Researching Acton’s July 4th celebrations, we discovered the surprising fact that Acton once had a yacht club.  It is hard for us to imagine, for yacht clubs bring to mind ocean sailing and large vessels owned by wealthy individuals such as Acton descendant Francis Skinner.  However, at the turn of the twentieth century, local enthusiasts brought their sailing excitement to Acton.
 
By the late 1800s, Lake Nagog had become a destination for summer recreation.  Though Acton residents traveled to the ocean and the mountains for vacations, they also spent time at camps on the shores of their local pond.  It is not surprising that they would want to spend time on the water, and races would have provided entertainment for their friends and relatives.
 
The West Acton Yacht Club first shows up in the local paper on August 17, 1899 as the sponsor of a race between the yachts of brothers Frank and Octavus Knowlton, the Evadne and the Wawanda, respectively. (Concord Enterprise, Aug. 17, p. 8)  According to the Sept. 14 Enterprise (p. 8), the West Acton Yacht Club was officially organized on August 24, with officers Delette H. Hall (Commodore), Charles J. Holton (Vice-Commodore), and E. C. Stevens (Treasurer and Secretary).  On the Regatta Committee were Frank R. Knowlton, Frank A. Patch, and Edgar H. Hall.  The Enterprise helpfully listed the other members of the club, many of whom were West Acton businessmen: D. Adelbert Cutler, Sidney Durkee, Fred W. Green, James A. Grimes, Henry L. Haynes, Octavus A. and Roscoe Knowlton, Hanson A. Littlefield, Charles H. Mead, Richard Nichols, E. Wellington Rich, J. Linwood Richardson, Frank H. Stevens, and Arthur, Frank H. and Waldo E. Whitcomb.
 
The yacht club’s first big event seems to have been a race between three boats, Evadne, Alice and Madcap.  The prize was a silk pennant (and bragging rights), won by the Frank R. Knowlton’s Evadne.  After the race, a clambake was held “on the grounds of F. R. Knowlton and Hall Bros.”  The menu consisted of “baked clams, baked stuffed cod, green corn, sweet and Irish potatoes, melons, coffee, lemonade, bread and cake; a bountiful spread, cooked and served a la sea shore.”   (Enterprise, Sept. 14, 1899, p. 8)
 
The Society owns a print of a collage made from a series of glass plate photographs taken by Eugene L. Hall.  It includes scenes from Lake Nagog, including “Know-Hall Grove” where the clambake must have been held.  A boat was moored nearby.  There are a couple of pictures of boats with sails up, but they were tucked under other images in the collage.  Only a partial picture of the Madcap survives, and the other boat picture was only labelled “Wharf Lake Nagog.”  Because the images are very small and come from a photograph of printed photographs, their quality is not ideal.  If anyone has prints of the full images (or the original glass plates), we would be very grateful for copies or scans.

The summer of 1900 saw a series of Acton yacht races.  More boats participated; one race reportedly had six entrants, O. A. Knowlton’s, F. R. Knowlton’s, D. H. Hall's, E. C. Stevens’, Jas. Grimes’ and S. T. Blood’s (Enterprise, Aug. 16, 1900, p.8 )  However, sailing on Lake Nagog seems not to have been as simple as one might expect.  The July 4th race saw various mishaps, and only the Hall boat reached the finish line.  (Enterprise, July 12, 1900 p. 8)  In September, a good race was held in which the two Knowltons’ boats and others survived, but the Hall brothers’ boat had to withdraw, completely disabled.  (Enterprise, Sept. 6, 1900 p. 8)  In the only 1901 mention of local yachting that we could find, on September 4, the Enterprise reported “The yacht race at Nagog Monday was not a success, the wind not being favorable.  But the dinner was all that could be desired.  Steamed clams, corn and all the accessories ...  About one hundred enjoyed this feature.”  (p. 8)
 
We found no reports of the West Acton Yacht Club after 1901.  Perhaps the dispiriting winds of that Labor Day race cooled enthusiasm for the venture.  Sailors presumably found other sites for their boats.  A few years later, Nagog water would be piped to Concord, and recreational use of the pond would eventually cease.

When one is trying to understand Acton's history, a large challenge is envisioning what the town looked like in different eras.  Often, one is imagining a mill complex in a spot that has now reverted to nature.  The challenge is different in Acton center.  Today, it is almost entirely residential, but in the nineteenth century, it had a shoe factory, a hotel, a blacksmith, and a number of other businesses.  It is tempting to picture the center “village” at that time as a commercial/residential center with businesses and houses close together.  However, reading through land transactions for our blog post on John Fletcher, we discovered that until relatively recently, even in the "Centre village," there were farms, orchards, and pastures.  We found a picture in our collection that, though not very sharp, shows how rural Acton Center was.

This "Bird's Eye View" of Acton Center was taken from behind Main Street.  Fortunately, some landmarks are obvious: the town hall, the monument, and the Congregational Church after its steeple was rebuilt in 1898.  Where today we would expect to see houses, the picture shows trees, fields, and numerous stone walls.

We have many photos and postcards of Acton Center landmarks, but pictures taken from the back, away from the usual sights, are few and far between.  We're lucky that someone thought to record a different view.

Recently, the Society received the generous donation of a remarkably well-preserved pair of boots from the factory of John Fletcher and Sons.  John Fletcher’s name was very well-known in Acton in the 1800s, and his “Boot and Shoe Manufactory” was a town-center landmark that employed a significant number of townspeople.  He left many traces in the written records of the era, some of which gave contradictory impressions of who he was as a person.  We set out to learn more about him.

Early Life

John Fletcher was born in Acton to James (a young Revolutionary War soldier) and Lydia (White) Fletcher on July 21, 1790.  In Acton’s vital records, we found siblings Betsy (b.1786), James (b. 1788), Daniel (1797-1799), Lydia (b. 1800), and several who died young and whose names were not recorded.  James (the father) was involved in the business of Acton and donated a piece of his land in 1806 to be part of the Town Common.  The family first lived on what is now Hammond Street but then moved to a farm near the first meeting house (off of Nagog Hill Road near what was then the Brooks Tavern).  John’s son, (Rev. James), later wrote about their home site, “Here stood for many years, from 1794 on, the Fletcher homestead, where James Fletcher, the father of Deacon John Fletcher, and his brother James and Betsey, the sister, lived during childhood up to the years of maturity.  A few feet from this ancient cellar hole to the west is the site of the first Fletcher russet apple-tree.  Childhood’s memories easily recall the ancient unpainted cottage, the quaint old chimney with the brick-oven on the side, and the fire-place large enough for the burning of logs of size and length, and in front to the southeast a vegetable garden unmatched at the time for its culture and richness, and a large chestnut-tree to the south, planted by Deacon John, in early life.”  (Acton in History, p. 247) 

Though records of John Fletcher’s youth are hard to come by, we do have a physical description (from much later military pension records) that he had fair skin, black hair, and brown eyes.  He no doubt attended the school nearby and would have helped on his father’s farm.  As he got older, records show that he and his brother James Jr. served in the local militia.  In April, 1808, John was already serving as a corporal in Capt. Simon Hosmer’s Company that became known as the Davis Blues.  In 1810, John was chosen to be sergeant, and in 1813, he became the company clerk.  By that time the country was at war.  When the governor of Massachusetts called for troops to defend Boston in the fall of 1814, John Fletcher served as sergeant and clerk of what was by then Capt. Silas Jones’ Company.  Brother James Fletcher was a corporal.  According to Fletcher’s History, (p. 277-278) the company was first to report to headquarters and met with an enthusiastic reception as it marched through the streets of Boston.  The British never attacked, however, and the company saw no action.  The War of 1812 concluded soon thereafter.  John continued to serve in the militia and eventually was made captain.  Town meeting records refer to him as Captain John Fletcher in the years 1821 and 1822.

In June 1812, John’s brother James was initiated into the Masonic Lodge in Concord, and John followed in June 1813.  Both men were proposed for membership by Simon Hosmer.  In 1814, father James and James Jr. bought a farm from neighbor Paul Brooks, including a house, barn and cooper shop.  Presumably, the intention was to expand the father’s farming operation and/or to establish James on a farm of his own.  Unfortunately, James Sr. died on Dec. 9, 1815 by the falling of a tree (according to his tombstone and Fletcher’s History, p. 246), an event that must have shocked and greatly changed life for the family.

