wear which merits the attention of the trade. Frederick L. Varney, son of C.W. Varney, gives every indication of following in the footsteps of his predecessor. To the advantages of a modern technical education he adds the experience which has been gained in the factory. The Boston office of C.W. Varney & Co. is 25 High street, where Frederick L. Varney be found on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He is one of the young men of Lynn who are to the front. In this connection it should be stated that C.W. Varney came to Lynn in 1867, and that the firm title of C.W. Varney & Co. has been continued without interruption for 20 years (Boot & Shoe Reporter, 1892).
Echoes from the Factories. C.W. Varney & Co.’s increased space of close on to six thousand square fills an important niche on this season’s run, and the firm would have been unable to fill orders without the new room. Some striking new lines for fall are now being shown by Varney & Co. in boys’ heeled and spring heeled goods (Boot & Shoe Recorder, 1898).
Charles W. Varney, a shoe manufacturer, aged sixty-two years (b. ME), headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-six years), Ellen M. Varney, aged fifty-nine years (b. NH), his children, Fred L. Varney, a shoe manufacturer, aged twenty-nine years (b. MA), and Ada M. Varney, aged twenty-six years (b. NH), and his servants, Katherine Henry, a servant, aged twenty-three years (b. Ireland), and Mary E. MacCurdy, a servant, aged thirty-seven years ((b. Ireland). Charles W. Varney owned their house at 98 Walnut Street, with a mortgage. Ellen M. Varney was the mother of seven children, of whom five were still living.
Ida S. Lane, a widowed boarding-house keeper, aged fifty-three years (b. ME), headed a Boston, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. Her household included her boarders, Charles W. Varney, own income, aged seventy years (b. ME), Ellen N. Varney, own income, aged sixty-nine years (b. NH), Ada M. Varney, own income, aged thirty-five years (b. MA); Kneeland H. Shaffer, a manufacturer’s storage clerk, aged thirty-four years (b. NY); and Mary E. Lang, a Normal school art teacher, aged fifty-five years (b. NY). Ida S. Lane rented their house at 86 St. Stephen’s Street.
Charles W. Varney died in Westborough, MA, March 30, 1915.
CHARLES W. VARNEY DEAD. Westboro Farmer Was Retired Lynn Shoe Manufacturer. WESTBORO, March 30 – Charles W. Varney, a retired Lynn shoe manufacturer, died (his morning at his home, East Main st., at the age of 76. He was born in North Berwick, Me., son of Calvin and Eliza (Norwell) Varney. He was a member of the old Lynn shoe firm of Varney and Lane, but removed to Westboro four years ago and bought Gilmore farm. He leaves besides his wife, Mrs. Ellen Varney, four children, Mrs. George P. Faunce of Lynn, Frederick L. Varney of Portland, Me., Miss Ada M. Varney of Westboro and Ralph W. Varney of Chicago (Boston Globe, March 31, 1915).
Ellen N. (Lane) Varney died in Winnetka, IL, February 17, 1928.
Gale Shoe Company – 1895-04
Herbert E. Gale
Herbert E. Gale was born in Haverhill, MA, November 13, 1864, son of John E. and Mary B. (Davis) Gale.
He married in Marblehead, MA, September 29, 1892, Martha J. Pollard, he of Haverhill, MA, and she of Marblehead. She was born in Boston, MA, September 8, 1865, daughter of Marshall S.P. and Georgianna (Jones) Pollard.
