OLD DARTMOUTH HISTORICAL SKETCH
Number 41
Being the proceedings of the Meeting of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, Water Street, New Bedford, Massachusetts, on January 2, 1915.
THE MILLS OF NEW BEDFORD AND VICINITY BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF STEAM
by Henry B. Worth
MARDI GRAS
by Blanche Brace
Proceedings of the Meeting of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society
New Bedford, Massachusetts
January 2, 1915
“The Cloth Mills of New Bedford and Vicinity before the Introduction of Steam,” was the subject of an address delivered by Henry H. Worth at the quarterly meeting of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, held Saturday afternoon in the rooms of the society on Water Street. The speaker was greeted by a large audience of members and their friends, who at the close enthusiastically gave him a rising vote of thanks.
Mr. Worth explained that l838 was the year of the introduction of steam, “according to two fully investigated articles which appeared years back, in which the assertion was made without reserve and never disputed. The earliest steam engine used in New Bedford was installed in the stone buildings on Front Street, a few yards north of Union, built by Joseph Taber in 1838 and used by him for many years for the manufacture of pumps and blocks. This engine is still stored in the stone buildings.”
Mr. Worth’s investigations, so far as his address was concerned, related to incidents of local history occurring before the year 1838, and are included in the second article on “The Mills of Old Dartmouth.”
On motion of E. P. Haskins a rising vote of thanks was extended to him at the close of his address. The audience gave him a most flattering reception.
H. E. Cushman, president of the society, presented the following memorial, which was adopted:
IN MEMORIAM.
Rev. Matthew C. Julien,
Vice President of the<
Old Dartmouth Historical Society,
Died December 19, 1914.
It is fitting that we should pause today out of respect to one of our oldest and most honored members, who has been called from his earthly pilgrimage.
From the beginning, no one has shown a more earnest interest in this society than he. His courage was always of the order that made one feel that he must do his best to have the society reach its greatest achievement. That was his inspiration, and he made others feel it.
The work that one does never ends when his life is changed, and the members of this society feel that the influence of Rev. Matthew C. Julien will be appreciated for years to come.
Let us take up the work that he began and continue it successfully, according to his high ideal.
On motion of George H. Tripp, it was voted “that the secretary of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society be instructed on behalf of the same to write to Miss Sarah E. Seabury and express to her its appreciation of the bequest made to it under the will of her sister, Caroline O. Seabury.
At the close of the meeting Anna and Walton Ricketson presented to the museum three rare gifts, a silver pitcher and two gold watches.
With the silver pitcher goes the following card:
SILVER PITCHER.
Formerly belonged to Daniel Ricketson 1st. who was born in Dartmouth 8th mo. 19th 1745-O.S.and married Rebecca Russell, daughter of Joseph Russell 3d mo. 31st 1768-N. S.
Presented to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society by his great grandchildren, Anna and Walton Ricketson: Jan. 2d 1915.
The cards with the watches follow:
GOLD WATCH.
Formerly owned by Joseph Ricketson, son of Daniel Ricketson 1st.
Presented to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society by his grandchildren, Anna and Walton Ricketson January 2d 1915.
GOLD WATCH.
Formerly belonged to Daniel Ricketson, historian. Presented to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society by his children, Anna and Walton Ricketson, Jan. 2d 1915.
With the Joseph Ricketson watch is the following clipping from an old newspaper with an interesting history:
“Daniel Ricketson and son, grandfather and father of our historian, Daniel Ricketson, merchants in Bedford village in the early years of the century, sent a ship to London laden with a cargo of oil. Thence she went to Bremen and took on a cargo of iron. While in the North Sea she sprang a leak and went to Grenock, Scotland, for repairs. While these operations were in progress war was declared between the United States and England. The vessel was seized by the British government and the crew sent to Dartmoor prison. When the ship lay in London docks, the captain (Sawdey by name) purchased, at the request of the junior member of the firm, a gold watch with an old-fashioned double case, which cost at the time twenty to thirty pounds sterling, regarded a great price in those days. This watch the captain kept during his imprisonment and on his return brought it to our historian’s father, Joseph Ricketson, which was all that was ever received from ship or cargo. The case was twice brought before the English court of admiralty for adjustment, but without success. One of the crew was Samuel Parker, of Acushnet, who died twenty years ago at an advanced age.”
Mills of Old Dartmouth
By Henry B. Worth
In a colonial settlement the first necessity was food and the second shelter, and for each a mill was required: one to transform corn and grain into flour and the other to prepare the forest for purposes of construction. The mill was, therefore, one of the principal institutions of every New England village, and was coeval with the meeting-house.
Streams of water and the winds furnished the only power which the colonists were able to control, and the selection depended on which was most convenient and available. Wind mills seem to have been devoted exclusively to grinding corn and grain because the power was uncertain and of less strength. They were adopted only where water was not available, as on the Island of Rhode Island.
Dartmouth was extensive in territory and its inhabitants were scattered over the entire region. There were twenty villages, but no town center. The tendency was to accommodate every neighborhood and to utilize all available water power. Great lumber swamps covered the north part of the town. Hence the number of mills in the town was considerable, and yet it is not generally known how numerous. It is certain that there have been at least 99 separate mills, previous to the introduction of steam, of which 11 were wind mills. Beside those which ground corn and grain and others that sawed lumber, there were mills that manufactured iron in various stages, and fulling and carding mills.
The story that Ralph Russell started an iron mill at Russells Mills in 1652 is erroneous in every particular, having no historic foundation. Iron mills that manufactured the crude material into mercantile product were located near some deposit of bog iron. These were called bloomeries. Other iron mills known as forges formed the pig iron into articles for use in the arts. Russells Mills was not adapted to either branch.
