USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 22
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3 Chap. 38, section 35 of the general statutes of Massachusetts.
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selectmen and the town treasurer were constituted a committee to recruit the required number of men to meet the town quota and to borrow all necessary amounts of money for the purpose.
As if war were not enough to swallow all the excess wealth of the town another scourge fell upon the people. On the evening of October 24, 1862 there occurred the greatest fire Acton ever had known. Some unknown incendiary had threatened by anonymous letter to leave a black mark in the Centre Village. He did his ghastly work well. Beginning at the stable near the hotel the flames took over the shoe manufactory of John Fletcher & Sons, the hotel, the store occupied by Daniel Jones, which also contained the tailor shop of Samuel Despeau and threatened the whole village. A blazing shingle was wafted across the Common and stuck on the very top of the town house (formerly the meeting house of 1807). Here at last was the fatal pay-off for long refusal to install proper fire fighting equipment. Groton had owned since 1802 a locally made pump that would put a stream over any house in town. The people of Acton, however, usually so efficient in civic affairs, had to stand by appalled and watch the whole building with all its massive timbers turn to ashes within an hour. It seemed on that dismal night as though the village was doomed to extinction.
But the old Acton spirit was not to be so readily downed. Just over a week later, at a town meeting on November 4th a committee consisting of Daniel Wetherbee, David Handley, Samuel Hosmer, Adelbert Mead, James Tuttle, and Cyrus Fletcher was instructed to obtain plans, specifications, and estimates for a new town house. It was further decided that when the committee was ready to report a special meeting would be called. In addition the selectmen were instructed to ascertain the expense for hooks, ladders and buckets for the several villages. This looked like progress in several directions but the astounding thing is that when the commitee reported on December 2nd the town not only voted not to build a town house but also dismissed the article relating to fire protection. It may have been sheer civic inertia or it may have been that the citizenry felt that it was already spending to the limit on war obligations. It may well have been this latter since at the same meeting it was voted that in the future the men who enlisted would be paid a bounty regardless of whether they were drafted or not.
One would have thought that this action settled the matter but within two weeks, on December 15th to be precise, a fully attended town meeting voted that when a new town house was built it should stand on the site of the one recently burned. It was further decided, and this is an amazing about face, from the fortnight previous, by a vote of 153 to 1 to elect by ballot a committee to build a town house
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with a suitable armory and that the selectmen be authorized to borrow money as needed for the purpose.1
As a result of this decision the present town hall was erected the next year. The lower hall, a portion of which is now used for the town offices, was the armory. All along the front wall were lockers for the accoutrements of the members of the Davis Guards. Four or five of these are still in evidence and are used for miscellaneous storage.
The building of the town hall evidently inspired others with the result that the year 1863 saw also the erection of the large shoe manufactury of John Flecther and a new hotel by John E. Cutter. For many years the hotel housed the post office and the last remaining citizens of that era used to recall that there was installed a unique contrivance for mail delivery. It operated on the principle of the "Lazy Susan" sometimes seen on dining tables. There were pigeon- holes marked with the letters of the alphabet. A person seeking mail would turn the wheel until his initial appeared at the opening where- upon he separated his mail from the rest and departed, unless of course the office happened to be vacant and he were of a curious turn of mind. In later years the device was abandoned and standard boxes installed with a pull bell that would summon the postmaster, the amiable Lucien Noyes, with his omnipresent straw hat which he wore as a piece of working equipment regardless of weather or season.
Under his direction the hostelry led an existence of quiet but definite distinction under the title of the Monument House. Summer guests who enjoyed the pleasing atmosphere of the secluded little village returned year after year and became a part of the community. They sang in the village choir and participated in the local dramatics upon occasion. They introduced tennis, which at that time was a game for young men and maidens of sedate mind and attire, by play- ing with unquestionable decorum on a court lined off on the common. No one put forth sufficient vigor to have a deleterious effect upon the grass. It was not unusual for certain of the women, who still cherished a penchant for Victorian convention, to wear a stiff sailor hat
Each morning at seven o'clock the mail carrier set forth for South Acton. For a long time this service was performed by Grandpa Jennings, an old gentleman with a loud voice who was regarded with awe by the children. He drove a black topped delivery wagon of the type which appears at the extreme right of the frontispiece. He was succeeded by Oliver Houghton, better known as "Dolly", a name which he had inherited from his father.
