One of the little-realized facts about Acton’s Revolutionary War soldiers is that we do not have a complete listing of who they were.  Captain Isaac Davis’s company of Minute Men who marched to Concord on April 19, 1775 are quite well-documented, thanks to the testimony of long-lived individuals and the pride of Acton residents that their Minute Men were first at the bridge and suffered losses as a result.  A monument in the center of town reminds us of their place in history.  However, two other companies of Acton men served that day.  We can figure out some of them thanks to a wonderful donation to the Society of Captain Joseph Robbins’ papers, but we still do not know all who participated.

The Revolutionary War stretched on for eight years, and while records became somewhat better as the war went on, not all soldiers’ service was perfectly documented.  In the years since, because of local focus on those who were killed on the war’s first day, soldiers who served and died later and in places farther away have received much less attention in Acton.  One of those casualties was Thomas Darby who was killed at the Battle of White Plains in 1776. 

In honor of Memorial Day, we attempted to find out something about Thomas Darby.  His surname was not a common name in Acton in later years.  He is not mentioned on any monument, marker, or historical map.  There are no streets bearing his name in a town full of Revolution-themed roads.  Given this lack of attention, we assumed that he was a young, unmarried man who probably did not have family around or whose extended family died out early.  That assumption turned out to be incorrect.  Though we were not able to find out much about his life, we can at least try to give his story some family context.

We are, for this blog post, indebted to and somewhat at the mercy of published town histories and genealogies of Thomas’ family.  Though we have used online vital, town, military, probate, and land records to try to corroborate and supplement their stories, the records of the time are incomplete.  Some research avenues were limited after COVID-19 led to the closure of libraries and archives, but the Darby family is hard to untangle even in the records that do exist.  The Darbys were numerous, were sometimes called “Derby,” “Daby” or another name variant, and tended to repeat first names within and across generations.  (As one example, a Daby family of Harvard, MA seems to have been intermingled with Thomas’ family in some histories, though the actual connection, if there was one, is uncertain.)  As best we can tell, Thomas descended from three generations of men named John Darby.  John Darby was certainly a common name in Thomas’ family; it was given to Thomas’ eldest brother and two younger brothers, the last of whom reached adulthood.

The first of Thomas’ male ancestors noted in most genealogies was fisherman John Darby of Marblehead.  What usually was not mentioned was his notoriety.  According to Eric Jay Dolin’s Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates (among other histories), John Darby was on the crew of a boat boarded by pirates in August 1689 and, quite voluntarily, threw in his lot with the pirate Thomas Pound.  John’s new career was short-lived as the pirates’ activities over the next two months led the Massachusetts governor to send out a crew after them.  When they caught up with the pirates in Tarpaulin Cove (located on an island near Martha’s Vineyard), John Darby was killed in the ensuing battle.  His wife back in Marblehead was left with five young children.[i] 

The second John Darby (1681-1753), Thomas’ grandfather, married Deborah Conant, presumably before Dec. 27, 1704, and had many children in Essex County, MA.  They moved to Concord around 1721.  Deborah’s brother Lot Conant also settled in Concord; a deed in 1745 mentioned that a piece of land owned by John Darby was bounded in part by Lot Conant’s land.  In that 1745 deed, John Darby sold part of his farm and other lands to his eldest son John (Thomas’ father), carefully giving him the right to cross the barnyard to get to his own barn doors, to cart his hay, and to use the well.  Son John was also given one fifth of the apples in the orchard.  The elder John’s will, dated 1747, left to his wife “Deborah Darbie” any lands and buildings that he had not yet disposed of in the “southerly part of Concord” and his interest in land in Acton.  The will conveniently named his children: John (Thomas’ father), Andrew, Ebenezer, Benjamin, Joseph and Robert Darbie, Deborah Wheeler and Mary Heywood.

Thomas’ father John Darby (1704-1762?) married Rebecca Tarbox in Wenham on March 16, 1728.  John and Rebecca had two children, John (1729-1732) and Thomas (born 1731).  Thomas’ mother died by 1735.  His father was remarried to Susanna (possibly Jones), and they had eight more children: John, Rebecca, Lucy, John, Anne, Elizabeth, Nathaniel and Elnathan.  As far as we can tell from land records, Thomas grew up in “the westerly part of Concord” near his grandparents and a large number of siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins.  (The 1745 deed from his grandfather to his father confirms that Thomas’ family was living on his grandfather’s farm at the time.)  At least some of the family ended up in Acton after it was set off as a separate town in 1735.  Thomas’ uncle Andrew Darby was considered one of the founding settlers of Acton (see Phalen, page 28) and was chosen for various responsible roles in its early years, including selectman and assessor.  Four of Andrew’s children’s births were reported in Acton vital records.  Andrew moved to Worcester County around 1848 and was again a founding father of Narraganset No. 2 (later Westminster), leaving a large number of descendants in that area.  Thomas’ uncle Benjamin bought Acton land abutting Iron Work Farm in South Acton in 1844.  Joseph Darby bought land and a cooper shop in Acton in 1776.  One thing we can say with certainty is that Thomas was not a lone Darby who happened to sign up with Acton’s minute men.  Darbys and their relatives had been in Concord and Acton for decades.

Unfortunately, however, records actually detailing Thomas’ life are very few.  According to Concord vital records, Thomas Darby was born January 12, 1731 to John and Rebekah Darby.  His baptism was recorded in the records of Ipswich’s “Hamlet Parish Church” on Jan. 17, 1731.  As noted, Thomas grew up in Concord and lived on his grandfather’s farm.  According to many sources, Thomas married Lucy Brewer.  Presumably they married around 1761, but we have not found a marriage record.  We found no land records bearing Thomas’ name, but he was living in Acton by 1757 when, during the French and Indian War, he was listed as a private in Captain Samuel Davis’ “Foot Company,” Acton’s Alarm Company #2.  His children with wife Lucy were recorded in Acton’s town records (Vital Records, Volume 1, page 63, all together):

• Lucy, born Dec. 3, 1762
  
• Rebeckah, born Oct. 30, 1764
  
• Phebe (looks like “Derby”), born June 11, 1767
  
• Molly, born June 27, 1773
  

Thomas was mentioned in Acton’s town records on March 26, 1769 when he was paid two pounds for keeping a school.  Though hard to read, an order dated April 19, 1770 indicates that Thomas “Derby” was paid one pound, ten shillings for keeping a school the next year as well.  That is the only mention of Thomas’ work that we have found.  He could have been living and working on a relative’s land but we have found nothing to prove that.

The next records we have of Thomas come from Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War.  Thomas Darby was listed as part of John Hayward’s company that answered the “Lexington Alarm.”  John Hayward was Captain Isaac Davis’ second-in-command and became the leader of Acton’s minute men when Davis was killed.  Thomas Darby presumably was drilling with Captain Davis as tensions with the British rose in late 1774 and early 1775.  He was one of those who marched to Concord on the first day of the war, was there in the first company facing the British, and must have witnessed the death of Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer. 

Apparently, Thomas had the full support of his wife in turning to soldiering.  According to a colorful story in the history of Hudson, New Hampshire, Lucy (Brewer) Darby “sheared her sheep, spun the wool, wove the cloth, colored it with butternut bark, made the uniform and carried it to her husband, then in temporary camp, and told him to go fight for his country.”  (page 575) 

Thomas’ war service continued.  Records for early war service are spotty, but a pay abstract for a travel allowance dated Winter Hill, Jan. 15, 1776 confirms that he was part of Washington’s army participating in the siege of Boston that winter.  He was serving as Corporal in Capt. David Wheeler’s company, Col. Nixon’s regiment.  Joseph Darby of Acton was also in the company, probably the son of Thomas’ uncle Joseph who still lived in Concord.  Thomas and Joseph (“Derby”) were both in Capt. Simon Hunt’s company that was called out to help fortify Dorchester Heights in March 1776.  Thomas seems to have been reported as a private for that service.
In Sept. 1776, a company was formed of men from Concord, Acton, Lexington, and Lincoln to serve in the Massachusetts Third Regiment under Eleazer Brooks.  Simon Hunt of Acton was captain.  A list of Simon Hunt’s company (that did not include a year) showed Thomas Darby as a corporal.  Fifteen Acton men were in the company, including Thomas Darby of Acton and Nathan Darby of Acton/Concord, both of whom reported at White Plains.  Nathan may have been another son of Thomas’ uncle Joseph, but it also could have been Thomas’ brother Nathaniel whose later service (clearly as “Nathaniel Darby” from Acton) was credited to “Nathan” in the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors compendium.  Either way, Thomas had family in the company.[ii] 

Though we know that Thomas served and died at White Plains, even the role of his company there is hard to pin down, as later reports on the battle were somewhat conflicting.  Fletcher and Shattuck’s histories (of Acton and Concord, respectively) both made sure to assure us that Colonel Eleazer Brooks’ regiment behaved bravely.  Whatever happened in the chaos of the battle, the result was tragedy for Thomas’ family; Lucy was left a widow with four daughters to support.  Thomas does not show up in probate or land records; presumably he left little money behind.  There is no indication in town records that Acton helped Thomas’ family financially.  We can only assume that they took refuge with relatives elsewhere, probably in Ashby, MA.   A Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution publication stated that she was a pensioner. (page 237) Though it would seem that widow Lucy Darby should have received a pension under a 1780 Act of Congress, we have found no evidence of that seemingly simple fact in online records.  (Perhaps the 1800 fire that consumed the earliest pension  records destroyed her application, but we found no records of payment, either.)

We finally found additional records of the Thomas’ family when his daughters started to marry.  On May 28, 1788, daughter Rebeckah married Revolutionary War veteran John Pratt in Harvard, MA.  Both Rebecca and John were recorded as residents of Harvard at the time, but John had apparently moved to Fitchburg, MA where the couple settled and raised their nine children, one of whom was named Thomas Darby Pratt.

On November 27, 1788, Thomas’ eldest daughter Lucy married John Gilson who enlisted from Pepperell, MA at the age of fourteen and was in the Battle of White Plains.  A Samuel Gilson of Pepperell was in the same company and was reported killed at White Plains; this may have been his father.  (Sources disagree.)  The marriage between Lucy and John Gilson was recorded in Townsend and Ashby, MA, both giving Lucy’s residence as Ashby.  A profile of the Gilson family in Hayward’s history of Hancock, NH tells us that John Gilson was a blacksmith.  He and Lucy settled originally in what is now Hudson, NH and then moved to Hancock, NH.  (They may have lived for a time in Bennington as well.)  They had eight children, one of whom was named Thomas Derby Gilson.  (We checked other sources to confirm his middle name.  Aside from the mention in the Hancock history, we only found him listed as Thomas D. Gilson in other records.)   Both Thomas Darby’s daughter Lucy Gilson and Thomas’ widow Lucy Darby died on August 10, 1834 and were buried together in the Hancock cemetery.  Thomas’ widow had lived with John and Lucy Gilson and their family for nearly fifty years.  Widow Lucy Darby had managed to accumulate some money and left a will, written in 1832, that named her daughters and six of her Gilson grandchildren.

Thomas’ daughter Phebe married Jonathan Rolfe on August 30, 1792.  Both were of Ashby, MA, but their marriage, like Lucy’s, was recorded both in Townsend and Ashby.  Apparently, Jonathan was a carpenter.  Two histories gave Jonathan the title of “Captain,” but we were unable to find out why.  Jonathan and Phebe stayed in Ashby until after 1810, and their nine children seem to have been born there.  Jonathan and Phebe later moved to Dalton, NH.  Jonathan died in 1825 and Phebe in 1840, and they were buried in Dalton.

