Society to Design Digital Main Street History Walk

Dear Friends

I thought I would take a break from Fayville Hall updates to let you know about another exciting program the Society has been working on over the last year: a new self-guided history walk for downtown.

 

click on the image to enlarge

The original conception for this tour was a more traditional post-and-sign route, similar to what has been done in neighboring Hudson and Marlborough. However, given the large number of stops and the primarily residential nature of neighborhood, this traditional approach presented problems. Thus, our proposed tour will be almost entirely digital, and can be started at any point along the map. Just pull out your tablet or phone, go to the proper web address,  push a button, and presto: images, text—and perhaps even audio—for each stop will pop up as you move along the route.

We’re currently in the process of adapting the map technology, and assembling the data for each stop. With a little luck, portions of the tour will be available this fall, with full completion expected by 2024.

Just another way we strive to bring your history alive!

 

On the Last Day of 2022

The basement of Fayville Hall, and the newly dubbed Lake Weishan

Dear Friends,

As 2022 fades to gentle whisper, I thought it a good time to give you a quick update on the Society’s progress. In short, our membership numbers continue to rise, our long-term plans remain sound, and our commitment unflagging!

How’s that for good news?

And—as you probably know if you have passed by the Fayville Village Hall lately—we have begun initial work to shore up the structure, and correct pressing water “issues” in the basement of our future home. It’s hard to believe from the photo above that this will shortly be our new classroom space, but it’s true. Once this urgent work has been accomplished, and after a return visit to the Planning Board to present some simplified site plans, we should be able to begin construction in earnest. We are still hoping for a phased opening in the fall of 2023, but that of course is to a large extent in the hands of the weather and supply chain gods!

There is no doubt that work on an historic building like this demands a real leap of faith. It requires trust in the craftsmanship of the past, as well as a real  vision of, and a fiduciary investment in, our shared future.  Since I came on board at the the Society after the disastrous 2015 flood, I have been reminded again and again of the commitment that you, our members—and of our fellow townsfolk in general—have shown to preserving our past and moving our joint endeavors forward.  You have indeed been asked to leap, and you have. As the clock slips towards midnight and 2023 beckons, I want to thank you all again for your faithful and continuing support.

From myself and the entire SHS Board, good health and godspeed in 2023.

Michael Weishan,
President, SHS

 

 

Robert L. Renaud (1925-1945) – He Lived & Died by the Words of His Graduation Speech

Robert L. Renaud  (1925-1945)

When you have an interest in history, sometimes a phone call can send you down a rabbit hole trying to find any information available about someone’s life. That is what happened when I got a call from Martha Boiardi asking if the Historical Society had a photo of Robert L, Renaud, a young man from Southborough who died in World War II.  A person in Amsterdam is trying to keep alive the memory of Americans who died fighting to free Europe, and had Robert Renaud’s name, a bit of information, but no photo. He had contacted Martha because she had posted the photo of Robert Renaud’s grave on Find-a-Grave. The internet does provide interesting ways of connecting. Martha’s request set off a search for a photo for the memorial in Amsterdam, but it also made me think that perhaps we here in Southborough should learn a little about this young man.

Robert L. Renaud was born in Hudson on June 30th 1925, the only child of Anna Salo, a Finnish immigrant, and her husband, Charles L. Renaud. The Renaud’s lived on Lincoln Street in Hudson.  Robert’s father worked at a shoe factory in Marlborough. His mother worked in Hudson for the Apsley Rubber Company which made gossamer, or rubber, clothing. According to the 1930 Federal Census she made tennis shoes.

