Weekly Update

Hello!  What a terrific day here in Easton!  Between rain yesterday and rain forecast for tomorrow, we have a sunny day.  Today, the Easton Baptist Church is having a Covid-style Easter Egg Hunt, and next Saturday, Covenant Congregational Church is sponsoring an Easter Scavenger Hunt!  It is so good to see some community activities after such a long time of not much at all going on.
 
Today I thought I would share with you something really special from our archives.  It is a sample of a bandage made for soldiers during the Civil War.  Women played a prominent role in war efforts, though they do not get the recognition they should.  During times of war, many women and women’s groups got together and made bandages and dressings that would be sent to the field in hopes of keeping our soldiers and sailors alive.  We know that many Easton women were doing this during World War I.  And thanks to this small sample, we can see firsthand the excellent work that was performed by women of an earlier generation.
 
The sample we have is about 5” square, and is made of a very fine linen or cotton fabric.  Its weave resembles the gauze bandaging we are all familiar with today.  This material would be woven into long strips, then rolled, and boxed.  From Easton it was probably sent to Boston, and from there, would be sent along established supply lines to anywhere there was a need – and there was plenty of need!  Our sample was mounted with red, white, and blue ribbon onto an old paper, which was then mounted inside a folded paper with the following information hand-written on it: “Surgical Dressing – A sample of the work for wounded soldiers of the Civil War.”  A note at the bottom simply says “Made by L. F. Chamberlain.”
 
I have not been able to find out who L. F. Chamberlain was.  A few Chamberlains appear on our cemetery database, but none are a match for these initials, and lived at a later date.  A search on Find A Grave did not yield any definitive results either, and a look at online genealogy records was inconclusive.  The “History of Easton” does list a Rev. J. Chamberlain who was involved in the First Methodist Society in Easton during the 1820’s, and later moved to Mansfield.  There are a number of Chamberlains in surrounding towns.  Our L. F. Chamberlain remains a mystery.  Perhaps one of our sleuths out there might be able to identify this person.  Fortunately, an example of her life-saving work has survived.


I wish to express special thanks to member Merrick Sokol who took notice of our need for a good camera, and recently surprised us with a Nikon CoolPix camera!  This should serve us for many years to come.  Thank you, Merrick!
 
Until next week,
Stay well,
Frank