USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > North Reading > History of North Reading > Part 8
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In 1825 there was organized in North Reading one of those private fire fighting companies so prevalent in that period of our history. It was a closed company and limited to a certain number, so that it was neces- sary to wait for the death or removal of a member before one could get in. Mr. Barnard, the keeper of the old tave'n on the main road, was the inspirer of the company. For some years it flourished and then during the Civil War interest waned. Later it was revived and when the town in 1894 organized a Fire Department, the old hand-tub, known as "The Water Witch" was handed over to the municipal authorities and it is still in their possession-one of the best examples of the older fire fighting equipment.
When the town started its volunteer fire company in 1894, there was purchased from the Salem Veteran Fire Association an improved style of hand pump. This one was more efficient than the Water Witch, for the water could be pumped from the well or reservoir as well as squirted on the burning building. With the coming of the modern chemical fire fight- ing equipment and the modern automotive equipment the town fathers were not to be outdone. They now have an efficient fire fighting outfit, and a house in which to keep it. Not only that but both the fire house and the automobile of the chief of the department are equipped with a two-way radio which keeps the chief, as well as the surrounding towns, in constant communication. The work of fighting fires is all done by volunteer fire-
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men. When the fire siren sounds these firemen drop whatever they may be doing at the time and rush for the engine house and are away to the fire. And they have become quite efficient. At any rate they save more than the cellar as, too often, was all that was saved in the days of the "water witch" and the bucket brigade.
The following statement from the town report of 1943 will give some- thing of a picture of the work of fighting fires in the modern day: The number of fires during the year, 98, of these 57 were grass fires, 16 build- ings, 8 chimneys, and 5 automobiles and trucks. The total assessed valu- ation of the buildings involved was $42,000 and the estimated loss $7,930. The assessor lists the total value of the town's fire fighting equipment at $12,000.
THE NORTH READING FIRE HOUSE
The foregoing economic picture of North Reading indicated that a great number of people find employment out of town. This is made pos- sible, since the passing of the street car, by the use of the automobile. Some work at the B. B. Chemical Co. plant in Middleton, some in the General Electric Plant at Lynn, some in the various factories of Everett, Cambridge and Boston, and some go as far as the Hingham Shipyards, making the daily trip of eighty miles without too much inconvenience. This would have been impossible in the days of the oxen and the stage coaches. The modern worker, however, has his worries. Just now there
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is a ration board that deals out gas coupons like a Scotchman does ten dollar bills. In normal times the situation is not too bad, certainly not as bad as the situation facing the Pioneer who traveled five miles to cut hay on the marsh.
Without too much of a strain the town has now passed from the era of the railroad and the street car to that of the automobile, the truck and bus. For three quarters of a century and more, the Salem-Lowell Division of the Boston & Maine continued its daily schedule of trains. People came and went; High School and Normal School students attended classes in Salem or Lowell; native sons and daughters who had wandered away from the old home town, came back for visits, and the freighter brought its weekly quota of freight. At Haverhill and Park Streets there were cross- ing tenders to warn the highway traffic of approaching trains. At the Meadow View crossing, Henry W. Nichols was for many years always a permanent fixture. He took great pride in his work and in beautifying the plots of ground near the crossing over which he presided. Each spring he planted flowers and for many years won the prize for having the best kept crossing in the state. Now all this is gone and there are no more morning and evening trains, no convenient shopping in Lowell, no whistle of the night-time freight. The automobile and the truck are responsible.
The street car came and suffered the same fate. It was in 1902 that a spur line from the Boston-Lawrence tracks was extended to the center of the town. For a quarter of a century it continued to haul a dwindling number of passengers. It was a great convenience to the inhabitants of the town, but street car companies are not out for the convenience of any town. Their books must show some profit on the investment of the stockholders or they close, just as the North Reading line did. For a time the con- venience of a five-cent fare to Reading was missed. The women whose husbands used the family car found it most depressing. To meet this need a bus line has for a few years now been making regular runs to Reading and back. Thus has North Reading met the exigencies which time doth bring, and with a hopeful spirit looks forward.
