USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Eastham > Eastham, Massachusetts, 1651-1951 > Part 9
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Growing up in an atmosphere of nautical traditions and inheriting from generations of seafaring ancestors a love for those adventures, several twentieth century Eastham boys trained on the Massachusetts school-ships to become engineers or deck officers on the ships of the American Merchant Marine. Robert Sparrow and Maurice Gill graduated with the class of 1909; George Sibley in 1910; Lawrence L. Horton in 1914;
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Harry Hopkins in 1919; Raymond Mayo and Charles Brown in 1923; and John Crosby. Kenelm Collins and Richard Prentice are now midshipmen training on the USTS Charleston. Robert Sparrow is the only one still in that service. After a most interesting career with several steamship lines he is now surveyor for the Board of Underwriters of New York at the port of Boston.
An account of Eastham's sea captains is not complete without the story of Captain Edward Penniman, who except for his son Eugene, was the only deep sea whaling captain from the town. Captain Eugene Penniman commanded the Horatio, the Fleetwing and the Wanderer, all whalers of New Bed- ford. The father, Captain Edward Penniman, was born in East- ham in 1831, and began his career at the age of 11. Just be- fore the Civil War, he was a boatsteerer on the square rigger Isabella of New Bedford. During the war he was captain of the Minerva, also of New Bedford. It was at that time that he escaped an encounter with the Confederate cruiser Shenandoah whose commander, Captain Waddell, was deter- mined to sink the Minerva. Having been warned by the captain of a French craft that the Shenandoah was watching for him, Captain Penniman was on the lookout, too, and on June 3, 1864, while off Plover Bay in the Arctic, he sighted the smoke of the enemy. As many of the small boats were away from the Minerva, Captain Penniman hastened to recall them. Hoisting an old cannon from the hold, he ordered it loaded with powder and fired. The resulting explosion stove a hole in the deck and smashed the cabin skylight, but the Captain ordered it reloaded and fired again. Finally, just as a heavy fog set in, the boats returned and the men took their places to defend their ship. The Shenandoah, however, appeared and disappeared in the denseness of the fog and was not seen again.
In 1876 Captain Penniman sailed on a whaling and trad- ing cruise to the south seas. When whales were sighted off Pata- gonia, Captain Penniman remained in the South Atlantic for three years without rounding the Horn, capturing 61 whales which yielded 4,200 barrels of oil, one of the largest cargoes
PENNIMAN WHALEBONES
of oil ever brought into New Bedford.
It was in 1877 while the Europa was off Patagonia, that the ship encountered a South Atlantic hurricane. Captain Penni- man and many of his men were ashore on a gunning trip for the purpose of replenishing the ship's food supply. His wife, Betsey Knowles Penniman, realizing the intensity of the on- shore storm, took her bearings and beat the ship offshore while her husband watched helplessly with his stranded companions. Much to their relief in more ways than one, the Europa re- appeared three days later, Mrs. Penniman and a skeleton crew having safely ridden out the storm far from the dangerous coast.
At another time the Captain's wife proved to be an aid in the search for whales. When the whaleboats were all far away from the mother ship, and Mrs. Penniman and her small son, Edward, were alone on board, she saw the spout of a huge whale not far from where the ship was riding. The speedy re-
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turn of the Captain was due to her having raised the flag Union down in her haste to attract his attention, and his fear that his little son had fallen overboard. The valuable supply of oil obtained from this whale prompted the ship's owners to reward Mrs. Penniman with the gift of a fine Alaskan seal coat.
Later in his career, Edward Penniman was master of the Cicero also of New Bedford. His last voyage was made for Akin & Swift in 1882, when he commanded the whaler Jacob A. Howland on a Pacific voyage which lasted three years. His wife and daughter accompanied him on this trip, making their home in Honolulu while the ship was whaling in the waters of the North Pacific and the Arctic.
The Penniman homestead on Fort Hill contains a fine collection of whaling lore, mementoes of many summers spent in the South Atlantic or in the Bering Sea. There one may see examples of the finest scrimshaw with inlays of black whale- bone or tortoise shell from the South Seas. At the rear en- trance to the estate a pair of jawbones of a right whale serves as a gateway.
An era ended in 1913 with the death of Captain Edward Penniman who had been the final link in Eastham with an age that has passed into history.
