USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1876 to 1950, Volume II > Part 21
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HISTORY of SUTTON
Sutton Grange. Mrs. Stockwell was a woman of great loyalties: loyalty to her church, to her country, to her family and friends. She was positive in her con- victions, staunch in upholding them, of keen intellect, interested in the world events through her life. In closing one of her papers with material for this history she wrote: "Perhaps you already have all these items. Pardon me if I have gone too far - but I am very much interested."
Henry S. Stockwell and John E. Gifford operated this farm for many years in partnership. They owned a herd of prize Devon cattle - hence the name of the farm, "Devonshire". The closing out sale of the Devon cattle was June 22, 1937. After Mr. Gifford's death, the farm was rented and sold in 1944 to Joseph Klewiec.
Those renting the property have been: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Robbins; Mr. and Mrs. Alden Anderson; Mr. and Mrs. Placid Hamel and two children; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carlson and son Mark; Mr. and Mrs. George King; Mr. and Mrs. Grant Putnam; Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Roy (moved from here Oct. 5, 1945 to their newly purchased home on Uxbridge Road) ; Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Allen; Mr. and Mrs. George Stowe and daugh- ter, Linda. The home is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Michelson and daughter and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kolinsky ( Helen Klewiec).
East of Devonshire farm, the home of Mrs. Rich, which had been owned by Stephen Stockwell, was sold to Charles A. Howard, a shoemaker. His sister, Mrs. Sarah Wilcox, lived with him and his daughter Carrie. His younger daughter died in infancy. Mr. Howard and his sister were people of sterling character, representing the best in New England life. His daughter Carrie married Ernest D. King, December 19, 1889. They had one son, Walter Howard, who is mar- ried and lives in Hillsboro, N. H. Mrs. Ernest King died May 3, 1922; her hus- band, Dec. 30, 1934. Mr. Howard married for his second wife, Mrs. Emma Harris of Montville, Conn. Mr. Howard died November 6, 1923 and his wife, March 28, 1928.
The place was sold by the Howard heirs to Edward Eld, who lived here with his wife. Mr. Eld made great improvements on the property - putting in a dormer window, modernizing the water system, installing a bathroom, steam heat, a basement laundry and building a garage.
The present owners are Mr. and Mrs. Ellery B. Smith. They have four sons; Harold, attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Raymond, Stephen, Andrew and a daughter, Hope. Mrs. Smith, the former Faith Freeland, is a talented soprano and gives much pleasure to others with her music. She has sung for many years in the choir of the First Congregational Church and occasionally on a radio broadcast. Mr. and Mrs. Smith take much pride in their beautiful garden in the rear of their home and are generous in sharing its beauty with others.
On April 22, 1895 there was great excitement on this place. Lewis and Alton Thomp- son with others were working on the road, throwing stones into an oxcart. The motion of the men's arms, as they worked, and the rattling of stones, landing in the cart, caused a horse, which was approaching, to bolt. The driver was thrown from the carriage and landed on a rock beside the road, partially hidden by a clump of lilac bushes. The man, E. P. Hopkins of Whitinsville, was instantly killed.
The property, east of the Perry tenement house, belonged to the George Moore estate and was inherited by F. Hazen Bordeaux. He built a garage here and later
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moved it and made it into a cottage. This was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Vierstra. They had one child. They moved to Northbridge after selling the cottage.
The new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Damon, came here March 3, 1934. They have enlarged the house, enclosed the property with a hedge, drilled an artesian well and have an attractive garden in the back with an outdoor fireplace and a screened-in summer house. The Damons are very hospitable, sharing their home and gardens with friends and organizations of Sutton and surrounding towns.
George Moore was the owner of the adjoining property. The Samuel Metcalfs lived here for several years. Mr. Moore sold to George N. Smith, who remodeled the two-tenement house into a one-family dwelling. He, in turn, sold to a Mr. Norton. The Nortons had one daughter Marjorie. Mr. Norton built a new barn. He sold to Mr. and Mrs. Charles N. Woodbury, who moved here from the brick house in the Eight Lots in 1904 with their two daughters, Ethel (1890) and Marion Christine (1895). Lilla (1883) had married Eli K. Vaughan the pre- vious year. (Mr. Woodbury was born in Sutton in 1855; Mrs. Woodbury in Winthrop, Me. in 1856).
Mr. Woodbury carried on a retail meat business and was an insurance agent. He was the first master of Sutton Grange, P. of H. No. 109 and lived to receive his Golden Sheaf certificate, signifying fifty years of membership. He was Dea- con of the First Congregational Church (1921-1937) until his death on March 10, 1937. Mrs. Woodbury (Lizzie Christine Stevens) died March 31, 1928.