The value of a mill privilege depended on the amount of fall and the extent and continuity of the stream. Owing to the level character of Dartmouth, desirable mill locations were infrequent, and the best would be selected first.
The settlement of Dartmouth took place in the spring or early summer of 1660 by three families at Howard’s Brook, on the east side of the Acushnet River, in the south part of the modern town of Acushnet. The number of inhabitants increased to seven families in 1662, and in June, 1664, the residents were sufficiently numerous to receive the grant of a town government. The territory had been owned by thirty-six proprietors for twelve years.
Destruction of the early records by fire, has obliterated the evidence of the mill development before the establishment of the town. But the first official act of the town after its incorporation was to make a contract June 30, 1664, with Henry Tucker and George Babcock to build a mill. These men had resided in Milton, then a part of Dorchester, and the men of the Babcock family were millers for several generations. The arrangement provided that the contractors for building the mill should receive a share of land which was 1-34 of the territory of the town. The proprietors completed the transfer in l684 by a committee comprising Hathawav, Hicks, Russell and Ralph Allen. According to the record of this transfer, Tucker and Babcock had already completed the mill, but where or how long before is not definitely stated. Town meeting notices in 168l were to be posted “at the mill,” and this is the earliest date preserved in the records. Ample evidence proves that the location was at Smiths Mills, which was about five miles from the first village. It cannot be proved how much before 1681 the mill had been erected, nor what kind of a mill was built. If one was erected before 1675 it is certain that it was destroyed by the Indians, in the King Philip War. In the description of his famous march through Smiths Mills in 1676, Captain Church does not mention any mill at that place. The title to the mill property vested in George Babcock, and his son Return in 1702 mortgaged it and included an old grist mill and a fulling mill. In 1706 the farm and mill property was acquired by Elishib Smith and he soon built a saw mill fn the same spot now occupied by the Hawes mill. The grist mill was on the east side of the east outlet and north side of the way, and later was called an oil mill. In 1806 Benjamin Cummings, Isaac Howland Jr., Gideon Howland and Abijah Packard acquired the entire privilege. The Howlands sold their interests to the Cummings in 1823. Then the Cummings built the stone grist mill now standing. Five mills have been operated at this place, a fulling and a grinding mill on the north side of the road and on the south side a cotton, saw and grist mill. The stream until recent times was known as the “Mill River.”
Benjamin Crane came to Dartmouth in the autumn of 1710 to survey all private and public land in the town. Before his death, which took place some eleven years later, he nearly completed the work and in his notes are references to mills then in existence; and while some of them may have been established at a previous time, the dates in Crane’s notes are the earliest that can be authenticated.
Windmills existed in Dartmouth near the date of the Revolution, and the survey of the town in 1795 shows that most of them were still standing. Unlike water mills, they seem to have been erected and used by farm owners where they were located more like barns and other structures, and they are seldom mentioned in the records. Consequently it is difficult to fix the date of their origin or determine by whom they were owned. In 1795 one stood on the southwest corner of the Mattapoisett and Sconticut Neck Roads, on land once owned by the Pope family and in 1777 conveyed to the Aldens. Another built in 1761 by Richard Delano in Fairhaven Village at the southeast corner of Main and Union Streets, was purchased in 179-, by Isaac Wood, and soon after moved away. In 18O6 a wind mill stood on land of Richard Wood south of Oxford and was owned by Enoch Cundall and sold to Joseph Tripp. It must have been on the east side of Main Street, and was not further mentioned. A picture exists of an old wind mill, located on the lot north of Fort Phoenix Reservation, which was standing 1840 to 1850, and is remembered by a few of the older inhabitants. There is no reference to it in the records, and no way to determine by whom built.
Howland’s History of Acushnet states that a mill of the same style was situated at the Parting Ways, but it is not mentioned in the records.
On the west side of Main and north of Cooke Street, on the north edge of Oxford was a wind mill on the Taber farm, which burned down in 1857.
In New Bedford there were three wind mills. One owned by Abraham Russell stood in line of Union Street, west of County, not far from Orchard Street, and was standing in 1810. Gilbert Russell had a wind mill on the northwest corner of Sixth and Russell Streets which he sold to be moved away in 1821 to build his new house. It was moved to the Noel Taber Road and not long after was demolished according to Ricketson.
The third stood on the north side of Mill Street, east of County Street, and was on land of the Kemptons. Mill Street was named from the structure.
According to the survey of 1795 a wind mill stood on the hill west of the head of Apponegansett. No other reference to it can be discovered, and it is not known on whose land it was located.
In the Padanaram Village a wind mill was built by David Thacher on the northeast corner of Middle and School Streets soon after 18OO. It was owned later by Captain Isaac Whelden and Isaac Smalley, and was purchased in l859 by Michael Baker who removed it to some other locality and it was soon after demolished.
In 1795 a wind mill stood at Westport Point on the site of the Methodist Church; was in operation about 1822 when John Sowle was the miller, and was probably built by Isaac Wood. These eleven mills were all equipped for grinding corn and grain and were placed where there was no available water power.
It is difficult to fix the date when the first steam engine was installed in this section. A steam-boat was on the route between New Bedford and Nantucket in the summer of 1818, but this experiment was followed by ten years before another steamer appeared. In 1828 the regular line between Nantucket and this city was started which has continued without interruption to the present time; but it is not so simple a matter to fix with certainty the advent of the first engine on land. It has been asserted in two prominent newspaper articles within twenty years that the first engine was purchased by Joseph Taber in 1838 and installed in his stone pump and block maker’s shop on North Front Street. This date has been assumed as the time when steam was introduced in this section for manufacturing purposes.