The Renaud family moved to Southborough sometime after 1935. Charles, as did so many others in town, worked for Deerfoot Farm. They lived on Newton Street, so it is probable that he worked at the sausage factory. Robert excelled while attending the Southborough schools. At Peters High School he was president of the freshman class, managed the baseball and basketball teams during his sophomore year, was in the senior class play, and wrote for several school publications. Robert was salutatorian of the Peters High School Class of 1943. At graduation in June of 1943, he addressed his 19 fellow graduates, saying “Other years graduates have pondered over what careers they would follow, but this year we have only one choice, for all of us will have the same career – defending our own America against the aggressors who would rob us of the freedom guaranteed by the United States of America.” After summarizing the accomplishments of the “Builders of America” Robert concluded with the words “All of these men and many others, too numerous to mention, have been the builders of America. We wish now to preserve their work by defending America now and by giving to all future Americans the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These were not empty words to Robert and many of his classmates. Robert enlisted in the Army Air Corps. By the fall of 1943, Robert was in South Carolina at Erskine College as part of one of the special training programs at colleges around the nation that produced “ninety-day wonders,”   officers trained quickly to fill the ranks of the rapidly expanding armed forces. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant upon completion of the training. After additional training in Nashville, Tennessee, he was stationed in England as a Navigator attached to 452nd Bomber Group, Heavy, 728th Bomber Squadron.

The people back in Southborough and at Peters High School followed his military career and that of many others. The high school publication had a section entitled Alumni News, most of which was filled with news from the young men in the service. Among the names which appeared were names still known in town: Bartolini, Noborini, Salmon, Maley, Finn, Staples, Bagley, Woodward, and Renaud. Robert sent home several articles to the high school publication he had headed while a student. The articles reflected his interest in the aircraft that played such an important role in the war. In an article that he authored, entitled “The P-40 Defends Itself,” he assumed the identity of the oft maligned P-40 fighter plane, and pointed out the P-40 was used in all theaters of the war. Another article that Robert shared was authored by Keith Ayling, and told the story of Reginald Mitchell, “The Man Who Saved Britain, the Creator of the Spitfire.” Robert seemed determined to make the people back home aware of the important role that air power was playing as the war unfolded.

2nd Lieutenant Robert Renaud was the navigator on board a B-17, part of the 728th Bomber Squadron, 452nd Bomber Group. On April 7th, 1945, his plane took off from Deopham Green, Norfolk, England on a mission to Kaltenkirchen, Germany, site of a Luftwaffe airbase. Before reaching its target, the plane came under attack by Messerschmitt 109 fighter planes that succeeded in disabling it and ultimately, according to other pilots, caused it to split in two and explode. Only two parachutes were seen. Seven of the ten crewmen, including Robert L. Renaud were listed as killed in action. Robert was two months shy of his twentieth birthday when he died.  On May 8th, 1945, just a month after Robert’s death, Germany surrendered. The 452nd Bomber Group played a key role in bringing about that surrender.

By the time of his death, his parents, Charles and Anna, had moved back to Hudson. It was there that they first received word that their only son was missing in action and later, confirmation that he had been killed. Robert’s grave is in Rural Cemetery here in Southborough, the town where he had spent much of his childhood. His father, Charles, died in 1992. His mother, Anna, died in 1995. They are buried alongside their son at Rural Cemetery.

We remember Robert L. Renaud on this, the 77th anniversary of his death.

Many thanks to Martha Boiardi whose phone call initiated the search for a photo of Robert Renaud and set me off on a path to learn more about him.  Martha also shared the information she had been able to uncover. A huge thanks to Patti Fiore who helped me find and dig through the many Peters High School publications where we found the photo, information, and some of Robert’s writings. She also worked her magic to make the photo as clear as possible.

 

News, News and More Bad Preservation News

42 Main Street

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin.

It hasn’t been a good month for historical preservation in Southborough. Earlier this year, the Historical Commission was notified that the Fay School, which owns the 1840s home at 42 Main Street, wants to tear it down to build “an appropriately historical structure.” The school is claiming that the building is unsound even though it was continually inhabited until a few years back, when Fay purchased it for roughly 350K.

Personally, I and others will go picket at the Fay entrance if they try to tear down this historic gem. (I already have my placard picked out: Teach History! Don’t Destroy It!) This house was home to the town’s physician, Dr. Stone, for decades and has served a number of other important roles over the years. With its rambling structure and attached barn it is an amazing example of the Greek Revival farmhouse style, and occupies a crucial plot of land directly across from the Town House.

If the Fay school no longer wishes to preserve the property, it should simply put it back on the market, sell it for a healthy profit, and let some young couple rehabilitate the structure and make it a thriving home again.

