USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of Dedham, Massachusetts > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
Karl Knox Titus
Thomas T. Doggett, Jr. Daniel J. Donovan Francis A. Donovan
Thos. E. McDonough James F. McGowan Philip James McKenna Frederick W. McNally Joseph M. McNamara
Francis Joseph Durkee James Percival Emery Elliot Farley Henry P. Farrington
Bernard F. Miller Charles Newell Morrison Eleanor E. Nevins Frank R. Nolan
Benjamin B. Williams
James E. Flynn, Jr. Clark Rogers Forbes Bernard Fox
James Bernard Nolan Thos. Francis Nolan Wm. Michael Noonan
George Nyros*
Dennis Francis Galvin Frank J. Geishecker Charles Bernard Gibbs
Frederick E. Glaser Wm. John Gleghorn
Edmund H. Hannon Harold Cobb Harris Nat Hartwell, Jr.
Edwin T. V. Smith John Ignatius Smith
514
A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
wished to follow in the service of their country in the World War, 1917-18.
Walter Morris Brown Thomas E. Macleod
Walter E. Schreiter
Ernest Bailey Daniels
Herbert R. McGillis
Dennis R. Sullivan John J. Walsh
Leo Albert Flad
:
NOTE. The manuscript, as originally prepared, contained the names and serv- ice of each soldier, sailor, and marine, who had represented Dedham in King Phillps War, the French and Indian Wars, the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish War, and the World War. These records were compiled after many months of labor, but had to be omitted as the chapters constituted a volume In themselves ; consequently the names only of those who have taken part in the several wars of the country are given.
CHAPTER XXVIII
MISCELLANEOUS
T IT is well to consider the progress that has been made since the settlement of the town in the comfort and convenience of the people as they have advanced from the rude home to the steam heated, electric lighted and water-supplied home of today; from homespun to factory products; from the needle to the sewing ma- chine; from the thong to the safety pin; from the river way and bridle path to the macadam road; from horseback to the automo- bile; from the wooden plow to the tractor; from the sickle to the reaper; from the flail to the threshing machine; from the match- lock and flint-lock gun to the repeating rifle; from the hand tub to the steam engine; from the post rider to the air mail; from the brick oven to the electric range; from the besom to the vacuum cleaner; from the wash tub to the electric washer; from the settie to the Morris chair; from materia medica to Christian Science; from the barber to the skilled surgeon; from fly infested homes to screened doors and windows; from the mid-wife to the obstetric nurse ; from straw filled sacks to spring-beds with hair mattresses; from the native fruits and flowers to the wealth of horticulture; from barnyard manure to commercial fertilizers; from the hour glass to the wrist watch; from the ice-chest to gas or electric refrigeration; from the fireplace to automatic heaters; to say nothing of bath rooms, railroads, bus lines, telegraph, telephones, radio and world encircling Zeppelins with all the wonderful pro- gress that has been made in the arts, in manufacturing, in domes- tic life, and in general culture, with all the abundance of news- papers, books and magazines which fill our homes today. With all this wealth of invention and discovery we may still say, as did Benjamin Franklin in 1736: "The world is daily increasing in experimental knowledge, and let no man flatter the age with pretending we have arrived at a perfection of our discoveries." We should remember that the pioneer fathers were the first manufacturers in America. They made leather, sugar, malt, pot- ash and soap. They were the first to press oil from seeds, the first to use dye for coloring their some-spun, and the first in the Colony to use the process of salting, smoking, and drying for preserving foods. Our present industries have grown out of these pioneer methods.
516
A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
LUSTER WARE. Scattered through Dedham houses can still be found good specimens of luster ware of long ago. Luster ware was made in England in the last quarter of the 18th century and was a common sight in homes and taverns in both England and America. A very choice historic piece of copper luster, marked for its noble simplicity, is the Cornwallis jug. On one side is the picture of Cornwallis surrendering at Yorktown with the caption "Cornwallis resigned his sword at Yorktown October 17, 1781." On the reverse side is a portrait of Lafayette being crowned with laurel. It is a jug of fine workmanship.
