There is no question that Jonathan Hosmer, builder of our 1760 Hosmer House, came from a family committed to the colonists’ side in the Revolutionary War. Jonathan’s brother Abner and his son Jonathan died while serving the cause. We thought it would be a simple matter to discover whether "builder" Jonathan also served. What we discovered instead was that over the past 240 years, writers’ assumptions have created a tangle of confused identities of three generations of Jonathan Hosmers. Trying to sort them out was daunting. The ProblemsAt least two major problems occur when trying to prove or disprove Revolutionary War service. Many records have been lost, assuming they ever existed. For example, three Acton companies went to Concord on April 19, 1775, but we do not have exact roster lists for any of them. Members of Captain Isaac Davis’ company have been identified based on his successor John Hayward’s “Lexington Alarm” muster roll, generally thought to be fairly complete, though still not perfect. Captain Joseph Robbins’ East Acton company was almost a complete mystery until the 1990s. His descendants found and donated to the Acton Historical Society papers that listed those who signed up to train with Captain Robbins in 1774 and a memo written at some point that listed those who served with him in the army in 1775-1776. (They, too, are probably not complete and do not specify those who were at the Bridge in Concord, but they certainly added enormously to what had been previously known.) Simon Hunt’s company of April 19, 1775 is still almost completely unidentified. Clearly, some Acton men’s service on that day (and later in the war) will never be known. In addition, and particularly relevant for this situation, the existing lists often consist only of names without identifying details. The common practice of naming sons for fathers (or grandfathers or uncles) makes it hard for modern researchers to distinguish among them. (See our blog post on John Swift, as one example.) The lists sometimes included “Junr” or “2nd”after a name, but the designation was inconsistent, even for the same man, and might change after the older generation died. To find out if builder Jonathan Hosmer served in the war, we first had to isolate what is known and documented. Starting with what we know: The Jonathans Three Jonathan Hosmers (that we know of) lived in Acton at the beginning of the American Revolution:
Indications of Jonathan Hosmer's Military ServiceA memorial notation on Submit (Hosmer) Barker’s gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery says: “This in memory of Jonathan Hosmer Junr, Son of Mr Jonathan Hosmor & Mrs. Submit his wife, who died at Bennington in ye Servis of his Country In the 18th year of his age.” Submit Barker, who died in February, 1783, was Jonathan (3)’s sister. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the American Revolution, a compilation done by the Secretary of the Commonwealth in the 1890s (volume 8, page 289) states that “Hosmer, Jonathan (also given Jonathan, Jr.)” was among men listed by Captain Simon Hunt on August 14, 1777 who were drafted “from train band and alarm list” (men available to go) to reinforce the Continental Army. On its own, the parenthetical statement “also given Jonathan Jr.” is somewhat confusing. Based on similar entries and the fact that Mass. Soldiers and Sailors only included one entry for a Jonathan Hosmer in Simon Hunt’s listing of draftees, we assume this parenthetical note was to distinguish Jonathans, rather than to suggest that two Jonathans were on the draft list. The Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors entry adds that Jonathan Hosmer enlisted as a Private in Capt. George Minott’s Company, Col. Samuel Bullard’s regiment, on August 16, 1777 and was discharged Oct. 1, 1777, noting compensation for nine days’ journey home. (From the gravestone, we know that he did not make it back to Acton.) Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors also shows a separate entry for Jonathan Hosmer, called up with Captain Simon Hunt’s Acton company, March 4, 1776, to help to fortify Dorchester Heights. His rank was Sergeant. No other Revolutionary War service for a Jonathan Hosmer was found by the compilers of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the American Revolution. (Note that their records were incomplete. Early service in the war is particularly difficult to document; even Abner Hosmer who died at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775 is not listed.) Compiled lists that we have of men who went from Acton to fight at Concord or Bunker Hill do not include a Jonathan Hosmer. If one of the Acton Jonathans served in 1775, we have no proof of it. Assumptions and Confusion The possibility that Deacon Jonathan Hosmer (1) served militarily in the Revolutionary War was discussed in an earlier blog post, concluding that it was unlikely and that there was no supporting evidence. Jonathan Hosmer (3)’s war service is clear from the Woodlawn Cemetery memorial. Acton records show that he was born September 24, 1760, and the gravestone says that he died in service in his 18th year. This matches the military record for Jonathan Hosmer’s serving in Captain Minott’s company August 16-October 1, 1777. As discussed above, Mass. Soldiers and Sailors makes it appear that only one Jonathan Hosmer served in that company. (Another blog post discusses this 1777 service.) Tradition in the family and town seems to have been that both Jonathan (2) and (3) served at some point in the Revolution. In 1895, the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution marked the Acton graves of individuals that they believed had served in the Revolutionary War. An April 18, 1895 Concord Enterprise listing and a 1901 inventory stated that both Jonathan Hosmer and Jonathan Hosmer Jr.’s graves had been marked. Charles Bradley Stone, born in Acton to a Hosmer mother, applied to the Sons of the American Revolution as a great-grandson of Stephen Hosmer, Revolutionary War soldier. (National SAR member #5046, application available on Ancestry.com) In addition to describing Stephen’s service, the application states that Stephen’s brother Abner Hosmer fell at Concord and that “Jonathan Hosmer his brother was also in the service and his son Jonathan Jr was killed at Bennington. Recapitulation My great-great grandfather Deacon Jonathan Hosmer had three sons in the service viz Sthephen [?], Jonathan & Abner and one grandson Jonathan Jr who was killed.” Unfortunately, no sources of proof of non-ancestors’ service were presented. (Note that the list omits the service of younger brother Jonas Hosmer who moved to Walpole, NH after the war.) Rev. James T. Woodbury, installed as first minister of the Evangelical Church of Acton in 1832, compiled a list of Acton Revolutionary War soldiers. Presumably it was based upon collective memories and the few written records that he had access to; he acknowledged at the time that it was very incomplete. Rev. James Fletcher’s Acton in History (page 263) reproduced the list, including “Jonathan Hosmer, Esq., Simon’s father, died in the army”. Jonathan (2) was Simon’s father and actually lived until 1822; this entry combined him and his son. Was the error simply a “typo” in Fletcher’s book? Did Rev. Woodbury credit service to the wrong Jonathan Hosmer, or should he have included both the father Jonathan (2) and the son Jonathan (3)? Over a century later, Harold Phalen revised the list in his own history of Acton, changing the entry to “Hosmer, Jonathan (died in Army)” (page 385). This cleared up the conflation of the two Jonathans, but it eliminated Jonathan (2) from the service list. (Adding more confusion, Phalen’s index entry for Jonathan Hosmer’s Revolutionary War service includes the title “Ensign & Capt.” that belonged to a later Jonathan Hosmer.) Town histories are not the only source of identity confusion. At least two hereditary society applications mentioned the 1777 service of their ancestor “Jonathan Hosmer Jr.,” private in Capt. George Minott’s company, Col. Samuel Bullard’s regiment, but gave the birth and death dates of Jonathan (2). (Ada Isabel (Jones) Marshall, Daughters of the American Revolution member #46274, Lineage Book Vol. 47, page 126; Merton Augustine Jewett Hosmer, National Sons of the American Revolution member #73474 application, both available through Ancestry.com). Augustine Hosmer’s entry in the 1893 Massachusetts SAR roster (page 93) cited the same service and dates for ancestor “Jonathan Hosmer.” Finding the father's service If we are correct that the 1777 service cited in the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors entry belonged only to Jonathan (3), it seems that Jonathan (2) was credited with his son's service in a number of sources. The question remains, can we definitively show military service of Jonathan (2) separate from that of his son?
