USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Stoneham > History of Stoneham, Massachusetts > Part 9
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CHARLES A. WHITTIER.
LEONARD S. WHITTIER.
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HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
great leaders live on the pages of history, but patriotism and heroism no less worthy of remembrance filled the ranks of the army. Dr. Heath, who was surgeon of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, and who died at Chattanooga, deserves a lasting memory. Born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, he had been located in Stoneham several years, was the first treasurer of the Stone- ham Five Cent Savings Bank, had been actively interested as a member of the School Committee in the public schools, and was a most useful and pub- lic-spirited citizen. Those who knew him and recall his kindly smile and genial courtesy must always regret that so promising a life should have been cut off in early manhood.
Returning to 1860 and 1861 two important events occurred which materi- ally affected the development of the town. Prior to the construction of the Boston and Lowell and Boston and Maine Railroads, the public means of communication with Boston had been by stage-coach over the Medford and Andover Turnpike. After the completion of the Boston and Maine Road, which passed through what was then the extreme eastern section of the town, Mr. Padilla Beard connected by coaches with the road at the station, now known as Melrose Highlands, which was the usual way of going to the city, till the Stoneham Street Railroad was built in 1860, it being opened in the fall of that year. The Stoneham Branch Railroad, connecting with the Bos- ton and Lowell at East Woburn (now Montvale), was opened in 1861, as far as Farm Hill and completed to Franklin Street, the present terminus of the road two years later.
During the war the vast consumption of the government had stimulated great activity in manufacturing, and the impetus carried along a seemingly prosperous business in almost all industries till 1871 and '72, when the evil effects of a depreciated currency were experienced and a reaction set in. These were very successful years in the material development of Stoneham. For a time the ratio of increase in population was greater than that of any other city or town in the county except Cambridge and Somerville. The men returned home from the war, the factories were filled, business increased, and it was an era of unabated prosperity. The principal industries was the manufacture of shoes and the tanning of hides and currying of leather. The old-time manufacturers, the fathers of the shoe business, such as George W. Dike & Co., Allen Rowe & Co., Warren Sweetser, Alpha Richardson, Darius Stevens and Ira Gerry, had most of them either retired from business, or ceased to occupy the foremost rank. The old methods were passing away, and with them the old concerns. From 1865 to 1870 about the only leading establishments with an existence of twenty years behind them were John Hill & Co. and William Tidd & Co. It is not designed to give any detailed ac- count of the shoe business or of the manufacturers engaged in it; especially there will be no allusion to living men. As a general rule, the faults and virtues of the dead can only be cast up and a correct balance struck, but no
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HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
complete history of the town during the last fifty years could be written with- out some reference to the men who were active in it, for it was their lives which largely traced the course of local events. In all frankness let it be said we were not a people generally of considerable education, or of high intellect- ual and social culture, nor were there many citizens of large means. There was an absence of what are frequently termed "old families," which gave character to many of the most respectable New England towns. On the other hand there was general thrift and prosperity, and that ceaseless, active energy which in the history of communities so often precedes gentle manners and re- finements of life.
We were a typical New England manufacturing town, just emerging from the country life of our grandfathers, commencing in a small way, and laying the foundations for a larger future. One of the patriarchs of the shoe busi- ness was Alpha Richardson, commonly known as the Commodore, who orig- inally located at the north end of the town, in the Wiley house, at the inter- section of Maine, Central and William streets. Here he kept a grocery and variety store in the first story, and had a hall in the second story, which was the scene of old-time dances and social festivities .. Had there been a chron- icler in those days to have preserved the reminiscences and stories, told by the neighbors collected about the stove in Mr. Richardson's store, he would have left a most interesting picture of the times. We can readily imagine the old residents coming in on a winter's evening, drawing about the fire and indulg- ing in a vein of jovial wit stimulated by occasional potations of East India rum. It is almost impossible to realize that this was about the business cen tre of the town at one time. Opposite the store lived Dr. Stevens. On the corner where W. B. Stevens now resides was the blacksmith-shop. Near by lived Aaron and Squire Peter Hay. At the corner of Central and Elm streets was the Burnham Tavern, and not far away the Parsonage.