By 1814, we know that John Fletcher was already in the shoe business, as he listed his occupation as shoemaker when called up to serve in the War.  In 1815, the town of Acton paid him $4.67 for providing shoes for the poor.  We have not yet discovered details of the early years of his shoe enterprise, such as how he learned the trade, his sources of materials, and when he started hiring outside labor.

In March 1819, James Fletcher Jr. sold to his brother John for $250 a half of his share of the land he held, including his father’s two farms, a woodlot, and “all other lots of every kind which I am now in posion [possession] of”.  The records of the brothers’ buying, borrowing, and selling of property are voluminous and hard to pin down completely, but the impression one gets is that John managed to pay off his debts but James may have had more trouble and needed cash infusions at times. 

John and his brother James established a store together.  Its exact beginnings are a little unclear from the records, but it was definitely operating before 1822 and probably by 1820 when James Fletcher’s census listing included two household members engaged in commerce.  According to John’s son Rev. James Fletcher’s History (p. 272), the brothers’ first store was on the site of the present-day Memorial Library.  We found from a deed dated Sept. 28, 1820 that James and John Fletcher, traders, bought a store near the meetinghouse from Francis Tuttle for $325.  It was apparently quitclaimed by Widow Dorothy Jones on Dec. 7, 1821. (Land Records, Vol. 308, p. 232 & 233)

In January 1822, Worcester’s Massachusetts Spy ran an ad offering a reward to be paid by James and John Fletcher to help track down the criminal(s) who, on the morning of January 22, burned their store “after having been robbed (as is supposed) of its contents.”  The brothers would pay $100 for “the detection of the Incendiary or Incendiaries, and the recovery of the Property -- or $50 for either.” (Jan. 30, 1822, p. 4)  Surette’s History of Corinthian Lodge noted that on Feb. 4, 1822, “Bros. John & James Fletcher, of Acton, having met with a severe loss by fire, requested assistance from the Lodge, and a subscription paper was opened and signed by the members present.” (p. 128)  Fletcher’s History says specifically that the store was on the library site when it “was burnt.”(p. 267)

Trying to identify a large portrait found in a South Acton barn (see blog post), we thought it might be Henry Barker, a self-made businessman whose his cider mill was well-known and a local employer for many years.  We were surprised that little had been written about Henry himself and that we could not find a photograph of him.  If anyone has any pictures of Henry, his family, and/or the business that could be scanned or otherwise shared, we would be grateful to add them to our collection.

Our first step was to search out Henry Barker’s obituary for the story of his life.  We found a notice of his death in the Concord Enterprise (Aug. 29, 1917, p. 8), but we were disappointed to read that “He was one of the best known business men in this section for nearly 60 years and needs no obituary.”  That was an unusual statement in the local paper; perhaps the editor did not have a lot of column room that day.  We set out to learn what we could from other records.

The Barker name is well-known in Acton.  In fact, there are so many Barkers, it is a challenge to disentangle them.  However, we do know that Henry Barker was an Acton native, born about 1835 to Isaac Barker and Olive Handley.  (The birth was not recorded in Acton, but his death notice in the Enterprise mentioned that he had been born in “the old Gould house on the crossroad to West Acton.”)  Henry had three brothers that we know of, Joseph Edwin b. c. 1831, Herman b. c. 1845, and Charles b. c. 1848.  Henry’s mother Olive and sister Clara Sophia both died in September 1848.  His father married again to Eliza A. G. Bragg on Nov. 8, 1854 in Roxbury.

Henry Barker married Louisa M. Atwood in Cornish, New Hampshire on Dec. 14, 1854.  Children followed; Clara Louisa (probably born March 29, 1855; there was name confusion in the early records), Edson Henry (June 2, 1860- June 4, 1861), Addie Henrietta (b. Feb.4, 1863), Delmon Gustavus (Oct. 18, 1865-Oct. 18, 1869), Idella Josephine (b. May 10, 1869), Medora Carlotta (b. June 11, 1872), and Olive Genevra (b. Sept. 23, 1874).  We do not know exactly where Henry lived in the first years of his marriage, but land records show that in 1860, Henry bought the house at 196 Main Street (on the outskirts of growing South Acton) from James and Susanna Graham.

Henry’s father Isaac was listed in the 1855 census as a Mast Hoop and Truss Hoop manufacturer.  Henry, married and in a separate household, was listed as a Mast Hoop Maker.  In his son’s 1860 birth record, Henry was listed as a “Hoop Shaver.”  By June 1863, Henry was listed in a military service register as a “Market-man.”  (He did not go off to fight in the Civil War; he was apparently deaf in his right ear.)  The Society has H. Barker’s Internal Revenue Service 3rd Class Peddler’s License dated Sept. 1, 1863 that had been saved by Henry’s daughter Addie.  Henry was still listed in the 1865 Massachusetts census as a Marketman.

Thanks to a note in an old scrapbook held in our library, we checked the probate record of farmer John Tenney (a neighbor of Henry’s father Isaac).  We discovered in the November 1864 probate accounting that Henry Barker paid $25 to rent Tenney’s mill.  As the only indications of mill products in Tenney’s estate were cider vinegar and barrels, it seems likely that Henry was already gaining experience operating a rented cider mill at that time.

In 1867, Henry Barker bought about a quarter of an acre of land at approximately 150 Main Street (bordered on the other side by today’s Central Street) and built his own cider mill.  The 1870 census lists him as a cider manufacturer with real estate of $5000 and personal possessions worth $4000.  His household included his wife Louise M., daughters Clara L., Addie H. and Idella J., and brothers Herman and Charles, both listed as cider makers.  (The brothers later moved closer to Boston.  Herman eventually went into other ventures, but Charles remained in the business.)  The 1872 town valuation shows that Barker’s operation included a cider mill with presses, an apple house, a bottling house, and $4000 stock in trade.

Bill Klauer wrote about “Cider Production in Acton” in the Society’s Acton Revisited, Fall 2003.  He noted that the Barker mill’s scales were located close to Main Street and their foundation can still be seen from the sidewalk.  Farmers would have had their loads weighed, then apples were stored until they could be processed.  The apples were sent to a grinding machine, and then the resulting pulp was squeezed in a strong press.  The cider was collected in a large vat.  The left-over pressed pulp was piled outside the mill, ready for farmers to haul away to be used as cattle feed.

In modern times, preservatives allow sweet cider to be bottled and kept for long periods.  Without preservatives, cider fermented.  Hard cider was a common beverage in Massachusetts’ early days, but by the time Henry Barker was in business, it was a target of the temperance movement and was beginning to lose ground to beer as the alcoholic beverage of choice.  Another cider product, vinegar, required additional aging (with exposure to oxygen and bacteria) beyond the first stage of fermentation.  The Boston Daily Advertiser, (Saturday June 26, 1875, p. 1) reported that “The cider mills of Mr. Henry Barker at South Acton are in successful operation.  About 1000 barrels of rectified vinegar are on hand, and a large amount of cider has been bottled.  The mills are run by steam.”  In that year, Briggs & Co.’s Middlesex County Directory, ran an ad for Henry Barker, “Manufacturer, and Wholesale Dealer in Crude and Refined Cider and Cider Vinegar, South Acton, Mass.” (p. 92)

The business was clearly a success.  Land purchases, a map dated 1889, and the 1890 Acton valuation show that Henry Barker enlarged his cider and vinegar operation over time, purchasing additional property on both sides of Central Street.  In November, 1888, the Concord Enterprise reported that Henry Barker had put up the largest tank in the vicinity, 18 feet in diameter and 16 feet high.  (Nov. 17, 1888, p. 2)  Nearby, according to Mill Corner (Nylander and Forbes, p. 9), there was a spring (and a stone spring-house as early as 1875) on the opposite side of today’s Central Street from the mill that provided a water source.  Next to the mill, the South Acton Universalist Church was built in 1878.

By 1887, Henry had built an impressive home on the hill at 167 Main Street from which he could overlook the cider mill.  The family seems to have owned a camera by that time and documented local scenes and some people, including this photo of “Stella” (probably Stella Heath, whose mother was a Barker) with the newly-constructed Henry Barker house in the background.

