USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > North Reading > History of North Reading > Part 9
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At first no one in North Reading or elsewhere was aware of the magnitude of the struggle. The first draft of men only took a few of our boys. Then as time went on a larger and ever larger number was drafted until finally a greater proportion of our citizens found their way into the armed forces than ever happened in any past war. The Draft Board in Billerica kept calling, in accordance with the enlarged National Rules, and at the present moment there have been inducted into the army the grand total of 287 men and women. All the able bodied between the ages of eighteen and thirty-eight have been called, regardless of the number of children in the family. That is all but a few who are exempted because they hold jobs regarded as essential to the war industries. So North Reading as never before is stripped of its young and able bodied men.
At the beginning of the war it was thought extremely likely that our area would be subject to enemy air raids. It was not regarded as likely that the enemy would attempt an invasion, but many fully expected that there might be a nuisance raid by carrier-borne planes. In any case it was deemed wise to be ready for any emergency. So our town along with the rest of the country was made ready by the appointment of the Public Safety Committee. The list of officers gives a fair idea of the nature and the scope of the work attempted: Chairman, Walter H. Shultz; executive secretary, Earle L. Coolidge; chief air-raid warden, Henry E. Stickney; auxiliary police chief, Horace H. Jones; fire chief, Harold J. Conron ; black- out officer, Wesley F. Haywood; communications, Florence Conron ; chief engineer, Minot W. Morse; rescue, Chandler S. Eaton, and gas contamina- tion, Frank W. Komenda.
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As this set-up would indicate there was some real excitement on occa- sions. Since North Reading is in the coastal area, the rule was that curtains must be drawn at night, the headlights of the automobiles were partly painted out, and when a black-out test was on, all lights were to be ex- tinguished unless the windows were so barred that no ray of light could get through. Sometimes there were surprise blackouts, which were usually whispered about beforehand by those in the know. Then all traffic was to be stopped unless there was a special permit from the air-raid warden, all lights were out, and the special officers rushed to their posts. When the test was over the fact was announced by a series of sharp blasts from the air-raid warning siren. It was all good fun, but one wonders what might have happened if there had been a real emergency. Doubtless many of the graduates of the first-aid courses would have made many serious and costly blunders. But as the war has progressed we have lost our fear of raids and have ceased our air-raid tests.
Occasionally there was serious work for the Public Safety Committee. In February, 1943, there came through a request for the assistance of the civilian defense personnel. Within an hour sixty men had assembled and were off to North Andover to assist in the search for an Army flier who had been forced to parachute to earth when two planes collided in mid-air. Other such services were rendered. Allied with the Public Safety work was the Women's Motor Corps. In September of 1943, North Reading was favored by the women of Region IV, who in "dungarees" bivouacked overnight on the grounds of the Leland T. Batchelder School. Under the leadership of Major Carolyn F. Stanley of Beverly, the corps went through some of their drills and maneuvers for the edification and amuse- ment of our townspeople. Observing all this one could not but be reminded of the fact that, socially, we have gone a long distance from the customs of our Pilgrim ancestors.
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CHAPTER VII MOSTLY OLD HOUSES AND PEOPLE
North Reading has its full quota of old houses -- perhaps a few more than are to be found in most New England towns. The oldest of all is the Rev. Daniel Putnam house standing across the street from the Common, and hard by the meeting house built in 1829. It was started in 1720, the year Mr. Putnam was ordained. According to the agreement drawn up by the minister and agreed to by the Parish, it was to be "twenty-eight feet long, nineteen wide, fifteen-foot stud with a lenter on the back side, ten foot stud, with three chimnis from ye ground, and one chamber chim- ney with a convenient saller and well in lieu of a hundred pounds. If I find nails and glass for the building." These were the conditions for the erection of the building and there is no doubt but what they were carried out. And in that case it would seem that the "lenter" has, during the course of the years, been removed, for the building no longer has that appearance of the old "salt box." The old chimney is still there with the fireplaces bricked up in order to meet the modern needs for heating. The inside finishing still bears evidence of the skill of the ancient carpenters. From the days of the first minister to the present time the house has been in the Putnam family.
