Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1595

Today’s illustration is a detail from the 1890 view of Mattapan by O.H. Bailey showing the home of George L. Burt.

The following is from American Series of Popular Biographies. Massachusetts Edition. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: Graves & Steinbarger, 1891.

George Lathe Burt was sixteen years old when he began to learn the cabinet-maker’s trade under his father, with whom he remained until March, 1848. He then came to Dorchester, and worked for two years as a journey-man, receiving one dollar per day for twelve hours’ work. This period of hard labor for small compensation was terminated in 1850, when he united with his brother John H. in establishing the present business (J. H. Burt & Co., contractors and builders, Blue Hill Avenue, Boston (Dorchester district), which has now been carried on for nearly fifty years, and which, besides the general contract work already mentioned, includes the manufacture of doors, sash, and blinds. Their success, and the importance of the work they have executed in the last half-century form an interesting page in the business history of Dorchester. Mr. George L. Burt is a director of the Dorchester Mutual Fire Insurance Company and a trustee of the Dorchester Savings Bank. For twelve years he was a trustee of Mount Hope Cemetery and for four years a trustee of the Mechanics’ Charitable Association. He is a Republican in politics; and, like his elder brother, he has been frequently called upon to serve in public office. He was a member of the first City Council after the annexation of Dorchester to Boston, which was in 1870 and so continued for four years. He was in the State Legislature five years, three years– 1880, 1881, and 1882–as representative from the Twenty-fourth Suffolk District and in 1884 and 1885 as Senator. In the House and also in the Senate Mr. Burt served on several important committees, prominently on Charitable Institutions and on Cities, and also was on the State House committee. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Union Lodge, F. & A.M.*

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1594

Bark-Crushing Stone

This large stone was used to crush bark for use in the tanning industry.  Settlers who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the Great Migration would have brought knowledge of the tanning process with them.  Tanning went hand in hand with livestock farming and agriculture.  Herds of livestock that could not be kept overwinter were slaughtered in the autumn, and every piece of the animal was used for meat, leather, gelatin, glue, plaster, fertilizer.  The clearing of forests for the preparation of planting fields yielded lumber for building houses, barns and fences as well as tree bark that was used for its tannin content.

Although most plants contain some tannin, tree bark has a concentration large enough to be useful for tanning operations.  Crushed oak, willow, beech, sumac, chestnut, cedar or hemlock bark was laid in the bottom of the pit, then a layer of hides, and more bark, layering alternately, finishing with a thick layer of bark.  The tanner tamped down the pile as he filled the pit.  Then he kept the whole moist for a period of about three months.  The hides became soft and subject to tearing so the tanner needed to take care when unpacking the hides.  The action of the chemicals in the pit was stopped by applying a dressing of alkaline materials that included soft soap, boiled meal and dung from dogs, pigs or birds

As early as the 1640s there is a reference in the Aspinwall Notarial Records to John Glover of Dorchester who was engaged in tanning. William Bodwell in the Boston Sunday Herald in 1901 said:  Dorchester, too, was noted for its tanneries, and the pioneer in the business was a John Glover, a very appropriate name for a light leather dresser, and a gentleman who was, according to some authorities, the first to set up tanning in the Massachusetts plantation (colony). Whether this was the first official business of tanning, other families must have tanned leather as part of their own household and farming operations.  Later, there are references to the Humphreys family, the Clap family, and others who built tanning companies.

Various members of the Clap/Clapp family went into the business of tanning.  Hepzibah Clap described her father Ebenezer (1771-1860): “When about twenty-five he hired six tan pits of Captain Samuel Holden, and began to work for himself. The mill-house stood on the South of Trull Street.  In long days, he did his work in the morning and went out mowing by the day.  … In 1798 (Sept 4), I came into life. The next spring he began his tanyard on the banks of Royal Pond, near his Father’s home. The bark for the business was then ground by a large stone carried round by a horse.”

Ebenezer seems to have had an experimental nature—he tried out various types of bark grinding methods, evidenced by a license he acquired to use the Tobey mill (more like a big coffee grinder)  and by his daughter Hepzibah’s comment that he later tried wind power for this purpose.

“… The making of pits was very expensive.  He could afford but a few at a time, but after many years had a large tanyard.   In 1816 he built a new mill house and had a windmill put up to grind bark; but it did not answer the purpose; when it was high wind going with a velocity that was frightful; It was a great expense and disappointment.”