Gale Shoe M’f’g Co., Office, Duncan Street, Haverhill, Mass.; Salesroom, No. 1 Lincoln Street, Boston. Factories: Haverhill, Mass., Clinton, Maine. The Gale Shoe Manufacturing Company is a thoroughly representative Haverhill concern, not only on account of the magnitude and character of its business, but also because the senior partner has long been prominently identified with shoe manufacturing and with the business interests of the city, and is active and successful in promoting its development in every legitimate way. The company is composed of Messrs. John E. Gale, Herbert E. Gale, and began operations January 1889. Mr. John E. Gale is senior partner of the firm of Gale Brothers, in Exeter, N.H., is president of the Haverhill National Bank, and vice president of the City Five Cents Savings Bank. The active manager of the company’s business is Mr. Herbert E. Gale, who graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1888, and who is extremely well known to the trade, and is very successful in producing footwear that just suits the class of trade it is intended for, and that is furnished at positively bottom prices. Evidence that this company’s goods “hit the mark” is afforded by the fact that although the business was started in a comparatively small way four years ago, the last year’s sales amounted to nearly half a million dollars, being sold to the largest jobbers in the country. The company occupy their own factory, which is located on Duncan street, and has about 30,000 square feet of floor space. Employment is given to about 200 hands, and the firm control the product of two out-of-town factories, where their cheaper grades of goods are made, the capacity of the three factories being 60 to 70 sixty pair cases daily. The product includes men’s and women’s cheap and medium grade hand and machine-sewed slippers, and low cuts in black and colors. The company sell exclusively to the jobbing trade in the South, West, and Northwest, and are most ably represented in this department by Mr. John M. Hill, who has charge of their salesroom, No. 1, Lincoln street, Boston (Mercantile Illustrating, 1894).
Shoe Factories. The Gale Shoe Co., of Haverhill, have leased the shoe factory at Milton Mills, N.H., formerly operated by C.W. Varney & Co., and will manufacture a portion of their shoes there (Boot & Shore Reporter, 1895).
Former Varney & Lane mill superintendent William T. Rockwell sought workers for a new shoe factory in February 1895.
MALE HELP WANTED. MACHINIST wanted in stitching room, must he able to run Reece & Morley machines, state age and give references and salary expected. Apply to Gale Shoe Mfg., Milton Mills, N.H. Sud3t my30 (Boston Globe, May 31, 1897).
HERBERT ELBRIDGE GALE. Since the last report I have continued in the shoe manufacturing business in Haverhill, with the Gale Shoe Manufacturing Company. We have factories at Haverhill, and Milton Mills, N.H., and Boston office at 106 Summer street. My daughter, Barbara, was born Aug. 16, 1894. In winter I live in Haverhill and in summer at my home in Clifton [Marblehead, MA]. Am a director in the Haverhill National Bank, Bay State Steamship Company, and treasurer of Peterboro’ Electric Light Heat and Power Company. Am a member of the University Club of Boston, Pentucket Club of Haverhill, Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, and Boston Boot and Shoe Club (Harvard College, 1898).
The Gale Shoe Company had half-ownership of Dam #18 in the U.S. Geological Survey report on Milton Water Power in 1901. Gale Shoe Manufacturing Co. appeared in the Milton directories of 1901, and 1904.
Herbert E. Gale, a shoe company merchant, aged forty-six years (b. MA), headed a Haverhill, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of seventeen years), Martha P. Gale, aged forty-six years (b. MA), his children, John E. Gale, aged sixteen years (b. MA), and Barbara Gale, aged fifteen years (b. MA), and his servants, Effie S. McLaughlin, a private family chambermaid, aged thirty-eight years (b. Canada (Fr.)), Maggie McLeod, a private family laundress, aged thirty-five years (b. Canada (Fr.)), Olive Christson, a private family cook, a private family waitress, aged thirty years (b. Norway), Catherine Blainey, a private family waitress, aged twenty-one years (b. Ireland (Eng.)), and Lewis Dean, a chauffeur, aged twenty-five years (b. MA). Herbert E. Gale owned their house at 39 Summer Street, free-and-clear. Martha P. Gale was the mother of two children, of whom two were still living.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Exeter. Gale Bros. (Inc. $205,000). J.E. Gale, pres’t; J.A. Towle, treas. and sec’y; and Herbert E. Gale, vice pres’t; women’s medium McKays. A. (Job). (Boot & Shoe Reporter, 1914).
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Portsmouth. Gale Shoe Co., Islington St. Herbert E. Gale, pres’t; H. Taylor, vice pres’t; M.I. Pattinson, treas.; Geo. H. Carter, sec’y; women’s medium welts and McKay’s. H.C. Taylor, buyer, B. (Boot & Shoe Reporter, 1914).