Youngest daughter Mary (also known as Molly or Polly) married Deacon Moses Greeley (1764-1848) who was born in Haverhill, MA.  His father also served in the Revolutionary War.  Moses first married a cousin Hannah with whom he had two daughters.  After she died in in 1793, Moses and Mary married and lived in Nottingham West (later Hudson), New Hampshire.  Moses was a blacksmith and apparently a successful farmer.  The couple had nine (or possibly ten) children, one of whom, Moses, Jr., legally changed his name in 1829 to Moses Thomas Derby Greeley.  Their eldest, Reuben, like his father, served as a selectman, becoming chairman of the Board, town clerk, and representative in the Legislature.  One of Mary’s grandchildren was the locally well-known Moses Greeley Parker.  Mary Darby’s husband Moses Greeley died in 1848, and Mary died in 1856.  They were buried in Hudson, NH.  A history of Hudson, NH has personal sketches of Moses (including Mary) and Reuben and includes pictures of all three of them. 

Even though Thomas Darby was one of Acton’s celebrated Minute Men, his service has been given surprisingly little attention.  Perhaps because he survived April 19, 1775, Acton’s historical attention focused instead on those who were killed that day.  Contrary to our expectations, he came from a large family and left many descendants.  None of Thomas’ daughters settled in Acton; stories about his life would have been passed down elsewhere.  If anyone has more to tell us about Thomas Darby, his family, and or any other Acton Darby connections, we would like to document their history.  We would also be grateful for any corrections or additions to this story.  Please contact us.

 Endnotes:

[i] We would like to find more records to make sure of the connection between John the pirate and Thomas’ great-grandfather.  The name Darby was much less numerous than in later generations, so duplicate John Darbys are much less likely, but we did want to confirm the identity.  The pirate John was known to the remaining members of his fishing vessel, so his identity was no mystery at the time, and there were witnesses to his activities as part of the pirate crew.  For us, genealogies tell us that Thomas’ great-grandfather was a fisherman, and that he came from Marblehead.  Many sources say that the pirate was from Marblehead working on a boat out of Salem and that the pirate’s widow was left with four or five children.  The timing of pirate John’s death in October 1889 is consistent with (1) Thomas’ ancestor’s probate inventory dated Janr 17, 1690 (given the writing, it might be June 17), and (2) his widow Alice Darby, mother of five, marrying John Woodbery on July 2, 1690.

[ii] To complicate matters further, Thomas also had another first cousin named Nathan who was in Westminster by that point as well as a brother named Elnathan.  Various cousins of Thomas served at different times during the Revolution; with name duplication, telling them apart in records becomes complicated and depends heavily on location at enlistment.  Checking online scans (via Ancestry.com) of the 1778 roll of the 15th Regiment, listed by town, we found Nathaniel listed as a soldier from Acton in Hunt’s company; at that point, at least, the soldier in Hunt’s company appears to be Thomas’ brother.  Elnathan seems to have enlisted for service from the town of Harvard in 1777.

Select References Used (in addition to digitized vital and other records):

• Davis, Betsey Warren.  The Warren, Jackson and Allied Families.  Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott for Private Circulation, 1903.  (pages 141-145)
• Derby, Samuel Carroll.  John Darby of Marblehead, Mass. and His Descendants.  Self-published manuscript, also published in The "Old Northwest" Genealogy Quarterly. Columbus, Ohio: The "Old Northwest Genealogical Society, 1910.  Volume XIII, No. 1 (January), pages 36-42.
• Dolin, Eric Jay.  Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates. New York: Liveright Publishing Corp., 2018.
• Edmonds, John Henry.  "Captain Thomas Pound, Pilot, Pirate, Cartographer, and Captain in the Royal Navy. " in Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volume 20.  Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1920.  (See January, 1918)
• Fletcher, James. Acton in History. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis & Co., 1890.  (See pages 262-263).
• Hayward, William Wills.  The History of Hancock, New Hampshire 1764-1889.  Lowell, Mass: Vox Populi Press: 1889.  (See especially pages 601-604)
• Heywood, William Sweetzer.  History of Westminster Massachusetts (First Named Narragansett No. 2)  Lowell, Mass.: Vox Pouli Press: 1893.  (See especially pages 605-611, but Darbys are mentioned in numerous places.)
• Husbands, Charles R.  History of the Acton Minutemen and Militia Companies.  Salem, MA: Higginson Book Company, 2003.  (See especially pages 13-14, 19, 111, 131, 139, 143.)
  
• Locke, John Goodwin.  Book of the Lockes: a genealogical and historical record of the descendants of William Locke, of Woburn.  Cambridge: J. Monroe, 1853. (See pages 36, 66, 122-123)
• Massachusetts Society, Sons of the American Revolution. Historical Memoranda with Lists of Members and their Revolutionary Ancestors.  Boston: Massachusetts Society Sons of the American Revolution, 1897.  (page 237)
• National Society of the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America.  Lineage Book.  Washington, D. C.: H. L. & J. B. McQueen, Inc., 1924. Volume 12. (See page 61, Mabel H. Kenea #1193)
• Phalen, Harold R. History of the Town of Acton. Cambridge, MA: Middlesex Printing Inc., 1954.  (See especially pages 28, 76, 371, 384, and 387 which mentions White Plains but not Thomas Darby)
• Secretary of the Commonwealth.  Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1898.  Volume 4. (Darby, pages 423-429. Derby, pages 692-694.)  For Gilson, see Volume 6, pages 458-459.  For Pratt, see Volume 12, pages 691-695 (John).
• Shattuck, Lemuel. A History of the Town of Concord.  Concord: John Stacy, 1835.  See especially page 354.
• Webster, Kimball.  History of Hudson, N. H.  Manchester, N. H.: Granite State Publishing, 1913.  (See especially pages 575-577 and illustrations near pages 169, 172 and 433)

Ann F. Heywood, subject of our last blog post on Acton’s first female voters, was married to Charles L. Heywood, owner of a South Acton mill.  We had very little information about them to start, but our research revealed that they were celebrities by the standards of South Acton in the 1870s.  Charles, as it turns out, was unusual by any standard.  Ann evidently was herself worthy of note, but, as is frustratingly typical, she was much less documented in written records. 

The Early Years

We do not know much about Charles and Ann's early lives.  Records of that time are sparse, and neither Charles nor Ann grew up in Acton.  We do know that Charles Lincoln Heywood was born to Lincoln Heywood and Rebecca Priest in Lunenburg, MA on April 17, 1828.  The eighth child in the family, he grew up in Lunenburg and was educated in its local schools.  His father was Deacon of the Unitarian Church.  About the time that the Fitchburg Railroad came through Lunenburg (approximately 1845), Charles went to work for the line as a crossing tender. Charles was obviously a young man of ability; he moved up steadily in the railroad's ranks.  By 1850, 22-year-old Charles was living in Fitchburg with the Israel Goodrich family and working as a Wood Agent for the railroad.  In the 1855 Massachusetts census, he still had that title and was living in a "hotel" in Fitchburg.  Within the next year or two, Charles was promoted to Roadmaster, a managerial position responsible for track conditions and safe operations.  He continued to serve as Wood Agent as well, at least at first.  Charles soon moved to Concord, MA, where he joined the Corinthian Lodge of Masons.  He was a resident of Concord when he married Ann Tyler. [1]

Ann Frances Tyler was born June 18, 1825 in Attleboro, MA, the fourth child of Samuel Tyler and Betsey Samson.  Ann was only three when her mother died.  According to a Tyler genealogy, her father was "an enterprising, influential man in Attleboro, and a pious church-member.  His will mentions him as 'a depraved worm of the dust.'"  It appears that Ann and Charles both grew up in homes in which religion was important, but beyond that, we do not know any more about their upbringing or how they managed to meet.  They were married on November 25, 1857 either in Attleboro or in Providence, RI where Ann was living at the time. [2]

A Busy Life

The couple moved at some point to Belmont, MA where Charles was living when he registered for the draft in 1863 and where he became a charter member of the local Masonic lodge.  In September 1864, after many years of service, Charles was promoted to the position of Superintendent of the Fitchburg Railroad.  He would serve in that role for about fourteen years. [3]

Charles seems to have possessed an unusually active mind and the energy to turn his thoughts into reality.  Apparently, it was his idea to create the amusement park at Walden Pond in Concord that opened in 1866.  Though Charles grew up in Lunenburg, his family roots went way back in Concord.  His relatives seem to have owned a significant portion of the shoreline of Walden Pond, and the Fitchburg Railroad conveniently went right by.  The railroad bought up land bordering the pond and cleared some of the woods to create an entertainment area with a large hall for use as a dancing pavilion or a gathering place for large meetings.  Tables and seats were provided for picnicking, and for the more actively inclined, there were trails, swings, “teeters,” bathhouses for swimmers, and rowboats.  People were delivered by train right to the park that was usually called some variant of “Lake Walden” or “Walden Pond Grove.” [4]

Though to many today, Walden Pond should be kept as pristine as Thoreau saw it, at the time, many would have considered the park a societal benefit that allowed city dwellers a respite in fresh air and a beautiful spot.  It was enormously successful.  A Waltham Sentinel reporter, having recently enjoyed “a fine boat ride with several of the Fitchburg railroad officials, accompanied by their ladies; among the party Mr. Heywood, the Superintendent,” wrote that the park was “rapidly becoming quite popular.”[5]  J. C. Moulton, “a well known Artist from Fitchburg” was there that day with his “machine” for making stereopticon views for sale, which would have been good to promote the park.  The first season of the venture was summed up in the Nov. 30, 1866 Waltham Sentinel; the Fitchburg Railroad had brought out thirty different groups to the grounds, about 10,000 persons, without mishap. [6]

The venture grew from there.  By June 1869, large boats with side wheels and docks to accommodate them were added.  During its first five years, newspapers reported that Walden hosted gatherings of veterans, temperance advocates, Masons, Good Templars, Sunday Schools, Spiritualists, and students and alumni of the New England Conservatory.  In July 1869, the "Grand Temperance Celebration" featured speakers, music, dancing, boating, swinging, ball playing and a Velocipede rink.  The special excursion admission and train fare from Acton was 50 cents.  The third annual Musicians’ Picnic in 1870 drew more than 3,000 people to hear at least seven bands including Acton’s 19-piece band led by G. Wild.   On July 4, 1870, the estimated crowds were 8,000-10000; the railroad used every serviceable car to accommodate them.  In the early years of the 1870s, trains started bringing “the children of the poor” out from Boston to enjoy a day at the amusement park. [7]

Walden was only one of Charles L. Heywood’s brainstorms.  As Superintendent of the Fitchburg Railroad, he conceived numerous special excursions to provide people with recreation, edification, or simply a change.  In addition to promoting events at Walden and closer to the city, the railroad carried people to West Townsend and environs to gather greenery, trailing arbutus, checkerberries and mosses with which to celebrate May Day.  Excursions were arranged for people to see the engineering wonder of the Hoosac Tunnel.  Superintendent Heywood invited the famous Rev. Henry Ward Beecher to preach at Lake Pleasant, a Spiritualist campground in Sept. 1875.  Montague depot was nearby. [8]

Charles’ mind was also busy thinking of ways to make the railroads safer.  In 1866-67, he was granted patents for a railroad snow plow and a “bridge guard” to keep brakemen from being knocked off the top of railroad cars as they worked.  Charles’ plow, apparently “ingenious,” efficiently and thoroughly cleared the tracks.  Adjustable “wings” could clear five feet on either side of the tracks and would retract if they hit an obstacle.  His plow was used, at the least, by railroads in Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.  Charles’ “bridge guard” was “a light movable crane” that would give brakemen working on top of railroad cars warning before they were hit by the bridge.[9]  It apparently was widely adopted, as it “proved a great protection against accidents.”[10]  Charles may have traveled to promote his inventions.  In addition to exhibiting at the 1865 Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association in Boston, he was also one of the exhibitors at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.[11]  Charles became known as a strong advocate for railway safety: “Even the ordinary signs at crossings he did not consider sufficient, and the reading on many of them he  had so amended as to direct travelers to ‘look both ways’ before attempting to cross the tracks.  There was no device brought to his attention that promised to reduce the chances of accidents which he did not forthwith adopt.” [12]

Charles and Ann seem to have moved around.  They may have stayed in residential hotels at times and may have had multiple properties at others, but they were always near the railroad.  In May 1866, Charles bought a house on Main Street, near the corner of Auburn Street, in Charlestown, MA.  He and Ann joined Harvard Church there in early 1868, and in May 1869, an ad appeared in the Boston Traveler “For Sale or To Be Let on a Long Lease – A good House, Stable, and 17,000 feet of land, well stocked with fruit and shade trees, near Waverly Station, Belmont, Mass.  Inquire of C. L. Heywood, at Fitchburg Railroad, Superintendent’s Office.”[13]  Charles transferred his Masonic membership to Charlestown in November, 1871.  For some reason, we were not able to find Charles and Ann listed in the 1870 census; perhaps they were traveling at that time or staying at a summer location, possibly in South Acton. 