Ethel was an organist of the First Congregational Church and married Wallace F. King, November 9, 1910. Marion attended Mt. Holyoke College, 1913-1916, and was graduated from Mass. General Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1920. She did public health nursing in the Berkshires from 1920 to 1939. She received a B. S. degree from Simmons College, Boston, in 1940. She has been Director of the School of Nursing and Nursing Service at St. Luke's Hospital of Cleveland, Ohio, since 1945. She married Charles Webster Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1945.
The house was rented in 1931 to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Freeland and their children, Beverly, Louise and John. The property was later sold to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ogren of Worcester. They had three children, Mildred, Carl Jr. and Louise. Mrs. Ogren died here in June 1939. Mildred attended Colby College, was gradu- ated from Worcester State Teachers College and taught in the Sutton schools. She married Frank Dakin of Sutton, April 24, 1948. Carl Jr. married Arlene Drouin and lives in Worcester. He is a World War II veteran. Louise married John J. Powers of Millbury, September 24, 1949. They have a son Bruce. They make their home with Mr. Ogren. A beautiful elm was uprooted by the hurri- cane, leaving the lawn bare of shade.
The house east on Boston Road, which Gibbs Lilley had remodeled from a store into a tenement house, was burned in 1891. Mr. James Stockwell has been quoted as saying, "It was the most private fire I ever knew." Miss Frances Free- land remarked, "We all slept through it and never knew it." A new dwelling was built in 1892 for Mr. Samuel Metcalf and his wife. She died October 23, 1894 and her husband on February 18, 1905.
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The property was left to Mrs. Georgianna Metcalf Moore, a direct heir. Mr. and Mrs. George Moore had one daughter, Nettie, who married H. Foster Bor- deaux. She died leaving two small children, Gladys and Hazen, who came to make their home with their grandmother. Mr. Moore died here October 15, 1896. Gladys Bordeaux lives in Paxton with her father and is with the Morris Plan, Worcester. Hazen is President and Treasurer of Millbury Motor Co. Mrs. Moore died April 16, 1926 at the home of her sister, Mrs. Nellie Pratt in Pax- ton.
The Moore place was sold in 1928 to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Young. They have three children: Doris married Joseph Marcell; they live in Boston with their two children; Robert married Thelma Theberge and lives in Millbury; they have four boys; Roland married Marion Marble and lives in Sutton. Mr. and Mrs. Young have made many improvements; they have added a sun porch, built a garage and beautified the grounds.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Batcheller were owners of the next house, built of "the choicest lumber brought from Maine". Their son William H. married Nina, daughter of Harrison Batcheller. Mr. and Mrs. William Batcheller had two sons, Floyd, who died in 1914 and Carroll, who died in 1943. William Batcheller died the following year in Sutton. Alice T., daughter of Henry, is the widow of Charles E. Lowe of Sutton. Mrs. Henry Batcheller died Aug. 9, 1882, at the age of fifty-one years. Mr. Batcheller married for his second wife, Mrs. Mary Holmes of Sharon. Mr. Batcheller was active in town affairs and was Town Clerk for twenty-two years. He died May 26, 1922.
The property was sold to John White, who lived here with his family. His daughter Mabel was married Jan. 24, 1901 to Frederick Morton Stuart, a civil engineer, engaged in work on the first State Road which was built from the Millbury Line. Mrs. White died in 1905 and Mr. White in 1909.
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace F. King and their eight children lived here, Mr. King buying the home from the John White heirs. Everett, the eldest son, married first, Frances Marsh and second, Eleanor Olson Johnson; Dwight married Marion Snow of Millbury and lives there; Wesley married Leona Grover and lives in Springfield, Vt .; Edward married M. Marthena King and lives in Sutton, as do Norman, who married Ruth E. Briggs and George, who married Mrs. Frances M. King. Marion, a nurse, married Charles Duck and lives in Paris, Ill. Dorothy married Frederick W. Ploch Sept. 15, 1950 and they live at home with her father. Ethel W. King died here Nov. 5, 1941. Norman was the first selective service draftee from District four in the second World War.
Ralph Morey conducted a store and meat market in the ell at one time. Mrs. Clara Gravelin, her children George, Emma and Charles and brother Herman Kupfer lived in the upstairs tenement. She is the present tenant. George married Clara Thorpes of Worcester; Emma married Walter A. Brunell of Millbury and Charles married Martha Coggswell of Essex and lives in Sutton.