It is very possible that some of Jonathan Hosmer (2)’s Revolutionary service is unrecorded, but the only actual close-to-the-time evidence that we have found is the listing of those in Captain Simon Hunt’s Acton company, March 4, 1776, called to help fortify Dorchester Heights. Sergeant Jonathan Hosmer went with the company along with Jonathan (2)’s younger brother Stephen who served as Corporal. Jonathan (3) would have been fifteen years old at that point. It is possible that he could have gone with the Acton militia that day, but it is very unlikely that he would have been chosen sergeant, outranking his uncle who was twenty-one years older. Of the information that we have, we believe that this record shows military service that belongs to Jonathan (2). Unfortunately, the fact that both Jonathan (2) and Jonathan (3) were at times known as “Junior” seems to have led to confusion among those who tried to compile lists of soldiers in later years. We have tried, very cautiously, to disentangle the various references to Jonathan Hosmer’s war service. Much as we want answers to our questions, we can only work with the information that we have. As research on Jonathan Hosmer has progressed, we have been reminded how critical it is to state sources and to distinguish assumptions from proof so that people after us can draw their own conclusions. We would be grateful to hear from anyone who has more information about the Hosmers’ experiences in the Revolutionary era, whether military or not. The Hosmer family of Acton contributed and sacrificed a great deal during the Revolutionary War years, and we at the Society, caretakers of a Hosmer family home, want to make sure that they are remembered. Pictures are often truly worth a thousand words, but sometimes it would help to have words accompanying them. A Find-A-Grave memorial for Acton’s Deacon Jonathan Hosmer (1712-1775) has clear photographs of his gravestone with a Sons of the American Revolution marker directly in front of it. The marker implies that Deacon Jonathan Hosmer was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. But was he?
Deacon Jonathan Hosmer was born March 29, 1712 and died June 25, 1775. He served the town of Acton from its founding in 1735, becoming a selectman in 1743 and town clerk in 1744, serving in both capacities through 1755, and again 1758-1761. He also served as Deacon in the town's church. Records cited by Charles Husbands' History of the Acton Minutemen and Militia Companies (page 109) show that Deacon Jonathan served in the "Acton Alarm Company" in 1757. He would have been sixty-three when the Revolution started in April, 1775. He probably would have been exempt from militia duty by that point, but it could be possible that he served at some point in the two months before his death. The problem is that there is no evidence that he did. Noting that full records do not exist of all who served militarily in the spring of 1775, we can say that no Acton Jonathan Hosmer is mentioned in existing lists of soldiers who marched to Concord or of those who served at Bunker Hill. The compilation of service in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (volume 8, page 289) noted no known service by a Jonathan Hosmer before 1776. All applications for membership in the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution that we have seen have cited the military service of Deacon Jonathan’s sons, not his own service. None of the later lists of Revolutionary War veterans in Acton town histories included “Deacon” Jonathan Hosmer or implied that he was the Jonathan Hosmer they referred to. Fletcher’s Acton in History, page 270, relates a story about Deacon Jonathan on April 19, 1775. His granddaughter Sarah, whose Uncle Abner had marched to Concord from the family farm that morning, remembered that her grandfather “went out to see if he could hear any news on that day, and when he returned he groaned when he passed their window to go into the front door. What sorrow was then experienced!” Clearly, Deacon Jonathan was not at the Battle of Concord but instead had to suffer the agony of waiting and learning of the loss of his son Abner. He also would have learned that another from his household had been wounded that day, Luther Blanchard who had been living on his farm while learning the mason’s trade. We can assume that the last two months of Deacon Hosmer’s life must have been filled with grief and concern for his family and townsfolk, but we have found no proof or even implication that he was in the army at the time. So why is there an SAR marker on Deacon Jonathan Hosmer’s grave? Unfortunately, it is impossible to know where the marker was originally placed. We know that markers were placed for Jonathan Hosmer and Jonathan Jr. in April, 1895. (See a discussion and listing of Acton's SAR markers.) We also know that in the mid-1990s when the Revolutionary War-era stones were photographed for the town of Acton, the SAR marker was not directly in front of Deacon Jonathan’s stone. A recent visit to Woodlawn Cemetery revealed that since the Find-A-Grave photos were taken, the SAR marker had been moved to the left side of the stone and then fallen down. Unfortunately, markers are not a perfect indication of war service; even if they were originally placed in the correct location, winter upheavals, maintenance, and even well-meaning “corrections” can move them. The same visit to Woodlawn Cemetery showed that there is currently no SAR marker for the Acton Jonathan Hosmer whose Revolutionary War service is actually mentioned on his gravestone. It is highly likely that the marker originally meant for his gravestone was mistakenly placed on his grandfather’s grave at some point. Research into the military service of Acton's other Jonathan Hosmers will be discussed in a future blog post. 9/17/2017 Reexamining Our Own HistoryHere at the Acton Historical Society, part of our work is to preserve the 1760 Jonathan Hosmer House and to share it with the public. Wrapping up our celebration of 40 years of stewardship of the house, we launched an “Out of the Ashes” exhibit to highlight the work of the amazingly far-sighted and intrepid citizens who rescued the house after arson and vandalism in the 1970s. Some sections of the house were in terrible condition. The pictures displayed at the exhibit are humbling to those of us tasked with caring for the house as it is today. As work on the exhibit