USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > The history of Medway, Mass., 1713-1885 > Part 23
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THE MASONIC AND SECRET ORDERS.
CHARLES RIVER LODGE, F. & A. M., located at West Medway ; place of meeting, Masonic Hall, Bowen's Block ; organized March 9, 1870, and chartered, March 8, 1871 ; A. L. 5871. Officers : Clark P. Harding, W. M. ; George R. Temple, S. W .; Edward S. Harding, J. W. ; Orville R. Kelsey, Treas .; George W. Bullard, Sec'y ; Almond G. Partridge, Chap. ; Alonzo H. Gay, Marsh. ; George H. Daniels, S. D. ; George Harding, J. D. ; Ed- ward S. Pond, S. S .; James H. Wood, J. S .; S. F. Metcalf, I. S. ; Albert
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W. Barton, Tyler. PAST MASTERS : Alfred Ashton, James M. Seavey, William A. Mckean, Roswell K. Colcord, Charles W. Seavey, George H. Daniels, Clark P. Harding. This lodge has a membership of fifty-three.
KNIGHTS OF HONOR. NORFOLK LODGE, No. 635. Instituted, May 31, 1877. Meets the second and fourth Thursday of each month in Odd Fellows' Hall. P. D., Albert W. Barton ; Dic., George A. Abbe ; V. D., George H. Daniels. Asst. D., John H. Bickley ; Reporter, Frederick L. Fisher; Fin. Reporter, Charles W. Seavey; Treas., James M. Seavey ; Guide, John H. Crimmings ; Guardian, N. P. Noss ; Sentinel, William H. Norton ; Chap., Francis W. Cummings ; Trustees, Frederick L. Fisher, Francis W. Cummings, Metcalf Adams. Thirty members.
THE EUREKA COUNCIL, NO. 5, ROYAL ARCANUM, was instituted July II, 1877. Officers : Albert W. Barton, R. ; Edward S. Pond, V. R. ; Mil- lard Fuller, O. ; Metcalf Adams, Sec'y ; George H. Andrews, Coll. ; War- ren E. Blaisdell, Treas. ; the Rev. J. E. Burr, Chap. ; Nelson A. Bills, G. ; George L. Pond, W. ; William Colvin, S. Past Regents, William Colvin, Olney P. Newell, George L. Pond, and O. R. Kelsey. Thirty-four mem- bers. Regular meetings first and third Mondays of each month, at Me- chanic's Hall, Main Street, West Medway.
I. O. G. T., MORNING STAR LODGE, No. 59. Regular meetings Friday evenings in Mechanic's Hall, West Medway. W. C. T., Alfred Daniels ; W. V. T., Mrs. George Proctor; W. S., Jennie Scott; W. F. S., Lizzie Smith ; W. Treas., Albert Smith ; W. C., Mrs. Nathan Adams ; W. M., Horace Force ; W. O. G., Ernest Adams; W. I. G., Nathan Adams ; P. W. C. T., Frank Greenwood ; W. D. M., May Hunt ; W. A. S., Willie Hitchcock ; W. R. H. S., Ruth Adams ; W. L. H. S., Libbie Rose ; D. G. W. C. T., Isaac C. Greenwood.
I. O. O. F., MEDWAY LODGE, No. 163. Instituted October 17, 1873. Meets every Friday evening at Odd Fellows' Hall, Sanford Hall Building. N. G., Sumner H. Clark ; V. G., Nelson H. Damon ; Sec'y, Clark P. Hard- ing ; Permanent Sec'y, Samuel G. Clark ; Treas., James H. Wood ; Warden, George A. Abbe ; Conductor, Erastus W. Cary ; I. G., John H. Ingraham ; O. G., C. Henry Richardson ; Chap., John H. Crimmings ; Sup. of N. G., Albert W. Barton, Alvin E. Clough; Sup. of V. G., James A. Snow, James H. Bragg ; Scene Sup., George S. Ryan, Joseph T. Waite ; S. P. G., Frederick L. Fisher ; Trustees, Clark Partridge, Edward S. Harding, Henry S. Partridge.