Perhaps we were slightly in error when we said that the Putnam house is the oldest one in town. The Timothy Flint house which formerly stood on Mt. Vernon Street was slightly older. When Sergeant George Flint. first came, about the year 1677, he built for himself a house. It must have been rather small, but a substantially built house. In fact the old tradi- tions are in favor of the idea that it was built to repel the stray arrows or bullets of any marauding Indian that might be about. There were heavy planks running up and down, with the clapboards nailed to these. For a long time this building stood and then, at least in part, was moved down the hill to form the "ell" of the more modern house of the Misses Abbie and Grace Gowing.
The old house remained in the possession of the Flints until 1838 when it was sold for $1350. It was then that Jacob Gowing bought from John Flint, 2nd, the old homestead. It was here that Lieut. John Flint was born. In 1770 he removed to New Hampshire, but came back to take part in the affair at Lexington and in the war against the mother country which followed. It was here also that Joanna, John's sister was born, she who in 1767 married Captain Thomas Eaton, another one of those taking part in the Revolutionary struggle.
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Just under the hill Sergeant Flint had a neighbor by the name of Samuel Hayward. It was in 1723 when Samuel Hayward first moved into town, and then in 1733, according to the old list of rate payers, his taxes suddenly jumped, which would seem to indicate that he had built
THE GOWING HOUSE (The back part of which was part of the Sergeant George Flint House)
for himself a new house. He did not long remain to enjoy his new home, for being a leather worker, his interests were in Salem. In 1735, accord- ing to the Middlesex Registry of Deeds, he sold to John Bickford, for 525 pounds, land with the buildings thereon. This it may be presumed was the same house built two years before and the house now owned and occupied by Rev. Henry A. Westall. There may, however, have been another house for Samuel Hayward still continued to pay rates for four years and Mr. W. E. Eaton in his 250th Anniversary Publication for the Town of Reading, says that in 1739, for 783 pounds, Mr. Hayward sold property.
In any case there are parts of the old house still to be seen on Elm Street. It no longer has the central chimney and the external appearance is far from "salt box." The old place has had a varied and checkered exist- ence. It once was owned by a Mr. Swayne, an uncle of Asa Hart, the one-time mayor of Boston. It was here that he often visited when a boy. The Swaynes sold out and in 1861 it came into the possession of a Mr. Towle of Boston. It was he who had the old central chimney removed.
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Then the property was purchased by a Mr. Dockham and still other changes were made in its appearance. A wide portico with a porte-cochere was added, and other changes made so that, at the time, it was one of the show places in North Reading. The old elms still stand as sentinels to add grace and dignity to it. If houses could talk, what a story this place could tell.
THE DOCKHAM HOUSE
(Now owned by Rev. Westall, built by Samuel Hayward about 1733)
Not over half a mile from this old Hayward place, still on Elm Street, there is another old house with atmosphere and dignity. It is known as the Deacon Amos Upton house. For some years a Mr. Samuel Upton, one of the sons of the first John Upton, had been paying taxes as a non- resident. Then in 1734 he became a resident of the North Parish and con- tinued as such until 1741. It was then that he ceased to pay taxes and his interests were taken over by his son, Amos. The very next year the son's rates were raised considerably. All of which would indicate that Amos Upton had built a house of some proportions.
This house was a little different from the "salt-box" type. There was the central chimney with the front entrance facing south and the winding stairs leading to the second floor, but the roof was made "mansion house" style without the long slope to the back. This gave more attic space and
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left larger rooms on the second floor. The finishings show the same care and skill as those of the other old houses, perhaps a little more so, for this must have been, for the time when it was built, the most outstanding hous? in town. Perhaps that is why its owner became a deacon in the local church.
Amos Upton, however, was a man of character as well as the owner of a large house. He was withal something of a military man. He was first listed as a sergeant and then he advanced in the ranks until he became a captain. This was in those semi-military organizations called the "minute men" of the pre-Revolutionary period. When the Northward
DEACON AMOS UPTON HOUSE
Army was formed he went along and the treasurer, when listing the pay to the various members of the group, jotted down after the name of Amos Upton the word, "full term." It was during the ministry of Mr. Putnam that he became deacon and he continued in that office until his death in 1780, during the ministry of Eliab Stone. As for the house, it passed into the hands of a grandson, Benjamin Upton. Later it came into the posses- sion of Charles A. Upton and then into the hands of the MacKay family. It is now owned by Guy M. Crosby whose mother was born therein. It is one of the best preserved of the old houses with the stately elms planted by earlier occupants still there to shade the yard. Anyone passing can guess immediately that the builder was one of those sturdy New Eng- landers.