In October 1888, daughter Addie married Frederick L. Burke whose occupation was “Traveling Agent.”  Henry had a home built for them just down the hill at 177 Main Street (now the home of the Discovery Museum).  Fred Burke worked in the cider business and eventually became the manager of the cider mill.  The couple named their son Henry Barker Burke.

Unusually for a man of such local success, Henry Barker did not show up much in the local newspaper except in the context of the cider mill.  In town reports, we found that Henry Barker was paid during the 1890s for maintaining two street lamps (a private duty in those days).

Henry Barker established a Boston store/office at 88 Commercial Street, a location not far from the waterfront, sometime between 1875 and 1878 when he was listed in Sampson, Davenport, and Company’s Boston Directory in the business of “vinegar, &c.”(p. 81).  He was listed in 1883 as an agent for an industry newspaper at the same address (Geo. P. Rowell and Co.'s American Newspaper Directory, 1883, p. 610) and appeared there in Boston directories for the rest of his life.  Brother Charles was listed in the 1880 Boston City Directory as a salesman at 88 Commercial St., living in South Acton. (p. 83)  By 1882, the Malden directory showed him as a resident, working in “cider vinegar (88 Commercial, B.)” (p. 37) and Boston directories showed him in the business there in later years, including 1900 and 1915.

In the late 1880s, temperance agitation started to lead to legislative bans on the sale of “intoxicating liquors.”  There was much uncertainty about whether cider, which was ”sweet” for only a short period before it fermented, would also be banned.  The farmers of Acton, Boxborough and Stow were concerned about the effect of bans on their apple business, and confusion could not have been good for the Barker operation, either.  Probably as a result, Henry Barker of South Acton was elected as a director of the Fruit Growers, Cider and Cider Vinegar Makers’ Association of Massachusetts. (Boston Journal, Jan. 8, 1890, p. 4)

Apple production and the cider vinegar industry made it through that period.  1896 saw a particularly large crop of apples.  The Enterprise reported on October 1 that “Henry Barker received 1800 barrels of cider apples at his mill in three days last week.  He is running his mill night and day.” (p. 8).  On November 19, the Enterprise reported “Henry Barker is building another large tank for cider; he has already ground over 20,000 barrels and still they come.” (p. 8)  During the autumn, the pressure to process all of the apples must have been intense.  According to Phelan’s History of the Town of Acton, the Barker mill “ turned out thousands of barrels of cider which was stored in huge tanks and eventually shipped to the vinegar dispensing companies.... In a season when the fruitage was heavy, a combination of wind and rain could mean thousands of bushels arriving at the mill.... Wagons loaded to the limit would now and again form a queue a hundred yards long at the Barker mill.”(p. 263)  Apples would also come in by rail from farmers farther afield.  The Concord Enterprise of Oct. 21, 1897 mentioned apples being received by train from New Hampshire.  (p.8)

The Society has one picture of the Barker Cider Mill, date unknown but probably before 1900; see blog post on photographer F. J. Taylor for an idea of the date.

The business had its share of troubles and tragedies.  The Boston Daily Globe reported in 1887 that “an undersized boy of 14” expertly opened the cider mill’s safe (armed with a revolver).  He was caught and fortunately no one was hurt. (Sept. 30, p. 13)  In October, 1896, however, employee John Jackman was found expired in the large tank after having been at work all day.  It was thought that he had been overcome by gasses.  (Concord Enterprise, Oct. 15, 1896, p. 8, Acton death record)  This may have been the reason the new tank was built in November 1896.

In the early morning hours of October 28, 1900, a fire started near the engine room of the Barker cider mill.  A watchman alerted the village, and firemen came from the other Acton villages and Maynard, but their pumping soon overwhelmed the water supply from the spring-fed basin across the street.  Barker’s storage tanks started leaking many gallons of cider, and someone had the idea to pump cider to douse the flames.  It was an unsuccessful attempt, and two large buildings of the cider plant burned to the ground.  The firemen were able to save a large storehouse, the large tank outside the building, and 55,000 gallons of vinegar.  The thirty to forty men who had been working there at the time lost their source of employment, at least temporarily.  (Concord Enterprise, Nov. 1, 1900, p. 8; Boston Herald, Oct. 29, 1900, p. 3)  In the Enterprise, Henry Barker thanked all those who had come to assist in putting out the fire (Nov. 1, 1900, p. 8).  After a period of uncertainty, on December 12, the Enterprise reported that Henry Barker would rebuild his mill on the old site.  (p. 8)  At the March 25, 1901 town meeting, Acton voted to upgrade its fire-fighting capacity immediately, to buy 800 more feet of rubber-lined hose for South Acton, and to purchase “the F. R. R. water supply basin located near the cider mill of Henry Barker [and to] excavate and properly fix said basin for a possible water supply in case of fire.” Also, the town voted to hire “a competent man at each part of the town where fire apparatus is located to properly care for it.”

One might have expected Henry Barker to slow down by the 1900s, but apparently, he did not.  In 1908, the Enterprise reported that after a serious illness, “Henry Barker is able to attend to his business again and goes daily to Boston.”  (Apr. 29, p8)  

On January 22, 1914, Henry’s wife Louisa (Atwood) Barker passed away at the age of 81, after an illness of several months.  Sometime in 1917, Henry moved to Dorchester to stay with his daughter.  He remarried that summer; Acton’s records show that Henry Barker, merchant, age 82 (born in Acton, son of Isaac Barker and Olive Handley) married Emma C. (Sawyer) Gove of Boston, age 53 on July 28, 1917.  Unfortunately, the marriage lasted only a few weeks.

On August 15, 1917, the Concord Enterprise reported that Henry Barker, who had been living in Dorchester for a few months, was suffering from gangrene of the foot.  He had been operated on at the Forest Hills hospital, and there was at first hope for recovery. (p. 8)  Unfortunately, he died in Boston on August 23, 1917.  He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.  His heirs were his daughters, listed in the Concord Enterprise as Clara L. Barker, Addie H. Burke, Della J. Tuttle, all of Acton, and Olive G. B. Hunt and Medora C. Robbins, both of Melrose. (Sept 12, p. 4)

The Barker mill in South Acton operated for many years after Henry’s death.  Owned at first by Addie (Barker) Burke then her husband Fred, it was later bought by J. P. W. von Laer Company of Boston.  Fred Burke became a partner in the enterprise and continued to manage the mill until his death in 1940.  On October 27, 1951, the Barker Mill burned down again.  It was the end of an era.

One of our members recently brought to the Society a huge portrait that had no identification.  It had been used as a backing for a framed map.  At first, it seemed to be a normal photograph, but looking more carefully revealed that someone had enhanced its details by adding black and white highlights.  The size of the portrait and the artist’s additions make us think that the man had some wealth and social standing.

We thought that there was hope of identifying this man; his clothes might make the picture easy to date and Acton's wealthy people were relatively few.  Prominent businessmen were more likely than others to have their photographs published, so we searched local histories and our own photograph collection.  So far, we have not succeeded.  It has been suggested to us that the era of the portrait was the 1880s, but research in guides to men’s fashion has not given us definitive confirmation of the time period. 

Our only clue is that the picture was found in a barn at what is now 184 Main Street.  The Society has been the recipient of other items from that barn, most related to the South Acton cider vinegar business and family of Henry Barker (1835-1917).  The barn was across the street from the house of cider mill manager Frederick Burke and his wife (Henry’s daughter) Addie Barker.  We know that the Burkes gave memorabilia to Harriet Cobleigh, owner of the barn.  It is possible that this picture, perhaps behind a map, was part of the Barker/Burke gifts. 

Could this portrait have been of Henry Barker?  He was the owner of a successful cider mill and old enough to have gray in his beard by the 1880s.  He would best fit our guess that it was someone of local prominence.  (See blog post about Henry Barker.)  Unfortunately, and surprisingly, we have not been able to find an identified picture of Henry Barker for comparison.  At this point, he is only one possibility for the subject of the portrait.

