Month: September 2014

September 20, 1851

Train

Sat Sept 20th  Was out shopping all day purchased a number

of articles among the rest a Cashmere & french print

dress paper for my parlour brought home two chairs

from Bigelowes  We all returned home this evening

Frank came to Stoughton after us & rode back

on the stage.  Went into Olivers awhile this evening.

Have had a great deal of trouble with my feet while

I have bee[n] gone & to night they are very sore.

The Boston spree continued for most of the day as Evelina walked and shopped for everything from fabric to wallpaper to furniture.  She and Oakes brought their purchases home on the train (or “in the cars” as they might have said) to Stoughton. It was, finally, time to return to North Easton.  Son Frank Morton Ames met them at the depot with a carriage – or wagon –  but rode home by himself on the local stagecoach. The conveyance he brought to the group getting off the train was, perhaps, too crowded with goods from town to fit everyone in.

Perhaps not wanting to let go of the many sensations that three exciting days in the city had produced, Evelina went next door to Oliver Jr and Sarah Lothrop Ames’s house. They had returned the day before, and so missed the fireworks. Surely they compared notes on their experiences at various events at the Railroad and Steamship Jubilee.  They may have compared blisters and sore shanks, too.  They did much walking and standing during their junket, and Evelina at least was feeling the effects. Her feet hurt.

Meanwhile, never having bothered to go into town for the celebration, Old Oliver was moving ahead on improvements for the shovel shop.  In his journal he noted that “this was a fair day wind south west and quite warm we put in the bottom stone for the floom at the great pond to day and the 5 foot one on the east side of it.” A flume for the factory was going in at Great Pond.

September 19, 1851

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Friday Sept 19  Mr Ames went into Boston also Frank

We went to Mr Daniels store to see the procession

They were an hour and a quarter passing and we

were very much fatigued we were in the store about

four hours  We returned to Mr Orrs and dined

In the evening Mr Ames & self Mr Norris Emily & Helen

Mr Wm Harris & sister walked to see the illuminations

Oliver & wife returned home & Frank

The Railroad and Steamship Jubilee concluded today in Boston with a huge parade around the city that moved from School Street through Haymarket Square, down Merchants Row, State and Washington Streets toward Tremont, Park, and the Boston Common. There the procession traveled between a line of schoolchildren, then went along Beacon Street and turned toward Boylston, where they finished. The “civic procession” featured not just the requisite brass bands, waving pennants, dignitaries on horseback, carriages of officials, and marching men. It also offered something new: one whole marching division of selected representatives of industry, intended to showcase the thriving manufacturing of the greater Boston area. Were the Ames shovels included?

Evelina and various family members saw the parade from a shop on Washington Street. They stood for hours, first waiting, then watching as the parade rumbled by. The store owner, Mr. Daniels, was certainly kind to let the group stay for four hours. Perhaps he sold Ames shovels?

An afternoon banquet followed on the Boston Common under a special pavilion. This the Ameses did not attend (nor were they likely to have been invited – their railroad days were yet ahead of them.) The featured after-dinner speaker was Edward Everett, a minister, past president of Harvard, former U. S. Representative and one-time Governor of Massachusetts.  With all those qualifications, he was nonetheless best known for his oratory. In 1863, he would be the featured speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg Battlefield. On this occasion in Boston, Everett spoke about ” The Beneficial Influence of Railroads.” His fitting summation to the three day celebration of the modern railroad was topped only by the evening display of illuminated buildings around the city and fireworks over Boston Harbor.

Evelina, Oakes, and a group of relatives and friends saw those “illuminations.” How memorable the whole day must have been, and how “fatigued” Evelina must have felt by the time her head hit the pillow.