Herbert E. Gale died in Swampscott, MA, October 22, 1936, aged seventy-one years.
HERBERT E. GALE DIES IN 72D YEAR. President of Gale Shoe Manufacturing Co. ILL SOME TIME. Left Active Management of North Adams Plant to Son, John E. Gale, Treasurer. Herbert E. Gale, president of Gale Shoe Manufacturing company which has been a local industry since it moved to this city in the spring of 1934, died last evening at his home, 391 Puritan road, Swampscott. He was in his 72nd year. Mr. Gale had been in failing health for many months past but he remained the head of the corporation to the time of his death and until very recently had kept an active part in the direction of its affairs from its Boston office. He was born in Haverhill and received his education in the public schools of that town, at Phillips Andover academy and at Harvard university where he was a member of the class of 1888. His father had for many years been prominently identified with the shoe industry and with banking in Haverhill and as a young man after completing his education, Mr. Gale entered the shoe manufacturing business that his father had founded, succeeding the latter as its head upon his death. The industry, after operating for a number of years in Haverhill, established a plant in Manchester, N.H., where in the course of time its operations were largely centralized. It was from Manchester that it moved to this city nearly two and one-half years ago to take over and occupy the building of the North Adams Industrial company, off Brown street that had previously housed the George E. Keith and the Melanson Shoe companies. Mr. Gale made several visits to this city during the time that the plant was being established and gotten in operation here but he left the active management of the manufacturing and of the business largely to his son, John E. Gale, treasurer of the concern, while he devoted his own attention to the administrative affairs of the enterprise at its Boston office. His home had long been in Swampscott and in recent years he had spent his winters at Palm Beach, Fla. Throughout the trade he was known as an uncommonly able executive while veteran employes of his concern of whom it brought a number to this city when it moved here, spoke of him from their personal acquaintance with him and their own knowledge of his ways, as a fair and just employer. Mr. Gale is survived by his wife, the former Martha Pollard, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Marshall S.P. Pollard of Boston, a daughter, Mrs. J. Edson Andrews of Andover, his son, John, whose home is in Newton Center, and five grandchildren. The funeral will be held on Sunday afternoon at 2.30 o’clock at his home In Swampscott and burial will follow In the Forest Hills cemetery at Boston (North Adams Transcript, October 23, 1936).
Martha J. (Pollard) Gale died in Palm Beach County, FL, January 3, 1955.
Andrews, Wasgatt Company, DBA Boynton Shoe Company – 1904-14
Herbert P. Wasgatt was born in Boston, MA, August 26, 1865, son of James G. “Gilbert” and Mary A. (Faunce) Wasgatt.
Elmore Andrews was born in Montreal, Canada, in October 1867, son of Robert and Ellen (Budden) Andrews.
Herbert P. Wasgatt married in Boston, MA, April 23, 1891, Clara E. Stuart. He was a boot & shoe manufacturer, aged twenty-five years, and she “at home,” aged twenty-one years. She was born in Boston, MA, circa 1895, daughter of Jacob and Wilhelmina Stuart.
LEGAL NOTICES. NOTICE is hereby given that the copartnership heretofore existing between Elmore Andrews and George F. Gurney, under the firm name and style of Andrews & Gurney, is this day dissolved by mutual consent. ELMORE ANDREIVS, GEO. F. GURNEY. The undersigned will continue the business under the, name of Andrews & Co., and is authorized to settle all accounts of the late firm. ELMORE ANDREWS. 3t ap19 (Boston Globe, April 19, 1892).
Elmore Andrews and Herbert P. Wasgatt formed the partnership Andrews, Wasgatt Company in Baltimore, MD, in 1892. They moved their business to Everett, MA, in 1896, where they built a factory in 1897.
Elmore Andrews married in Newton, MA, March 31, 1894, Ermina Lane. She was born in Gloucester, MA, August 28, 1876, daughter of Abraham O. and Emily (Daggett) Lane.
