USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Walpole > The story of Walpole, 1724-1924; a narrative history prepared under authority of the town and direction of the Historical Committee of Bi-Centennial > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
"ye Town Excepted of ye Present that Decon Ezekiel Robbins Gaue to ye Town) viz (ye School house that he Built for ye Towns Use) viz (so many of ye Inhabitance as it will accomedate in the Place it Now Stands; and also the Land where the Pound is Now Built he Freely Gaue to this Town so Long as There is a Pound Continued There." ?
Thus Walpole came into ownership of its first school building.
Thereafter steady progress was made in the development of the school system, and before many years schoolhouses were built in the various parts of the town. In 1768 a "school house near Willets" is mentioned;3 and in 1772 the residents of the Plain agreed to build a new school and to "Sett the house at the corner of Mr. Epheraim Clarks Land where the New Road comes into the Great Road." The struc-
1 Lewis, 155, 156. Dedham Hist. Reg., XI, 35.
? Town Rec., I, 162. 3 Ibid., 224.
[289]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
ture was to be 21 feet long, 18 feet wide and nine feet from floor to eaves. 1
School sessions were held at the Center and the North, West and South parts of the town as early as 1763 when 16 pounds was granted "for a wreading & writing school" in four parts of the town, and an additional 8 pounds for "a Women School" to be held where most con- venient .? By 1776 there was a school at the East end.3
Through the first century the schools were run haphazard by the Selectmen, probably with the assistance of the minister. But in 1826 the first School Committee was elected. Its mem- bers were Ebenezer Stone, John A. Gould, Harvey Ruggles, David Morse and Daniel Kingsbury.4
James Hartshorn, who attended school at this period, has left us an interesting picture of life within the walls of the old building at the Center.
"The school house," he wrote, "was situated north east of the house where Mrs. Willard Lewis now lives back in the field in a line with the road. On the opposite side where the com- mon is now, there was no common there then, there was a stone wall running to a line with the corner of Elm St. with a row of apple trees in- . side. It was an ungraded school and the first
1 Original agreement owned by Mrs. Bonney of Weymouth.
? Town Rec., I, 204. 3 Town Rec., II, 3. 4 Ibid., 427.
[290]
FRAGMENTS
teacher I remember going to was Caleb Wilder, brother of Dr. Wilder. He was a short thick * set man about forty years old. At recess he would go over to the tavern and get drunk so that by the afternoon he could not get out from behind his desk.
"The old school house had two rising alleys then and only one door for entrance, and it was warmed by a box iron stove. It had an open oven in front where the girls and boys used to warm their dinners. In winter the scholars had to make the fire when they got to school. The wood was cut and piled up in the school house.
"At recess we used to bring in snow and fill the rising aisles and slide down on our sleds. Some of the girls used to braid straw rolling it from seat to seat way down to the stove.
"At that time books were very scarce and high. The poor families of children had to depend upon their richer neighbors for their books. The class was arranged so that one book would answer for a good many children. It was first given to the one at the head and as each one finished reading it was passed down the line.
"The first thing we learned was the alphabet, and for that purpose my book was the Assembly Catechism which contained the alphabet and some other exercises. Each letter of the alpha-
[291 ]
.
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
bet was illustrated and had a couplet given as an exercise to learn. Some of them were:
In Adams fall we sinned all. A dog doth bite a thief at night.
Phinnehas, Zachariah and Josias all were pious. A rod for a fool's back.
"We used to get rewards of merit, or certificates as they were called, from Mr. Wilder. They were about four inches square and were embel- lished with some Bible scene from the Old Testament.
"Monday we were called up to say how many chapters of the Bible we had read during Sun- day and we had to repeat the names of the Old and New Testament in chorus beginning at Genesis &c. We would get to reciting and would say anything that came into our head and the teacher couldn't stop us until we got tired and could think of no other names to say.
"At the close of the school at night we had to say the multiplication table in chorus up to 144. I learned the multiplication table in this way long before I knew much about figures and it was of great assistance to me in after years when I came to arithmetic.
"We had as many different arithmetics as there were scholars to study them. I remember three of them, Adams, Dabols and Pikes.
[292]
1
£
T
FRAGMENTS
"Saturday afternoon was devoted to the cate- chism and once a month Parson Morey used to come in and hear us. Mr. Morey was the only visitor at that time in the school. When Mr. Storer came he took a great interest in the public schools and they steadily improved. Different teachers were engaged, some of them being Har- vard students.
