One hundred years ago a funeral cortege was seen wending its way to the old cemetery in Acton. It was a mournful train-- and the faces of the many mourners wore an unwonted sadness. They were following the remains of their first pastor, John Swift, to the grave.

For thirty-seven years he had ministered to them in spiritual thing--rejoiced with them in prosperity, and sorrowed with them in their adversity. He had organized a church, and a house of worship had been built through his influence.

Mr. Swift came to Acton in 1738 and in November he was ordained. The church was not organized then, but was soon after, when they chose two deacons-- Joseph Fletcher and John Heald.

The house of worship was nine years in building, at the expense of the town. First a frame likes a good-sized barn, then a floor, a few pews, and then more pews, as they were needed. If any pew-holder wanted a window, he would petition the town authorities to put in a small four-pane window. So the house was cut up in little windows here and there ad libitum, making a rather odd looking structure.

The town by vote settled Mr. Swift, giving him a salary equivalent now to three hundred and fifty dollars. first the town set down so much of the necessaries twenty gallons of rum allowed; then the salary was fixed. A settlement was given him at once, of what is equal now to seven hundred and fifty dollars-- this would then buy a small farm and partly build a house.

Mr. Swift was from Framingham and son of Rev. John Swift of Framingham and graduated at Cambridge in 1733. He was not a brilliant scholar, but his preaching was plain, practical and serious. Sometimes indulging in rather humorous expressions, rather amusing in those sober Puritan days.

His personal appearance was pleasant and agreeable; he was above the common height and rather slender.

He was somewhat economical in his living and averse to all show and extravagance. In short, he was a right plain man-- plain in mind, plain in manners, and plain in all his

arrangements.

He commenced a small volume of church records in a characteristic way, thus: "1 was ordained Nov. 8, 1738,pastor of the church of Acton " "Sept. 1, 1744, I made a speech to the church, " &c. Part of the records were in Latin and part in English--making record that some of the church incident were interlined in his almanac.

In the last year of his life it was his fortune to hear the first alarm of war. Capt. Davis on that memorable morning on the 19th of April 1775 marched his company by Mr. Swift's house to the music of the fife and drum. How the blood quickened in his veins! The country was in arms. The farmer left his plow in the furrow, shouldered his gun, slung on his powder horn and hurried to the scene of action. After the sound of the drumbeat had died away and he heard the guns at the old North Bridge, we can imagine the suspense of Parson Swift. Perhaps he went in to see Mrs. Capt. Davis and her four sick children. It maybe he was there as the heavy tread of the battle stained men of Capt. Davis's company bore his lifeless body up to his late home. He helped sustain the widow in her first shock as Davis came lifeless to a home he had left a few hours before, strong and vigorous. He was the first to fall by British bullets in the first organized battle against the Mother Country.

Scarcely had they felt this first shock before Hosmer's dead body was borne to the same house; then came the body of Hayward. Three were laid out side by side on one bier in that parlor; afterwards they were laid in one coffin. The voice must have been tremulous, the eyes blinded by tears, and it would seem to us that silence was the most eloquent sermon that have been preached. War had been declared; there laid the lifeless forms of three young men-- the flower of his parish. Blood must be poured out like water; treasure must be found somewhere to furnish the sinews of war. And where and when would be the ending in this unequal fight?

O the prayers offered by this man of God over those bodies must have been caught up be Gabriel to the Throne almost ere they were uttered.

But Mr. Swift did not lived to see the end, only the beginning, for he died Nov. 7, 1775, at the age of sixty-two, after a long and useful ministry. Only a simple mound marks his grave; and the pine tree above it seems to sing his requiem on this hundredth year after his death. Peace to his ashes! all honor to his dear memory, who laid the foundation stones of this goodly church of Acton and who did so much to form the peaceful, frugal character of its inhabitants. L.B.

Arthur Fuller Davis

1863-1953

History of Acton

By Harold R. Phalen

Pages 293-295

Arthur Fuller Davis Collection

Link to the Acton Memorial Library and pictures of some of his paintings

In 1902 is Viola Tuttle, who because if ill health and been assisted by Miss Flora Reed as town librarian, resigned and Me. Arthur Davis was selected by the trustees to fill the position. Both by temperament and ability Mr. Davis was peculiarly qualified for the work and with his installation there began another of those long term public services that are characteristic of the town -for he continued to function until the close of the year 1944, thus completing forty two years as Acton's Librarian.

Some men make contributions to civic life in business, some in politics, some in the clergy, and some as teachers or farmers or musicians. The reputation of Mr. Davis as a painter has been mentioned in other connections, but quite aside from that phase of his life there is another outstanding feature of the man. Through several decades this unassuming bachelor kept the homestead (now remodeled and owned by Irving Duren) neat and attractive, did his own housework and maintained a garden that was the envy of his neighbors. Notwithstanding his many duties he appeared hither and yon over the countryside putting on canvas the local scenes that appealed to his artistic soul. Until the last months of his life he was still alert and interested in the march of events and in the history of Acton and was kind enough to supply certain obscure data well nigh impossible to obtain from any other source.

Mr. Davis was born in Roxbury, Mass. on March 27, 1863, attended the public schools there and came to Acton with his parents in 1875. During the winter of 1883 he worked in the office of the C. F. Hovey Company in Boston, where, through the influence of their European buyer, Mr. Mandell he joined the Christian Union of Boston. Later he worked with his cousin in MaIden and studied painting with Mr. A. H. Bicknell who had a studio there. From this contact he later lived with a relative of the painter, Mr. Frank Bicknell, on a vacant farm in East Woburn. He returned to Acton in 1887 for a time arid then, together with Frank Bicknell, shared a studio on East 14th Street in New York City where for two years he made watercolors and etchings for various publishers. Then, as now, the path of the artist was not one of affluence so he returned to Acton and sold watercolors through the Walter Kimball Company of Boston.

In his picture of the Davis Company starting for Concord he has successfully attained his objective both historically and emotionally. On the one hand he conveyed the spirit that imbued the marching men and on the other adhered to the tradition that the morning was unusually mild and the trees were in full leaf.

In his larger picture portraying the departure of the Acton men in 1861 he inserted the Fletcher house and barn as they then stood next to the meetinghouse of 1807. The setting of the vehicles and the arrangement of the other details were the result of continued inter- views with soldiers who were present on that morning.

During his long tenure Mr. Davis was ever gracious and affable with a keen sense of humor, and an avid and encyclopedic familiarity with Actonaria.

In his early years as librarian he installed a catalog system based upon that in use at the Boston Public Library but in due course this was superseded by the Dewey method as been previously pointed out. About 1904 he built an extensive shelf system in the attic to accommodate the lesser-used books, which were, however, as carefully catalogued as the others. Shortly afterward additional shelves were introduced into the alcoves as at present. Sometime in the discernable future the library must have an addition, particularly as the town shows every evidence of considerable growth within the next generation.

In Arthur Davis the town of Acton has had an example of the impact that can be made upon a community by a man of honesty, simplicity, modesty and industry -even though he may be unaware of the fact that any impact was being made. It was not given to him to be a famous artist, as the term is usually understood, but his Isaac Davis picture is known wherever historians assemble who know the details of Concord Fight and he did have the satisfaction, as has been previously mentioned, of seeing his numerous canvasses exhibited locally in the Concord library.

As he approached his ninetieth birthday in a rest home he continued to put out an amazing number of creditable watercolors and pencil sketches as a pastime and as a means of taking his mind from the perpetual pains that tortured his frail and wasting body.