Captain Clarington Smith was born in Eastham June 25, 1840, the only son of Clarington Smith and Effie Rogers. He began his seafaring life at the age of twelve when he shipped as cook on a fishing vessel. At the age of twenty-one he was the captain of a schooner. During the seven trips he made around the world, be became especially interested in learning to express himself in Italian, French, Spanish and German as he visited those different countries. One of his treasured pos- sessions was a much used Bible. While cruising among the islands of the Mediterranean, he derived much pleasure from tracing the journeys of St. Paul, and as he surveyed the heavens during the night watches, recalled many appropriate passages from the Psalms. During the last twenty years of his life on the sea he was in command of the three-masted schooners Samos and Frank Rudd on coastwise trips.
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THE PENNIMAN HOUSE ON FORT HILL
After retiring at the age of sixty to his home in South Eastham he devoted much time to public service. He was a member of the Board of Selectmen for several years, and when the new Town Hall was built, planted and tended the hedge and many trees surrounding it. Although he enjoyed home life, he sometimes "walked the decks" and expressed a long- ing to be on shipboard again, always saying if he were to live his life over it would be spent as before, on the ocean.
His wife was Julia Smith, a sister of Timothy, the bene- factor of Eastham. Five children, Charles C., Reuben W., Walter N., Mabel E., and Ruth K., were born to them. Capt. Smith died in September, 1926.
ـوبور بعه
M
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STAGE COACHES, TAVERNS AND STORES
Stage coaches travelled the old King's Highway for many years. In 1830 a daily stage went down the Cape as far as Orleans and from here a "wagon" went every day to Province- town. After 1846, the stage went through daily, driven for many years by Abijah Mayo of Eastham. His big horses plodded slowly along the sandy road pulling the brightly painted coach with its trunk rack on the back and its load of mailbags piled on the top. Its arrival was eagerly awaited at the roadhouses all along the way. In Eastham, William My- rick conducted a tavern on the road overlooking the Cove. Thomas Crosby owned another on the Bridge road. This house, built in 1750, is now the property of Prince Hurd. Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Cobb kept a tavern on the King's Highway. This is now the Salt Pond House, a lovely old Colonial near the turn of the road. In the early 1800s Col. Samuel Stinson owned a store and tavern on the main road in North Eastham. There, too, some time later, Abram Horton conducted the Nauset House.
For years, the swinging signs hung outside these inns tell- ing all passersby that there was pleasant comfort within, and in the big barn, ample room where their horses could rest. There, before the wide hearth, any stranger was welcome to sit in the high-backed settle and share his news with those who came to spend the long evening in the friendly atmosphere.
For many, many years the traveller moved slowly along the rutted sandy roads bordered in the summertime with Queen Anne's lace and patches of fragrant old maid's pinks. As there were few stores, wagons carrying wares appeared regu- larly at the dooryards all along the way. Seventy-five years
YESTERDAY AND TODAY-NORTH EASTHAM
When the older view was taken in the 1880s the winding sandy way was West Main street. Now, from the same point, it is Massasoit road. In the background, left, the Samuel F. Brackett house and right, Sam Brackett's old general store.
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III
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M.E. CHURCH. EASTHAM, MASS.
Brackett's General Store,
North Eastham, Mass.
Railroad Station, Eastham, Mass.
EASTHAM.
SAMUEL F. BRACKETT.
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ago a familiar sight was Rufus Snow driving his meat cart from house to house, or Joe Snow with dry goods and later Simeon Smith with shoes, David Young distributing the hand work from his pants factory in Orleans, or Godfrey Hopkins, the tin peddler from Brewster, all moving slowly along as the sand sifted through the spokes of their wagon wheels. By 1900 new faces had appeared. Chester Horton and Freeman Collins drove meat carts, Samuel Brackett took orders and de- livered groceries from his store in North Eastham, and Will Atwood brought good things from Johnny Smith's (later Clar- ence Knowles') bake shop in Orleans.
