USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Shelburne > History and tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts > Part 19
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FORGER'S UNION OF LAMSON & GOOD- NOW - Among organizations drawing from both towns of Buckland and Shelburne in the late '80's and early 1900's was the Forger's Union.
ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS Divi- sion 1 and AUXILIARY - This was a benevolent society with about thirty members, holding meetings in United Workmen's Hall over Jenks and Amstein's Store.
ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORK- MEN - They held meetings in the late '80's and early 1900. They were a fraternal group.
1848 ALETHIAN LODGE OF ODD FELLOWS
In 1848 a group of nine members of Adelphic Lodge #109 Colrain desired to form a lodge in this village. They petitioned for a charter, which was granted August 13, 1848, and the Lodge was insti- tuted in Shelburne. One of the early members was Enoch B. Buzzeli.
The first meeting place was in a hall built for them, later called Good Templars' Hall. This building was located on Deerfield Avenue. The Lodge grew stead- ily from the original twelve members to a membership of fifty-five in the space of four years.
About this time a crusade against all secret societies was prevalent throughout the country; consequently, membership in all Odd Fellows lodges dropped to
such an extent that many lodges were forced to sur- render their charters.
Alethian Lodge survived, but so strong was the feeling against fraternal organizations that the meet- ings were held in secret session. It is the proud boast that this Lodge has never missed holding a regular meeting on meeting night.
After this wave of opposition had subsided, the Lodge membership grew, and soon outgrew its quar- ters. In 1865 they moved to new quarters in the Annawansett Building, located on the Buckland side of the village where the H. Newell Block now stands.
In July, 1876, the fire that destroyed practically all the business section in Buckland, totally destroyed this building and all records were lost. The membership in 1876 was 153.
Mountain Lodge of Masons and G.A.R. offered their rooms. The Lodge voted later to build on the site where the present building is now located. They held their first meeting in the new building on June 14, 1877. On the 50th Anniversary of the Lodge, Hugo Mann wrote the history, his chief source of informa- tion being Enoch R. Buzzell, who had been a member for fifty years. The records were found in editions of the old Deerfield J'alley Echo, a local publication, clippings of which Buzzell had saved during the organ- ization's early years.
The Lodge furnished its quota of men for military service in the Civil War. Two of its members died on the battlefield.
New branches sprang from the Lodge: in 1865 Alethian Encampment : 1880, North Star Rebekah Lodge; 1885, Canton Tabor. The latter has been discontinued.
The second fire was on May 18, 1895. The entire top floor, with all records, was destroyed and so badly damaged that it was necessary to rebuild it.
Again the Lodge met in the rooms of the Masonic Lodge. In January 1896, the building was ready to use.
During the early years of this organization, as was the custom before there were trained nurses, tele- phones and automobiles, members used to stay all night with ill members, relieving or assisting the fam- ily in care of the sick.
During World War I there were five members in military service. Present membership is one hundred twenty.
1865 - MOUNTAIN LODGE A. F. & A. M.
Mountain Lodge of Masons was originally char- tered in the town of Rowe in 1806 with ten members. In September 1818 a petition was granted by the Grand Lodge in Boston allowing the Lodge to be transferred to Colrain, where its meetings were held for the next thirty-eight years.
Among those who joined the Lodge in these years were two very able Shelburne Falls men: Major Ira Arms, to whom our village owes so much, and Josiah
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Pratt, whose axe factory, on the river bank below what is now Memorial Hall, was the start of the large business that for many years bore the Pratt name.
In 1865 Shelburne Falls, because of its water power and better means of transportation, became the larger village, and the Lodge was moved here, and a room obtained in the building that stood on the site of the present National Bank.
The newly elected officers of Mountain Lodge in 1856 were Frank J. Pratt, Dr. William S. Severance, James Sargent, J. W. Gardner, Col. H. S. Green- leaf, D. P. Foster and G. F. Mitchell. Some of these names are still familiar to us.
Twenty-seven members of the Lodge served in the Civil War.
The original rooms were soon outgrown and quar- ters were secured in the stone bank building over the present Savings Bank. In 1893, the Vice Block being completed, the upper floor was rented by Mountain Lodge and was occupied until the purchase of the Universalist Church in 1917.
On Sept. 26, 1906, the 100th Anniversary of Moun- tain Lodge was celebrated. A special meeting, attended by the Grand Lodge Officers from Boston, was held ; a clambake followed, which was served to 330 people under a tent erected on the Franklin Academy grounds ; and a ball in Memorial Hall concluded a memorable day in the Lodge's history.