Unfortunately, I will have to follow the demolition permit process from afar, as last week the Board of Selectman forced me to resign from the Southborough Historical Commission after 21 years of service. It’s a long sordid story which you can read here in MySouthborough, but essentially the BOS got tired of my harassing them about their abject mishandling of the St. Mark’s Triangle project, and invented an excuse to get rid of me. However, as you read the article, I think you will agree the matter is far from closed.  As a final volley before I was forced off the decks, the Commission did send a letter to St. Mark’s School, essentially reminding them that as the owner of the St. Mark’s Triangle, it was their responsibility, or rather their duty, to ensure that there were no burials within the proposed construction sites before another spade of dirt is lifted—that is if we wish to continue to believe their claims of valuing diversity and Native American cultural heritage.

Finally, we received back the long awaited architects’ report on the Museum building funded through CPC monies. The story is bleak: the building requires 180K in essential repairs, mostly in long deferred maintenance.

To quote a favorite line from the Philadelphia Story, “this is one of those days that the pages of history teach us are best spent lying in bed.”

Would that the anti-preservation forces felt the same!

(On a personal note, I know all our hearts go out to the valiant, heroic, courageous people of Ukraine. Their horrific struggles set our first-world problems in true context, and we wish them godspeed in their valiant quest to save their homeland. Slava Ukraini!)

From Gravedigger to General

by Sally Watters

 

                                                  Nathan Johnson (1779-1852)

 As we move further and further from the time that the Old Burial Ground was an active cemetery, trying to learn about the people buried there becomes increasingly challenging. While doing research about the people in the Old Burial Ground, one resource that has proven to be invaluable is the Burial Book containing the names of the people buried there starting in 1794. There are also church records extant from 1799 on and town records beginning in 1727. By using all these sources, one can piece together most of the deaths that occurred in Southborough from its creation as a separate town forward. The sources complement each other because sometimes a record appears in one source, but not another. The thing that makes the Burial Book fascinating is that it often includes interesting comments about the cause of death. It also notes if someone died elsewhere, but was buried in Southborough, or if someone died here, but is buried elsewhere. The Burial Book was started in 1794 by Nathan Johnson when he was fifteen years old. I became curious as to the identity of this young gravedigger and began to dig into his life. I was amazed at the trajectory that his life took.

Nathan was born in Southborough in 1779, the oldest child of Elisha Johnson and his second wife, Sarah Perry. He was the great-grandson of William Johnson, an original settler of Southborough. His father and at least three uncles fought in the American Revolution. Service to the country and community was part of Nathan’s DNA. He began digging graves for the town in 1794 and began keeping records of deaths in the Burial Book. One of the first deaths he recorded was that of Rachel Johnson. Next to her name was the simple notation, “my grandmother.” There were only twelve deaths that year. Nathan, apparently a very devout young man, wrote “This year has been very healthy, no epidemical diseases has been suffered to come in among us to destroy our happiness. Let all mankind improve their health to the glory of their Maker.” The following year, he recorded the death of Hannah Johnson, age 2, and added “my sister.” The town had enjoyed another healthy year with only nine burials. One of those burials had been challenging he said because “What is here astonishing to be remarked of this gentleman is that he was one of the most corpulent persons, perhaps, in this country, He weighed in March last 430 pounds, and it is altogether likely that when he died, he weighed much more.” The next year, 1796, was far from a healthy year for Southborough. Nathan had to dig 36 graves, including many for children who succumbed to a scarlet fever epidemic that swept through Massachusetts. Eight of Reuben Fay’s children died in a six-week period. The following few years averaged twelve to fourteen burials.

Perhaps dealing with the uncertainties of life on a regular basis motivated Nathan to make the most of his life. He left Southborough to attend Yale, graduating in 1802. After his graduation from Yale, he lived with the family of US Supreme Court Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, studying law. He began his law practice in Hartford, Connecticut in 1808.

During the War of 1812, Nathan served as a captain in the Connecticut militia first under Colonel William Belcher and then under Colonel Ezra Brainard. After the war, he served in the Connecticut Light Artillery. He rose to the rank of brigadier general of the artillery of the state of Connecticut and also served as quartermaster general of the state. When Revolutionary War hero General Lafayette visited Hartford in 1824, General Nathan Johnson was responsible for the parade of soldiers that greeted him and he served as Lafayette’s escort.