As far as we can tell, Ann and Charles had no children of their own.  Around 1870, Ann’s niece, Eunice Tyler (Read) Crawford, daughter of Ann’s sister Eunice and wife of George Crawford, passed away.  She left a child, Herbert Lincoln Crawford, who had been born in Pawtucket, RI in September 1868.  Charles and Ann took him in.  Whether or not the arrangement was meant to be temporary, it became permanent, and in 1878, while living in Belmont, the couple adopted the boy.  His name was changed to Lincoln Crawford Heywood. 

Abundant Charity

While still working for the railroad, Charles gave of his prodigious energy and his money to charities.  He took special interest in the welfare of the inmates of the Charlestown state prison and taught Sunday school there.  The Boston Daily Advertiser noted in January 1870 that he had given his students a book of their choice as a Christmas gift.  He was also involved in the Massachusetts Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts.  His belief in rehabilitation was obviously deeply held, because his kindness to prison inmates extended to the man who had killed Charles’ brother George.  According to Cunningham’s History of Lunenburg, Charles met the prisoner responsible for his brother’s death, forgave him, and actually helped to get him pardoned.  We were able to confirm the pardon but not Charles’ role in it.  Cunningham was well acquainted with Charles’ father and apparently knew Charles, so presumably he heard the story from someone who knew what happened. [14]

Prisoners were not the only beneficiaries of Charles’ generosity.  Charles served on the Executive Committee and as director of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for years and took an active part in the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society from its beginning.   He was involved in creating excursions for poor city children, including to Walden.  In 1874, to kickstart a fundraising campaign for the debt-ridden Appleton Temporary Home for Inebriates, he offered to pay down one-tenth of its debt and to donate $10 yearly for the rest of his life.  In 1875, he supplied every school district in his native town of Lunenburg with a cabinet organ and a full set of songbooks and donated money to the Lunenburg farmers’ club to encourage them to plant forest trees.  Later, he donated globes and microscopes to the Lunenburg schools.  Charles was also one of the founders of the Boston Union Industrial Association whose purpose was to find employment for and give assistance to the poor. [15]

Ann (Tyler) Heywood showed up in newspapers in the 1870s, sometimes attending an event with her husband, but sometimes on her own.  Ann was a donor to the North End Mission nursery.  She served food (as did men) during at least one of the Poor Children’s Excursions to Walden, and in 1875 she and Charles were both appointed to the Committee in charge of Poor Children’s Excursions from the city.  Ann served on the committee on her own for several years.  In 1876, Mrs. & Mrs. C. L. Heywood were given a seven-piece silver tea service “as a token of appreciation of their generous gift of the reading room to the village of Waverley.” [16]

Acton Connection

In the 1870s, the Heywoods came to South Acton.  As far as we can tell, their involvement started with a business opportunity.  In 1869, William Schouler, owner of a South Acton mill, decided to sell out.  An ad said  “WATER POWER FOR SALE – Consisting of two privileges, within 30 rods of each other, one of 16 and the other of 9 feet tall, on an excellent stream, with a reserve of two ponds of 400 acres, altogether independent of the stream, with good factory buildings and dwelling houses, several acres of land with orchard and large grapery, situated on the Fitchburg Railroad, near the depot at South Acton, about 1 hour’s ride from Boston.” [17]  Charles Heywood purchased the property on April 27, 1870 with a mortgage.  In November, the old Schouler Mill burned, with damage estimated at $3,000.  Fortunately, Charles had it insured. [18]

Charles started a soapstone mill at the South Acton site.  We were unable to find any details about the soapstone mill, unfortunately.  There were soapstone quarries elsewhere in Massachusetts and in Vermont; Charles presumably was able to ship raw materials to Acton easily by rail.  We were able to discover some details about Charles’ property from Acton’s 1872 tax valuation:
Heywood, C. L., Belmont --

• House $1,000
• Small house, $450
• Carriage house, $100
• Mill & wheel, $1,300
• Water power $1,300
• House on Railroad, $200
• Land connected with above, 5 acres, $200

Charles owned water rights and the mill at approximately today’s 115-141 River Street and a house at approximately 140 River Street (no longer standing).  The house, probably vacant for much of the year, received the wrong kind of attention in October 1875: “Some malicious person or persons have been throwing rocks through the windows of the house and barn near the soapstone mill, belonging to Supt. Heywood.  A reward of $25 is offered for the arrest and conviction of the depredators.” [19] 

After Charles had paid off his mortgage, he started a new venture that was advertised in the Acton Patriot on September 26, 1878: [20]

A NEW
Grain & Grist Mill
Has been fitted up with Corn Cracker and two sets of Stones at the Soap Stone Mill, on the Wm Schouler place about
A half mile east of the South Acton Station,
where Corn, Meal, Oats and Shorts will be offered at wholesale and retail at the lowest market price.

Corn, Oats and Rye
will be purchased in small lots of the farmer if offered.
  Mr. JOHN D. MOULTON, the well known miller of South Acton, has been employed to take charge.
  Orders left in order box at T. J. & W.’s Grocery Store will receive prompt attention.
C. L. HEYWOOD.
South Acton, Sept. 25, 1878

1878 seems to have been a time of change for the Heywoods, and it is likely not a coincidence that they started showing up more and more in Acton during that time.  Charles “contributed liberally” to the building of the South Acton Universalist Church that was dedicated on Feb. 21, 1878, and he taught in its Sunday School.  In June, he invited the children of the Sunday School there to make small floral bouquets with an accompanying letter that he would take to prisoners in Concord. [21]  On August 27 of that year, there was a farewell celebration on the South Acton “grounds of Superintendent C. L. Heywood” for the fifty city children that he had hosted “at his summer home ever since July 1.  The people of the vicinity turned out generally to the evening entertainment, which consisted of speaking, illuminations, bonfire, music by the Acton band, fireworks, and a general jollification.” [22]  Ann’s role as hostess of fifty children was not mentioned.

In 1878, Charles Heywood resigned from the Fitchburg Railroad after a career that lasted about 35 years, including fourteen as Superintendent.  He acted in an advisory capacity for the railroad for three more months, but he had many things to do.  He was working on new inventions.  At the end of the year, he filed five more applications that were primarily aimed at making railroads safer for employees and passengers, including improvements in signal lights, steps for rail cars, and cabooses for brakemen. [23]

Charles’ gristmill continued.  He added a horse shed at the grist mill for his customers’ convenience and ran ads in the Acton Patriot. [24]  The Patriot reported on June 26, 1879 that: “Mr. C. L. Heywood and wife are to start Friday evening on an European journey, returning home in September.” [25]  That fall, Ann F. Heywood was one of the first six women in Acton to register to vote in local school committee elections.  That same fall, Charles was chosen by Acton as one of its delegates to the Republican Convention.  During that period, the couple evidently considered South Acton “home”. [26]

The 1880 Boston Directory, probably from information given in 1879, shows Charles L. Heywood as president of the Mercantile and Collection Agency of 8 Exchange Place, with a house at South Acton. [27]  We have no other information about Charles’ involvement in what seems to have been a precursor to credit rating agencies.  Because our collection of newspapers before 1888 is sporadic, we were not able to find any other mention of the Heywoods in Acton.  However, the Heywoods showed up elsewhere. 

After Acton

The 1880 census listed Charles and Ann living on Revere Street in Revere with Lincoln (age 11) and a few boarders.  Ann continued to help with Poor Children’s Excursions and was elected to the executive committee in 1880. [28]  Charles moved on to several new ventures that included contracting to fill what today we could call “wetlands,” but at the time were considered public health “nuisances.”  Charles served as a director and then president of the Maverick Land Company that was filling the flats in East Boston that were expected in early 1881 to “be much required for railroad purposes during the coming year, and can be sold to advantage.” [29]  Charles was involved with filling land at Fresh Pond in Cambridge and also apparently got involved in the project to fill Prison Point in Charlestown for the Eastern Railroad that seems to have been a quagmire for all parties.  That scheme supposedly brought financial reverses to Charles, although we were not able to confirm that story.  In addition to filling projects, he was involved with the Hoosac Tunnel Dock and Elevator Company and the Union Electric Signal Company. [30]

Charles received a patent for an improved Track Clearing Car on April 11, 1882.  Presumably, he continued to promote his inventions and in early 1883 took an extended trip to the West and Southwest and went to the National Exposition of Railway Appliances in Chicago where he was exhibiting his inventions. [31]

Charles continued to support causes that he believed in.  He served for eight years as treasurer of the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society and lent his public support to the cause when needed.  He continued working to help poor children and discharged convicts.  Somehow, Charles found the time in November 1882 to present a travelogue to the Farmers’ Club in his native town. [32]

In 1883, Charles went to work managing the construction of quarantine grounds in Waltham along the Fitchburg railroad.  The quarantine grounds were to keep cattle, imported for breeding purposes, safely away from native stock.   According to the Globe, the project was part of an effort by the federal government to systematically create an efficient quarantine system. [33]

On June 23, 1883, Charles had been in Waltham, attending to his duties at the quarantine station.  At about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, apparently trying to get to the station that would take him home to Waverly (Belmont), he was walking on one of the tracks.  Reports vary; he may have been distracted by trying to warn another man that a passenger train was coming, or he may have been unaware that a freight train was running in a different direction from usual.  Whatever the details, Charles, whose career and inventions had been aimed at improving railroad safety, was struck by a freight train. He was rushed to the main Waltham depot, attended by local doctors, and then taken by special train to Massachusetts General Hospital.  Unfortunately, he died almost immediately after arriving at the hospital. [34]

Charles’ death was a shock to many and was widely reported in the news.  He was something of a celebrity and was widely admired for his success and generosity.  Most reports, typically, either did not mention Ann at all or simply stated that he had left “a widow.”  However, a couple of reports mentioned Ann as a person: “His wife was an estimable lady, and by her kindly encouragement has done much to make him what he was,” [35] and, probably from the same source,  “Accompanying all the talk about the sad affair and the inquiries for particulars relating thereto were a general expression of regret and sympathy for his widow, who is a lady held in the highest estimation, and to whose efforts, it is said, has been due the greater part of her husband’s success.” [36]

Ann Heywood’s life obviously would have been severely upended by her husband’s death.  She had a teenaged son to care for and, most likely, a complicated set of financial entanglements left by her husband’s unexpected demise.  Charles left an unusually long will dated June 20, 1878.  In addition to providing for Ann, he created a trust for the benefit of his newly adopted son Lincoln and any wife, widow, or children Lincoln might have in the future.  Given Charles’ ability to plan ahead, it is not surprising that there were many contingencies and potential recipients of money, including relatives and charities.  Charles, who only had the benefit of education in the local schoolhouse, added, “I wish my said son to have the opportunity of obtaining, if he desires it, a liberal education, and, while I do not restrict his selection of a college or university, yet I would request that he should, before deciding, carefully consider the advantages afforded by the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst.”  He also left an additional special $2,000 trust, the income of which would be paid to Lincoln until the age of 25, at which time he would get the principal.  The will directed that the income and the principal of that trust should be given by Lincoln “to Charitable objects, suggesting to him as worthy of special attention that class of the poor who bear in silence the burden of poverty, sometimes styled the silent poor.”  Charles clearly hoped to train Lincoln in charitable giving. [37]

In 1884, Ann and son Lincoln moved to Pawtucket, RI where Lincoln attended high school.  Lincoln graduated with the class of 1886 and then attended Brown University for two years as a member of the class of 1890.  In 1889, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated in 1891 as a civil engineer.  His senior thesis, completed with another student, was “A Plan for Widening a Stone Highway Bridge at Pawtucket, R. I.”  After graduation, Lincoln again lived with his mother and worked for the Interstate Street Railway Company as an engineer.  He married Edith Clapp on December 15, 1892.    In July 1893, he became engineer of the town of Lincoln, RI and started working on designing and constructing a sewer system for part of the town and on creating a complete and coordinated system for the whole town.  He and Edith had a baby daughter Hortense. 