Joseph Earl Perry, who has always held a dual membership in Mountain Lodge, was in 1937 elected to the office of Grand Master of Masons in Massachu- setts, a position he held until 1940.
In September, 1957, the 140th Anniversary of the Lodge was celebrated with a banquet at the Cowell Gymnasium and a meeting held in Emmanuel Memo- rial Church.
The following members have been masters of Moun- tain Lodge since 1856: S. N. Babbet, Frank J. Pratt, William S. Severance, Ozro Miller, Jonas K. Patch, Joseph H. Wilder, Josiah A. Richmond, Henry S. Shepardson, Hiram O. Smith, Charles E. Severance, Jonas K. Patch, Hiram O. Smith, James Halligan, Norman Root, Edwin Baker, George R. Pierce, John A. Halligan, Fayette G. Mitchell, Joseph C. Perry, Edwin Baker, John A. Halligan, George D. Eldridge, Frank H. Oakman, George D. Eldridge, George H. Wilkins, George W. Halligan, Arthur J. Rowland, William A. Johnson, Francis Ducharme, Merton Z. Woodward, John A. Halligan, Clarence W. Ward, Francis E. Wilder, Arthur B. Smith, Frank S. Field, Charles D. Spencer, Henry W. Ware, Lewis H. Johnson, Carl P. Mitchell, John F. Manning, Her- bert P. Ware, Stanley W. Cummings, Charles J. Carpenter, Allen F. Smith, James W. Vose, Roy S. Turton, William Hunter, Hugh F. Ward, Henry F. Cook, Howard C. Carpenter, Frank J. Wells, Deane H. Jones, Philip G. Vincent, Carlton P. Davenport, Robert E. Williams, Ralph E. Plympton, George D. Mirick, Floyd O. Mathews, Wilfred E. Miller, Wil-
liam T. Turner, Robert A. Lillpopp, Marvin O. Anderson, Leon H. Turner, Syril G. Gould, Fred- erick G. Clark, Donald E. Peon, George A. Newman, Harry L. Purinton, Paul K. Mead, Jr., John F. Wells, Howard E. Stockwell, C. Stanley Brewer, Arthur A. Donelson, John B. Jacobs, Raymond E. Nichols.
1869 - ORDER OF EASTERN STAR
The first chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in Massachusetts was instituted in Shelburne Falls on February 25, 1869. It was constituted by the Grand Chapter of New York (as far as we know). This Chapter was known as Harmony Chapter, No. 1.
The first Worthy Matron was Mrs. Josiah Pratt and her Worthy Patron was Mr. H. L. Shepardson. This Chapter existed two years and no one knows why it ceased to meet in September after its last meet- ing on June 1, 1871.
Then in 1900, a group interested in forming an- other chapter met in the Masonic Hall on January 1. There were eighteen ladies and gentlemen at this meeting, and out of this meeting the present Mary Lyon Chapter, No. 70 was organized and constituted October 2, 1900.
The first Worthy Matron was Mrs. Alwina P. Brown; Worthy Patron, Mr. George D. Eldridge; Associate Matron, Mrs. Emma I. Baker. It is only in the last few years there has been an Associate Patron. In 1909 Mrs. Baker was elected to serve as Worthy Grand Matron of the Grand Chapter of Massachusetts, a very great honor.
This Chapter was named for the most famous daughter of the area, Mary Lyon, the leader in the movement for women's higher education and the founder of Mount Holyoke College.
OTHER BANDS
In 1869 Shelburne Falls had two other bands, known as The Mechanics Band and Cornet Band.
In 1877 a very good Harmonica Band was organ- ized and directed by Jacob Oeffinger and H. M. Willis. These bands functioned for some years and added much to concerts and parades during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
A German Band was also active during these years.
Washington Band, a teen-agers' band, was making music in the late Nineties. The members were Carl Mitchell, J. Earl Perry, Henry Johnson, Frank White, Robert Amsden, Earl Gould, Philip Eldridge, Frank Packard, Bill Patch, Deane Davis, Earl Bates and Jimmy Warner. There were drums, a cornet, and a flageolet, and the rest played what they called Zoboes. They practiced in an abandoned henhouse which they renovated - back of Edward Decker's place. They rode and played in a "Mckinley Parade" and remember giving one concert in the Vestry of the Congregational Church. Dues were five cents a meeting. The treasurer's book is still in existence.
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1868. GERMAN TURNVEREIN - Organized in 1868 and in 1870 had a membership of forty-five. It was a flourishing society and owned a commodious building (now the American Legion Hall on Water Street) in Shelburne Falls. The building cost $2800 when built in 1874.
