Mr. Murphy’s store. There are resilient people in every community and in every time. Hardship brings out the best in some people. James H. Murphy of North Easton was one of these people. James H. Murphy was born in Easton in 1858. He was the son of Irish parents. When he was 43 and she was 39, he married Margaret A. Carroll. In 1905 they adopted a six year old boy. James Murphy died in 1916 and is buried in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery on Canton Street. By trade he was a shopkeeper, running a small store on Mechanic Street. His childhood was likely typical, but when he was about 7 years old, he went blind. According to an article in the Boston Daily Globe (Feb. 13, 1910) Mr. Murphy had a complete map of North Easton ingrained on his mind. So thorough was his memory that he could give detailed street directions to sighted people. He could describe architectural styles, the color of houses, names of streets etc. All remembered from before his blindness. He appeared to have an eidetic or ‘photographic’ memory and if he’d seen something or heard something he remembered it. This was equally true of music. James Murphy sang with the choir in the Immaculate Conception Church where he was a tenor soloist. Once he heard a song a couple of times, he remembered both the music and the words. Headline from Globe article.Two women in front of the store. When Mr. Murphy and his wife were in their forties they adopted a six year old boy from Boston who had been placed for adoption after the death of his own mother. The boy and the Murphy's were Catholic. "As was the practice with Catholic adoptions, Daddy [Joe] was brought to various parishes on Sundays, stood in the back of the church with the nuns and was looked over by prospective adopters. He was not selected for several Sundays. Finally one hot summer Sunday in 1905, he was chosen by James and Margaret Murphy at the Immaculate Conception Church in North Easton.” (Joe Connolly, Joe Murphy's son, writing in Reminiscences.) Young Joe Murphy was smart, athletic, and a son the Murphy's could be proud of. He went on to marry Julia Lyons of Lincoln Street and established a family home on Sheridan Street. Upon his marriage Joe Murphy took back his birth father's last name, Connolly. His children were Mary, Claire, Rose, Joan, and Joe Connolly. All were bright, successful adults.
Thanks to James and Margaret, an abandoned boy was able to flourish. In fact a room at the Easton Town Offices is named in honor of Joe's daughter Mary P. Connolly, who served the town for decades. The Globe article describes Murphy as “gentle, sociable and entertaining.” He was also kind and giving. It seems Mr. Murphy was able to carve out a full life for himself even with a serious disability. Anne Wooster Drury Sources: Globe article Ancestry.com Reminiscences, 2010 Talented Sisters- & Another Shout-out to Winthrop Ames They were incredibly talented. They were beautiful. They would go on to star on Broadway and become members of the American Opera Company. But these two Easton residents were told to “go home to New England, and get married, and sing for their husbands” by Broadway composer and critic Deems Taylor. Luckily for the girls Winthrop Ames, director, producer and playwright, of North Easton was willing to promote them. The sisters Bettina (b. c.1900) and Natalie Hall (b.1904) lived on Union Street in Easton and began singing as young girls. Their mother, Mrs. Fred Hall, was a professional vocalist herself and from an early age provided her daughters with voice lessons, and as they grew older, sent them to train with Mrs. Hall McAllister in Boston. There were four blond Hall girls who often sang together locally at church socials and community events. As the two older sisters married and went in other directions, the two youngest, Bettina and Natalie, would go on to have successful singing careers. It was at Unity Church that Mrs. Louis Frothingham heard the girls sing and was very impressed with their beautiful voices. Hoping to get advice and feedback for the girls, she had them perform for her cousin Winthrop. Their careers took off. Bettina was immediately offered a role in the chorus for his Gilbert and Sullivan productions. A month after Bettina went to New York, another position in the chorus opened up and Natalie joined her sister. Their mother was initially hesitant to allow her girls to venture as far away as New York; it was Winthrop's character that convinced her it would be all right. They worked hard in the chorus and went on to bigger roles. Their mother made it a habit to always attend the first night of a new performance. Bettina Hall Natalie Hall "I can't remember a time when I didn't sing," she [Bettina] said. "When I was three years old it was the custom for me and my older sisters to sing together." Bettina believed her mother had secretly wished to sing on the stage herself, but settled for church choirs. "And Natalie and I knew from the very first that someday we would sing. We didn't know how or in what, but it was taken for granted." (Daily Boston Globe, Oct. 9, 1932) There are too many performances to mention, but Bettina (and Natalie) were in “Three Little Girls”. Bettina went on to perform in “Meet My Sister” and “The Cat and the Fiddle”; in addition she was a good business woman, opening a dress shop in New York and an electrical equipment shop on Staten Island. She toured with the U.S.O. Bettina, 1932 Natalie played Marguerite in “Faust” and the leads in “Carmen” and “Yolanda in Cyprus”. She toured New York, Boston, Colorado, and London. Not surprisingly, both girls were able to have successful careers AND marry. Bettina married Raymond Rubicam of New York, chairman of the board of Young Rubicam, Inc. Natalie’s husband was a lawyer at Colgate University. They had one daughter. Both sisters were blond and beautiful as the photos included illustrate. Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] Sources:
ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Boston Globe (1872-1981) New York Times (3/11/1994) Natalie Hall, 89, Dies, A Star of 20's Musicals Auction Sale North Easton was truly a company town. Many homes were built by the Ames family to house workers in the shovel shops. By 1930 this concept was becoming obsolete. To live in one place and work in another had become a more common practice and worker housing was no longer of the same importance. More people were eager to own their own homes. It was expedient that the company offload some of its properties. So, on Thursday June 19, 1930, at 11:00 am in North Easton, an auction was held on order of The Ames Shovel and Tool Company. For auction were 34 dwellings one- and two-family dwellings, and according to the pamphlet, all set in “one of the most attractive villages in Eastern Massachusetts”. In total 18 cottages, 16 double dwellings, 3 four-family dwellings, 2 store properties and 2 building lots were for auction. Terms were the property went to the highest bidder. The homes were all in North Easton Village, on Lincoln Street, Day Street, Pond Street, Mechanic Street, Canton Street, Picker Lane, Andrews Street, Barrows Street, and North Main. Above, a map of homes for auction on Mechanic Street. These two duplexes, still standing on Day Street today, were included in the auction. Looking into the area known as Ramcat from Main Street, to the right of Shovel Shop buildings. No one seems to know where the name Ramcat came from. Ramcat was an area across the street from the Old Colony Railroad Station, the current home of the Easton Historical Society & Museum. Today it is a grassy area great for dog walking but at one time it was home to Ames employee boarding houses. The last of these were torn down on the order of Mary Ames Frothingham in 1930. Left at that time were four wooden structures (some built to house 2 or more families) and two small stone buildings. I believe these were listed in the auction circular, but perhaps didn't sell? I’m not sure. This early photo of the Ramcat area showing a number of the employee boarding houses, was taken sometime prior to the Railroad Station being built in 1882.
The Ames family holdings were extensive, and the family certainly put its stamp on North Easton, not just in terms of the beautiful Richardson buildings and mansions but also in terms of family homes. Busy families still inhabit these homes today. Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] Winthrop Ames Winthrop Ames (1870-1937) After graduating from Harvard in 1895, Winthrop Ames went into the publishing business, as a career in the theater was strongly objected to by his family. His brother Hobart, who was five years older, would become president of the Shovel Works in Easton and was an outdoorsman who lived part time at his plantation in Grand Junction,Tennessee. Winthrop was considerably different, and his interests lay in the arts to which he was naturally drawn. By 1904 he was following his passion, leasing the Castle Square Theater in Boston where he focused on producing Shakespeare’s plays. After turning his attention to NYC, Ames worked as managing director of the New Theater in NYC and later, in 1912, opened the Little Theater. In 1913, he opened the Booth Theatre on West 45th St. with the Shuberts and worked as manager of both the Little Theater and the Booth Theater into the 1930's. During WWI he organized the Over There Theater League which sent actors overseas to entertain the troops. According to David Ames, Winthrop was a perfectionist and took a great interest in mentoring young people in the theater world. While he subsidized many, he expected nothing in return. “His satisfaction stemmed from them making good.” (David Ames) Productions in the two theatres included The Philanderer (1913), by George Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy’s Old English (1924), George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly’s Beggar on Horseback (1924), an extremely successful series of Gilbert and Sullivan revivals at the Booth (1926–29), and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1913). This last was written by Ames under a pseudonym and was the first play specifically for children. Over the years Winthrop brought many famous guests to his home at Queset House in North Easton. These included George Arliss, Peggy Wood, Guthrie McClintic and author John Marquand. George Arliss, British actor Peggy Wood, American actress Guthrie McClintock, director, producer, performer and writer In 1981 Ames was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. He was married to Lucy Fuller Cabot. They had two children. Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] Sources: History of Easton, Vol. II The New York Public Library archives, Winthrop Ames papers Encyclopædia Britannica - American theatrical movement CAPTAIN FISHER “He was a man of considerable intelligence and would rather starve than beg. He made the most of everything.” Hermit, a recluse, a person living in seclusion. Captain Edward Fisher of Easton lived the last part of his life as a hermit according to an article published in the Boston Daily Globe June 29, 1886. I picture him, as described in the Globe article, huddled in the cold on his bed of old rags and coats infested with mice, reading the magazines and papers he subscribed to, or writing one of the several poetry manuscripts he left behind. While his visible space was filled with ashes, garbage, and small animals such as squirrels simmering in a pot over the fire, his inner life appeared to be rich. Fisher kept to his Jewish faith and “was respected by all who knew him, and always did his duty in his way of life with a willing hand, a quiet tongue and a gentle heart.” Headlines, Globe article. Central Cemetery on a wet December day. Captain Fisher's Headstone Captain Fisher was not always isolated. He lived the first 50 years of his life in Mattapan where he commanded a military company and worked in the paper mills. Tragically, all the fingers and part of the thumb on his right hand were cut off in an accident there, crippling him. Married twice, his second wife died in Easton about 1878 leaving him a solitary figure. He chose to remain alone though he had several children, along with friends and relatives who would have taken him in. He lived poorly, keeping a few hens, on one occasion selling grease he fried from a dead hog to the soap man. In his old age he was not bothered by the norms of housekeeping and lived in squalor with hatchets, guns, skins of woodchucks and skunks, papers, root vegetables, dirty dishes, and broken plates scattered about. It's interesting, the lives people live by conscious choice or by default. After his second wife died, Fisher lived as an “eccentric old hermit” until he passed at the age of 82. Fisher lived in his dilapidated house on Center Street near the graveyard. In the end he was found in his home, very ill, by a neighbor and was taken to live with a nephew in Haverhill where he survived another ten days. He was buried in the Central Cemetery near his old home. I hope he found some comfort in his memories and reading in those years, which though his choice, must have been lonely and uncomfortable, as "he made the most of" even this.
Link to Boston Globe Article - June 29, 1886 Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] Law and Order in Easton A little bit about early law & order in Easton. Before Easton had a jail, it had stocks. According to Chaffin the town stocks were several times repaired and/or replaced, leading one to surmise they were well-used. Other early punishments included fines and corporal punishment, “10 [or 20] stripes upon the naked back, well laid on.” Imprisonment for debt was also widely implemented in the 18th century. Vagabondism was considered a crime. Vagabonds’ names were made public, and they were unable to purchase goods or liquor. Such was the first law & order in Easton. Organized policing took some time to develop, and shaming was a popular tool. Example of Colonial era stock By 1854 the selectmen of Easton had appointed Ward L. Foster to be a police officer, with some limitations in his duties. After the Civil War, in 1867, the town voted to build a police lockup on Pond Street (probably the first) in North Easton, though no person was named as “keeper” until 1875. It’s thought the building was primarily used to contain people who were drunk and disruptive. Noise coming from the lockup on a Sunday morning was reported by members attending mass at the first Catholic Chapel- right next door on Pond Street! After 1885 two constables were hired and paid, however they were officially engaged to patrol the North Easton Village district only. If needed in other parts of town, they would try to help. No wonder thieves like George White and his gang (earlier, about 1800) operated in the Poquanticut neighborhood- so remote and with no help in sight. A second lockup was built in 1886 and located in South Easton, on Almshouse property. It was not unusual for vagrants and tramps to stop at the Almshouse, which was located on Center School property. It must have been an area in need of policing. That building still stands today. It is located on private property on School Street. Lockup on School Street. By 1898 a new lockup on Mechanic Street replaced the Pond Street lockup. It was brick with a basement and originally had only one cell, although more cells were added later. Initially there were no toilet facilities. Not until as late as 1928 did the Town of Easton officially employ a policeman and not until 1930 was a police car purchased. The Mechanic Street Station was repaired and continued to function until the current station was dedicated in 1968. It still stands- as a private home. I remember going inside once as a child for some kind of license- Fishing? Bicycle? I'm not sure. 6 Mechanic Street, North Easton. Lockup, 1898-1968 It’s interesting how much the world has changed. The first generations in Easton basically did their own policing with customs brought over from Europe and there was little official organization, although the church of course was a civilizing force and had a great deal to say about members’ lives. Settlers in the New World had to be self-sufficient and willing to take many risks in order to take advantage of the resources and opportunities available here. I think I might have stayed in the Old World! Early Police Force Dedication of Lothrop Street Station, 1968. Lothrop Street Station Today.