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While the deacon was becoming established, there was still another Amos Upton coming to his maturity. In fact the deacon also had a son who bore the family name. In order to keep the records straight this son was known as "Amos ye third" while the scion of the collateral line was called Amos, Junior. This Amos, Jr., bought land on Central Street, on the hill overlooking the Ipswich River, which land, by the way, has re- mained in the hands of the Uptons ever since.
It was in the 1740's that Joseph Frye came to the North Parish and bought land of the widow, Nourse, the last of that family of Nourses who had bought land on Saddler's Neck. Mr. Frye was said to have been a self-educated man, and progressed so well that he became a surveyor. He was commissioned by the selectmen, of whom he was a member, to make a plan of the town. For a time, he was the largest rate payer in the parish. In 1753 his rates went up and this, we judge, was the time when Mr. Frye built a new house.
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AMES UPTON, JR., HOUSE (Now owned by Harold F. Upton)
It was from the widow of Francis Nours, in 1750 that the land was bought. The Middlesex Registry states that 553 pounds, six shillings and eight pence were paid for the property. Then it goes on to state that in 1765 Mr. Frye sold, for 461 pounds, one hundred and fourteen acres of land with buildings to Amos Upton, Jr. The registry further adds this significant statement, "it being the house where I live."
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Many alterations have been made in this "house where I live" since its transfer in 1765, but on the inside it still bears evidence of its early origin. Mr. Alanson Upton made changes and changes have been made since in order to make it livable according to modern standards. But with half an eye one can still get a picture of what it must have been when Amos Upton, Jr., first moved in.
Out in front of the old barn a slaughter house was built, for Alanson Upton started the business of preparing meat for the trade. The building
THE OLD UPTON SLAUGHTER HOUSE (Built by Alonson Upton)
with most of the equipment is intact, and still stands as a monument to those days before the automobile and before the big packing companies came into existence. The Uptons, by the way, seem to have been inclined towards the meat business. Charles A. Upton, a descendant of Deacon Amos, also had a slaughter house on Elm Street, just opposite the old man- sion house.
Near the house built by Joseph Frye stands another which was for- merly known as the Aaron Upton house. Aaron was the oldest son of Amos, Jr. We are not quite certain as to the date of this building, but it is a colonial type with all the earmarks of the Revolutionary period. The stone step at the front has carved therein the date of 1760 and this may have been the date of its erection. Of this we are certain. On May 7, 1810 Aaron Upton and Amos Upton, Jr., bought nineteen acres of land
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from William Whittredge. The deed fails to state that there was a house included in the transaction, but that may well have been the case.
This house remained in the possession of the Uptons until compara- tively recent times when it was deeded to George L. Ditmars, who was re- lated by marriage to the descendants of Aaron Upton. Recently it has changed hands two or three times and is now in the possession of Michael Mentus. It, too, has the front entrance with the fireplaces on the three sides of the chimney. The finishing and the woodwork are in the colonial style.
After selling his home, Joseph Frye went west on Park Street and there in 1765 built another house of the same type as the one he disposed of. It was a "salt-box" and still bears the marks of the same. With the others
THE JOSEPH FRYE HOUSE (Now owned by Sherman Murphy)
it faced south and is on a rise in the ground where the drainage was good and there was a chance for a good well. But Mr. Frye was not permitted to long enjoy this new house, for the old rate book for the 29th of October, 1767, lists the name of Widow Mary Frye instead of Joseph Frye. Mr. Frye was buried in the little private cemetery just beyond the house which he had built. The widow with her daughter, Azuba, lived on in the old home, and then later a niece, Nancy Travis, came in to minister to the fail- ing Azuba. This niece married Samuel W. Holt and they two became the
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owners of the property. It was here that Miss Abbie Holt was brought up and still remembers many interesting things in connection with the old house. Now the property is owned by Mr. Sherman Murphy and is in a good state of preservation.
