Dorchester Illustration 2605 Henry S. Russell

Posted on February 26, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2605 Henry S. Russell

Henry Sturgis Russell (June 21, 1838 – February 16, 1905) was an American military and government official who served as commander of the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry and as the first commissioner of the Boston Fire Department.

Russell was born on June 21, 1838, in the Savin Hill section of Dorchester, Massachusetts to George R. and Sarah Parkinson (Shaw) Russell. His grandfather was ambassador Jonathan Russell and his first cousin was Robert Gould Shaw. Russell graduated from Harvard University in 1860.

Russell entered the Union Army on May 11, 1861, as a lieutenant in the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. He was promoted to captain on December 13, 1861. He was captured at the Battle of Cedar Mountain (August 9, 1862) and sent to Libby Prison. He was released in a prisoner exchange and returned to duty on November 15, 1862. On January 22, 1863, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On April 5, 1864, he was made a colonel of the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry. When the regiment reached Washington D.C., Russell was briefly assigned command of a brigade at Camp Casey. On May 13 he was ordered to join General Edward Winslow Hincks’ division in City Point, Virginia. On June 15, Russell was wounded in the Siege of Petersburg. He rejoined his regiment on September 30 at Point Lookout, Maryland, where his regiment was guarding Confederate prisoners of war. He resigned his command on February 15, 1865, and was brevetted brigadier general on March 13, 1865.

After the war, Russell joined J.M. Forbes & Co., where he sold goods from China and East India. In 1863 he married Mary Hathaway, the daughter of John Murray Forbes. The couple had five children.

In 1878, control of the Boston Police Department was transferred from the board of alderman to an independent police commission.  Mayor Henry L. Pierce appointed Russell to chair the new board. Russell was credited with creating the harbor police, reorganizing the force on a semi-military basis (the first reorganization of the department since its founding in 1854), proposing new rules for conduct and definitions of duties, arranging for merit-based promotions, and instituting physical examinations for officers under the rank of captain. He left the board in 1880.

In January 1895, he was appointed by Mayor Edwin Upton Curtis to succeed John R. Murphy on the Boston Fire commission. That July, Russell became the first solo commissioner in the department’s history. During his tenure as commissioner, Russell hired and promoted based on merit rather than political considerations and worked to improve living conditions in the city’s firehouses. He remained commissioner until his death on February 16, 1905. He was buried at Milton Cemetery.

In 1909, a drinking fountain in memory of Russell was erected in Milton, Massachusetts, where he had been a summer resident for many years.

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Dorchester Illustration 2604 Amos Upham

Posted on February 19, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2604

Upham’s Corner is named for Amos Upham, who kept a general store at the corner of Dudley and Boston (now Columbia Road) Streets.

Amos Upham, eighth child of Lieutenant Phineas, was born at Weston, Mass., March 11, 1789, after the death of his father.  He resided with his mother until a well-grown lad, when he was apprenticed to learn the baker’s trade.  In 1817 he came to Dorchester, purchased a tract of land and established a grocery store at the place now known as Upham’s Corner, which he carried on for the rest of his life.  He was prominent citizen.  He was married December 28, 1819, to Miss Abigail Humphreys, daughter of Deacon James Humphreys, of Dorchester.  They were the parents of four children: James H.; Charles Amos, born March 10, 1822; Abigail, who died at the age five and half years; and Amos, Jr., who died in Philadelphia when about thirty-two years old.  Amos Upham, the father, was an active member of the old fire department.  He was a Free Mason and member of the First Church of Dorchester.   His death took place January 25, 1872.  His wife died December 19,1878.

Source of text: American Series of Popular Biographies. Massachusetts Edition, 1891.

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Dorchester Illustration 2603 John Tucker’s harness shop

Posted on February 12, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2603 John Tucker’s harness shop

The house in the illustration, which still exists, is located behind the stores at 1156 to 1160 Washington Street.  It was built in 1798.  The atlases indicate that the stores in front of the house were first built after 1889 and before 1894, probably following Tucker’s death in 1892.