progressed, we realized that not only did we need to show the work of our predecessors, but also to remind people of the many reasons that the house is a treasure worth preserving. The house has stood through a great amount of history. Its story in some ways is representative of Acton’s own progression from an outlying, colonial farm town with one church to a collection of villages shaped by the railroads to a busy suburban community. Some highlights of what we have learned about the house’s history so far: The original house was built in 1760 by Jonathan Hosmer. He moved in with his new wife Submit Hunt and raised seven children there. A mason as well as a farmer, Jonathan installed plaster on the end(s) of the house and painted and scored it to look like brick. It is not a surface that one would expect to last for centuries, but some of it was preserved by an addition and was discovered when the house was restored. Some pieces of the original painted plaster will be on display at the exhibit. The Hosmer family was deeply involved in town affairs and in the colonists' cause during the Revolutionary War, a subject that is currently being researched and will require a separate blog post. Here we will simply mention that it was a costly involvement for the family; Jonathan's brother Abner was killed at Concord in April, 1775, and Jonathan and Submit's eldest son Jonathan died in service in Bennington in October, 1777. The house became a two-family when youngest son Simon married and Jonathan added a second dwelling to the original house, complete with a large second kitchen. Jonathan’s skills as a mason would have been useful in adding three more fireplaces to the original five and adding another large chimney. Simon and his wife Sarah Whitney raised eight children in the house and lost two more. It would have been the site of much activity. After almost 80 years, the farm was sold. The new owner Rufus Holden split the property. Hosmer children and grandchildren apparently owned at least two of the pieces. (The Society has one of the deeds transferring land to Jonathan Hosmer’s son-in-law.) The house itself was sold again to Francis Tuttle, a merchant who moved in with his wife Harriet Wetherbee and their youngest four daughters. In April 1861 after the fall of Fort Sumter, the house was again the home of worried parents as their eldest son went off to war. Captain Daniel Tuttle led the Davis Guards to join Massachusetts’ 6th Regiment that was the first to arrive in Washington fully equipped to serve after Lincoln put out the call for troops. The Society is fortunate to own several items relating to Captain Tuttle and the Davis Guards, including the drum carried to battle by Gilman S. Hosmer, grandson of Simon. Francis Tuttle’s children and their spouses were deeply involved in the commercial development of South Acton as the village grew after the arrival of the railroad. The founders of the firm “Tuttles, Jones, and Wetherbee,” merchants of the Exchange Hall, were all related, and other family members were brought into the business as well. The house sold again in 1868, this time to Edward O’Neil, a native of County Cork who worked on the Fitchburg Railroad. He and his wife Mary Sheridan raised four children in the house. We are currently trying to learn more about this period in the house’s history. We do know that in 1870, the house was being used as a two-family dwelling, with the O’Neils and four children on one side and Edward’s (probable) sister Catherine (O’Neil) Waldron’s family on the other. The O’Neils’ lives were not easy; all three of the sons died of TB. The house passed to daughter Mary Mehegan in 1908. Between 1908 and 1918, the house sold for $1 four times. We are trying to discover why and to understand the relationships among the owners. In 1918, the house was sold to George S. Todd who worked in the composing room of the Boston Globe. For almost 100 years, the house’s attic has stored a box of paper matrices for an evening edition of the Globe from the first week of August, 1918, the week that George Todd bought the house. We don’t know if they were a keepsake or if perhaps he used them as packing material. Some of the pages will be on display in an upcoming exhibit. George’s sister Ethel lived in the house with him and eventually owned the property. The siblings took care of animals, many of whom George brought home from the city to save them from a sad fate. George Todd had a garage built in 1922. It became the site of an early automobile service business apparently run by a relative of the O’Neils. Work on the Hosmer House property uncovered old car parts; a few license plates and a decorative leaded glass insert will also be on display at the exhibit. There is much more to learn about the house and its people, both the Hosmers and the later inhabitants. The O’Neils and Todds lived on the property for about 100 years; we would like to learn more about them in order to have a complete and balanced history of the house. We would be particularly interested in finding pictures of them and of the property while they were living there. An auction was held at their property after Ethel Todd’s death in 1969, we would be interested in finding out what items were still in the house at that time. Aside from the Todds’ addition of electricity and plumbing and a few minor alterations that were reversed during the restoration, one of the unique features of the house is that it was left almost completely intact. The house has essentially maintained its shape since 1797. We are fortunate to be stewards of the property and to share its story. Please visit the house and view the wonderful items from Acton’s history that it contains. We’re always learning something new; we hope that you will, too. If you can add to our knowledge of the property and its occupants, we would be delighted to hear from you. While researching the Spanish American war, we found a surprising local news item in the Concord Enterprise (July 21, 1898, page 8): “...the buildings of the American Powder Co of Acton have been under constant surveillance night and day by guards... It is said that persons supposed to be spies have been seen the last few weeks in the vicinity of the works in the night hours and it is generally supposed that Spanish spies have been around.” The excitement seems to have abated quickly, but there was plenty of other powder mill news in Acton in that period.
