USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Milton > The history of Milton, Mass., 1640 to 1877 > Part 38
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On the death of Stephens, Alpheus Babcock returned from Philadelphia, and entered upon the charge of the business for Capt. Mackey. In 1829 Mackey removed to the upper story of Parkman's Market, on Cambridge street, while Babcock was still foreman.
Jonas Chickering came to Boston in 1818, and worked at cabinet-making with James Parker, on Milk street. In 1822 he was working on pianos with John Osborn, who learned the business of Hayt, Babcock, & Appleton. Capt. Mackey moved to Washington street, when Chickering & Mackey joined in the manufacture and sale of pianos.
About this time Alpheus Babcock left Boston to enter the employ of John G. Clem, Philadelphia; while there he received a diploma for the manufacture of the best piano made in America. He was soon recalled to the service of his former employers, and continued with the firm until the time of his death, which occurred in 1842.
He was a man of much inventive talent, constantly inventing and introducing improvements in all parts of the instrument ; for many years before his death he had a private room, to which no one was admitted, where he conducted his experiments ; doubtless his patient study and mechanical ingenuity and skill
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did much to establish the early reputation which Chickering's pianos have so long sustained.
Three men have died, within about twenty years, who com- menced with Appleton & Babcock before the business was moved to Milton, in 1812, and continued in the same establish- ment, through all changes of proprietors, till age and infirmity compelled them to give up labor. Their names are Adam Bent, of South Boston ; Samuel Payson, of Roxbury ; and Joshua Stone, father of Miss Anna Stone, so long and favorably known to the musical public of Boston. It is not improbable that descendants of these men may be still in the employ of the great Chickering establishment at Boston.
THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL SPRING LEG.
At the close of the war of 1812 a young man from the South (it is believed from Maryland), by the name of Dean Wey- mouth, who had lost his left leg in the service of his country, came to Milton for the purpose of obtaining an education especially suited to the new conditions of life appointed him by the fortunes of war.
He secured a home with the family of James Read, in the house opposite the Pound, under the " Big Oak," entered Mil- ton Academy, then under the charge of Rev. Warren Pierce, and, by zealous attention to his studies, gentlemanly bearing, and a charming suavity of manners, won the esteem of his teachers, fellow-students, and the citizens generally.
Our benevolent and inventive citizen, Benjamin Crehore, wishing to befriend the young man, and always eager for any new trial of his ingenuity and skill, conceived the idea of making a wooden leg for the soldier-student, with joints at the knee, at the ankle, and in the foot, suitably adjusted by straps and elastic force, so that it would act as an easy and comfortable substitute for the natural leg. He suggested his ideas to the soldier-student, and was met with a cordial and grateful response, with the confident assurance that the friends interested in his education would supply the money needful for the undertaking. Mr. Crehore commenced the work, and, after long labor and many modifications, succeeded in fitting out an artificial limb, which worked naturally and easily, so that it be- came a great prize to the student.
Capt. Lewis Vose, a saddler by trade, and neighbor to Mr. Crehore, arranged and put in the needful straps, covering, and padding, to secure the leg in place and make it work with com- fort to the wearer.
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Mr. Weymouth used it for a long time ; but, failing to obtain the money to pay for it, he was obliged. to give it up, and it was retained by Mr. Crehore.
There was much talk at the time of the ingenuity and value of the invention, and it was supposed to be the first experiment of the kind ever made in this country.
Subsequently the leg disappeared from the place where it had been deposited, and its fate is unknown. It is supposed that it again passed into the possession of Mr. Weymouth.
To confirm the claim to priority of invention in this case, a statement of the facts has been inserted among "Notes and Queries " of the "Boston Transcript." A year has elapsed without response ; meantime the claim holds good.
THE FIRST RAILROAD.
The first railroad in the United States was built by the Gran- ite Railway Company. The enterprise had its origin in the building of Bunker Hill Monument. The granite used in this structure was quarried in Quincy, at the Bunker Hill quarry, and worked at the sheds of the company situated in Milton. In March, 1826, the Legislature granted to Thomas H. Perkins and others a charter for the construction of a rail- road, and one of the reasons for the road set forth in the peti- tion was that it would greatly lessen the cost of the proposed monument by furnishing greater facilities for transporting the materials to be used in its construction.