"In those days Sunday began about three o'clock Saturday afternoon and ended Sunday at 3 o'clock. We were called in Saturday to hear the Bible read and were catechised; but Sunday was changed some years after beginning at 12 o'clock Saturday night and ending at 12 o'clock Sunday night.
"The Duties of the teacher after school were to rule our copy books which we made ourselves with paper covers, and set a copy for either coarse or fine hand, of some word or sentence which we would write a copy of next day. There was no memorizing at that time and no lessons to get at home or in fact at school.
"We used quills for pens and the teacher had to make them after school.
"We used to play all sorts of tricks under the seats at school. There were benches on two sides and one in the middle all open underneath. We could sit anywhere we had a mind to. Some one of the boys would crawl under the seats way down to the stove and pinch a. small boy
[ 293 ]
C
1
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
and make him cry out, and the teacher would see no apparent cause for his doing so.
"We would also make a pin lottery and go round underneath the seats to the girls and boys and sell the tickets (two pins for a ticket), and distribute the prizes all in a half a day and the teacher not know a thing about it.
"One day a boy came to the school house on horse back to dismiss his brother. Instead of dismounting at the door, he rode right into the school house up to the teacher's desk, and told him to dismiss his brother.
"After being two or three years in the old school house we moved into the new school house which was the lower part of the house now occupied by Dr. Reynolds, and the first teacher we had there was Mr. Palmer Morey, son of Rev. Geo. Morey.
"The first lady teacher we had was Miss Robichaux who was a French Canadian. Her father and mother were lost at sea on the way here and she and her sister, Mrs. John Morse, mother of John R. Morse, came here to live."
It is an interesting speculation as to whether this famous Walpole teacher of three-quarters of a century ago was related to the Acadian family of the same name that was in town in colonial days.
Though the schoolbooks mentioned by Mr. Hartshorn are unknown to present teachers,
[294 ]
FRAGMENTS
there is in existence a Walpole schoolbook so old as to have been regarded as an educational antique even 100 years ago. It is a "Book of Arethmatick," hand sewed and written in ink, dated Nov. 23, 1751. This was used by the fourth William Robbins (there having been many of the name in town) and is now owned by Mr. Dana W. Robbins.
In spite of there being a School Committee, the schools were run very largely by the resi- dents of the various school districts, which numbered seven by 1862. The inhabitants elected prudential committees who had charge of selecting the teachers.1 It was not an ideal system. There was little or no standardiza- tion. One school would be good and the next poor, according to the experience and ability of the teachers. The school committeemen were constantly urging the districts to stop making frequent changes of teachers, as was a common practice.2 "The town that puts up with the errors and mistakes of a young man should have wisdom enough to avail themselves of the attainments of his riper years" was the counsel given in 1851.3
Space does not permit of any extended ac- count of the development of Walpole schools to their present high state of efficiency. In 1851'
1 Town Rec., IV, 86. 2 School Committee Rept., 1855, 9.
' School Committee Rept., 1851, 12.
[295 ]
£
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
there were six schools with a total enrollment of 389 pupils, maintained at a cost of $1547.89. This was a decrease in numbers from 1844 when there were 398 enrolled 1 and the figure dropped to 353 in 1861.2 Today there are 1625 children in eight fine schools, including a $50,000 high school, built in 1907.
There is also in town the Norfolk County Agricultural School, the main building of which was erected at a cost of $52,000 and dedicated in 1917. The school farm of 40 acres is used for agricultural experiments and the instruction of students by practical means.
The problem of caring for the poor was one that taxed the meager resources of the town in its early days and led the town fathers to take every possible precaution against having the indigent fall upon the town's hands. Just as the Nation today turns back at its gates all strangers who seem likely to become public charges, so in the early days of Walpole, all newcomers who were for the same or other reasons thought undesirable were promptly warned out of town.3
It should be noted, however, that persons so warned were not necessarily actually driven from the town. The official "warning out" was
1 School Committee Rept., 1844.
2 School Committee Rept., 1861. 3 Walpole Warnings.
[296 ]
1
الحالةالـ
FRAGMENTS
sufficient to relieve the town of responsibility in event of the person becoming a public charge and placed the burden on the colony.1
Residents of towns were required by an old law to give notice to the town authorities whenever strangers came to live with them. Thus we find one "Rachael Wilkesion" warned out of town in October, 1748,2 but evidently delaying her departure. In the following Feb- ruary a town meeting came together "to hear a Pettion of Jeremiah Dexter Conserning a fine he has Exposed him self too by taking Rachel Wilkson into Town & for the Town to hear a Pettion of Daniel Smith Concerning a fine he had Exposed him self too by takein George Aldridge into town." 3 As a rule the offenders had some plausible excuse and were commonly excused from payment.