Other possibilities:

• A Barker relative
  • Henry’s father Isaac Barker or a brother (Joseph, Herman or Charles)
  • A relative of Henry Barker’s wife Louisa Atwood
  • A relative of Frederick Burke
• A relative of the occupants of the house at 184 Main
  • Jacob Priest’s family (wife Adeline J. Mansfield, daughter Emma married John J. Fogg)
  • William L. Cobleigh’s family (wife Harriet Fogg)
• Another South Acton relative, picture/map given to the Cobleighs

Identifying unlabeled photographs is almost always a struggle.  Can you help us to identify this man or to confirm the time period in which the portrait would have been done?  Please contact us.

Recently, we came across a collection of pictures that were found in the attic of a house on Kinsley Road, evidently once the home of members of the Beach family.  Thumbtack holes in the mats show that they had been displayed on a wall, indicating that they were all of family members or close friends.

Among the pictures were several of men in a work setting.  Two were labelled “Hall Bros,” a West Acton manufacturer of wooden ware that was an important employer in the village for many years.  Two were duplicates of photos already in our collection for which some Hall Brothers employees had been identified:

Our duplicate copy of this picture says on the back: "Back Row / 4th from Right Ernie Banks / First man Ben Coolige / fifth from right Archie Beach".

This duplicate of a Hall Brothers photo had no identification, but our other copy did:

Our duplicate gave the following identifications:

Back Row, standing:

1. Ben Coolidge
   
2. Unknown
3. "Pop" French
4. Starky
5. Otis Mott

Front Row (2 young boys not included):

1. Bill Charter
2. Archie Beach
3. ?
4. Lee Coolidge
5. ?
6. ?
7. Reuben Morgan
8. Charlie Wood
9. Duncan Kennedy

Given this identification, Ben Coolidge must the man standing in the back right of the previous picture, where he would be the "first man" from the right.

The next photo featured tubs, pails, churns and other wooden products, so we easily accepted the Hall Brothers identification written on its back.  However, after we scanned and enlarged the photo, we were surprised to see that a large churn was painted with the slogan “Get the Best The Blanchard Churn”, and a box said “The Blanchard Print Butter Carrier.”  Now we were confused.  Was our picture labelled incorrectly?  Did someone assume that wooden ware must have been Hall Brothers’?  Was this perhaps another company associated with West Acton’s Blanchard family?

Fortunately, knowledgeable members of the Society often can save us a lot of research time.  One told us that Hall Brothers bought the Blanchard churn patent.  Blanchard churns were actually a well-known New Hampshire product.  A Biennial Report from New Hampshire’s Bureau of Labor (dated 1902) reported that “In December, 1900, Nashua lost the Blanchard Churn company, whose entire plant was purchased by parties from West Acton, Mass., and removed to that town.”  The Boston Herald (Dec. 28, 1900, p. 10) reported that Blanchard’s stock and machinery had been purchased by Hall Brothers to enlarge their business.  Searching our collection of items related to Hall Brothers’ operation, we found a piece of Hall Brothers letterhead; their logo by that time featured a list of products sold by the company including “Improved Cylinder, Blanchard and Lightning Churns,” butter molds, carriers, tubs and pails.  Our picture seems to have been a good representation of the company’s business.  One mystery solved.  But who are the men in the picture?  Given the identifications above, we believe that Ben Coolidge is on the left and Archie Beach is on the right.  Can anyone help us with our identification?

Our next picture had no identification, but at least two of the young men are also in the churn and pail picture.  Were they all Hall Brothers employees?  Were they relatives?  Is the one on the left Archie J. Beach or someone else?

The photo collection also included a wonderful interior picture of workers at a mill, many of them barefoot.  We think it may be the upstairs level of the South Acton Woolen Mill.  We do not know the identities of the men in the photo.  We would appreciate any clues.

Finally, there were family photos.  The first two appear to be nearly the same group of women:

We have no clues about the women in white blouses below:

For reference, at different times and from different descendants, we have received two copies of the following photo of the Beach family around 1905.  The woman in the chair is apparently Georgiana (Munroe) Beach who was born c. 1823, in Granville, Nova Scotia, married George William Beach, lived at the end of her life in West Acton with her daughter Estella (Mrs. Ernest) Morse, and died in Acton in December, 1909.  According to an unsourced/undated obituary, she had sixteen children, eighty-seven grandchildren, seventy-two great-grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren at the time of her death, leaving plenty of room for confusion about identification of family members.  Based on the pictures’ donors’ information and suggestions from other family members, we have some identifications for this picture and a number of remaining questions.  Can you confirm/correct these identifications or identify others?

Tentative Identifications:
Back Row, from Left to Right:

1. Woman, unknown
2. _____ Beach
3. Man, unknown
4. George William Beach
5. Anna (Gade) Beach
6. Archie/Archibald Joseph Beach (brother of George William)
7. Woman, unknown
8. Man, unknown
9. Woman, unknown
10. Man, unknown
11. Man, unknown

Front Row, Left to Right:
Seated -

1. Theresa Wamboldt
2. Genevieve Wamboldt
3. Georgiana (Munroe) Beach
4. Addie (Wamboldt) Briggs (girl with flowers)
5. Woman seated in dark dress

People Standing in front -

1. Is this Archie J. Beach (son of Edward & Frances), Nelson Wamboldt, or someone else?
   
2. Woman standing
3. Amelia Beach holding John Beach

We would be grateful for any help that you can give us in identifying these pictures.  Please contact us.

Researching the life of Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner for a recent blog post, we discovered that all of her sons left Acton to build businesses elsewhere.  Abraham, the eldest, moved to Brookfield, Massachusetts and became a trader. By the census of 1870, he had amassed personal possessions worth $30,000, an unusually large amount in those days. Second son Henry moved to Andover and opened a store with a partner. Henry died young, and his probate file contained an extensive inventory. Francis, the youngest son, reportedly went to Boston and became a successful merchant. Fletcher’s Acton in History noted that he was generous to Henry’s widow, and probate records show that Francis became guardian to Henry’s son.
 
We set out to find Acton’s Francis Skinner, merchant of Boston. We had a surprising amount of difficulty at first.  We did find a Francis Skinner who was fabulously wealthy for the time. His son and grandson were mentioned in Boston newspapers as members of a “prominent” family in the top tier of Boston society. Acton’s Francis Skinner grew up relatively secure, but not rich, the son of a doctor and descendant of a respected family in a small country town. He was only thirteen when his father died and would have started out with almost nothing. We were convinced that the Francis we found in Boston could not possibly be “our” Francis. But we were wrong.
 
Acton’s records and histories did not help us to connect the Boston merchant Francis Skinner to Acton, but fortunately, Boston’s newspapers provided a great deal of information. Commerce, wealth, connections, gossip, and a touch of “scandal” gave reporters plenty to work with, and we were able to put together a story of three generations of Francis Skinners who were unknown to us.

Acton’s Francis Skinner moves to the big city
 
Francis Skinner was born on January 29, 1797 and grew up in Acton. He helped his brother Henry to run the family farm for a while time after his father’s death and was recorded in Acton’s militia list in 1815. In 1816, Francis left for Boston. He found a job as a porter in the store of Elisha Parks at 19 Kilby St. and worked his way up to the position of bookkeeper. (Boston Traveler June 2, 1865 p. 2). By 1818, he was already helping his older brother Abraham, trying to sell items for him and giving him merchandising advice. (See Francis’s letter in the Skinner Family Correspondence, University of Notre Dame.)
 
After a few years of learning about merchandising, Francis Skinner decided to go into business for himself. In 1822, an ad in the Boston Commercial Gazette (July 8, p. 3) announced that Francis Skinner and James C. Dunn were forming a partnership.  At their store at 16 Kilby Street, they would sell “American Goods,” consignments of cloth and yarn.  By 1826, the business became known as Francis Skinner & Co. and kept that name through subsequent changes in personnel and location.
 
Meanwhile, Francis Skinner’s business interests grew.  Merchants, with their connections and capital, extended credit and sometimes took ownership positions in manufacturing firms.  As early as 1829, Francis Skinner was one of the assignees selling off the mills, other buildings, and 610 acres of land of the Winchendon Woolen Manufacturing Company. (Massachusetts Spy, July 29, p. 3)  In 1835, “the Wool and Dye House of the Millbury Manufacturing Company, belonging to Francis Skinner & Co. Boston, was destroyed by fire” with about 3,000 pounds of wool.  Francis, a foresighted individual, had insured the property. (Norfolk Advertiser, May 30, 1835, p. 3)  As time went on, his success gave him standing in the financial community that led to more opportunities and more success.  In addition to owning stakes of textile manufacturers, over time, he also invested in railroads, iron works, and telegraph companies.
 