John Atherton Tucker operated a harness shop at 1158 Washington Street and lived there much of his life.  Later in life, sometime between 1857 and 1861, he moved to 1079 Adams Street. 

The house on Washington Street, shown in the illustration, was built by John’s father, Atherton Tucker in 1798.  In 1830, Atherton divided the property, apparently keeping a third interest for himself, giving a third to his son, William, and giving John a third interest.  John’s portion was described as:

the south part of the chaise maker’s shop, bounded by the partition as it now stands measuring about 14 feet more or less, the whole of the south chamber over said shop and the whole of the chamber over the same on the third story and the whole of the bedroom in the entry of the third story in the building ceded by and belonging to me, [and] a certain parcel of land hereinafter described, also one third of the cellar on the south side of said building containing two arches and the privilege of passing to and from said rooms and places in a convenient manner. Also one undivided third part of the barn on said land except the paint shop in the south part of the same, measuring fifteen feet in front with the platform adjoining the same, also one undivided third part of the wood house thereon …

John A. Tucker was born in 1803.  At the time of his retirement in 1891, an article in The Dorchester Beacon newspaper stated that John started in business in 1829.  The non-population U.S. Census schedules for 1850 and 1860 give the value of his annual production of harnesses as $1,000.

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Dorchester Illustration 2602 98 Centre Street

Posted on January 29, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2602 98 Centre Street

Postcards came into their greatest era of popularity just after the turn of the 20th century.  Soon, homeowners were having photos of their homes made into postcards. 

Today we have a postcard written in October 1906 by Florence Collins of 98 Centre Street, explaining that she has been ill with a fever and cold and that she has been confined to eating broths and would like to get back to solid food.  The doctor even recommended that she might want to take a trip to warm Jamaica in January.  The recent photo of the house shows how enclosing the porches and applying siding have hidden the original features of the design.

The house at 98 Centre Street was built in 1896.  Florence and her husband, John, were both born in Maine and were married there in 1887.  They came to the Boston area in the 1890s, living first in Quincy then in Roxbury.  They bought the house at 98 Centre Street in 1898 and moved in right away. They lived on Centre Street until they bought 41 Tremlett Street and move there in 1909.

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Dorchester Illustration 2601 Reed Edwin Peggram

Posted on January 22, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2601 Reed Edwin Peggram

Doctor Ethelene Whitmire, from the University of Wisconsin, has brought to our attention some information about a Dorchester resident, Reed Edwin Peggram.

Previously unknown to us, Peggram’s grandmother worked in the kitchen of the William Clapp House during the period 1900 to 1930, and Frank Clapp wrote a letter of recommendation for Reed Peggram’s application to enter Harvard College.  One of the Internet entries about Peggram is titled “The Gay Black American Who Stared Down Nazis in the Name of Love.”  It can be found at this link:

https://narratively.com/the-gay-black-american-who-stared-down-nazis-in-the-name-of-love/?utm_source=broadly&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1cIc6BmF6f3UAgksQpspECXVg06AuTOaAjQWho2fK5-SMGOMaLgk3bldw

Reed Edwin Peggram was born in Dorchester on July 26, 1914, and died here on April 20, 1982. He was an American scholar, translator, and teacher of linguistics.  He is also known for his survival of Nazi imprisonment during World War II.

Reed’s  parents came to Dorchester from Virginia. Peggram’s mother was a housewife, and after World War I, his father, was sent to a hospital in Virginia for long term recovery after an injury from his military service in the war.  His parents divorced, and Reed’s mother married a man with the last name Farrar.  The couple moved to New Jersey. Reed remained in Dorchester under the care are of his grandmother, Mrs. Laura Reed, who worked as a school custodian and as day help for private families.

Although neither of his parents graduated from college, Peggram was a successful scholar. He attended the Boston Latin School, graduating in 1931.  His main interests were in literature, languages, and dramatics. During his time in school, he also enjoyed participating in track, in Dramatic Club, and in tutoring French and Latin. He earned honors in many of his courses, including Elementary Latin, French, and German as well as Advanced Latin, and he received several awards.