The large house and barn, on the south side of Boston Road, belonging to the Stockwell's was sold to Loren C. Hoyle. He had a hothouse where he raised many flowers and vegetables. Two of Mr. and Mrs. Hoyle's youngest children were born here; Lina T. and Harry. All the daughters and sons married, Mrs. Lucia H. Ray the only one remaining in Sutton.
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George Stockwell was the next owner. He died suddenly in the greenhouse, June 19, 1918. Mrs. Stockwell then went to live with a daughter, Mrs. O. E. Smith, at whose home she died. Henry C. Batcheller leased land from Loren Hoyle and erected a shop where he manufactured slippers for a number of years. This building later was sold and moved to the Swindell place and the greenhouse taken down.
Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Swanson followed as owners and lived here with their twin daughters, Sigrid and Irene. They moved to Pleasantville, N. Y. after sell- ing to Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Wyman, who lived here with their young son. They sold to Arthur and Olga Moe in 1923 and moved to Leominster. The Moes conducted a roadside stand near the house. They sold to Mr. and Mrs. Wilmot G. Hastings in 1940.
Wilmot Glidden Hastings majored in Forestry. After receiving his M. Sc. F. he went into the U. S. Forest Service and was sent to Oregon where he became "Forest Assistant", Deputy Supervisor, and finally Supervisor of the Deschutes National Forest. Mr. and Mrs. Hastings lived first in Portland, then in Bend, Oregon. Later Mr. Hastings became State Forester of Vermont, also Professor of Forestry in the University. From there he went into the U. S. Income Tax Department as Senior Valuation Engineer, where he worked until he and Mrs. Hastings bought this old colonial house. They came here to live in 1941.
Mrs. Marian Keith Hastings is an artist and has studied with a number of the great painters of this country. She devoted herself to this work for twenty-five years before coming to Sutton. She has exhibited in a number of the large art museums in the country - the Arts Club in Washington, D. C. and the Ebell Club in Los Angeles. She was listed in "American Women" for six years, includ- ing 1941, when she came to Sutton; her name was also in "Who's Who in American Art".
Attorney J. Fred Humes gives us the early history of the Hastings Farm.
David Hall, Jun. purchased the property from his father November 1753 and sold it September 12, 1759 to Thomas Hancock. The deed states that the land has "a New Dwelling House and Barn Thereon."
"Thomas Hancock was the wealthiest merchant in Boston and the head of the largest mercantile house in New England. His brother John, who was a Con- gregational minister, died in 1741, poor as a church mouse. Little John was then seven years old and his uncle Thomas, who had no children of his own, adopted him.
"One of the parcels of real estate which John Hancock inherited from his adoptive father Thomas was the little farm in Sutton, now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hastings. His ownership continued for twenty-one years, beginning with the death of his uncle, August 1, 1764 and ending May 10, 1785, when he gave a deed of the property to Elijah Putnam. This period includes not only the eight fateful years of the Revolutionary War but the dark and trying days which pre- ceded and followed it. The deed was signed by Hancock himself and his wife, Dorothy Quincy, whom he had married at Plainfield, Conn. in 1775.
"During the period of his ownership, it is probable that Hancock visited this place several times. History states that he was a guest at LeBaron's Tavern which stood only a few rods to the eastward.
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"It seems strange that an event as interesting, and important historically, as John Hancock's ownership of this little homestead should have passed into ob- livion and remained unnoticed for almost, if not quite, 150 years."
In addition to the estate just described, John Hancock inherited from his uncle Thomas another parcel of land in Sutton, containing about fifty acres, situated in the southerly part of the Town. This was the former John Hunt place in the Torrey District.
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HOME OF JAMES A. SMITH
The Cape Cod cottage, on the north side of Boston Road, was sold by Mrs. Miranda Sibley, the owner in 1876, to Henry Sawyer. On Jan. 6, 1898, he sold to his step-mother, Mrs. Sawyer, and her son, Andrew Sawyer. Mrs. Sawyer's grand- daughter, Belle Waters, and her father, George Waters, lived here at different times. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hendrick bought the property from the Sawyer estate and lived here summers with their daughter Florence. Mrs. Belle Waters Barr and her husband rented a tenement. Mrs. Barr married for her second husband, William A. Davis, and lives in Worcester. Mr. and Mrs. George Fletcher and daughter Ruth were also tenants. Mr. Fletcher died here in 1906 at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Hendrick sold to Mr. and Mrs. J. Roger Putnam, July 1, 1900. They sold to Harry and Yetta Levanthal, July 19, 1920.
Charles W. Putnam bought the place, July 17, 1922. He lived here with his family until 1937. His mother, Mrs. Marble Putnam, made her home with them the last years of her life; she died in 1929. Mr. Putnam's daughter Jennie Belle
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and her husband, James A. Smith, own the property now. A daughter Joyce Adams was born April 15, 1947.
