USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > Waban, early days, 1681-1918 > Part 6
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Occasionally he made excursions to accept invitations to preach. From here he journeyed for that purpose to New Bed- ford, Waltham, Plymouth and Bangor. While at Plymouth he met Miss Lydia Jackson, a bit older than he; intellectually a delight to him. He married her the next year when he then lived in Concord. He asked her to change her name to Lidian and she complied. And so doubtless Emerson was dreaming of this lady while in Waban.
Also, at this period in his life, he learned of the property he was to inherit from his first wife's estate. It gave him an income of $1200 a year; far more in those days than it would be now. In Waban he learned of the death in Porto Rico of his beloved brother, Edward. Ralph Waldo Emerson and his mother left this spot in October, 1834, to go to live at the Manse at Concord.
WOODWARD STREET, LOOKING FROM TOP OF RISE NEAR ALLEN AVENUE TOWARDS THE SQUARE Courtesy of Mr. Winthrop Rhodes
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THE BETHUEL-ALLEN HOUSE
It is said that he wrote "The Rhodora" here in Waban, although it was first published in The Western Messenger, July, 1839, after he was living in Concord, but he could at least have been inspired here as, among other places, there was rhodora in plenty in the low swamp land which lies be- tween Woodward and Beacon Streets.
THE RHODORA
On. Being asked, Whence is the Flower?
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, To please the desert and the sluggish brook. The purple petals fallen in the pool Made the black water with their beauty gay; Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, And court the flower that cheapens his array. Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being; Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! I never thought to ask; I never knew; But in my simple ignorance suppose The self-same Power that brought me there, brought you.
BOYHOOD MEMORIES of WABAN
EDWIN P. SEAVER, JR., M.D.
The name Seaver has been traced through England to Scandinavia and found to be of Viking origin. It means sea- rover. The Seaver place consisted of twenty-four acres located at the northeast corner of Woodward and Chestnut Streets. Homestead Street marks the location of the Seaver home. Being on a knoll it commanded a view of Wyman's broad meadow along the south side of Woodward Street. A trout brook ran through this meadow on its way to the Charles River, and was a never failing source of drinking water in times of drought. The large glass funnel for filtering the brook water is still in existence. The cheerful notes of the song spar-
THE SEAVER HOMESTEAD
Courtesy of Dr. Edwin P. Seaver
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BOYHOOD MEMORIES OF WABAN
row in the early spring while trout fishing, and the refreshing delight of the blue fringed gentian in the fall on the way to school at Newton Upper Falls, are indelible associations with this meadow, now teeming with homes. Apropos of water supply, the first epidemic of malaria came when the city of Newton laid the water pipes. Imported Italian laborers were the source and the hitherto harmless mosquito did the rest. The first Waban "flu" epidemic was in December of 1890- known as the "Russian flu."
Newton Highlands was the pre- Waban post office address for the Seaver family, and our principle source of general sup- plies including Moulton's Grocery Store, parent of the Waban branch, first located under Waban Hall. To reach Boston, Mr. Seaver was driven daily to the railroad station at Newton High- lands by the farmer, or hired man as he was called in those days.
In October, 1878, Dr. Deane of Newton Highlands, while attending the first Seaver to be born in Waban (Henry Cushing Seaver), utilized the usual period of watchful waiting by shoot- ing partridge up in the woods where Pine Ridge Road is located. The partridge were particularly fond of the vicinity now occupied by the Angier homestead. My oldest brother Rob, was delighted to be able to add another boy to his growing baseball team. The other members were Oscar and my sister Marg. Within the next three years Ed and Sam were added to the ball team.
School Days
Prior to the first Waban school, we all went to Newton Upper Falls for our early education. Those were the days of sleigh rides and jingle bells, loose straw to protect your feet from the cold air below, and buffalo lap robes to keep you warm going to and from school. Penny peppermint sticks, licorice, rock candy, at Billings' drug store, with the huge glass jars, one red and the other green, in the show windows. Echo
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WABAN - EARLY DAYS
Bridge was one of the seven wonders of our world and nearly the death of my oldest brother Rob, when he walked along the lower coping, out across the big single span over the river. While over the middle of the span, he looked down at the almost dry river bed filled with jagged rocks far below, became giddy and started to sway. An older companion, a member of a circus aerial troupe, looked back just in time to steady him against the wall and together they worked their way across to the other side.