Although a person of moderate capabilities Oliver was fired by
' Daniel Wetherbee, Samuel Hosmer, James Tuttle, Cyrus Fletcher, David Handley, A. M. Rowell, Luther Conant.
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the conviction that the success of the United States Mail service hinged upon his personal punctuality. For a quarter expectant passengers could ride between the Centre and South Acton in his carryall. This conveyance he clung to through thick and thin. The arrival of the motor car made no slightest impression upon him. In his latter days he lived in the upstairs portion of the store of Mr. George Noyes which now houses the office of Mr. Boatman and the Monument Shoppe.
He was Acton's most innate inhabitant without doubt. Only a family crisis of major magnitude could get him out of town. It was his boast that once he took the train to the North Station, where, upon arrival, he walked to the front door, took one look at the bustling city life and thereupon returned at the earliest possible opportunity.
He indulged in none of the usual male pastimes. Hunting, fishing, and ball games did not attract him. His chief diversion was attending funerals, and this he took seriously and must have established a record of sorts.
On hand without fail for the opening of the postmaster's wicket was Spofford Robbins, a bachelor hermit, with much the general appearance of Uncle Sam. He operated a small woodworking shop and an apiary on the site of the residence of the late Elizabeth Forbes on Woodbury Lane. He was a clever workman who was reputed to have done much of the inside finish of the Memorial Library but he was an extreme individualist of the old school and would work only when and for whom he pleased. For long periods he would have nothing to do with diverse persons for reasons known only to himself, then, without any word of explanation, would return to his former friendliness. In his latter years the old fellow lived and died on Wheeler Lane in North Acton where, with his sister, the late Emma Blood, an equally mercurial character, an existence of sensitively balanced semi-tranquility eventually ended for both of them.
In due course Mr. Noyes moved into the house now owned by the Boatmans and took the post office with him, establishing it in the westerly ell since it had a convenient entrance from the main street. The Monument House was operated for a while on a declining scale by a Mr. Harriman, an ex-attache of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, who, while he had at his finger tips all the devious angles of that hectic business, had neither the acumen nor the temperament to make a success of a country hotel.
On July 4th, 1913, the building was gutted by fire and the two great barns were reduced to ashes. The ruins stood as an eyesore until in the spring of 1916 the town voted to take measures in the matter. The aforesaid measures were not specifically laid down and nothing was done immediately, but on the night of July 3rd either local
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pranksters or truly civic minded individuals set the ruins ablaze. An out of town visitor from Kentucky who witnessed the conflagration asserted that never had he seen a competent fire department work so hard to make sure that a burning building should be a total loss.1
In April of 1863 two matters, although somewhat minor as com- pared to events on the national stage, did nevertheless show progress in town affairs. For the first time in its history Acton attained the fifteen hundred dollar mark in the school appropriation and at the same time Francis Dwight was chosen as superintendent of burials and was allotted the amount of two dollars for each interment. This was evidently the beginning of the practice of hiring a caretaker for the cemetery although no mention is made that Mr. Dwight's duties went beyond the digging of graves. It can be readily understood, however, that as time went on other activities were added and more reimbursement became the custom .. Acton has always been noted for the interest it took in the upkeep of its burying grounds and the excellent results obtained by the present corps of workers has claimed the attention of numerous outsiders.
The very next year, in April of 1864, in addition to Mr. Dwight the town elected William D. Tuttle and Zoheth Taylor as a committee to take charge of the cemeteries and present regulations respecting their management to a subsequent town meeting.
The same meeting, thinking that the war was more than enough to contend with in the matter of jeopardy of human life, again took up the case against the Fitchburg Railroad. The selectmen were ap- pointed as agents to confer with the railroad authorities in the attempt to devise means to render "life more secure at the crossings".