1872 - NEIGHBORS CLUB
The first woman's club in the village area of Shel- burne Falls probably was organized in 1872 and named "The Neighbors" with twenty-six members. It was a society for social and personal improvement. It aimed also to promote education, to elevate the youth. and to beautify the village by planting shade trees.
The group met every Thursday to talk about some subject previously chosen - such as education of children mentally, morally, and physically; lighting of streets; free reading room; and whether "Woman's Suffrage" should be adopted by the Legislature.
A paper was edited monthly. "Records of The Neighbors" is at Arms Library (to be read at the Library only). This book is very interesting, and the names are listed of members as well as the projects for which they worked.
The first president was Mrs. C. B. Gale of Main Street. at whose home early meetings were held.
1873. THE SHUBERT HARUGARI LODGE - a German organization, was formed in 1873 with a membership of eighty-three. It was a social organ- ization with insurance benefits. It flourished, and many picnics and sauerkraut suppers were enjoyed dur- ing the years.
1874 - Among Temperance Organizations during the preprohibition years were: Athenaeum Division No. 79 - Sons of Temperance, organized in 1874 with seventy-four members; Loomis Lodge of Good Templars No. 244, organized February. 1867, with a membership in 1879 of fifty-one ;. Women's Chris- tian Temperance Union, and Golden Cross organized and active during the years 1900 to 1918.
1880 - NORTH STAR REBEKAH LODGE NO. 32 I.O.O.F.
On June 14. 1880 North Star Rebekah Lodge No. 32 was instituted. The charter members were Sisters Emma Willis, Noble Grand ; Matilda Tooley, Eliza Hallam, Hulda Benson. Mary Fuller. and Mrs. A. Atkinson ; and Brothers T. C. Cronan. J. H. Tooley. H. A. Bowen, J. C. Perry. D. W. Temple, D. C. Bartlett, Alfred Atkinson, G. H. Swan and S. Stevens.
This Lodge is the Mother Lodge of Unitah of North Adams, Sylvan of Greenfield. Adah of Orange. and MIt. Peak of Charlemont. During World War I four members were in service - Brothers Chapin. Starkey, Rotherham, and Schack.
Those eligible were wives, sisters, or mothers of
Odd Fellows. Meetings were held in Odd Fellows rooms, including Masonic Hall in Memorial Hall after fire destroyed their building, 1895.
One great aim of the Rebekah Lodge is to assist in raising money to be sent to the Assembly Relief Fund. From there it is used wherever relief is needed in Rebekah homes. Many contributions are also sent to the I.O.O.F. Home for the Aged in Worcester.
The 75th Anniversary of North Star Rebekah Lodge was observed in 1955 with over two hundred guests. There have been seventy-one Past Noble Grands. Membership is one hundred and forty.
A ceremony was recently held honoring three pres- ent members who have been members for fifty years. They were presented 50-year pins. They are: Mrs. Isobel Wilde, Mrs. Jennie March and Mrs. Cora Eldridge.
1880 - SHELBURNE FALLS CYCLE CLUB
A bicycle club was formed in late 1880 and was active for fourteen years with clubrooms in the second story, west end of the Vice Block.
The purpose of the club was for bicycle outings. The group built a clubhouse on the south shore of Lake Sadawga, Whitingham, Vermont.
Trips were also frequently made on bicycles to Brattleboro, Vermont, and Springfield, Mass. The members enjoyed comfortable clubrooms, where crib- bage and checkers were played. They also had a pool table, but a strict rule of the club was "no gambling."
Among members were : Jacob Haigis, Nelson Wood- ward, Benjamin Kemp, Dr. John S. Outhouse, Francis Ducharme, Edward Wilder, Charles Pierce, Frank Swan and Julian Fuller.
1886 - THE TUESDAY AFTERNOON READING CLUB
The Tuesday Afternoon Reading Club is thought to have existed longer than any other club of Shel- burne as a reading group.
It was originally The Browning Club, formed about 1886. A group of readers were interested through the efforts of Mr. Duffield, rector of the Episcopal Church. He was an accomplished Browning student and shared the values of his knowledge with this club.
Interest in literature, developed under MIr. Duf- field's tutelage, led many of the group to continue after his departure. They had met on Tuesday after- noons throughout the winter months and thus con- tinued as The Tuesday Afternoon Reading Club. Study of Browning continued ; then Shakespeare. These were followed by study of peoples of other lands, their art and literature. This proved of so much interest that effort was made to sponsor public lectures on the subjects of art and travel. Much later. current-event lectures were sponsored by the Reading Club, showing it advanced with the times.