Powder had been made in Acton since the 1830s. In the 1890s, the American Powder Mills ran a large operation at the intersection of the towns of Acton, Maynard, Sudbury and Concord. High demand for smokeless powder led another firm to locate in Acton. In May, 1898, the Enterprise announced that the New York and New England Titanic Smokeless Powder Company was building a plant in South Acton in John Fletcher’s pasture near Rocky Brook and Parker’s crossing on the Fitchburg railroad. The building was to be approximately 100 x 20 feet with one story for manufacturing, and there would be a storehouse (presumably separate). The product would be “Titanic smokeless” powder. The paper noted, “There is but little danger in the making of this powder.” (May 19, page 8) The firm obtained government orders, and the Fitchburg Railroad added a track to the mill site. Open for business around the beginning of September, the company immediately realized that the installed machinery was not suitable and would have to be replaced. The factory finally started work around the end of October. After only a week of operation, the mill blew up. (Nov. 3, page 8) The cause was uncertain, but one of the men working inside noticed something was wrong with the machinery and was able to alert the others in time for everyone to escape. Employee Dyer had to make his way out through fire, but with the help of the others, removed his burning clothing and was mostly unharmed. The Enterprise assured the public that “The buildings were thoroughly made and everything was in first class order,” probably addressing a common question about the cause. A previous article had mentioned that “work on the new powder mill is rushing.” (May 26, page 8) The company rebuilt. In fact, the Enterprise noted that the explosion had provided winter employment for a fair number of people in South Acton. (Jan. 19, 1899, page 8] In February, 1899, the powder mill was pronounced to be sound and ready to work. “We wish them better luck than last time,” wrote the Enterprise (Feb. 8, page 7). Sadly, by the end of the year, the New York & New England Titanic Smokeless Powder Company was in involuntary bankruptcy (Enterprise, Dec. 21, 1899, page 11 and Boston Sunday Globe, Dec. 17, 1899 page 21). The machinery was sold off to people from Nashua, NH (Enterprise, Sept. 8, 1900, page 8). We did not find out what happened to the building. Meanwhile, the well-established American Powder mills nearby were having their own excitement. The Concord Junction news in the January 27, 1898 Enterprise (page 5) mentioned that an explosion at the powder mill had been felt, though we could not find details or confirmation anywhere else. In early September, 1899, the company’s “Wheel Mill No. 5” blew up, followed quickly by No. 4. (Enterprise, Sept. 7, 1899, p. 4) The manufacturing process involved grinding powder between two enormous wheels that were powered, by 1899, by electricity. In this case, about five hundred pounds of powder in the two mills exploded, but fortunately there was no loss of life. A little over a month later, it was discovered that in the very early hours of Saturday morning October 14, someone had created a 125-foot long trail of powder from the woods behind the property, along a plank walk and the railroad tracks, to “the pulverizing mill which was in operation. The air was surcharged with powder and the slightest spark would have caused an explosion which would have blown all the surrounding buildings into atoms” along with the eight men working there. (Enterprise, Oct. 19, 1899, p. 6) Luckily, the powder burned out before reaching the mill. The case was not hard to crack; a disgruntled worker’s face had been severely burned from his attempt. Though at first he only acknowledged being in the woods and drinking, eventually he pleaded guilty. (Lowell Sun, Oct. 16, page 4 and Oct. 21, pm edition page 1; Enterprise, Oct. 19, page 6) There really was no need for spies around Acton’s powder mills; they were dangerous enough places on their own, with malfunctioning equipment and angry workers making the risks even greater. Though it was neither the first nor the last time Acton’s powder industry would make the news, 1898 and 1899 were interesting years. 8/1/2017 Sidney J. Edwards and Edwards SquareAt first glance, one might wonder why Sidney J. Edwards Square at the intersection of Central Street and Massachusetts Avenue in West Acton is named after someone who was born in England and fought for Canada in World War I. It turns out that he and many others, especially those with British origins, joined up to serve in Canada while the United States was not yet involved in the “Great War”. Sidney Edwards was killed two years before the war became real for most Americans. Sidney John Edwards’ birth, possibly in December 1878, was recorded in Barnstaple, Devon, England between January and March, 1879. By the 1880 U.S. census, he was in Acton. His father Alfred J. (a carpenter, age 25), mother Rhoda (age 22), and Sidney (age 1) were living with Eliza Owen (Alfred’s sister), her husband Thomas, and their three children. Sidney’s sister Millicent Mamie Edwards was born in South Acton on July 17, 1880. After that point in Sidney’s life, we have a bit of a mystery. In the Society’s collection, there is a white card on which someone typed a brief (and quite incomplete) synopsis of Sidney’s life. The card has tack holes as if it were once part of an exhibit. It states that Sidney was born in England, moved to Acton as an infant, and lived in the town until he was fourteen years old. We have tried to confirm that timeline and so far have not found evidence that Sidney was in town that long. (Unfortunately, the card has no notation of its date, author, or source.) The Owen family stayed in Acton, but Sidney’s family moved fairly quickly. Millicent’s death record in 1881 and brother William’s birth record in 1882 listed a residence of Boston. Father Alfred’s 1888 naturalization reported his address as Winchester, MA, and he seems to have stayed there through 1917. (In the city directories that we found, Alfred was a listed Winchester resident in 1889, 1895-1908, and 1915. We also found him in Winchester in a 1909 Masonic record, the 1900 