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CHAPTER VI WAR AND MILITARY SERVICE
The military history of North Reading is by no means unimposing. Glancing at those early lists of rate payers, one would say that those Pil- grim fathers of ours were war minded as well as religious. There were more captains, lieutenants, sergeants and ensigns, by far than there were deacons in the church. And apparently they were proud of their titles for they always insisted that they be used with their names. Even the deacons and clergy were not adverse to fighting. Perhaps it was the pioneer spirit that was in their blood. In any case Deacon Amos Upton went with the army to Canada in 1776 and the minister, Eliab Stone arrayed in wig, well curled, answered the alarm and marched for Salem and for Lexington.
These military titles were won in the fighting against the Indians, in the war with the French and Indians in Canada, and service in the king's army and navy. Ensign Francis Nurs, who lived on the hill overlooking the Ipswich, and was buried in the Park Street Cemetery, was one who served in the Royal Navy. There are no records to tell us when or where, but it was no doubt a distinguished service. Then there was Ensign Wil- liam Sawyer or Saywer as it appears in the books. Although we do not know where he served in the navy, we know that he went along with Deacon Upton in the Northward Army in 1776. Captains John Flint, Hesekiah Upton, and Thomas Eaton doubtless served in the French and Indian wars to win their titles.
It was not until the Revolution came on that the full war-like spirit of the Parish was revealed. The alarms were answered promptly and men marched off to Lexington and Concord. From then on those eligible for service "served in their turn," as the Parish clerk was wont to put it. There were twenty-five who served for eight months at Cambridge in 1775 and seven for two months at the same place in 1776. There were ten who served for the whole of the year 1776, without the place being designated. Thirty- one were listed in the Northward Army. Some of these may have gone to Canada with the expedition in which Benedict Arnold distinguished himself, although the minutes of the Parish meeting for 1777 state that it was voted to allow those men who went in their turn in the 1776 North- ward Army the five months to Ticonderoga the sum of fourteen pounds, thirteen shillings, and four pence. Perhaps that is correct and some of Ethan Allen's Green Mountain boys may have been from North Reading. At Dorchester there were six men, and there were two contingents of four- teen men each that went to New York in 1776, to help in the campaign which was fought in and around that city.
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These services were all emergency calls; besides these there were others who enlisted in the regular, Continental Army for a term of three years. At a meting held May 29, 1777, it was voted to accept the report of a committee, that had hired thirteen men for a term of three years to serve in the Continental Army. The pay for the full time was seventy-three pounds, and the names on this list are as follows:
Thomas Anderson
Timothy Eaton, Jr.
Benjamin Flint, 4th
Joseph Lewis
Zackriah Gray
Ephriam Pratt
Reuben Gould
Timothy Russell
Jacob Burnap
Elijah Upton
Nathaniel Eaton, Jr.
Benjamin Upton
Amos Upton, 3rd
At a later meeting it was voted to hire two others for the duration.
All told there are more than one hundred names of those who were paid for services rendered from time to time in the war effort. These may not all have been from the bounds of the Parish although the names all sound familiar. Perhaps some of those who had recently left the North Parish were brought back and enlisted for service. That the committee sometimes went out of town in their efforts to hire men we know, for in the report of their work, it was stated that they were to be paid for their trip to Derry and other towns. Then too, it does not seem as though the Parish raised all the money expended. There are statements that money was received from the state and perhaps from other sources.
There is one thing which our American historians have never made quite clear, in connection with the revolt from the British rule, and that is concerning the conditions under which the soldiers served in the army. Our public school histories have led us to believe that our forefathers spontaneously took their guns from behind the door and marched off to the war. There was never a hint that there was a matter of pay involved. But from the records it would seem, that while the inhabitants of the Parish were willing enough to fight, yet they were Yankee enough to ask for pay. So there is this item in the old books. "Voted that Lt. Thomas Hartshon, James Foster, and Capt. Hesekiah Upton be a committee to hire men to enlist into the service of the Continental Army, as it stands in the third article of the warrant." And it seems as though there was no established price, for elsewhere it was stated they were to be hired for whatever sum the committee saw fit to pay. For eight months' service at Cambridge it was four pounds, for the full five months' service in the Northern Army it was fourteen pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, and for the full three years' service, as noted above, the pay was seventy- three pounds.