So far as information can be obtained, flax was never used in cloth manufacture in this vicinity, although there have been preserved spinning wheels which have been designed as “flax wheels.” Previous to 1860 cotton was not used. The only material used for that purpose was sheep’s wool.
Three processes were employed in manufacturing woolen cloth. At first it was necessary to clean the wool by combing and form it into rolls about twelve inches long and one inch in diameter. This was called carding, and required dexterity rather than physical strength; consequently this process was performed exclusively by hand previous to 1811, and no mills were devoted to this part of the manufacture. In November, 18ll, at White’s factory in Acushnet, carding machinery was set up, and years later at Russells Mills Robert Gifford had a carding mill which was in operation until the Civil War. These are the only enterprises which were devoted to that branch of manufacture except that of William Gordon Jr., and one at the Head of Westport, mentioned hereafter.
The second stage of cloth manufacture was the spinning of the carded rolls into yarn or thread. This was simple and easy, and like the process preceding it required skill rather than physical power; consequently it was performed mostly by women in their homes, and there were no mills devoted to spinning of yarn or thread.
The third stage was the manufacture of yarn into cloth. This involved physical labor, and while hand looms were operated by men and women there were several mills where it was done by machinery operated by water power, and these were called “fulling mills.” How early such mills were established in Dartmouth cannot be stated with certainty. In 1702 Return Babcock mortgaged his mill privilege at the village later known as Smiths Mills and included a fulling mill which was located on the north side of the highway. This privilege had been developed nearly forty years previous, and mills were located at that point in 168l, but it cannot be asserted when the cloth mill was started. The fulling mill is last mentioned in 1775.
In 1702 when the selectmen of Dartmouth laid out the Potomska Road over the river at Russells Mills, it passed the fulling mill of Joseph Russell near the ruins of the Cummings Mill. This may have been established at an earlier date. It was on the west side of the river and finally came into the possession of Giles Russell who conveyed the same in 1793 to Elihu Russell, clothier. Later owners of fractional shares were: Henry Smith, Henry Tucker, John Hull, Joseph Estes, Benjamin R. Tucker, and between 1833 and 1842 the different interests were acquired by Benjamin Cummings who altered the fulling mill into a shingle mill.
In 1711 Ebenezer Allen had a fulling mill on Destruction Brook northwest of Russells Mills on the farm that was owned in recent years by Elihu Howland and conveyed by him to James Allen 2nd. This mill was owned later by John Whiteley and Allen Howland, and discontinued during the ownership of the latter.
A map of New Bedford, dated 1795, and on file in the State House, describes a fulling mill located northeast of the Quaker meeting-house at Acushnet where for many years has been the Cushman saw mill. In 1750, when Joseph Taber sold the farm to his son Amaziah, this was a Fulling Mill.
On the west side of the Westport River, north of the bridge, at the Head of Westport, in 1842, was a cluster of mills devoted to different lines of manufacture, and among them was a cloth mill. They were all destroyed by fire, and a modern saw mill took their places. Humphrey Howland, Ephraim Thompson and Pardon Gifford started the carding and fulling mill in 1811.
So far as the records give information these seven mills comprised all the woolen mills in Dartmouth concerned in making cloth in any of its stages. The needs of the people were largely supplied by hand labor in the three processes of manufacture.
In 1760 machinery had been invented by Englishmen to carry on successfully the manufacture of cotton, and this was first introduced in America at an experimental station, in 1789 at East Bridgewater where the processes were demonstrated. The first cotton mill was built in 1790 in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Depending on the land records as a guide the first positive reference to a cotton mill in either of the towns comprised in ancient Dartmouth is dated November 27, 1811, when William White 2d, blacksmith, conveyed to Joseph Whelden, William White 3rd, and Phineas White the lot “Whereon is now erected a cotton factory including cotton machinery, grist mill, saw mill and house containing wool carding machinery.” It is certain that at that date an equipped cotton mill was in existence called a factory, on the cross road known in later years as the White’s Factory Road in Acushnet. The question might be proposed how much earlier had the industry been established? The land records give some information on the subject.
October 24th, 1811, Joseph Pierce sold to William White 2d, “one-half of the grist and saw mill,” but the deed contained no mention of any cotton mill or carding machinery; consequently during the next month, if these deeds can be relied upon as conclusive, the cotton factory was established.
What raises some doubt whether this was the first, is the language in a deed given in 1837 by William Botch Jr., conveying the mills on the west side of the Acushnet River at its head, which deed includes “an old cotton mill.” This may have been an old building where cotton was manufactured, or it may have referred to the early manufacture established many years before. William Rotch Jr. owned mills elsewhere and had capital to engage in any such enterprise, but there is no way to fix the date when this cotton mill was established. It had certainly been discontinued in 1837.
As bearing upon this question an advertisement in The Mercury in June 1818, is of value. William Gordon Jr. announced that he had taken the new building between the grist and paper mills and had good machinery to card merino and native wool. Possibly this was the building which was later called the Old Cotton Mill.
The enterprise at White’s Factory under the ownership of Captain Whelden and the Whites continued until February first, 1814, when Whelden sold his interest in the property which then included a dye-house. In l829 the stone cotton factory had been erected. During the ownership of William White, blacksmith, which began in 1799 only a saw and grist mill were operated at this dam. The cotton mill was there in 1845 when the property was sold to Thomas.