THE BOATHOUSE When I was young children had more freedom. I mean physically, in terms of where we could be, unsupervised. We rode our bicycles to lots of places and sometimes parents didn’t know exactly where we were. They were very good parents- times were just different. I remember one time being on the edge of Langwater Pond and exploring the boathouse which even then was not in the finest shape. It was dark and damp and creepy as I recall it. Today the Langwater boathouse is completely gone. I found an article in a “Homebuilder’s Supplement” from 1910. The magazine was called COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA and the author was George E. Walsh. The motorboat was increasing in popularity at the time so there was a need for boathouses to protect the engines from rain. The wealthier classes, especially, wanted a structure that was also attractive and fit in with the surroundings. The piece included a caption and a photo, “An attractive boathouse that fits unobtrusively into its environment. The property of Mr. F. L. Ames, North Easton, Mass.” ![]() Boathouse. Property of F. L. Ames Something I don’t personally remember about Langwater is what was called the Ramble Walk. It followed the eastern shore of the pond past the house and continued along the pond’s edge toward Elm Street. Beautiful flowers, including narcissus, bloomed in profusion there and the “Ramble” was open for all to enjoy. I’m not sure when it disappeared. I know in the late seventies beautiful azaleas continued to bloom along the pond edge not far from the old boathouse. ![]() Langwater boathouse I have kayaked and skated on Langwater- we called it Fred’s Pond, and the pond, along with our personal memories of it, are to be treasured. POST CARDS OF BOATHOUSE
Museum News There is a new collection of photographs at the Easton Historical Society. These beautifully framed photographs of the Ames mansions have been hung on newly painted walls in (mostly) the north side of the museum, although one is in the south side of the Museum, and one is in the office. The following mansions are displayed: -Langwater, home of F.L. Ames -Governor Oliver Ames Mansion -Spring Hill, home of William Hadwen Ames -Stone Hill House, home of F.L. Ames Jr. -Queset House, home of Oakes Angier Ames -Sheep Pasture, home of Oliver Ames II -Hobart Ames House at 31 Main Street -Wayside, home of Mary Ames Frothingham & her husband Louis Frothingham -Unity Close, built by Oliver Ames Jr. -Borderland, home of Oakes and Blanche Ames -Oakes Ames House at 25 Main Street -Included also is the Edwin W. Gilmore Mansion, 12 Main Street Edwin W. Gilmore, along with Oliver Ames, Jr., and Oakes Ames, founded the E. W. Gilmore Hinge Factory. This was in 1856. Gilmore later bought out the Ames’s shares. Initially the factory was on The Island; later the factory moved to 25 Elm Street. Following construction of the new factory, Edwin and his wife, Augusta Pool Gilmore designed and built their new house on the southeast corner of Elm and Main Streets. Photograph of the Governor Oliver Ames house, original house. Of the twelve, seven still stand. Langwater, Stone Hill House, Queset, Borderland, Wayside, Unity Close, and Spring Hill. The others were torn down at various times. Wayside serves as the Easton Town Offices, Stone Hill House is part of Stonehill College, Borderland is a State Park, and the "Learning Commons" at Queset is part of Ames Free Library. Spring Hill, Unity Close, and Langwater remain in private hands and Langwater is the only home still owned by the Ames family. If you have a chance, stop by to view these photographs. Two of the homes displayed in the “Mansions Gallery”, Spring Hill & Langwater.