His sketch of the second meetinghouse, done by request, in a matter of a few days, less than four months before his death, is more pleasing and softer in effect than the harsher woodcut used by Fletcher. Moreover it is a treasured sample of the last public effort of Acton's unassuming and loyal artist.

He was one of a small group of painters who restricted their canvasses to one town or to a single small area. For that reason he is unique and for that reason Mr. David Little has seen fit to stage another Davis exhibit in the Concord library during the past summer.

George Cleveland Wright

1823-1910

by Lucie Caroline Hager

Boxborough: a New England town and its people

Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1891, c1890, 215-218 pgs.

He was born J an. 7, 1823, in Bedford. His father, Joel Wright, lived in Boxborough at one time in the brick dwelling- house opposite the Orthodox Church. His grandfather's name also was Joel, and his great-grandfather, Ebenezer Wright, lived in Templeton and Hubbardston. His mother, Dolly H. Reed, was born in Littleton, and afterwards taught school in Boxborough. She was a daughter of Poulter Reed, and her mother, Molly Hartwell, was a direct descendant in the sixth generation from William Hartwell, who came to Concord in 1635-36. . Poulter (son of John Reed, of Lexington), soon after his marriage. to Molly Hartwell, moved to Boxborough, and lived on a farm about one eighth mile east of the centre, - in a house nearly opposite' that now occupied by Simon B. Hager. They soon returned to Lexington, and then to Littleton, where George's mother was born. Mr. Wright has in his possession no less than three certificates of his mother's ability to " teach school;" one of them has a local interest, at least, and reads as follows :-

" BOXBOROUGH,

April 17th, 1813.

These may certify that having examined Miss Dolly H. Reed; I do find her so well versed in English leading and the grammatical construction to approve of her in the employment of teaching an English school. .

(Signed)

JOSEPH Willard, Clerk."

Rev. Joseph Willard was the first minister of the District of Boxborough.

Dec. 31, 1846, he married Susan H. Davis, daugf1ter- of Jonathan B. Davis, granddaughter of Simon Hosmer, and grandniece of Captain Isaac Davis, who was killed at Concord fight. Four of the children lived to grow rip, born as follows: Estella M., Dec. 20, 1849; George S., July 3, 1857; Effie R., June 13, 1860; T. Bertha, June 5, 1866.

At the age of thirty-one, after being in the milk business in Charlestown and Boston two years, he engaged in the coffee and spice business as a member of the firm of Hayward and Co.., which, after twenty-five years of successful business, united with Dwinell and Co., and soon after with Mason and Co.. under the firm name of Dwinell, Hayward and Co., the largest Coffee and Spice house in New En gland. Though always an equal partner in every respect, he never asked to have his own name appear in the firm name.

For the past thirty years he has been the coffee buyer of the house, and his frequent trips to the New York markets have made him personally known to most of the prominent Coffee men of this country. As a coffee buyer he has few equal and no superiors. 'With the courage of his convictions, backed by a most thorough knowledge of the statistical position of the, article in question, he has shown his right to the foremost position. in his department of the business; notably so in the rise of 1886-1887, 'v hen the Brazilian coffees advanced in one year more than 250 per cent in value.

From. small beginnings, the firm of Dwinell, Hayward Co. has seen a health and legitimate growth; and today distributes the products of its extensive factory, located at the corner of Batterymarch and Hamilton Streets, Boston, in almost every State and territory this side the Rock Mountains

Mr. Wright is strictly a self-made man. Without rich or influential friends to help, he had won for himself a position in the business world that any man might envy, and to which few attain, and he bids fair, at the age of sixty-eight, to enjoy for many years the competency he so well deserves.

Early in his successful business life -1861- he built a worthy home on the brow of the hill overlooking the village of West Acton, which commands a glorious view of the surrounding county Here his children grew up, and here he still reside.

He has been prominently identified with the Universalist Parish in West Acton and was one of three to contribute a large sum towards the erection of its present meetinghouse.

In all the village and town improvements Mr. Wright has always shown a lively interest and a generous help.

Lyceum and Temperance, school and library, have found in him a firm friend and a most liberal patron.

Though Mr. Wright never sought prominence in social or town affairs any more than in his business career, yet he was chosen vice-president, and afterwards president of the Farmers Club in West Acton, and served as chairman of the building committee in the erection of the present commodious school- house in the same village.

In the Legislature of 1874, he represented the towns of Acton, Wayland, and Sudbury, as a republican, with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction of his constituents.

Mr. Wright is keenly alive to the times; is still active in business, and .is no less enthusiastic in his support of the principles of Tariff Revision than he was in '48, 'v lien his party, at the National Free Soil Convention, at Buffalo, after successfully balloting for a Presidential candidate, adjourned with the allying cry " Van Buren and Free Soil, Adams and Liberty"

Alvin Mason Lothrop

1847-1912

Mr. Lothrop began his mature career under the tutelage of Mr. J. K. W. Wetherbee in the store of Tuttle, Jones and Wetherbee. In due course he went to Boston where he met S. Walter Woodward and established both a friendship and a partnership that lasted throughout his life. The company of Woodward and Lothrop had several locations in and about Boston, the last being in Chelsea whence it moved to Washington D. C. in 1880. The business grew apace and expanded into its present huge quarters at lOth, Ilth, F and G Streets. Mr. Lothrop died in 1912 but the grandchildren have established their competence to successfully conduct the large enterprise. There are several large branches, the latest addition having been opened in Alexandria in 1952.

Mr. Lothrop never lost touch with his home town. He loved to return and look over its rolling acres as he sat on a stonewall with some former schoolmate and chatted of the days gone by. It was ever a joy to him to have Actonites drop in at the Washington store. His sunny disposition was a blessing since his wife's illness and the death of a daughter threw the cares of home, as well as business, upon him with full force.

IN DEPTH: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Past is present D.C. buildings with a history

Woodward & Lothrop Address: 1025 F St. NW Oldest section opened: 1902

Mike Livingston

Long before there were shopping malls and warehouse store chains, upscale department stores occupied elegant eight-story buildings downtown. New York had its Macy's and Saks, and Washington had Garfinckel's and Woodies. Today the Washington Opera Company hopes to turn the historic Woodward & Lothrop site into an opera house equaling the grandeur of La Scala in Milan.

Woodward & Lothrop sold clothing, housewares, cosmetics, jewelry and gifts at its flagship location on F Street NW from 1887 to 1996. Samuel W. Woodward and Alvin M. Lothrop moved their 7-year-old department store from Boston to Washington in 1880, opening a store at Market Space, now the site of Market Square and the Navy Memorial. After serious flooding along Pennsylvania Avenue NW in 1886, the flourishing business moved to the Carlisle Building at 11th and F.

By 1897, Woodward & Lothrop had acquired five buildings adjacent to the Carlisle -- almost the entire block bounded by 10th, 11th, F and G streets NW. Architect Henry Ives Cobb united the six buildings behind a new G Street facade, doubling Woodies' retail space to eight full floors at a cost of $250,000.

Additions and renovations continued from 1902 to 1926, and in 1927, Woodward & Lothrop's staff architect, L.K. Ashford, presided over the completion of the 400,000-square-foot building as it stands today.

During the Roaring Twenties, Woodies boasted at least 67 retail departments, a restaurant, a theater, a hair salon, an infirmary, a travel agency, a merry-go-round and traveling world-class art exhibits.

Outside, the G Street bays are trimmed with floral relief and medallions of the W&L monogram. Cast iron and leaded glass accents frame the entrance as Cobb's turn-of-the-century commercial design meets Ashford's later Beaux Arts details. For its architectural values and its role in the commercial history of Washington, the building was named to the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964.