September 18, 1851

1851_Fillmore_Boston_MA_USA_GleasonsPictorial

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Thurs Sept 18  Went to Boston with Oliver & wife

& Helen to the railroad celebration.  In company

with Mr Orrs family went to see the regatta & about

nine Returned and dined at Mr Orrs with Mrs

Witherell Emily Mrs S Ames & Helen  Mrs Stevens

&c  Afternoon went out shopping with them  All

except Mrs Witherell spent the night at Mr Orrs

Evelina traveled to Boston today to join the crowds at the Great Railroad and Steamship Jubilee.  President Fillmore, Senator Daniel Webster and dignitaries from Canada as well as the United States had arrived the day before. Speeches were made and congratulations went all around for the new “railroad communication” between the two countries. On this, the second day of the festivities, races were held, one a “grand excursion in Boston Harbor” in which cutters from both countries raced; Canada won.

The Ameses attended a regatta out at Hull, near Point Alderton (better known today as Point Allerton.) It must have been interesting for the usually land-locked Evelina to be at the shore; she rarely got to see the ocean, as her trips to Boston were typically spent in the retail center of the city.It was to that retail center that she and other ladies in her party went in the afternoon. Time to shop.

Also on this date, some 200 miles southwest of this railroad jubilee, in another thriving retail and business center, a new newspaper was born. The New York Times was founded and sold for 2cents a paper.

 

 

* Reception of President Fillmore at the Boston and Roxbury lines by the municipal authorities, 1851

September 17, 1851

Ruth_Morrill_wife_of_Justin_S._Morrill

 

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Wednesday Sept 17th  Mrs Stevens left for Boston

this morning & sorry I am to have her go

Miss Eddy dined with Mrs Mitchell &

took tea at Olivers  I went in to tea but

went in but a few moments before as I have

been very busy all day.  Made about a dozen

Lbs of peach preserve & some grape jelly

Ruth Swan married to night Oakes A & Mrs H Mitchell

gone to the wedding

The Great Railroad and Steamship Jubilee kicked off in Boston today with the arrival of President Millard Fillmore and other dignitaries from the United States and Canada, all ready to express mutual congratulations over the new railroad and steamboat connection between their countries.

Evelina knew about the events in Boston but stayed focused on domestic responsibilities in North Easton. From fruit she had recently obtained, she made preserves and jelly, a day-long task that kept her “very busy”.

In the evening, her son Oakes Angier Ames and sister-in-law Harriett Ames Mitchell went to the wedding of Ruth Barrell Swan and Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont.  Ruth, a daughter of Dr. Caleb Swan and his first, late wife, was 28 years old and, in the culture of the day, was marrying late. Independent of the affection she must have felt for him, she may also have thought that he was worth the wait. Three years later, Justin Morrill was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served until 1867, when he became a U.S. Senator. He served the state of Vermont until his death in 1898. A founder of the Republican party, he was a leader in establishing the land-grant colleges with his Morrill Land Grant bill in 1862. That same year, he authored the Anti-Polygamy Act which was aimed at the Church of the Latter Day Saints. He was clearly a one-woman man, and that woman was from Easton.

* Ruth Ballard Swan of Easton who married Justin Smith Morrill.

September 16, 1851

Cake

 

Tuesday Sept 16th  Mrs Witherell Emily & Cousin H Mitchell

went into Boston this morning and are going to stop the

remainder of the week  I made some cake

this morning & had to be away from Miss Eddy

more than I could wish  Mrs S Ames & Helen &

Oliver here to tea  Harriet came in but did not stop

long  Miss Eddy will stop the night here

A visit from Miss Eddy, a woman who has been staying with various friends – or relatives – in Easton, may have been the impetus for Evelina to bake a cake this morning to serve at tea.  It’s worth noting that despite having collected peaches and grapes during the last few days, Evelina didn’t make a fruit pie or tarts to serve. She was saving that fruit to put up for the winter, and wouldn’t have wanted to waste any of it on a tiny social occasion. Cake it was.

The Ames family from next door, Oliver Jr., Sarah Lothrop Ames, and their daughter Helen came for tea, ate some cake and presumably chatted with Miss Eddy.  Sister-in-law Harriett Ames Mitchell stopped by briefly, too. Not making an appearance in the front parlour, however, was Sarah Witherell and her daughter from the other part of the house. They had departed that morning for a planned week in Boston, traveling with a Mitchell cousin.