Also new at the station are copies of Volume Fifteen of Reminiscences magazine, published yearly by the society, and the fine work of Daniel P. Pare and Hazel L. Varella. Included are articles by Avery Lee Williams, Anne Wooster Drury, Mark C. Bergeron, Frank Meninno, Sharon Baird Graves, Charleton Ames, and several by Daniel Pare including a fascinating and deeply researched article “From the Trenches to Tinseltown: Oliver Ames, Jr., in WWI”. Copies of this year’s volume are $10 and past volumes are just $5. Well worth it! Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] Satan’s Imps As the Halloween season is upon us, many people are flocking to Salem, Massachusetts, home of all things witchy. Of course, we all know of that terrible time between February of 1692 and May of 1693 when 30 people of Salem were found guilty of witchcraft, 19 were hanged for their ‘crime’, and one man, Giles Corey, was crushed to death. Not too much later in time, in the Poquanticut neighborhood of Easton, odd supernatural events sometimes occurred, and some residents of the neighborhood were believed to be practitioners of the ‘black arts’. It was rumored that mill owner Nathan Selee was clairvoyant and that sometimes the imps of Satan ran his sawmill at night. On one occasion Mr. Selee was asked to read the fortune of a daughter of Stimson Williams, but on that particular day he declined to use his mysterious power. He later said to another man present that if she could see what the next week would bring her, she would not have asked to have her fortune told. She died the next week. (Chaffin). A friend and I visited the site of Nathan Selee’s sawmill, which had been out of use for 50 years at the time of Chaffin’s writing (1886). Of course, nothing is left except some walls and other stone ruins, but it was an interesting visit. As we walked into the woods from Mill Street the ground became wetter and eventually, we came upon a small pond and the Poquanticut Brook. The remains of the mill site are located between Mill Street and Possum Run Road. Sign on Mill Street at the corner with Rockland Street. Poquanticut Brook. Source of the waterpower for Nathan Selee’s mill. Stonework associated with the mill. Pond on the right. Nathan Selee, who Chaffin called "an able and worthy man", had a sister, Thankful (Selee) Buck, who was reputed to be a witch. It’s said she spoke incantations at midnight with her daughters and may have done something like ‘scrying’ as she poured water from one pan to another. Scrying involves seeing the future in a reflective surface.
Whatever happened or didn’t happen, no serious harm seems to have been done though stories abound, and it appears a good number of the citizens of Easton were believers. The day we visited the mill site was sunny and benign but we both agreed that it might be a different story in the darkness and lonesomeness of a long ago October eve. Rough dirt roads, no streetlights, no house lights, neighbors few and far between. I can almost hear the old mill now, mysteriously running in the darkest of night. Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] A couple of corrections to previous newsletters: The Easton Garden Club’s Annual Greens & Holiday Sale, listed for December 7th, will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, not 8-4 as printed in the Fall Quarterly. From the last Biweekly, stone from Moyle’s Quarry was used to build homes in Sharon, not Stoughton, as printed. Times Change If you visit Borderland today and walk to the west, north, or east of the mansion you will come upon areas where tangles of stone walls thread through the woods in all directions. In many cases winding between large and imposing glacial boulders. It is interesting to think about the history of this piece of land. When the first European settlers arrived, it would have most likely been covered in old growth forest. “Borderland” got its name from the location of ancient tribal borders in addition to modern-day town lines. Native Americans may well have gathered or passed through here. Early Settlement. Sometime after marrying Priscilla Drake in 1723, Captain Ebenezer Tisdale moved to what would become 697 Mountain Street in Sharon. Captain Ebenezer and Priscilla Drake Tisdale were the grandparents of Colonel Israel Tisdale. By 1783, George and Betty Packard Wilbur had moved from Bridgewater and built the George Wilbur farmhouse and cattle barn at 251 Massapoag Avenue. Later. In 1851 a farm was built where the mansion now stands by Eliphalet Wilson, who raised cattle and farmed. Later, in 1886, Michael F. and Mary Dromey Currivan purchased the farm, to be historically named the Currivan Farm. They ran a Corn Crib on Massapoag Ave. In 1906 the family sold the farm to Oakes and Blanche Ames. The farmhouse was removed by the Ames family to build their new home but today the foundation of the old Currivan house can be seen at the northwest corner of the library and the edge of the rock garden. The Currivan Corn Crib used to be located where the visitor entrance from the parking lot. Here the present lives alongside the past. Currivan Corn Crib and farmhouse, Easton Historical Society Oakes and Blanche raised mink, turkeys, pheasants, and cattle at Borderland, built a beautiful rock garden, a pool, created ponds and lawns, while leaving much of the property as it had come to them, littered with stone walls and rock formations. Mansion at Borderland This one piece of land has transformed from glacier to tribal land to farmland to the country estate of Oakes and Blanche Ames, and today, a state park that can be enjoyed by all. Today. Borderland is a great place to hike, bike, cross-country ski, play disc golf, fish, kayak, and more. A place to trace the passage of time and the cycle of settlement. Small colonial root cellar or possible indigenous stone chamber at Borderland.
Anne Wooster Drury ehsnewsletter [email protected] |
Author
Anne Wooster Drury Archives
February 2025
Categories |