At the meeting in November a vote of thanks was extended to the donors of the "new clocks in the town house". The present con- viction among the older residents is that the money was raised by pub- lic subscription. The reference is almost certainly to the four faces of the clock in the tower, particularly since a sum of twenty five dollars per year was authorized for their care. For many years the clock was kept in excellent running condition by Mr. Oliver D. Wood, largely from sentiment rather than for the remuneration involved, but attention to it in the present era has shrunk to the vanishing point.
By 1864 the war had become a wearysome and discouraging affair for all concerned. Many in the North thought that Lincoln had man- aged things miserably and that his election was doubtful. Acton voters, however, were in general undismayed and supported Lincoln by a vote of 202 as compared with 147 for General George B.
1 A glimpse of the Monument House can be seen at the extreme left of the frontispiece.
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1
1
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McClellan, the Democratic nominee. In the state at large the vote was Lincoln 126,742, McClellan 48,745 and in the gubernatorial contest Governor Andrew defeated Henry W. Paine by 125,281 to 49,190.
Apropos of the dismal state of affairs mentioned above it is good to remember that even the most dreary circumstances may produce a bit of humor. One episode is too good to omit, not only because of its intrinsic interest but because, although Acton residents were com- pletely ignorant of it, it had a profound bearing upon the country at large and hence upon the local scene.
The persistent conviction of Lincoln's ineptness, together with the antagonistic attitude concerning the draft in certain quarters, caused acute concern in the Republican camp. In this connection Mr. Lincoln, fearing for the result of the state election in Indiana in October, and knowing that Indiana was the only major state that would not permit its soldiers to vote in the field, communicated his apprehensions to General Sherman. He pointed out that if forces came into control who would oppose the war in every way possible it might mean defeat, and hence implored the general to do all he could within reason and military expediency to see that the Indiana men were furloughed home to vote.1
Sherman, who as history proves, never did things by halves, so enthusiastically carried out the desires of his commander-in-chief that thousands of the Hoosier boys went home and - along with them for good measure, since their own state was as dependable as its native granite - went also the 19th Vermont, in toto. With a modicum of assistance from the local patriots they all voted and Indiana went Republican.
While on the topic of war humor it will not be amiss to mention a hitherto unpublicized tale which is directly associated with Acton. Shortly after the cessation of hostilities there arrived in town a young veteran from a New York regiment who married an Acton girl and eventually became a successful contractor in one of the towns of Worcester County.
He was a pronounced eccentric as to his mental reactions, his attire, and his mannerisms and attracted attention upon his infrequent visits to the local scene. Any doubt concerning his unusual turn of mind, and his almost limitless energy is established by the fact that for the major portion of his courting days he resided in Acton Centre and walked morning and night to Rockbottom to his work. One quirk of his mind caused him to have on his monument in Woodlawn a brief but cryptic inscription that has caught the eye of many a casual observer.
He was a voracious and discerning reader of history and revelled
1 Commager, The Blue and the Gray, vol. 1, p. 297.
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in the telling of peculiar episodes that generally had some basis in fact but which, if the listener were unlearned or naive, were liable to snowball into shameless lies of colossal dimensions. One of these, as he told it, was so eminently in character, so surely the sort of thing that would have tickled his inmost soul, that it is indubitably authentic.
It appears that he was one afternoon stationed as a sentry on the bank of the Chickahominy River in Virginia at a point where it was sufficiently narrow to permit easy conversation with the rebel lookout on the opposite side. It shortly became apparent that the Southerner was an illiterate and unsophisticated swamp boy from the Louisiana bayous.
The temptation was overpowering so the blue clad soldier related at length his military experiences; his march over the Alps with Hannibal; his landing on the shores of England with William the Conqueror; and finally his prodigious exploits with the armies of the Union. With this impressive build-up he asserted that the South was so hopelessly outnumbered that the eventual decision of the conflict was a certainty
According to the narrator something approaching the following dialogue then took place.
"Ah doan' know", said the boy in grey, "I ain't got learnin' but you sound ter me jest like a onery abolition liar."