The building of this road gave to the granite business, then in its infancy, an impetus which has constantly increased, until it has reached its present magnitude. The railroad was three and one-half miles in length, extending from the quarry to the Neponset river; about one-half of it was in Quincy, and the rest in Milton. It was commenced in May, 1826, and was opened in October of the same year. The gauge was five feet. The rails were pine, a foot deep, covered with an oak plate, and these with flat bars of iron.
FIRST RAILROAD CAR.
The first railroad cars made to carry stone on this road had each four wheels of nearly or quite eight feet in diameter. The axle-tree was arched in the centre, to give more space above the ground. The load was carried on a platform ten feet long by
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
about four feet wide. This platform was placed on the track between the two rails, and the blocks of granite were rolled upon it by men with crowbars ; then the car was run over the loaded platform, and four chains, running over grooved wheels attached to shafting at the top of the car, were hooked into eye-bolts at the corners of the platform, and these chains were wound upon the shaft by wheel or lever power, thus raising the platform and suspending the load between the wheels. The wheelwright and iron work required in the construction of these cars, and in
FIRST.R.R CARTN AMERICA
other wonderful structures and work planned by Gridley Bry- ant, the energetic head of this company, was done by Willard Felt, whose shop was in the stone building at the corner of Adams and Squantum streets, now transformed into the pleas- ant residence of Mr. George W. Hall.
The sketch of this car, in the illustration, is from plans by J. Wesley Martin.
Great expectations were created among our early citizens from the building of this road in regard to the development and increase of the granite business, which have been fully realized. The following is the action of Milton with reference to it: -
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INDUSTRIES OF MILTON.
At a town meeting held April 3, 1826. Voted unanimously that the in- habitants of the Town of Milton most cordially consent that the Granite Railway Company should build their railway in the Town of Milton, so long as said corporation indemnifies and protects the town against charge, prose- cution, or damages caused by said railway's crossing the public highways in said town, and no longer. And said town offers the corporation its best wishes for the success of the enterprise.
SHIP-BUILDING.
The business of ship-building commenced in Milton, on the Neponset river, at a very early date. Shallops of thirty or forty tons burden were built at, or near, the landing-place, now called Gulliver's Creek, as early as 1640, and the business was continued there nearly up to the time of the establishment of the town.
Enoch Badcock, the third son of George, who married Susan- nah Gregory, and died in Milton, 25th of May, 1695, was a ship- wright, and had his ship-yard on land of Joseph Belcher, at that point on the river where a landing-place had been established. The same ship-yard was occupied, a hundred years later, by the ship-builder Daniel Briggs. Here, or near by, Mr. Badcock also built his house, as appears from original documents now in the hands of the writer.
August 10, 1693, Rev. Joseph Belcher secured to Enoch Bad- cock, under bond of £200, a two years' notice for removing his house, also stock and timber of his ship-yard.
In the year 1693 Enoch Badcock built the ship " Mary and Sarah," for Thomas Cooper and William Harris, receiving for the same the sum of £540 15s.
William, the son of Enoch, was also a ship-carpenter, and doubtless took up the work of his father in the same local- ity. William, the second son of William, son of Enoch, was of the same trade with his father and grandfather ; he lived in the house built by his father "near the river," now called the "Stanley House."
In the year 1765 two vessels were built by Vose & Fenno ; one, a schooner, launched May 8, the other, a brig, launched Oct. 29.
Mr. Joseph Blake, a merchant of Boston, residing a part of the time in Milton, employed Mr. Daniel Briggs, of Pembroke, to build a vessel for him at the ship-yard in Milton, which was launched Oct. 26, 1786. This was the commencement of an extensive business in ship-building, continued by Mr. Briggs until 1815.
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
Sep. 30, 1788, Launched in Milton a large vessel built by Daniel Briggs for Ebenezer Wales, Esq., of Dorchester.
In 1788 Mr. Briggs went to Germantown, Quincy, and built for the Canton trade the large ship "Massachusetts," con- tracted for by Major Shaw and Elia Hayden, of Braintree. This was too large to be floated out of the river, and was, at that date, the largest merchant vessel ever launched in the country. He then returned to Milton and carried on the business at his yard, near the foot of Milton Hill, building first-class vessels for many years.