Nathan Johnson was also involved in many civic affairs. He served as the treasurer of Hartford for sixteen years. He also was clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives, and later was a member of both the Connecticut House and Senate during the 1820’s. He was a supporter of the Hartford Female Seminary, one of the first educational institutions for women. He was very active at Yale where he served as a Fellow of Yale College helping prepare students for entrance, and served on the board of the corporation of Yale. In 1827 he was recognized with an honorary degree from Harvard. His law practice in Hartford flourished. He also served as a judge in Connecticut.

Did this son of Southborough ever return to the town of his birth? The only mention of Nathan Johnson in the town history, Fences of Stone, is that “…the first temperance lecture ever given in Southborough, delivered by General Nathan Johnson of Hartford at the home of Josiah Johnson…” was delivered in 1826. Nowhere is it noted that Nathan was originally from Southborough and was in fact giving the speech at the home of his brother! It is likely that Nathan Johnson returned to visit his parents and siblings on many other occasions. He is recognized in the will of his father, who did not die until 1832, with the following bequest – “That my son Nathan Johnson, who has received his portion in a liberal education, receive in addition thereto, at the decease of myself and my wife, with all my other children, an equal share in my library.” Education and reading were important to the Johnson family. His mother survived until 1847. His parents and several of his siblings are buried in the Old Burial Ground.

Nathan Johnson died in 1852 at the age of 72. He was survived by his wife and seven children. He was a prominent lawyer in Hartford, and had served as a judge. His will hints that he was also a successful businessman and a serious scholar. The inventory of his possessions includes shares in several business ventures, several parcels of land, as well as hundreds of books and pamphlets with titles ranging from legal topics to works relating to religion and science. The young man who started out as a gravedigger at Southborough’s Old Burial Ground at the age of 15, died a celebrated lawyer, judge, and general. He is not buried in the cemetery in Southborough where he dug so many graves. His grave is in Spring Grove Cemetery in Hartford.

Sources
1. Massachusetts, U.S. Towns and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Church Records, with Births, Marriages, and Deaths
2. Massachusetts, U.S. Towns and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Births, Marriages, and Deaths
3. Fences of Stone – the passage about Temperance Speech
4. Commemorative Biographical Sketches of Hartford County
5. Vital Records of Southborough 1727-1849
6. https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/1796-scarlet-fever-epidemic
7. Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999
8. Massachusetts, Worcester County, Wills and Probate Records 1635-1991

Historic Main Street Walking Tours 10/23 and 10/30

The Society is excited to announce two history walking tours on Main Street this October to celebrate our new Downtown National Register District!

The first, Model Farms and Country Seats, will explore the development of  West Main Street as an area of vast summer estates for Boston’s wealthy elite. Beginning at the museum, we’ll be taking in the history of Pilgrim Church, The Town House, St Marks, the Kidder, Choate and Sears Estates, as well as a special tour of the newly restored grounds at 84 Main Street, the Burnett Mansion.

Saturday 23 October at 1-3 PM
Limited to 30
Reserve your ticket HERE

 

 

The second tour, Merchants and Ministers, will head east from the museum to investigate the history of our main street from its origins as a native American trail to its development as a small commercial center. Stops will include most of the homes along Main Street, as well as the former sites of the railroad station, the Sealey Block, the Southborough Arms, and the second iteration of the Congregational Church. We’ll end up in the Old Burial Ground just in time for Halloween to hear some remarkable tales of those buried within.

Saturday 30 October at 1-3 PM
Limited to 30
Reserve Your Ticket HERE

Both tours will be led by SHS president Michael Weishan, and attendees will each receive an electronic headset to guarantee easy listening. Starting and ending point is the SHS Museum behind the town hall. While we will be on sidewalks most of the time, each tour is about 1.5 miles and encompasses hills, so comfortable clothes and shoes are a must. Rain dates are the following Sunday at 1 for each tour.

Tickets are free for Society members, $15 at the door for the general public. Advance reservations are required. Make your reservations soon as these will in fact sell out.

COVID restrictions: Age 12+ and full vaccination for all tour participants. Masks at your discretion.