"I'm telling you the truth Johnny. Now take your own case. How many Louisiana regiments are there."
"Doan rightly know Yank. Mought be thirty, mebbe even more." "Well, there you are. My regiment is the 888th Delaware".1
With his eyes practically hanging on his cheeks the rebel youth finally gained sufficient control of his voice to exclaim, "Great Day in the Mawnin'! Thar must be a power of ye".
This individual according to a statement made by the captain of his company long after the war, enlisted for two years, served with distinction and was honorably discharged. Thereupon, without re-enlisting and without pay he remained with the company for some fourteen months. In the latter part of the conflict when recruits were difficult to obtain the officers were not too vigilant as to the minutiae of cases of this type. Finally, due to a fit of pique, or boredom, or mere deviltry, he walked away one day, acquired a new environment, a new identity, and a new life, after doing what, according to his lights, was his share of military duty.
1 The enormity of this tale will perhaps be more apparent to the modern reader if he is made aware that Delaware had but nine regiments of infantry in the Union Army.
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Eventually the war drain in financial matters became acute.1 Expenses crop up over and over again in the records. On November 30th fifty five hundred dollars was voted for recruiting costs. Some items went unpaid for long periods. It was not until March of 1865, for instance, that the town decided to renumerate the private indi- viduals who furnished teams and wagons to transport the soldiers to Lowell in 1862. In March of 1866 an article in the warrant in- quired whether the town would pay the soldiers who enlisted in 1861 and re-enlisted in 1864 the same bounty as was paid to those who enlisted after that date and served in the United States Army. It was decided to defer action until it became apparent what the national government intended to do in the matter. As things later developed this proved to be an unwise decision but at that time nobody could have forseen that by this action the town planted the seeds for its most vicious and prolonged local battle.
Sometime during the war period Mr. S. S. Richardson bought from Abel Jones the land and water privilege on what is now River Street for the purpose of building a woolen mill. He put in the first dam but with the cessation of the war the project languished. By 1890, however, a thriving shoddy2 business was in full swing under the able direction of Mr. J. A. Bowen. According to Fletcher the enterprise was grossing one hundred thousand dollars annually and hiring thirty hands.
In 1899 the mill was bought by William Rawitser. He was subse- quently joined by his brother Fred and the partnership continued until 1914. From that date William conducted a large and successful business until his death in 1934. A new dam and extensive alterations were made in 1935. During World War II no shoddy was used in blankets or uniforms, not even wool clips from tailors. The plant was totally consumed by fire on February 23, 1951.
For the year 1866 there appear odds and ends of information in the records that while in themselves more or less unimportant are intriguing and of passing interest. For instance the town bought a new hearse. At that time such an accessory was not a part of the undertaking business since the care of the dead had not then reached the polished levels of the present. The transition from the simple undertaker to the modern suave mortician still lay in the future. In addition the town clerk was paid on a piece work basis rather than on a salary. The going rate was thirty cents for recording each birth, nineteen cents for deaths and fifteen cents for marriages. Just
1 The single sheet report of the selectmen for 1864 is an interesting example of war economy.
2 For the information of those unfamiliar with the term "shoddy" it may be defined as a method of reprocessing the fibre in old woolen cloth so that it could be woven into new wool products.
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why a marriage was only half as important as a death is not made clear. About the same time Cyrus Fletcher received forty four dollars for attending twenty two funerals with the hearse and George Sawyer was paid twenty cents for tolling the bell at each death. Apropos of this custom of bell ringing it may be here observed that the warrant for the April meeting of 1867 contains the last record of an article respecting the question of ringing the town bells on holidays and other special occasions. The article was dismissed and the custom died then and there so far as town responsibility went. Volunteer patriots continued to shatter the rural calm on April 19th and the 4th of July for another seven decades or more but now even that has become a memory of the past. Modern youth lives too continually in the shadow of war to be intrigued.