Having built up his business, Francis Skinner married Elizabeth Cochran of Northampton, MA on September 20, 1839, apparently in Springfield, MA.  Francis bought a home on Mount Vernon Street, part of Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, in October 1839.  Son Francis was born in Boston on Sept. 3, 1840.  A daughter was born about 1843.  She was called Grace in the 1850 and 1855 censuses but Elizabeth in her death record. (So far, we have not located a birth record.)  Son Henry Herbert was born on Aug.1, 1845 in Newton.  (Francis’s birthplace is listed as Acton on the birth record.)
 
In 1845, Francis purchased a “country residence” on Waverley Street in Newton (Boston Post, June 13, 1865, p. 4)  The area was apparently picturesque, with “charming views of the western environs of Boston, Cambridge, the Back-Bay churches, and Boston Light, over the long flanks of Corey Hill, and the nearer wooded slope of Waban Hill.” (King’s Handbook of Newton, p. 122). The choice of location may have been inspired by acquaintance with neighbor William Kenrick, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Francis became a member in 1832.
 
Newspaper reports from the 1840s and early 1850s show the degree to which Francis Skinner’s professional and social status had grown.  Francis Skinner appeared on a list of “The Friends of Mr. Webster” published in the May 19, 1843 Daily Atlas (p. 2) along with other noted businessmen of the time.  Two years later, a newspaper predicted success for the new Worcester and Nashua Railroad, using as corroboration the investment of “sagacious men” like Francis Skinner. (Massachusetts Spy, Nov. 12, 1845, p. 2)  Another article referred to him as one of “the shrewdest capitalists in the city.” (New York Evening Post, Apr. 19, 1845, p. 2) In 1850, Francis Skinner was appointed to a committee making sure that the products of Massachusetts’ textile industry were shown at the World’s Fair in London.  He became a director of the Eagle Bank and at least three insurances companies.
 
Unfortunately, material and social success did not protect the Skinners from tragedy. Daughter Sarah died in Boston on October 28, 1848 at a year of age.  Son Henry Herbert died at their 34 Mount Vernon Street home on Jan. 24, 1854 and daughter Elizabeth/Grace died June 28, 1856. Both of the older children died of scarlet fever. Not surprisingly, the loss of his children hit Francis extremely hard. (Saturday Evening Gazette, June 3, 1865, p. 2)
 
A business setback followed. During the financial panic of 1857, credit dried up, businesses closed, and notices appeared in newspapers that Francis Skinner & Co. had failed. This was big news, as “this firm has been considered the soundest in the city.  Its paper floated in the ‘gilt-edge’ latitude, and was discounted at 1.5 per cent a month when other paper would not be looked at.“ (Boston Herald, Oct. 14, 1857, p. 2)  For a business that relied on its reputation, the reports must have been devastating.  Within a week, the company announced that its suspension of payments was only temporary because of “the deranged state of the currency,” apparently a shortage in the gold supply, and that they had a “surplus” of more than a million dollars. (Massachusetts Spy, Oct. 21, .p. 1)  The company requested that their creditors take six-month renewals of their claims with the interest paid in advance at the time of renewal.  Evidently, their creditors worked with them; the company survived.  Ads in the Boston Post and Boston Courier in 1859 (both Sept. 5, p. 2) showed that Francis Skinner & Co. of 69 Franklin St., Boston and 2 College Place, New York were the agents for numerous textile manufacturers from the New England states.
 
In October, 1860, Francis and Elizabeth Skinner sold their Mount Vernon St. home. They were listed in the 1860 census in Newton with their son Francis and several Irish servants including a coachman and cook. From newspaper references, it seems that Newton was Francis’ primary residence in the next few years, but he was involved in a number of other real estate transactions in the Beacon Hill/Pemberton Square area as well.
 
Business continued in the 1860s, despite political turbulence and then war. Francis showed up in newspapers as a director of companies and business-related organizations and occasionally for an act of charity. In 1860, he joined a group focused on keeping the union intact. We did not find much information on how the war directly affected Francis Skinner and his company, but we did find that in 1863, the captured steamer Chesapeake was carrying about $40,000 worth of cotton bales that had been bought for mills for which Francis Skinner & Co. were the agents. The war could not have hurt his business too much; according to the Dec. 15, 1864 Boston Traveler (p. 6), his $141,800 income was the highest in Newton.  It was subject to the income tax that had been authorized to help pay for the war.
 
On May 27, 1865, the Saturday Evening Gazette (p. 3) reported that Francis Skinner was ill with little chance of recovery, and he died June 1, 1865 in Newton.  His June 3 obituary in that paper confirmed his Acton birthplace and the name of his father. (p. 2.)  Francis’ personal estate was initially valued at $978,110 in his probate file, including ownership interests not only in Francis Skinner & Co, but stock and bond ownership of manufacturing firms and railroads. In addition, his real estate included 60 acres in Newton valued at $45,000 and a Beacon Hill lot valued at over $10,000. A tribute published in the Boston Daily Advertiser (June 19, page 1) highlighted his intelligence, business acumen, and integrity. The writer took pains to show that Francis Skinner was not single-mindedly interested in commerce; he had a large library and was “studious and well-informed.” Though he was proud of what he had accomplished, he apparently was not ostentatious or desirous of fame. He was evidently quite generous, but usually privately.  Were it not for the mention in Fletcher’s History that Francis had helped his sister-in-law, we would not have known that he reached out to his family in Acton.

The Surviving Son
 
The only surviving child of Francis Skinner of Acton was Francis (2). He prepared for college at Dixwell’s School, graduated from Harvard University in 1862, and went into his father’s business.  For a while, he was in charge of his father’s mills in Lewiston, Maine.  When Francis Sr. died in 1865, his will provided for his wife and son and for the continuation of the firm that bore his name.  It also contained a recommendation that son Francis 2 be made a partner of the firm. It appears that Francis 2 was less interested in business than his father had been.  In 1870, Francis Skinner & Co. was dissolved, and a new association was formed between Josiah Bardwell, senior member of Skinner and Co., and Messrs Jordan, Marsh & Co. (Boston Post, Jan. 24, 1870, p.1)  Francis 2 gave up being actively involved in business.

In October 1868, Francis 2 had married Eliza Blanchard Gardner, daughter of well-known merchant John L. Gardner and descendant of rich and powerful Massachusetts families. Francis 2 and his wife were noted members of Boston society.  In the early years of their marriage, they lived in Eliza’s family’s houses in Boston’s growing Back Bay.  Francis 2 and his mother sold off their Newton property in the early 1870s.  (Francis 2’s mother apparently spent much of her later life traveling in Europe.  Some of her letters to Francis 2 and travel diary entries still exist in the Fuller-Higginson Collection.)  By 1874, Francis 2 and his wife were living at a property owned by Eliza’s father at 200 Beacon Street.

Francis 2 and Eliza had two sons, Francis 3, born Nov. 17, 1869 at 140 Beacon Street in Boston, and Gardner, born Aug. 26, 1871 in Newton.  An 1873 passport application shows that the family traveled together; Francis 2 was planning a trip to Europe with his wife, two minor children, and a female servant.  Sadly, Gardner died of diphtheria on Apr. 24, 1876 at 200 Beacon Street.
 
Eliza inherited the 200 Beacon Street property from her father in 1884.  In 1886, she and Francis 2 built a home at 266 Beacon Street.  The new house was described as standing out on that “famous thoroughfare” for its unusual width and its conspicuously light façade, (Boston Journal, July 21, 1900 p. 5), limestone decorated with carved columns, swags, and lions’ heads.  Historic New England has interior photographs of both properties that allow us glimpses of their lifestyle.  The pictures of 200 Beacon were taken in the 1884-1885 period, just before the building of their next home.  The pictures of 266 Beacon obviously were taken sometime after they moved in.
 