The first Waban school was held in Waban Hall, with one woman teacher to handle all the grades assembled in the one large room. Had aspirin been available, it doubtless would have eased the situation for the teacher, as for the mischievous pupils it was a lark. Looking back now, the fact that three sons of the Boston School Superintendent were amongst the group
THE SEAVER HOMESTEAD Reproduced King's "Handbook of Newton"
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BOYHOOD MEMORIES OF WABAN
probably added to the teacher's anxiety complex. Waban, in those days, lacked side walks, so to meet muddy road con- ditions Henry, Ed, and Sam had acquired new copper-toed cow- hide boots, purchased in Dock Square, Boston. We were the envy of the other boys and the dismay of the teacher when she discovered water spilling from the tops of the cowhide boots down the school aisle. We had been running tiddle-dee-benders while waiting for the last warning bell of the afternoon ses- sion and now must go home to avoid catching our "death of cold."
Moulton's grocery store, located immediately below one of the bay windows of the class room, lent itself admirably for hoisting up by string and basket supplies which refresh the jaded scholar. All that was needed was for one Seaver boy to cut up some prank that called for immediate punishment (rattaning) out in the dressing room. The interlude gave an- other brother, Sam, time to work the basket in which was placed the previously collected pennies. Thus it was that the whole class, when called upon to sing, were utterly unable to respond (to the teacher's amazement), their jaws held tightly closed by Hildreth's molasses kisses, just then all the rage.
Then came the first Waban schoolhouse with two class rooms and a teacher for each room. In spite of this new set-up and the janitor, Mike Gammons, repeatedly warning us to "have a good time, but don't get gay," conditions at school were going from bad to worse, which brought about a meeting of two public school system superintendents, Mr. Aldrich of the city of Newton and Mr. Seaver of the city of Boston, in the latter's office in Boston. In effect the conversation was as follows: "You see, Mr. Seaver, the ring leaders are no other than your own sons. Now what do you suggest be done about it?" Miss Dinnie was the answer. A young, energetic, able and understanding teacher of Scotch ancestry - a handsome brunette. Heavily veiled beyond recognition she visited the
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class. The encumbent teacher left the room for an unusually long time. This gave the ring leaders plenty of opportunity to display all their fireworks. She came, she saw, she con- quered, and more than that, she won the loyal enthusiastic de- votion of her pupils for all time. Never before had a teacher
HAYING AT THE CORNER OF WOODWARD AND CHESTNUT STREETS Courtesy of Mrs. Arthur W. Burnham
taken us on field trips. She tactfully handled boys living in the country who thought they knew the birds and the wild flowers, but who came to realize how little they really observed. We were "owlettes with eyes, who see not."
The "old swimming hole" was on the Charles River down back of Gould's place and now a part of the Metropolitan Park property. The approach to the swimming hole, after leaving the Cochituate Acqueduct, was down through the edge of a tall wooded side hill via a well worn cart path to a bar way, then across a narrow stretch of meadow to the river bank where stood a huge white oak and a large white pine tree, both of which showed charred trunks from many a fire. It was down this wood path one hot July afternoon, after a day in the hayfield, that all of the Seaver boys with clothes tucked under
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BOYHOOD MEMORIES OF WABAN
one arm were running full tilt, yelling like Indians on the war- path, in anticipation of a cool dip. Rob was chief and well in advance of the rest when rounding a sharp bend in the wood path he suddenly stopped, wheeled around and waved his free arm as a signal for us to scram up the side hill and hide in the underbrush. Years later, Mr. Gould told with considerable amusement of his impressions on that occasion. It seems that he and Mrs. Gould were returning from an afternoon walk when they heard the blood curdling yells of Indians rapidly approaching in their direction, and around the bend in the wood path appeared the leader, who instantly stopped, whirled about, waved a signal, disappeared and not a sound could be heard, until they had gotten safely out of sight, when they heard, coming from the side hill, the familiar "quail call" to rejoin after being scattered, and this was promptly followed by happy voices down at the old swimming hole.