Mr. George Clark's store, big and square, stood on the knoll opposite the Eastham station. There everything from brooms and candy to hay and grain could be purchased. Mr. Clark was also the postmaster for many years. He took his duties very seriously, becoming much annoyed at the interrup- tions of the gay crowd of young people who sat around on the barrels, beneath the kerosene lamps, joking and laughing, while they waited for the family mail. Not one of those merry- makers can ever forget his face, red with exasperation, as he slammed open the window and ordered silence while he "car- ried on the Government's business." Sometimes the tables were turned and the joke was on the perpetrators. One night before the Fourth, when pranks were being played, some boys tugged a rowboat from the pond up to the store, and struggled until they succeeded in putting it on top of the flat roof. The next morning, they were hiding nearby, waiting to hear the expected tantrum. But, when George arrived, he stopped to look at the spectacle, then drolled as he unlocked the door, "Well, looks as though there was quite a high tide last night!"
FOUR WELL REMEMBERED BUILDINGS
Eastham's old grammar school combined three even older district schools. Sam Brackett's general store in North Eastham is a familiar sight to many. The old Eastham depot is no longer a village gathering place for the arrival of the night train. And the old Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1821, was destroyed by fire in 1920.
TWO OLD TIMERS-William Bradford Steele, age 96 (left) and Elsias Chase, age 90 (right), East- ham's two oldest residents. Mr. Steele, who holds the Post cane, still occasionally practices his trade of barbering and had just shaved Elsias when this was taken.
This store was opened in 1871 by Mr. Clark's father, Ed- ward Clark, who in 1866 also built a large three-store edifice near Great Pond which was first used as a tannery and later as a canning factory. It was constructed of timbers from the Con- gregational Church, demolished in 1864. Since the tannery business started at the time of Gustavus Swift was operating his slaughter house at Thumpertown, it is probable that many of the hides were obtained from him, although it is known that some were brought to the factory by boat from Boston. Be- cause of the lack of machinery, the products were crudely made by hand, even the fish oil that was used in the process being
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tried out at the tannery. Much of the leather produced was sent to dealers in Boston for the manufacture of shoes, valises, harnesses and even fire hose, before a composition of rubber and cotton was used for that purpose. Competition with tan- neries which used modern machinery became too keen, and soon after 1875 Clark's Tannery was closed. The factory building remained idle for several years. It was operated as a fish cannery for a few seasons, but this industry, too, was soon abandoned.
Many early storekeepers carried on their trade in the ells of their dwelling houses. Among them were Joshua Atwood who lived in the square house by the Salt Pond in the early 1800s, Beniah Higgins, who owned the Sullivan house and whose store was moved away from the house after his death in 1876, and Elijah Knowles who resided on the corner of the King's Highway and Samoset Road in the 1870s. Another storekeeper of the 1870s was John Witherell. In North East- ham the brothers George and Samuel Brackett conducted a large general store which had formerly been owned by Arthur H. Cobb. Obed Horton and Mrs. Addie Nickerson kept small stores when they were the town postmasters. Two fine stores are now operated at Eastham Center, one by Postmaster Otis Barton and the other by Fred Ohman, successor to Alfred O. Stowell.
NOTES ON EASTHAM SCHOOLS
The early settlers of Eastham provided teachers of read- ing and writing for their children, classes being held in various homes until 1773, when the first schoolhouse was built. In 1666 Jonathan Sparrow was engaged by the parents to con- duct the classes. In 1678 the first appropriation was made by the town for the support of these schools. In 1687 the Gen- eral Court having ordered all towns of fifty families to employ a teacher, took steps to aid the towns in support of the new law. A duty was laid on all fish caught in the Colony, and
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a sum of to 5 pounds was given each town annually.
In 1693 the master was ordered to teach the children to "read, write and cast accounts." In 1700 Eastham agreed to pay the teacher 10 pence per week for each child in the school, Mr. John Sunderland being the master at the time. In 1705 Mr. Ebenezer White became the teacher. At that time it was agreed that "every person that sends any child or children to said school shall pay two pence a week for every child so sent- those persons that live in the northward end of Great Blackfish river, belonging to this town, if they will hire and keep on their own cost and charge a suitable person to keep a school among themselves to teach their children to read the English bible shall be freed from paying to the town School, so long as they keep one of their own." This section later became the North Precinct. In 1713 while Mr. Peter Barnes was master it was voted to alternate the school sessions yearly between the Central and South Precincts, the Cove being the dividing line. In 1714 Mr. Nehemiah Hobart, assistant to the Rev. Samuel Treat, agreed to teach, for which he was paid 10 pounds above his church salary.