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The old books are full of such records as this: "An order on Mr. Stephen Buxton, treasurer for ye Parish, to George Flint, being dated April 28, 1779, the sum of three pounds, it being for three months' service done at Bunker Hill, in the yr 1778." "To Isaac Upton, twenty pounds, for five months' service done at Cambridge guarding prisoners in the year 1778." The high point in this matter of pay for soldiering was reached in the year 1784 when this article appeared in the warrant for the Parish meeting: "To see if the Parish will allow anything to Thomas Taylor, for Luke Richard serving in the army for the year 1776." Luke, it would appear, was the slave of Mr. Taylor. To the honor of the town, be it stated, the secretary recorded, "this article was voted out." Then later in 1788 Capt. Jona Nutting asked for a bounty for his servant going into the public service in 1776. The captain evidently had some influence in Parish affairs, for it was not until seven years had passed, that the voters had courage to "negative" this request.
We are not to conclude from this that the fathers put a money value on their patriotism. They were interested in the question of taxation without representation and in the well-being of the Commonwealth, but they were farmers who could ill afford to neglect their plowing and plant- ing. At times they may have allowed their shrewd business sense to get the better of them, but they were as good fighters as came from any of the other states.
The precedent here established seems to have continued to live on after the country was free and running its own affairs. When, in 1807, there was trouble with France, and there was an incipient war in the offing, the town voted to pay five dollars bounty for each enlistment. It was also voted to raise enough money to assure the enlistees sixteen dollars per month. That meant the town would supplement any lesser amount the state might pay. Then when the War of 1812 came on, and it was neces- sary to raise an army, it was decided that not only those in the regular army, but those in detached service were to receive pay. At first the vote was for one dollar and twenty-five cents per day, and then in July, 1812, it was decided to raise enough money to bring the pay of those in detached service up to fourteen dollars per month.
After the War of 1812, there was nothing to stir the martial spirit until the coming of the Civil War. Consequently the interest in the purely military ran at a low ebb. There were none of those would-be military aggregations that drilled every so often and paraded on the Fourth of July. But when the war came there was no lack of enthusiasm. The town responded and the men enlisted by the score. The proportion of men in the service was as high, if not higher, than that reached in any war before or since. Out of a population of some nine hundred, there were 137 men enlisted in the service of the country. Of this number seven were killed in
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battle, and nineteen died of wounds or disease. Francis S. Flint lost his life at Gettysburg, Warren G. Rayner at Vicksburg, Elbridge Burrill at Spottsylvania Court House, and Horace McIntire died at Andersonville Prison. Thus the record reads, and of the one hundred and eleven men returning not one now remains. Fifty years ago there were seventeen then living in town.
Here again the element of pay was not neglected. Each man was to receive a bonus of $150 for his enlistment and this did not include regular pay. In the town report for 1863 there was appropriated for these bounties and the relief of the families involved the sum of $7,939.19. There were also later appropriations so that by the time the war was over the town found itself in debt to the extent of $20,000. Fortunately there was a good samaritan in the person of Mrs. Harriet N. Flint, who paid off a large share of this debt. So the taxpayers were not overburdened. Cer- tainly not so much as at the present time.
After the war was over the town settled down once more to its normal life. Although there was ample material, there was no organization of veterans in the community. John A. Logan's Grand Army of the Republic, found no great response in North Reading. Post 12 of the G. A. R. was formed in Wakefield in 1867 and there was a Veterans' Association in Reading in 1870. These organizations were patronized by the local veter- ans as long as they were able to attend. Gradually their ranks were thinned and the number lessened. Asa F. Flint and James Fairbanks were the last two of the local veterans who entered the service from North Read- ing. Mr. Fairbanks, at the age of ninety-four, died in December, 1927. John Richardson, who entered the service from Melrose, and later became a citizen of this town died in 1931, at the age of ninety-one, and John Bachellor, who enlisted from Lynn, Massachusetts, died in 1939, at the age of ninety-six. Thus passed from North Reading the old veterans of the War of the Rebellion and, according to the latest reports, there are but three left in the whole state.