THE SIXTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF ODD FELLOWSHIP IN AMERICA, CELEBRATED APRIL 26, 1885.
FAITH. HOPE, AND CHARITY.
" All Institutions which tend to elevate, socially and morally, their mem- bers are worthy of support, and of more than a mere passing notice. Sun- day last being the sixty-sixth anniversary of the introduction of the order of Odd Fellows into this country, it was deemed a fitting occasion by the mem- bers of Medway lodge No. 163, I. O. O. F., to make some public recogni- tion of the event. The anniversary falling as it did upon the Sabbath day, was not observed in as brilliant a manner as it would have been upon a
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secular day, but the Medway lodge voted at their meeting to attend public worship at the Congregational church to listen to a sermon specially adapted to the occasion. The gentle rain of the morning prevented as large an at- tendance as was anticipated, and many of the venerable patriarchs of the order who had hoped to participate, were deterred from so doing by the in- clemency of the weather.
" The lodge, together with many visiting brethren from Milford, West Medway, and Franklin, assembled at their rooms in Sanford hall, where, after certain ceremonies, known only to the initiated, they formed in line, and in full regalia, under the guidance of Grand Marshall Frank W. Cummings, marched to the church. They made a very imposing and impressive ap- pearance during their march, and it afforded us much pleasure to see the active interest taken by so many of our well-known citizens. Zest was added to the occasion by the presence of Dist. Deputy Grand Master David H. Heard, of Milford, and other dignitaries who came especially for the event.
" After reaching the church they marched in, and taking the seats at the front and to the right of the pulpit, listened with earnest and intense interest to the pastor, the Rev. R. K. Harlow, who, at the beginning of his discourse, mentioned as his text: ' Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, be- cause he loved him as his own soul' ; I Samuel, xviii., 3, and after alluding to it as a beautiful picture of human fellowship, said this was indeed a model alliance, because the young men being of about the same age and having many traits in common, made the alliance not only natural but fitting.
" It was unselfish, strengthened by adversity, and was consummated in the true spirit of piety. The narrative of this covenant gives some suggestions which may be of use to us. It makes prominent the tendency among per- sons to band together, and this in itself is a fair measure of the degree of civilization, in any age, among any people, for civilization creates interde- pendencies and these naturally necessitate cooperation.
"The education, the pleasure, the work, the benevolence, as well as the social and moral redemption of the world, are all carried on and accomplished by persons in alliance. The preacher, quite at length, graphically and effec- tively developed the advantages resulting from these alliances, and then went on to speak of the motives that prompt such alliances, saying they were commonly made for mutual advantage and for self-interest, but that there is a type of alliance that rises above those motives, one that is projected in pure unselfishness and ratified in the sight of God, which brings men into fellowship, not from the consideration of what they themselves expect to get, but what in a spirit of disinterestedness they may be permitted to give.
" Such alliances are operated on the principle of self-sacrifice. Their sym- pathies are not limited by ordinary bounds. 'He who is in need is neigh- bor,' and, furthermore, their intentions are not only to benefit the bodies of men, but their souls as well ; not only to look to the welfare of their physi- cal condition, but also to their spiritual welfare ; to redeem the whole man.
" There exists no organization which so conscientiously does this as the church of Christ, and so among all organizations the church stands preëmi- nent ; in fact, all that is best about these humanitarian associations has not only been inspired, but suggested by the presence of Christianity in the world.
" The speaker then addressed the representatives of the order, saying in
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substance : Three things now abideth ; Faith, through which are visible the glories of eternity ; Hope, by which our steps are directed toward them ; Charity, whose broad mantle relieves many ; and alluding to the principles and charitable works of the order, closed with two suggestions: First, that men will judge of the society more by the lives of its members than by their published principles ; Second, that Odd Fellowship, good as it may be, is not a substitute for personal piety. Membership in this order is not an equivalent for discipleship of Christ, nor can it offer the same comforts to the weary soul as can the true Christian religion."
PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY. EAST MEDWAY GRANGE, NO. 112. Organ- ized December 4, 1883. Meets first and third Wednesdays of each month at Partridge Hall, East Medway. Master, Louis La Croix ; Overseer, Moses C. Adams; Lecturer, A. L. Ware ; Steward, George C. Thrasher ; Assis- tant, E. F. Lovell ; Chaplain, the Rev. E. O. Jameson ; Treasurer, H. E. Hosmer ; Secretary, Mrs. Jane A. Cook ; Gate keeper, G. W. Follansbee ; Ceres, Mrs. Laura S. Hosley ; Pomona, Mrs. Harriet La Croix ; Flora, Miss Winnie J. Lovell ; Lady Assistant Steward, Miss Eliza B. Richardson. There are about eighty members ..
IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, ROCKVILLE. President, Mrs. E. A. Jones ; Vice-President, Mrs. J. F. Springer ; Secretary and Treasurer, Miss Addie A. Clark ; Directresses, Mrs. J. F. Springer, Mrs. A. L. Waite, Mrs. J. Smith, Miss Sarah F. Clark.
THE HOME CIRCLE, ANCHOR COUNCIL, No. 75, organized January 18, 1884. Meets second and fourth Thursdays of each month in Partridge Hall, East Medway. Leader, Charles La Croix ; Vice-Leader, E. Eugene Adams ; Instructor, Lillian L. Fuller ; Past Leader, Moses C. Adams ; Secretary, J. B. Daniels ; Financier, Nelson Martin ; Treasurer, M. A. Ware ; Guide, Esther W. La Croix ; Warden, J. S. Adams; Sentinel, J. W. Tuttle ; Trustees, A. F. Lovell, J. W. Tuttle, H. C. Hosmer.
C. L. S. C. This society meets alternate Monday evenings at the houses of the members in West Medway.
THE OFFICERS .- Vincent Moses, President ; George Wheat, Vice-Pres- ident ; L. Metcalf Pierce, Secretary.
THE ZENOPHON BRANCH meets in the Rockville Chapel.
THE OFFICERS .- Mrs. S. F. Bucklin, President; Miss Addie A. Clark, Vice-President ; Miss Amy C. Jones, Secretary ; Mrs. J. H. Ingraham, Treasurer.
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THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
THE WILDER DWIGHT POST, 105, of the Grand Army of the Republic, was organized and had a vigorous life for several years ; S. J. Clark, Com- mander. Subsequently there was instituted in its place
THE JAMES H. SARGENT POST, 130. This Post of the Grand Army of the Republic meets at its hall, in Bowen's Block, every Thursday evening. Commander, W. J. Arbuckle ; S. V. C., Charles E. Burr ; J. V. C., Emory Munyan ; Chaplain, G. H. Greenwood ; Adjutant, George Pond ; Quarter- master, Justus C. Hitchcock ; Sergt .- Maj., William G. White; 2d Sergt., Josiah Morse ; Surg., P. A. Collins ; O. D., Henry Purdy ; O. G., Henry A. Wood. Delegates to Department Encampment, E. L. Videtto and H. A. Walker.
There have been various other societies and organizations formed in town, having an existence longer or shorter, all contributing to the better develop- ment of social life and public improvement.
The numerous temperance societies have done much to keep alive right sentiment and to aid in the suppression of the liquor traffic. The Washing- tonian movement of forty years ago made such lasting impression on the people of the eastern part of the town, that from that day to this no place of sale has been tolerated, and scarcely a drinking man found among them. This part of Medway became Millis, and at their first annual town-meeting the question of " License " was submitted without a single vote cast in its favor.
The Old Apple Tree.
THE INDUSTRIES OF THE TOWN.
FARMS AND FARMING.
1714-1885.