Reed attended Harvard College from 1931 to 1935, graduating magna cum laude with his Bachelor of Arts in Romance languages and literature in the department of Romance philology. Peggram received his master’s degree in comparative literature from Harvard University in 1936.  He was a a Graduate Residence Fellow in comparative literature at Columbia University from 1936 to 1937, returning to Harvard in1937 to pursue his PhD in comparative literature.

In 1938, Peggram received the John Harvard Fellowship in 1938 and the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to study abroad at the University of Paris.  While in Paris, he met Gerdh Hauptmann of Copenhagen, Denmark, another scholar who studied fine arts and painting. Reed and Gerdh  went together in 1939 to study at the University of Copenhagen

Peggram and Hauptmann formed a strong relationship and wanted to leave for America together. Unfortunately, these plans were delayed first by financial limitations and later by the German occupation of Denmark. Peggram and Hauptmann fled to France and eventually settled in Italy. 

The two men were captured in 1941 by Nazis and imprisoned in the Bagni Di Lucca concentration camp near Pistola, Italy.  During this time, Peggram had the chance to return to the United States, and Hauptmann was offered work under German occupation. Yet, both men refused these opportunities, as they were not willing to separate from one another, resulting in death sentences and imprisonment. They spent two years in German and Italian concentration camps, during which military personnel confiscated their documentation papers. Eventually, both Peggram and Hauptmann escaped prison, facing harsh conditions and machine gun fire along their journey. The pair found safety with the 92nd Infantry Division in Italy. Unfortunately, because neither of them had their identification documents, Peggram and Hauptmann were delayed in relocating.  Their time in Nazi imprisonment left both men to suffer from nervous breakdowns and mental health problems. After his freedom, Peggram received four years of treatment for his mental health issues.

After seven years abroad, Peggram travelled back to the United States to work as a translator and a teacher. Living in his home town of Dorchester in Boston, Massachusetts, he spent his time working, expanding his language skills, and singing in Episcopal Church choirs Peggram never married and was childless. However, several personal letters to his Harvard colleague, Leonard Bernstein, and private accounts indicate he was homosexual and likely had a romantic relationship with Gerdh Hauptmann during their time together.

Reed Edwin Peggram died on April 20, 1982, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, at the age of 67. He was retired at the time of his death.

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Dorchester Illustration 2600  Daloz Cleaners

Posted on January 15, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2600  Daloz Cleaners

Carole Mooney has provided the content for today’s message.

The advertising card in the illustration has a tiny chain attached on the back above the figure’s nose and below the chin which can be shaped into a smile, grimace or other configuration. 

The card was printed in the mid 20th century by the L.H. Daloz Co, Inc., Cleanser & Textile Consultants, which was located at 10 Humphreys Street in Dorchester, a building now occupied by an artists’ cooperative.

Several creative advertising promotions are included in a recent large donation of the firm’s records and related items by Daloz family members. A booklet printed in September 1947 titled, “Another Brief Historical Sketch of Medieval Cleaning,” describes how early traders travelled through Spain and later France with their dyeing and cleaning equipment. According to another flier, the “knowledge, experience and care necessary to the operation of a successful dyeing department have been accumulated through four generations of the Daloz family.”

Daloz could dye everything from the most delicate laces to rugs weighing a ton or more, according to their advertising. Services included the cleaning, repairing or mothproofing of items such as curtains, tapestries, blankets, draperies, clothing and laces. The firm distributed fliers on the storage of fabrics, rug cleaning, moth proofing and the history of hats.

These records provide a window into the growth and operation of a successful Dorchester business in the 20th century. Volunteers at the Dorchester Historical Society not only enter new acquisitions into an electronic data base but are also working through the archives to make the entire DHS collection available electronically.

More information about Daloz and photographs are available at dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org under “blog” Dorchester Illustration 2526 posted on Aug. 15, 2021 and also at www.dorchesteratheneum.org by using the search function (magnifying glass) to search for the word daloz.