When Woodward & Lothrop went out of business in 1996, the Washington Opera Company -- which had just landed superstar tenor Placido Domingo as its new artistic director -- proposed to turn the building into an opera house. The opera company, currently based at the Kennedy Center, purchased the building at auction for $18 million with a donation from philanthropist Betty Brown Casey.

Alden Fuller

CLOTHIER AND FARMER OF ACTON, MASS

1796-1875

A Yankee Heritage

Beginning with John Fuller of Newton

by Bruce Faulkner White, Linda Vandegrift and Ashley A, Thorndike

Alden's childhood with his parents Ebenezer and Betsy is shrouded in uncertainty. Alden and all of his siblings were recorded, as being born in Concord yet there is sparse information about their lives there. The family never owned a home and based on the few tax records, lived meagerly at best. In the early years following the Revolutionary war the Nation was beset by economic difficulties and it was not until well into the nineteenth century that circumstances became more prosperous. And as the country prospered, so did our line of the Fuller family who we find in the neighboring town of Acton in 1822, where Alden made his home.

Acton was incorporated as a township in 1735 and in the early years it was primarily an agricultural town. However, the Nashoba river winding through Acton

Center, South Acton, West Acton and on towards the town of Littleton, provided a source of water power which ensured the growth of small local industries that served the surrounding communities for years to come.

Acton in the 1800's, like so many rural New England towns, experienced the rapid changes brought about by the beginning of the industrial revolution. During the 1700's there were only two mills located in the west part of the town, owned at various times by the Faulkner family. By the nineteenth century many small industries had been established in town. Cooper shops abounded and accounted for a large share of the town's commercial revenue. In Acton Center the second meetinghouse was erected in 1807. When the decision was made to build the meetinghouse, Samuel Jones, Esq. began active real estate development to create a town center. He donated the greater part of the common as a free gift to the town; he built a hotel, a store, various shops for blacksmiths and coopers, and three houses. The several mills in Acton Center included a bellows manufacturer and a gristmill.

In 1808, South Acton was known as Mill Corner and had only three dwelling houses within a radius of one-quarter mile, as well as a saw, grist, and fulling mill. In West Acton there was Bradley Stone's Blacksmith Shop (established in 1837), the Tin Shop of Henderson Rowell (1844), Oliver Wyman's Shoemaker Shop (1850) and Page's Tavern (1848). A business that became very successful in later years was A& 0. Mead & Co. established in 1840, the first refrigerated warehouse for the commercial storage of fruit in this country. (That bbusiness grew to become a very large and lucrative conglomerate.) In addition to those enterprises the area produced lumber products such as tubs, pails and churns and the abundance of apple orchards necessitated the erection of a local cider mill.

On March 21,1822 when Alden Fuller was twenty-six years old he and Sarah

Faulkner of Acton was joined in matrimony (recorded in the Harvard town records). Sarah's family was an old and respected family of Acton. The Faulkners had arrived in Acton about 1735 and were known for their early enterprises in textile manufacturing. Later local recognition was won by one Col. Faulkner's participation in the revolutionary war. Over the years the family continued to maintain an eminent position in the town. This ancestral family of ours has a very interesting history, which is presented in Chapter Eight.

Sarah proved to be an extremely dutiful wife and a very durable woman; she

bore fifteen children over the next twenty-three years, the last when she was forty-three years old. The first child was named Ephraim Warren (b.1823), his Grandparent's namesake. Following Ephraim an infant was born who died unnamed in 1824. On June 6 1825 Sarah gave birth to Emerson Faulkner, our direct lineal ancestor. The choice of Faulkner for a middle name is obvious. His first name, however, comes from a less direct source: Sarah's brother Nathanial Sidney

Faulkner married a Sophia Emerson and from that connection Emerson received his given name.* Following Emerson came Luther Farwell (b.1827), George H. (b.1828), Susan Maria Faulkner (b.1829), Alden A (b.1832), Henry Alden (b.1833), Sarah Augusta (b.1834), Caroline (b.1836), Lucy Ann (b.1838), Francis L (b.1840),Harriet M. (b.1841), Chancey Upham (b. 1843), and last Mary Sophia (b.1846).

Alden began purchasing property at the age of twenty-five. In 1821, shortly before his marriage, he purchased a fulling mill in the town of Harvard about seven miles west of Acton ( the mill was built about 1782 by Seth Gould of Sturbridge ). His older brother Ephriam, who had already established himself in the textile business in the town of Lancaster, and his association with the Faulkners, who had long been in the business, probably influenced Alden's decision. Although he did not marry Sarah Faulkner until the following year, Alden had probably developed close ties to the Faulkner family and thereby had gained a knowledge of the textile business by that time.

In 1826 Alden, "a clothier", purchased from Mary Faulkner, "single woman", eight acres of woodland and the easterly front room in a dwelling house and chamber with kitchen privileges, in West Acton for $250. In 1830 the census for Acton records that there were eight persons in his household ( the census at that time listed the number of persons by age group with no names). The Fuller family by that time had grown to seven persons including Alden, Sarah and their year old baby Susan Maria so the eighth member of the household was not family, probably a hired hand employed to work on the farm or to help with the household chores. It was also in that year that Alden dissolved his partnership with John Whitney and they sold the fulling mill in Harvard to Joseph C. Green. It is doubtful that Alden maintained any activity in the fulling business as that industry was rapidly succumbing to the large textile mills that were growing in areas with more plentiful water power. By the end of the 1850's all such mills in Acton had ceased operations or had been modified to house more lucrative local enterprises.

In 1848, Alden purchased ten and one-quarter acres of pasture and swamp in West Acton abutting land he already owned for $250. He again added to his holdings in 1850 with the purchase, from Silas Davis, of a two story house and an adjoining shed at a cost $500. In the same year he bought another half acre in West Acton for $100. In 1869 Alden bought land in West Acton from his son-in-law Frank Whitcomb for $3,000 (this transaction was actually a mortgage, a loan to Whitcomb).

By 1850 Alden's estate was worth $2,750: $1,000 in buildings, forty acres of improved land valued at $1,000, and sixty-nine acres of unimproved land worth $750. In comparison, his wife's second cousin, Winthrop E. Faulkner ( owner of the Faulkner Mills) had an estate worth $6,436. In the 11860 Census Alden, listed as farmer, had improved his holdings to include real estate valued at $4,000 and a personal estate of $1,050. Records of Alden's early activities in the town are sparse. As a young man, he sang in the choir at the new meeting house ( erected in 1807) along with several of the Faulkner girls and his wife's great Uncle, Winthrop Faulkner, who was a "Chorister". In 1833, Alden became a member of the newly established Evangelical Church, the membership consisting of the orthodox members of the old Congregational Church whose new minister had introduced more liberal Unitarian ideas. He served as Selectman in 1841-42 and in 1846 was appointed to a committee to confer with the first parish about renting space in the lower part of their building for town meetings. When that meeting ended it was recorded that: "adjournment was made to Tuttle's Tavern to count the votes for state officers." When it was decided to build a monument (still standing on the Acton common) to Capt. Isaac Davis-the first American to fall in the Revolution in the fight at Concord Bridge-Alden and Winthrop Faulkner were appointed to a committee to organize and hold a 1000 plate dinner to celebrate the completion of the giant granite obelisk. During the time of the Civil War, at the age of sixty-five, he was head of the local committee for the West school and served again as a selectman in 1861-1862 (the latter, for which he was paid $17.00.) In Apri11861 he was on a committee to prepare a reception for the Davis Guard upon their return home from their tour in the Civil war: "The committee was instructed to procure either the Lowell Brass Band or Hart's Band of Boston and arrange to entertain at a dinner, the wives of the men of company E, together with other companies formed in town."