After the North and South precincts became separate townships, Eastham divided her territory into five school dis- tricts. Two schoolhouses were built in 1797 at a cost of $400; one was built in 1800 and two more in 1803.
Children of all ages went to the one-room district school- house located nearest their homes. The masters of those schools must often have been tried beyond endurance. The writer used to enjoy hearing a story told over and over again by her great aunt Mary Thankful Mayo as she recalled her childhood days. One day in the early 1840s, so the story went, when Mary was the youngest child in the room, Edward Penni- man, one of the big boys, held a piece of molasses candy in his hand until it was all warm and sticky, then quickly rubbed it into the hair of Sylvanus Knowles who was seated in front of him. Giggles and ill-concealed laughter went the rounds of the room, until finally, in desperation, the schoolmaster sent Edward outside to cut a stick for the flogging. When the cul-
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prit came back with a little brittle twig, the school went off into more gales. Then Sylvanus was sent out to find one he thought would be proper size; back he came, dragging a tree trunk he could not get inside the door. By that time, there was such an uproar the master decided all needed punishment. Two by two, he took them by the collar, boys or girls, and slammed them together again and again. Finally, it was near- ing little Mary Thankful's turn and, quickly counting ahead, she realized she would have no partner, and all the school- master's strength would be used in shaking her alone. So, as he reached to yank her from the bench, she grabbed too, and wrapped her arms around his legs, hanging on with all her might. Shake as he would, the teacher could not get rid of her and finally sent her to her seat before the others could re- lapse into more hilarity.
Most of the boys and girls of that day had to work hard after school hours. In many homes fathers and older brothers were at sea planting or harvest time, and the young boys were obliged to carry on the season's work. Every fall, they drove the horses and dump carts to the beach to gather driftwood or to bring seaweed from the shore to be piled around the founda- tions of their homes as protection from the cold winter winds. The girls sewed patchwork squares and knitted the family's supply of warm stockings, then, before darkness fell, ran to the swamps to fill their chip baskets with lumps of peat that had been cut from the bogs, and carried them up to the attic to be spread under the warm roof to dry. One warm spring after- noon, while on this errand, little Mary Thankful discovered the edge of the peat bog was a wonderful place on which to slide. This she did over and over again until she was thoroughly caked with the thick mud which would not come off. It was a long time before her anxious brothers found her lying under the attic roof which she had been taught was the proper place for drying out peat!
As the population of the town declined, the school dis- tricts were consolidated. In the middle 1800s there were four districts. The number one schoolhouse was on the Bridge
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road, number two on the main road by Micah Paine's, number three at the junction of Nauset road, and number four on the main road in North Eastham near Isaiah Horton's. In 1878 the number two schoolhouse was abandoned and the number one was moved to a new location on the Cove between the properties of Abijah Mayo and John Myrick, thus consolidat- ing those districts.
The school year was a long one, extending from the Mon- day after Thanksgiving until the first of September. During the first half of the year, which was called the winter term, classes were usually conducted by college students who gave their charges good training in the fundamentals. Reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and spelling were considered the important subjects. In 1881 two Dartmouth students, Mr. Horne and Mr. Watson, were teaching in the number one and number two districts. Both considered their pupils ex- cellent spellers and staged a spelling match between their schools. It was held in the Methodist Church, the words be- ing given out by Mr. Bowler, the pastor. The pupils proved to be all their teachers had contended, spelling word after word correctly until the match had to be called to a close as the hour neared midnight with seven still standing from the num- ber one school and one boy from the number two. They were Jonathan (Jot) Lewis, Austin Smith, Hattie Rogers, Celia Walker, Carrie Harding, Bessie Penniman and Emma Knowles from number one, and Arthur Perry from the number two school.
The little original number two schoolhouse was typical of all such country schools. Across the road were two old houses occupied by bachelor brothers Sparrow and Thomas Snow. At recess time, the little girls often ran across to share goodies from their lunch baskets with poor old crippled Tom. And beside the school was the blacksmith shop of Micah Paine. Stand- ing in his open doorway while waiting for the clang of the bell to call them to lessons, all the children enjoyed watching the smith as he worked at the big iron forge. Those were happy days, when the town children attended the district schools, spending the term in ungraded classes until their par-
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EASTHAM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-This fine school, of Cape Cod or Colonial style, was built in 1936, replacing an old three-room grammar school which had served since 1902.
ents decided they were old enough to attempt higher education. School books were purchased by the parents, and became quite dog-eared by the time the youngest member of a family had left the old school bench. The next step was attendance at Rock Harbor Academy, on the site of the present Orleans Li- brary. This was considered so far from home that it was neces- sary for pupils to be boarded with Orleans families during the school week!