Another item that makes the modern tax payer sigh is an entry to the effect that in the winter of 1867 Luther Billings received eleven dollars and ninety cents for sixty four and a half hours labor breaking out the roads after heavy snowfalls. Moreover, to return to the burial of the dead for a moment, Cyrus Fletcher was paid twelve dollars and seventy five cents for a coffin and robe for the funeral of Luther Hayward.
The report of the school committee for the year 1866 is unduly long and leans noticeably to the forensic side. Considerable light is shed upon prevailing conditions by the fact that male teachers are advocated, "who can administer correction forthwith and upon the spot". Complaint is made that truancy is all too customary and that certain pupils recite in a low and feeble voice, a shortcoming that should be remedied by considerable exercise in loud speaking and distinct articulation. In addition to the common schools there were also functioning several private schools. The committee report mentions four of these with a combined enrollment of one hundred and ten pupils.
It was at this time also that the town chose its first superintendent of schools, Rev. Edwin Davis, who was to serve for the year 1867. Perhaps this event was induced by the fact that the town had at last passed the two thousand dollar limit in the matter of school appro- priations. The money was allocated after considerable debate as follows: to the south and west districts $644.33 each, to the centre district $449.92, and to the north and east districts $244.40 each. Furthermore, and this must have made the teachers dismal, a weekly report was to be sent to the parents relative to absences, deportment, recitations, and general progress for each pupil. This is the first mention of report cards, and, however severe it may have been on the teachers, we find the school committee stating in the next town report that "the use of scholarship and deportment cards introduced
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by vote of the town a year ago has proved most beneficial".
The report goes on the advocate at length the need for a new choice of text, particularly in arithmetic and grammar. The assertion is made that too much time is being devoted to arithmetic.
Here we see for the first time the beginnings of the effort to simplify the curriculum to make it painless. The modern progressive schools are the full flowering of this pernicious movement which now, after nearly a century, is being denounced by the abler school men themselves in their annual conventions. In all probability the texts were acceptable. There is no way to make these two subjects effortless for the average youngster while at the same time keeping the content respectable. It is no kindness to emasculate a subject to the point where the pupil feels no sense of accomplishment.
Another innovation at this time was the publication of the roll of honor for those pupils who had been neither absent nor tardy for one, two, or three terms. Those who had perfect attendance for three terms deserve a place in the record and their names are given below. Centre: Susie Tuttle, Nellie Hanscom, Jenny Berry, Etta Taylor, Lizzie Roth, Willie Richardson, Josie Forbush.
West: George Mead, Lizzie Eager, Flora S. Davis, Ellen M. Hosmer, Emma Hosmer, Julian Mead, Ainsworth Hastings. South: Lucy Jones, Mary F. Worcester, Anna Tuttle, Willie E. Wood.
North: (None for three terms), Two terms; Cora Granville, Fred Rouillard.
East: (None for three terms), Two terms; Susie Wetherbee. South-east: Lester N. Fletcher.
In the same year (1867) one of Acton's abler craftsmen, Mr. John Sherman Hoar1, father of the present John Hoar, perfected a type of vise with an off-shot jaw, thereby making it possible for a work- man if he so desired to hold in a vertical position a long piece of pipe or a wooden rod. The original model, beautifully finished in what appears to be cherry, is a prized possession of the family. Patents were secured in England, Germany, and America and the New England Vise Company erected in West Acton a building still standing near the junction of Central and Willow Streets, and started operations in 1868. Previously the inventor had been offered two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the patent rights by a man from Baltimore. Mr. Hoar was inclined to sell but the two partners who had gone into the venture with him felt otherwise. Subsequently the vise was changed in design to accomodate a rotary head. In 1870 the business was sold to a firm in Fitchburg. When Mr. James
1 John Sherman Hoar was born in Acton in 1829. He preferred to be known as Sherman J. Hoar and enlisted under that name in the Civil War. The present Mr. Hoar is John Sherman Hoar, Jr.
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Kinsley was postmaster at West Acton letters came from Kansas City addressed to the New England Vise Company and he, knowing of the history of the affair saw to it that they were delivered to the present Mr. Hoar. Within twenty years inquiries have also come from Australia asking for information.
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