Speaking of the Burnham, formerly the Hay Tavern, it was a hostelry, patronized very largely by drovers and teamsters before the days of railroads, for there was a large amount of travel from New Hampshire and the North over the turnpike to Boston, which found this a convenient stopping-place. The yard in front of the great barns is said at times to have been white with the canvas tops of wagons. Severer notions prevailed in the church then than now, in reference to dancing and other social amusements. which at the pres- ent time, are regarded as quite innocent. Mr. Richardson was a member of the church, and was taken to task for the use to which his hall was appropri- .
ated, as appears by the following transcript from the church record :
"Brethren : Having had it reported with apparent truth that Brother Alpha Richardson has encouraged vain amusements, and feeling such conduct to be a cause of grief to myself as well as to others, I visited him the 15th day of February to be assured of facts, and to speak to him in a Christian manner as disclosures might justify me. Not having obtained satisfaction by seeing him alone, I took with me Brother Peter Green and visited him again on the 24th day of June, and by conversation obtained as little satisfaction as at any previous interview.
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Having thus taken substantially the step laid down in the Gospel, to deal with an offending brother without gaining him, I now, as a brother offended, tell it to the church for them to ex- amine and judge about as God may direct them. First, it is ascertained that Bro. Richardson has encouraged vain amusements by providing a room for a dancing party. Secondly, he justi- fies himself in doing it and for reasons which are entirely different from those which ought to influence Christians. (signed)
"Stoneham, July ye 8th, 1830."
"JABEZ LYNDE."
"On the foregoing communication the church voted to send a citation to Bro. Alpha Richardson for him to appear before the church at their adjourned meeting and exonerate himself from the charges brought against him." A report is made that "Bro. Alpha Richardson says he has not anything to do with the church nor the church with him respecting his conducting his busi- ness." On July 20th "Bro. Alpha Richardson came before the church and appeared to justify himself in opening his house for balls and dancing par- ties." "Manifesting no repentance, his connection with the church was severed, though he continued ever afterwards to remain a member of the par- ish and support the society. Mr. Richardson afterwards removed his busi- ness to the building on Main Street, now occupied by Patrick Cogan & Son, where he kept a store and manufactured shoes, residing just north of the fac- tory till his death, which occurred in 1868. He was a man of kind feelings and genial disposition, and for many years was an active and enterprising citizen. At the other end of Main Street, at the corner of Marble, was Allen Rowe, who for many years manufactured shoes in a part of his house, and subsequently, with his son Allen, Jr., built quite a large factory and store on the spot where Hon. Onslow Gilmore now resides. During middle life he was a thrifty and prosperous manufacturer and merchant, though he took no very active part in public affairs. Fifty or sixty years ago one of the leading citizens and principal business men was Darius Stevens, who was repeatedly entrusted with almost every office within the gift of the town, serving con- tinually on important committees and exercising a very great influence in the management of public affairs. Like many of his contemporaries, he both manufactured shoes and kept a store. After his death a short obituary of him appeared in one of the local papers, and it was so just and discriminat- ing in representing his character that perhaps no better account can be given of him.
"Another old resident of the town, Mr. Darius Stevens, passed away at the ripe old age of eighty-six, yesterday morning, after a life of great useful- ness. The second son of Rev. John H. Stevens, he was reared in the stern virtues of early New England industry, economy and strict honesty. Later in life, when a prominent manufacturer, which he continued to be for a gen- eration, these virtues stood him in good stead, winning the respect and con- fidence of all with whom he came in contact. His fellow-townsmen honored him with the important offices of selectman, collector and representative to the State Legislature, which duties he discharged with uniform care and fidelity.
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HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Mr. Stevens took a deep pride in the welfare of his native place, and was ac- tive in promoting any needed improvement or reform. . He lived to see the town grow from a small village of five hundred inhabitants to its present size, a growth which he largely aided, by erecting a number of stores, dwelling- houses, etc. Even to the last was his strong mental power and keen reason- ing manifest. A close reader of the leading daily and weekly journals, all the doings of the nation and the State were thoroughly familiar to him, and his upright views concerning men and their duties refreshing in these days of corruption and deceit. Not only was he successful in his public character, but unusually happy in his domestic relations; strongly interested in the Orthodox church where his family worshipped, his liberality and earnest efforts proved greatly instrumental in completing the present edifice. Kind and genial, firm in his convictions, yet with a broad charity for the faults of every one, Mr. Stevens gained the esteem of all. For over three-score years he and his aged wife have enjoyed a life of quiet content. seeing their children and grandchildren grow up around them. Thus full of years and good report, he has closed a well-spent life and entered into his rest, leaving a wide circle of descendants to revere his memory." (1878. )
Looking back thirty-five or forty years, one of the most familiar figures on our streets was Warren Sweetser. He, with four of his brothers, had come from South Reading when young men and settled in Stoneham, 'where they all passed their lives, and became respected citizens. Mr. Sweetser's factory occupied the present site of Chase's Block. Those who remember him in his prime, and in town-meeting when answering an opponent, or debating a question, will recall the cool, keen, sarcastic style which so often characacter- ized him and made him a dangerous antagonist. He was born in the year 1799 and lived till the age of ninety, retaining complete possession of his faculties to extreme old age. Originally he took a radical stand in opposition to the anti-slavery agitation, but became an early Republican and an ardent sup- porter of Fremont in 1856. A man of well-poised mind and good judgment, though of strong prejudices, possessing the old-fashioned New England in- tegrity, during the years of his prosperity he earned for himself the respect of his townsmen, which followed him to the close of life.
