​Two men in a “murder car” intersected with a man from Easton, MA, at 10:30 pm on a night in April of 1920. Frank McKenna, foreman at Daley’s Corner Garage on Washington Street, was working when two well-dressed men in their twenties walked into the garage to purchase gas. Their car had stalled a short distance away. McKenna, as he helped the men add 3 gallons of gas to their car, failed to notice the bloody handprints on the car windows, the clots of blood in the car and on the running board, or the blood-soaked felt hat under the seat. Although he did comment later that one of the men looked nervous.

Weirdly, the men asked Mr. McKenna if he wanted to purchase their car for $800. McKenna replied that he didn’t even have 800 cents and the next morning relayed the exchange to his boss, Lawrence Donlan, of Easton, who in turn called the Fields Corner Police Station with the information, as that morning he had happened to read a story in the newspaper about a missing man from Providence RI. The missing man’s car’s license plate was RI 8843, the same number McKenna had noticed on the vehicle he’d serviced the night before and relayed to Donlan.
The vehicle, RI 8843, had been found abandoned in Dorchester in the early hours and was covered in blood. The car belonged to the missing man’s brother, Irving Eklund, who owned the taxi business for whom Oliver Eklund drove two evenings a week. Oliver was the foreman of a jewelry establishment and engaged to be married. A search for the missing man was conducted along Washington Street in Easton, including Ames’ estates and woods, as it was the main road from Providence to Boston and the “murder car” had briefly stopped there.
Long story short, it’s thought that perhaps the brother Irving Eklund was the intended victim as he often carried large sums of money on him. The actual victim, Oliver, is thought to have been killed by a sharp instrument to the head and was likely attacked somewhere early in the drive between Providence and Taunton. He’d been hired to drive the two men (who stated they were from New York) to Taunton. Possibly the motive was robbery, or they argued over possession of the car. In an odd turn of events, the vehicle, RI 8843, had gone off the road as early as Wade’s Corner in RI and two nearby men who worked for the railway had offered their help. On hearing groans from an impaired man in the backseat of the car, they asked if he was alright and were told the man was drunk. The railway crew members and a motor truck driver helped the car out of the ditch, not realizing the man in the backseat was a victim and the two in the front were crooks.
Mr. Eklund’s body was found days later by two boys searching in a rowboat, lying in a small pond on Highland Street in Taunton. Eklund was fully clothed with his pockets turned inside out. It’s thought he was probably thrown out of the murder car sometime after Wade’s Corner and staggered to his death.
The two crooks were arrested but later released. There is no follow-up information available.
Evil passed through Easton that Sunday night, stopping briefly at Daley’s Corner.
 

Anne Wooster Drury

 
Sources:
> Member Paul Berry provided research for this story.
> Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922) ProQuest Historical Newspapers, April 27, April 28, May 1, May 10.

Missing!

It’s cranberry season. Wild cranberries have long been harvested in Easton, beginning with Indigenous people well before the first colonists arrived. Among the areas in town where cranberries were harvested were the Little Cedar Swamp (near Pine Grove Cemetery off Foundry Street) and along Whitman’s Brook not far from the Town Hall on Elm Street. Cranberries like to grow in wet boggy areas. At the turn of the century cranberries were dry harvested, not wet harvested- (by flooding bogs with water). By the early 20th century cranberries were more commonly harvested by machines, whereas before the picking was done by hand.

In the late 19th century Easton school children were hired to pick cranberries during the autumn harvest season. To do so, they often missed school to work an 8-hour day, but they could make up to a dollar a day, so this was incentive enough. The children were watched by adults who oversaw that they picked thoroughly as many cranberries hid beneath the thick-growing vines. Apparently, children’s nimble fingers were superior to adults’, although mothers often picked with their children. According to an article in the Boston Globe, published Sept. 23, 1895, the area known as North Easton Meadows was where the mothers, children- and the occasional tramp in need of tobacco money-, picked. The pickers were noticed by passengers on the Old Colony Railroad traveling through Easton. The cranberry fields were on the western side of the track and near what would today be Stoughton conservation land. The berries would go from children’s buckets into bushel containers. A pail holding 6 quarts of berries would fetch 9 cents. Then the bushel containers were stored away to be winnowed, sorted, and put into barrels to go to market. Below is an easy cranberry sauce recipe from an 1845 cookbook. 

CRANBERRY SAUCE
Wash and stew your cranberries in water; add almost their weight in clean sugar, just before you take them from the fire. The New England Economical Housekeeper, 1845

Anne Wooster Drury
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Sources/Links:
>  Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Sept. 23, 1895; ProQuest Historical Newspapers : The Boston Globe, p.5
> Easton Historical Society and Museum

​Late August- the water in Cape Cod Bay is at its warmest, garden tomatoes are in abundance- there might come a perfect summer day- hot but not too hot, clear, dry air- and memories seep in so I go looking to remember. There’s a place I haven’t been to in decades, mostly because I wasn’t sure how to get there and concerned that it was now private property, but after looking at a Natural Resources Trust easement map kindly provided by EHS member Paul Berry, I set out believing I was permitted to be there. Basically, I was along the Queset as it runs west of Main Street, between Main Street and the Town Pool. I remember being a kid riding my bike to the library and heading into the meadow behind Queset House, back where Hobart Ames’s house once was, and exploring along the banks of the brook with siblings and cousins looking for crayfish and turtles. One time bringing home a small snapping turtle. I remember just sitting in the grass with the silence- but for the buzzing of the bees. This place- a hidden treasure.