Sarah Witherell had headed to Boston in anticipation of a special event, The Great Railroad and Steamship Jubilee. The Jubilee was to be a “celebration commemorative of the opening of railroad communication” to Canada.”*  It recognized the creation of a railroad line from Boston to Burlington, Vermont that connected with a steamship to Canada via Lake Champlain. Travel in the United States had become international. The celebration would go on for three days, and many members of the Ames family would strive to attend some part of it.

 

*The Railroad Jubilee: an account of the celebration commemorative of the opening of railroad communication between Boston and Canada, Sept. 17th, 18th and 19th, 1851.

 

September 15, 1851

Peach

Monday Sept 15th  Mrs Stevens & I made our plan

to go to North Bridgewater this afternoon but

could not get a horse in season  Augustus

rode up to his house with us and we brought

Miss Eddy home with us.  Called at Mr Reeds

and got some peaches.  Mr & Mrs Whitwell

called before we went away Ruth & Louisa

Swan called at the other part of the house

Plans to go to North Bridgewater had to be cancelled today when Evelina couldn’t get a horse in time, or “in season,” as she says. The morning hours had been spent on housework and laundry, certainly, and the planned trip to Bridgewater must have been a sweet incentive to get the choring done.  No doubt Evelina and Mrs Stevens were disappointed not to go.

Evelina and Mrs. Stevens did get to call on Evelina’s nephew, Alson Augustus Gilmore and his wife, Hannah Lincoln Gilmore.  Hannah had recently given birth to her second son, Willie, and might well have welcomed the company. The women also secured some peaches at one of the Reeds’ homes, no doubt with plans to make some preserves. Reverend William Whitwell and his wife Eliza called on them and two of Dr. Caleb Swan’s offspring, Ruth and Louisa, called to see Sarah Witherell.  Ruth was about to be married. The social comings and goings of summer continued despite the light frost overnight, a sure sign of approaching autumn.

September 14, 1851

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Sunday Sept 14th  Have been to meeting to day,  At noon

brought Miss Eddy home with us.  She walked

with Augustus to church. It is communion day

and Oakes Mrs Stevens & I stoped to bring

Mrs Witherell home.  We rode up to the great

pond and beyond to get some grapes & afterward

called at Mr Torreys

The Ames family attended both morning and afternoon service this Sunday, but instead of staying near church for the intermission, they rode home for a midday break.  Another change in routine may have been that communion was served at the service, which seems out of keeping with modern Unitarian practice.  Does anyone know if Unitarians took communion in the mid-19th century?

After church some of the Ameses rode up to the Great Pond, stopping at Col. John Torrey’s in the village on their way home. Evelina says she, Oakes and Mrs. Stevens brought Sarah Witherell along, a generational grouping that suggests that the “Oakes” in the carriage was her husband rather than her son Oakes Angier. Yet Evelina has, to date, always referred to her husband as “Mr. Ames,” as was the custom.  Did she write his first name unconsciously, or was her son the one in the carriage?  Readers, do you have an opinion? Whoever was in the group, each seemed to have a pleasant late afternoon foraging grapes in the cooler air.

Elsewhere in America on this date, James Fenimore Cooper, author of the popular Leatherstocking Tales, died in Cooperstown, New York. While his Leatherstocking novels secured him fame throughout the western world, Cooper wrote many other novels, some with political overtones to them.  He was not popular with the Whigs. One day shy of his 62nd birthday, he died of dropsy (edema.)

* Baumann’s Rare Books

 

September 13, 1851

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Sept 13  Mrs Stevens & self sat down quietly to

sewing this morning but it was so warm that

we could not do much  There is quite a

change in the weather this morning.  Had

quite a heavy tempest this afternoon.