and 1910 censuses, and 1915 newspaper reports.) It’s possible that Sidney stayed with Acton relatives during his childhood, but one would ordinarily assume that he lived in Boston and Winchester with his parents. (Neither of those locations is mentioned in the typed biography.) At the very least, Sidney probably spent time in Acton visiting his many Owen cousins. Sidney’s obituary (from the Winchester Star), reported that he graduated from Winchester High School and the Burdett Business College in Boston. He worked as a clerk for Boston’s A. C. Lawrence Leather Company, living with his family in Winchester for several years. Around 1908, he moved to British Columbia. The gold industry was booming in the town of Hedley, and Sidney worked in the reduction plant of the Hedley Gold Mining Company. In 1913, the local Hedley Gazette reported that he had been initiated into the Loyal Orange Lodge. He also served in a local militia unit, the 102nd Regiment of the Rocky Mountain Rangers. At the outbreak of the First World War, Sidney went to Victoria, British Columbia to enlist in the regular army. His enlistment papers show him to have been 5’ 6.5” tall with brown hair, fair complexion, blue eyes, and robust health. On November 1, 1914, he became a private in the 30th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. According to his military record at Library and Archives Canada, he sailed for Britain on Feb. 23, 1915. (A newspaper report mentioned that his father traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia to see him off.) In the reshuffling of troops that occurred after the Canadians went overseas, the 30th Battalion supplied manpower for the needs of other units. Sidney was transferred to Canada’s 15th Battalion that saw action at Festubert, France in mid-May 1915. He was lost in the shelling during that battle. Sidney was originally reported as missing. The Boston Daily Globe reported on June 4, 1915 that his father had just received a telegram saying that Sidney's whereabouts were unknown. The family hoped that he had been captured rather than killed. However, a letter received by his parents and published in the Winchester Star on June 11th and later in the Hedley Gazette stated that he had been killed on May 20th. Lieutenant H. Price of the platoon from which Sidney was transferred wrote that Sidney’s new assignment had been to help to form a machine gun section and that he was killed in that capacity by the bursting of a shell on the night of May 20th. Canadian army records say that he was last accounted for in the trenches at Festubert. Apparently, his body was never recovered; his service records state that he was declared missing 21 May 1915 and later declared dead with an assumed death date of May 21 for official purposes. For some reason, though Sidney’s parents had been informed of the circumstances of his death by Lieutenant Price by June, 1915, headquarters did not have the same information. There was probably a great deal of confusion; the official war diary for May 20 stated that the 15th battalion had 150 casualties that day. After Sidney’s death, his family moved back to Acton, living there from 1917-1928 (according to Concord Enterprise articles, the 1920 census and a 1927 passenger list). Sidney’s parents were in town when Acton’s 1924 town meeting voted to rename West Acton’s Central Square in his honor and during the dedication at the 1924 Memorial Day exercises. After mother Rhoda’s death, father Alfred moved for a few years to Lake Forest, Illinois, returned to his School Street house in the summers, and finally relocated to Acton between 1935 and 1940 (according to the 1940 census). Sidney J. Edwards was born in England, grew up in the United States, and fought with Canadian troops, a man from multiple places whose final resting place, very sadly, is not known for certain. He is, however, memorialized in a number of locations. He is one of the soldiers with no known grave who are memorialized by the beautiful monument to Canadian War Dead at Vimy Ridge in France. He is mentioned on his parents’ gravestone in Acton’s Woodlawn Cemetery and has a memorial marker in Sidney J. Edwards Square, West Acton. In addition, his name is included on the World War 1 monument in Hedley, British Columbia where he was living and working at the time of his enlistment. Ironically, despite the fact that the article that reported his death in the Winchester Star was entitled “Winchester Boy Killed at Front,” he was not listed at the base of Winchester’s War Memorial as one of Winchester’s war dead and is not on the Roll of Honor by the town hall. Sidney was gone and his family had moved on by the time the lists were created. Soldiers’ and families’ circumstances and residences were sometimes complicated and often changed. The lesson for family researchers is that if a soldier is missing from a veterans’ roll in a town from which he/she came, it is worth double-checking corroborating records. As we have discovered in Acton and elsewhere, lists of veterans do not always tell the whole story, even if carved in stone or displayed in bronze. The Society does not have a picture of Sidney J. Edwards. If anyone has more information about him or would be willing to donate a photo or a scan, we would be grateful to be able add it to our collection. 7/3/2017 The Glorious Fourth in ActonIn honor of Independence Day, we looked back at how the people of Acton celebrated the Fourth in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Concord Enterprise, a local newspaper, regularly reported on the celebration. It was a day for gathering with family and friends. Many businesses were closed, and most people were able to enjoy a day of leisure. The morning might start with a “horribles” parade with outlandish or comic costumes. Picnics were popular; people liked to gather at Lake Nagog, and some took the opportunity to fish there. Other people would head to Concord to picnic at Lake Walden. Some might host family reunions. None was likely to top the 1896 gala hosted by Adelbert and O.W. Mead who had a railroad car added to the local train to bring in 55 members of their family from Fitchburg to join the 60 who gathered at the Meads’ homes in West Acton.