That the vigilance of the selectmen was justified is evidenced by a petition they 'sent to the Royal Governor and Council in 1736 asking reimbursement for money expended on the care of one John Mundun, who, it was ex- plained, had been "Providentially Cast in the Town of Walpole and Visited with Convoltion fits." The unfortunate stranger was cared for by the town's tavern keeper, Ezekiel Robbins, for 23 weeks, at a cost of 20 shillings a week. On top of that it was necessary to call in Dr. 1 Benton. ? Town Rec., I, 110. 3 Ibid., 116.
[ 297 ]
1
---
1
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Benjamin Ware of Wrentham to provide medical attention. The physician's bill amounted to £6-3-6.1
It was just such outlays of public funds as this that the "warnings" were designed to, and did very largely, prevent. The town had troubles of its own, without providing for strangers.
In 1749 Robert Worsely appeared before the selectmen and "Did Declare that he was not able to maintaine his Daughter Mercy neither to Cloath her she being Naked and Desired them to take Care of her." 2
To ask for support for a member of one's family was not unusual in those days, or even later. Many years afterwards we find a towns- man being paid for the care of his own grand- mother.3 It was difficult for many families to eke out the barest living. This we know to be true in the case of the Worsleys, for both Robert and his wife died as town charges some years later.
Shortly afterwards the Selectmen ordered "Petter Lyon" paid one pound five shillings "for assisting Worsely in defraying the charge of Procuting Ebenezer Fales one Mercy Worselys account it being fines that was Lodged in the Treasurers hands for the Poor of this Town." 4
1 Mass. Arch., CXIV, 154 to 157.
? Town Rec., 117.
: Lewis, 142.
4 Town Rec., 117.
[298 ]
1
FRAGMENTS
This is somewhat cryptic; but it would seem that Fales, who was Town Treasurer, had been unwilling to produce funds for the care of Mercy Worsely, and that the persuasive powers of Lyon (at that time schoolmaster at the Centre, 1 and whose chief claim to distinction is that he was father of 21 children,2 had been called in as attorney. Just how far the business of "pro- cuting" went we can not say.
It had been a long-established custom to set aside the income from fines as a fund for the poor. Thomas Clap, one of the first selectmen and constables, had been, involuntarily, the founder of this fund; for back in 1726 he had been fined 20 shillings, to be used for "ye poor" because he gave a "false Bill for his Estate to the Selectmen." 3 In other words, the worthy man had been too modest in appraising his estate for taxation.
The fund thus established served for many years, being added to by frequent appropriation to provide for those in town upon whom fortune frowned. We find the town doctors and those from neighboring towns being called in to lend their skill to help the unfortunates 4 as various accounts for "doctrine" (doctoring) attest. There also appear charges for a "pettecoat " 5 and "a Baize Gown." 6 The recipient of the
1 Town Rec., I, 120. 2. Lyon Memorial, 329. 3 Town Rec., I, 8
4 Town Rec., I, 204, 229, 232. 5 Ibid., 148. 6 Ibid., 222.
[299 ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
baize gown, two years later, with her children, came under the full care of the town.1 There was no town poorhouse then, and the woman was put out "to John Halls for half a Dollar pr Week." She remained a town charge until her death in 1776.2
At the death of Deacon Robbins 3 he left, by will, "for the use of the Poor of this Town for- ever" £70.16.7 which was turned over to the Authorities in December, 1773, by Joshua Clap, Executor under the will. 4
We find the work of the Grim Reaper among the town's charges recorded in many ways- "for Digin a Grave for Robert Worsley in 1773; 5 and, five years later, a "Winding .. Sheet" for his widow, with an appropriation for her coffin and grave. 6 Again, the town was concerned over a member of one of the old families who "has no place of abode and. Goes Stroleing about ... "
It became a custom to "bid off" the town's charges to whatever person agreed to care for them at the lowest price, "the town to find them Cloaths and Doctring in case of Sickness." 7 Thus the indigent were shifted from pillar to post from year to year as the bidding went. In 1798 the dependants were put out at rates
1 Town Rec., I, 232. 2 Ibid., 289. 3 Ante 209.
‘ Town Rec., I, 259. 5 Ibid., 253, 254. 6 Town Rec., II, 17. 7 Ibid., 17
[ 300 ]
44
FRAGMENTS
varying from 4 shillings 4 pence to 2 shillings 10 pence a week, the higher rate being de- manded for care of the men.1 This system gave the town a privately operated poorhouse.
