STOUGHTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDED 1895

Volume III, Number - 4 - May 1972

MAY PILGRIMAGE this year will be to Sandwich once again. The visit will include another fine meal at Anthony's-on-the-Canal followed by stops at the Glass Museum and the Doll Museum (within walking distance of one another). Both attractions are very near the beauty of the old mill and stream. The bus will leave the Lucius Clapp Memorial Building at 10:15 on Saturday, May 20. . . rain or shine. Details will be available at our regular May 17 meeting BUT please make your reservations NOW with Esther Hill 344-4952; Phyllis Batchelder, 344-5121 or Joan Sullivan, 344-4011. As last year, the bus and admissions to the two museums will be paid by the society and members will be expected to pay for their own "vittles and drink".

OUR RUMMAGE SALE in April was a fine success, thanks to Mrs. Amy Terrell and her hard-working committee (some members of which were volunteers from outside our membership!) and brought in $160 to our Building Fund. The success of April's sale has prompted the same committee to operate another rummage sale on May 11 from ten to four during the day and from seven to nine in the evening.

EASTON SOCIETY EVENTS...May 21, Antique Auto Meet; June 10, Flea Market. Our organization in planning on having space at the Easton Flea Market. Please cooperate in any way possible. We will need items (preferably no soft goods, excepting fine work), some transportation, and volunteers for the entire day for two or three hours each.

HEADLINE: We now have a five-year lease on the Lucius Clapp Memorial Building. The signing between the Board of Selectmen and our President took place on April 4. Under the terms of the lease item number one states "To be used for historical purposes, museums and all things incident to the cultural interest of the Town of Stoughton." To this end let us all pitch in wherever possible and show the citizens of our Town from wence the heritage of Stoughton has come... and, above all, let us create a pleasant atmosphere in which to present a fine display before the year is out.

BELATEDLY, WE REPORT the April birthdays: Carl Anderson, Washington Irving, Elihu Yale, Rose Forte, Helen Pye, Thomas Jefferson, Wilbur Wright, Gertrude Morrill, Mildred Holmes, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant and James Monroe. ON TIME, however, we remember Harry S. Truman, Jeanttte Hill, Marian Balamoutis, Elsie Otto, William Seward, Frank Reynolds, John F. Kennedy, Mildred Harwood and Charles Hill.

WELCOME to new members Mrs. Appleton (Dorothy) Woodward, Mr. Francis Terrell, Mrs. Mildred Kennedy and Mrs. Edith Benjamin. Guests in April included Mrs. Rose Plouff of New Bedford and Mrs. Marjorie Sawyer.

OUR PROGRAM on May 17 will be a history of the Universalist Church by Phyllis Batchelder followed by the story of "Lucy's Rag Doll" by Esther Hill. Both Subjects are fascinating and entertaining.

REGRETTABLY we note the sudden passing of Mrs. Esther Snowdale in April and convey our condolences to her family.

HOSPITALITY HOSTESSES in April were Helen Pollycutt, Pearl Bishop, assisted by Ruth Burnham. As usual, the refreshments were delicious and plentiful and devoured with relish and much appreciation.

GIFTS: Artifacts from digging on the site of the first house in Stoughton were presented by Bob Benson, digger. Helen Miller gave a number of books and a painting; stereopticon views came from the staff of the public library. Hank Herbowy gave a large metal advertising thermometer and hymnals dating from 1844 came from the Universalist Church. The documents appointing Cornelius Murphy postmaster in West Stoughton in 1895 and Margaret Murphy to the same position in 1915 were donated by Mrs. Alice Murphy and have been framed by Frank Terrell, using wood from furniture constructed in 1829. A two-volume history of Norfolk County, 1622-1918, was given by Mrs. Charles Rhodes, Jr. in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Daly.

ALTHOUGH regular meetings are suspended during the months of June, July and August, work parties will continue on Wednesday evenings on a rather regular basis and the Board of Trustees will meet each month excepting July. Members are more than welcome at both Work Sessions and Trustee's meetings to help plan for next season. Three programs for the fall are tentatively set ... a fine beginning.

MODERN DAY Route 24 runs almost parallel with the old South Boston-Taunton Turnpike (on which is situated the Washington's Hotel, now called Swan's Tavern) and crosses over, in one section, that road which at one time carried travelers by stage from Boston to Points south. The original turnpike was built in 1906-07 by the "Taunton and South Boston Turnpike Corporation" whose corporators were the Messrs. John Gilmore, Joshua Gilmore, Samuel Bass and William Whiting.

PRESIDENT TAFT, weighing 332 pounds at his inauguration, got stuck in the White House bath tub and had to have a specially constructed extra large one installed. The new one comfortably held four average sized men. (All of whom must have been quite well-acquainted).

REMEMBER to get your reservation in early for the---Annual Pilgrimage on May 20. Our committee must have an accurate count.

"Few there are who love a covered bridge until it is gone", someone truthfully wrote. And this should remind us that there are structures and other bits of heritage which must be saved here in Stoughton.

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