THE founders of the town were owners of farms, and lived by farming. They submitted themselves with sweet content to the Divine regulation an- nounced to Adam, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."
Their lands were not remarkable for fertility, although in some sections of the town the farms were very productive, and the poorer lands were often joined with more or less acres of meadow which yielded quantities of hay for the labor of the cutting. This was some compensation for lighter crops of corn. But nowhere in the town are the farms like the irrigated lands of Egypt, which yield three crops a year ; yet, with a husbandry like that of the Chinese, which carefully enriches the soil, and suffers no weeds to grow, the farmers have always found their toil fairly remunerative. Of the more than sixteen thousand acres within the town, nearly six thousand acres are pasture and meadow, and somewhat more than three thousand acres are arable lands, and in a fair state of cultivation.
By the census of 1880 there were in the town one hundred and fifty-nine farms, giving employment to one hundred and sixty-four farmers, yielding a production valued at nearly sixty thousand dollars.
There are excellent farms in the western part of the town along Chicken Brook, where the earliest settlers of the New Grant located, but some of the best farms are situated in the easterly part of the town, and by the recent
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division are embraced in the town of Millis. These farms lie in the vicinity of Boggastow Brook, and among them are the Maplewood, the Evergreen Place, and the Oak Grove.
OAK GROVE FARM embraces several hundreds of acres of land, much of it in a high state of cultivation, and is devoted to the production of milk and high-bred stock. Its value and productiveness are being increased every year by a large outlay in improvements, and by bringing long neglected lands under cultivation.
THE SCYTHE AND EDGED TOOL FACTORY.
1784-1884.
COLONEL AMOS TURNER established a scythe and edged tool factory in Rockville soon after the War of the Revolution. He utilized a portion of the water-power belonging to Richardson's grist mill.
In 1818 Messrs. Comfort and Dean Walker, father and son, purchased of Colonel Turner's estate the privilege, and erected a cotton factory and machine shop. These works were enlarged from time to time, and for some years quite a business was carried on. In 1827 Mr. Dean Walker transferred his business to Baltimore, Md.
While in Rockville, Mr. Walker employed two Englishmen, one of them, French by name, a very skillful workman, the other, Bestwick, an operator of lace looms.
These men had so much to say of the lace manufacturing that upon French's assuring Mr. Walker that he could build a loom, he told him to do so at his risk and expense. The loom with its 1,260 shuttles was, in time, built, and thread imported for use. This machine was operated by Best- wick, and for years was one of the mechanical wonders of the region for miles around. Ladies, young and old, found pleasant and profitable employ- ment in embroidering with it.
Deacon Timothy Walker, a son of Comfort and a brother of Mr. Dean Walker, came into the general management of the business. The grist mill was purchased and became subordinate to the thread, wadding, and batting interests of the factory, and Rockville became a flourishing little village. These mills were destroyed by fire in 1884.
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Just below Rockville there was a slight fall which Moses Harding used for a cotton manufacturing establishment. This was called Baltimore, because Mr. Harding had talked of going to Baltimore before settling there.
THE CABINET MANUFACTURE.
1778-1878.
This industry was carried on for a hundred years but never or. an exten- sive scale. Major Luther Metcalf was the first to set up the business in 1778. He had a shop in the Village and employed a few workmen. Cabinet making was then done entirely by hand, no machinery.being used. Captain Eleazar Daniels carried on this business for some years in East Medway. The chair and communion table with which the new meeting-house, in 1816, was furnished were the work of his hands. In West Medway, Mr. Stephen Adams commenced cabinet making in 1826, and continued it until about 1878, when his age and failing health compelled him to relinquish all active labor. Mr. Adams was a deacon of the church for several years, and died in 1885, universally respected. These skilled workers in wood have no successors, so that cabinet making has ceased in the town.
THE MANUFACTURE OF STRAW BRAID AND BONNETS.
1805-1885.