Now to return to the Uptons. Benjamin Upton, born May 7, 1745, first married Rebecca Putnam, daughter of the minister and then for his second wife, Elizabeth White Cowley, descendant of the first white child born in New England. He was the second son of the Deacon and was in the second draft of men who went to New York during the Revolution. Later he and his brother, Amos, joined the Continental Army and con- tinued in service for three years. Returning from the army he settled down in the home community. He was prominent in town affairs and as a Justice of the Peace. He is represented as a dignified, rather opinionated, yet sub- stantial citizen. Along with his other accomplishments he was also a car- penter by trade.
The Registry accounts for October 3, 1781, say that Benjamin Upton bought of Joseph Phelps 106 acres of land with the buildings thereon. Said land bordered on the east, the Middleton line. Since the buyer was a carpenter by trade, one can imagine that the old building was razed and another put in its place. In any case the house which still stands on the road to Middleton seems to be of about the date when Mr. Upton bought the property. For a time this house was owned by Sylvester Hayward, but more recently it has come into the possession of Raymond Turner. It is still in a good state of preservation and will doubtless last for another hundred years.
About half way between this house built by Benjamin Upton and the center of the town stands the house owned by Mr. J. A. Turner. This one also goes back to the Revolutionary period. On the 4th of March, 1799, Daniel Graves bought of Joseph Bancroft, for 127 pounds, land and buildings. The land bordered on land owned by Davis Parker and extended down to the Ipswich River. Jacob Bancroft must have built the house some years previous to its sale. There is an old story to the effect that a part of the house was moved from higher ground lying to the rear. Some years ago the old central chimney was removed and the house modernized in other ways, but there are still indications of its early origin. One can still imagine the open fire with the swinging cranc, the hot bread coming from the oven, and the spinning wheel in the corner turned by a thrifty housewife.
Mr. David Parker lived in a large house next door to the Graves and often crossed Graves' land on his way to his work on the next farm. Mr. Parker seems to have been a man who could hardly take time out to eat. Often he would emerge from his door with a large part of his dinner in
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hand. This led Mr. Graves, on one occasion, to facetiously remark that he would have to charge for the bones that were promiscuously tossed on his land.
The house on this other farm of Mr. Parker's was long known as the Rainer House. It was built by David Parker, Jr., and the date is 1801. Asa Sheldon in his life of "Asa Sheldon," speaks of his apprenticeship to David Parker, who was usually called Lieutenant Parker. One night, he says, he unloaded some boards from the sled and loaded it up with wood preparatory to going to Salem early the next morning. Then he added, "those very boards are in the roof of David Parker's new house." The interesting part about the house is that, although built after the beginning of the new century, it was built in the old style with the entrance facing south, with the winding stairway, two side rooms with fireplaces, and the kitchen back. The beams upstairs are well joined and pinned together.
This same Lieutenant David Parker had a half brother named Eliab. Just a few years before his birth in 1767 Mr. Stone had become the settled
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THE PARKER HOUSE (Once owned by Eliab Parker)
minister of the local church. By way of pleasing the preacher the boy was given the name of Eliab. It was the son and the grandson of the minister bearing that name of Eliab who bought the farm next door to the Parker place. Although too young to participate in the war of the Revolu-
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tion he was old enough to start out for himself a few years later. In 1793, for a consideration of one hundred and sixty-five pounds, Asa Heart deeded to Eliab Parker, land with the buildings thereon. The buildings were at the corner of the road leading from Boston to Haverhill, and on Chestnut Street. Isaac Heart, a servant to Richard Carver, had come over in 1637 and settled in Watertown. Later he came to Lynn and then to Reading. Later still he moved to North Precinct and his son, Adam Heart, appears on the first list of rates in that Parish. At the time of the Revolu- tion there was a Thomas Heart on the list and it was no doubt he who built the "salt box" which is now called the Parker House.