In 1902 the three Eastham schoolhouses were moved to- gether forming a three-room grammar school. While this work was being done, sessions were held in the old Town Hall. Well remembered for her long and faithful years of service in the Eastham primary school is Miss Florence Keith.
A fine new schoolhouse containing every facility for mod- ern teaching was opened in September, 1936. The building committee included Stanley M. Walker, Charles A. Gunn, Maurice W. Wiley, Harvey T. Moore, Daniel Sparrow and
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Leslie Chase. Under Principal Otto Nickerson, the instruc- tors maintain a high standard in which the town takes great pride. Their work is supplemented by that of special super- visors in nature, art, and vocal and instrumental music, beside several adults who assist in the 4-H Club work which stimu- lates interest in the handicrafts. A health council sponsors a school lunch program which gives the children a well-balanced hot lunch at noon.
Eastham high school students now attend Orleans High School.
NOTES ON EASTHAM ORGANIZATIONS
In regard to social organizations of the town, there has always been much community interest in any project concern- ing good fellowship, culture or charity.
In 1809 the townspeople raised $31 for the support of a singing school. These gatherings were held in the Church vestry during the winter months, and attended by all who en- joyed community singing. They were conducted by the min- ister who helped arrange the concert with which the meetings closed. This custom continued for many years.
The Village Improvement Society was organized in 1891 and remained active until 1927. Miss A. May Knowles was probably the most enthusiastic leader of this civic minded group. At one time the society had 137 members interested in raising money to beautify and improve the town. The most important projects undertaken were the preservation of the old mill and the building of a public library. Realizing the old town mills were fast being demolished or removed from many neighboring places, the Society purchased the Eastham mill and transferred ownership to the town, thus preserving the old land- mark for all to enjoy.
The Library was built in 1897. Supplemented by an an- nual town appropriation it is maintained by a trust fund re- ceived from Matthew Luce, Sr., as executor of the estate of Robert Charles Billings. Before this building was erected, the town supported a library in the hall above George Clark's
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store. Librarians have been Mrs. Clara Higgins Hall, Mrs. Sadie Clark, Mrs. Rose Nickerson and Mrs. Blanche Brewer Keefe, who has now held the position efficiently for over twen- ty-eight years (1950).
In Eastham's little triangular park where the mill is lo- cated is also preserved the huge stone trough inscribed with the beatitude, "Blessed are the Merciful" that catered to the thirsty animals of bygone generations.
Another active group was the Agricultural Society which, upon disbanding, left the funds in its treasury to Eastham to be used for the purchase of Christmas presents for children of the town. Out of this has grown the annual custom of a family party at the Town Hall. For over thirty years, Santa Claus has appeared here every Christmas Eve. How the rafters ring when he emerges from the chimney with his pack bulging with presents, one individually selected for each child in East- ham under high school age. The Eastham Grange and the Ladies' Aids of the Methodist and Universalist Churches spon- sor the party each year, adding materially to the fund needed to finance the good time. It is attended by young and old, many parents seeing in the pleasure of their children a recurrence of the delight of their own childhood. It seems to be a code with the older children never to break the faith of the littler ones as they all talk with the jolly old Santa Claus.
For several years parents have cooperated in an effort to direct the social interests of their young people. Supervised parties for the teen age group are held in the Town Hall with dancing and refreshments in the upper hall and playing of games in the recreation room.
Eastham Grange, No. 308, was organized April 8, 1912, at the old Town Hall, with fifty-two charter members. The first officers installed were Master Lester Horton, Overseer Her- bert Nickerson, Treasurer Carrie Holbrook, Secretary Mable Cobb Chase, Steward Alice Knowles, and Assistant Steward Annie Knowles. Maurice W. Wiley is the present master of this organization. The Grange has undertaken many worth- while projects. The good cheer it has spread throughout the years has vastly aided the town in its welfare work, countless
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