By 1805 the problem of caring for the poor had become great enough to warrant the town voting "to build a House to accommodate the towns Poor,"2 but the matter was reconsidered a month later and the town continued at the old method. The very next year the town paid 9 shillings a week, besides providing tobacco and rum.3
Some idea of the burden thus placed upon the people may be obtained from the accounting of March, 1817, when it appears that though only $671.10 had been spent in the previous year for schools, the total expenditures on ac- count of the poor were $1226.81.4
Economical as the plan of farming out the poor may have been, it was pretty rough on the people themselves because of the way they were shifted about. Thus in 1820 they were placed with Daniel Wild for 98 cents a week;5 the following year with Benjamin Pettee for $1.48 a week; 6 1823 with Jacob Gay at 96c a week; 7 and in 1824 with Maynard Clap at 89c.8
By 1829 the town returned to its old plan of
1 Town Rec., II, 222. 2 Ibid., 266. 3 Ibid., 273.
4 Ibid., 350.
5 Ibid., 277, 278. 6 Ibid., 391.
7 Ibid., 407.
8 Ibid., 412.
[301 ]
4
-
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
putting the poor out individually. 1 In later years a poorhouse was erected.
To the women of Walpole must be given credit for originating the impulses which gave the town its fine Public Library. More than 100 years ago-in 1816-a group of women organized "The Ladies' Literary, Moral Society" which met for many years thereafter every second Thursday to read such books as might "have a tendency to afford useful information to the mind and improvement to the heart." The meetings were five hours long, and all conversa- tion not necessary to the business of the day was prohibited. While the reading was in progress the women braided straw, which was sold to obtain funds for the purchase of books.2 In a few years a sizable library had been gathered; and it was voted to allow non-members to use the books on payment of $1 a year. This, it seems, was Walpole's first library.
Sometime before 1826 about 60 men of the town, inspired no doubt by the activities of the women, formed the Walpole Social Library. Owners of shares, which cost $4 each, were en- titled to two books per share. Some of the old volumes, part of the 100 books listed in the li- brary's catalogue of 1826, were recently given to
1 Town Rec., II, 458.
2 Mss. Account owned by Geo. A. Plimpton.
[ 302 ]
FRAGMENTS
the Public Library by Isaac Newton Lewis, who received them from his father, one of the original shareholders. The association gave promise of flourishing, but was wrecked by the religious dissension of 1826.
It was a woman who took up the work, after a lapse of about 50 years. In 1872, largely through the efforts of Miss Mary R. Bird, some of the residents of East Walpole formed a library which, from the start, was to all purposes a public one.
Miss Bird, her father, Hon. F. W. Bird, to- gether with James D. Dupee and George D. Kendall, were instrumental in making the library a town institution.
After some years it was suggested by Miss Bird that the library be given to the town, with the understanding that books be sent down from the Centre to the East Walpole people. The town accepted the offer, and for many years the library was quartered in the Town Hall:
At his death, Mr. Bird left an amount for library purposes, which, after a few years amounted to $6000. His son, Charles Sumner Bird, offered the town a site for a library on Com- mon St. Andrew Carnegie contributed $15,000 for a building, to which was added the fund set aside by F. W. Bird and other smaller con- tributions. The present library building, which cost about $25,000, was dedicated in May, 1903.1
1 Boston Globe, May 13, 1903.
[ 303 ]
-
£
السنة
£
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE WORLD WAR
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE WORLD WAR
W E bring our story to a fitting close with a tribute to the men and the women of Walpole. who served their country in the World War. Those days are too much a part of our recent history to require detailed mention here; as we look back, they are as yesterday.
To the nation's call Walpole of 1917 responded as had Walpole of 1775 and Walpole of '61. Three hundred and seven of her boys and three of her young women entered the service, the latter as nurses.
While these were in camp and on battlefield, those who remained at home were rallying to their support. Liberty Loan quotas were over- subscribed. The Walpole War Fund Associa- tion, Inc., formed to raise funds for use of the Red Cross and other organizations active in serving the soldiers and sailors, received dona- tions of $34,629.33. The town, with consent of the legislature, voted a loan of $155,000 to en- large its water supply to provide for the needs of industries doing war work, notably the Lewis
[ 304a ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Manufacturing Co., which was at work day and night producing supplies for the hospitals.
Patriotic women of the town organized as the Walpole Service Company, and kept a motherly watch over those in service, supplying them with comfort kits, socks, sweaters and other articles of personal comfort. The Red Cross, too, received frequent supplies from the hands of Walpole women.