Those craving a little more action had plenty of choices. Some entered their horses in races at Ayer or elsewhere; friends and neighbors would go to cheer them on. Baseball was a popular activity, either to play or to watch. The Acton team would often play neighboring towns on the 4th. In 1896, for example, the team played a double-header against Marlborough that drew five hundred spectators to the afternoon game. As bicycles became popular in the mid-1890s, road races were held either in Acton or neighboring towns. Unlikely though it may seem today, in 1900, there was a local yacht club that arranged a July 4th race on Lake Nagog. The newspaper reported, “The yacht race seems to have been more of a failure than a success as the boats broke down or met with some mishap near the start, D. H. Hall’s being the only one making a successful run.” On the evening of the Fourth, private citizens would often provide a fireworks display. For several years in the 1890s, South Acton was treated to fireworks by the Lothrop family. Cyrus Dole provided fireworks for a large crowd on the common in 1897 followed by cold drinks and an open house at his newly renovated summer home across from the library. Another place to view fireworks during the 1890s was Wright's Hill in West Acton. An article from 1892 mentioned people on Wright's Hill watching a hot air balloon going up and down miles away and, in the evening, seeing fireworks being set off all around the horizon. Acton’s former residents' activities on the day of the Fourth do not sound radically different from today’s. However, most people’s experiences of the night before the 4th were quite different. Year after year, “Young America” or “the small boy” would, in the name of “patriotism,” make noise throughout the evening of the July 3rd and create a ruckus at midnight. Tin horns were blown, and fireworks were set off. (“Crackers,” “cannons” and “torpedoes” were common.) As described in 1890, “pandemonium reigned supreme on the street until after midnight.” At midnight, the “boys” would often ring church bells, usually without permission. In 1897, a report in Acton Center said, “The selectmen had no special police on duty this year and the irrepressible youth took the gladsome opportunity of ringing the bells at midnight unmolested.” In 1895, the boys’ entertainment was repeatedly ringing the bell of the South Acton church and disappearing before the constable could catch them. In West Acton in 1900, the whistle at Hall Brothers’ pail factory was added to the din. It was such a long-standing custom that most people were resigned to the noise up until midnight. As one writer put it in 1892, “Well, we were all boys once, consequently were in full sympathy with the occasion.” (The writer was quite unconcerned about the sleep of the half of the population who were never boys and would not have been nostalgically remembering their days in the noisy throng.) Unfortunately, Young America was not always content to stop the noise at midnight. Writers mentioned them “making night hideous and sleep impossible” (1890) and ringing the bell “at intervals in an almost vain attempt we suppose to make the sun rise” (1891). In Acton Center, for at least two years, an impromptu “fife and drum corps” decided to stage a concert of patriotic songs after midnight. A few people spoke out about the rights of nonparticipants. One writer called the carousals disgraceful (1898), while another (1894) pointed out that “there are rights for all in this land of ours, and one may not encroach upon the other, though there be but one day in the year that calls forth such uproarious demonstration and general jubilee by the boys or the exercise of authority by law-abiding citizens. Let each respect the others’ privileges, and remember, boys, that though all gentlemen are not Americans the true American citizen is a gentleman under all circumstances.” Judging from the newspapers, gentlemanliness was not everyone's top priority on the night before the 4th. The townspeople were much more united in opposition to destruction of property. The expectation was that if the “boys” caused damage, they would fix it. In 1889, the South Acton correspondent reported “no serious damage excepting that the waves of sound created by the cannon were too much for the window glass in some residences, but the boys enjoyed the fun and no doubt everything will be made satisfactory.” In 1895, a group of young men egged Ed Banks’ house in South Acton. Mr. Banks informed them that they needed to clean it up. “It was a rather hard job, but a coat of paint will finish the work.” 1895 seems to have been a busy year; gates and other items were disarranged and an effigy was hung from the telegraph wire multiple times. In 1897, “the natives found a great display in the square in the morning, the most conspicuous object being South Acton’s ancient fire engine.... A number of wagons, single wheels and outhouses were also on exhibition.” The young men also cut the rope used to ring the bell at Tuttles, Jones & Wetherbee’s store. South Acton’s hook and ladder truck was taken in 1898, eliciting a threat from a Selectman that if the known leaders did not return it, they would suffer. (It was returned.) Even less acceptable was trouble from other towns, prompting the comment in 1893 that “when a party of men from another town come here and go to pulling down flags and demolishing chimneys, they should be severely dealt with.” A feature of old Acton’s celebrations was the prevalence of fireworks. In 1894, an enterprising South Acton postmaster decided to sell fireworks, which elicited an objection from the newspaper correspondent: “Fireworks in our post office? It would do well for the postmaster of this village to read up the law on this subject. The selectmen of a town have no right to license them to be sold in a post office. Please read what Uncle Sam says about it.” With many incendiaries going off, fire was a real concern. In 1895, a “suspicious” fire occurred on the Fourth in South Acton. This would have brought back memories of the previous July 4th when Hudson experienced a devastating fire started by boys with firecrackers. The fire wiped out 40 buildings over at least five acres in the heart of Hudson, including factories, shops, stables, five large halls, Y.M.C.A. rooms, a well-known photographic studio, the telephone station, and the post office. No one would have wanted a similar occurrence in Acton. The other major issue with fireworks was the possibility of injury. In 1889, Acton news reported that Herbert Clark, age 9, had mixed powder with dirt in a tin can and set it off; it exploded in his face. In 1895, Robert Randall lost his left hand firing a ”cannon.” An 1898 article mentioned that the year’s revelries had resulted in a few lost eyebrows. In 1899, Sheldon Littlefield was quite severely burned on his hand and face by the explosion of powder in a can. These injuries were not unique to Acton. In 1893, the local paper published a listing of the numerous “Patriotic Patients Treated at the Emergency Hospital” in Boston that year, most from careless handling of fireworks that included burns to hands and faces, lacerations, several missing fingers, and possible permanent loss of sight. In 1915, Acton celebrated differently. A South Acton committee planned a large-scale, organized 24 hours of events. Because the 4th fell on a Sunday, the celebration took place the next day. On the night of July 4th, a large bonfire of railroad ties that had been dragged to the top of a hill burned for nearly two hours. There was also a well-attended but orderly dance at the Exchange Hall. (A couple of individuals who drank or used obscene language found themselves in the lockup.) Though firecrackers seem to have been accepted in the evening (“the sound of exploding crackers made it appear like a miniature battle”), the "pandemonium" of former years was discouraged. In the early morning hours on Sunday, there was “the discharge of a few isolated fire crackers. As that was not as the plans had been arranged, the newly uniformed policeman called the patriotic spirited boys’ attention to the fact.” A big parade in the morning drew hundreds of spectators from neighboring towns. Of special note in the paper were the floats by Acton businesses; A. Merriam Co. (piano stools) showing the history of their products, Finney & Hoit (merchants) displaying a summer kitchen, and South Acton Woolen Company, showing off a large float with sections, one for live sheep, then wool, then rags, then shoddy, and finally cloth with a sign “Made from Shoddy,” a South Acton product. Grocer J. S. Moore displayed live animals and a sausage machine. A number of businesses were represented by their delivery wagons. Acton’s Road Commissioner and firemen displayed town vehicles. Other participants were the Boy Scouts, the “famous old Acton band,” and a twelve-member drum corps. A school float carried many of the young schoolchildren. A large number of Camp Fire Girls appeared with a tepee on an auto. There was a Peace Float with about 20 young ladies in white dresses. According to the paper, the suffrage auto carried several young women displaying sentiments of "Down with liquor. Don’t be a pinhead. Give woman a vote. Give women the vote and they will clean the town.” (Women apparently had finally found a way to make themselves heard on the Fourth.) Later, games and track-and-field competitions were held, and fireworks completed the day. If one stopped reading in 1915, one might think that Acton’s celebration had become completely sedate. However, the South Acton Enterprise correspondent in 1920 reported on “cannon" that were "fired off in several places in the village causing much damage by breaking glass. At the home of George Ames, School st., two windows were blown out and one at the house on the opposite side of the street. The glass in several windows at George Worster’s was cracked. It seems a great wonder that the beautiful windows of the Congregational church nearby did not suffer damage. Several windows at Acton Centre were also broken in the same way. The newly appointed policeman was right on his job and it is due to him and assistants that things were not much worse and the night made hideous.” Old habits die hard. 6/14/2017 The Disappearing World War I CannonA previous blog post discussed the furor that erupted in Acton in 1936 over placing a cannon from World War I on the town common. After much contention, it was installed near the town hall. Unfortunately, the Society does not have a picture of it, and the cannon is no longer there. Until last week, we had not found anyone who knew where it went.