The probable reason why Captain Whelden sold his interest in 1814 is that he desired to be associated with different men, because he immediately formed a co-partnership with Jireh Swift Jr., Job Gray, Leum Snow and Jonathan Swift, and conveyed to them in 1814 interests in the real estate containing a cotton factory, saw mill and grist mill. This property was located on the Acushnet River half a mile north of the White’s factory road and was purchased by Whelden shortly before he formed this partnership. From the north a brook in recent years called the Morse Brook and formerly known as Deep Brook, joined the Acushnet River. A short distance above and below the junction of these streams was a crossing over the river, and at each was a mill privilege. Capt. Whelden purchased both, discontinued the northernmost, and at the lower dam erected the stone mill which is still standing. This enterprise was very successful for a number of years. In 1843 it was transferred to Thomas Wood; in 1854 to Sylvanus Thomas, and in 1866 to the city of New Bedford as part of its water system, when all the mills connected with the same were abolished.
In 1806 Benjamin Cummings, Isaac Howland Jr., Gideon Howland and Abijah Packard formed a partnership and purchased the mills and mill privilege at Smith Mills. At a later date they built a cotton factory on the lot now occupied by the store and post-office. It is a tradition that this was started soon after the War of 18l2, but the Cummings ownership continued for a great number of years and there is no way to fix the date except that in 1816 they advertised in The Mercury for a man to run the cotton mill. When Packard sold out to the others in 1823 the cotton mill was included. This building was taken down in 1874, but the cotton manufacture had ceased years before that date.
In 1812, Ephraim Macomber had a saw mill at Westport Factory, and he transferred the same to John Mason of Swansea, Joseph Strange of Taunton, and Job White of Westport. Two years later William Gifford sold a large tract to the same individual described as The Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company, and the owners thereupon transferred shares in the enterprise to twenty-eight different persons. These interests were all gathered together in 1817 by Bradford and Daniel Howland, and sold by them in 1821 to Samuel Allen. The stone factory was erected in 1828. Later owners of this property were John Avery Parker and William H. Allen and it was finally acquired in 1855 by William B. Trafford, Augustus Chase and Elijah A. Lewis.
These three owners have conducted the mill at Westport Factory and the enterprise half a mile below purchased by them at the same date, with great financial success. This mill at Westport Factory is the only one of those established before the introduction of steam that is still being operated, and this only in part by water power.
So in the territory of Old Dartmouth there were seven mills in which wool was manufactured in different stages of construction. The last of these in active operation was the carding mill of Robert Gifford at Russells Mills which was located at the edge of the river in the north part of the village. Fifteen years ago the building had completely fallen into decay and on the floor was a heap of machinery in ruins in the same position as left by the miller over thirty years before. A few yards away was the cinder bed which showed the location of the iron forge that was conducted a few years after the Revolutionary War by the men from Bridgewater.
The Wamsutta Mills started in operation in 1847. The five cotton mills which had existed in Old Dartmouth previous to that date have all been abandoned except at Westport Factory. This change was due not only to the competition of steam as a motive power, but more because the increase of population required a larger supply to satisfy the demand, and the limited capacity of the local water mills was not sufficient to enable them to do a paying business while so many larger mills operated by steam and by the unlimited water power of the Blackstone and Merrimac Rivers were sending to market the great products of their machinery.
While Fairhaven had four wind mills, it could only provide power for two water mills, and one of these was a tide mill. The creek called Herring River, in recent years diverted and its bed transformed into a park, crossed Main Street north of Spring. On the west side of the street was the mill which was operated by the tide-water flowing from this creek. The mill built about 1792 during the time when Stephen Nye owned the land, and the shares of the mill were later owned by Jethro Allen, Thomas Delano, Isaac Leach, Elgit Hatch, Z. M. Allen, Isaac Wood, John Alden and in 1844 was acquired by Dr. Jeremiah Miller whose heirs in 1873 sold the mill to William N. Alden. In 1883 it was purchased by Warren Delano who conveyed the same to the town for a park.
The other water mill was on the Naskatucket Brook a few yards north of the Mattapoisett road. The stream extended through the ancient farm of Lettice Jenney, and this section passed to his son Cornelius. In 1757 the latter conveyed to George Babcock land on the east side of the brook “Near the old saw mill ram.” Although apparently the site of an earlier mill, yet this is the first mention of the fact. Shares in the mill were owned by Abel House, and others; it was acquired in 1795 by Joseph Damon, but was abandoned before the memory of persons now living.
In the region comprised within the town of Acushnet there were no windmills because there was water power in abundance although not of the first class, and here were sixteen mills, some of them important in the industrial history of the town. Beside grist mills and saw mills there were cotton mills, iron mills, paper mills and tanneries.
In the south-east corner of Acushnet is a branch of the Mattapoisett River, and near the spot where it crosses the New Boston road, is the Doty or Ellis mill. The farm where it stands was conveyed in 1825 by Jacob Kenney to William Ellis, and in 1832 the later had a saw mill at that place. No earlier mention of a mill can be found. When the Ellis heirs sold the farm in 1872 to Perez S. Doty, there was a shingle mill, a box-board mill and an upright-saw mill. All the other mills of Acushnet depended upon the Acushnet River or its tributaries. Here was the first cotton mill and the first iron mill in the town of Dartmouth. Beside the water power of some value, this region was supplied to considerable extent with natural resources. Forests of useful woods were accessible; a bed of iron near Deep Brook and down the river a convenient market in the two growing communities of New Bedford and Fairhaven. Such advantages naturally resulted in the establishment of an unusual number of industries on the Acushnet.