For many years no two families exercised so wide a local influence as the Hills and the Dikes. Each family consisting of several brothers who ordinarily stood by each other, was a power in itself; and then each family, in certain ways, seemed to be at times at the head of rival factions. The Hills were generally Whigs and the Dikes generally Democrats. When a Democratic administration was in power, George W. Dike was its local representative and postmaster, and when a Whig administration came in, the same position was occupied by John Hill. They largely represented the vigor and strength of the town, and were living illustrations of one of the advantages of large families. Hon. Gco. W. Dike, son of Jesse Dike, was descended from
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HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Samuel Holden, an early settler, and was born April 14, 1807. With slight opportunities in his boyhood, he commenced life in a small way, beginning to manufacture shoes at the age of nineteen, walking to Boston, carrying his goods on his back, and returning with stock in the same way. Gradually increasing his business, after some years he bought out the store of Ira Gerry and formed a co-partnership with John Howard, which continued to the death of Mr. Howard, after which he carried on the business of manufacturing shoes and keeping a country store till 1848, when he formed a co-partnership with his brother, Lyman Dike, under the firm name of Lyman Dike & Com- pany, the two brothers remaining together till 1855, when they dissolved. During these years they did a very large business manufacturing goods mostly for the Southern and Western trade. They built and occupied the shop that was afterwards owned by H. H. Mawhinney & Company, on Central Square, at the time it was built, the finest and most complete factory in town. After the dissolution of Lyman Dike & Company he associated with himself two of his sons and two of his sons-in-law, and till 1861 carried on business under the style George W. Dike & Sons. Mr. Dike from the time he became a voter took a great interest in public affairs, local, state and national. He was elected by his fellow-citizens selectman, assessor, overseer of the poor, highway surveyor, town treasurer, trustee of Public Library, of Lindenwood Cemetery, auditor, etc. He was greatly interested in the public schools, having served on the school committee twenty-eight years, and was largely instrumental in changing school from mixed to graded ones. He was a member of Governor Boutwell's council in 1851, and at one time the democratic candidate for congress. He was the leading democrat, and always remained true to his political faith, although he furnished two sons in the late war, one of whom was Captain John H. Dike. After a long life, having enjoyed the prosperity of success and suffered the disappointment of reverses he died July 4, 1883, at the age of seventy-six.
A generation has now passed away since the death of John Hill, but his name is still respected as one of the best citizens who ever lived in Stone- ham. He is usually spoken of as old John Hill, to distinguish him from his son, John Hill, Jr. Mr. Hill was born in Reading in 1794, the son of James Hill and Mary Holden. Although not born in Stoneham, his ancestors on both sides were old Stoneham stock, his paternal ancestors having lived in the north part of the town. He was descended on his father's side from that James Hill who lived 150 years ago on one of the Charlestown farms. John came here with his father when a small child, and lived during his youth at the old homestead on Marble Street which his father built, where the Hill family were reared. The house is the one owned and occupied by the late Lot Sweetser. On arriving at manhood Mr. Hill settled in the south part of the town and built the house opposite the end of Wilson's Lane, the one owned by the late Jesse Green. Here he commenced business in an humble
JOHN HILL.