Tragically, Lincoln died on Jan. 12, 1895.  After what happened to his adoptive father, safety-minded railroad executive Charles, it was striking to read that Lincoln died of a disease that he was working to protect others from.  “Mr. Heywood was taken ill the last of December with that dread disease, typhoid fever, which he, in common with many other engineers, through the agency of pure water supplies and proper sewerage systems, had been striving to render less dangerous to the community and less likely to become epidemic in thickly settled districts.” [38]  He was 26 years old.  One can only imagine the blow to his mother Ann, as well as to his wife.  Joint owners of their home at Brook and Grove streets, Ann and Edith Heywood sold the property in early 1896. The 1896 Pawtucket Directory listed Mrs. Ann F. Heywood as having “removed to Providence.” [39]

The 1900 census showed Ann F. Haywood (a widow born in Massachusetts in June 1825) as a boarder in the household of Anna Burrill in Concord, MA.  She may have simply been staying for the summer, because the 1901 Providence, RI Directory shows Ann living at 733 Cranston Street. [40]  We are not sure where she lived for the next few years, but Ann was in Pawtucket, RI when she died on November 14, 1904 of a cerebral hemorrhage.  She was buried with Charles at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA.  We found a death notice for Ann, but no full obituary. [41]  On the other hand, we found that Charles was still notable enough in 1904 that a newspaper profile of a former Lunenburg teacher mentioned that he had taught “Charles L. Heywood, afterwards superintendent of the Fitchburg railroad.” [42]  Sadly, that fame is long gone.  In South Acton, though the railroad tracks remain and water still runs through the site, passersby would probably have no idea that mills were once there and that across the street, a generous couple once hosted dozens of city children in the summertime.

References:

[1] Boston Sunday Herald, June 24, 1883, p. 2; Fitchburg Railroad. Report of Committee of Investigation.  Boston: Henry W. Dutton & Son, 1857, p. 6
[2] Brigham, Willard. The Tyler Genealogy; The Descendants of Job Tyler, of Andover, Massachusetts, 1619-1700. Privately published by Cornelius and Rollin Tyler, 1912, page 223
[3] Boston Evening Transcript, Sept. 17, 1864, p. 5
[4] For an overview of the Walden park, see Thorson, Robert M. The Guide to Walden Pond. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018, p. 167-168 and Springfield Republican, July 14, 1866, p. 1.  For names, see among others: Boston Globe, July 3, 1874, p. 2; Lowell Daily Citizen & News, June 15, 1867, p. 2; Boston Journal, Aug. 24, 1866, p. 2.
[5] Waltham Sentinel, Sept. 14, 1866, p. 2
[6] Waltham Sentinel, Nov. 30, 1866, p. 2
[7] Among many other reports of the park: Waltham Sentinel, June 4, 1869, p. 2; Boston Traveler, July 3, 1869, p. 2; Boston Journal, Sept. 1, 1870, p.4; Lowell Daily Citizen and News, July 14, 1870, p.1; Boston Daily Advertiser, Aug. 19, 1873, p. 1
[8]  Boston Globe, May 8, 1875, p. 5; Boston Post, July 10, 1874, p. 4; National Aegis, Sept. 4, 1875, p. 3
[9] Patents #51,829 and 62,197; Railroad Gazette, Chicago, Vol. 2, No. 1, Oct. 1, 1870, p. 8 and Vol. 9, Jan. 26, 1877, p. xii; Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Exhibition Catalogue, September, 1865.  Boston: Wright & Potter, 1865, p. 12
[10] Report of the Railroad Commissioners of the State of Maine, for the Year 1871. Augusta, Maine: Sprague, Owen & Nash, 1872, p. 46
[11] Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Exhibition Catalogue, September, 1865.  Boston: Wright & Potter, 1865, p. 12;  United States Centennial Commission.  International Exhibition 1876 Official Catalogue.  John R. Nagle and Company, 1876.  In the Machinery Department, Charles’ Bridge Guard was #939c, but he seems to have had at least one other invention exhibited, #778c.
[12] Boston Herald, June 25, 1883, p. 2
[13] Boston Traveler, May 11, 1869, p. 4
[14] Waltham Sentinel, Nov. 4, 1870, p.2; Boston Daily Advertiser, Jan. 7, 1870, p. 1; Boston Globe, May 25, 1875, p. 1; Boston Herald, May 30, 1883, p. 4; Cunningham, George A.  History of the Town of Lunenburg. Vol. II, no publisher, p. 393; Waltham Sentinel, Dec. 22, 1865, p. 2
[15] Among others: Boston Journal, Nov. 14, 1871, p. 2; Boston Globe, March 26, 1873, p. 8, Boston Journal, March 25, 1879, p. 3; Boston Globe, Feb. 6, 1873, p. 8; Lowell Daily Citizen and News, Feb. 5, 1874, p. 2; Boston Journal, Sept. 12, 1883, p. 1; Boston Globe, July 3, 1874, p.5; Boston Daily Advertiser, Sept. 2, 1874, p. 4; Boston Globe, Feb. 10, 1875, p. 7; Boston Daily Advertiser, Sept. 14, 1875, p. 4; Fitchburg Sentinel,  June 28, 1883, p.2; Boston Post, March 18, 1875, p.3; 
[16] Boston Traveler, Feb. 23, 1876, p. 4; Boston Journal, March 2, 1877, p. 2; Boston Daily Advertiser, Aug. 19, 1873, p. 1; Boston Globe, May 5, 1875, p. 4; Boston Daily Advertiser, March 15, 1878, p. 4
[17] Boston Journal, Dec. 17, 1869, p. 3
[18] Middlesex County Deeds, Vol. 1119, page 230-235 shows the purchase and the mortgage in April 1870.  Vol. 1421, p. 280 records the discharge of the mortgage in January, 1877.; Lowell Daily Citizen and News, Nov. 19, 1870, p. 2
[19] Acton Patriot, Oct. 9, 1875, unpaginated
[20] Acton Patriot, Sept. 26, 1878, unpaginated
[21] Undated clipping in scrapbook at Jenks Library; Boston Sunday Herald, June 24, 1883, p. 2; Acton Patriot, June 13, 1878, p. 1
[22] Boston Daily Advertiser, August 28, 1878, p. 4
[23] Patents #216,403 - 216,307, all filed Dec. 24, 1878
[24] Acton Patriot, Dec. 5, 1878, p. 1; April 17, 1879, p.8; Feb. 19. 1880, unpaginated
[25] Acton Patriot, June 26, 1879, p. 1
[26] Acton Patriot, October 2, 1879, p. 8; Boston Journal, Sept. 15, 1879, p.2
[27]  The Boston Directory. No. LXXVI. Boston: Sampson, Davenport and Company, 1880, p. 471
[28] Boston Post, June 5, 1880, p. 3
[29] Boston Journal, Feb. 28, 1881, p. 1; The Boston Directory. No. LXXIX.  Boston: Sampson, Davenport, and Company, 1883, p. 522
[30] Boston Sunday Herald, June 24, 1883, p. 2; Boston Sunday Herold, June 24, 1883, p. 2
[31] Patent #256,140; National exposition of railway appliances, Chicago, 1883. Guide to the National Exposition of Railway Appliances, Chicago (May 24-June 23, 1883). Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1883, p. 93; Boston Sunday Herold, June 24, 1883, p. 2
[32] Boston Journal, Sept. 12, 1883, p. 1 and Dec. 12, 1881, p. 2; Boston Globe, Aug. 31, 1883, p. 2; Boston Herald, May 30, 1883, p. 4; Fitchburg Sentinel, Nov. 16, 1882, p. 2
[33] Boston Globe, April 18, 1883, p. 2
[34] Boston Globe, June 24, 1883, p. 1; Boston Sunday Herold, June 24, 1883, p. 2; Fitchburg Sentinel, June 26, 1883, p. 3
[35] Boston Globe, June 24, 1883, p. 1
[36] Boston Sunday Herold, June 24, 1883, p. 2
[37] Middlesex County Probate, #15,946
[38] George A. Carpenter and Morris Knowles.  Lincoln C. Heywood A Memoir.  Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies, Volume 14, p.56-57.  Read to the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, March 20, 1895.  See also The Tech, Vol. XIV, No. 17, Feb. 17, 1895, p. 170 and 172; Evening Times, (Pawtucket, RI), Jan. 12, 1895, p. 1
[39] Evening Times, (Pawtucket, RI), Jan. 25, 1896, p. 6; The Pawtucket City and Central Falls City Directory. No. XXVIII. Providence: Sampson, Murdock & Co, 1896, p. 236
[40] The Providence Directory. No. LXI. Providence, RI: Sampson, Murdock, & Co., p. 440.
[41] Evening Times, (Pawtucket, RI), Nov. 15, 1904, p. 4
[42]  Boston Sunday Post, Dec. 4, 1904, p. 6
[43] A correspondent granted us permission to use this photograph, which we gratefully acknowledge.

Knowing that U.S. women gained the right to vote in 1920, it comes as a surprise to many of us that in 1879, Massachusetts passed a law that allowed women to register to vote for their local school committee.  It was a very limited victory, and the journey to full voting rights was long.  (See our blog post about Acton women and the 1895 referendum on municipal suffrage.)

Up until now, though we knew that there were some women who voted locally and supported women’s suffrage on a broader scale, we have not known who they were.  Recently, in the process of digitizing our wonderful but fragile collection of old newspapers at Jenks Library, we made a discovery.  On October 2, 1879, the Acton Patriot announced the names of the first ladies registered to vote in Acton, all of whom were residents of South Acton (p. 8).  In honor of Women’s History Month, we salute:

The fact that these women registered to vote made them quite unusual.  Only a small percentage of women did.  Suggested reasons for most women's non-participation have included the social expectations of the Victorian era, poll taxes, or lack of interest in strictly local affairs.  Given Acton's history of "spirited discussion" of school matters, the latter would be surprising.

We wanted to learn about Acton’s first women voters, what motivated them, and what characteristics they might have had in common.  Unfortunately, it was frustratingly difficult.  Women of that period simply were given much less attention in written records than men.  The women’s work and activities were generally unpaid and seldom noted.  Aside from vital records, the vast majority of women were not mentioned in annual town reports.  (School teachers were an exception; they cost money.)  Newspapers can be a rich source of local information, but unfortunately, our access to local newspapers before 1888 is extremely limited.  Without documents such as a woman’s letters or diary, there is very little chance of discovering her thoughts or personality.

Though we might have expected Acton’s first registered female voters to be obviously different from their peers, on the surface, they resembled “typical” women of 1879.  Each had her own story, but they were all middle-aged and long-married.  With one exception they had given birth to multiple children and had raised families.  They would have spent most of the 1850s-1870s on the practical necessities of taking care of their families’ needs.  Almost all of them had experienced the heartbreaking loss of at least one of their children, a distressingly common occurrence for parents of the time.  Some of the women were actively involved in church, community or charitable organizations, but in most cases, specifics were hard to find.  The women may have registered to vote because they wanted their voices to be heard in general or because they cared about their community and its educational system in particular.  We have no way of knowing. 