Some of our citizens now living remember the "Kanawah," the "Milton," and the "Jane," and were present at their launching. Capt. Nat. Thomas, from Pembroke, who married Jennie, the daughter of Capt. Briggs, lived in the Briggs house on Milton Hill. He was commander of the "Kanawah," and also of the " Milton ; " the " Milton " was caught in Neponset bridge on her way to Boston, and was got through with diffi- culty. This vessel, though built seventy-four years ago, is a New Bedford whale-ship, still afloat.
1791. A large brig launched at Briggs. - S. Pierce.
Captain Briggs was a man of large frame, stately and com- manding in person, also genial and benevolent in like degree. The following incident shows the humor of the man : On one oc- casion, when busy in his ship-yard, a stranger came up asking for work. "What can you do?" inquired the captain. "I am a ship-carpenter," was the reply. "Can you make a treenail on a rock without dulling your axe ?" - " Yes, sir." - " Well, here is your timber, and here is a sharp axe; let's see you do it." He went to work, finished the treenail, passed it to Mr. Briggs for inspection, and asked if that would do. Mr. Briggs, viewing the excellence of the work, assented, when the man raised his axe and struck a heavy blow upon the rock, breaking the edge and nearly ruining the tool.
" What are you about?" exclaimed the excited captain. The workman replied, " My master always taught me, when I had finished a job, to stick my axe in the block."
" All right," rejoined the mollified captain ; "throw off your coat and go to work."
Mr. Briggs died in Milton Aug. 11, 1825. He was a useful and excellent citizen, honored and respected by all.
At the time of his death he owned the land on the east side of Milton Hill, between Adams street and the foot of the hill, from the Russell land to the old Kinsley estate, including the
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Peabody and the old Foy estates, except the Swift, now Tappan, lot. His daughter, Alice C., born in Milton April 2, 1802, married Capt. Charles Taylor, of Milton, April 28, 1833. She is still living at East Milton, at the advanced age of eighty-five years.
Various other industries occupied the citizens of Milton in early times, most of which are referred to in the chapter on " Old Houses, Cellars, and Landmarks."
TANNERIES.
The tanning business has been here from the first settlement. It commenced before incorporation, with the Pitcher family, in the valley opposite the Unitarian Church. In the progress of years the business has been carried on at the following places : On the west side of Robbins street, near Pine-tree brook, by Ebenezer Tucker; in New State, by the Badcocks; at East Milton, by the Adams's; and west of Mrs. White's house, on Canton avenue, by Major Babcock.
Also the wool and leather dressing or morocco business has been conducted as follows: by David Colson at Matta- pan in 1709; opposite the Billings Tavern, in the west part of the town, by Joseph Billings; on Canton avenue, and in the rear of Mr. Ruggles' house, by Caleb Hobart; at the Landing-place, by General Whitney and Jabez Sumner; and near the junction of Brook road and Canton avenue, by William Davis, who was followed in the business by his son, Walter S. Davis; then George K. Gannett took it for a short time and sold to the present owners, by whom an extensive business is continued to this day.
BAKERIES.
This business has been extensively prosecuted in Milton from the earliest times.
Samuel Tucker, who died in 1843, had a bakery near his house on Hillside street. It was also carried on by his son Joshua. This building was consumed by fire, Oct. 25, 1887.
Artemas Kennedy established a bakery at the corner of Har- land and Hillside streets in 1820, where baking was continued for thirty-six years.1
1 A. Galenga, a well-known author now living in England, and an attaché of the " London Times," was a teacher in Boston and Cambridge in the years 1836-1839. He wrote E. L. Pierce, Oct. 18, 1881 : " The name of Milton, Massachusetts, and the place itself were not unfamiliar to me, who, fifty years ago, greatly relished some biscuits or crackers bearing the inscription Kennedy's Milton, - an article now still, probably, enjoy- ing its former popularity.
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
The bakery of Nathaniel Tucker stood opposite the house of Charles L. Copeland.
Capt. Tucker and Capt. Withington had a bakery on the south side of Randolph avenue, near its junction with Hillside street.
At Algerine corner were the bakeries of Nathaniel Bent and Hezekiah Adams.
Jason Kennedy established a bakery in the house of Deacon N. C. Martin, at Milton village, in 1842, and continued the busi- ness for two or three years, when he erected a bakery on the west side of Randolph avenue, just south of the estate of the late F. B. White; it is now converted into a dwelling-house. This bakery was carried on by Mr. Horatio Webster in 1844-5.