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HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
way. It is said of him when he went to Boston to sell his shoes and buy his stock that he used to hire John Bucknam's horse, leave it at Charlestown, and, to save expense, shoulder his goods and take them on his back over the ferry to the city. Some years later he moved to what is now Central Square and bought of Reuben Geary the building that afterwards was enlarged into the Central House. At that time Mr. Geary kept a store there. The frame of the structure had originally been gotten out by Captain David Geary, the father of Reuben, who intended to use it for a tavern, and this was the use to which Mr. Hill subsequently put it, opening there a public-house on Decem- ber 31, 1829. He kept it for a few years and then sold out to Benjamin Goldsmith, erecting a short time afterwards the house where he subsequently lived and died. At first a part of his house was used for business purposes where the stock was cut up, but in 1840 the building was erected on the cor- ner of Main and Franklin Streets which, with the additions afterwards made to it, became the extensive factory of John Hill & Co. In 1832 he formed a co-partnership with his brother Luther, and in 1844 they took into the firm John Hill, Jr. Mr. Hill had also quite large interests for several years in pork-packing at Meredocia, Illinois. Some years prior to his death he re- tired from active business and passed the remainder of his life in the care of his property and the enjoyment of his family and friends. Although he him- self retired from business, the old firm name survived under the management of his son and brother, and for many years during and subsequent to the war the new factory of John Hill & Co. was the principal establishment of the town. While Mr. Hill did not seek or fill public office so often as many 'others, still he was one of the leading men of his time, and perhaps the most prominent leader in the Whig party. Universally loved and respected, he died in 1858 in his sixty-fourth year. Those who remember him recall a dignified, courteous, old-school gentleman, just such as leaves on boys an impression of good manners and a kind heart. Of the manufacturers before the war but few survive.
Perhaps George Cowdrey should be an exception to the rule laid down,. that no account shall be given of living men, merely for the purpose of pre- serving a single fact. Mr. Cowdrey has represented Stoneham in the Gen- eral Court eight times and was a member of the House of Representatives when Charles Sumner was first elected to the United States Senate. It will be remembered Mr. Sumner was supported by a combination of the demo- crats and free-soilers. Upon Mr. Cowdrey, who was a democrat, fell the task of leading the fusionists, which he did with marked ability and secured the victory, so to him and his town is due the credit of having elected the great champion of human freedom.
The oldest concern now in existence in Stoneham, which for fifty years has been intimately associated with the industries of the town, is the tannery and currying shop of Willian Tidd & Co. This establishment, with its well-
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HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
arranged and extensive plant, employs from 125 to 150 men, and has a ca- pacity of tanning 800 and of currying 4000 sides of leather per week.
The manufacturing interests of Stoneham at the present time are chiefly represented by twenty-one concerns engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoss, three in the manufacture of shoe stock, two in leather, one in lasts, two in boxes and one in the manufacture of drugs and medicines, and these establishments turn out goods to the amount of from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 per annum, employing from 1200 to 1500 hands, with an invested capital of between $1,000,000, and $2,000,000.
The Stoneham Five Cent Savings Bank, with a deposit of between $500,- 000 and $600,000, is the oldest financial institution. It was established in 1855, with Dr. Wm. H. Heath its first treasurer. Dr. Heath was followed by Ira Gerry, the treasurer from 1862 to 1873. Mr. Gerry was a very able and conservative financier, and laid the foundation of a strong institution which has always enjoyed the absolute confidence of the entire community. In 1873 Mr. Gerry was succeeded by Hon. Onslow Gilmore, who from that time has been so completely identified with the bank that one seems almost the complement of the other. The Stoneham Co-Operative Bank, established in 1887, has also met with very substantial success. The Stoneham National Bank, with a capital of $50,000, and under the presidency of Charles W. Tidd, was opened in March, 1890, and thus far has met with success. The present population of Stoneham is 6155.
It is one of the healthiest towns of the State, with a perfect natural drain- age and high elevation, is lighted by electricity and gas, supplied with water from Crystal Lake; directly connected with Boston by way of the Stoneham Branch and Boston & Lowell Railroad, now leased by the Boston & Maine Railroad, and connects with the last road at Melrose Highlands by means of the East Middlesex Street Railway. The natural advantages in building locations is surpassed by no town in the neighborhood and by few in the county. An effort is being made to shorten the distance to Boston by ex- tending the Stoneham Branch to the Fells Station on the Boston & Maine. If the project succeeds, the distance to Boston will be nine miles, and it is believed almost every inducement will exist to attract a large suburban popu- lation. The finest section of Middlesex Fells, embracing Bear Hill and Spot Pond, is contained within the limits of the town. The picturesque beauties of this sheet of water are not surpassed and hardly equalled by any in Eastern Massachusetts. Those who cherish and love the old town, re- membering its humble origin amid the rocks and forests of Charlestown End, and recalling the little settlement planted far away from the mother town, look forward with confidence to a prosperous future.