Lemuel Clap was a tanner on the properties handed down by the original Clap settlers on the west side of Boston Street.   The Claps were industrious, and like many other families, pursued businesses ancillary to their farming operations.  The seventeenth-century members of the family constructed and operated a tidal grist-mill at the edge of the South Bay.  Tanning was therefore the second business carried on by the family, and tanning later yielded to horticulture.  Lemuel’s son William used the profits from tanning to build his 1806 Federal-style house at 195 Boston Street, and his sons devoted their lives to the agricultural side of the family operations, developing new varieties of pears. They also carried on an importing business of fine leathers for the Boston market.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1593

The delicate Simon Willard banjo clock was known in the early 19^th century as a presentation timepiece.  This one was made in 1815 by Simon Willard for the marriage of a Wyman family member of Dorchester.  Miss Margaret Wyman, a descendant of the family, presented it to the Dorchester Historical Society in 1972.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1592

Possibly of Spanish origin, the Capen Bowl is about 20 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep.  The Capen family brought the bowl with them when they arrived on the Mary & John in 1630 to become one of the founding families of Dorchester.  The size of the bowl required it to be made of several sheets of metal riveted together.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1591

As you may remember 15 Grant Place that was recently the subject of a hearing at the Landmarks Commission was a building related to the Ruggles furniture factory.  Today we see other former factories (lost to history) in the Lower Mills area that may be less well-known than the big names like Baker chocolate.

In today’s detail from the 1890 view of Lower Mills, we see a factory building labeled no. 19.  This was the factory of M.W. Cain and Son, manufacturers of roll top desks and office furniture.  Morton Street is to the north of the factory (Morton Street at that time did not extend to Washington Street but turned and continued along what is now Old Morton Street).  To the left of the Cain factory, we can see a factory with the number 23.  This was the factory of Simpson’s Refrigerator company.  And the second building behind the steeple at the lower left is labeled no. 22 (although it takes good eyes to see it).  This building was the J. Ripley & Son office furniture manufactory (later a brush factory). By 1933 all manufacturing operations at these plants seems to have disappeared.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1590

Today’s illustration is a portrait of James Reeb from 1965 taken by Ollie Noonan, Boston Traveler.  Reeb lived for a time on Half-Moon Street west of Upham’s Corner, and he gave his life for the Civil Rights movement.  Many of you may have read the article in Sunday’s Boston Globe Magazine, but for those who did not, here is the link.

http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/2011/0717/

Deeply committed to the non-violent struggle for civil rights, he went to Selma, Alabama, in response to an appeal from Martin Luther King, Jr. On March 9th, 1965, he was viciously attacked by men opposed to civil rights. When he died two days later at the age of 38, President Lyndon Johnson called it “an American tragedy.” Reeb’s death helped turn the tide of public opinion in favor of federal legislation to guarantee voting rights for the country’s black citizens.

Source: No Greater Love: The James Reeb Story, by Duncan Howlett (Harper and Row, 1966).

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If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1589

Well, I think the numbering system is back on track.  In my haste at the end of last week, I carried over some numbers of some of the daily emails, but today is really 1589

Today’s illustration is a detail from the birds’-eye view of Lower Mills published by O.H. Bailey in 1890.  It shows the intersection of Richmond Street and Dorchester Avenue.  The Blaney Baptist Church stood where the bank is now on the corner.  The Unitarian Church stood where the CVS is now diagonally across the intersection—it faced Richmond Street and not Dorchester Avenue.  St. Gregory’s Catholic Church is on Dorchester Avenue at the right edge of the detail.  And, the Methodist Church stood approximately where the modern United Methodist stands today just around the corner on Washington Street.  Edmund Baker’s house stood on the corner of Richmond Street and Washington Street with a small house between it and the Methodist Church.

At the intersection of Washington Street and Richmond on the other corner, there is a numeral 48, and this indicates the Public Library in the former bank building, which is now a private residence.  Back at the intersection of Richmond and Dorchester Avenue there is a numeral 35, and this indicates the establishment of J.H. Bourne, painter and glazier.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1588

Walter Humphreys (son of Henry Humphreys and Sarah Clapp Humphreys) enlisted in Company A of the 13^th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment four days after his twentieth birthday in 1862.

His letter home dated May 2, 1864:

I must say that I am ready for the coming contest and hope that victory although it may come with the sacrifice of life and the flow of much precious blood may be the result of our arms—with haste—

Yours in love,

Walter

Near Mitchell’s Station, Va.

May 2^nd 1864

He died one month later on June 2, 1864, at Cold Harbor.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1586

The outhouse at the Clapp Family Farm owned by the Dorchester Historical Society has 4 seats, two for children and two for adults.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1586

The hearing on the demolition delay for 15 Grant Place took place last evening at the Boston Landmarks Commission.  The hearing has two parts – the first answers the question whether the building merits a demolition delay, and the Commission voted in favor of the demolition delay.  The second part considers whether there may be reasons that the delay should be waived.  The Commission voted in favor of a waiver based on reports of oil leakage into the soil supported by an environmental report that says taking down the building is the most feasible of all the options in devising a plan to remove the contaminated soil. 

For today’s illustration we have a seeder or seeding machine that is among the artifacts in the Clapp Family Barn at the Dorchester Historical Society.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org