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Dorchester Illustration 2599 The Hundred Steps

Posted on January 8, 2023 by earltaylor

The stairway that leads from Hancock Street to Downer Avenue on Jones Hill contain more that 100 steps.  The concrete stairway replaced a wooden stairway, pictured as the lower image in today’s illustration.  The photograph of the wooden stairway was taken between 1918 and 1926.

In 1936, Jack Frost described the steps in the Boston Herald:

The Longest Wooden Stairway in Boston

The fatigue inspiring stairway shown in the sketch connects Hancock Street and Downer Avenue in Dorchester on Jones Hill.  There are more than a hundred steps and thirteen landings.  The granite wall shown in the foreground was built by the PWA.  The three family houses are common to the hill.  The building part way up the steps is a dance hall, well known in Dorchester.  After the city had been scoured pretty thoroughly, these Jones Hill steps were the longest wooden ones found—and wooden steps are not as abundant today as they once were.

The dance hall mentioned in Jack Frost’s description was the Jacqueminot Bungalow at 136 Hancock Street, apparently legally part of 134 Hancock Street (the three-decker in the photo).  In 1922, the building department reported the capacity of the function hall as 223.

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Dorchester Illustration 2598 Franklin Park Zoo

Posted on January 1, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2598 Franklin Park Zoo

Although Franklin Park is technically on the edge of Dorchester and not part of Dorchester’s historical territory, the park feels as if it is home.

Franklin Park Zoo comprises 72 acres within Franklin Park.  When Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park, he included the idea for a future zoological garden, intended to be a naturalistic area for native animals.  However, when the zoo was opened in 1912, it included many exotic animals in addition to ative species.  The zoo has evolved over the years and is now accredited by the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums.

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Dorchester Illustration 2597 Fields Corner Municipal Building

Posted on December 18, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2597 Fields Corner Municipal Building

From the National Register nomination::

Visible from the Fields Corner intersection, looking northwestward along Adams Street is the architecturally significant, High Victorian Gothic Municipal Building at 1 Arcadia Street and 193 Adams Street. This 3.5 story H-shaped building is constructed of red brick with granite trimmings, its roof line characterized by a series of steeply pitched gables. Built as Police Station #1 ca. 1875, this building is one of the most important landmark buildings in the area.

Additionally, the building is an example of the work of Boston’s first City Architect, George A. Clough, and is significant for its role in community development. Although the building permits and records no longer exist for the Municipal Building, it is generally thought that Clough (l843-ca. 1916) – who began designing schools for the City in 1872 and became the first City Architect in 1873 – is the building’s architect. Clough learned drafting from his father, who was a Maine shipbuilder, and studied under George Snell of the Boston firm of Snell & Gregerson. He opened his own firm in 1869.

Clough’s most prominent buildings are the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square 1888-89) and Boston Latin and English High School (l877). He worked in a number of eclectic styles and is credited with introducing “the German system, which provides for constructing the building around open courts, thus affording ample light and ventilation to all parts of it…” Although not built around an open court as were the Courthouse and High School, the Municipal Building does provide generous 1ight and ventilation through its H-p1an and paired fenestration. Symmetry and balance — of plan, scale, and massing — also characterize most of Clough’s work. George Clough is credited with designing over 25 schools for the City of Boston, several local churches, and numerous other municipal buildings and public charitable institutions in the Boston area.

Besides being significant for its architectural merit and association with the first City Architect, the Municipal Building is important for its strong community identity and for its contribution to the civic and cultural history of Dorchester. The building was originally constructed as a replacement for the old District 11 Police Station that was located on Hancock Street. The eastern wing of the Municipal Building, facing Adams Street, housed the new police station, with jail cells (still remaining) in the basement. The rear (western) wing was designed as the Dorchester branch of the Boston Public Library, the first such branch system in the United States. The building also served for a time as a district court.