One of our volunteers has been cataloguing a large number of newspaper clippings that came to the Society with records of the local American Legion. It turns out that among the clippings was the story of the fate of the World War I cannon. The American Legion materials include an article and two letters that were printed in an unknown newspaper, one dated December 19, 1942. Thanks to these clippings, we now know that the cannon was taken as part of the nationwide scrap metal drive in 1942. War production was gearing up, and citizens were urged to contribute not only metal but paper, rags, rubber, phonograph records, and even used fat to counteract shortages in military supplies. Along with school, church, and veterans’ groups, an Acton Scrappers Club was formed to collect material. Acton had a “scrap heap” at Kelley’s Corner. However, the World War I cannon went farther away. The article entitled “ACTON DONATES WORLD WAR GUN,” announced on November 12 (no year) that the nearby town of Acton had contributed a 7,420 pound cannon to the salvage drive conducted at Fort Devens. Fort supply officer Colonel Thomas Mahoney sent a “powerful ordnance wrecker” to Acton to pick up the gun which was dismantled and added to the Fort’s “immense scrap stockpile.” The writers of the letters in our collection were veterans and were certainly in favor of aiding the war effort. One of the writers was Herbert Leusher, Commander of the American Legion. He wrote that members of the Legion were busy gathering scrap metal themselves. However, they were upset that they had not been informed about plans to scrap the cannon that was, to them, a memorial. Legion members had been instrumental in bringing it to the town. Leusher said that “gladly would my organization have given its consent for the removal of the cannon but I would have called it a common decency to have been notified.” Someone in the town must have been involved in arranging the removal; it was presumably that person or people with whom the American Legion members were unhappy. The Legion members were not the only group dealing with these issues. In 1942, many metal items of historical, sentimental or aesthetic interest were claimed for the national salvage campaign. Railings, grates, and fences were torn down, including the iron fence around the State House in Boston. In August, Franklin Roosevelt called for the donation of old cannons and bronze statues that resided in parks and suggested that they could be replaced after the war with newer items. In the resulting patriotic fervor, the conflict between the tug of history and the need of the present was felt all over the country. A historic cannon was sometimes used as the impetus for local scrap drives. Though obviously the needs of the troops were paramount, opposition arose from people who wanted to make sure that the supply of “junk” was exhausted before historical artifacts were sacrificed. Such objections were not always appreciated; newspapers carried the story of St. Louis citizens who tried (unsuccessfully) to conduct a midnight mission to force the “donation” of a cannon on the capitol grounds to a salvage drive. Locally, newspapers reported debates about the fate of memorial cannons in other Massachusetts cities and towns, including Billerica, Burlington, Cambridge, and Townsend. Pittsfield in Western Massachusetts had collected cannons earlier in the year and, with ceremony, sent them in a “cannon caravan” over the route by which Henry Knox delivered artillery captured at Ticonderoga to help liberate Boston in 1776. Reading about the widespread scrapping of old cannon and other cherished items in 1942 makes the second letter in the Society’s collection more understandable. Major Charles Coulter’s letter talked about the Civil War cannons on the Town Common, with a colorful description of his views on Acton’s Civil War memorials. (His cynical assessment may have been shaped by the fight over bringing the World War I gun to the town in the first place.) Usefully, he described the cannons; they were rifled Civil War Parrotts, obtained for the town of Acton by Congressman John F. Fitzgerald, shipped to South Acton at government expense, and then brought to Acton Center by Nelson Tenney, who made the mounts and placed them on the Common. In Coulter’s view, they had no historic or sentimental value and no connection to Acton. “The scrap heap is the place for them.” Taken by itself, Major Coulter’s letter seemed surprisingly strong. However, reading about similar debates in cities and towns across the county allowed us to understand the context in which it was written. The Acton Legion’s World War I veterans were upset, not only that their memorial cannon was removed without notice, but that the big Civil War guns on Acton’s Town Common were left behind. Perhaps emotions were particularly high because the fight over obtaining the World War I cannon was still quite fresh in the memory of the Acton’s veterans, but they would naturally wonder why their cannon was considered less worthy of preservation than those from the Civil War. So Acton’s cannon controversy continued. In the end, despite Major Coulter’s views, the Civil War cannons stayed. Clearly someone decided that it wasn’t worth the cost, whether monetary or political, to send the old cannons to the scrap heap. The World War I veterans were memorialized in a bronze plaque across the street; fortunately, despite concerns of some of the veterans, the salvage drive never went so far as to claim it. 5/16/2017 The Misses Turner RevisitedWe reported in an earlier blog post the story of Harriet M. Turner and Estelle B. (Turner) Davis, sisters who collected songs in the South and played them for northern and European audiences, enjoying a brief period of fame. We recently came upon a piece of their sheet music entitled Rain that is owned by the Society. It was published by H. M. Turner, 113 Pinckney Street, Boston and has the Misses Turner's photo on the front. Newspapers seem to have used this picture (or nearly identical ones) as well; Estelle's marriage announcement in the Boston Globe in 1916 and an article about Harriet in the Boston Post in 1919 both used close-ups that allow us to confirm that Estelle was on the left and Harriet was on the right: The Society may also have other Turner family photos. Opening a long-unused drawer in the Hosmer House revealed a small stack of photographs, among them this one from Columbus, Georgia, where Harriet and Estelle Turner grew up. We believe the photos may have come from the house of Estelle (Turner) Davis who lived in East Acton in her later years. Could the young