The Smiths have a large garden on the east, enclosed by a white fence, typical of a real New England garden. Mrs. Smith before her marriage was a school teacher in Oxford, and has been a substitute teacher in the Sutton schools. Mr. Smith is Chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Mrs. Lavinia Burdon continued to live in the next house until a few years before her death in 1901. Walter Wheeler and family occupied a part of the house in the first years of his principalship in the Sutton High School. There have been many other tenants: Mrs. Lydia Little, her brother Sam Ballou and nephew Henry Balcome; Mrs. Harrison Batcheller and daughters, Nina and Mary; George Waters and daughter Belle.
Mr. and Mrs. Hollis Richardson (Ida Hoyle) were the next owners of the property. They had two children; Florence, Mrs. Michael Ennis of Rye Beach, N. H. and Raymond H., who was killed in an automobile accident in 1915.
Henry F. Rice bought the place from the Richardsons. John Davis and family were his tenants and were followed by Mr. and Mrs. Eli K. Vaughan. Mr. Rice sold to Mrs. Harriet Batcheller, widow of B. Frank Batcheller. She married Henry F. Balcome, who died in 1935. Mrs. Balcome was a charter member of the Grange and of the General Rufus Putnam Chapter, DAR. She was collector of the First Congregational Church for eighteen years (1914-1932). Mrs. Henry Batcheller died here in 1927. Mrs. Bertha Bancroft and her son Ralph made their home here. Ralph died Oct. 4, 1940 at the age of thirty-nine years. He had at- tended Mt. Herman School and was especially interested in history - being a member of the Town History Committee at the time of his death. Mrs. Balcome died here Feb. 4, 1945 and the property was inherited by Fred L. Batcheller and his sister, Mrs. Edith Hudson of Oxford. Mrs. Mahala Walsh lived here for some years.
The house, now the Beaton Apartments, at the corner of Boston Road and Singletary Avenue, was occupied by the families of S. B. and of his son, W. S. Holbrook, until 1932, when Mrs. Holbrook, wife of Lieut. Wilder S. Holbrook, died in Sutton. The plot of land upon which the house is situated consisted origi- nally of four and a quarter acres and in 1908 one and six tenths acres were sold to the Town of Sutton for a High School site. Upon this was erected a new High School building.
After the deaths of Stephen B. in 1878 and of Hannah, his wife, in 1886, their daughter Hattie continued to make this her home when school vacations made it possible. She was an ardent student and excellent teacher. While at Bridgewater Normal School, her specimen of the nervous system, dissected from a small animal, was the most nearly perfect, up to that time, and was kept at the school for an exhibit. Hattie taught in high schools at Millbury, Upton and Woburn, Mass. and at the Hartford High School in Conn. She died in that city, March 20, 1890. Walter Holbrook Daniels, son of Flora Holbrook Daniels, also made his home in Sutton until his marriage to Nellie Johnson of Lynn. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain his failing health in Denver, he returned to Lynn and died soon afterwards.
Mr. Holbrook kept the old-fashioned store and post office in the basement until 1888 when he was appointed to a clerkship under civil service in the Boston
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SUTTON CENTER
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Custom House. Mr. James Stockwell then served as postmaster until Herbert Ray received the appointment. Mr. Holbrook went to Boston by train daily for sixteen years which meant an early morning drive to Millbury when often the snow- drifts were waist high. In spite of snow and deep mud near the Millbury line, he was rarely absent from his desk. He watched the progress of the new road from Millbury to Sutton with great anticipation and used it only three weeks before his death, Dec. 27, 1902. After the opening of a Custom House in Worcester, he often served there as Deputy Collector.
Mr. Holbrook was proud of his district school education. He was exceedingly clever in Mental Arithmetic; the kind that prevailed in a good district school. He was public spirited and active in Town affairs, serving as Town Clerk for many years. An ardent Democrat until the days of Bryan, he worked unceasingly for the cause. The Sutton store resounded with arguments around the old furnace. He was one of a group which began the observance of Memorial Day in Sutton and he gave most liberally of his time and strength year after year, that the honor of his dead comrades should be respected on May 30th. He walked with a military carriage one never forgot; he was stern and forceful. He was also a great lover of nature and the outdoors. An early Sunday morning ride around "Singletary Pond" to find the first violets and arbutus and to hear the first blue- bird was a regular occurrence for Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook.