Carried our work into the other part of

the house this evening.  Mrs S Ames & Helen

passed the afternoon there

No matter how still Evelina and her guest, Mrs. Stevens, sat this morning, they found themselves enervated by the extreme heat.  They tried to sew but “could not do much,” heavy as the extra cloth must have felt on their laps as they hemmed or mended. Surely they wore their lightest cotton dresses (which were likely to have been somewhat plainer than the morning attire suggested in the illustration above from Godey’s Lady’s Magazine) and probably eschewed wearing caps indoors. Even in their coolest attire, however, they still would have “glowed,” as the old saying goes. Horses sweat, men perspire, women glow.

An afternoon rainstorm – “two showers before sunsett” noted Old Oliver in his daily jounal  – helped clear the air and by evening, Evelina and Mrs. Stevens had joined Sarah Ames Witherell in the other part of the house.  Did Old Oliver sit with them, or was he over in the office with Oakes and Oliver Jr.?  Assuming that Oakes spent the day in Boston on the usual shovel business, did he get caught in the downpour on his way home?

September 12, 1851

Abbott H. Thayer, Angel, 1887, oil Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of John Gellatly

Abbott H. Thayer, Angel, 1887, oil
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of John Gellatly

Friday Sept 12th  Mrs Stevens Susan & self have been to

Foxboro and a sad visit we have had.  Mr Edson

Carpenter buried this afternoon his only daughter

and we attended the funeral at the meeting 

house. Called there this morning & then

went to Mr Jones found Mrs Jones very unwell

and no help & Mr Jones away but about twelve

he returned & put up our horse.  Very hot

In 1851, an eight-mile road, give or take, ran north and west from North Easton to Foxborough by way of Mansfield. It was on that road that Evelina, her daughter Susan and guest Mrs Stevens traveled on this date to attend the funeral of a child, the only daughter of Edson and Mrs. Carpenter. After the hot journey, their horse – was it the speedy mare Kate? – needed to be stabled, and watered, presumably, while they attended the service.

Why they went and what the Ames’s attachment to Edson Carpenter was we don’t know.  Mr. Carpenter was a store-keeper in Foxborough, where he had built his own commercial block only four years earlier. Like other merchants in the town, he was affiliated with the straw industry, straw being a popular commodity for summer bonnets and the like. In fact, beginning in the 1840s, his store was “where straw braid and bonnets were received in payment for goods.”*

But as Evelina noted, he buried a child today, and it was “a sad visit” for all. The continuing hot weather wouldn’t have helped anyone’s spirits. The women must have had a solemn, hot drive back to Easton.

* Foxborough’s Centennial Records, 1878, p. 75

September 11, 1851

Plum

 

Thursday  Was very busy this forenoon

fixing work for Ellen cut out a corded skirt for her

to make for Susan  Have been this after 

noon to Alsons with Mr Ames & Mrs Stevens

met Augustus & wife & Miss Eddy had quite

a treat of peaches plumbs &c  came home quite

early in the evening  The weather still

continues to be hot

Ah, harvest.  This time of year brought a short-lived abundance of fresh fruit, “peaches, plumbs &c.”  “[Q]uite a treat” Evelina sighed, perhaps with the scent of peaches still on her fingers as she wrote. She, Oakes and guest Mrs. Stevens had met up with nephew Augustus, his wife Henrietta and another visitor, Miss Eddy, at the family farm south of the village. Now run by her brother Alson Gilmore, it was the farm where she grew up. Perhaps the annual harvest from the family orchard reminded her of her childhood.

While the fruit was delightful, the hot weather was not.  It’s difficult to imagine how hot Evelina must have been when she spent much of her morning cutting out corduroy. “Corded” cloth was heavy, and not easy to cut, either. She wanted one of the servant girls, Ellen, to sew the skirt for daughter Susie.  She was already thinking ahead to the fall and winter, perhaps; maybe she thought of winter as she cut along and stayed cool that way.

Evelina’s entry on this date was written exactly 150 years before our modern catastrophe, 9/11/2001. Unimaginable then and still.