Horace F. Tuttle & His Family - A Long Record of Service

A recent project at the Historical Society has been to index a large number of letters and documents relating to Horace F. Tuttle (1864-1955).  Researching his life led to an eye-opening record of service to the Town of Acton.  Acton’s 1956 Annual Town Report paid tribute to Horace’s family upon the retirement on December 31, 1956 of Harlan Emery Tuttle from his position as town clerk.  He had served for 15 years, following his father Horace Frederick Tuttle who served for 45 years (1896-1941) and his grandfather William Davis Tuttle who served for 41 years (1855-1896).  Set against 101 years of Tuttle service to the town of Acton, our “large” collection of documents now seems like a tiny portion of the work done by the three generations of Tuttle town clerks.

Of the items indexed so far, there are personal letters from family members, documents relating Horace Tuttle’s apple-growing and surveying businesses and his administration of estates, and documents relating to a few of his years as town clerk; genealogical inquiries, a request for help from a serviceman’s wife during World War 1, a list of Acton servicemen during that war, a draft of a letter written on surplus 1907 ballots, inquiries about cemetery plots, a request to open the library during the town fair, and much more.  Sorting through them, one couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything Horace Tuttle didn’t do!