Townspeople often spoke of Mrs. Holbrook as "perpetually young" when she tripped across the Common on the way to church or went about her duties. She loved her home and church and was an active worker in the choir. During the Civil War and in World War I she sewed and knit industriously for the boys in service. Her interest in Memorial Day never waned from the beginning; in her ninetieth year she went around with the group to watch the soldiers decorate the graves in five cemeteries and attended the evening exercises in the Town Hall. In the same year she registered her vote, showing her interest in civic affairs.
Tyla, the oldest daughter, studied music and art. She retained her skill in painting till her death in 1930. In 1887 she was married to Fred Southwick Smith. Alice Marion, the next daughter, was graduated from Wellesley College in 1897, majoring in mathematics and science. She has taught in the high schools at Sutton, Moorestown, N. J. and in the Philadelphia High for Girls where she was head of the department of mathematics. The youngest daughter, Flora Emily, was graduated in 1903 from Wellesley College and specialized in music and languages. She taught in West Broad Street High School, Pawcatuck, Conn., and has continued the study of music to the present time. She was married to John Charles Dudley of Sutton in 1908, and they moved to Montreal where a daugh- ter, Alice Holbrook, was born and died. In 1912 Mr. and Mrs. Dudley returned to Sutton to the John Dudley Farm and when Mr. Dudley enlisted in World War I, Mrs. Dudley returned to her mother's home, assisting in the Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives before going to Washington to serve as clerk during the War. In 1910-1911 Mr. and Mrs. Fred Smith and family lived with Mrs. Hol- brook at the home place.
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Beaton purchased the property in November 1945. The two upper floors were converted into four apartments and a four-car garage added. The apartments were first occupied by Garnette and Hazel Foor and son
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James; George and Dorothy Graham and sons Richard and Stephen; Louis Cam- eron and Mary Hayward and children Louis and Susan and John B. and Laura Delano and son Douglas.
In 1946, the ground floor was converted into a grocery store, operated by George C. and Jessie Grandchamp, who, later, with their children, Norma and Peter, occupied one of the upstairs apartments. In 1947, the store was replaced by two ground-floor apartments and were occupied by Gunner and Betty Lou Bloomquist and son Wayne and Robert and Marjorie Thyden and daughter Linda.
Other tenants to occupy apartments at various times were: William and Irene Louis and children Barbara and Ronald; Homer O. and Barbara Mills, Jr. and son John; Edward and Betty Steele and daughter Karen; Norris and Nancy Corey and daughter Viki Jo; Philip and Florence Parks and son Allan and Mrs. Evelyn Favreau and daughter Deborah.
Soon after his appointment to the Custom House, Wilder S. Holbrook sold out the grocery business to Herbert L. Ray, who conducted a general store in the brick block for about eleven years. During this time he served as postmaster with the post office in the store. Mr. Ray sold out to Ernest P. Putnam in 1902 and he sold to Wallace F. King on Dec. 31, 1904. William H. Davis bought in April 1909, keeping store for a quarter of a century. In 1936, Frank H. Paine became the owner.
Washington Hall, in the brick block, is just as it was in 1876. There used to be a private school in what is now Miss Mary Sherman's kitchen. Hollis Sherman bought the property Dec. 19, 1893 from Emily J. Pratt, administratrix of Nancy P. Hall's estate, and lived with his family in the upstairs tenement, vacated by Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Ray. His wife Emily died March 28, 1912 and Mr. Sherman died Feb. 24, 1914. Their son Milton lived there until his death on Feb. 16, 1951. Daughter Mary is living there now with her nephew, Lewis P. Sherman.
The tenement on the right of the store has been rented to many families: Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Batcheller and daughters, Nina and Mary; Mrs. Lydia Little, widow of Capt. Little, Sr., her brother, Samuel Ballou and nephew, Henry Bal- come. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Sherman also lived here and their four children were born here: Lewis Patch, July 26, 1897, Olive Anna, Sept. 20, 1898, Mary Emily, Oct. 23, 1900 and Newell Paige, Apr. 26, 1909. Tillie Harwood and her mother, Mr. Angell and daughter Hazel in 1926, were also tenants, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Waldo J. B. Putnam and daughter Faith. Mr. Putnam died here Dec. 16, 1942. Faith married Rene Herbert and moved across the Common to the J. Roger Putnam apartment. Mrs. Waldo Putnam is the present tenant.
The Parsonage, east of the brick block, is still used as a home for the ministers and their families, while serving the First Congregational Church across the way. At this writing, Rev. Dr. G. Edgar Wolfe, Mrs. Wolfe and son George E. live there.
James Eion Maclaren, son of Rev. John M. Maclaren (1916-1924), served in World War I and Helen E. Livingston, daughter of Rev. Herbert R. Living- ston (1942-1944), was in the Waves during World War II.
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