WHITTLING. A century ago whittling was a universal custom among New England farmers. We are told how Calvin Coolidge, when Vice President of the United States, used to sit and whittle when spending his vacation on the old Vermont farm. Henry Ward Beecher once said "that a Yankee could do more with his jack-knife than some others could do with a kit of tools." Farm- ers spent much time in whittling out various things with more or less success. When the writer was a boy, his father with his jack-knife made all the windmills, water wheels, "a monkey on a pole," bows and arrows and popguns with which his children played. All axehandles and repairs to wooden implements were shaved down or whittled out. A keen-bladed jack-knife was a boy's most ambitious possession. Under skilled hands large blocks of pine or other soft woods assumed the form of elephants, deer, or cows, or busts of famous men.
HOOKED RUGS. The old time handicraft of "hooked" or "drawn" in rugs so commonly made by the women of New Eng- land after the Civil War should not be forgotten. While it is claimed that hooked in rugs were made in some homes before the Revolution there is no evidence that they were so early made in Dedham. These rugs were made to use up bits of woolen material as doormats or coverings for painted floors. Most of the rugs were of the "hit or miss" pattern and showed little originality of design. Sometimes a nosegay of bright colors was pulled in in the center of the rug. Again the head of a dog, horse or other domestic animal was drawn in. We all remember seeing these rugs in Dedham homes but the makers are not especially recalled. In 1885 a handsome indrawn rug, the handy work of Mrs. Charles Gale, was presented to the Charles W. Carroll Post, G. A. R. The
517
MISCELLANEOUS
colors red, white, and blue, with numerals 144 (representing the number of the Post) occupy the center, while the corners of the rug are composed of elaborate shields.
Before Van Amburgh's menagerie visited Dedham exhibi- tions of camels, bears, moose, elephants and other animals were held in sheds and hotel yards for which an admittance fee of nine pence, or twelve and a half cents, was charged. Such an ex- hibition was held in the Norfolk House May 24, 1822. An elephant was announced "as a natural curiosity who will go through an astonishing performance which has excited the admiration of every beholder."
CONTENTMENT SQUARE. Before the World War, Con- tentment square at the head of Marsh Street (named by older residents of the town a half century ago), was seldom spoken of lest it should be said one was stretching his imagination, but since the World War now that every place that can be conceived of as a square, bears the name of some war hero, no apology is offered for perpetuating the name first used by the Dedham group at Watertown.
THE PATHETIC ABANDONED HOME. Pictures of some of the houses probably built by the second generation of Dedham settlers have been preserved and show the increased comfort which these houses offered. Perhaps no better example can be given than that of the old Colburn house* in Westwood. In re- calling these old houses, one thinks of the kitchen more often than any other room because it was the living room of the family. We have many pictures of colonial kitchens with their big fire places, swinging cranes, furniture of the 17th century, baking ovens and the candle moulds. The pot in which the boiled dinner was cooked, hangs upon the crane in the picture. This was not only a favorite dish with our fathers but at numerous lunches, it is the most popular dish served today. Our fathers had an abund- ance of nourishing food, although little in way of provisions was bought. In the spring veal was plentiful; in summer sheep and lambs were slaughtered. In the fall came pig sticking, the killing of a beef creature, much of which was eaten fresh, or salted down, during the winter. Sausages were home made and good, with sugar cured ham, smoked with corn cobs on the premises or by
* A picture of this house is given in the Dedham Historical Register, Vol. ii, p. 83.
1.00
518
A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
walnut shavings. There was an abundance of domestic poultry, chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys. Before dams were placed on Charles river, shad and alewives, with other fish, were plentiful in the spring of the year. Fruit, vegetables and berries found a place on every table. Milk was an article of every day affair, from which some butter was made. Cheese was an article of large consumption and the cheese press was found on every farm. While the desire for alcoholic drinks is still prevalent, it is not as universal as at the time of the Revolution, when strong drinks were in great demand and sold for four cents a glass in West India Goods stores, and six cents over the bar in county taverns. Cider made from the farmer's apples, or bought for a few shillings a barrel was a universal drink. John Adams, who was among the first to see the need of reform in the drinking habit, always drank a tankard of hard cider as soon as he got up in the morning. Rum was the most popular of the strong drinks and was drunk at home and abroad. Rum punch was used on all occasions of festivity. Flip made of rum in which a red hot iron was inserted was a popular drink at all taverns.