Francis 2 and Eliza appeared frequently in the society news, noted for their entertaining and their attendance at social events in Boston and elsewhere. They spent summers in the "exclusive haunts of the 400” (Boston Globe, Mar. 30, 1890, p. 13) on Massachusetts’ North Shore and Newport.  (In 1894, for example, they occupied the Barthold Schlesinger villa, known as one of the most outstanding estates on the Nahant peninsula, according to the Globe, July 22, 1894, p. 21)  They traveled a great deal, sometimes together and sometimes making ocean crossings separately.  Though most travels were to Europe, according to a Harvard Class Report, Francis at some point made a circuit around the world.  During those travels, it seems clear that they collected.  Francis became "well known as a patron of art” (Boston Herald, Nov. 28, 1905, p. 9)  Someone in the family painted; watercolors from a grand tour were passed down through son Francis’s estate and are held by the Dedham (MA) Historical Society.
 
Eliza (Gardner) Skinner died unexpectedly in 1898.  Francis 2 seems to have slowed down after that.  He died on November 24, 1905, having suffered with kidney disease and heart issues for at least three years.  At the end of his life, he was mostly confined to his home at 266 Beacon Street, living alone with his servants.  Francis 2 left almost all of his money to his son Francis 3, with some in a separate trust so that if Francis 3 had no descendants, it would go to charities such as the Boston Public Library, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard Medical School, and the Free Home for Women in Brookline.  Francis 2 also left two paintings to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.  He was buried in the Gardner family lot in Cambridge, MA along with his wife and younger son.

Francis 3 Goes His Own Way, “Society Agog”
 
Francis Skinner 3 grew up in the midst of Boston society.  He attended St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire from 1883-1888.  He was apparently happy there; his will included a large bequest to the school.  He entered Harvard as a member of the class of 1892.  While there, he joined the Zeta Psi fraternity, the class glee club, the Institute of 1770, and the exclusive Porcellian Club.  He did not graduate; sources disagree about when he left.  We did find a Globe report on a dinner that he hosted at the new Porcellian Club with the comment “Young Skinner is one of the most popular men in college.” (Nov. 23, 1890, p. 21)  Presumably Francis 3 left Harvard on good terms; his mother was chosen as one of the matrons, “always stately with their flashing diamonds,” for a debutante dance sponsored Harvard’s senior class in Dec. 1890. (Boston Globe, Dec. 18, p. 5)
 
In 1893, his mother acquired Federal Hill Farm in Dedham and seems to have given it to Francis 3.  It is not clear how much time he spent there in the early years, although in August 1893, his Dedham farm is mentioned as having supplied the “solid young pig as fat as butter” for the annual roast pork dinner at the Nahant Club.  (Globe, Aug. 18, 1893, p. 2)  Francis 3 stayed with his parents in their summer “cottage” or their Beacon Street home at times in the 1890s, and we know that he traveled to Europe (at least in 1895) and Bermuda (winters of 1897- 1899).
 
Francis 3 seems to have been “sporty,” showing up in newspapers for rowing crew during high school (Globe, June 8, 1888, p.3) and organizing equestrian events, horse races, and the annual Sportsman’s show in Mechanics’ Hall.  His passion, however, was sailing.  By 1894 he and partners owned a “syndicate” boat at Nahant. (Globe, June 24, p. 21)  Francis 3 bought the famous Burgess-designed Constellation, a 134 foot steel schooner, from a member of the New York Yacht Club in March 1899.  He later had a smaller boat built, the 33-foot Sumatra.  He was a member of a number of exclusive yacht clubs in Massachusetts and New York, and he spent a good amount of his time cruising.  In the summer, his boats also participated in races.
 
Francis 3 was known as a “club man,” belonging to (among others) the Somerset Club, the "Country Club" (of Brookline), and the Exchange Club.  His social calendar extended beyond Boston and the North Shore.  In the winter of 1894, he was one of the subscribers of the “Bachelors’ Ball” at the Waldorf that promised, according to the Globe, “to be the smartest and most refined subscription affair that has ever been given in New York.  Many ladies are having new gowns made for the occasion.  Boston will be represented by Francis Skinner Jr. who is one of the subscribers.  As his family is abroad the smart set is curious to know who will be honored with his invitations.”(Globe, Jan 14, 1894, p. 24.)  There is no doubt that Francis Skinner 3 was a very eligible bachelor.  By 1899, he had money of his own from his mother and his uncle (husband of Isabella Stewart Gardner), and he was the only child of an extremely wealthy father.  As a result, what happened next left “Society Agog”.

In 1899, Francis 3 met Sarah E. (“Sadie”) Carr, a tailor’s daughter who had worked as a shop girl and cloak model.  Stories vary as to where they met, but all are clear that their ensuing romance was outside the bounds of his parents’ social norms.  According to the Isabella Stewart Gardner biography Mrs. Jack, Francis’s mother Eliza was conservative in her social instincts and highly disapproving of those who were not.  It was said that Eliza would never have allowed her son to marry Sadie Carr and that Francis 2 also disapproved.  Sarah and Francis 3 arranged a wedding free from interference.  In June 1900, Sarah contacted a minister at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Boston, telling him that her fiancé was a sea captain away on a voyage, due to arrive soon.  She managed to convince the minister that there were no impediments to the marriage.  Even after performing the ceremony on June 20, the minister had no idea that the groom, whom he only met that evening, was “one of the richest and most aristocratic young ‘bloods’ in Boston.” (Boston Daily Advertiser, July 21, 1900 p.6)  The only witnesses were Sarah’s two sisters.
 
It was several weeks before the news got out.  A short notice appeared in the “Married” section of the Boston Daily Advertiser on July 12 (p.8) and another, evidently, in the Boston Traveler.  The news caused a sensation.  The story was featured on the front page of the Boston Globe on July 20.  Francis 3 did not care.  Unusually for the time and for his place in society, he actually offered a statement in response to the gossip about his wedding.  He strongly asserted his right to marry “a woman whom he considers in every way adapted by certain estimable qualities to make an ideal life partner” and asked in an eye-opening understatement, why, “simply because a man has a little money,” outsiders had the right to take away his freedom of choice.  “Family ties bind me to a great many people, and I do not suppose all these people are elated over the step that I have taken.  I, myself, am satisfied, and that is the most important point.” (Boston Globe, August 4, 1900, p. 2)  The couple honeymooned on the Constellation, safe, for a while, from Society talk.

Francis 3’s aunt, Isabella Stewart Gardner, had dealt with the disapproval of "Society" and particularly of Eliza Skinner.  In the biography Mrs. Jack, Isabella is paraphrased as having said that “she doesn’t intend to be influenced in her attitude toward the young Mrs. Skinner” by the talk of “braggart cads ... and envious, scandal-mongering old cats who can’t forgive a tailor’s daughter for her good fortune.”  Mrs. Gardner gave parties to honor the new bride, and the younger generation “was not going to refuse invitations from Mrs. Jack Gardner, dowagers notwithstanding. ”(p. 229)  It is not clear that everyone followed Mrs. Jack’s example; the Boston Post reported that even five years later, invitations were addressed to Francis 3, rather than to the couple. (July 9, 1905, p. 25)
 
However, the rift between Francis 2 and his son was temporary.  Newspapers reported that Francis 2 had objected to his son’s choice of bride but that the two men had “made up” at some point in the next couple of years.  The Globe reported in April 1901 that Francis 3 made a hurried trip to Boston, after a four-month cruise in the West Indies, to see his father before Francis 2 left on his own travels. (Apr. 9, p. 5)  When Francis 2 died in 1905, he left the vast majority of his wealth for the benefit of his son.
 
In 1906, Francis 3 replaced the farmhouse on his Dedham property with a twenty-room mansion.  Like his parents twenty years earlier, he built a showcase home, using fine materials.  Historic New England has one picture of the interior, and more pictures and stories can be found in a history of the property.  The gardens and landscaping were also impressive.  Francis was a third-generation member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and he and Sarah enjoyed their plants and flowers, both inside and outside their home.
 