Elmore Andrews, a manufacturer of shoes, aged thirty-two years (b. Canada (Eng.)), headed an Everett, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of six years), Ermina Andrews, aged twenty-three years (b. MA), and his child, Bertha Andrews, aged four years (b. MA). Elmore Andrews owned their house at 72 Harvard Street, with a mortgage. Ermina Andrews was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living.
Herbert P. Wasgatt, a shoe manufacturer, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), headed an Everett, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of nine years), Clara E. Wasgatt, aged thirty years (b. MA), his children, Helen S. Wasgatt, at school, aged seven years (b. MA), and John F. Wasgatt, aged four years (b. MA), and his servants, Mary F. O’Neill, a servant, aged twenty-three years (b. Ireland (Eng.)), and Helen C. McKinnin, a nurse, aged thirty-four years (b. Canada (Eng.)). Herbert P. Wasgatt owned their house at 180 Hancock Street, free-and-clear. Clara E. Wasgatt was the mother of two children, of whom two were still living.
MALE HELP WANTED. STOCK FITTER on wos and miss [women’s and misses] work. BOYNTON SHOE CO., Milton Mills, N.H. (Boston Globe, October 30, 1904).
MALE HELP WANTED. PULLERS OVER on misses’ and chl sboes. BOYNTON SHOE CO., Milton Mills, N.H. ThuFSu mh9 (Boston Globe, March 10, 1905).
The Boynton Shoe company of Milton Mills advertised again for shoe pullers-over in December 1906. Its parent company, Andrews-Wasgatt, advertised for shoe vampers in December 1908, and shoe stitchers in November 1909.
The Boynton Shoe Co. appeared in the New Hampshire business directories of 1906 and 1908, as operating in Milton Mills. (It appeared also in the Maine Register and Legislative Manual of 1908, as an Acton, ME, manufacturer of ladies shoes).
The Andrews, Wasgatt Company appeared in the Everett, MA, directory of 1908:
CORPORATIONS. Andrews-Wasgatt Co., shoe mnfrs. ft. Bartlett. Inc. Nov. 1, 1905. Capital $100,000. Elmore Andrews, Pres.; Herbert P. Wasgatt, Treas.; John E. Kincaid, Sec.
Elmore Andrews, a shoe factory manufacturer, aged forty-two years (b. Canada (Eng.)), headed an Everett, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of sixteen years), Ermina Andrews, aged thirty-two years (b. MA), his children, Bertha Andrews, aged fourteen years (b. MA), Elmore L. Andrews, aged five years (b. MA), and Ellen L. Andrews, aged two years (b. MA), and his servant, Ida Svenson, general housework, aged twenty-seven years (b. Sweden). Elmore Andrews owned their house at 72 Harvard Street, free-and-clear. Ermina Andrews was the mother of four child, of whom three were still living.
Herbert P. Wasgatt
Herbert P. Wasgatt, a shoe manufacturer, aged forty-four years (b. MA), headed an Everett, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eighteen years), Clara E. Wasgatt, aged forty years (b. MA), his children, Helen S. Wasgatt, aged sixteen years (b. MA), and John F. Wasgatt, aged fourteen years (b. MA), and his servant, Julia Flynn, a private family servant, aged twenty-one years (b. Ireland (Eng.)). Herbert P. Wasgatt owned their house at 180 Hancock Street, free-and-clear. Clara E. Wasgatt was the mother of two children, of whom two were still living.
Herbert P. Wasgatt was mayor of Everett, MA, between January 2, 1911, and January 2, 1912.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Milton Mills. Andrews-Wasgatt Co. (Inc. $100,000) (also Everett, Mass., and Boston office 46 Lincoln St.) Elmore Andrews, pres’t; H.P. Wasgatt, treas.; J.E. Kincaid, sec’y; misses’ and children’s medium McKays. E Andrews, buyer. B. (Boot & Shoe Reporter, 1914).
Elmore Andrews resigned from the Andrews, Wasgatt Co. in 1918, in order to focus on his real estate interests.