THE EVOLUTION OF DISHES. There still exist wooden plates and bowls which were daily used by the founders of this town. Wooden articles, however, were succeeded in some families by pewter, an alloy of tin and copper, which was used for drinking mugs, and plates, and platters, and all sorts of utensils including tankards. Every well-to-do girl, that was going to be married, had to have with her linen a full equipment of pewter. The use of China and porcelain was just coming into use when the Revo- lution broke out. John Hancock was proud of his pewter but disliked China. Silver was hardly known except among the wealthy, who had silver drinking cups and larger silver salt-cellars. At an early time the table was most likely to be a board without legs which was brought out at meal time and held up at either end by a support not unlike a saw horse. If a guest was present it was covered with a fine linen cloth, which had been woven by the housewife and would ornament the most elaborate dining room table of today. The cooking of meals was difficult in the colonial home, because everything had to be cooked over the open fire.
EARLY DECORATIVE ART. There is great interest today
.
0
519
MISCELLANEOUS
in interior decorations. Dedham has some fine specimens of early papered and decorated rooms as they have appeared in the devel- opment of interior decorations in America. The first settlers in the decoration of their dwellings used clay paint on the walls and ceilings made black by the big fireplace. This clay paint gave the walls either a grayish or a yellowish tone, according to the kind of clay used. It was prepared by mixing, with water, the clay taken from the nearest clay pit. In Dedham clay was so generally used that a brook, where it was obtained for this and other purposes, was early named "Clay Brook." Clay paint was succeeded by whitewash, which was in general use previous to the introduction of wall paper, which was brought to America about 1735. Those who could not afford to import wall paper, painted their walls either in one color, or stencilled in simple pat- terns in imitation of French paper, or panelled, each panel having its own picture, large or small. Wall paper to cover all the walls of a room did not come into use until the 18th century. The evo- lution of the decoration of Dedham houses is as follows: first, clay paint; second, whitewash; third, hand painting and stencilling ; fourth, small imported sheets of decorative paper, and fifth, rolls of printed paper.
A room in the Dexter House on High street is of great inter- est. The decoration shows one continuous narrative, a hand painted Chinese product in color illustrating the cultivation of tea. This paper was imported about 1750, but was not put upon the walls until later. The subject is perhaps the oldest theme used in wall paper decoration in China. The subject is developed on the four walls of the room. The north wall of the assembly room of the Dedham Historical Society has a good specimen of printed wall paper put upon the walls of a room in Dixon House when it was built about 1819. The chariot scene was a favorite design at that time.
In the early years of our country, in recognition of the friend- ly relation with France, much wall paper with Paris scenes was in vogue. A good specimen of French or Italian wall paper is found in the Martin Marsh house on Court street. The room in ques- tion is supposed to have been papered in 1818. It was put on in blocks and represents Italian scenes. Over the mantle piece is the Bay of Naples, with Vesuvius in the distance; another panel rep-
1
520
A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
resents a Roman arch, and another a domestic scene, and still another a pastoral scene with sheep and cattle coming down from the mountains. There is an interesting wharf scene and a merry company taking gondolas.
We have a fine specimen of the early American fresco, which more than a century ago, was put upon the walls of a front cham- ber in a West Dedham House-the William Allen House in West- wood. This is a painted water scene, with elm and locust trees, colored in very brilliant red, blue and green, a continuous scene illustrated on the four walls of the chamber. Mural hall decora- tions are also found in four old Westwood houses.
POSTER PRINTING. A popular form of printing in the colonies was the broad-side of which we have some fine collections. The broad-side consisted of a single leaf intended to be posted in public places for the information of the public. When the town of Dedham posted a vote in 1774 forbidding all inhabitants to drink any kind of India tea the notices posted were doubtless broad-sides. In America the first printed document is known to be the Freeman Oath, a single page printed in Cambridge in 1639. During the Revolution hundreds of proclamations were posted in public places. This was an official way of spreading news without attaching responsibility to the publisher. The patriotic newspap- ers were obliged to publish elsewhere during the Revolution. Some interesting broad-sides are still preserved in Dedham.