The northern-most mill site in the town was at the place where the road from Long Plain village extends west across the Acushnet River. Originally set off to James Sampson, he sold the same in 1715 to a brewer in Newport named Anthony Young who built the dam and started to build a saw mill, and in 1716, before completion, he sold the property to James Tisdale. About 1735 it was purchased by George Brownell, and called Brownell’s Mills.” Later it was known as “Hunt’s Mills,” being owned by Daniel Hunt. It was acquired by Nicholas and Nathan Davis and others of that family before the Revolution, and during their ownership the power operated a saw mill and a grist mill. Ansel White became the owner in 1818, and he and his descendants held the property until it was purchased in 1866 by New Bedford as part of its water system and then the mills, saw, grist and shingle, were demolished.
Where the middle Long Plain Road crosses the Acushnet River in 1747 was Bennett’s Mill. The Samson farm, south of Long Plain, in 1731, was purchased by Robert Bennett who, in 1736, conveyed the same to his son Jeremiah, “with the saw mill thereon.” This is the earliest reference, and the mill is not mentioned after 1747.
A mile south of this point where a stream joins the Acushnet from the northwest, known two centuries ago as “Deep Brook,” was the most important mill center in Dartmouth both on account of the capital invested and the variety of industries engaged.
On Deep Brook, sometimes called Morse Brook, and near the place where it crosses the middle Long Plain Road was the earliest iron mill in the town of Dartmouth. Half a mile north is the tract called the Deep Brook cedar swamp, and adjoining it was the iron ore lot comprising 30 acres. This deposit furnished raw material for the iron works. The land and capital was supplied by Stephen West Jr., and he secured the services of James Fuller and Christopher Turner, and when the forge had been erected in 1738 West conveyed to each an interest in the mill. Stephen Taber acquired extensive tracts in that region, and finally purchased all the shares in the Iron Works and conducted the same for years, and the property passed to his son Jacob. The iron industry was abandoned soon after 1800, and a shingle mill and grist mill were continued.
Both above and below the mouth of Deep Brook was a bridge over the Acushnet River, and mills were established at both crossings. At the upper bridge Peter Taber in 1768 had a saw mill, and this descended to his son Amos who sold the site in 1813 to Joseph Whelden who abolished the mill. Whelden’s reason for this purchase was that he proposed to establish a cotton mill at the other crossing, and it was necessary for his purpose to discontinue the upper mill. Whelden seems to have been a man of energy, and on the sea ranked as a master mariner. At the other crossing on the east side of the river was the Thomas Taber farm and here was a saw mill and possibly a grist mill which were purchased by William Tallman and in 1814 by Joseph Whelden. Here was located the stone cotton mill and the other two were also operated until years later.
Half a mile below the Whelden Mill is a public way joining the Long Plain Roads and known as the White Factory Road because where it crossed the Acushnet River were established the mills owned by William While and his sons. An old deed in 176? from Jireh Swift to his sons Jireh and Silas conveyed one acre “where they propose to set a mill.” They united with George Babcock and George and Benjamin Spooner, and built a saw mill and a grist mill. The owners of these mills transferred the property in 1783 to Moses Washburn, and in 1799 William White purchased the same. In November, l8ll, William White conveyed a half interest to Captain Joseph Whelden; the conveyance included a cotton factory, grist and saw mill and house with cording machinery. At the same date White transferred to his sons fractional parts, and later William H. and Gideon Allen became the owners. Then Sylvanus Thomas and William F. Dow purchased the property, and in l863 sold it to Samuel B. Hamlin.
In 1821 the mill owners on this river attempted to obtain authority to connect the Acushnet River with the Middleboro ponds to improve the water power. The Mercury intimated that opposition was expected, and the subject was not mentioned again.
The water privilege at the Head of the Acushnet River was taken by Seth Pope, Thomas Tobey, John Thomas and Jonathan Hathaway, Stephen Wood and Samuel Hunt before 1711, and at that date furnished power for a saw and grist mill. Nathaniel Shepherd and Stephen Taber were part owners, and in 1750 Colonel Samuel Willis acquired a large interest. The saw mill was on the west side and the grist mill on the east side of the river. About 1798 the entire property came into possession of William Rotch Jr. and Edward Wing, and their ownership continued for nearly forty years. In 1837 Charles W. Morgan purchased the Rotch and Wing interest on the west side of the river in the saw mill, old cotton factory, including the paper mill which in 1818 was altered by William Gordon Jr. into a carding mill. This was later purchased by Jonathan P. Lund and in 1877 by the Acushnet Saw Mill Company, composed of Jonathan C. Hawes and N. H. Wilbur. At the east side of the river, between the road and the dam, was originally a grist mill. After the death of Colonel Willis this land was owned by various persons among whom was Jethro Hathaway. At one time Simpson Hart had tan works on this lot. In 1789 Hart sold a small lot on the road to Isaac Terry to carry on a blacksmith shop. Terry erected a structure called a forge. The north part of the lot in 1817 was sold by Edward Wing to Nathaniel S. Spooner and the latter in 1838 bought the entire lot between pond and road. Judge Spooner’s purchase included “the old foundry.” At the road he built a grist mill which was operated some years after his death.
Between Lunds corner and Balls corner a brook flows from the Hawes ice pond eastward to the river near the saw mill. In 1819 the water power had been utilized and was owned by Philip Spooner. Shadrach Davis purchased the property in 1825, and he built a shingle mill. It was later owned by Augustus Harrington who had a tannery on the brook. In recent years Thomas Hersom used the mill for a soap factory.
Northeast from the Quaker meeting house at Head of the River, and some distance east of the Long Plain Road is a mill site that has always been connected with the farm and has been the location of a mill probably years before any record evidence of the fact has been preserved. In 1795 on an ancient map it is marked as a fulling mill, and at that date the farm was owned in the Taber family. The mill passed to Thomas Wood and in 1874 Jahez Wood sold to Moses Douglass and he transferred the mill to Emery Cushman. It was operated as a saw mill and has been discontinued.