The Spanish-American War did not make any great impression on this town. There was no drafting of men and the patriotic spirit was hardly strong enough, or continued long enough to attract volunteers. There are, however, two or three of our residents who took part in that affair. It re- mained for the First World War, which we entered in 1917, to arouse anew the patriotic fervor of the town of North Reading. In 1914 the war clouds broke over Europe. Previously there had been some premonitory rumb- lings, but no one expected the storm would extend across the Atlantic. Then came the second term of President Woodrow Wilson, and the rallying cry: "Make the world safe for democracy." The United States had ranged itself along side of her fifty-two allies and the call for volunteers was sent out. North Reading responded as well as any of the other towns and vil-
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lages, but it was soon discovered that volunteers were not coming in suf- ficient numbers. So the draft law and the Draft Board. There were no special inducements or bonuses. The town did not supplement pay received from other sources. It was a straight $30 per month, with a National Gov- ernment Bonus coming after it was all over.
From this war there were taken, before the Armistice was signed in November of 1918, sixty-five men and women. All over the town there were service flags in the windows, but fortunately there were but two men lost. Frederick A. Morse and Joseph F. Bradshaw died shortly after re- turning home. Since then five others have died. The roster as it is given on the bronze Memorial Tablet on the Common is as follows :
*Frederick A. Morse
Horace H. Jones
*Harvey M. Abbott
*Joseph F. Bradshaw
Herman A. Abbott
*Edwin T. Kendall
Samuel B. Abbott
Harold C. Averill
*Harold W. Kendall Alexander MacDonald
Lester E. Batchelder
Clifton E. Mack
Stewart P. Batchelder
Stanley W. Mack
Merton S. Boice
Clarence N. MacKay
Thomas Bradshaw
Karl A. Mackenzie
Herman E. Brown
Roderick C. MacNeil
H. Robert Call
Minot W. Morse Sherman H. Murphy Lilley W. Orben
Herbert F. Cheever
Thomas Cheeney
*Nathaniel Pitman William F. Pitman
Thomas 1. Cox
Fred A. Pluff
Wendell F. Crosby
Harold E. Price
Willis F. Croswell
Frederick Purser
Harold R. Curtis
Marion A. Russell
Francis W. Eaton
William H. Ryer
J. Gilbert Eisenhaure John Elvey
Orvis H. Saxby
Cyrus A. Estes
Lester R. Spicer Albert Stentiford Charles P. Stentiford
Edward F. Evans
Theodore F. Tarbox
W. Sigfried Forsberg
Harold F. Upton
*Rufus B. Gage, Jr. William I. Gayton William W. Gray
Percy R. Weaver
W. Ernest Gullam
Lester A. Welch
Gordon W. Hoffman
Harold W. Weymouth
Roy H. Hoffman
Howard C. Weymouth Arthur L. Whittaker
Cecil C. Jones
Herbert H. Upton
Clara L. Campbell, Red Cross Nurse
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Fred Carr
Arthur L. Conron
This is an imposing list of names, and the most interesting part of it is the absence of the old names found on the Parish lists. Should one of the founding fathers fall upon this list he would notice at once the name of Upton and Eaton, and if he happened to be of a little later period he would take note of the names of Batchelder and Abbott. Then he would doubtless scratch his head and muse, "I wonder where were the Flints, the Damons, the Sheldons and the Buxtons?"
It is not necessary, however, to bear any particular name in order to do one's bit for his country when she stands in need. These men of World War I were just as brave as those who preceded them. None of them re- turned with his breast bedecked with medals of honor, but some of them were in the thick of the battle and learned what it is like to fight with modern weapons. They also learned something of the force packed in a small quantity of high explosives. Then when the war was over they came marching home, and the home-folks were glad to do them honor. There was no parade down Fifth Avenue with bands blaring and confetti falling from the windows of the twenty-fifth story. It was a simple tribute given by townsmen and old friends, with a banquet and a general good time.
Scarcely had all the boys arrived home when there was started a movement for the organization of the veterans. Elsewhere there had been started various posts of the American Legion. So at an informal meeting of service men held on August 18, 1919, in Harvard Hall, it was decided to organize a Post of the American Legion. An application for a charter was made and duly signed by the following men: J. Gilbert Eisenhaure, Arthur L. Conron, Orvis H. Saxby, Horace H. Jones, W. Ernest Gullam, Sherman H. Murphy, Lester E. Batchelder, Harvey M. Abbott, Clifton E. Mack, Minot W. Morse, William W. Gray, Theodore F. Tarbox, Her- bert F. Cheever, Harold C. Averill, Harold F. Upton, Henry E. Christo- pher, Alexander MacDonald, Stewart P. Batchelder, Clarence N. MacKay, Samuel B. Abbott, Herbert H. Upton, Lester E. Spicer, Willis F. Croswell, H. Robert Call and Lester A. Welch.