SELECTMEN .- 1726-27, Captain Benjamin Geary, Capt. John Vinton, Mr. Peter Hay, Mr. Timothy Baldwin, Lieut. Timothy Wright; 1728, John Gould, Daniel Green, Ensign Daniel Gould, Jonathan Green, Daniel Gould,
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Jr. ; 1729, Daniel Green, John Gould, Sr., Lieut. Daniel Gould, Ensign Jonathan Green, Daniel Gould, Jr. ; 1730, Daniel Green, John Gould, Sr., Danl. Gould, Sr., Jon. { reen, Danl. Gould, Jr. ; 1731, Danl. Green, Capt. John Vinton, Lieut. Danl. Gould, Danl. Gould, Jr., Ensign Jon. Green ; 1732, Capt. John Vinton, John Gould, Sr., Deacon Daniel Gould, Daniel Gould, Jr., Peter Hay, Jr. ; 1733, Deacon Daniel Green. Daniel Gould, Jr., Ensign Jon- athan Green, Peter Hay, Jr., Timothy Baldwin, Jr. ; 1734, Capt. John Vin- ton, Deacon Daniel Gould, Daniel Gould, Jr., Deacon Daniel Green, Peter Hay, Jr. ; 1735, John Vinton, Esq., Deacon Daniel Green, Daniel Gould, Jr., John Green, Peter Hay. Jr. ; 1736, Daniel Gould, Jr., Daniel Gould, Jona- than Green, Peter Hay, Jr., Samuel Sprague ; 1737-38-39, Deacon Daniel Gould, Ensign Jonathan Green, Daniel Gould, Jr., Peter Hay, Jr., Samuel Sprague ; 1740, Daniel Gould, Jr., Ensign Jonathan Green, David Gould, Edward Bucknam, Thomas Cutler; 174i, Deacon Daniel Gould, Daniel Gould, Jr., Ensign Jonathan Green, Edward Bucknam, Samuel Sprague ; 1742, Daniel Gould, Jr., Jonathan Green, Daniel Gould, Sr., Thomas Cut- ler, Timothy Wright; 1743, Ensign Jonathan Green, Deacon Daniel Gould, Daniel Gould, Jr., Thomas Cutler, Timothy Wright ; 1744, Ensign Jonathan Green, Daniel Gould, Jr., Deacon Daniel Gould, Samuel Sprague, David Gould ; 1745, Daniel Gould, Jr., Thomas Cutler, Timothy Wright, John Geary; 1746, Capt. Peter Hay, Deacon Daniel Green, Deacon Daniel Gould, Thomas Cutler, Ensign Timothy Wright ; 1747, Captain Peter Hay, Ensign Timothy Wright, Lieutenant Joseph Green, Samuel Sprague, Ebenezer Parker; 1748, Ensign Timothy Wright, Edward Bucknam, Thomas Cutler, Capt. Peter Hay, Ephraim Brown; 1749, Capt. Peter Hay, Deacon Daniel Gould, Elder Daniel Green, Lieut. Daniel Gould, Deacon Jos. Green ; 1750, Capt. Peter Hay, Elder Samuel Sprague, Ensign Timothy Wright, David Gould, Josiah Green ; 1751, Capt. Peter Hay, Ensign Timothy Wright, Josiah Green, James Hay, Ephriam Brown ; 1752, Capt. Peter Hay, Ensign Timothy Wright, Josiah Green, James Hay, Jonathan Green ; 1753, Capt. Peter Hay, Josiah Green, Jonathan Green, James Hay, Isaac Green ; 1754-55, Capt. Peter Hay, Deacon Daniel Gould, Ensign Timothy Wright, Deacon Jos. Green, Jonathan Green ; 1756, Lieut. Daniel Gould, Jr., Capt. Peter Hay, John Geary, Josiah Green, Peter Hay, Jr., ; 1757, Capt. Feter Hay, Jonathan Lawrence, Ensign Timothy Wright, Jonathan Green, Reuben Richardson ; 1758, Jonathan Green, James Hay, Deacon Jos. Green, Isaac Green, Capt. Peter Hay; 1759, Ensign Timothy Wright, Capt. Jonathan Green, Josiah Green, Lieut. Jas. Hay, Abraham Gould ; 1760, Ensign Tim- othy Wright, Capt. Jonathan Green, Edward Bucknam, Ensign Samuel Sprague, Lieut. Jos. Bryant ; 1761, Ensign Timothy Wright, Capt. Jonathan Green, Lieut. Jos. Bryant, Edward Bucknam, Jr., Ensign Samuel Sprague ; 1762, Capt. Peter Hay, Ensign Timothy Wright, Capt. Jonathan Green, Lieut. Jos, Bryant, Jos. Knight; 1763-64, Capt. Peter Hay, Ensign Timcthy
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