On the east side of the river half a mile south from the Parting Ways a small brook, once known as Howard’s Brook, crosses the road and flows through the Cory farm, which was formerly the homestead of Stephen Hathaway. The little grist mill was there in 1854, but how much earlier cannot be settled. It was dismantled soon after the Civil War.
All of these numerous mills connected with the Acushnet River and its tributaries have been abandoned except two. The Taber mill at Deep Brook and the saw mill at the Head of the River are all that remain.
The mills of New Bedford have been small and unimportant. Attempts were made to utilize a few insignificant brooks, but with indifferent success.
The northernmost mill is on the Skiff Road, southwest of Sassequin Pond in Hobhomock Swamp on the Mealy Brook. The first mention appears in a deed from John Taber and Valentine Bradford to Thomas Spooner in 1827 and it was called the Mealy Brook Saw Mill. It remained in the Spooner family until recently.
On the farm of Benjamin Rodman near the location of the New Bedford Copper Works a small brook enters the river and near the shore Rodman had a grist mill as shown on a map published in 1834; about the date of the organization of the Wamsutta Mills in 1847 the mill must have been discontinued, for while there are references to the mill pond, the mill is not mentioned and the mill pond seems to have been used as a water supply for water boats in the harbor.
Daniel Ricketson mentioned a grist mill on Arnold Street operated about 1820 by water but he neglected to state by whom it was owned. No mention appears in the records.
On the Hathaway road, near the ledge, a brook crosses the highway and here in 1816 was a mill. A deed of that date says the mill right was given to Gideon Shepherd, William Hathaway and Asa Smith.
Nothing further appears in the land records.
In the southwestern part of New Bedford was a brook called Tripp’s Brook, now utilized as a sewer, which flowed down Crapo Street to the cove. The brook started in swampy ground north of Oak Grove Cemetery, and expended southeasterly over a course that can be followed by reference to the map of 1834. It crossed Cottage Street a few rods north of Allen Street and on the west side of Cottage Street was Tripp’s Mill which was built by William Russell or his son William about 1821. It was in existence in 1837, and in 1842 was purchased by Thomas R. Swift and William Mason. James A. Tripp purchased the mill in 1860. At this date it was a saw mill and before and later a grist mill. During Tripp’s ownership the mill was discontinued. This brook flowed eastward near the Bonney Street Church in line of Sherman Street until it reached a point at the head of Crapo Street when it flowed down the hill and continued its course to Clarks Cove. On the north side of Grinnell Street Caleb Russell built a mill before 1780, and it later passed to his son Seth and Caleb Jenney. In 1844 the different interests in the mill were purchased by Henry H. Crapo, and the mill abolished.
Allen’s Mill, and more recently Turner’s Mill, have been well known names at Plainville. The enterprise has been a saw mill and was established in 1779 by Jethro Allen, John Tinkham, and Nathanial and Simpson Spooner. Later owners were Philip Allen, Thomas Allen, David G. Wilson and Elbridge G. Turner.
On the east side of Purchase Street near the rink was a brook that started west of County Street, and it still bubbles its way along and can be heard in a culvert at the crossing of County and Smith Streets, and the stream was in sight until modern times east of Purchase Street. The mill was owned and operated by Gideon Howland as late as 1821.
As might be expected from the streams in the modern town of Dartmouth, there would be a considerable number of mills. On these rivers and tributaries were 23 water mills, five of which at Smiths Mills have already been described.
Elm Street, Padanaram, extends from the library to the Town house, and near its north terminus it is crossed by a brook which rises in the swamps northwest of Bliss Corner. At this crossing was a mill which was operated within thirty years. This stream was called Howland’s and Allen’s Brook. In 1766 the farm was purchased by the rich trader, John Wady, who lived at the Head of Apponegansett, and the brook is described as Allen’s or Howland’s Brook “on which yoused[sic] to stand a saw mill.” In 1780 Wady owned two mills, the other has not been identified. This mill was later owned by Ira Sherman, Bliss and Smalley and Moses Tucker.
The mills south of Smiths Mills, on the Chase Road, near the junction of the road from Cedar Dell is an ancient site on the John Barker farm and was known as the Barker Mill. It was in operation in 1768 and remained in possession of the Barker descendants over a century and been operated in recent years. About two miles west of Braleys Station, on the line between Freetown and Dartmouth, is a region called Quonapog. At this point the Noquochoke River crossed the line and in 1774 a large tract was laid out to Nathaniel Babbitt and he established a forge on the town line. Babbitt’s forge passed into the hands of the Crapos. Then Peter Crapo and his associates built two other mills a short distance south of the forge. The Quonapog Mills at one time were largely controlled by Malichi White and later by the Collins family, and in modern times were owned by Gilbert N. Collins. The iron industry was changed to a saw mill soon after the Crapos became owners.
On one of the Noquochoke branches about one mile north of Hixville on the east side of the road is a mill built in ]760 by Judah Chase. A few years later it was sold to Ebenezer and Stephen Andrews, and was called “Andrews’ Mill.” In recent years the mill was owned by Thomas and William Collins.
About a mile east of Hixville village on the road to Faunce Corner where the highway crosses the Noquochoke River was a mill which in 1710 was called the “new saw mill.” The enterprise was started by John Russell, Samuel Cornell, William Sowle, William Sherman, John Kirby and Josiah Merrihew. In 1770 Noah Allen conveyed to Henry Wilbor and for years it was known as Wilbor’s Mills. In 1814 a grist mill was on the same site. It was owned in 1858 by Gershom and Edward Wordell.