By all indications, the marriage between Francis 3 and Sarah Carr was a happy one.  Unfortunately, tragedy struck in 1914.  They had traveled to Europe in February.  Sarah returned home early to be with her pregnant sister.  In May, Francis 3 was on his way home on the Cunard liner Caronia when a fire broke out on the ship.  Newspaper accounts implied that the excitement was the cause, but whatever the reason, Francis suffered a heart attack and died on board on May 7.  He was 44 years old and the last descendant of Acton’s Abraham and Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner.
 
Francis 3’s estate amounted to over $1.8 million.  Much, including their Dedham home, went to his wife outright, and most of the rest was put in trust to benefit her during her lifetime.  Francis 3 left bequests for St. Paul’s School (in trust to be paid after his wife’s death), the Church of the Messiah, and the Arnold Arboretum, and he also remembered the mate of his yacht, his valet, and other servants of long-standing.  Sarah (Carr) Skinner stayed in their home for the rest of her life.  She was married again in 1917 to Charles Shea, a lawyer.  After their deaths, the Dedham property became the home of the Ursuline Convent and Academy and is now Ursuline Academy.
 
Back to Acton
 
When we started researching the Skinner family, we had no idea that the story would involve fortune and celebrity worthy of a television drama.  Our research led us far from Acton, making us wonder if Skinners ever visited the town in later years.  We have no information on that, but we do have one more Skinner story from Acton.
 
About a year ago, Jenks Library was sent pictures of an old gravestone found at a property not near any town cemetery.  It had a circle cut-out, evidently having been re-purposed.  The old slate stone apparently belonged to Dr. Abraham Skinner.  Checking Woodlawn Cemetery revealed that at some point, a more substantial stone must have been erected for him, with a matching stone for Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner.  One can’t help wondering whether it was done by a successful merchant son (or his descendant) who wanted to honor his Acton forebears.

The Society recently was given an 1834 letter that had been sold as a postage collector’s item, a “cover” that pre-dated the use of stamps. Folded, it was addressed to Abraham Skinner, Esq. of Brookfield, Massachusetts.

Inside, the letter was preserved:
                                                                                     Acton Feb. 8, 1834,
Mr. Skinner,
                I have neglected, longer than I intended to do, to inform you of your mother’s health.  She is pretty comfortable this winter, would be very, were it not for the continued pain in her eyes.  She has not had the least perception of light for several months.  Her situation is in many respects less uncomfortable since she has become more accustomed to perfect darkness.  She grows familiar with the house, and walks with much less confusion, is some part of the time, able to busy herself with knitting, which she considers quite a privilege.
She wishes to be affectionately remembered to you.
I am much oblidged to you for the papers, which you had the goodness to send me.
                                                                                  Respectfully yr Cousin,
                                                                                                                M. Faulkner

One cannnot help being touched by the letter and feeling admiration for Mrs. Skinner who, while dealing with pain and disruption, felt privileged to be able to knit.  We set out to learn more about Mrs. Skinner, her son Abraham, and the writer of the letter.

Mrs. Skinner and Her Family

Abraham Skinner, Esq. of Brookfield, Mass. was born in Acton on July 25, 1789 to Dr. Abraham and Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner.  According to Phalen’s History of the town of Acton (page 98), the father, Dr. Abraham Skinner, was Acton’s third physician.  He had come from Woodstock, CT, for reasons we have not yet been able to discover, and started his Acton practice in 1781.  He married Sarah Faulkner in March 1788.
 
Sarah (or Sally) Faulkner was the daughter of Francis Faulkner and Rebecca Keyes whose large family lived in the landmark Faulkner House in South Acton.  Francis was prominent in Acton.  He ran the Faulkner mills, represented the people in the Provincial Congress of 1774 and the Committee of Safety, attained the rank of Lt. Colonel in the Revolutionary War, and served the town in numerous roles, including a 35-year stint as town clerk.  According to Shattuck’s history of Concord and surrounding towns (pages 292-293), Francis and Rebecca Faulkner had eleven children.  (We were able to confirm ten of the births through Acton vital records; one is harder to pin down.)  Sarah was the third child.

Dr. Abraham and Sarah Skinner had four children, Abraham (born 1789), Henry (born 1792), Maria (born 1794), and Francis (born 1797).  Fletcher’s Acton in History gives two different identities for Dr. Abraham’s wife, an odd mistake given that Fletcher seems to have known Henry’s aged widow.  Perhaps the doctor was married earlier elsewhere, but we found no record of it.  All Acton records show that the wife and mother of Dr. Abraham’s family was Sarah Faulkner.
 
We did not find any documentary evidence of Sarah’s life while she was raising her children during the 1790s and earliest years of the 1800s.  Her husband does show up in local records.  He received payments periodically for “doctering” the town’s poor, and in September 1792, the town voted upon temporarily opening a quarantine “house” for inoculating residents against smallpox under the direction of Dr. Skinner, provided that it could be done ”with Safty” for the townspeople.
 
Dr. Abraham Skinner was apparently one of the contributors to the cost of a winning ticket from the Harvard College lottery in 1794.  His share of the prize money has been said to have gone into building or improving a house for the Skinners’ growing family at what is now 140 Nagog Hill Road.  Land records show that Abraham paid David Barnard on Sept. 5, 1786 for a 60 acre farm and the east half of the existing house on the property, plus a half interest in the barn, garden, yard, wells, and a “cyder mill” behind the house.  On Sept 27, 1788, Dr. Skinner paid Reuben Brown for 18 acres of land and the other half of the house, barn and barnyard.  Specifically excluded from the sale was a school house standing on the premises.
 
Dr. Abraham Skinner became a charter member of Concord’s Corinthian Masonic Lodge in 1797 along with Sarah’s brother Winthrop Faulkner.  [See Surette’s history of the Lodge.]  Abraham was appointed to Acton’s school committee in 1799 and 1809 and to the large committee formed in 1805 to deal with the contentious issue of where to locate the new meeting house.  He died in 1810.  Records of the time did not mention the cause.

Dr. Abraham’s estate inventory gives us an idea of the life of the household.  The home farm was valued at $2,500, and there were fifteen additional acres of pasture land in Littleton and a pew in the Acton meeting house.  The Skinners owned clothing, furniture, (a variety of beds, tables, chairs, and a bookcase), bedding and table linens, a woolen carpet, several looking glasses, a day clock worth about $30, spinning wheels, dishes, utensils, towels, table cloths, tools, chaises, a sleigh, a horse, harnesses, a saddle, cows, sheep, a cart and a plow.  There is little evidence of a medical practice, not surprising given the state of medicine at the time.  Dr Skinner did own a medical library.  In addition, there were numerous debts to Dr. Skinner from townspeople.  The estate was originally administered by Sarah’s brother Winthrop, but Henry took over by September 1814.
 
Sarah Skinner was listed as the head of household in the 1810 census with two males between 10 and 25, one female between 16 and 25, and one other “free white person”.  In May, 1811, children Henry and Maria (minors above the age of fourteen) petitioned the probate court to allow “Widow Sarah Skinner” to be their guardian.  Son Francis made the same petition in April, 1812.  Son Abraham had already left his parents’ household by 1810.
 
According to Fletcher’s History (Biographical Sketches, page 1), Sarah’s sons Henry and Francis helped to run the farm for a while.  Henry appears in Acton militia lists in the 1810-15 period, and Francis appears in 1815.  In Feb. 1816, the town paid Henry Skinner for boarding John Faulkner for 8 weeks.  During that year, Francis left to work in Boston.  Henry eventually moved to Andover and opened a store there.  No Skinner is listed as head of household in the 1820 Acton census, so we have to assume that Sarah was living with relatives by then.  The actual sale of the Skinner farm to Charles Tuttle was not completed until 1827.  Acton’s history books made no more mention of Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner.

Skinner Voices, from Indiana

Because Sarah Skinner disappears from Acton’s history books in the 1810s, the letter describing her later life is a wonderful addition to our Society’s archives.  However, it turns out that ours was not the only letter from the Skinner family that survived.  The University of Notre Dame Special Collections’ Manuscripts of Early National And Antebellum America contains a collection of letters to and from Abraham Skinner of Brookfield.  A few of the letters were written by his mother Sarah.  Given how seldom women's thoughts and actions were recorded in our histories, finding this collection was a wonderful surprise.  Sarah's letters start in about 1806 and continue after she lost her husband.  Sarah mentioned some news of family members, but what stands out most from her letters is how much she missed her son and wanted him to write and to visit more often.  Her letters are a reminder of how difficult separation was for families of the time and how completely cut-off they must have felt when letters failed to arrive, sometimes for very long periods.
 