man be a relative of the Turner sisters, possibly a brother? (See below for information on the Turner family.) The photographer was Alpha A. Williams. We are trying to narrow down the dates. This photo must have been taken sometime after 1879 when A. A. Williams had a studio at 59 Broad. An 1886 map of Columbus showed his studio at the corner of Broad and 12th streets but did not show his exact address. In 1906, he was listed in the Columbus directory as working at 1151 1/2 Broad. Are the other portraits of relatives? If you can help us to identify them, we would love to figure out who they are. Turner Family Background Parents of the Turner Sisters: Alonzo Turner (born 1827 in NY, carpenter, lived in Columbus, Georgia by 1850, died 1904, buried in Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, GA) and Sarah E. Yarborough (born about 1838, birthplace given variously but probably Georgia, apparently was living with another family in Columbus, Georgia in 1850, married Alonzo Turner in Russell County, Alabama in 1856, had at least 7 children, was still in Columbus, Georgia with Alonzo in 1880, was living with daughters in New York City in 1900, death so far unknown) Children:
4/21/2017 Adventures at the Watering TroughIn former times, one of the difficulties of traveling was finding water for one’s animals. In the mid- to late 1800s, animal welfare advocates and civic-minded individuals worked to make water easily available. Individuals or groups would donate a watering trough to their towns, preferably with a well and a pump. Acton had several watering troughs. Researching their history gave us insights into the practicalities of traveling in the pre-automobile era and the evolution of attitudes during the transition years as horse-drawn vehicles were replaced by autos. In South Acton, a stone watering trough was erected in the square in the summer of 1896 using money left over from the defunct Reform Club. It was a great improvement over the former trough according to the Concord Enterprise. How it was supposed to be kept filled with water, however, was unclear. In October, 1897, the newspaper complained that the trough was dry most of the time. In June, 1898, it revealed that the selectmen had taken three months to fix the watering trough. A few weeks later, the South Acton correspondent reported “A little patience is needed. The selectmen are considering plans for furnishing water to the trough here,” and “The town fathers are thinking of digging a well near the watering trough and supply it with a pump. Anything will do, but please give us something soon.” Hopefully, the people were very patient; the well was finally dug over a year later. West Acton village’s provision of water for animals was also a long process. The village received a stone watering trough in 1905, probably partially funded by the donation that Acton received from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for that purpose. There must have been problems, because by 1908, the town needed to vote on securing “if possible, a supply of good water for the watering trough at West Acton.” In 1912, the town voted to extend the new public water service to the village troughs. The problems weren’t over; in 1914, the West Acton trough had to be enlarged because, as the Enterprise reported, “It could not hold enough water for the many horses on the milk teams, who gather here in the morning. The trough, which is in Central sq. is a great convenience to all concerned.” Progress, unfortunately, did not guarantee good water for animals. In October 1908, the Enterprise’s South Acton news reported that “There was a filthy act by a beastly, or dirty fellow rather, noticed the other day when a big burly hulk stepped up to the pump for a drink. He took a mouthful of water and rinsing his dirty tobacco mouth spit the foul stuff into the horse trough. It was too bad that Wisewinkers, the Sunday Post horse, could not have happened along and ducked the fellow in the water he had polluted.” Sometimes, the sight at the trough was more entertaining. The West Acton news on June 18, 1919 reported: “FOUR ELEPHANTS HERE -- It was a novel sight Sunday when four elephants with attendants appeared at Central sq. on their way to Maynard to join a circus company. The elephants were very dry and soon took all the water from the trough in the square.” The advent of the automobile changed perceptions of the watering troughs from a public good to, in some cases, a public nuisance. Their locations were originally chosen for animals’ use, but in later years, people wanted them moved in order to widen streets. There was not much concern about historical significance or sentimentality. Over time, the town’s watering troughs came to rest in places where they were not in the way of drivers. An October 1917 article in the Concord Enterprise reported that in Acton center, a committee had “succeeded in getting rid of the old pump and trough which makes the street at that point look much wider and is certainly a great improvement.” That trough, donated to the town by Harriet (Cowdrey) Little, was assigned a place so out-of-the-way that its location was a mystery for decades. It now resides in the Acton Arboretum. The West Acton watering trough was moved to Central Street in 1927 to make more room on Massachusetts Avenue and to improve sight-lines. The old South Acton stone watering trough, seemingly made superfluous by a more decorative iron replacement in 1913, was given another chance at relevance when the town connected water to it in 1930, creating a bubbler “for thirsty humans.” At the same time, the iron fountain was removed from Quimby Square. The Enterprise in February of that year reported that the fountain had “long been considered a menace to the school children as they gather to use it while autos are passing from all directions.” During the iron fountain’s removal, it was discovered that its base had been broken by collisions with the poles of horse-drawn vehicles. (The old stone troughs apparently had some advantages.) The iron fountain was moved to private property on High Street at some point and for the past several years has resided in front of the former Senior Center on Audubon Drive. Today, most of the town’s watering troughs would be passed by without a glance if it weren’t for the efforts of members of the Acton Garden Club. They have converted the troughs to planters and faithfully fill them with seasonal flowers and greens. For more information on the individual troughs, see their pages in the Markers and Monuments section of our website. |
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