In addition to paying it's public officials for their time and effort, the town paid its residents for necessary town maintenance as well as for other miscellaneous work. For instance, in 1861-62 Henry Hartwell was paid $3.40 for opening the Town Hall twelve times and $2.00 for tolling the bell for ten deaths. Thomas Moore was paid $26.87 for twenty-one and one half days work on the burying ground. Winthrop Conant received $4.50 for summoning thirty-seven persoons to take the oath of office and John Tenney $9.90 for digging graves and attending funerals with his hearse. Alden's son, Emerson Faulkner Fuller, and Winthrop E. Faulkner received payment for "breaking roads."

Sometime after his father-in-law, Nathaniel Faulkner died Alden and his family moved into the old Faulkner homestead (on the road from West Acton to Stow), which had been purchased by Sarah's grandfather in 1764 and recently occupied by the late Nathaniel. There he and Sarah lived until his death in 1875 from "injuries received by falling." His obituary in the Concord Freeman states only his name, date of death and his age: " 77 years 7 months 7 days."

Alden's will, written on the 15th day of July 1871, reads in part:

The Will of Alden Fuller

Flrst..l give and bequeath unto my wife Sarah Fuller if she survives

me, a sufficient amount of my property to maintain her comfortably

during her natural life...

Second..l give and bequeath unto my daughter Mary S. Preston,

wife of Oscar E. Preston, the sum of $300.00

Third...unto my daughter Francis L. Whitcomb, wife of Frank H.

Whitcomb, the sum of $200.00

Fourth...the balance or residue of my estate, both real and personal, to my children Emerson, Luther, George, Alden, Chauncey, Sarah, Lucy A. Sawyer, Caroline, Francis, and Mary, to be divided among them equally...

And I hereby appoint by son, Emerson Faulkner to be the sole

executor of this my last will...

Alden's first son Ephriam died before the making of the will and two of his married daughters passed away after the will was made but before Aldens death (their portion of the estate was divided among their heirs). His estate was worth a total of $7,222.89, most of that being in promissory notes. The estate was not settled until after the death of his wife Sarah in 1882. With expenses for both funerals, tablets and other incidentals mounting to $1,862.57, the residue, $5,360.32, was left to divide among his heirs. Those that remained of his fifteen children each received $441.85. Alden is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in West Acton along with his wife, Sarah. Nearby are buried Sarah's brother Nathaniel Sidney and his wife Sophia Emerson Faulkner and several of their children.

Rev. George Faber Clark

The Templar

A Monthly

Total Abstinence Paper

Willard O. Wylie, Editor

August 1893

We gladly utilize the privilege offered of presenting this month the life and work of that "Grand old man" of Mass. Good Templary, P.G.C.T., Rev. Geo. F. Clark. It is needless perhaps to say that the writer has a profound admiration for the remarkable devotion to principle that has marked the former's life. From youth to old age there has been the same uncompromising attitude towards the traffic in intoxicants and today with bright intellect and undimmed eye he is doing yeoman's service for the right.

Rev. George Faber Clark was born in Dublin N.H.Feb.24, 1817 and is consequently in his 77th year. He received his education at the Phillips Academy and Harvard University, graduating from the Divinity school in the class of 1846. As schoolmates he had many who have since become eminent in public and professional life, among whom may be mentioned, Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Rev. Samuel H. Winkley, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Longfellow and Bro. Farrington McIntyre. At the age of nine, young Clark swore eternal enmity to rum, and at the present time, with nearly 70 years added thereto, is the same unrelenting foe to the liquor traffic.

In 1840 the people had not yet accepted total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as the rule of their faith and practice; but Bro. Clark at the age of 23, boldly and earnestly proclaimed this idea to the people of Dublin on the occasion of his first public address. His argument was strong, logical and conclusive, and did much to prepare the way in that vicinity for the oncoming of the Washingtonian wave. In this latter movement he was an earnest worker, and by voice and pen contributed largely to its success. After leaving college he preached at Shelburne and Charlemont, being ordained in the latter place in 1847 as a clergyman of the Unitarian Church. His successive appointments have been at Warwick, 1848-.52; Norton, 18.52-62; Stowe, 1862-67; Castine Me., 1867- 70; Mendon Mass., 1871-83; Hubbardston. 1883-89. In the fall of 1889, Bro. Clark resigned as pastor of the society of Hubbardston and retired from the active work of the ministry, removing to W. Acton. Where he now resides. In 1847 he married Miss Harriet Emery, April 1st of this year witnessing the 40th anniversary of their marriage.

As a radical prohibitionist Bro. Clark has ever been in the front rank. He was one of the signers of the call issued in 1869 for the prohibitionists of the nation to meet in Chicago in September of that year, to meet and confer as to what action should be taken in politics, and which was the forerunner of the National Prohibition Convention at Columbus Ohio in 1812

The previous year or two he had been active in Maine, and urged independent political action by the friends of temperance in that state, where he was a recognized temperance leader. As a result of his agitation a third party was formed which nominated N. G. Hitchbirn for governor, and succeeded in polling 7000 votes. In 181O he was one of the signers to a call for a prohibition convention in Mass., and in the same year was a member of the Prohibition State Committee. In 1817-2 he was chairman of the state committee, and with the exception of one year has been a member of the committee ever since. He has been It member of almost every prohibition national nominating convention since 1872. In 18i6 he was the only delegate from Massachusetts to the National Convention at Cleveland.

He was made a member of the National Committee in 1876, and re-elected 1880 and 1884, thus serving 12 years in that capacity. In 1880 was one of four delegates at large to the National Convention. He was an elector upon the national ticket in 1872, and an elector at large with the late Henry D. Cushing in 1876. Bro. Clark has three times been nominated for state senator, four times for councilor and once for representative to congress.

He presided at the State Convention in the spring of 1880, to nominate delegates to the national convention, and in the September convention of the same year wrote the platform upon which the party stood in the ensuing fight. The only civil offices he has held have been as Town Clerk and Treasurer of Norton for three years and Supt. of Schools at Mendon for ten years.

In 1850 Bro. Clark became a member of the Sons of Temperance, and at the April session of the same year was elected a member of the Grand Division. In 1855 he was elected president of the Bristol County Total Abstinence Society and held the office two years. In 1860-61 he was president of the Bristol

County Son of Temperance Association. In 1862 was elected president of the Middlesex Northwest Temperance Union and served three years. After a lapse of one year he was again elected and served two years. He joined the Mass. Temperance Alliance in 1862 and was a member of its executive committee many years. In 1876 Bro. Clark joined the Mass. Total Abstinence Society, and has served upon its board of directors. He has also "served as president of the Worcester and Middlesex Temperance Union, and the Worcester Northwest Temperance Union.

Bro. Clark is a life member of the N.E. Historic Genealogical Society, of Boston, a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and a corresponding member of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

It is from his work in Good Templary that the TEMPLAR knows Bro. Clark the best and loves him the most. This champion of our principles joined Unity Lodge of Good Templars, No.19, of Taunton, March 16, 1860, was admitted to the Grand Lodge, Oct. 23, 1861, and has attended all but five or six sessions since that time. In 1862 he was elected G. Chaplain and in 1863 G. C. Templar, the highest honor the Good Templars of Mass. have in their power to bestow. In 1864 he joined the Supreme Lodge at Cleveland, 0., and has attended five sessions since, always being placed on prominent committees. As D. G. W. C. T. he organized the G. L. of New Hampshire in October 1865. When the Supreme Lodge met in Boston in 1866 Bro. Clark presided at the reception given in its honor at Music Hall. He lectured for the G. L. of Mass. in 1867 and for G. L. of Maine in 1870-1. He compiled a Digest of Good Templar Law for Mass. and wrote a history of the order in connection with its 25th anniversary celebration. In 1888 and 1889, Bro. Clark was called to the G. Chaplain's chair and still again in 1893, which position he now holds.