Further Kindness of Strangers, Or, How The Election of 1799 Went

by Michael Weishan

I am constantly amazed at what pops up in Historical Society inbox. A week or so ago I received an email from a gentleman in Texas inquiring whether or not we would be interested in the official 1799 election results for Governor, Lt. Governor and Senator (presumably State Senator.) I replied that we would be delighted, and shortly thereafter this arrived in the mail:

What an amazing document!

The election that year was particularly interesting, as the much respected governor Increase Summer was running for a third term from what turned out to be his deathbed. He managed to rise only long enough to take the oath of office—and died several days later. The Lt. Governor, Moses Gill, (who interestingly was not the first choice of Southborough voters) then became governor. He too subsequently died in office, and it was the first and only time in Massachusetts history that the Governor’s Council briefly ruled the state.

This kind of document can tell us a lot beyond a basic tally. For instance, there were 61 total voters present at the election meeting (no voting booths then) and almost to a man (and they were all men) they supported the Federalist Candidate Increase Summer. That’s a remarkable level of uniformity even in so small of an electorate, and speaks to the conservative nature of our yeoman farmers, as well as the sparse population of the town at the time.  You can see also that one of our selectmen, Elijah Brigham, ran for Lt. Governor and was the majority choice of the town. He also was the majority choice for state senator.  Presumably that vote was simply one of loyalty to a native son, as it seems he didn’t win either post.  Interestingly too, the totals here would indicate that each voter listed his top four candidates in order of preference—in other words, exactly the type of ranked choice voting that has been in the news lately.

The 220 years of travels that this particular document have seen can’t even be imagined. Our kind Texas gentleman was a stamp collector and received the tally as part of a batch of documents some 30 years ago from a man in Colorado. How this sheet of paper got to Colorado is anyone’s guess, but we can safely assert that two centuries later this remarkable document has finally returned home,  once again due to the kindness of strangers.

 

PS: Due to the changing nature of the COVID situation, the Society is not planning any activities this Heritage Day. However, we ARE planning a guided history walking tour of Main Street in late October. Stay tuned for more info on that in a few days.

Patriotism & Scandal in Southborough! A Post for Patriot’s Day

By Sally Watters

When Michael asked me to take a more active role in writing for this website, I knew I had big shoes to fill. With Patriots Day approaching my plan was to try to learn something about the Revolutionary War veterans who are buried in the Old Burial Ground. In a sense, I wanted to try to put a little flesh on their bones so they would be more than just names. It seemed appropriate to start with the three men from Southborough who had died during the Revolutionary War.

I decided to begin with Jesse Amsden. It is difficult to find a great deal of information about someone who has been dead for almost 250 years. As I began to do research, I discovered that not only had the Amsden family lost the family patriarch, but that four of his sons also joined in the fight for American independence. The family paid a high price for its patriotism. Sadly, I also discovered that preying on the elderly, defrauding the government and government red tape are nothing new. What started as a project to try to learn about Jesse Amsden ended up as the story of five Revolutionary War veterans from the Amsden family. And I have not even gotten to the other two Southborough men who died during the war or the dozens of other Southborough veterans of the Revolutionary War who deserve attention.

Jesse Amsden

Jesse Amsden was born in 1729, the youngest of John and Hannah Howe Amsden’s thirteen children. Jesse was the only one of the thirteen children born in Southborough. His eight brothers and four sisters were all born in Marlborough.  The family had not moved, but town lines had when, in 1727, the Stony Brook region of Marlborough was granted permission by the General Court of Massachusetts to form the new Town of Southborough. Jesse’s father John was among the men who had petitioned the state asking that Stony Brook be allowed to separate from Marlborough. John served as a selectman in the newly established town and was a deacon of the church. In 1748, Jesse married Southborough resident Bette Ball with whom he had seven sons and five daughters. When hostilities broke out with England, it did not take Jesse long to become involved.  He served as a Private in Captain Ezekiel Knowlton’s Company of Colonel Nicholas Dike’s Massachusetts Infantry Regiment at Dorchester Heights from December 15th 1776 until March 1st 1777.