Elmore Andrews, a shoe manufacturer, aged fifty-three years (b. MA [SIC]), headed an Everett, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ermina Andrews, aged forty-two years (b. MA), his children, Bertha Andrews, aged twenty-four years (b. MA), Elmore L. Andrews, aged fourteen years (b. MA), Ellen L. Andrews, aged twelve years (b. MA), and Virginia Andrews, aged eight years (b. MA). Elmore Andrews owned their house at 11 High Street, free-and-clear.
Herbert P. Wasgatt, a shoe manufacturer, aged fifty-three years (b. MA), headed an Everett, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Clara E. Wasgatt, aged fifty years (b. MA), his children, Helen S. Wasgatt, aged twenty-six years (b. MA). Herbert P. Wasgatt owned their house at 180 Hancock Street, free-and-clear.
Henry P. Wasgatt died in Boston, MA, December 21, 1934.
HERBERT P. WASGATT OF NEWTON IS DEAD. Funeral of Former Mayor of Everett Tomorrow. Herbert P. Wasgatt of Newton died yesterday at the Baker Memorial Hospital, where he had been a patient only a short while. Mr. Wasgatt was a former Associate Commissioner of Labor and Industries, representing employers of labor; former Mayor of Everett and a former member of the Governor’s Council. His term as a member of the Labor and Industries Department expired last year. He was not reappointed. Funeral services will be held at 2 tomorrow afternoon at the Union Church, Waban. He was born in South Boston. Aug 26, 1865, the son of Gilbert and Mary A. (Faunce) Wasgatt. The family shortly afterwards moved to Plymouth and later to East Boston, where he was graduated from the East Boston High School. He was employed for a number of years by the firm of Bird & Stevens, slipper manufacturers, and in 1896, in partnership with Elmore Andrews, entered business for himself. He entered politics in 1907, being elected to the Everett Board of Aldermen, and was elected Mayor of that city in 1910. He was president of the Everett Trust Company, treasurer of the Everett Board of Trade, past master of Mt. Tabor Lodge. A.F. & A.M., of East Boston: a member of Palestine Lodge. A.F. & A.M., of Everett; of St John’s Chapter, R.A.M.; East Boston, Council. R. and S.M., and William Parkman Commandery, K.T., all of East Boston, and Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine; Everett Council, United Commercial Travelers; New England Shoe and Leather Association, Boston Boot and Shoe Club and associate member of Co. B, 8th Regiment, M.V.M. (Boston Globe, December 22, 1934).
Elmore Andrews died in Everett, MA, February 24, 1936, aged sixty-nine years.
ELMORE ANDREWS DEAD IN EVERETT. Developed Much of City’s Industrial Section. EVERETT, Feb. 23. – Elmore Andrews, 69, treasurer of the Everett Factory and Terminal Association, which developed much of the industrial section of this city, died this morning at his home, 11 High st., after an illness of a week. Andrews came to this city in 1897, when as a partner in the shoe firm of Andrews, Wasgatt Company, he built a factory. In 1918 he resigned from the firm and entered the real estate business. He was born in Montreal and received his early education there and at Halifax, N.S. He was employed by shoe firms in Manchester, N.H., and Baltimore before he and Herbert Wasgatt started business in the latter city in 1892. Five years later they moved the business here. He was formerly treasurer of the Standard Mailing Machine Company; founder, vice president and director of the Everett Trust Company, and trustee and city commissioner of the Whidden Hospital. Surviving him is a wife, Ermina Lane Andrews, formerly of Gloucester; three daughters. Bertha, Ellen Louise and Virginia Andrews, and a son, Elmore L. Andrews, all of this city. The funeral will be held at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon at the First Universalist Church (Boston Globe, February 24, 1936).
Timson & Co. – 1915-18
Charles Otis Timson was born in Salem, MA, January 14, 1861, son of Edwin H. and Julia S. (Story) Timson of Swampscott, MA.
He married in Lynn, MA, November 20, 1882, Susan M. Herrick, both of Lynn. He was a shoe-cutter, aged twenty-two years; she was a bookkeeper, aged twenty-one years. She was born in Lynn, MA, November 12, 1861, daughter of George W. and Maria Herrick.