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The Tuesday Afternoon Reading Club has always been a casual group. However it does elect a president and treasurer. A program chairman is elected to choose two assistants in planning the year's reading for meetings. A social chairman is elected and privi- leged to choose two assistants in planning social affairs.
It has long been understood that membership, besides dues, means contribution of a book to circulate among the readers yearly. Early in its history the Reading Club planned a few social meetings each year. A luncheon was the order of the day with papers written by members or book reviews to follow. These were informal, gala occasions, proving of value in closer acquaintances and cementing lasting friendships.
1890 WOMAN'S CLUB OF SOUTH SHELBURNE
In the early Nineties, a few women of the Foxtown District (South Shelburne) organized a literary club to meet fortnightly. It seemed more academic than rural, and doubtful of surviving long, but the San Souci Club aroused interest and prospered fully twenty years.
The club met on Tuesday afternoon and the first hour of every meeting was given to study of the Bible. Through the years the second hour covered many subjects - U. S. History, including a trip to the historical Memorial Hall at Old Deerfield ; artists, poets, and authors - Browning and Shakespeare - were not slighted.
One spring the club members purchased bird books and field glasses which sent them tiptoeing to the song of the wood thrush and meadow lark through wood and field. The feathered world of Foxtown joined the club! Those were happy days, far removed from dishwashing and mending overalls!
"Gentleman's Night" was observed at least once in two months and held in turn at the homes of the club members. A feast committee and an entertain- ment committee always planned a banquet and good times.
Guests were often invited to these family-night gatherings, and an old copy of the Gazette & Courier tells us one Labor Day evening was celebrated by a corn roast in D. P. Bardwell's maple grove, when guests from Winsted, Conn., Turners Falls, New York City, Buckland, Colrain and Broomshire (Conway, just over the Deerfield River) enjoyed the anecdotes, stories, and original poems, as well as the roasted corn, with their San Souci Club friends.
An enthusiastic and progressive woman's club, where interest in study and entertainment always rated high, was the San Souci Club of South Shelburne.
1892. THE GERMAN LODGE AUXILIARY TO HARUGARI LODGE - or Germania Lodge #14 was organized about 1892. It was one of the first auxiliaries of the Fraternal Order to be organized and was a very active and prosperous Lodge. For a
number of years the ritual work was carried out in the German language. The rituals were later trans- lated into English for the benefit of the younger mem- bers who did not know German. The meetings were held on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of each month, and dues of thirty-five cents were paid once a month. The Lodge had an insurance plan which provided its members with sick benefits. The members now living recall with nostalgia the happy times they had at the many social functions of the Lodge. These included German suppers, quilting bees, picnics, and Saturday-night dances. With the loss of many of the older members and a gradual decline in interest on the part of the younger members, the Lodge found it necessary to disband about 1928.
1890 - THE OLD GIRLS
In the 1890's a group of women who had attended the old Franklin Academy together formed a club calling themselves "The Old Girls."
They met three or four times a year for social get- togethers until the 1930's. Many were the good times enjoyed through these years, as they all had been playmates in the village before they were old enough to attend Franklin Academy, and the majority of them had married local men and continued to live in Shel- burne Falls.
The meetings were held in the homes of members, usually in the winter season, but sometimes in the summer on spacious lawns. The meetings usually were held in the afternoon and included tea, but occasionally extended to six o'clock if the hostess had invited them to come for supper.
Since many of the husbands, possibly the majority, had also been students at the old Academy at about the same time as their wives, once in awhile the "Old Girls" would schedule a meeting to which their hus- bands were invited. At such meetings the fun was uproarious. Members of the Old Girls were: Mrs. Frank J. Wood, nee Lizzie May Fellows; Mrs. Her- bert Newell, nee Addie White; Mrs. John Powers, nee Florence Dix; Mrs. Fayette Mitchell, nee Mabel Pierce ; MIrs. George Eldridge, nee Nellie Richmond ; MIrs. Charles Hadley, nee Elizabeth Fairbanks; Mrs. Frank Oakman, nee Susan Bardwell; Mrs. Oscar Elmer, nee Abbie Buzzell; Mrs. Joseph Perry, nee Miriam Packard; Mrs. Everett, nee Kate Amidon; MIrs. Charles Smith, nee Ella Streeter; Mrs. Charlie Ball, nee Caroline Ohlendorf ; Mrs. Herbert Warner, nee Ella Streeter ; and Miss Elva Blanchard.
BOYS' BRIGADE
A part of a national organization known as the Boys' Brigade, which was strictly military with officers, and so forth, was organized in 1889-90. It was a forerunner of the Boy Scouts of today. The leader here from 1894-1899 was Frank Chandler.