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Dorchester Illustration 2596 Charles Barnard Fox

Posted on December 11, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2596 Charles Barnard Fox

This information about Colonel Charles Barnard Fox comes from http://foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/colonel-charles-barnard-fox.html

With the sensationalism garnered in the movie “Glory,” we reveled in the drama and impact of the Civil War however it also served to remind us of why that war was fought. The 54th Regiment, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, was the first African American regiment formed in Massachusetts, yet few of us realize that the all black 55th Regiment was led by a Dorchester, Massachusetts resident. Charles Barnard Fox (1833-1895) was the son of the Reverend Thomas B. Fox, editor of the “Boston Transcript.” He had been born in Newburyport while his father had been minister of the Unitarian church in that town, but the family moved to Dorchester in 1845. Educated in the local schools, Fox studied, then entered the field of civil engineering. His brother, the noted architect John A. Fox, was also a civil engineer and considered the “Father of Stick Style” architecture in this country.

Fox had enlisted in the Civil War at Lyceum Hall on Dorchester’s Meeting House Hill, which was the local recruiting office. He received his commission as Second Lieutenant in the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry; one year later he was made First Lieutenant. In 1863, he was transferred to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, with the same rank. That same year he was made Major of the 55th Regiment, an African American regiment, being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on November 3, 1863. The 55th Regiment had been trained at Camp Meigs, and was composed of African American men who had everything at stake in the war. Fox, with his fellow officers, were well trained, and were to be commended for their service. In Fox’s obituary, it was quoted as saying that “It was abundantly shown in his long and meritorious service in the army during the civil war, and especially in his readiness to enter a branch of the service that was not regarded with favor even by many who in theory favored perfect equality between races, and which was not calculated to attract the young soldier powerfully, in comparison with the more popular and agreeable positions in white regiments. But Colonel Fox believed in the equality of the black men with the white, and whatever he believed he lived up to, and the relations which existed between him and the colored soldiers in his command were ever the most intimate and mutually regardful nature.”

Fox was reared in the Unitarian faith, and upon the family’s removal in 1845 to Dorchester, they became connected with the First Parish Church on Meeting House Hill. The minister was the Reverend Nathaniel Hall, a fierce anti-slavery opponent who expounded upon the evils of both slavery and the subjugation of blacks in the South. His sermons, many of which were published for a more general readership, were vociferous and pointed in his belief that slavery was immoral, and could only be abolished through the war. Thomas B. Fox was undoubtedly influenced by Hall, and by his own father’s opinion, which was quite often read in the daily editions of the “Boston Transcript.”

Charles Barnard Fox served in the Army of the Potomac until after the Battle of Fredericksburg, in the Siege of Charleston and in the Campaign in Florida, the Battle of Honey Hill being particularly gruesome. His record of bravery and courage was made known when he was made brevet Colonel of the 55th Regiment; he resigned his commission on June 25, 1865 at the end of the Civil War and decided to remain in the South. For three years after the war, Fox managed a cotton plantation on Sea Island off the coast of South Carolina, it was not until 1868 that he returned to Boston, becoming an inspector at the Boston Customs House. In partnership with his brother and his friends, he assisted in the establishment of Holbrook & Fox, a real estate and land auction house in Boston. It was his friend Silas Pinckney Holbrook and his brother John Andrews Fox who created the partnership. The firm of Holbrook & Fox was one of the leading firms of its kind in New England and was well respected for the development of the real estate market in the late 19th century. Fox married and built a home, designed by his architect brother, on Fuller Street in Dorchester. His connection with the development of the old farms and estates of Dorchester continued until his untimely death in 1895.

The contributions of Colonel Charles Barnard Fox in regards to the Civil War were important enough to have his convictions and personal beliefs supersede his comfort. He served his all black 55th Regiment well, and earned their respect with the title of colonel by brevet, and honor that few officers received for their service in the Civil War.

Colonel Thomas Barnard Fox is buried in the Fox Family Lot at Forest Hills Cemetery.

POSTED BY ANTHONY M. SAMMARCO

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