There was a bakery in the building of S. W. Johnson, in the rear of his shoe-store, established 1847; Cox & Taverner occu- pied it for a time. It was relinquished after a few years.
BAKERY OF BENT & CO.
The well-known bakery of Bent & Co. was established in 1801, with a single oven, in the dwelling-house of Josiah Bent, its projector, occupying nearly its present location, where the old house of Mr. Bent still remains. Mr. Bent, the original proprietor, continued in the business until 1830, when Samuel Adams, who married a daughter of Mr. Bent, came from Chelmsford to Milton, and purchased the bakery and farm. In company with Samuel T. Bent, Mr. Adams carried on the bakery, with two ovens, until 1837, under the style of Bent & Co. From 1837 to 1871 Mr. Adams was the sole proprietor ; meanwhile the business had greatly increased, and the products of the bakery had secured a wide and highly favorable reputa- tion. In 1871 Deacon Adams leased the bakery to Horatio Webster, Samuel T. Bent, John A. Shaw, William H. Balkam, and George A. Fletcher for the term of five years. . At the ex- piration of this period it was again leased to the same parties for a second term of five years, before the expiration of which Mr. Adams died, and by will devised the business to George A. Fletcher and Granville J. Young, who are the present propri- etors. This bakery, from the small beginning of 1801, has grown into an extensive business; its goods, which have a world-wide notoriety, are called for in all parts of our land and in other lands.
The manufacture here is confined to the article of crackers, and the specialty is the water-cracker, made first in this country by Josiah Bent. These are still made by hand, from choice selected flour, with the greatest care, and without regard to
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expense in every department of stock and labor, so that a uniformly good article is secured.
The public understands that an article which has not changed for eighty-six years, except for the better, can be depended upon. As a result of this public confidence the business has doubled under the present owners.
ICE.
The business of cutting, storing, and delivering ice in Milton was started by John Myers, about 1853. Before this, John Collins, Jonathan Beals, Adolphus Kinsman, and other indi- viduals engaged in the business in a limited way.
Mr. Myers erected two ice-houses on Balster's brook or Trout brook, near its connection with Pine-Tree brook, where, for several years, he continued the sale and delivery of ice to the people of Milton. After a time, the demand increasing, he pur- chased a tract of land on Mattapan street, through which Pine- Tree brook runs, excavated a large pond, and put up three extensive buildings to meet the growing trade. From year to year the business was leased to individuals, and continued to increase till the decease of Mr. Myers, Feb. 23, 1878.
It was retained in the Myers estate for about three years, and then sold to Mr. J. Frank Pope. A short time previous Jacob A. Turner, who had engaged in the trade in connection with John Tolman, and had been supplied with ice from the Myers establishment, made provision for his own supply of ice, by using the dam of " Aunt Sarah's " brook, near the wool-works, at the junction of Brook road and Canton avenue, and building two ice-houses.
In 1884 Messrs. Pope and Turner united their business under the style of Pope & Turner. At the present time they cut yearly six thousand five hundred tons of ice in the pond of Pope and four thousand five hundred tons in the pond of Turner. They employ twelve men, for six months of the year, and fifteen horses. In housing the ice they use steam, and require the ser- vices of one hundred men in both places, securing one thousand tons daily. They use in their retail business twenty-five or thirty tons daily, during the hot season; about two-thirds of which goes to supply Dorchester trade. Two thousand tons are sold at wholesale.
In 1885 Walter T. Cook, of Scott's Woods, started the busi- ness on Hillside street, securing an overflow near the Blue Hills, which is supplied from the mountain rivulets.
He has three houses, with a storing capacity of three thousand
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tons, and a growing demand for his mountain ice, which will soon make a larger supply needful. In the season of 1886 four double teams were employed in the delivery of the ice through Milton and Dorchester.
FLORICULTURE.
Nathaniel Davenport was the first man in Milton who made the cultivation of flowers and plants a special vocation. He commenced the business as early as 1827, and continued it for thirty years or more. At his decease the business was taken up by his sons. Lewis Davenport has been engaged in the work of raising flowers, in the westerly part of the town, for many years. His greenhouses are located on Canton avenue, in the vicinity of the old Davenport homestead. Nathaniel T. Daven- port is also actively engaged as a florist in the same neighbor- hood. Lyman Davenport, the youngest member of the family, has extensive greenhouses on Brush Hill road, near Paul's bridge. These brothers have attained to great skill and success in this pleasant and lucrative employment.