We are on the lookout for more information about these six women’s lives.  If you have letters, diaries, photographs, newspaper clippings, or family stories that can make them more real to us, please contact us.  As a start, here is what we know so far:

Some time ago, we came across a reference in an old newspaper to polo in Acton.  Envisioning polo ponies charging through a local field, we filed that information away for another day.  As it turns out, the team was actually playing a different game at a long-vanished West Acton business, a roller skating rink.

In our archives, we found a description of the rink by Percy Wood.  According to him, the West Acton rink was situated approximately at the southeast corner of today’s Spruce and Arlington Streets, a large rectangular building resting on posts several feet above the ground.  Mr. Wood did not know the exact dates of or people involved with the rink, but he heard stories about it from Carrie (Gilmore) Durkee who lived diagonally across from it, at the site of the present-day West Acton Post Office.  Because the rink was a short walk from the West Acton Depot, it was a popular spot for both out-of-town and local patrons.  Conveniently, Carrie’s mother ran a boarding house and was able to provide meals and assistance to skaters, including helping female skaters into their heavy skating costumes.

Wanting to verify and expand on Mr. Wood’s stories, we consulted standard Acton records.  Neither the rink nor the Gilmore boarding house showed up in them.  No nineteenth-century map in our collection shows a building at the rink’s location, and we did not find a mention of the rink in town reports, available directories, or tax valuations.  Our access to the Concord Enterprise starts in 1888, but an online search of that paper yielded nothing.  It happens, however, that our Society owns scattered issues of earlier newspapers, and luckily, the rink was mentioned in some of them, including an ad in the April 18, 1885 Middlesex Recorder [1, newspaper references at end]:

Clearly, the rink was operating in the mid-1880s, but we had to broaden our search to learn more.  Acton’s rink was part of a much larger roller-skating phenomenon that swept the United States.  Massachusetts native James L. Plimpton is credited with innovations that made roller skating a popular pastime.  In 1863, he patented the quad-style roller skate (with two sets of wooden wheels that could be controlled by a skater’s shifting foot angle while all four wheels were still square on the ground, enabling easier turns and “fancy” moves than previous skates had).  Plimpton then promoted the art of skating and started a franchise operation, leasing his skates to others.  He also took his promotion, very successfully, to England and other countries.  Over time, he improved on his own skate design, as did others; according to the Boston Globe, during the next two decades, over 300 roller skate improvement patents were filed, mostly in England and America. [2].  In Massachusetts, the Boston Globe announced in early 1876 that roller skating was gaining in popularity locally, emphasizing that participants included the “best elements of Boston society.” [3]  Plimpton’s original patent ran out in 1880 and other innovations followed.  Roller skating popularity exploded.

Boston and Worcester had rinks, and as the craze spread, more and more local rinks were opened.  The Fitchburg Sentinel reported that Clinton had a rink by 1880 and that Fitchburg’s rink would open in January 1882. [4]  The Globe mentioned new rinks at South Framingham, Hudson, Leominster (two at the same time), and Ayer. [5]  Unfortunately, we found nothing reported about building (or converting) a rink in West Acton or the exact date it opened for business.
 
Photographs and illustrations of roller skating during its first phases of popularity are rare; the best we could find was this 1880 drawing of skating at a rink in Washington, DC, no doubt more fashionable than Acton’s.   (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Keeping a rink going meant getting patrons.  Managers tried various strategies to attract crowds.  They hired musicians to play during open skating hours, recruiting orchestras, bands, piano players, and even fife and drum corps.  The big, open spaces could also host rallies and other large gatherings.  The most commonly advertised special events at rinks were exhibitions by novelty acts, usually featuring talented, daring, unique, or very young skaters.  In fact, the profit from performing apparently led some youngsters away from education, prompting New York state to pass regulations in 1885. [6]

It was not long before competition was used to draw in skaters and spectators.  Roller skating races were held, and large rinks could even hold bicycle races. [7]  Games on roller skates were promoted, from “rink ball,” a game introduced in Brooklyn, New York and played with hands [8], to “polo on roller skates” played with a hard ball and sticks similar to those used in field hockey, but thinner.  This polo played between stick-wielding skaters was new, and the game’s structure, equipment, and rules were still being worked out during the West Acton rink’s existence.  Early play seems to have favored “rushing” with the ball toward the other team’s side.  When a player rushed with the ball, the opposing team had time to line up in front of their “cage” and wait for the rusher to arrive.  Passing, an innovation mentioned in a November 1885 Globe article, might catch the defense off guard.  An attempt to make face-offs fairer had the referee throwing the ball against the side of the rink. [9]  Other attempted innovations involved painting a stripe on the ball, using alternate materials for skate rollers such as cork, and installing netting to protect spectators. [10] 

Rival leagues had varying requirements.  A Herald article described some of the rules set down by the New England Polo Association for its teams in October 1885.  The game was to be played with six players on a side, competing for three goals out of five.  There were referees who could impose fines for actions such as wearing extra padding, rough play, spitting on the floor, interfering in a dispute, tampering with skates or using profane language.  (Fines went to the rink manager.)  The referees could also expel players if necessary. [11]  Rules seem to have been needed.  The Globe reported that New Hampshire rink managers were disbanding their clubs for doing too much brawling. [12]  Spectators occasionally were “disgraceful” as well.  At one Waltham game, the crowd was calling out for bodily harm to be perpetrated not only on the opposing team but also on the referee.  In addition, local fans were apparently helping out by punching an opposing player when he got to the corners of the rink. [13]         
                                                                                        
Fortunately for our research, intense interest in roller skating and polo in the mid-1880s led Boston newspapers to report on action in outlying areas.  From them we were able to learn something of what went on at the West Acton rink.  The first mention that we found was the Boston Globe report on June 22, 1884 that Jessie Lafone (a teenager well-known for graceful and skillful skating) had performed an exhibition there the previous evening. [14]  The first game of “polo on skates” played at the West Acton Rink was between the West Actons and the South Actons on August 16, 1884.  West Acton’s “home team,” in their new uniforms, won the game with three straight goals in three minutes.  (The object of the game was to reach three goals out of five.)  Such a short show being bad for business, the proprietor asked the captains for a rematch.  The second game was better contested, taking 15 minutes to end with a score of West Acton’s three goals to South Acton’s two.  Player George E. Holton was singled out as an excellent rusher with “astonishing” accuracy in hitting the ball into the goal. [15]

During the fall of 1884, the West Actons’ matches appeared in the news.  The West Actons and South Actons met again on September 27. [16]  Other matches reported in various papers were against the Websters of Boston, the Hudsons, the Leominsters, the Wekepekes (Clinton), the Alphas (South Framingham), and the Fairmounts (Marlborough). [17]  The team joined the newly formed Union Polo League in November with Marlborough, Leominster, Clinton, South Framingham and Hudson. [18]  The Globe mentioned the West Acton team having a game in the week of Dec. 21 1884. [19]  Then without explanation, on Dec. 28, 1884, the Globe announced, “Owing to the disbanding of the West Actons and their withdrawal, the Hudsons lose two games, and the Wekepekes and Naticks lose one each.” [20]  We have not found out the story of what happened to the West Acton team.  Perhaps they were not performing well at that point, as the Globe had reported on the 16th that “The game at West Acton last Saturday evening, between the Wekepekes and West Actons, was won by the former in the remarkably short time of 2 minutes 5 seconds.” [21]   The team also lost to the Naticks by allowing three straight goals on December 18th. [22]   Perhaps West Acton had lost some players to other teams or to other pursuits.  Competition between rinks was increasing; the Herald announced on December 14 that “Rinks are being opened at the rate of almost two a day.” [23]  Close to home, Maynard’s new rink was about open. [24]  

Author Percy Wood did not know who owned or managed the rink, but our newspaper searches revealed that the manager was Thomas O’Brien. [25]  He seems to have been quite enterprising.  For example, West Acton’s innovative thinking was singled out in the Globe on Oct. 26, 1884 when the rink held a “Campaign race” in which all the presidential candidates were impersonated.  To win, the impersonator had to reach the rink’s “presidential chair” first.  The People’s Party was the winner.  The Globe mentioned that “The Belva of the occasion was gorgeously gotten up,” a reference to suffragette Belva Ann Lockwood of the newly-formed Equal Rights Party. [26]

Our own newspaper collection showed that Thomas O’Brien was busy finding ways to keep the rink excitement going in West Acton, even without a “home team” to cheer for.  On February 27,1885, the Littleton Courant reported on a party on Feb. 14 at which all patrons received a valentine, an exhibition of the Milo Brothers’ “fancy skating and other feats,” and a “popular orange race,” (in which contestants would alternate grabbing  an orange from a crate at the center of the rink and doing laps without dropping the oranges retrieved already). [27]  A stained and torn Acton Patriot (April 24) in our collection tells us that J. F. Kaufman and Maud Boyd’s waltzing and fancy skating were “a marvel of grace and beauty, showing long and careful practice.”  They called themselves “The King and Queen of the Rollers,” a title apparently claimed by many.  The same Patriot reported that “Next Saturday at the rink there will be a gold medal race between E. E. Handley and George E. Holton.  An interesting contest expected.”  [28]  Twice during 1885, the West Acton rink hosted games involving the Niagara female polo team, who seem to have been a good draw. [29]

Thomas O’Brien had not given up on local polo teams at that point, because the April 24, 1885 Patriot also announced that “Rink Manager O’Brien has some gold medals he proposes to put up for competition between clubs formed in Acton, West Acton and South Acton and possibly Maynard.  This is an interesting, exciting and scientific game.  The medals will be of substantial style and worth playing for.  Boys, get your sticks and uniforms ready.” [30]  Sadly, we have no more local papers of the period to tell us what happened.  When the Union Polo League planned their organizational meeting for the fall season on October 19, the West Acton rink manager was included.  The Herald reported that the South Actons would be one of the teams, but when the League’s membership was announced the next week, it only included clubs from Arlington, South Framingham, Clinton, Hudson, Marlboro and Maynard. [31]   We were not able to find any mention of a South Acton team’s games.

The rink had other problems besides lack of local polo teams.  Harmless as roller skating seems to us today, the pastime encountered strong objections from some members of the clergy including the minister of West Acton’s Baptist church Rev. C. L. Rhodes.  According to Percy Wood, Rev. Rhodes “strongly warned the young people of [his] church to stay away from what he evidently regarded as a den of iniquity.”  Presumably, some of his flock listened to his warnings and did indeed stay away.  Others seem to have ignored him.  One young man who later became a pillar of the community obeyed his preacher by avoiding the West Acton rink and skating elsewhere instead.