Business Troubles. Charles O. Timson, shoemaker, Swampscott, is in bankruptcy. Liabilities $4269, assets $65 (Boston Globe, December 11, 1898).
Charles O. Timson, a shoe cutter, aged thirty-nine years (b. MA), headed a Swampscott, MA, household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eighteen years), Susan M. Timson, aged thirty-eight years (b. MA), his children, Frederick H. Timson, at school, aged sixteen years (b. MA), George E. Timson, at school, aged twelve years (b. MA), Louis E. Timson, at school, aged ten years (b. MA), Jennie M. Timson, aged ten years (b. MA), and Charles R. Timson, aged one year (b. MA), and his servant, Annie Sweetland, a servant, aged twenty-nine years (b. MA). Charles O. Timson owned their house at 40 Roy Street, free-and-clear. Susan M. Timson was the mother of six children, of whom five were still living.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Epping. Tlmson & Co. (West Epping), (Boston office 132 Lincoln St.); men’s and women’s medium welts and turns. C.O. Timson, buyer. Makers of “The Timson Shoe” and “Foot Ease Comfort Shoes.” D. (Boot & Shoe Reporter, 1914).
MILTON MILLS, N.H. It is reported that the firm of TIMSON & Co., now operating at West Epping, will move its entire business here. This firm, through the efforts of the Board of Trade, have purchased the shoe factory owned by Andrews, Wasgatt, & Co., Everett, Mass. Timson & Co. are makers of nurse and comfort shoes, turned work, and have steady trade for their product. They have been manufacturing shoes for the past seventeen years, and for the last fourteen years have only shut down while taking account of stock (McLeish, 1915).
The pretty town of Milton Mills is to be congratulated upon securing a new shoe industry. Timson & Co., now operating in West Epping, are to move their plant into the factory formerly occupied by Andrews-Wasgatt. They intend to start with about 100 employees. This will be a valuable addition to the manufacturing interests already there (Farmington News, October 1, 1915).
BOSTON AND NEW ENGLAND. Takes Large Factor[y]. Timson & Co., makers of comfort shoes, who were formerly in business in Lynn, are to move from West Epping, N.H., to a large factory at Milton Mills, N.H. (Shoe & Leather Reporter, 1915).
Industrial Information. New Enterprises and Changes in the Trade. EPPING, N.H. The Timson Shoe Company have cleared their factory of machinery and removed to Milton Mills, N.H. The past ten weeks have seen nearly a dozen families convey their goods to Milton Mills, and it is to be regretted, as it was only industry of the town. There rumors to the effect the factory soon be occupied again (American Shoemaking, 1916).
NEW CORPORATIONS. A list of the corporations formed last week in New England, with the capitalization and the names of the leading incorporators, is given herewith. Massachusetts. Timson & Company, Inc., Boston – Charles O. Timson, Howard L. Vaughn, Mary A. Golden; boot and shoe manufacturers: $50,000 (Boston Globe, March 6, 1916).
Business Troubles. Charles O. Timson, treasurer of Timson & Co. Inc., Acton, Me., Milton. N.H., West Epping, N.H., and 207 Essex st., Boston, has made an assignment on behalf of the company of its land, buildings, factory property, stock, machinery and fixtures to Frederick D. Merrill, Albert D. Hawkie and Richard Feaker (Boston Globe, February 21, 1917).
Buyers’ Guide to Boston Offices. Shoe Manufacturers, Wholesale Dealers and the Findings Trade. Timson Bros. (Milton Mills); 630 Atlantic Ave. (Boot & Shoe Reporter, 1918).