Bro. Clark has been a voluminous contributor to the press during his 1ife. He has published two books, "The History of Norton" and the "History of the Temperance Reform in Mass." The latter is a very valuable compendium of past work and efforts here in Mass. for the redemption of souls from the bondage of strong drink. His miscellaneous contributions to the press constitute a wide range of thought. The TEMPLAR is deeply indebted to him for the many articles he has written especially for this journal.

Sister Clark who has been all her life deeply interested in temperance work, was elected G. V. T. of Massachusetts in 1866. It is the earnest prayer of their many friends that man and wife may be spared to round out their fifty years of wedded happiness.

We have gathered these facts concerning Bro.Clark's career from various sources. We realize that scant justice has been done the magnificent life work given to the temperance reform by Bro. Clark. It can be truly said of him: “He hath done what he could." What better praise can be spoken of any man? In the sunset of life he call feel the sweet content of a soul satisfied that it did its duty. We may sometime part with the familiar form of Bro. Clark, we may lose the genial warmth of personal contact with him, the fires of energy and enthusiasm may die out, - but ever and anon a memory will rise in the mind - a memory of a battle-scarred veteran who bore aloft the snow while banner of temperance, and gained the heights that timid men looked up to with despair.

Rev. James Fletcher

Died in Acton, March 28, 1893

As Rev. Mr. Fletcher was a native of Acton and for several years prior to his death held an important official position, the following biographical sketch will be of interest to many readers.

He was born in Acton, Sept. 5, 1823, and was the son of Deacon John and Clarissa Jones Fletcher. He fitted for College at Leicester academy, Mass., and New Ipswich academy" N. H. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1843 and from Andover theological seminary in 1846. After his graduation he continued his studies one year at Andover as a resident licentiate. His first pastoral work was in Kingston, N. H., in 1847-48. That, even as a young theologue not yet ordained, he must have made a marked impression upon the people is evident from the fact that six years later he was Invited upon the council which ordained and installed Rev. John Mellish over this church and gave the charge to the people.

June 20, 1849, he was ordained at Danvers and installed as pastor over the Maple street church, and though more than ordinary difficulties confronted him as he entered upon his pastorate and beet his course all the way through, he continued in this relation 15 years, revving highly commendatory resolutions in the church in connection with the acceptance of his resignation.

His local attachments were very strong. This no doubt accounts for the fact that he consented to accept the very high tribute tendered to him by citizens of Danvers as an evidence of their appreciation to him as a scholar and a man which found expression in his election soon after the close of his pastorate as principle of the Holton High school, which position he held for a period of five years. After teaching a few months in his native town, he became principal of the Lawrence academy, Groton, and continued in charge of this institution six years. He was then principal of the Burr and Burton seminary, Manchester, Vt. three years.

His work in life seems to have been but equally divided between that of the pastor and the teacher. He served the board of education not only as the principle of important schools. He was upon the school committee boards 20 years and from 1887-92 was Superintendent of the schools of his native town. At the time of his death he was the chairman of the school committee and a trustee of Acton's Memorial library. He married in Andover, Mass. Oct. 101 1849, Lydia Middleton, daughter of Rev. Henry Woodward, missionary to Ceylon, grand daughter of Bezaleel Woodward of Darthmouth college. She died in 1878 and since that date, apart fro~ his public duties he has found his principal work and solace in the care of his Invalid daughter I who alone of his children survived him.

We have spoken of our friend's local attachment as peculiarly strong. This was pre-eminently so as regards his love for his native town. Whenever released from respol1sibilities in other localities he instinctively returned with his family to this place, as though he never abandoned the idea that this was, after all, his home. Consonant with this thought we find his principal published work, a unique monograph, published in 1890, entitled "Acton in History," a work which was in great demand at the time of its issue from the press and which will have an ever increasing interest as time goes on, and his last public utterances were in the line of reminiscence which, as they have been preserved by the local press, will be found to be not only most faithful portraits of rural life as it was in New England in the first part of the present century, but models of English composition in the narrative style.

He finds his resting place here by the side of the beloved wife of his youth in the soil which holds the honored dust of his ancestors who had their homes in this vicinity as among the first settlers of the land, At his funeral which was in the village church on Good Friday afternoon, two college and seminary classmates vied with a most intimate associate of the recent years in their tribute to him' as a Christian, as a scholar and as a man.

FUNERAL SERVICE

The funeral services of the late Rev. James Fletcher were held in the Congregational church Friday p. m. March 31, and were largely attended by friends and relatives, also large delegations from nearly all of the schools were present.

Rev. F. P. Wood conducted the service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Hodgman of Framingham, and Rev. Dr. Furber of Newton Centre, former classmates of Mr. Fletcher at Dartmouth and Andover, each of whom rendered fitting and worthy tributes to the beautiful character of the deceased whose simplicity made him the loved companion of the little ones, while his bravery under the adverse circumstances, with which it was his to contend, placed him with that list of heroes whose deeds of valor are "worthy the knightliest soul that ever 'neath the banner of the cross set steadfast face toward far Jerusalem."

There were beautiful floral tributes from the brothers of the deceased, and the school committee, of which he was chairman, also handsome designs from all the schools, which seemed to express more than ordinary significance.

As the little ones brought their contributions to their teachers, many of them

said “this is my very own," or “I took this from my bank for Mr. Fletcher," showing the love, which made it a gift

indeed.

A quartet sang appropriate selections. The remains were interred in Woodlawn cemetery.

“Others shall take patience, labor, to their heart and hand

From thy hand, and thy heart and thy brave cheer.

And God's grace fructify through thee to all.

The least flower, with a brimming cup may stand

And share its dewdrop with another near”

S.R.R.

All hearts are saddened by the sudden death of Rev. James Fletcher at the Centre Tuesday evening, and non will more sincerely sorrow than the school children whose love he has won by his visit to the school room in the capacity of superintendent for a term of years, ever ready to aid and encourage both teacher and pupils with his kindly, courteous manner. His death was probably caused by heart disease and occurred soon after the alarm of fire was given about 9 o'clock Tuesday evening.

Rev. James Fletcher was attending an entertainment in the hall at the time and was so overcome by the excitement that he dropped dead soon after reaching his home. He was a retired Congregational clergyman and a highly esteemed citizen of the town. The fire originated in the boiler room of the wheelwright shop

Hannah Brown Davis Jones Leighton

Unsung heroine of the Revolution:

Widow of Captain Isaac Davis regarded as a role model

By Jill Pontius

Staff writer, The Beacon

Everyone knows about Captain Isaac Davis and his heroism during the first battle of the Revolution, April 19, 1775, according to long time Acton resident, Elizabeth Boardman. But little is known about his wife and widow, Hannah Brown Davis.

Actually, Boardman knows quite a lot about Hannah Davis, who she regards as a favorite role model.

“She really is the classic example of the wonderful, patient long suffering mother.” Boardman explains in a recent interview.

War's first widow

“In the last phase of her life, when she was living in poverty for 22 years Hannah gently, patiently and, at last successfully pursued justice and the pension that she deserved as the war's first widow.