Many New England people speak with pride of the visit of Washington to their town though he never slept there or even darkened a doorway, but the Washingtons came to Waban, believe it or not. The servant question in the village had become a major factor when a new cook arrived, a huge, power- ful colored woman, Mary Nixon, born in slavery in Alabama and raised on the plantation as a plow hand. She had left her husband and children in the south and had come north to seek her fortune. She it was who introduced the Negro spiritual to Waban. She had been with us almost three years when Mrs. Seaver, noting certain indicative changes, made arrangements at the Newton Cottage Hospital to have Mary work temporarily in their kitchen department. Mary weighed close to 300 pounds and so what with her size and denial of any recent changes, it was impossible to predict just how soon she would need attendance, and so it was that after an interval of a few months Mary was seen coming along Woodward Street toward the house. She sat down on the lower terrace steps and there
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she stayed, slowly swaying back and forth. Mrs. Seaver went down to welcome her back and to give her a helping hand with some of her bundles, thinking that perhaps the trip back had been too much for her. Mary continued to sit on the steps holding tightly together a large shawl wrapped about her and repeatedly moaning and muttering, "Uh, uh, Mis Seebah ain't goin' to want me no mo. No sah, no mo."
"Why Mary, what has happened? Why do you say that I don't want you any more?"
After considerable persuasion Mary mustered up her courage. "Well it's dis a-way Mis Seebah. Since ize bin ovah to de hospital ize bin find me George Washington." Lifting one edge of the shawl there lay nestled a new born colored baby boy. Mrs. Seaver congratulated Mary and again urged her to come up and come into the house. Still doubtful, Mary gathered up her bundles, carefully ascended the steps, but on coming to the second terrace steps sat down and went through the same performance with even more conviction. "Mary, what has happened now, why don't you continue and come into the house?" After much persuasion - "Oh Mis Seebah, yo'all been so kind to me ize k'ain't stay no longer." "But why, Mary - why?" In answer Mary gently laid back the other half of her shawl and there lay nestled "Martha Washington." Sam, always handy with tools, made a cradle for the Washing- tons, who lived and slept in the Seaver home until placed in an infants' home in Roxbury where Mary visited them each Thursday, her day off.
THE DRESSER FARM
ELEANOR DRESSER - MAOLA DRESSER HODGINS
In the spring of 1872, the small tract of land in the south- ern part of Waban, then Upper Falls, was bought by our grandparents, Robert W. and Mary A. P. Dresser of Boston. The land runs from the Wyman Street side of the railroad along the west side of Chestnut Street nearly to Boylston Street, west to the river, then north along the river through the woods where it adjoins the Collins property.
The picturesque old farmhouse, half of which is standing today, now nearly 200 years old, was located at the Upper Falls end of the farm facing Boylston Street, and of recent years has been turned to face Quinobequin Road and the river.
The farm was a healthful place for my grandparents' eight children. Not only did they benefit by the farm products, but
THE DRESSER FARM
Courtesy of Miss Eleanor Dresser
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WABAN - EARLY DAYS
great opportunity was afforded for fishing and swimming (for the boys - girls didn't "swim" in those days, just "went bath- ing" at the seashore), and on cold winter moonlight nights many a skating party was enjoyed on the pond, after which the skaters went back to the house for a "candy pull." We can just remember some of those candy pulls in our wee childhood given by aunts and uncles when the old kitchen was almost full of young people (full grown to us then), many pulling great ropes of molasses candy over large hooks driven into the wood- work of the walls. Those parties made a great impression on us, probably because we were whisked off to bed long before the candy was done and ready to eat.
About 1900, the State bought a strip of land from our grandmother and father and built along the river the present Quinobequin Road - Quinobequin was the Indian name for the river. Part of that road was originally the wood road and cow path to the pasture which it cuts and through which also runs Radcliffe Road. A part of the pond was filled in by the road, also by the new houses built about 1910, but the brook which feeds the pond coming from the Bacon farm, opposite our farm on Chestnut Street, still runs through the lawns and under Tamworth Road.
That brook was the trout brook frequented and fished by many a boy and man and over which at one point was built, close to a small pond on the Bacon farm, a hydraulic ram which pumped the water to a large barn and house some 200 yards away, for the entire use of the dairy farm. We children used to call that engine "cofferdam," for it worked night and day and we thought the word had a naughty and profane sound. The natural outlet of our pond was a brook through one end of the pasture where the cows used to wade and drink and where alders and apple trees grew. Other apple trees nearer the pond were used for grafting. Another apple tree between the pond and barn was our favorite, a russet, whose branches
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THE DRESSER FARM
hung low over a small banking to which we could easily jump instead of climbing down. There was a tiny cove in the pond where the water was somewhat more shallow than along the rest of the shore; here we could tie a flat-bottomed rowboat which we used to take us all over the pond and from which we fished and gathered sweet smelling pond lilies. It was in that cove, too, where, to our horror, blood suckers clung to our legs and we thought we might be going to die as a result.