In May of 1777, shortly before his 48th birthday, Jesse was recruited by Captain Aaron Haynes of Sudbury to enlist in the Continental Army. He was paid a bounty of $20 for enlisting. Jesse was assigned to Captain Haynes Company in the 13th Massachusetts Regiment/6th Continental Regiment under the command of Colonel Edward Wigglesworth. Jesse joined the regiment in July of 1777. Although several of his children were adults at the time of his departure for the Continental Army, his wife Bette was left with seven children at home who ranged in age from 16 to 2. The $20 bounty had probably been an enticing incentive to help with family expenses. Six months after joining the regiment, Jesse died on January 9th, 1778 at Valley Forge. The cause of death was listed as sickness. Jesse was most likely buried in one of the towns near Valley Forge where the sick soldiers were sent. He is not buried in Southborough. His widow Bette seems to disappear from the record books after his death, but several of his children can be tracked.

Jonas and Ephraim Amsden

Four of Jesse’s sons also joined the military during the Revolutionary War. His oldest son Jonas answered the Lexington Alarm of April 19th, 1775. He was a Drummer for Captain Elijah Bellow’s militia company which served for sixteen days. Ephraim, Jesse and Bette’s next son, also answered the Lexington Alarm as a Private in Captain Josiah Fay’s Company which served for five days. Shortly after that service, Ephraim, then a Corporal in Captain Fay’s Company in the regiment commanded by Colonel Jonathan Ward, served from August 1st through October 7th, 1775 at Dorchester Heights.  Ephraim, who died in 1819, is buried in an unmarked grave in the Old Burial Ground (OBG). His widow Martha died in 1834 and is also buried in an unmarked grave in the OBG. Jonas Amsden and his wife Hannah moved to Mason, NH after the war and are not buried in the Southborough.

John and Silas Amsden

In March 1781, two of Jesse and Bette’s sons, 18-year-old John and 17-year-old Silas, enlisted in the Continental Army. Silas was described as being 5 feet 11 inches tall with a light complexion. Silas was a Private in Captain John Nutting’s Company in Colonel Job Cushing’s 2nd Massachusetts Regiment. He was discharged in September 1783 after being injured when a load of wood that he was transporting for the garrison at West Point ran over his leg. His knee never healed correctly, leaving him disabled.  In April of 1793, Silas Amsden began receiving a pension of $60 a year because of his disability. Silas married Sarah Hemenway of Framingham. In 1797, Silas died in Framingham at the age of 33. The settlement of his estate shows that he was heavily in debt when he died. His creditors were awarded 4 cents on the dollar. Silas is not buried in the OBG. In 1797, the same year that Silas died, his brother John named his newborn son Silas.

John Amsden, described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and of fair complexion, served in Captain Elnathan Haskell’s Company in the regiment commanded by Colonel William Shepard’s. At least part of his service was spent working for the Quartermaster General obtaining supplies. in January 1784 he was discharged by General Henry Knox in New York with the rank of Sargent. Shortly after returning to Southborough, he married Lovisa Bellows. Like his brother Silas, John did not prosper after the war. John and Lovisa had eight children, only three of whom reached adulthood.

In 1819, John applied for a veteran’s service pension stating in his affidavit that he was disabled. He also stated that his three children were sickly and incapable of doing more than light work. An inventory of his possessions at that time showed he owned only three acres of land and had very few personal possessions. He was granted a pension, but after his death in 1827, his widow Lovisa had no means of support. By 1834, both Lovisa and her oldest son, John, had been admitted to the Southborough poorhouse.

The Struggle for a Widow’s Pension

When Congress passed a law in 1836 making the widows of Revolutionary War veterans eligible for pensions, a local man, Larkin Newton, stepped up to help Lovisa apply for a pension. In 1817, early in his career, Larkin Newton had been the school master for the west school district of Southborough. He angered some parents when he severely whipped two students.  As a result of the whippings, a special town meeting was called and Mr. Newton was warned to limit his use of physical punishment. The following school year he had moved to the center school district in Southborough where he faced continued concern about his harsh disciplinary methods. He gave up teaching the next year.