LYNN MAN, IN AMBULANCE CORPS, GIVEN WAR CROSS. LYNN, March 28. – For bravery shown in the removal of wounded in the Verdun section during December and January, Louis E. Timson of Lynn, an American ambulance driver, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. Yesterday’s news dispatches from Paris mentioned his name among several other American ambulance men as recipients of the war cross. Whether yesterday’s news story is a belated official announcement of the awarding of the Croix de Guerre in January or whether it means that another decoration has been conferred upon him is not known to members of his family, who live at 7A Shore drive. He is 27 years old, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles O. Timson, and is engaged with his brother, George Timson, in the manufacture of shoes in Boston. Last June he volunteered for service with the American Ambulance Corps in France and was assigned to Section 13, which was turned over to the French Army located in the Verdun sector. Timson has had many narrow escapes from death from shells, but has escaped injury. When his six months volunteer service was completed he was the first member of Section 13 to enlist in the United States Army (Boston Globe, March 29, 1918).
Business Troubles. An involuntary petition in bankruptcy has been filed against the Charles O. Timson Shoe Co., Lynn, at the instance of three creditors whose claims amount to $521.39 (Boston Globe, October 20, 1922).
LYNN AND HUDSON AUTOS IN MARLBORO COLLISION. MARLBORO, Oct 22. -Charles O. Timson, 63, of 80 Silsbee st., Lynn, was assisted from his overturned automobile after a crash with another car at the corner of Lincoln and Bolton sts. yesterday, where the police found him head down and feet upward. He was without a scratch, but complained of pain. He was the operator and only occupant of the car. The other car in the crash was owned and operated by Mrs. Lillian Ryan of 73 Lincoln st., Hudson. She was shaken up. Both cars were badly damaged. Timson’s car turned over twice. Officer William Dolan and other members of the Marlboro police aided Timson in extricating himself from the wreck (Boston Globe, October 22, 1929).
Susan M. (Herrick) Timson died in Danvers, MA, December 27, 1948. Charles O. Timson died in Lynn, MA, March 2, 1950.
RECENT DEATHS. CHARLES O. TIMSON, 89, retired shoe manufacturer. At Lynn (Boston Globe, March 3, 1950).
Clayton, W. Woodford. (1880). History of York County, Maine: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=-e8gAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA428
McDermott, Charles H. (1920). A History of the Shoe and Leather Industries of the United States Together with Historical and Biographical Notices. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=J0dJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA348
Yale University. (1913). Quarter-Centenary Record of the Class of 1885, Yale University: Covering the Thirty-one Years from Its Admission Into the Academic Department, 1881-1912, Yale ’85; Pub. for the Class. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=6bcvAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA358
Seth F. Dawson appeared in the Lawrence directory of 1873, as proprietor of Seth F. Dawson & Co., provisions, on Garden street, at its corner with Newbury street. His house was at 22 Spring street. His widowed mother, Hannah Dawson, as well as his brothers, Henry Dawson, who was a clerk at Seth F. Dawson’s, and William H. Dawson, who was a clerk, all resided at 22 Spring street. Seth F. Dawson appeared also as Recording Steward, and Treasurer of Stewards, of the Garden Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
He and his son, Leroy T. Brierley, appeared in the Milton directories of 1900, and 1902, as keeping a general store at 41 Main street in Milton Mills, with a residence at A.S., M.M., i.e., Acton, ME, side, Milton Mills. [Springvale Road].
David H. Buffum was born in North Berwick, ME, November 10, 1820, son of Timothy and Anna (Austin) Buffum.
LYNN MAN, IN AMBULANCE CORPS, GIVEN WAR CROSS. LYNN, March 28. – For bravery shown in the removal of wounded in the Verdun section during December and January, Louis E. Timson of Lynn, an American ambulance driver, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. Yesterday’s news dispatches from Paris mentioned his name among several other American ambulance men as recipients of the war cross. Whether yesterday’s news story is a belated official announcement of the awarding of the Croix de Guerre in January or whether it means that another decoration has been conferred upon him is not known to members of his family, who live at 7A Shore drive. He is 27 years old, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles O. Timson, and is engaged with his brother, George Timson, in the manufacture of shoes in Boston. Last June he volunteered for service with the American Ambulance Corps in France and was assigned to Section 13, which was turned over to the French Army located in the Verdun sector. Timson has had many narrow escapes from death from shells, but has escaped injury. When his six months volunteer service was completed he was the first member of Section 13 to enlist in the United States Army (Boston Globe, March 29, 1918).
Milton Observer 