The pond today, though somewhat smaller, is a gem of loveliness, beautified by the surrounding lawns and stone walls and friendly white ducks, all of which the newcomers have pro- vided, much to the delight and pleasure of all those who drive along Quinobequin Road.
The wood road led to a thick, lovely woods on the river, where in spring birds abounded and flowers blossomed in pro- fusion; among others, the lady's slipper, several kinds of violets, trillium and on the higher, dryer ground, Indian pipe and the beautiful fringed gentian changing its habitat each year, and the creeping groundnut with its curious brown-purple blossoms.
THE DRESSER FARM (rear view) Courtesy of Mr. Arthur B. Harlou
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WABAN - EARLY DAYS
Also, in and near those woods, were to be found the interesting mitten-shaped leaf of the sassafras tree, beechnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, and near the farmhouse a large butternut tree with its black, prune-like covered nut, and near by a large sycamore with its spotted gray and white bark and tiny delicate ball tassels. A magnificent elm, symmetrical and stately, stood on an elevation over the river and was grandmother's and father's pride. Many of the huge branches were broken off in the ice storm several years ago.
On one side of the pond grew two large pines which gave welcome shade on the water from the sun on hot summer morn- ings, and close by was a small ledge from which blue gravel was crushed to use for surfacing the new roads. Wild black- berries, thimbleberries, and luscious tiny strawberries were our delight. All these things were as much a part of our childhood as the sun and rain.
The first Roman Catholic services in Newton were held in 1843 at the corner of Chestnut and Boylston Streets in a house which stood on the corner lot, connected with but not a part of our property. For many years services were conducted there, then a church was built farther along on Chestnut Street.
Later, father laid out and named the present roads - Radcliffe, Tamworth, Fenwick, Kewadin - and with the col- laboration of Ned Collins, Collins Road was built. It was a continuation of our driveway from Chestnut Street through the woods a short distance to the Collins property, then on to Beacon Street by the Union Church.
In 1886, when the Circuit was built from Cook Street, Newton Highlands, to Riverside, our father, William R. Dres- ser, built a house at the Waban end of the farm on Chestnut Street and grandmother built a house near by, also on Chestnut Street, making the total of Waban houses 16. These houses were much more accessible to the railroad than was the old farmhouse from which grandfather and father had to drive to
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THE DRESSER FARM
Upper Falls or Newton Highlands stations for the trains to their places of business in Boston.
We children continued school and church at Upper Falls for a couple of years until an ungraded school was opened in "The Hall" over the post office and general store, the only public block in Waban. That hall was the meeting place for school, church, Sunday school, fairs, suppers, dances, minstrel shows (in which Billy Buffum kept his audience in stitches), theatricals and concerts, where Charles Buffum, Mr. Raymond, our mother and others sang and made many enjoyable evenings for the little community.
VIEW FROM TOP OF HILL ABOVE CHESTNUT STREET RAILROAD BRIDGE, LOOKING TOWARDS WOODWARD STREET
Courtesy of Dr. Fanny M. McGee
THE GATE, WYMAN FARM
Courtesy of Mr. LeRoy Phillips
THE WYMAN FARM
1775
The Wyman house, also referred to as the Warren house or the Phillips house, still stands on Woodward Street near the corner of Chestnut. The earliest holder of this land, as far as we can trace, was Eleazer Hyde in 1700, followed by Eleazer, Jr. There was a house on the site between 1693 and 1700. The present house was built in 1775 and is sometimes called the third oldest house in Newton. In 1866 it was owned by T. Tower, which accounts for the fact that yet another name for the house is the Tower house. Thomas McNoah sold it to Tower in 1844. Then the place was bought by Colonel Edward Wyman of Roxbury, a wealthy importer of linens. This farm, extending through to the present Beacon Street, covered a large territory. There was a great barn, several sheds and a large orchard; some of the trees remain today.