Rev. Rhodes was not alone in his condemnation.  The Lowell Sun reported that “The game of polo originated in the modern den of depravity known as the skating rink, and it has proved itself worthy of its low and demoralizing source.” [32]  Morality was not the only concern.  The Globe quoted a doctor, who, in trying to understand the cause of a large increase in pneumonia deaths, blamed roller skating.  Acknowledging that he was just speculating and that people died of pneumonia without roller skating, he went on to say, “But I can say with certainty that such exposure as the roller skating mania produces is likely to produce pneumonia.  Here are, say 20,000 young people going every night to skating rinks or balls.  They indulge in violent exercise in heated rooms and then go out into the chill air, possibly thinly clad, and the result is fatal inflammation of the lungs.”  A young woman who danced vigorously and then went outside in her ballgown would be considered “very indiscreet,” yet skaters, finding the cool air pleasant, apparently made a habit of walking “through the chilly streets while yet perspiring from their violent exercise.”  [33]

It is hard to say what effect such opinions had on the West Acton rink.  Though it survived 1885, we have found no mention of it after that.  The roller skating craze had probably peaked by then, and increased competition undoubtedly caused a shakeout in the market.  Ads started appearing for rink sales.  In July, 1885, an ad for a rink mentioned “good reasons for selling.” [34]  In November 1885, a “first-class skating rink” an hour from Boston was looking for an infusion of capital, and in December the Globe advertised a skating rink with fixtures “in large town for 1/3 value; good chance to make money; no competition.” [35]  Even more dramatically, the Globe reported that a skating rink built for $17,000 the previous year with a white marble “underpinning,” and $4,000 of skates had been offered for sale at $800. [36]

After the West Acton rink closed, it evidently stood empty.  Percy Wood reported that the rink building “had one narrow escape from destruction from fire on a Fourth of July during which many of the citizens were out of town.  A fire broke out in the storage shed located between the railroad tracks and the present Spruce Street.  Fortunately, the fire was confined to the area in which it started, despite the lack of manpower and only the most primitive fighting equipment.  The rink was, however, seriously threatened and was saved largely by the efforts of a man who was nearly exhausted by his exertions but was revived by a bowl of ginger tea supplied by a kindly neighbor.”  Newspaper searches, unfortunately, did not turn up information about that fire, so we were unable to confirm the date.  Percy Wood continued, “Instead of being left to stand as an eyesore, the building was taken down by Mr. John Hoar, the well known contractor and builder, and was used to construct a house on Central Street in West Concord.  But on the original site Arlington St. in West Acton, there is not a trace of what was once a popular amusement center.” 

Whenever the West Acton rink disappeared, we know that sport and exercise in Acton continued.  The Concord Enterprise reported that the Acton Cycle Club polo team went to Concord and defeated the home team’s “gentlemanly fellows” in February 1895.  [37]  That game may have been played on ice, as “ice polo” teams were forming in the 1890s.  Toward the end of that decade, West Acton had another chance at indoor roller skating.  The ever-enterprising Hanson A. Littlefield announced in the January 6, 1898 Concord Enterprise that Littlefield’s Hall had been fitted for roller skating.  Open skating would cost ten cents, and the facility could be rented by private parties. [38]  We do not know how long that lasted, but the Hall itself burned down in 1904.

The West Acton roller skating rink might have completely escaped our notice if it had not been for Percy Wood’s documenting Acton memories.  Thanks are also due to organizations that are digitizing and sharing old newspapers.  If anyone has pictures or mementos of West Acton’s roller skating rink or Acton’s polo teams that they would be willing to share, donate or scan, we would be very grateful to add them to our archives.

 
Newspaper References:
[1] Middlesex Recorder, Apr. 18, 1885, page 3 (Jenks Library)
[2] Boston Globe, March 23, 1885, p.4
[3] Boston Globe, Jan. 27, 1876, p. 5
[4] Fitchburg Sentinel, April 7, 1880, p. 3; Dec. 16, 1881, p. 3
[5] Boston Globe, Nov. 18, 1883, p. 6; Jan. 20, 1884, p. 2; March 23, 1884, p. 6
[6] Boston Globe, Apr. 16, 1885, p. 8
[7] Boston Globe, Nov. 27, 1885, p3; Mar. 24, 1887, p. 5
[8] Boston Globe, Jan. 14, 1878, p. 2
[9] Boston Globe, Nov. 19, 1885, p. 3
[10] Boston Globe, Jan. 20, 1884, p. 2; Mar. 23, 1884, p. 6
[11] Boston Herald, October 14, 1885, p. 2
[12] Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1885, p. 4
[13] Boston Herald, Nov. 25, 1885, p. 3
[14] Boston Globe, June 22, 1884, p. 6
[15] Boston Herald, Aug. 17, 1884, p. 2; Boston Journal, August 19, 1884, p. 3
[16] Boston Journal, Sept. 30, 1884, p. 4
[17] Boston Herald, Aug. 31, 1884, p. 2; Boston Globe, Oct. 24, 1884, p. 2; Boston Herald, Dec. 7, 1884, p. 7; Worcester Daily Spy, Dec. 8, 1884, p. 3; Boston Herald, Dec. 14, 1884, p.4; Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 1884, p. 2 Boston Globe, Dec. 21, 1884, p. 10
[18] Boston Journal, Nov. 24, 1884, p. 3; Boston Globe, Nov. 23, 1884, p. 15
[19] Boston Globe, Dec. 21, 1884, p. 10
[20] Boston Globe, Dec. 28, 1884, p. 10
[21] Boston Globe, Dec. 16, 1884, p. 6
[22] Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 1884, p. 2
[23] Boston Herald, Dec. 14, 1884, p. 4
[24] Boston Globe, Dec. 21, 1884, p. 10
[25] Boston Globe, Nov. 23, 1884, p. 15; Nov. 30, 1884, p. 10
[26] Boston Globe Oct. 26, 1884, p. 14
[27] Littleton Courant, Feb. 27, 1885, p. 1 (Jenks Library)
[28] Acton Patriot, April 24, 1885, p. 4 (Jenks Library)
[29] Boston Globe May 24, 1885, p. 6; Boston Herald, Oct. 11, 1885, p. 15
[20] Acton Patriot, April 24, 1885, p. 4 (Jenks Library)
[31] Boston Herald, Oct. 18, 1885, p. 7; Boston Globe, Oct. 24, 1885, p. 2
[32] Lowell Sun, March 28, 1885, p. 4
[33] Boston Globe, Mar. 19, 1885, p. 6
[34] Boston Globe Jul. 20, 1885, p. 3
[35] Boston Globe, Nov. 17, 1885, p. 7; Dec. 30, 1885, p. 7
[36] Boston Globe Sept. 25, 1885, p. 6
[37] Concord Enterprise, Feb. 7, 1895, p. 4
[38] Concord Enterprise, Jan. 6, 1898, p. 8
 
Other Sources:
 
Though these references do not mention Acton, they give great detail about the history and state of roller skating and roller polo at the height of the 1880s boom:

• The Champion Skate Book and Complete Amateur's Guide (1884)
• Roller Skating Made Easy (1884)
• Spalding's Manual of Roller Skating (c. 1884)
• Henley’s Manual of Roller Skating (1885)
• The Skater’s Companion (1885)
• Wright & Ditson’s Polo Guide for 1885-1886 Season
• Nicholson’s Roller Skating Rink Book (1886, descriptions of attractions, roller ball, and roller polo)

The Society’s collection includes a copy of a picture of two men and a woman looking up at an ancient tree that is believed to have been located on the Hapgood property in East Acton.  All traces of the tree are long-gone.  In former days, however, the tree was quite well-known.  James Fletcher’s Acton in History (pages 279-280) described it as “one of the original settlers of the town,” thriving when Captain Isaac Davis and Acton’s company of minutemen passed by on their way to Concord’s North Bridge in April, 1775.

Thoreau, who had a great appreciation for old trees, apparently was well-acquainted with the Hapgood chestnut.  We have yet to find a mention of it in Thoreau’s writings, but Emerson wrote in his journal on 6 August 1849 that he and Thoreau had walked to Acton the day before and had visited a big chestnut tree on Strawberry Hill.  That jaunt was apparently not Thoreau’s only visit.  According to local historians, townspeople referred to the tree as “Thoreau’s Chestnut” because of his habit of stopping there.  Thoreau was definitely back on the Hapgood land to do surveying in 1853; his woodlot survey is held at Concord Public Library.  Fletcher’s History tells us that Thoreau visited the old chestnut tree with his sister and measured the trunk at twenty-two feet in circumference.

The Thoreau siblings’ visit must have been before May, 1862 when Thoreau died.  The tree continued to grow and, no doubt, attracted more visitors.  In his 1890 History, Fletcher wrote:
“The interior of the tree is hollow.  The cavity is circular, sixty inches in diameter and twenty-five feet in height, through which one may look and see the sky beyond.  An opening has recently been cut at the bottom and entrance can be easily made.  There are worse places for a night’s lodging.  A good crop of chestnuts is yearly produced by its living branches.  The town should get possession of this luscious tablet of the bygones and see that no ruthless axe take it too soon from the eyes of the present generation.”

Our photograph matches Fletcher’s description of a large tree, hollow inside, with an opening at the bottom and a hole up high, through which one could presumably see the sky.  The fact that Fletcher wrote that an opening had been cut at the bottom “recently” might indicate that the picture was taken in the late 1880s-1890, but it is possible that a gap had existed previously and simply had been enlarged.  Our picture shows three people observing the tree; we have not been able to prove their identities.

Despite the tree’s local fame, its end seems to have been unrecorded in town reports and the local newspaper.  The chestnut may have succumbed to a “ruthless axe” or to the devasting effect of the chestnut blight in the early twentieth century.

The chestnut blight, a fungus that destroys the trees above ground and makes it impossible for young trees to mature, was discovered in New York in 1904.  Believed to have been imported on nursery stock, it started spreading, reaching Massachusetts some years later.  We searched the Concord Enterprise for news of local chestnuts.  At first, the few mentions of chestnuts involved “normal” activity and concerns.  For example, in 1907, West Acton lumber dealer Arthur Blanchard sent his portable sawmill operation to South Sudbury to harvest two lots of chestnut that he had purchased.  (Jan. 2, 1907, p. 1)  That fall, Arthur M. Whitcomb was making barrels with chestnut staves in the old overall shop in West Acton.  (Sept. 18, 1907, p.5)  In October 1911, Maynard landowners were complaining that young trespassers, senselessly shooting at small birds, were damaging chestnut trees; “the terrible abuse which the trees are subjected to are simply ruining them and very soon there will be few decent chestnut trees about here if a stop is not put to this practice.”  (Oct. 25, 1911, p. 3)  The landowners were, possibly accidentally, quite prescient; spores of the blight-causing fungus found entry through wounds in chestnut trees’ bark.

The Boston Herald  (Jan. 21, 1912, Sunday Magazine, p. 1) reported on the spread of the chestnut fungus and the experience of other states.  At that point, the blight had started to show up in Massachusetts, particularly on the Connecticut border.  Historically, the chestnut had been admired by and useful to the people in its range, providing wood products, abundant nuts in the fall, and shade.  By the time the blight was discovered, chestnut trees, naturally rot-resistant, were the primary local source of telephone poles and railroad ties.  They were also used by furniture makers, carpenters, and tanneries (an important Massachusetts industry).  Ecologically, the loss of the chestnut was even worse, as it was also a major source of food for wildlife.  (For more information about the blight, see a Report by the Forest Service.)

Despite the ecological and economic damage caused by the fungus, there was little mention of it in Acton sources as the blight spread.  The town’s annual Tree Warden reports made no mention of the loss of chestnuts or of the blight during the whole 1904-1940 period. This could be because farmers, fruit growers, and landowners were coping with the arrival of brown-tailed and gypsy moths, San Jose Scale, and the elm leaf beetle.  It could also be that most of Acton’s American chestnuts had already been cut down.

Turning back to the Concord Enterprise for news of local chestnuts, we learned that they did not all go at once.  In November, 1916, children headed out from the West Acton Baptist church “chestnutting” in the towns of Boxboro, Harvard and Stow.  The report was that they were not very successful in their hunt, but they had a good time playing hide and seek.  (Nov. 1, 1916, p. 10)  In December of that year, the Enterprise started  mentioning the blight in general terms.  (Dec. 20, 1916, p.2)  Two months later, it was noted that people were “cutting down the forests at a fearful rate” and that disease and insect pests, including the chestnut blight, were causing great harm.  (Feb. 21, 1917, p. 2)  In April, 1917, the paper discussed the white pine blister rust that appeared set to destroy the pine forests, an extremely alarming prospect for Massachusetts, though it was believed that the rust could be stopped much more easily than chestnut blight. (April 18, 1917, p. 7)

In 1919, the local paper reported that farther west in Massachusetts, a town was so hard-hit that townspeople believed that all the “old spread” chestnuts would be gone within three years.  (March 19, 1919, p. 4)  On Oct. 22, 1919, the Enterprise finally commented directly on the fate of local chestnuts, saying that the blight seemed to be destroying them and that there was no known way to combat it. (p. 2)

As the destruction of chestnut trees began to seem inevitable, experts urged landowners to cut down the trees before they were too far deteriorated to be of economic use.  We do not know if that was the fate of Thoreau’s Chestnut or not.  We do know that its owner Benjamin Hapgood died in 1920, and his farm was auctioned off in 1923.  An ad for the auction advertised, among many other items, a “lot of Chestnut 2x4 and 2x6.”  Where the lumber came from, we have no way of knowing.  (Enterprise, Nov. 14, 1923, p. 1)

Whatever happened to Thoreau’s Chestnut, it is clear that only a few recorded memories are left.  If you have pictures or stories about it, or if you can help us to confirm the identity of the people and the tree in our picture, we would love to hear from you.  Please contact us.