A most important group of mills, 11 in number, was located near the the village of Russells Mills, five on the Pascamansett River and four on Destruction Brook which joins the river a short distance below the village. The brook rises in Destruction Swamp north of Gidleytown and where it crosses the road to Hix Bridge Packard’s saw mill was built a short time previous to 1791. The farm was bought in 1788 by Joel, Noah and Eliphalet Packard and while principally concerned at Russells Mills, they built the mill at Gidleytown and after operating it a few years, transferred it to Benjamin Gidley. It remained in that ownership a number of years and is mentioned for the last time in 1823. Half a mile south on the same stream was Whiteley’s fulling mill, already described.
From Russells Mills a road extends west to Slades Corner and where it crosses Destruction Brook is the mill owned and operated by James Allen. This is one of the ancient mill sites of Dartmouth and one of the best and is the only mill now operated at Russells Mills.
In 1711 it was known as Ricketson’s Mill. It passed through the hands of Matthew Wing, Jonathan Ricketson, David Akin, Daniel Russell, Nicholas Howland and was in the Howland family over a century, until 1876 when Elihu Howland sold to James Allen. Both saw and grist mills were operated at this place.
At the west side of the road from Russells Mills at Horseneck, near the mouth of Destruction Brook, was the grist mill which in 1777 Daniel Howland Jr. sold to Peleg Slocum, and in 180l conveyed to Henry Smith, when the mill was discontinued because across the river Smith already owned mills that later were known as the Cummings Mills.
Russells Mills was so named from the fact that Joseph Russell had mills at the point where the road to Potomska crossed the river. In 1704 the locality is described as Joseph Russells Mills. On the south side of the river was a grist mill, and on the north a fulling mill. John Russell owned the farm on the west side and on the east side of the river was owned by Joseph Russell. At the death of John his farm went by will to John, son of Joseph, and at the death of Joseph in 1739 he gave his farm to his son Benjamin. His will contains a curious provision, that the son John had the right to build a dam further up the river for a saw mill or a fulling mill but not for a grist mill, and at the same time Benjamin at his dam should not set up a fulling mill; neither should “damnify” the other in their exclusive privileges. In 1786 Benjamin Russell sold his farm to Henry Smith whose daughter Cynthia married Benjamin Cummings and the farm and mill site on the east side of the river are still owned in the Cummings family.
West of the Cummings Mill where the river approaches the Horseneck Road at land of Wood a mill was operated by an undershot wheel. In 1808 the property was owned by Benjamin Allen. It cannot be proved when the mill was built but in 1867 it was purchased by Cynthia S. Cummings from the Allen heirs and then discontinued. It was operated by Deacon Daniel Macomber.
About an eighth of a mile above the Cummings Mill, John Russell or a descendant built a dam across the river. The old restriction created by Joseph Russell that no grist mill should be built at this dam was not regarded, and in 1780 Giles Russell had such a mill at this place. This individual had an unusual opportunity which he wasted in prodigal fashion. The farm given to John Russell was largely increased by purchase, so that his son Daniel possessed a very extensive domain, reaching from the river below the village to the woods north of Russells Mills and to the northwestward beyond Gidleytown, and west beyond Allen’s Mill. The west half Daniel gave to his son Stephen, and the east half to his son Giles. In his short life the whole of this fine property was sold by the latter and apparently squandered. What was done at the upper dam in large measure is the history of Russells Mills. The road to this dam is a private way on the north side of the village through premises once owned by Robert Gifford. Where this road reaches the river was a cinder bed and the ruins of a carding mill as late as 1900. The cinder bed was the spot where was located the only iron mill that was ever built at Russells Mills, and its origin is as follows. In 1789 Giles Russell had a grist mill at this dam. He made a contract with Benjamin Howland, Noah, Joel and Eliphalet Packard to erect a forge to make iron on the west side of the dam whereon the grist mill of Russell stood. The forge was built but could not have been a prosperous venture. Giles Russell was not an owner. Howland sold his interest in 1793 and two of the Packards had conveyed to the third. The forge is not mentioned after 1797. Before 1815 the property was owned by Abraham Russell, Joseph Tripp, Alden Macomber and Philip Dunham and included also a grist mill. In 1818 it was purchased by Warren Gifford and in 1840 owned by Robert Gifford. These mills were abandoned soon after the Civil War.
Half a mile northeast from Westport Factory and on the Noquochoke River a mill was built about 1767 by Eleazer Pratt. It was later owned by Lemuel and Henry Freelove, and in 1814 when the cotton industry was established at Westport Factory Pratt’s mill was purchased by the owners of the cotton mill, and discontinued. The mill was in the town of Dartmouth.
Within the limits of the town of Westport are several mill sites where good power is furnished and at different periods ten water mills have been conducted and at the present lime four are still in operation.
In the north part of Westport where the Bread and Cheese Brook crosses the road from Hixville to Fall River, was a saw mill built by Phineas Wordell and others about 1782, and was owned in that family when it was last mentioned in a deed in 1833.
A mile and a half south of the Narrows on the west side of the Sanford Road is a region once called Cranberry Neck. Here was a saw mill built by Jonathan Borden before 1817, and it was being operated in 1877.
Half a mile south of Hix Bridge on the west side of the river a mill was located on the Lawton farm before 1854 and was operated by George Lawton until recent years.
Across the river and farther south on the Wing farm near the Dell was a small mill in 1795, but it has not been operated for a number of years. Its power was the brook that flows through the Dell.