In 1869 Colonel Wyman established there, as supervisor of his farm, Mr. Edward Cassidy, who lived there until the place was sold, about 1886. Wyman never lived there himself,
THE WYMAN FARM (when it was known as the Tower house)
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WABAN - EARLY DAYS
COLONEL EDWARD WYMAN
Courtesy of the Misses Cassidy
but made the trip from Cambridge to Waban every Saturday to oversee his domain. The Misses Elizabeth and Mary Cassidy (now of Newton Center), who used to be playmates of the Strongs, as Dr. Strong says in his paper, were born in this house and their mother died there. They remember how the glue factories smelled, the coming of the railroad and how the Locke family went by the house singing on their way home from church at Upper Falls. They could be heard way down the road and long after they had passed the house and it was sweet to hear. Colonel Wyman tried to introduce the silkworm to Waban and planted white and black mulberry trees to experi- ment. The key of the old house still exists. There was a huge brass lock on the front door and, as the other doors were
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THE WYMAN FARM
THE WYMAN FARM DURING THE OCCUPANCY OF H. LANGFORD WARREN (showing pond) Courtesy of Mr. LeRoy Phillips
fastened with wooden bolts, Mr. Cassidy, whenever he went away, had to carry the heavy key. There was a sizeable pond on the place, called Wyman's Pond then. About 1886 Colonel Wyman sold this farm, including the house, to Page & Hen- shaw, real estate operators. Prof. H. Langford Warren, an architect, then moved in.
Mr. LeRoy Phillips was the next owner of the house. In his day the pond was filled in, but prior to that, he remembers as many as twenty-five frogs being caught there at one time. An old stone wall fronting the property was buried to the top by the raising of the street.
A TYPICAL CONVEYANCE
May 1716. "Nat'l Parker, to the Selectmen of Newton, two hun- dred and sixty rods land for £15, beginning at a chestnut tree in the fence, on the Dedham road, near Jonathan Woodward's house, thence sixteen and a half rods on the road, to a stake and stones in the fence of said highway; then turning east and running north sixteen rods, to a stake, and then east, running to a stake in the fence of the afore- said highway, sixteen rods, to said chestnut tree.
Nathaniel Parker."
COLONEL EDWARD WYMAN
CHARLES C. BLANEY
Colonel Edward Wyman, son of Dr. Rufus and Ann (Morrill) Wyman, was born August 1, 1818, at the McLean Asylum, Charlestown, of which his father was the first physi- cian and superintendent.
From 1844 to 1873 he was a member of the firm of Wyman & Arklay, Boston, importers of Dundee and other Scotch goods.
He was Captain of the Roxbury Reserve Guard, the name of which was changed in 1864 to the Sixth Company State Guard, from 1862 to 1865.
He became a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1862, was elected Adju- tant of the Company in 1865, and Captain in 1872.
On January 13, 1875, he was appointed senior aide-de- camp to Governor Gaston with the rank of colonel.
According to the Boston Directory, he resided in Roxbury as late as 1867, after which his residence is given as West Newton. According to the Newton Directory his residence is given as "Beacon, opposite Woodward, W. N." from 1868 to 1873. His name does not appear in the Newton Directory for 1875, but does appear in the Cambridge Directory for that year as residing at 3 Craigie Street where he apparently con- tinued to reside until his death October 26, 1899.
See History of Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, 1637-1888, Vols. III and IV, by Oliver Ayer Roberts, a copy of which is in the Massachusetts State Library, for biography and record of his activities as a member and
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COL. EDWARD WYMAN
Captain of the Company, also for his portrait (in civilian clothes) which shows that he is the Colonel Wyman whose portrait (in uniform as Captain of the Company, as evidenced by the corget, insignia of his rank) was obtained from the Misses Cassidy.
In 1865 Edward Wyman, merchant, of Roxbury, purchased from the estate of David M. Kinmonth the latter's farm, erro- neously referred to by Dr. Strong in his memoirs as the "Moffat Farm," consisting of about 110 acres on the westerly side of Beacon Street and about 2 acres at the junction of Beacon and Woodward Streets where the Waban Library is now located.
In 1866 "Capt." Edward Wyman purchased from Thad- deus Tower the farm referred to by Dr. Strong as the "Wyman Farm," consisting of all the triangular lot of land bounded by Beacon, Woodward and Chestnut Streets (except the above mentioned 2 acres at the junction of Beacon and Woodward Streets, then owned by Capt. Wyman), of about 12 acres on the opposite side of Woodward Street at the corner of Woodward and Chestnut Streets, of about 18 acres on the easterly side of Chestnut Street and bounded in part by Beacon Street, and a part of the small triangular piece of land bounded by Beacon, Short and Chestnut Streets, - a total of about 42 acres.
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