And the war took its toll. Of those who offered themselves seven were called upon to make the supreme sacrifice. Their names go down in the rolls of Walpole's illustrious dead:
THOMAS H. CROWLEY, Private, Company K, 9th Infantry. (Killed in action November 4, 1918)
PIETRO DESANTES, Private, Company L, 134th Infantry. (Died at Camp Dix, N. J., October 3, 1918)
GEORGE F. GREENE, Sergeant, Company M, 38th Infantry. (Killed in action October 9, 1918)
PATRICK J. HOGAN, Private., 306th Machine Gun Battalion. (Killed in action October 30, 1918) [ 3046 ]
וית דה
700017
1
THE WORLD WAR
CHARLES F. HUNT, Private, Company D, 42nd Infantry. (Died at Camp Devens, Mass., September 30, 1918)
CHESTER J. ROBINSON, Seaman, U. S. S. Susquehanna, United States Navy, (Died at sea October 18, 1918)
CHARLES R. WILBER, 2nd Lieutenant, Company B, 126th Infantry. (Killed in action September 29, 1918) 1
About 4 o'clock in the morning of Nov. 11, 1918, the ringing of bells and blowing of whistles announced to Walpole that the Armistice had been signed and the war ended. The day was given over to celebration. All business was suspended. At nine o'clock there was a great gathering near the Town Hall. Headed by the Walpole Band, more than 1000 persons carrying flags of the United States and its Allies marched, shouting and cheering, to the High School Grounds. There, led by the school children, patriotic and popular war-time songs were sung. An effigy of the Kaiser was burned. Then all marched to the standpipe, then under con-
1 While Lieut. Wilber was a legal resident of the town of Sharon, his associations were always with Walpole, and he was a graduate of the Walpole High School.
[ 304c ]
T
TS.L .CINE
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
struction on High Plain St., where the Stars and Stripes were unfurled.
The next day, too, was given over to the celebration. Set apart as "Victory Day" by the Governor, it reached a climax in Walpole in the evening, when a parade of 115 automobiles and several floats visited South, East and North Walpole. When it had returned to the Centre, an old barn back of the Bradford Lewis place was fired. Its flames leaped high into the skies.
And then the home-coming! Train after train passed through Walpole carrying the home- ward-bound boys to Camp Devens to be mus- tered out. Hundreds turned out to cheer them and to aid in distributing good things among them as the troop trains halted here for water.
A Welcoming Committee of 25 men and women was chosen by the town and on May 23, 1919, at special town meeting, $6500 was voted to celebrate the return of Walpole's own men. To this was added some $2000, the remainder of the War Fund.
On July 4 the formal welcoming home took place, with sports, a parade, exercises on the Common, a banquet, a band concert and ball. To every man and woman was given a bank book showing an account of $25.00 and an engraved testimonial. This day was Walpole's tribute to its boys-and to its girls, for they, too, were not forgotten.
[ 304d ]
THE WORLD WAR
Upon a page of the Town Records appears this entry :
In grateful recognition of the services rendered our beloved country by the men and women of Walpole in all branches of the service in the so-called German War, and as a token of our appreciation of the fact that their devotion to duty and love of their country has preserved for us the Liberty for which Our Forefathers Fought and Died, Be it resolved, by us, the citizens of Walpole in Town Meeting assembled, on the twentieth day of December, 1918, That a Memorial Page be suitably inscribed in the Town Records as a Lasting Memorial and as an expression of our gratitude for their sacrifices.
[ 304e ]
HAEC OLIM MEMINISSE JUVABIT
DEDICATORY EXERCISES
AT THE
MEMORIAL BRIDGE
In honor of the sons and daughters of Walpole who served in the wars of the American Colonies and of the United States of America and other observances
Commemorating the TWO-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY of Walpole's Incorporation as a Town
OCTOBER 4, 1924
CHAIRMEN OF BI-CENTENNIAL COMMITTEES
Back row-Mrs. Henry Plimpton, Mrs. Henry Stowell, John Bock, P. H. Bailey, T. E. Delaney, M. J. Hawkins, H. W. Caldwell, C. H. Andrews, P. R. Allen, Chairman, W. E. Hale, II. M. Stowell, HI. P. Plimpton, M. F. McCarthy, Mary L. Delaney, Mrs. Philip R. Allen. Second row- J: J. Fitzhenry, William Carberry, J. H. Smith, F. A. Hartshorn, Jr., J. S. Leach, Ben. D. Rogers. First row-Col. W. M. Whitman, J. A. Val- entine, R. M. Stowell, H. A. Whiting, J. C. Donnelly, J. S. Allen.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.