In 1860 John D. Bradlee built a greenhouse on Canton avenue, near the Lower Mills. After a time he sold to Lyman W. Senter, who erected new conservatories and largely increased the busi- ness ; here Mr. Senter was actively engaged as florist until 1875, the time of his death. Soon after his decease his conservatories passed into the hands of H. S. Messenger, who has increased the area of glass to five thousand square feet, and is enjoying a large degree of success in the delightful occupation of floriculture.
Eight years ago Henry F. Thayer, long a skilful florist in Roxbury, removed to Milton, his old home, and engaged in floriculture on Hillside street, where he is raising flowers for the market with great success.
In 1868 Duncan Welsh erected a greenhouse on Mattapan street, and continued the business of raising flowers till the time of his death. James Welsh succeeded his father, and carried on the business for one year; then it was taken up by William M. Robertson, who, in turn, was succeeded by George Saunders, the present owner. James Welsh has now, in the same vicinity, greenhouses of his own in successful operation.
Not many years ago James Faulkner commenced the cultiva- tion of flowers, on Granite avenue. He has extensive green- houses, and is prosecuting the business on a liberal scale.
In addition to the above there are in Milton fifteen or more private conservatories connected with estates on Milton Hill, and in every section of the town.
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GRANITE BUSINESS.
GRANITE BUSINESS.
Quincy granite, so called, is in reality the kind of rock known to geologists as sienite. It is mostly confined to the territory of Quincy, yet there is a small part of the granite section within the territory of Milton. It is found lying on our extreme southern boundary, adjoining Quincy. It extends from a point a little west of the granite branch of the Old Colony Railroad to where the boundary of Milton approaches the Blue Hills; here the sienite gradually becomes merged into the porphyry of which the Blue Hills are largely composed.
When the first attempts at working this material were made it is now impossible to tell, as the movement was on so small a scale as not to become a matter of town-meeting discussion and of town record, which was often the case in the neighboring town of Quincy, where it was feared the material would be so reduced as to render it impossible to procure a sufficient quan- tity for the ordinary purposes of building cellars, stoning wells, etc.
This was before the use of wedges and gunpowder, which have been so largely used since that time in this branch of industry. It appears that wedges were never used in this part of the country for splitting stone until the year 1803.
The wedge first used was of a kind very different from that in use to-day. It was broad and thin. The hole made to receive this wedge was from one and one-half inches to two inches long, by about two inches wide and one-half an inch thick. The holes were made broad enough and deep enough to receive the wedges, which were inserted between pieces of thin iron, called shims, and driven in by a heavy hammer. These were wholly unlike the round drill-hole which is in use to-day.
A person in traversing the rocky woodland in the southeasterly part of Milton will occasionally come upon a place where one of our forefathers tried his skill, and patience, too, in the attempt to get out some underpinning and steps, and perhaps a few gate- posts. When these attempts were made is not known, as there is no record of the transactions, and the actors have long since passed away. But we are enabled to estimate pretty closely the date of these first operations by the style of the drill-holes which are to be seen in these rocks.
We know that the flat hole was soon superseded by the round one, and where the flat hole is found we may conclude that the work was done very early in the present century.
One of these old quarries, and one of the most important of
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them, may be seen in the land of Mr. Henry J. Rice, not far from his quarry.
In the lack of proper means for breaking the solid ledge, the early workers were obliged to content themselves with using only such stones as laid loose on the surface of the ground ; and having none of the modern contrivances for raising these stones, the difficult method of handling them with oxen and levers was their only resource. Even the "sheer-pole," which was the first contrivance for this purpose, was often too expensive a luxury for these worthy pioneers to employ. The "sheer-pole " consisted of two long, heavy poles of equal length, bound firmly
together at the upper ends, while the lower ends were drawn apart to make them stand steadily. They were held in an up- right position by guys front and back. A luff-tackle was fast- ened to the top where the poles were joined together, and brought down and attached to the body to be raised. To one end of the rope a pair of oxen was hitched, and in this way the work of raising stone was effected. This method, much easier than that of rolling them upon sticks of timber, by hand-power alone, was, nevertheless, extremely difficult and tedious in com- parison with the manner of doing such work at the present day, -with derricks capable of lifting thirty or forty tons, and some- times even much greater weights, worked with the greatest precision and safety by steam-power.
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