We also learned from the Skinner correspondence that Henry was in Brookfield for a while in 1811 but then returned to Acton by early 1812.  His letters show that he was trying to find work in a store in either location, clearly ready to move on from the farm.  The Skinner collection also includes a March 1817 letter from daughter Maria Skinner, the only record that we have seen of her beyond the mention of her birth and death in Acton's vital records.  Maria echoed her mother's yearning to hear from the men of the family, including Francis who had not been in Acton since the summer before.  Maria, left at home, was feeling "allmost forsaken."  She also mentioned that Sarah had provided lodging for "Mr. Potter" followed by another family, so we now know that Sarah had others in her household during the years after losing her husband.

Who wrote the 1834 letter about Sarah Skinner?

After researching Sarah's life, our next question was who, exactly, wrote the letter donated to our Society.  “M. Faulkner” signed the letter to Sarah’s son Abraham as “yr Cousin.”  On the reverse of the letter, in a very different hand, there is a notation: “Mary Faulkners Letter Feby 8, 1834”.  Allowing for the possibility that the term “cousin” might have been used somewhat loosely, we could still narrow down the potential writers. 
 
We searched Acton’s Vital Records for “M” Faulkner births.  Of the six births we found, five were Marys. Omitting details of our research here, we concluded that the most likely candidate was Mary, born Sept. 11, 1801 to Winthrop (Sarah’s brother) and Mary (Wright) Faulkner.  This Mary actually would have been Abraham Skinner, Esq.’s first cousin.  She lived to 1871 and never married, so she still would have had her Faulkner surname in 1834.  We thought that our research would stop there, but our theory received a boost from a rich source that we did not expect to find.

Sarah Skinner, a Woman of Note

Researching Acton in the early years of the nineteenth century is made more difficult by a lack of available newspapers and very few surviving letters and diaries.  However, sometimes one gets lucky.  Not only did we come across the Skinner Family Correspondence at Notre Dame, but we found Sarah mentioned in two Boston newspapers after she died in 1846.  Her death was briefly noted in Boston’s Emancipator and Republican (March 25, 1846), and the Boston Recorder (March 26, 1846) published a memorial tribute.  Signed “W,” it was dated Acton, Mass., March 19th, 1846 and included a request that it be reprinted in other religiously-oriented newspapers in the Northeast.  The writer felt compelled to write about Mrs. Sarah Skinner, described as “always polite, well informed, kind, lovely,” interesting, unwavering in her faith, and happy.  When younger, she had liked to read, but having suffered greatly during the "complete destruction of her eyes," at the end of her life she was “stone blind.”  Her hearing, fortunately, continued to be acute.  She still enjoyed conversing, and her interest in life and her friends was undiminished.  As we surmised from the 1834 letter, she did not complain about her life but found much to be grateful for.  “Her only daughter was long since dead, but she had left grandsons, able loving and true; and she had a pious unmarried niece, who was altogether a daughter unto her, to the last.”  The cousin of Abraham Skinner who wrote our letter, Mary Faulkner, was presumably this unmarried niece, daughter of Sarah’s brother Winthrop.
 
We thought, when we started this research, that Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner had been neglected by history.  We were delighted to discover that it was possible to learn something about her, a woman clearly remarkable for her fortitude.  We also know from her own letters that she was human, sometimes lonely and sometimes anxious about her absent children.
 
Many of Acton’s stories have been lost, but we are grateful to have found this one.  As we begin the new year, we take this opportunity to express appreciation for people who donate items to archives and for organizations that work to preserve and share them so that others can learn about the past.  In the context of Sarah Skinner’s story, we especially would like to thank the University of Notre Dame’s Rare Books and Special Collections for their assistance with our research.

The Society is lucky to have a collection of dance cards that were obviously kept as mementos.  They give us a glimpse of Acton's community life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Despite the fact that people lacked today's conveniences, they clearly were able to enjoy social occasions. 

As far back as we have newspaper records, we find that dances were held in town.  Venues included the Town Hall in Acton “Centre,” Exchange Hall in South Acton (both built in the 1860s), and Littlefield’s Hall in West Acton (built about 1893 and burned down in 1904; see our blog post for further information).  Our earliest dance card was created for the "Eighth Annual Bal Masque" held at Exchange Hall on January 21, 1875, confirming that dances were being held as far back as the 1860s.  Holidays were favorite occasions for formal balls, but dances seem to have been held quite often.  Some were fundraisers for local groups, some were either public or private celebrations, and others may have been private profit-making ventures.

Dance cards were printed in advance with the details of the event, usually including the committee in charge and the group who would provide the music.  The inside of the card listed the dances that would be performed.  Blank lines were provided for filling in the name of the partner to whom each dance was promised.  The card would have a decorative cover, making it an attractive souvenir of the evening.  Held together by a string or ribbon, the card sometimes had a pencil attached for convenience.

One of our earliest dance cards was created for the Royal Arcanum Grand Ball held in Exchange Hall on January 13, 1885.  The dances and musical selections were specified, mostly quadrilles, (danced in squares of four couples), with a few partner dances interspersed.  In the middle of the Ball, there was an intermission and a supper.

According to newspaper reports, the local baseball club held fundraising dances as far back as 1884.  Several of our dance cards made it very clear that patrons were supporting the team.

Researching the use of dance cards, we found that many sources indicate that dance cards were filled in only by men seeking to reserve dance partners.  Our collection shows that women sometimes filled in dance cards, too.

In keeping with the customs of the time, the owner of this 1892 card danced with more than one partner, but the  with “M.I.S.” was carefully blocked out, including the Grand March and the first and final dances.  We also note that a wide variety of dances were offered, with a mix of group dances such as the Quadrille and the Contra and partner dances such as the Waltz, Polka, Schottische, Galop and the relatively uncommon Newport. 

Attendees were not all dancers.  According to newspaper reports, spectators could buy tickets for the platform or the gallery.  The Society has an invitation to a 1904 South Acton dance which cost $1 for a “subscription” and only 25 cents for an orchestra or balcony chair.  In the Town Hall, in 1896, non-dancers at the Christmas dance were given an adjoining room at which to play whist (Concord Enterprise, Dec. 24, page 8).

The events, at least for the more formal occasions, would include a meal.  An advertisement in the November 23, 1899 Concord Enterprise (page 8) told dancers what they could expect at the Thanksgiving Ball at Littlefield’s Hall; a “hostler” to take care of horses at the door of the Hall, a coat check and convenient toilet rooms, an excellent dance floor, good music, and a supper for 35 cents consisting of various oyster dishes, pickles, olives, ice creams, cakes, fruit,  and coffee.  The ad made the claim that “No where in this vicinity is offered so many advantages for comfort and facilities for enjoyment at a ball, as at West Acton.”

The competition for dancers evidently was becoming fierce.  Organizers of a Concord Junction dance advertised in the South Acton and West Acton locals on November 16.  South Acton’s Thanksgiving Ball organizers offered anyone who bought Ball tickets free admission to a dance the week before.  A report on the complimentary dance mentioned that “best of all there was no dust in the hall."  (Nov. 30, 1899, page 8).  The December 7 issue of the Enterprise (page 8) reported that the South Acton Thanksgiving Ball was “great success” with 80 couples who had “tripped the light fantastic toe” and every spectator seat filled.  In contrast, the West Acton news included a letter from H. A. Littlefield denouncing “as false the malicious story started Thanksgiving day or the day before that my family was sick with diphtheria and that I was not allowed to be out” so that “it would be imprudent to attend the ball in Littlefield’s hall.  The story had its effect; there was no time to refute it and it spread with a rapidity that leads to the conclusion that it was pre-arranged.”  Stories, true or not, spread quickly in a small town.

One other item of note struck us as we looked at the old dance cards; the affairs could be long.  Starting around 8 pm and including a dinner, they went as late as 2:30 am.  Getting home, for those who lived beyond easy walking distance, would have involved using and then caring for horses after a long night.  One has to be a bit awed by former Actonians’ energy.