MIRRORS. Mirrors called "looking-glasses" in Colonial homes were first used as articles of household furniture and later for decorative purposes. The first mirrors, of course, were brought from England and were often chosen to reflect a pretty face. Mirrors ornamented with filigree were fashionable about 1775, of which there were several types. The first was the "Con- stitutional," popular during the reconstruction period, when the eagle was the favorite emblem and licensed to be used for decora- tive purposes. The writer has his grand-mother's wedding "look- ing-glass" in a decorative wooden frame with the eagle in gilt forming the central feature. Stars were often introduced into the frame representing the States of the Union while underneath were clasped hands. Another type, commemorating an appre- ciation of General Lafayette's help during the Revolutionary War,
1
521
MISCELLANEOUS
consists of a small square looking glass with a hooded top con- taining a portrait of the general as a central figure.
DIALS. Before clocks were introduced, sun-dials and hour glasses were in use. The sun-dial of the Fairbanks family dating from an early time is still preserved. Windows with a southern exposure in the early homes had a "noon-mark" cut deep on the window sill just where the sun fell at 12 o'clock. The grand- father's wooden clock in the front room was always regulated by the noon mark. Seasons in the early time were reckoned not by months but by certain events as "haying time" "sweet corn time" "the harvest moon" and "the hunters moon."
AMUSEMENTS. When we see the residents of the town filling the Community Theater evenings and at other times going out in their autos to see the movies in other places, the question naturally arises how did the residents of Dedham, in years long since passed, meet the necessity for entertainment? There were musters and training days to which all able bodied men, from the early settlement of the town, were obliged to attend. The day furnished great sport for the boys and gave an opportunity to purchase sugar ginger-bread and buns, much to their delight. Election day, which came the last Wednesday in May, was always largely attended and the bakers on the spot sold election cake to everybody. Leading a secluded life, our fathers were good story tellers. They read few books but had a much larger stock of oral tales than we have today. So the stories around the tavern fire, in the witcher of those who burned charcoal, and in the several stores of the town, made pleasant many a winter evening. This entertainment never failed to interest and hold the attention of the listener. Kitchen dances were common from the first for danc- ing was an art which our fathers brought with them. Dancing has been so long enjoyed that it is impossible to trace its origin. With the establishment of modern taverns in Dedham, dance halls were erected. During the winter months frequent balls were held. A very common and popular ball was given the night before Thanksgiving. Turkey suppers were served and there was never a lack of attendance. Residents of Dedham, especially those living in the out-lying parishes, were much on the road, loaded with ship timbers, wood, hay, bark and charcoal, which they sold in the Boston market. As they drove ox-teams, they usually
522
A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
stopped over night in Boston, and as theater tickets in the upper galleries could be had for 25 cents, they became great patrons of the theater and for many years saw all the leading plays in Bos- ton. Card playing was enjoyed in most families. In the writer's home, carrying out the custom of the early Puritans, no card playing was allowed on Saturday night. It was too near Sunday. In fact, at an earlier time, Sunday had already commenced. All cards were put away on Fast Day, not to be taken out again until fall. Although fox and geese was played at all times, dominoes and checkers were altogether forbidden in many homes. The boys early played "Bat & Ball" which Dr. Ames refers to in his diary. Barn ball, throwing the ball against the side of the barn and catching it as it came down, was a common game. Three-old- cat was another game in which the boys engaged. In this game one pitched and another caught while a third batted and after hitting the ball had to run to a chosen base and back before he was touched with the ball. When foot-ball was introduced the high school boys played the game on the Church green and reluctantly stopped their play when the ringing of the nearby school bell again called them to their studies. In the winter a favorite coast for the boys was down Pearl Street, across High Street, into River Place.
Through the years much amusement was found in Temper- ance Hall. Here Harrington, the magician and ventriloquist, gave performances for many years. The "Burning of Moscow" came round once a year to amuse the children, preceded by a variety of sleight of hand tricks and wound up with a conflagration and explosion to the noisy accompaniment of snare and bass drums behind the curtain. When the Indian shows came round they paraded the streets, in the afternoon preceding the performance, on hired horses, in full barbaric costumes.