The industrial applications of the straw of wheat for plaiting or braiding are very ancient. Plaiting straw was one of the oldest arts of the Egyptians, and is mentioned by Heroditus and other early writers.
The first account of it in Europe is found in the records of the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, who observed that the peasants of Lorraine wore hats made of straw plait or braid, and that the manufacture was one of profit. About 1562 she introduced the manufacture of straw into Scotland, and later, her son, James I., introduced it into England. And it became an established branch of industry in Bedfordshire which has ever since been the great centre of the straw business.
The braid was first made of whole straw, but in the time of George I. split straw began to be used. By splitting the straw, desirable degrees of fine- ness were secured. Fine straw plaits can be made from only two kinds of wheat, viz., the White Chittim which is the best,. and the Red Lammas.
The principal places of manufacture of fine plaits are Tuscany and Leg- horn, in Italy, and Luton and Dunstable, in England. The manufacture of this straw braid and bonnets in these places in England employ over seventy thousand persons. Not long after the close of the Revolution this industry was introduced into America, but not until about 1825 did it come to be of much importance. For some years straw goods were made from straw raised and braid made in this country, but of late years fifty per cent. of the straw manufactured here is brought from Canton, China, while the Luton straw from England and the Leghorn from Italy are largely used. More than one-half the straw goods manufactured in America are made in Massachu- setts, and of these Norfolk County produces the greater part.
The manufacture of straw braid was commenced about 1805, in the town of Wrentham, Mass., and it soon spread into the surrounding towns of
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Franklin, Dedham, Foxboro, and Medway. Straw braid was made in the families, and sold and exchanged at the stores for goods. It was about 1810 that Captain William Felt, who kept a store in the Village, employed several young women to make the braid into bonnets, of whom Mrs. Edena (Holbrook) Sanford was one and Mrs. Sewall Clark was another. At a later period Mrs. Horace Richardson, in East Medway, did a thriving busi- ness. Mr. Charles Cheever, about 1830, began to weave imported straw from Tuscany, in Italy, and had many looms in private families, and erected a building to carry on the business on a larger scale, but did not for some reason achieve success. The building was afterward used as tenements, and was finally burned when occupied by the Hon. Clark Partridge as a boot shop. In 1837 there were 32,200 straw bonnets manufactured in Medway, valued at $40,400.
Mr. M. M. Fisher, in 1840, came from Westboro, where he had resided for four years, and established the straw goods manufacture in all its branches, substantially as now carried on. He occupied at first what is now the dwelling-house of Mr Lucius Taylor, which had recently been occupied by Milton H. Sanford as a boot shop, and who had gone to erect a mill at what is now Cordaville, in Southboro. This building was occupied for about four years, when the business was removed to what is now the dwelling- house of Captain David Daniels. In 1847 it was removed to what was then called the Odd Fellows' Hall, erected by Mr. Amos Fisher, and confined to the first story and basement of the building until 1857, when the whole building was used, to which three additions have since been made, which, with the boot shop building on Pine Street, and a stable, with nearly two acres of land, now constitute the Medway Straw Works. Mr. Elias Metcalf was a partner with Deacon Fisher from 1842, for about eight years. From 1850 to 1854 Deacon Fisher was out of health, but the business was carried on by George Richardson, Elias Metcalf, and David Daniels, afterward it was resumed by Fisher & Daniels. In 1857 Abram S. Harding was taken into partnership with Deacon Fisher, under the firm name of Fisher & Hard-, ing. Subsequently, Oscar M. Bassett came into the company, and in 1863 Deacon Fisher retired from the business, which was conducted by Harding & Bassett until 1878, when Mr. Bassett retired, and Mr. E. S. Harding was received as a partner with his father, under the firm name of A. S. Harding & Son, which continued till the unexpected and lamented death of his father occurred in June, 1882. During this period of forty years a very large number of persons have received remunerative employment from the indus- try, and a large amount of money has been distributed for labor in this and other towns in the vicinity.