From 1837 until his death in 1840, Larkin Newton served as an overseer of the poorhouse. In that position, he was very aware of the poverty faced by Lovisa Amsden and her son John, volunteering to help Lovisa with her application for a widow’s pension. Larkin Newton began to assemble the necessary documents but ran into a problem when no record of John and Lovisa’s marriage could be found. Under the Pension Act of 1836, the widow had to have been married to the veteran while he was still in the military. Larkin Newton submitted statements from several people, including Lovisa’s 85-year-old sister Lucretia Wood of Sherborn, that they were aware of John and Lovisa’s marriage and thought it had taken place in 1782. The pension was approved and by March 1840 the government had sent a total of $720 (about $22,000 today) which included back payments. The very trusting, nearly blind and illiterate Lovisa had placed her X on several documents when requested to do so by Larkin Newton.

A second Pension Act was passed in 1838 allowing pensions for widows who had married a veteran by 1794.  Lovisa maintained that she and John had been married in 1784 just after John was discharged from the military, thereby making her eligible for a pension under the 1838 act. Larkin Newton, who had died in September 1840, had told her that under the Pension Act of 1836 she was not eligible to receive a pension. It took several years before people realized that Lovisa had been defrauded by Mr. Newton.  Lydia Bellows of Shrewsbury, John’s sister, asked Elijah Clark, a Justice of the Peace who worked to help obtain pensions, to help her brother’s widow Lovisa get a pension.

When Clark corresponded with the War Department, he was shocked to learn that she had already received a pension under the Pension Act of 1836. Lovisa was also surprised. She maintained that she had never received any money from a pension. As documents were assembled and reviewed, people began to suspect that Larkin Newton had forged a number of the documents including one from the Southborough Town Clerk listing the births of Lovisa’s nine children. Her oldest child was listed as Jonathan, born in 1783. The only problem was that Jonathan was a figment of Larkin Newton’s imagination, created in an attempt to show that John and Lovisa had been married before John left the military. In reality, John and Lovisa had only eight children, the oldest of whom was William, born in 1785. Numerous statements from such leading Southborough citizens as Swain Parker, Sullivan Fay and Joel Burnett were sent to the government attesting to the good character of Lovisa, and opining that she would never have tried to defraud the government. Joel Burnett, the town clerk in 1843, sent a statement to the War Department that several old documents dating between 1779 and 1789, had been found in a hitherto misplaced chest.

Among the documents was a paper showing the intentions of marriage for John and Lovisa dated July 1784. That helped establish their marriage, but at the same time created a problem. The government demanded the money that had already been distributed be returned because it had been granted under the Pension Act of 1836 under which she was ineligible. That act required the widow to have been married to the veteran while he was in the military and John and Lovisa’s marriage had taken place after he was discharged.   Lovisa’s champions pointed out that whereas she had not been eligible under the Pension Act of 1836, she was eligible under the Pension Act of 1838 so would have received the money anyway.

The government had stopped payments in 1840 when Larkin Newton died so was no longer sending in the necessary paperwork. Lovisa’s supporters thought that at the very least, Lovisa should receive payments from 1840 forward.  Lovisa Amsden died in 1846 still a resident in the town poorhouse, without ever receiving any of the widow’s pension to which she was entitled. Her only surviving child, John, attempted to collect the money to which his mother had been entitled. The dispute was still under advisement in 1851, but it appears that the matter was never resolved. John and Lovisa’s son John died in the town poorhouse in 1863. John, the Revolutionary War veteran, and his widow Lovisa are buried in unmarked graves in the Old Burial Ground as are several of their children.

The story of Larkin Newton’s teaching is found in Fences of Stone by Nick Noble.

 

 

Disagreement Brews in the Old Burial Ground

The occupants of the Old Burial Ground have seen their share of conflict and dissent, and it looks like a new round is about to open above them.

Over the last several weeks, the Southborough Historical Commission (which I head) has received a number of complaints about the flags flying in the old burial ground.

A little background: at some point in the 1990’s, a group of veterans decided it would be appropriate to commemorate those who had served the fledgling United States with a special memorial. Later in 2002, a large plaque was added marking the death of the three men who died during combat. And at some point after that (the timeline is very unclear) six revolutionary-era battle flags were placed in a semi-circle at the entrance to the Old Burial Ground.