This same Eliab Parker had a son with the same surname. He seems to have been religiously inclined and early became interested in the Baptist movement that was then getting under way in the North Precinct. After the new group was forbidden the use of the school house, then on Chest- nut Street, Mr. Parker fitted up the upper room in his house on the corner of Central and Chestnut Streets and the Baptists carried on their services at that place. The building still stands and is now occupied by Mr. Robert E. Ham. As for Eliab Parker, Jr., he became one of the first Deacons in the Baptist Church.
There were also Eatons in North Reading. There is an old statement to the effect that one Thomas Eaton served for two months as a guard in the army of 1775, at Cambridge. He was in the Northward Army and progressed so well in military affairs that he won the title of Captain. After the war he settled down with his wife, Joanna Flint, and bought, for 226 pounds, 13 shillings, and 4 pence, the farm of John Burnap. There were forty-eight acres and the buildings. These were on Haverhill Street just opposite Marblehead Street. He may or may not have rebuilt the house, but it still stands with the central chimney resting on one of those cellar arches, under which the preserved fruits were kept.
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After the Civil War this house came into the possession of Jane Damon and there she brought up her family. Mrs. Jennie Straw, who died a few years ago, was one of them. More recently Mrs. Ida B. Welch and her late husband bought the property and now it is a two-apartment house, but still has the old woodwork and the old iron latches of the earlier and more prosperous times.
There were other Eatons besides Thomas. There was Ebenezer Eaton, who served in the Revolutionary Army at Dorchester and there was his son, Ezra D. Eaton. The Eaton Homestead was not far from the place purchased by Thomas Eaton, just below on North Street. The house, somewhat altered still stands and is owned by Arthur E. Wardwell, Jr. Just across the driveway leading up to the barnyard, is one of those little shoe shops, so prevalent in the pre-Civil War days. The Eatons were shoe workers and farmers. Along with the general farming they grew
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pickles for the pickle plant in Somerville. Hovey D. Eaton still re- members that back-breaking labor which he did as a boy, in the eighties and the nineties, of the last century.
There was also Nehemiah Eaton who first appeared on the tax list of 1760. According to the best available information, he purchased land and a house on Central Street just under the hill from the place occupied by Amos Upton, Jr. This was in 1767, when the house was first built and later it was remodeled a bit. He was followed by a son and his grandson, Wil- liam Eaton. The old central chimney has been removed and other changes made, but the old beams running through the center of the rooms are still there, and some of the old paneling. From David G. Eaton the property passed to his son, Arthur G., who, at the age of eighty-one still occupies the place.
Down on the Middleton road, just this side of the farm once owned by Bejamin Upton, is the farm formerly owned by Archelaus MacIntire. This same MacIntire with his surname shortened to Archlus was in the North- ward Army which went to Ticonderoga in 1775. He was a soldier along with Thomas Eaton, Deacon Amos Upton, Lieutenant John Dix, and Lieutenant Benjamin Flint. On April 24, 1799, Archelaus MacIntire, for $1200, sold to Joseph Jeffries sixty acres of land with the buildings. This land was on both sides of the road and the farm must have been above the average for the time, for Mr. Maclntire paid more than the average in taxes. The house is plainly old but non-descript in appearance. At one time it must have housed two families for there are two main chim- neys. Another evidence of this fact is this. At one time there was a mortgage on the western half of the house and the western end of the barn. The present barn is the remnant of the old second meeting house built in 1752. It is said that it was moved from the Common and put in place by one of the Uptons. Still it has the reinforced timbers which support the roof and some of the lath marks are still visible on the sills. For long years after the middle of the last century the three Jeffries boys were a familiar site in town. Recently the property has passed into the hands of Mr. Max Molin who is one of our more recent American citizens.
Up the road towards the center is the Case house. Before it was pur- chased in 1847 by Nehemiah Case it was owned by Nehemiah Berry. Mr. Berry, it seems, was financially embarrassed and borrowed $2400 from Elijah Case, the father of Nehemiah. In this way the property was secured by the son and has continued in the Case family ever since. As for the house, we are not quite certain of its origin. Although the external aspect and the structure does not indicate as much, it is old. It has the central chimney with the five fireplaces. There is, however, another distinction which goes with this farm. It is said that the old square silo, made of
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