One of New England’s familiar sights is a stone wall in a forest, a remnant of land use in days gone by.  Based on what we can see, many of us assume that farmers would have removed the many rocks from their fields and stacked them in two- to three-foot-high walls to delineate their property from their neighbors’ or to serve as a barrier to animals.  The former landscape that we envision would have been open fields and gardens surrounded, if not by wooden fencing, by relatively low stone walls.  Most of us today have had no experiences to challenge that view.

Visitors to our recently refurbished landscape are surprised to discover that above our stone walls at the Hosmer House are crossed, wooden poles.  Why would we ruin the look of “iconic” stone walls?  As it turns out, while our imagined Massachusetts farm landscape is not entirely fictitious, farmers often supplemented their rock walls with wood to make enclosures higher and less likely to let animals escape.  According to Robert Thorson’s Stone by Stone, a hybrid fence of stone on the bottom and wood on the top was very common.  The stone walls, in many cases, were “linear landfills” to give farmers somewhere to put the rocks cluttering their fields, and the wood raised the height of the fences to the 3.5-5 feet considered necessary to block the movement of animals. 

Farmer’s wooden fence extensions have, of course, rotted away, so we have no way of knowing which of the many stone walls in Acton would have been built up with wood.  It is quite possible that Jonathan and Simon Hosmer and those who came after them on our property built mixed, high walls to keep in their livestock.

The Society’s new walls are a reminder that we need to keep our minds open to learn more about the lives of Acton’s former residents.  Even commonly-held ideas of how things were in earlier days may simply reflect the fact that our frame of reference is very different from theirs.

An unusual note appears in Acton’s 1872 death records, stating that on December 6 of that year, Aaron Wood (also known as Woods) was “murdered for his money.”  We have not found any Acton newspapers from that period, but it was such a sensational event that we uncovered plenty of information about it and some misinformation as well.

A recent donation of a box of old diaries showed us that the town’s news traveled fast even in those days.  On December 7, Martha Ball of Acton wrote in her diary that “Old Aaron Wood was murdered in his hut last night  Horace Hosmer found him  Miss Oliver came in to tell us”

The Boston Globe (Dec. 9, 1872, p. 6) reported that Aaron Wood had been killed the previous Friday evening.  Tracks had been found leading south from the “house,” turning toward a pair of shanties in which railroad workers were living, then crossing the railroad, going through a field and some woods to the “highway” at Gallagher’s crossing, and then disappearing.  The theory was that “some straggler who, being found by Mr. Wood searching for the money which the old man was popularly supposed to keep hidden in his house, knocked him down and stamped upon him.”

The story was picked up by newspapers across the country, with different twists, (mis)interpretations, and some creative embellishments.  Several papers reported that Aaron Wood was considered to be a wealthy old miser with money hidden in his home, while others reported that he was actually poor.  Iowa’s Quad-City Times reported (incorrectly) that he had been shot by an unknown assassin. (Dec. 10, p. 3)  Oregon’s State Rights Democrat placed the event in Acton, Pennsylvania, but mentioned that Aaron Woods was highly esteemed. (Dec. 27, p. 2).  In Kansas, the Atchison Daily Patriot reported that he had lived for years in dirt and squalor. (Dec. 11, p1)  The Springfield Republican (Dec. 9, p. 3 ) reported that Aaron Wood, a man of excellent qualities of heart, after having been “disappointed in a love affair, early in life” had lived in seclusion ever since, devoting himself to horticulture.  A Memphis paper’s telegrapher or its reporter clearly missed some details; its Boston news section stated that “Aaron Wood, an actor, who, five years ago, lived alone in one part of the town, was found dead this morning in his dwelling.  He probably had considerable money.” (Commercial Appeal, Dec. 8, p. 2)  Researching the event nearly 150 years later, we were helped by finding so much written about an Acton story.  However, we clearly have to be careful not to believe everything that we read.

Aaron Woods was born in Acton to Revolutionary War veteran Moses Woods and his second wife Hazadiah Spaulding.  (His surname was spelled with an “s” in birth, baptism and some land records.  It was often spelled without the “s” when townspeople were reporting on him, for example, in his death record, Martha Ball’s diary, and many newspaper reports.  Both spellings could be considered correct.)   Aaron grew up in his father’s house in what is now known as North Acton, on the west side of Main Street.  His father Moses was a blacksmith and farmer who owned a fair amount of acreage in North Acton that included a shop and water rights on at least one brook.  Though Aaron was living alone at the end of his life, he actually had fourteen siblings who were mentioned in town records.  Aaron’s mother died in 1817.  Aaron appears in Acton militia lists, serving under neighbor Uriah Foster during (at least) the 1817-1821 period.  His brother Moses Jr. also served during part of that time.  Moses Senior died in 1837.  Late in his life, he had deeded his shop and water rights to Aaron.  He willed his remaining real estate to two of his children, Aaron and Sally.

Aaron never married, and almost all of Aaron’s siblings predeceased him.  Presumably, he lived in his father Moses’ house with Sally until her death, but there is no record of Sally after her appearance in Moses’ probate record.  At some point, Aaron allowed his shop to be used by Ebenezer Wood (no relation) who ran a “round saw” there as part of a pencil manufacturing business.  In 1843, Aaron sold off Moses’ house, barn and 40 acres of land.  It seems likely that Sally had died by that point; the deed does not mention her ownership rights.  Aaron kept land on the east side of Main Street, including the shop.  Aaron grew cash crops such as hay, apples, vegetables, and strawberries.  He cut wood from his forested land, both for sale and for his own use.  For many years, he lived in what had once been the shop, a structure without clapboards or plaster that must have been quite uncomfortable in the winter.  To survive, he would have had his own farm products to eat and whatever animals and fish he hunted or caught on his land.  Cold Spring Brook ran right by his abode.  An 1873 Fitchburg Sentinel article mentioned that “its famous trout are known far and wide.” (July 14, p. 1)  In later years, Aaron did not have a working stove and regularly bought bread and sometimes meat from a neighbor.  It was a spartan, quiet existence until about 1870 when his life changed radically.

The Framingham and Lowell Railroad was incorporated in 1870 to connect those two business centers via South Sudbury, Concord, Acton, Carlisle, Westford and Chelmsford.  The railroad was built right through Aaron Woods’ land.  He became “news” in the summer of 1871 when several papers reported variations of the story that “Aaron Woods who has lived a hermit life for seventy years in the eastern part of Acton, has never seen a train of cars.  His cabin is on the line of the Lowell and Framingham Railroad, and he will soon see them if he don’t move.” (Boston Traveler, July 28, 1871, p. 2)  The railroad began operation later that year.  Aaron Woods’ compensation for the railroad’s “purchase” of a right of way was recorded on March 23, 1872.  

One has to wonder how Aaron felt about the “progress” in North Acton.  The building of the railroad not only brought trains but also many workmen to the area in the early 1870s.  Supposedly, Aaron Woods had issues with theft after they arrived.  Theories about the murder quickly turned to these workers.

Immediately after the discovery of the crime, detectives from Boston were summoned to search for clues and interview witnesses.  The selectmen of Acton offered a $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for Aaron Woods’ murder.  An inquest was held in the town hall.  It was highly attended, because the citizens of Acton were “deeply interested in everything connected with this event, which to them is one of a lifetime.” (Boston Herald, Dec. 21, 1872, p. 1)  Newspaper reports provided an amazing level of detail about the case.  The jury of inquest included W.E. Faulkner (foreman), Henry M. Smith, Moses Taylor, James E. Billings, Charles Hanscom, T. G. F. Jones and E. G. Robbins.

Witnesses were called.  Dr. Harris Cowdrey presented his findings as the medical examiner, and Reverend Franklin P. Wood (no relation to Aaron) testified to having been at the shanty with the doctor while he did his work.  Horace Hosmer, the neighbor who discovered the crime, testified that when Aaron had not shown up to pick up his bread as expected, Mr. Hosmer went to check on him and found the body.  Former neighbor Hugh Cash mentioned that Aaron Woods had said many times that he expected to be murdered and that some years back “that scoundrel” had assaulted him.  The “scoundrel” turned out to be a neighbor with whom Aaron had a land dispute.  That neighbor was called to testify.  He spoke about the land issue, but no one seems to have considered him a real suspect in the murder.

According to news reports, the shanty was on a stretch of track without houses in sight, so there were no eyewitnesses of the crime.  A couple of witnesses saw men in the vicinity around the supposed time of the murder.  A man who was working on the railroad near sundown testified that he saw a young man, about 5’ 8” tall, coming from the direction of Aaron Woods’ shanty, looking backwards and acting suspiciously.  Alice Burnham testified that she saw two men heading from a railroad crossing toward Mr. Woods’ place around 5:15 pm. 

The shanty had been ransacked, giving rise to the theory that the intention of the intruder had been robbery of Aaron Woods’ supposed wealth.  The only real clue to the identity of the perpetrator was the trail of footprints.  Luke Smith testified about finding tracks that had left blood on snow and on the sleepers (railroad ties).  Apparently, the tracks had been made by size 8 boot that did not seem to have been worn much, as the prints were well-defined.  Because railroad workers had been issued boots the previous week and the prints led past the railroad workers’ shanties, suspicion turned to them.  There were 150 men working on the railroad at the time, and despite newspaper reports that two French Canadians were suspects, there was no direct evidence linking any particular worker to the crime.

When reading newspaper reports of the inquest, we were quite surprised that investigators were able to find “bloody tracks for more than a mile.” (Boston Herald, Dec. 9, p. 1)  Allowing for possible exaggeration, the story’s plausibility was bolstered by the diary of the weather-watching Mrs. Ball.  Her decades of diary entries all start with a notation of the weather.  Thanks to her, we know that Thursday, December 5, 1872 started out “pleasant,” but “a snow storm came on,” providing new snow on which tracks and blood evidence would have been obvious.  The investigators had a day to measure and follow the footprints before they would have disappeared on Sunday, December 8, when Mrs. Ball tells us that rain arrived.  Another complication for investigators was that the shanty immediately became a tourist attraction.  On the 8th, Mrs. Ball mentioned that “We all went up to Aaron’s shanty,” presumably before the rain.  Even without precipitation, it would have been impossible to preserve footprint evidence for long with the townspeople traipsing up to view the scene.

Despite the intense interest in the case, the work of investigators, the witnesses, and the reward, at the end of the inquest, the jury’s verdict was that Aaron Wood died December 6, 1872, between four and seven o’clock in the evening from blows received from “some person or persons to the jury unknown.”

Two years later, a crime spree by a local man led townspeople to decide that he must have committed the murder as well.  Acton made the newspapers again.  The perpetrator went to jail for theft and breaking and entry.  Apparently, there was no evidence to pin the murder on him, and he was never charged for it.  The Aaron Woods case was never solved.

Local newspapers have been invaluable in some of our research projects; reporters who were on the scene have provided us with clues about people, places, and events that are not available in any other source.  Sadly, preserving newsprint is a major challenge.  We have been reviewing our collection of local newspapers at Jenks Library with the hope of preserving them and making them more accessible. 