And that’s pretty much how it stood until recently when a number of residents contacted the Commission objecting to the fact that one of the flags flying was the Gadsden Flag, which over the last decade has recently been co-opted by various White Supremacists groups (You can read more about that HERE, HERE,    HERE, and HERE. The trigger, I am guessing, was the very prominent and disgraceful role that the Gadsden flag played in the recent Capital Hill riots.

 

In response to these complaints the SHC decided to do a little investigating in preparation for a report to the Board of Selectmen, who have ultimate say in this matter.

The flags currently flying are these:

The Culpepper Minuteman flag from Virginia
The  Gadston Flag from SC; with another a similar variant
The Bunker Hill Flag (with the tree)
The Moultrie flag, again from SC
The Bedford Flag

 

Grand Union Flag - WikipediaOf these, only two have anything vaguely to do with the veterans buried there, and the most relevant flag, the Continental Colors flag hoisted by George Washington in Cambridge 1775 , is not flying at all.

The other issue, and to my eyes, equally relevant, is that these six small flags are impaling the unmarked gravesites below. When this monument was conceived in the 1990s, a ground-radar survey hadn’t yet been conducted by the Society, which proved conclusively that this area is full of active burials, whose headstones were shattered or lost during the 1938 hurricane.

>So at this point, it seemed a prudent move to reconsider the whole matter, and the Historical Commission voted 6-0 last week to send the following letter to the Board of Selectmen:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we have already alerted you, the Historical Commission has received complaints about the choice of flags flying the Old Burial Ground. Particularly egregious to many are the two variants of the Gadsden flag, which was designed by a slave owning South Carolinian and has become linked to white supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan. These associations are not new; many date back to the 1960s. You may also wish to read this recent article in the Miami Herald by Harvard Professor Noah Feldman noting that the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has called for “a careful investigation to see whether recent uses of the flag have been sufficiently “racially tinged” that it could count as harassment.”

Last night, the SHC voted 6-0 to urge the BOS to undertake an immediate review of these flags, with an aim to:
1) moving the current semi-circle of flags out of the actual burial area to preserve the integrity of those buried beneath the poles. The current poles are actually piercing the unmarked graves below.
2) removing flags of the South Carolina and Virginia regiments that carry such negative associations to people of color, and replacing them with flags that actually represent the veterans buried there. 
The Historical Commission has done considerable research as to which flags would be appropriate for the period and to the individual buried veterans involved, and would be happy to share that guidance with you if requested. 
Cordially, 
Michael Weishan, Chair
Southborough Historical Commission 

 

It seems this letter, combined with our earlier outreach directly to the veterans responsible for the care and upkeep of the site, sparked some “white hot rhetoric” (to quote BOS Chair Marty Healey) directed at the Board of Selectmen from people who feel that any changes to the flags are akin to desecration and disrespect. Personally, I don’t agree. If this were South Carolina and these flags were actually part of Southborough history, it would be a different story. But we aren’t in South Carolina and these aren’t our banners (and thankfully not our history), and given that these symbols have taken on a very ominous meaning for some of our residents, there his no historically justifiable reason to provoke residents who feel strongly on this matter. (And personally, I would like to see these flags moved to positions that don’t stab into the buried dead regardless.)

 

So what do you think? Feel free to comment below. (Note, unlike mysouthborough, we don’t allow anonymous postings, so you have to have the public courage of your convictions.)  Also, one of our high-school students has started, on her own initiative, a petition directed at the BOS to have the Gadsden flag removed. If you agree, you can sign it HERE.  At writing, it was half-way to its 100-person target.

Southborough (England) Past, Present and Future

Dear Friends,

I came across a charming 4-minute student video from a young man in Southborough, England documenting his home town. Since most of us would be hard pressed to point to Southborough on a map (full disclosure: I had to look it up myself) I thought I would save you the trouble. Here it is:

Southborough is the red dot in the map above, located in Kent, southeast of London. There are some interesting similarities to our Southborough too: about the same size, similar population, and both located on a main thoroughfare to the  capital.

Watching this charming short gave me an idea: when the COVID dust settles, why not have an annual contest for students to make a short film documenting some aspect  of their home town, past or present? Kids are pretty savvy with the camera these days. The winner would receive a nice prize, and our collections would grow each year with new documentary material.

The Southborough Film Festival is born!