​There are still hidden treasures, and sometimes you can still get to them. Off Elm Street in North Easton new homes are currently being built. Not too far beyond the construction tape at the very rear of the site is Wayside’s old root cellar. Still there. A year and a half ago there was a sign on a tree near the wooden bridge over the brook, that read “Louis Frothingham’s Goldfish Pond.” The sign is now gone. Change is inevitable but I’m glad the root cellar still stands.

​Curious stonework still hides away off South Street near where it meets Highland. Many industries thrived at least temporarily at this location, beginning as early as 1742 when members of the Keith and Williams families built a sawmill on the Mulberry Brook. Later the site hosted a gristmill, linseed oil mill, shingle mill, and several other industries, all relatively modest enterprises. Prior to his death in 1927 Eleazer Keith used the building as a duck house. Thereafter it was abandoned. The area is overgrown and difficult to access but interesting. The little Mulberry Brook was quite useful in its day.

Easton, like all places will continue to transform and change. Although this sometimes feels unfortunate it is the way life is. Once Indigenous people traveled the Old Bay Road and farmed near Easton green. We must look hard to find evidence of them. The same will be true of us someday.
 
Anne Wooster Drury

 
Easton Historical Society and Museum
Easton’s Neighborhoods, by Ed Hands

Fanny Holt Ames (1888-1986) was the second wife of William Hadwen Ames, son of Oliver Ames, and he built his residence, Spring Hill, on Elm Street. The house still stands today. Young Fanny, born in Natick, MA, attended business school, went on to work as a secretary, and that is how she met William Hadwen Ames- in his Boston office. They married in 1916. Mr. Ames’s first wife, Daisy, had died in 1914. Unfortunately, Fanny had little time with her new husband, he died in 1920 when she was quite young- only 30 years old. In memory of her husband Fanny gifted the Children’s Wing at Ames Free Library in 1931 and her portrait hangs near the children’s room today. In addition, Mrs. Ames served on the Board of Trustees of the library for 40 years.

In 1962 Fanny and her sister Edna Louise Holt (Louise) moved to Grafton, VT where they lived when they were not travelling. Mrs. Ames visited historic sites and enjoyed cruising. Some ports of call were Karnak in Egypt, Vienna, Isfahan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Naples, and Ceylon. Fanny kept diaries of her travels and photographic plates. Discovered in 2000, the diaries were transcribed and published by the Ames Free Library. The book, The Travel Journals of Fanny Holt Ames 1954-1973, which includes her photos, is available at the Easton Historical Society and Museum or on our website. The Ames Free Library has a copy in the reference section.

Fanny took good care of her inheritance from her husband William and continued endowing her husband’s charities, including Ames Free Library, after his death. In 1983 Fanny and her sister Louise suffered a car accident in Vermont and Fanny was killed. Louise was hospitalized for weeks and was very appreciative of the fact that she could afford excellent health care. Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, Vermont became very dear to her. Her doctor, Dr. Bob Backus, made regular house calls and remembered Louise as, “a diminutive, cultured, twinkling-eyed New England lady”. Realizing not everyone was as fortunate as she was, Louise set up a trust which she named The FANNY HOLT AMES and EDNA LOUISE HOLT CHARITABLE FUND. In both sisters’ names, its purpose was to meet the medical needs of the Grafton area community and particularly benefit Cottage Hospital in Townshend VT. In 2000 the trust was worth over $30 million. Louise was 97 when she died.

Fanny Holt Ames and her sister Louise very much enjoyed travelling but are said to have been relatively frugal in their Vermont life. Both were philanthropic, sharing their good fortune. The Grafton area community is still enjoying their generosity today.

 
Anne Wooster Drury
 
Sources/Links:

Grace Cottage Hospital Otis Health Care Center Newsletter, Fall/Winter, 2000
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Introduction to The Travel Journals of Fanny Holt Ames 1954-1973, by the Directors of Ames Free Library, 2000

Obbatinewat, Shamut Sachem, (circa 1610-1630), subject of bronze bust created by Adelbert Ames. The bust was donated by Virginia L. Fresina and family in honor of Francis Robert Fresina. ​

Recently the museum acquired an interesting gift that is currently on display in the Men’s Waiting Room. It is a replica of a bust sculpted by Adelbert Ames Jr. (1880-1955), the brother of Blanche Ames Ames. Blanche was of course married to Oakes Ames of Easton, and a force in her own right. The original sculpture, completed in 1912, was a bronze bust of Obbatinewat (circa 1610-1630) who was Sachem of the Wampanoag settlement of Shawmut on the Shawmut Peninsula where the city of Boston now lies. The copy shows the signature of the artist Adelbert Ames on the back. The Wampanoag Sachem Obbatinewat signed a treaty of peace with Captain John Smith for mutual defense and befriended the settlers of Plymouth Colony. He was likely present at Wessagusset (Weymouth) in 1623 when Miles Standish ordered the killing of several Massachuset warriors.