The "Glass Blowers" came to the Hall and blew and spun glass into all manner of shapes to the great delight of all the small boys. They had a stationary engine constructed entirely of glass with a large wheel of glass of many colors which the power generated caused to slowly revolve. "Washburn's Last Sensation" was an exhibition of athletics which set all the boys trying to hold themselves out sideways and rigid from every upright on which they could get a good hold. "Billy" Morris, the survivor of the
523
MISCELLANEOUS
Morris Brothers, gave a performance here assisted by one or two others. A panorama was given which closed with an eruption of Vesuvius which threw out hot melted rocks. The "Owl Club" not only gave concerts but dances as well which were very popular and attended by the "best people" of Dedham and surrounding towns. The Hall was a pretty sight with all the gay colors of dresses and the fine music swaying the dancers in rhythm.
Gen. Tom Thumb and his wife (Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Strat- ton), exhibited in Memorial Hall. General Tom was only two feet high. They rode in a coach built expressly for them. The coach and span were put up at McLane's stable on Washington Street and were objects of great curiosity to the youth of the town who gathered in large numbers around the stable door. Mary Miles Minter laid the scene of "Ann of Green Gables" in Dedham and vicinity in which a goodly number of Dedham young people ap- peared. Where the Ames School House now stands was the Shuttleworth field, where the boys went to play in summer and fly their kites. Kite flying was a lively sport in the fifties.' Boys not only showed their skill in flying kites but their ingenuity as well in designing them. In winter this was a coasting field leading down into the gully.
OLD FAIRBANKS HOUSE. "In some respects the home- stead* of the Fairbanks family is entitled to the first place in con- sidering the claims of the numerous old houses in the State to our regard and attention. It is, beyond comparison, more pictur- esque, and in its primitive simplicity, it brings us nearer to a true understanding of the actual appearance and characteristics of the homes of our forefathers, than any other house we have seen." The entire length of this house, including the wings is 75 feet. The main or middle part has a pitch-roof extending down to within a few feet of the ground, while the two wings have gambrel roofs. Standing before the front door, one can count eight windows, of which no two are alike in size. The boarding of the outside walls also attract attention with an assortment of sizes ranging from a narrow clapboard four inches wide to some heavy boards measur- ing twenty-one inches. In addition to the main chimney there is a small one in the east wing. The west wing never had a chimney as it was used for sleeping apartments. Although connected with
* From "Under Colonial Roofs' .
524
A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
the main part by a door, it stands as a separate house being built up against the old structure. The doorways throughout the house are so low that a person of medium height can scarcely pass through without bending the head. The front entry measures eight feet in width and three and a half feet in depth, yet has five doors opening from it. The kitchen is about sixteen feet square and is only lighted by two narrow windows. The beams and rafters show as the room has never been plastered. The floor of the kitchen is lower than the room in the lean-to; so a square log was placed in the doorway as a step, now worn by countless foot- steps that have passed over it in the years gone by. The parlor with seven windows is somewhat larger than the kitchen. It is plastered and more modern than the kitchen. It is one of the lowest rooms in the house, measuring in the highest point not more than six feet in height. The lean-to contains a room back of the parlor, originally a bedroom with one small window. The long room back of the kitchen and chimney has two small windows and was used as a sitting room and a work room. This low room has an outside door, which, owing to the sinking of the walls, is little more than four feet high. The east wing is quite a cozy tenement having two lower rooms and one upper room. In the northeast corner is a chimney with a fire place in each of the lower rooms. The smaller room in the wing was a chamber. The upper entry is about the same size as the one below and is lighted by one window. The kitchen chamber, like the room between, has never been lathed or plastered. It is a large room, yet has only one window twenty inches high and twenty-eight inches wide. The old well which for so many generations furnished the family with water is opposite the front door and only a few feet away. The homestead has never been deeded. The descendants of Jona- than Fairbanks, who built it, have always owned it. The Tercen- tenary Commission of the Massachusetts Bay Colony erected in 1930 the following tablet on the Fairbanks estate.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.