“I'm happy to say that in 1794 Hannah was recognized, thought, by Acton's town fathers and was excused from paying town taxes.

“By 1818 Hannah learned that other widows were receiving federal financial help and she asked Acton citizens to help her obtain federal and state pensions. But she received virtually no recognition or assistance until she became so bold as to personally petition for help from the government in 1840, with the help of Daniel Webster and his eloquence, she was honored with a pension instead of being kept in poverty.”

Boardman pointed out that Hannah was born in 1749, was 90 years old when she finally received a small pension, and 91 when she died.

In the meantime, Hannah Brown Davis Jones Leighton lives courageously. The local stories recounted here began on April 19, 1775. Some of Boardman's yarns come from history books; others were told to her years ago by the late Arthur Davis, a local artist who heard them from his father; and the shipwreck story was passed on to Boardman by Hannah's and Isaac's great-great granddaughter, Acton resident Thelma Davis Boatman.

The first Patriots' Day

“Before dawn on April 19, 1775, Davis' Minute Man Company gathered at their home on Hayward Road. The British had captured Paul Revere, but Dr. Samuel Prescott had gotten away and brought the alarm that “The Regulars are coming!” to Acton and other towns.

Hannah's four small children were sick with the canker, a skin rash. Nevertheless, she was up cooking rations in large kettles for the men. (The kettles are now in the town library) She also helped 37 farmer-defenders powder their hair because they didn't want to go to battle with this redcoats soldiers without having it known that they too could be well groomed and dressed.

“As the wife of Acton's leader, Hannah obviously stood her husband's ideals and was much aware of his views,” related Boardman.

When it was time to march to Concord, Isaac, a very gentle and soft-spoken man, walked out the door. Then he came back and said to his wife “Hannah, take care of the children” He had a dreamed of a white bird flying over the family plot in the cemetery and believed he would not return. Isaac was killed instantly on the first volley of shots.

Later that day, the men carried Isaac's body back home. Hannah would write, “Isaac Davis was killed in the Concord battle in 1775 at 30 years of age. Our youngest was 15 months old. All the children were unwell. The alarm was given early in the morning.”

Her second marriage

Boardman continued her tale.

“A young widow with children could feel the need for a step-father. She married Samuel Jones in 1782, became stepmother to his son, and eventually gave birth to another child. Samuel was a lawyer who was interested in setting up a new and spacious Acton Center and in moving houses from along the road to the center. He was a benefactor to the community.

“In these new colonies debtors stayed in debtor's prison until they paid their bills, if you can imagine that! As a lawyer with a wife and several children, Jones decided to test the law and became indebted. He told Hannah he was leaving for the new country opening along the delta of the Mississippi River near the Gulf.

“In due course he sent for them. Dutiful wife that Hannah was, she loaded a wagon with her family and arrived in New Orleans without mishap. They went to Natchez, where her husband died in 1802 of yellow fever. The children must have been teen-agers by then.

“Hannah was again a woman alone. She booked passage on a ship sailing around Florida to Boston. The voyage was serene until they reached Cape Cod. A furious storm came up. The ship wrecked on the rocks. Hannah saw a straw mattress floating out of the sinking ship. She and her children managed to reach it and they held on until they were picked up and brought to shore.

“A stage coach was established at the time that came all the way to Acton to Brooks Tavern (the site is at the intersection of Main Street and Nagog Hill Road) When people heard that Hannah Brown Davis Jones was coming from Boston on the coach, they gathered and gave her a warm welcome back to the town, which owed her and her family so much.

Rest of her story

The story teller continued: “Having re-established herself in town, in due time Hannah found another man who could help her with her problems. Francis Leighton was a much older man of some means. She moved to his home in the newly opening area northwest of Acton, now known as Westford.

“But when he died a couple of years later. Hannah did return to Acton. By 1807 we know that she was living in the yellow house that still stands at the intersection of Concord Road and Wood Lane.

Opened the Dames School

“In this house she ran the Dames School, where upstairs she taught English speech, reading and arithmetic to the little girls in town. Apparently it was very stern, because there are still marks on the floor where her platform for the teacher's desk was placed and she could look down on her small students. She taught there from about 1810 to 1830, when she retired at about 80 years of age.

A portrait of Widow Leighton, looking quite grim and old, was found years ago in a barn on Main Street. The Library, I think. Has the portrait now.”

About the storyteller

Acton - Elizabeth Boardman, who in accompanying article shares some of her favorite stories about the Revolutionary War widow Hannah Brown Davis, moved to Acton in 1946 with her husband and four children.

“We had to have at least one New England baby here,” she says smiling.

“We ended up with two Yankee babies” Her husband is Dr. Donnell Boardman, who started Acton Medical Associates and practiced in town for about 35 years.

She has served on the School Committee and the Regional School Committee at the time the high school was built. She also is a peace activist who now attends Quaker Meetings in West Concord.

The Wife of Capt. Isaac Davis.

The Concord Freeman, 22 April1887

Read before the Acton V.I.S. at town hall, April 19, 1887 by Miss Viola Tuttle.

The crayon likeness of the wife of Capt. Isaac Davis which is upon the wall this evening was sketched from a daguerreotype of the original, now in the possession of F. P. Wood, which is to those who remember the face a marked facsimile.

The modest artist wishes his name to be kept from the public, and those curious to know are informed at the outset that he is not a lineal descendant of lsaac nor is his name John, nor is he a resident of the town, though his cheery face occasionally enlivens our streets.

Capt. Isaac Davis was the son of Ezekiel Davis, who married Mary Gibson of Stow, the mother of Isaac. He was born Feb. 23, 1745, on the place where George Hager now lives at West Acton. He married Hannah Brown Oct. 24, 1764. He lived where Charles Wheeler now resides, from which place he marched at the head of his company on that memorable and fatal morning, one hundred and twelve years ago today.

Mrs. Davis had by her first husband, Isaac, four children, two daughters and two sons. One married a Mr. Fitch. Hannah married Amos Noyes. Isaac, one son, remained a bachelor and had some peculiarities common to that unfortunate class of the human family. The name of the other son is not known. Mrs. Davis' second husband was Samuel Jones, who was a man of wealth. By him she had three children, Samuel, James and Eliza.

Samuel, who was a lawyer, built a law office just in the rear of the Monument House, a one story affair, which was afterwards enlarged into a two story building, and which has been still further improved by additions and is now the commodious home of Lucian Noyes, a descendant of that Amos Noyes whom Hannah Davis married. Samuel Jones being a peaceable man, like all the Joneses, could not stir up law business enough to make it profitable, and so devoted himself to the enlargement and adornment of his native village.

He built the house now occupied by J. E. Cutter, also the house of the late Mrs. Drew and erected the frame of another on Raspberry hill. His projects carried him beyond the limits of his ample purse; otherwise the new turnpike opened by him over the hill might have become the Beacon Street of the new city, Jonesville.

Eliza, his sister, was highly educated and married a Mr. Waite. They resided in Groton for a while and afterwards moved to Albany, N. Y. On one of her visits to Acton, she had a rich oil painting, taken by a N.Y. artist, of her mother, which she took with her to Albany. Several persons now living well remember that portrait. Mrs. Waite for some time taught in the high school in Albany.

After the death of Mr. Jones, his widow married a Mr. Leighton of Westford, where she lived till his death. As widow Leighton she lived in Acton with her granddaughter, Mrs. Simon Davis, in the house now occupied by Lucian Noyes.