Others have conducted this industry in town for short periods : John W. Partridge, at West Medway, removing from there to the city of Washington ; Samuel Metcalf and A. J. Snow used what is now the old Catholic Church for the straw goods business for two or three years from 1853, and George P. Metcalf succeeded them, and afterwards, in 1866, erected a fine building at the junction of Village and Holliston streets, upon the site of the dwelling- house of Samnel Hodgson, which was consumed by fire, December 15, 1868, at a loss of some $10,000, besides the law library, and other books and papers, belonging to the town.
-JASMonKS. 26
THE VILLAGE STRAW FACTORY. D. D. CURTIS, PROPRIETOR.
1885
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In 1854, as appears by the industrial statistics of the state, the number of straw bonnets made in Medway was 100,000, and employés, 200, and in 1874 the value of straw goods manufactured was $170,000, ranking in value next to the boot industry, which was $953,200.
As furnishing additional information in regard to the straw manufacture and the straw braid industry in their incipient history, a report is here in- serted, made to the Norfolk County Agricultural Society, September, 1859, by a committee appointed to that service, of which the Hon. M. M. Fisher was chairman, as follows :
" REPORT ON STRAW MANUFACTURES. The committee on straw manufactures regret there were so few specimens of straw goods presented for premium or exhi- bition. At this season of the year it will always be impossible for manufacturers of bonnets to contribute many kinds of these goods without making a considerable sac- rifice. The committee, however, hope that the liberal premiums offered by the Society will hereafter, as in some years past, secure large contributions from the bonnet manufacturers of the county, who, if they be ' men of straw,' are neither de- ficient in private enterprise or public spirit.
There was one bonnet in the exhibition this year eminently suggestive. It was made and contributed by Mrs. Betsey Baker, wife of Mr. Obed Baker, of West Dedham, now seventy-three years old. It was a fac simile of the first straw bonnet made in this country, made, too, by the same hands that plaited the first braid and sewed the first bonnet produced by American skill and labor. This bonnet deservedly attracted much attention, and is entitled to have its history stated in full in the volume of the Trans- actions of the Society.
The committee find in the Transactions of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry for the year 1858, pages 155 to 167, a ' Sketch of the rise of Straw Braiding for Ladies' Hats and Bonnets,' prepared by the Hon. W. R. Staples, Secretary of the Society.
Although Rhode Island claims to have given birth to the inventor of straw braiding, Norfolk County has given her a residence for nearly sixty years, and enjoys in herself, and exhibits to the world the fruits of her inventive skill to a greater degree than any other section of the country.
The origin of a branch of industry by which so many of our people subsist, ought to be more generally known, and the life or, at least, the name of one who has been such a public benefactor as Mrs. Baker, ought to be commemorated in the annals of this Society.
The committee would therefore recommend the insertion of the article referred to in the proceedings of this Society, and that to Mrs. Baker be awarded the Society's diploma for a ' Fac simile of the Original American Straw Bonnet,' both being made by herself.
M. M. FISHER, Chairman."
From the sketch referred to in the above report it appears, so far as known, that the straw braiding business commenced in very early times in Tuscany, or one of the Italian states. At first bonnets and hats of straw were im- ported into England ; subsequently the braid was imported, and from England they were imported into this country, but the date is unknown. As early as 1798 Colonel John Whipple had in his store in Providence, R. I., Duns- table straw bonnets which his wife, Mrs. Naomi Whipple, trimmed to suit customers. There were residing in Providence at that date Joel Metcalf and family, recently come from Attleboro, Mass. Mr. Metcalf's daughter, Betsey Metcalf, born March 29, 1786, then a young miss of twelve years, greatly admired these bonnets of Dunstable straw, which she saw exposed for sale in the windows of Colonel Whipple's store.
Little Betsey Metcalf determined to have a Dunstable straw bonnet in
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some wise, even if she had to make it. She had never seen a piece of straw braid, but put her wits to work and experimented on oat straw that was grown on her father's farm and cut in June of 1798.
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