Ames’s original sculpture of the Native American was the model for the trademark Shawmut Bank ‘Indian’ bust. There are many of these in different sizes used in various ways by the bank. The logo was also used in coin banks, calendars, and various advertisements up until 1995. Many consider these collectibles today. Adelbert Ames was quite successful in his lifetime, working as a lawyer, then as a painter; he collaborated with his sister Blanche on the System of Color Theory. This led him to an interest in how the human eye perceives color. His research led him to work at Clark University and Dartmouth College where he was made Professor of Physiological Optics. Like Blanche, he excelled at many things.

​It was a perfect summer day, hot but not overwhelmingly so. Spectators arrived early and brought their lawn chairs, strollers, and dogs, congregating on Center Street and Main Street. The parade in honor of Easton’s 300th anniversary went off beautifully; the Tricentennial Committee did themselves proud. As always, the hill in front of NEG was a popular viewing spot. Ice cream and toy vendors were present on Main Street. The Easton Historical Society showed up on a replica trolley car and it was just one of the amazing entries in the parade. 

Today the Queset brook wanders, abandoned, easterly across Washington Street and north of Depot Street pausing at Dean’s Pond on its way to Bridgewater. At one time the Queset was very busy supplying mills with waterpower near the junction of Washington and Depot Streets. This was Easton Green, where the first settlers gathered. And while North Easton has been high on the list for historic preservation, and it should be, the first settlers in Easton were in the part of town we call Eastondale. The first mill in Easton was built here and others followed. The mill site grew to be a larger complex that served many purposes and employed many workers over the years.

Clement Briggs, Easton’s first settler, lived near the head of Pine Street on Depot Street and was part-owner, along with Thomas Randall (his father-in-law), of the first mill, a sawmill, located on the Queset. This first mill, built by Thomas Randall and his son along with Nathanial Packard, was built prior to 1703. Briggs himself built a gristmill nearby. Both of these early mills were later torn down, but the original gristmill was replaced by Robert Ripley and that mill, later significantly changed, milled grain until 1926 and some of the buildings were in use for decades after. Ownership of the grist mill cycled through Easton families with names like Randall, Macomber, Alger, Cooper, Guild, and Keith.

In 1809 Elijah Howard & Co added a forge at the location. Howard & Co manufactured cut nails and during the War of 1812 also manufactured cotton yarn and cloth. Captain Barzilla Dean bought the grist mill and the textile business in 1840 and he, and later his sons, operated the business, eventually discontinuing the manufacturing of cloth but turning to manufacturing shoe heels under the name Ross Heal Co. The gristmill building was altered in 1872 and again ca 1900, creating additional space. After the death of J.O. Dean (Barzilla’s son) his daughter took over the grain business; the Heel Co. was bought out. Mary Dean Howard and her husband added a coal business on site and later home heating oil. In 1926 the mill ceased to run and the building stored bagged grain and animal feed purchased from elsewhere for the J.O. Dean feed business. The next owner, Ross Henderson, ran a nursery and landscaping business. Later that business was bought by Fernando Camara who added a pet supply and a building supply business. This business was known as Fernando’s.
The long history of the grain milling business in Easton reaches back to the town’s origin. Until not that long ago waterpower was essential. Water powered mills were necessary to life in the early towns. In addition to sawmills and grist mills, fulling mills, paper mills, tanning and carding mills were built. “The number of water powered mills actually increased until just before the Civil War and many were still in use in the early 1900s.” Even after new technologies were invented the old ones continued to be serviceable. Here are the names of some of the millers: Solomon Hayward ca. 1821, Jonathan Drake, E. Minot Stone (1865-1905), Denis Brophy (1912-1926). There were fewer millers than owners.
An attempt was made in 2003 to save what was left of the historic buildings at the Dean site and create a mini park in Eastondale. This effort failed at Town Meeting. Today the Queset still carries on flowing here, now unhampered by human efforts. The curious can get a glimpse of Dean’s Pond behind the car wash- Fresh Auto Wash- on the corner of Washington and Depot Street, or after a short walk through the trees from the southernmost end of the Easton Industrial Park. Next time- more pictures of the site at the time the mill was torn down in 2010.

Anne Wooster Drury

 
Sources/Links: 
Town Meeting Presentation- Dean Mill Preservation Project
Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System
Colonial America's Pre-Industrial Age of Wood and Water
Easton Historical Society and Museum
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