She was a woman of good size, well developed and of marked features. Just note her face. Those eyes are Websterean. Anyone who remembers Daniel Webster's eyes can easily take her for his sister. Look at that nose, that mouth, those lips, that forehead; there is a force in that expression we do not often see. That face doubtless had much to do with the courage of Capt. Davis at the old North Bridge.

It was Hannah and Isaac together marching at the head of that company, though she bodily

Was nursing her sick children at home.

That cheek would not blanch at the sight of redcoats.

She was evidently a woman of large will power. Gov. Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire, brother to Rev. Mr. Woodbury, our former pastor, on one of his visits to Acton called upon Mrs. Leighton and asked her how she managed to live so long. She said, "She had always lived on the best she could get." If she was ever so sick and had cholera morbus she would eat cucumbers, green com and lobster all the same if she made up her mind for it. She would carry out her purpose whatever the difficulties in the way.

Thomas Acton Fitzgerald

“Honey Fitz's " Son Born On Patriots Day As Dad Delivered Acton Speech and

Then Named the Boy After His Favorite Town"

Absasset Valley Beacon - Thursday April 16, 1964

The following story was written by Thomas Acton Fitzgerald, the son of Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald, a native or the town of, Acton and of s the legendary John “Honey-Fitz' Fitzgerald, the former mayor of Boston.

The story of “Honey-Fitz's” courtship of the Acton girl, Mary Josephine Hannon is well known to the residents or this area and their son, Thomas Acton, was born on Patriots Day. 1895, and his arrival was announced to the world from the Patriots' Day speakers platform as the proud father, "Honey-Fitz", was delivering, the annual April 19 address in Acton a few short hours after Thomas came into this world.

Thus, “Honey-Fitz” and Mary Josephine, who were later to become maternal grandparent" of the late President Kennedy, gave their son the middle name of Acton which, incidentally, he has always been called rather than Thomas.

To commemorate the arrival of the stork on Patriots Day while "Honey- Fitz" was delivering the annual address in Acton, and in appreciation of the naming of the boy after the town, the people of Acton presented “Honey-Fitz" and Mary Josephine, with a gold bowl, which is currently a treasured possession or the Acton Historical. Society.

Acton Fitzgerald will be a guest at the 1964 Acton Patriots' Day ceremonies next Monday.

In the following story written for publication during Acton's 1964 Patriots' Day celebration, Acton Fitzgerald recounts the thrill and the historic majesty or Captain Isaac Davis and the Acton Minutemen who made history by their valiant resistance to the British, He also recalls his family's early beginnings in Acton.

ACTON A PLACE Of BEGINNINGS

By THOMAS ACTON FITZGERALD

A HIKE TO ACTON

Let us see what kind of physical fitness we are in by taking one of the late President's hikes and learn a little history both old and new along the way.

We'll start out from Boston on a 'northwest trail similar to the direction the British took a far-away 1775. We may go thru Somerville in the vicinity of what is now Powder House Square. Here in 1704 a gristmill had been built. In 1747 1 it was changed over to a storage place for powder, and in September of 1774 the British had helped themselves to 250 one-half barrels.

Onward to Medford where a good deal of money was made by the early settlers from the sale of Medford Rum. We'll only hit the outskirts of Arlington and Arlington Heights, going by the back road, which is filled with lovely scenery and not as much traffic.

Lexington and its famous "Green" where history tells us that the Minute Men met the oncoming British seeking to find and to destroy the source of gun powder of the to be Continental Army. The British did not stop here and neither shall we in our search for more history, more beautiful scenery and more physical fitness.

We pass through the edges of Bedford, the apple trees beginning to be more numerous now and depending of course, on the time of year, either 'barren, full of that divine apple blossom aroma or loaded down with delicious fruit waiting to be plucked and off to market.

Concord and "The Rude Bridge that Arches the Flood", famous scene those days and the present as the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord Center; Nathaniel Hawthorne, also buried in Sleepy Hollow,

Henry David Thoreau and Amos Bronson Alcott and his daughter Louisa 'May Alcott, who died three, days after her father's death in 1888.

AND THEN...TO ACTON

'To' the west and north of Concord where the small farms and fruit villages of the Acton - North, South, East, West, and Acton Center. It was here at South Acton that the powder supply was located and it was South Acton that the British intended to reach and destroy he supply,

Captain Isaac Davis and his group of Minute Men, each wearing a cockerel feather in his hat, started on their way towards the enemy. The British may have arrived in Concord, I but to the Acton Minute Men this was far enough. Thru woodlands, meadows and bogs they trod until they came to the approach of "The Rude Bridge” and within sight of the still advancing British. There was a hurried meeting of the leaders of the Minute Men from the surrounding towns. Captain Isaac Davis said, "I haven't a man that is afraid to go" and started the advance against, the British led by the tune of the White Cockade sounded out by the Acton fifer. On the first exchange of shots Captain Davis was killed and was borne home to Acton that afternoon by some or his compatriots. Privates Abner Hosmer and' James Hayward also lost 1heir lives. The British were so surprised at the conflict they started a quick retreat towards Boston and more friendly surroundings. It was not the size of the conflict but the meaning that counted (By the Crude Bridge, etc.., Shot Heard Round the World).

So Acton, in April of 1775, became the town to provide the first commanding officer killed in the Revolutionary War. Years later Acton was to provide another first to the history of the United States of America. On October 31, 1865, Mary Josephine Hannon was born In South Acton. On January 20, 1960. Mrs. Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald became the first person in the history of the United Stales of American to see and hear a grandson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, take the oath of office and become President of the United States of America.

A SECOND ACTON FIRST

Now let us give up our physical fitness adventure although Boston to Acton is only about 25miles, seek a nice comfortable spot and find out how this second first in Acton's history came to be.

Michael Hannon, Mary Josephine's father, was born in Lough Guir, County of Limerick, Ireland, on September 9, 1832 immigrated to the United States in 1849 and his mother died in South Acton.

On February 12, 1854, Michael married Mary Anne Fitzgerald of Boston who had been born on May 27, 1834, in Bruff, County of Limerick, Ireland. Michael worked with the maintenance crew of the Boston & Maine Railroad and the Couple settled in South Acton: Mary Josephine was the sixth child of nine born by this wedlock. For years she always had a heart shaped locket with a small golden curl enclosed. This was a tress of hair of her sister Elizabeth, four years her junior; who fell through the Ice of the river that flowed by their home and was drowned. Only four were living when I was born - Ellen, Emily, John and Mary Josephine, now approaching her 99th year.

Many Irish immigrant families were scattered among the towns of Middlesex County where the father either worked the farm or had employment in one of the small mills, which were already beginning to spring up. It was always a treat and a holiday for the city dweller to call on some friend In the country that he might have known in Ireland, bring the family along and have a real get-together. Some such circumstance no doubt led to the meeting of John F Fitzgerald of Boston and Mary Josephine Hannon of South Acton.

MARRIED IN 1889

On September 18. 1889, they were married and took up residence at No. 4 Garden Court Street in the “North End" of Boston. SO here in the shadow of the Old North 'Church where the lanterns were to give the signal for the Minute Men to be up and be armed, the, daughter of the town which gave the first commanding officer to be killed in the, Revolution came to begin her married life.

Here at 4 Garden Court Street, Rose, Agnes and Thomas Acton were born and baptized in St. Stephen's Church on Hanover Street. From the North End, Johnny, as Josie was wont to call her husband' all during their 62 years of marriage, stepped first from the real estate and insurance business into the field of politics. Elected first to the Boston Common Council in 1892, the Massachusetts Senate in 1893 and 1894 and to the United States Congress in 1895.