While many of our newspapers are in excellent condition for their age, some of our papers are tattered.  In fact, a few are so incomplete that one’s first impression, aside from recognizing that the papers are old, is that they cannot be of much use.  Objectively, that may be true.  Looking more carefully, however, we were awed to discover that one of our newspaper fragments discussed the state convention held in early 1788 to decide whether Massachusetts would ratify the Federal Constitution. 

To find out more about our paper, we explored online catalogues of historical newspapers.  We were fortunate that a commercial site offered access to digitized issues of the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser.  The issue dated January 17, 1788 exactly matched the remains of our newspaper and filled in its contents.  A section missing from our copy reported that Acton had sent Asa Parlin to participate in the Convention.

Obviously, the digitized newspaper was much more useful for research purposes than our remnant.  However, despite its condition, there is something about looking at physical evidence of such an important piece of history that stirs the imagination.  It creates a link to an earlier time, helping us to envision the people who once picked up that very sheet of paper to learn how the formation of their new country was progressing.  Even in our digital age, there is a place for things of the past.

We were alerted recently to a wonderful collection of photos on the website of Brookline, New Hampshire's Historical Society.  One of the pictures was of a truck, fully-loaded with barrels.  The truck’s door identifies it as belonging to Davis King Co., West Acton.

One of our members recognized the house in the background as the James W. Hayward house in West Acton.  The photographer would have been standing in front of the Davis King Garage that stood at approximately today’s #576 Massachusetts Avenue, looking across the street.  At the extreme right of the picture, one can see the West Acton depot.  Neither the Hayward house nor the depot is standing today.

Looking through the Brookline photo database, we discovered several other West Acton pictures.  Some of them are duplicates of photographs in our collection of the devastating West Acton fire of 1913.  Other pictures were completely new to us and are used in this article with the kind permission of Brookline’s Historical Society.  In the process of trying to match places and dates of the Brookline pictures with our own photos and information, we learned a good amount about West Acton village in the years immediately before and after the fire.

Starting from the beginning...

Why had pictures of West Acton buildings, barrels, and firefighting ended up in Brookline, NH?  Thanks to a helpful index to the pictures in the Brookline collection, we quickly discovered the connection.  Orville D. Fessenden of Brookline, New Hampshire invested in a barrel-making enterprise in West Acton.  The pictures of buildings, the loaded truck, and the West Acton fire related to his business.

In the Brookline collection are two pictures taken from current-day Spruce Street (then called School Street):

At first, we thought that both of the pictures were taken at approximately at the same time, because the close-up of the barrel shop seemed to be exactly the same building as the one in the background of the wider Spruce Street picture.  Local sources tell us that the July 1913 fire destroyed the barrel shop.  However, the index from Brookline indicates that the pictures were actually taken before and after the fire.  Obviously, the barrel shop was rebuilt; we investigated newspaper and other sources to learn more.  (Unless otherwise noted, all of the articles referenced were in the Concord Enterprise.)

The earliest mention that we can find of Orville D. Fessenden’s business connections to Acton was a May 25, 1910 news item in the Concord Enterprise announcing that O. D. Fessenden had unloaded a carload of barrel hoops for his barrel shop and would have two men making barrels there soon.  (p. 10)  Work started at the shop on June 6.  (Jun. 8, p. 6)  We had found mentions of a cooper shop in West Acton in the vicinity of the site that was built in  1904, burned, and rebuilt in 1905, but we do not know whose it was and whether O. D. Fessenden took it over or started his business from scratch.

The Fessenden business succeeded.  By August 1910, the Enterprise announced that “barrels at the barrel shop are fast disappearing." (Aug. 24, p. 8)   In the first week of September, George Rockwood and Frank Williams made 800 barrels in six days.  (Acton-Concord Enterprise, Sept. 14, 1910, p.8)  By October, it became apparent that Fessenden’s shop could not keep up with the demand.  “There is a great demand for apple barrels and it is hard for the farmers to get enough barrels to use.  The barrel shop does not begin to supply the trade.  During the week several cars of carrels [sic] were shipped from other places.”  (Oct. 10, 1910, p.8)

Experience showed that more barrels needed to be produced and stored ahead of time to meet peak demand.  In 1912, work started in April when Louis Popple and George Rockwood came down from Brookline, NH to start production.  (April 4, 1912, p. 10)  In August of that year, the Enterprise announced that O. D. Fessenden and George W. Burroughs (of Boxborough) had bought from the estate of O. W. Mead the cold storage property near the barrel shop and two tenement houses.  (Aug. 14, 1912, p. 8)   By that time, the operation was able to accommodate large orders such as the purchase by Charles W. Barnes of 1,000 barrels for his Stow fruit farm (September 18, 1912, p. 10)

The April 30, 1913 Concord Enterprise announced that ”Work at the barrel shop will soon commence, to be ready for the large demands for barrels the coming season.” (p. 8)  It was an optimistic time.  In that same month, the pastor of Maynard's Catholic Church thanked non-Catholics who had donated funds for building a Catholic Church in West Acton, close to the storage facility that Fessenden and Burroughs had purchased the year before.  One of the larger donors mentioned was O. D. Fessenden.  (Apr. 23, p. 10)  Everything was going well.  Then came the fire.

The West Acton Fire of 1913

On July 22, 1913, a fire was first noticed at Luke Blanchard’s barn near the corner of today’s Massachusetts Avenue and Windsor Avenue, just west of the railroad tracks.  Soon, it had “jumped the tracks” and spread to the Hutchins house at 556 Massachusetts Avenue.  From there, the fire spread across Massachusetts Avenue to destroy commercial buildings including an ice house, a grain storage shed, and a milk depot.  The next stage was across today’s Spruce Street where the Fessenden barrel shop and cold storage facilities were.  (What at first seemed to be generic pictures of the West Acton fire in the Brookline, NH collection turn out to have featured destroyed remnants of the Fessenden business.)  The final stage of the fire seems to have been east on Massachusetts Avenue where the barn of Walter Gardner was destroyed and his house damaged.

Fighting the fire was a challenge.  The West Acton company went right to work, but they were hampered by equipment problems.  New hose had recently been purchased but was incompatible with the available nozzles, necessitating that the firefighters work with old hose that lost water pressure through leakage.  According to the July 23 Enterprise, “It was early seen that the local department could not possibly cope with the blaze and calls for help were sent to Maynard, Concord, Fitchburg and Ayer, while the companies from South Acton and Acton Center also responded.”  The Maynard company was given most of the credit for saving the depot and St. Elizabeth’s church, and the Concord Junction department saved the school house and some of the nearby homes.  (p. 8)  Later, Maynard’s fire department refused to accept payment for their efforts, suggesting that someday Acton might need to return the favor. (Aug. 31, p. 2)

One of the fascinating features of researching this particular fire is that amateur photographers were on the scene almost immediately.  Fortunately, many of these pictures were saved, giving us visual evidence of the fire’s progression and its aftermath.  What at first might seem to be blurry or overexposed pictures are in fact photographs of people and structures amidst smoke.

In the following photograph of the fire (from our own collection), the Fessenden barrel shop is still standing, while the cold storage facility (on the right) had clearly already been reduced to its brick foundation.  The fire was still being worked on at the time.  Note the railroad crossing sign where a siding went next to the cold storage building and the stone work at the extreme right by the front steps of St. Elizabeth Church:

We might have thought, based upon that picture, that the barrel shop survived the fire.  Written accounts said it was lost, however, and a photo in our collection confirmed it:

Another view of the same scene taken only a few feet away confirms the identification of this building; the wall of what was obviously the barrel shop was still standing, while the rest had been destroyed: 

The damage to Fessenden & Burroughs was obviously large.  They not only lost the shop and storage buildings but also the barrel inventory that had been created in anticipation of the 1913 apple season. 

After the Fire

Rebuilding West Acton started right away.  In the words of the Concord Enterprise, “Already plans are being made by the several losers to rebuild at once.” (July 30, 1913, p. 8)  Fessenden and Burroughs had sustained a huge loss that apparently was not insured.  They probably had to raise cash quickly, because the same Enterprise reported that “C. H. Mead has bought a piece of land of Fessenden Burroughs in front of the big cold storage building just burned, where he will build a large storehouse for grain, hay and flour.”  This news item confirms that the C.H. Mead building in the Brookline, NH picture was newly built after the fire, not a replacement of a building previously on that spot. 

By August 11, George Rockwood was back in town, presumably to get the barrel business restarted, although the paper was silent about how and when the barrel shop was rebuilt.  (Aug. 13, p. 8)  Work clearly proceeded, because the November 5 Enterprise reported that barrel shop workers Popple and Rockwood were returning to their homes in Brookline, N. H. and that barrel shop had done “a rushing business all season.” (p. 10)

In the spring of 1914, the cold storage building was rebuilt.  On June 10, the Enterprise reported that O. D. Fessenden “of Townsend” had several carpenters working on a new structure over the “cold storage brick wal[l], where the fire was last summer.  The building will be used to store barrels which are made here.” (June 10, 1914 p. 7).  It seems to have been a good investment.  In October, the paper reported that George Rockwood, foreman, said that he had already sold 10,000 barrels, with more to come.  Several men were working to fill waiting wagons with barrels. (Oct. 14, 1914, p. 10)  The 1915 and 1916 seasons were also described as “rushing,” “prosperous,” and “booming.” (Oct. 20, 1915, p1, Oct. 18, 1916, p. 4)

The aftermath of the fire continued, however.  In January, 1914, Orville D. Fessenden and George W. Burroughs both sued the Boston & Maine Railroad for allegedly setting the fire with sparks from a passing train.  The causes of the fire probably had been debated endlessly in town.  However, despite early rumors of arson, over the following months, the Enterprise was silent about investigative conclusions.  The related lawsuits were for damages from the burning of buildings, (presumably the cold storage building and the barrel shop), barrels, coopers’ supplies and tools.  (Boston Herald, Jan. 8, 1914, p. 12)  The triple-action tort case took three years to come to trial.  Finally, the case was heard at the Superior Court in Lowell.  The Concord Enterprise reported in October 1917 that the jurors had come from Lowell in four autos to view the site where the fire had been and that witnesses from West Acton had been called to testify for both sides of the dispute.  (Oct. 17, p. 8)  On October 23, the Lowell Sun reported that jury found in favor of the railroad; Fessenden and Burroughs must not have been able to provide adequate evidence that a train caused the fire. (p. 3)

Despite the legal setback, the barrel business continued in West Acton for a few more years.  The barrel shop was still in business in the summer of 1919, but the cold storage building was being used for apple storage that year.  (July 23, p. 8; Feb. 5, p. 9)  Apparently the business was wound down in or around 1920.  The cold storage building was sold to A. W. Davis, owner of the truck stacked with barrels pictured above, and C. D. Fletcher in April 1920. (Apr. 14, p. 8)  After the sale by O. D. Fessenden, the cold storage building was renovated in order actually to be used for “cold storage.”  An “elevator” and electric lights were installed.  In the fall of that year, train carloads of apples were arriving for that purpose. (Acton Enterprise, Oct. 13, 1920, p. 6)

Two years later, barrel shop land was also sold to A. W. Davis who built a cement block garage there. (Sept. 27, 1922, p. 7)  The Davis King Garage on Massachusetts Avenue had recently burned down in another West Acton fire.  Though the barrel shop building was not mentioned in the news report, it seems to have been "history" already.  On May 16, 1923, H. S. MacGregor and J. J. Chesbrough ran an ad in the Enterprise for Acton Motor Co.'s “new garage now open on School Street, West Acton Repairing of all kinds at reasonable prices.” (p. 2)

Businesses have come and gone in West Acton.  The O. D. Fessenden barrel shop was only in West Acton for a few years, but it was there during a momentous time in the history of the village.  We are very grateful to the Brookline NH Historical Society for sharing photographs that shed light on that time and place.