This charter was granted August 25, 1919 and at the very first meeting it was voted to name the organization the "George F. Root Post 181. The object of the organization as stated in the preamble to the constitution is, "to foster and perpetuate the memories and the incidents of our associa- tion in the War, and to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community." The only qualification for membership laid down by the by-laws is an honorable discharge from the armed forces of the United States which participated in the World War. The officers elected were as follows: Commander, Stuart P. Batchelder; vice commander, Horace H. Jones; adju- tant, Clifton E. Mack: finance officer, Harold F. Upton; historian, Orvis H. Saxby; chaplain, Howard W. Weymouth; war risk insurance and em-
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THE GEORGE F. ROOT POST NO. 181, AMERICAN LEGION, MAY 30, 1921
ployment officer, Lester E. Batchelder; executive committee, Cyrus W. Estes, Willis K. Turner and Joseph F. Bradshaw.
The new organization started with a membership of sixty-eight and for fourteen years met in Harvard Hall, the room over the engine house. Then in 1932 the town generously voted to give the Legion free quarters in the Old Town Hall. The Post headquarters were accordingly moved to the lower floor of the old Third Parish Church building, where it still meets. Regular meetings are scheduled for the second Thursday of each month. Fairs, dances, and entertainment of various kinds are held from time to time, the object being to raise money to assist needy veterans and their families. Without any fanfare or trumpets the Legion tries to be of assistance wherever there is found a need for help.
The Post from the very start has been active in the program for the observance of Memorial Day. At first, assistance was rendered to the com- mittee of the town having such observances in charge. In later years, how- ever, it has had full charge, arranging for the parade with a band and the decoration of the graves of the veterans of all the wars. During the era of the W. P. A. a special effort was made to locate the graves of the veterans of the American Revolution. A number of those lost to memory were found and added to the list for Memorial Day.
This by no means exhausts the list of the activities of the George F. Root Post 181. In 1929 the Post solicited and sold to the residents of the town a large number of flag outfits to be placed on lawns or sidewalks on holidays or other special occasions. In 1930 the George F. Root Post Band was organized with thirty-five members. In conjunction with the National Legion, the local Post sponsored a drive for funds for the dis- abled veterans and the orphaned children of those who gave their lives for their country. Armistice Day, November the eleventh, is always kept in mind and set aside for proper observances.
Along with the Post there is the Ladies' Auxiliary which was organ- ized November 16, 1920. The first officers were: President, Hazel M. Schrow; secretary, Mollie F. Ryer; treasurer, Carrie Upton. Later there was also formed a Squadron of the Sons of the American Legion and Junior Auxiliary Unit.
When the great war was over it was not the mind of anyone to con- tinue a belicose spirit. In fact we had been led to believe that this was a war to end all wars. Consequently people generally had the mind to forget the whole bloody business. Sometimes one wonders whether the - country did not lean over backwards in order to accomplish that end. Led by our own Massachusetts senator, Henry Cabot Lodge, the national gov- ernment would have no part in a League of Nations. We wanted to be free from all European entanglements and all those trade arrangements that might eventually involve us in outside affairs. It is true that we took
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the lead in the Washington Arms Conference of 1921, and participated in economic conferences from time to time, but our heart was in looking after our own particular interests. Little did we suspect that such a policy would give France and Great Britain full opportunity of making of the League of Nations a football of international politics, and Germany a chance to begin a re-armament program. So before we were aware, the cards had been stacked against us and we were doomed to participate in another great International War.
At first we kept our distance and allowed Great Britain to try out her policy of appeasement.' But this only gave Germany a chance to make adequate preparation and then overrun all the small nations. Even then we were not willing to admit that this was our war. We sympathized with the British and the devastated states and finally we went so far as to pass a National Draft Act. There was the growing suspicion that our turn was coming and that we might better make some preparation. So those unmarried men between the ages of twenty and twenty-eight were sent to camp to begin the rudiments of military training. Then came Pearl Harbor and the country was again launched on a great military venture.
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