In Washington he served three terms and at the time was the only Democratic Representative from all six New England states.

Josie was a great lover of horses and during Johnny's stay in Washington made several trips with him to Hot Springs, Virginia where they enjoyed the horseback riding.

BACK TO THE VALLEY

About 1897, due to Johnny's health and the doctor's orders the family moved to Concord Junction, now West Concord. This was a good sized home with barn, hen house, etc.. and a sizable bit of land. Here as mentioned before, Josie could fulfill her love of horses and there were three. One pair named Maud and Blackhawk and a huge horse, perhaps a Morgan, by the name of. Napoleon. There were three carriages, one small one-seater with a folding top similar to the toy carriages of today another small two-seater similar to the "Surrey with the fringe on top" and a larger vehicle called the "carry-all." The "Carry-all had seats for two up front in the rear of the horses. The back part was shaped like one half a circle and could hold about six. It was Napoleons job to haul the “carry-all” and it was usually filled as John F. Jr. and Eunice were born during Josie's and Johnny's stay in Concord Junction.

On one occasion Josie had been down in the main part of the village to do some errands. It was necessary to cross the Boston and Maine tracks to get to the stores and, of course, once again on the return trip. 'The errands completed, Josie in the small carriage with turn-back top" started home. As she was crossing the tracks the gates started to Iower for an on coming train. Hearing 'nothing and seeing nothing due to the top. Josie continued homeward. The small end of the gate struck the wagon top and broke off. Josie continued homeward and knew nothing of the incident until she had caller asking if she were all right.

A DAY ON THE FARM

On many a Saturday morning it was Thomas Acton's custom to greet the milkman from Sheehan's Farm, climb aboard and spend the day on the farm. The farm buildings, red, barn and white house, are still there in the hollow to the Ieft going west on Route 2 about one half mile before you see the reformatory in West Concord.

Hay time was, of course, for haying with our large milk cans of oatmeal water to shake the thirst. The cattle were always driven to the low meadows about a mile from the farm to graze, until it was time to return for milking, This of course was all a hand operation and fascinating for a youngster to watch. You could get a surprise if one of the milkers said, "Here, look" and you were greeted in the eye by a stream of warm milk, Josie, of course, knew where we were and when we'd be back.

One day Thomas Acton decided to see the world and took sail on the meat wagon instead. It was a lovely day and a lovely trip so the time of day just went past, Unbeknown to Acton it was rather beyond return time from, the farm and Josie was upset and asking neighbors if they had seen the adventurer. Someone told here where and with whom she had seen her son. Josie waited and Acton finally showed up perfectly innocent, of course, of the commotion his trip had caused, Questions, answers, results, Acton decided the ride with the milkman was far safer. Josie was the boss of the home and those under the roof, including Johnny, as you will read about later.

ACTON CHURCH NOT BUILT

On Sunday it was necessary to travel to St. Bernard's Church in Concord Center, as Or Lady Help of Christians in West Concord was not built until 1907. Michael Hannon, Josie's father, died February 1; 1900, and is buried in the family lot at St. Bernard's Cemetery, Concord Center, Shortly after his death Marie Anne, Josie's mother, and her sister Emily and brother John, having sold the homestead in South Acton, moved into Concord Junction and took up residence not far from Josie's home, Marie Anne died on July 1, 1904 and is also laid to rest in St, Bernard's Cemetery, Concord Center.

John F. Jr. and Eunice were both -christened at St. Bernard's and so in 1904 Josie and Johnny with three, daughters and two sons returned to Boston to 39 Welles Avenue in the part or the city known as Dorchester.

(EDITOR'S NOTE -Even after leaving the Assabet Valley and making their home in Dorchester, the Fitzgerald's never forgot Acton and were frequent visitors, especially during the summer months,

Acton Fitzgerald's recollections of Acton and its history here in 1964, sixty years after the family last made their permanent home in this area, is proof positive of this fact:)

D. Henry Scarlett

An Interview with Belle Choate

published in the Acton Beacon

April 2008

Acton, Mass. - D. Henry Scarlett first studied astronomy in 1909, at the age of 22. Nearly 100 years later, Acton historian Belle Choate is piecing together his work and his life.

But Scarlett has already done much of the work for her: not only was he an astronomer, but, like Choate, he was also a historian. Before he built his observatory on Isaac Davis Way, Scarlett spent years documenting Acton's past. From his maps of Acton to the historical artifacts he collected, Choate proved at her talk on March 30 that D. Henry Scarlett's unique contributions are worth re-examining.

“It is a piece of the history which could be easily lost to future generations unless the story is retold,” Choate said in a telephone interview.

Choate's presentation, which took place at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Acton, reflected years of interest in Scarlett's life, starting in 1993 when she visited the remains of his observatory to help document the site for the Acton Historical Society. At the time, the Historical Society only had his maps of Acton and his drawings of Isaac Davis' sword.

As passionate a historian as he had been, details on Scarlett himself were sparse, so for her research Choate engaged the help of several friends and colleagues. She noted in her presentation that "each one found one or two unique pieces to the puzzle."

Scarlett was born in 1884 in Bedford, and his family came to Acton when he was 3. They left Acton in 1892, but the stories he had heard there of Isaac Davis and other Revolutionary War heroes had marked him.

Between the ages of 8 and 12 he built a miniature and detailed replica of the town. As a young man, Scarlett's interest in Acton grew, although he lived and worked in Tewksbury as a railroad gate tender. In 1936, he returned to live in Acton, buying part of the Captain Joseph Brown Farm between Main Street and Hayward Road. He was married during the time he lived here, and the couple left Acton again in 1942, heading for California, a hot spot for astronomers at the time.

After their move there is little documentation available on the Scarletts, and Choate said that the Acton Historical Society does not know when or where Scarlett died.

Scarlett is most noted for the astronomical observatory he built near his Acton home. At the time, it was one of four public observatories in the world.

"Scarlett and his telescope are something out of the ordinary, especially for such a small town,” Choate said.

However, Scarlett's most lasting contribution to the town was in 1906, in the form of a beautifully crafted wooden box, containing items he began collecting at the age of 18. The box has been kept at the Acton Memorial Library since that time, and for her research, Choate was able to borrow it to study its contents. It contains 189 items, each documented by Scarlett in a book detailing their individual historical significance.

Many of the items, including the box itself, are made of historical "relics." This was a practice relatively common during Scarlett's life and he and his friend, Reuben Law Reed, often made gavels and canes using wood from historically significant trees. Some of the woods included in the box come from a tree that was 300 years old at the time of construction, and a fragment from the original Faneuil Hall.

Choate's presentation revealed many of the secrets she had unearthed in studying his works. His drawings of Captain Davis' sword, for example, are very detailed; Choate discovered that he had studied the sword so that he could reproduce the motifs for the outside of his memorial box.

Scarlett's maps of Acton, too, had an ulterior motive: he wanted to pinpoint the spots where Davis' company had lived in order to search for more items to include in his gift to the town. These maps now provide unique insights into Acton's history. Choate noted that the knowledge of cellar holes used by Davis' company "would have been lost forever without his information which he gathered from the descendants of the men."

The talk drew about 40 people from the community. One woman came with her children, who were fascinated with the artifacts Choate showed. Other attendees were primarily interested in technical aspects of the observatory, like the Lundin lens.

Choate was pleased with the turnout, and said that there had been a palpable fascination with Scarlett, who was in turn fascinated with the town and history of Acton at an early age.

"I feel it is important to take note of as much of the history of Acton as possible," Choate said.