The members were supplied with or bought white webbing belts with a large plated buckle in front.
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They had brass buttons which could be attached to any dark colored suit, and caps with oblique flat tops and straight leather visors like those that had been worn by Union soldiers in the Civil War. They used to don that equipment and, with their wooden guns, march in the Decoration Day parade. May 30th each year.
One morning at the Baker School, word came that all members of the Boys' Brigade were summoned to meet at once in the Congregational Church basement. It was a great thrill to be suddenly called out of school that way, just as though the village was being invaded and to be the only military company there, called out to do valiant service with wooden guns or. maybe, with real guns. Who could tell ?
When they got to the Congregational Church base- ment, members were drilled and inspected by a uni- formed officer of the National Boys' Brigade, who had come unexpectedly from out of town. He put them through their paces and then let them stand rigidly at attention while he discussed details of drill with their officers. Something about the excitement or the rigid position suddenly blacked out a couple of the members, even a fairly husky boy.
The boys camped in real military fashion summers, down in Stillwater, which was not far from the West Deerfield Station, on the Fitchburg Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The camp was on a high bank near the old suspension bridge. Two guards were on duty all night. One night an officer of the guard was so frightened by his own shadow that he had to be replaced. The boys took over their own disciplinary methods when members became pests, and it is told that one boy was thrown in the Deerfield River. After that ducking he lived up to the rules.
The boys gave concerts with an old phonograph. which in those days was enjoyed, as we today enjoy radio and television. Many times it took a bent pin to stop it. Philip Eldridge was the operator. The group also camped at Sadawga Lake and Raponda Lake in Vermont.
Summer's activities included an encampment of this brigade in Springfield. Mass., about two miles from the common. The boys had to march from encamp- ment to the common to be reviewed by State officers. Two boys fainted on the way and had to drop out.
Food by the gallons was always supplied for camps by parents, and boys, those days, were not on diets. On rainy nights the walls of the tents leaked.
Among members were: Philip Eldridge; Robert F. Wood; Luther Perry; J. Earl Wilson; Richard Shaw; Roy Amstein and William Hume.
1892 - THE WESTERN MASS. ROD & GUN CLUB, INC.
The Western Massachusetts Rod & Gun Club, one of the oldest active sportsman's clubs in Massa- chusetts, was first organized on April 1, 1892, at a meeting held in the upstairs rooms of a Buckland
building which was at that time the property of Jacob Pfersick. It is today the property of Alex Sall and was formerly the fire station and office of the water commissioner.
The first officers elected were: Andrew Sauer, President ; J. C. Winterhalder, Vice President ; L. P. Woodward, Secretary; Thomas Marshall, Treasurer.
One of the first actions taken was to purchase a quantity of white hare at sixty cents each. (Today, the purchase price is $3.00 each with an additional $1.00 transportation cost.) Since that time hundreds of rabbits and thousands of trout have been purchased and liberated by the club.
The first activity of the club was trapshooting, and a plot of land owned by Lamson & Goodnow on which the club maintained a trap house or "shanty" was used for this purpose.
The club was incorporated in 1896 for the purpose "Of establishing and maintaining a place for social meetings, for promoting athletic exercises and sports with Rod and Gun."
The original incorporators were Andrew Sauer, O. R. Crosier, Dwight C. Bartlett, Joseph G. Brown, Ernest C. Frost, L. D. Bailey, Albert J. Amstein, William L. Whitney, and J. C. Winterhalder.
In the year 1900 the club moved to new quarters on the Shelburne side of the river, to rooms in the building owned by Joel Thayer, which is the present quarters now known as the March's Pharmacy Block. This block was purchased by the club on March 14, 1951 from the Andrew March Estate.
. The club has been very active throughout the many years since its establishment and has done much to promote good hunting and fishing in this area through its own efforts and by its affiliation with the Franklin County League and affiliated clubs of Western Massa- chusetts. In cooperation with the latter many pheasants were reared and liberated from the pens which they maintained on the property of the Bray Farm.
The club has been particularly interested in the young sportsmen and has purchased trout for several years which were liberated in three brooks within the town limits and restricted to children under twelve years of age. This, however, was permissible only through the cooperation of the landowners abutting the streams so restricted. The club has also spon- sored teen-age gun courses under the leadership of the local game warden, to teach the young people the proper handling of firearms.
This year marks the fiftieth straight year that one of our members. Percy Rickett, has served as secretary- treasurer. We owe a great deal to the founders and all succeeding officers, who have contributed so much of their time and effort to carry on the principles of conservation and good sportsmanship for which this club was established.
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