Northwest of the Head of Westport is the Mouse Mill Brook. The shingle mill had been built before 1842 and has been operated in modern times by George H. Gifford.
The earliest mill in Westport was established at Adamsville before 1700 by Philip Taber. In 1759 there was a grist and saw mill, and the same are still in operation. Among the modern owners are Isaac Washburn, John Church and Philip Gray Jr. The last Taber who owned the property left it to his grandson, Philip Davis, who sold it in 1799 to Stephen Crandall and it then passed out of possession of the Taber family. Before that date, for a century the village had been known as Taber’s Mills, and soon after 1800 it was given its present name of Adamsville.
An important group of mills in Westport was located on the river between the Head and Westport Factory, and comprised four sites on each of which have been built several mills. The southernmost is on the west side of the river half a mile north of the Head. The land was laid out in 1714 by Crane to the “saw mill men,” and known as George Lawton’s mill. Among the later owners were Jacob Chase, William Gifford, Isaac Macomber, Adam Gifford and Stephen Howland. About 1870 it was acquired by Alden T. Sisson. In 1842 there was a grist mill, saw mill, fulling mill, and iron mill where they made ploughshares; all were burnt, and the present saw mill built.
The “saw mill men” in 1711 were George Lawton, John Tripp and Benjamin Waite. They received layouts that included the two mill sites, one on the west side and the other on the east side of the Forge Road from the Head north to Westport Factory. The mills located at the dams were known as Tripp’s or Waite’s Mills, and after 1796 as the William Rotch mills as he had acquired the entire property. When he purchased the mills there was a saw mill and grist mill on the east side of the road, and a forge on the west. After holding the property fifty years, Rotch sold it to Anthony Gifford. At one time the forge was operated to manufacture hoes, and Gifford had a rule factory in one of the mills east of the road. In 1854 Gifford sold the property to William B. Trafford, and after that time the property was owned by Trafford, Chase and Lewis, the owners of the mill at the Factory. The south mills were once called the Star Mills, and also the Lower Mills.
The most pretentious among the Westport mills is that which is located at Westport Factory. The earliest mention of a mill at this place is contained in the deed of Ephraim Potter in 1795 in which he conveyed one-third of the mill which either he or his father, Stephen, must have built during the preceding twenty years. The saw mill on the west side of the river was operated by Timothy and Ephraim Macomber until 1812 when the property was purchased by John Mason of Swansea, Joseph Strange of Taunton and Job White of Westport, who were described as “the Westport Company.” During the next two years these men purchased extensive tracts along the river and were described as “The Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company” and also “The Westport Mechanics Factory.” Beside the cotton manufactory which has already been described their property comprised a saw mill, corn mill, and three houses. The stone building was built in 1828, and the other mills discontinued.
So before the advent of steam, there were over ninety water and wind mills in the region comprised in the old town of Dartmouth. Available water power in every section of the town was utilized. Among the natural resources none was rejected. The development was greatly stimulated by the whaling and shipbuilding industries in New Bedford and Fairhaven. The greatest activity was reached during the period from 1800 to 1825. Then steam became the great motive power, and the mills of Old Dartmouth one after another [was] discontinued until in 1915 only 12 remain: in Fairhaven not any; in Acushnet 2, in New Bedford 1, in Dartmouth 5, in Westport 4.
At the same time it cannot be said that steam alone was the single cause that destroyed so many thrifty enterprises. The farmer in a Dartmouth village could carry his bags of grain to mill and later return with the flour. This arrangement was satisfactory and convenient until the village became a city, and then the increased population required the western wheat-field and the western mill. The fulling mill could supply the wants of a region like Russells Mills, but the Tucker Mill that advertised to weave cloth in 1812 would make small progress in 1915 even in that locality in supplying the modern demand.
A century’s increase in population built up the competition that closed these little mills. But the mill business itself even a century ago, started in operation a destructive force. A majority were saw mills, and their work was to transform into lumber the trees that were taken from the pine and cedar swamps of Dartmouth. Every swamp that was denuded of its trees remained dry a longer period each year, and the brooks that started in those regions lessened in volume and sometimes disappeared. So the process of conducting the mill not only depleted the natural resources but impaired and ultimately destroyed the water power itself. Steam began as a competing power, but quickly assumed the enormous task that wind and water were unable to perform, and finally became the substitute when loss of forests has almost destroyed the abundant power that the English found when they first came to Dartmouth.
Mardi Gras
By Blanche Brace, of the New Bedford Evening Standard.
S-sh! Rustle of history’s page, crackle of advance notice that a social event is something that may be absolutely enjoyed, tinkle of glee from the land where the fairies blow bright colored bubbles into human beings, and laugh to see their utter light-heartedness! All these you heard with the lilt of the music of the Mardi Gras party given by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society at the Duff building last night, with Miss Mary Hayes as chairman.
It was unique. It combined the paradoxical power of being a page in history and a society innovation at the same time. It had all the dignity pertaining to one of the oldest forms of entertainment known to the world, and all the fascinating [frivolity] of the newest one known to New Bedford and most other places in the United States. From the yesterday country of things as they were, and the tomorrow land of them as we wish they could be, it came, and the 400 guests present in the large hall of the Duff Building, were no more mere human beings, but 400 Peter Pans. For you couldn’t be grown up at the Mardi Gras party. You had never heard of higher education and indigestion, of cubist art or artistic Cubans. You were a creature of sheer, incarnate glee.
Before you stepped into the big hall of the Duff building, you had checked your outer wrap of super-civilization and boredom for safe keeping in the dressing room. And you stepped directly into a country of enchantment, all poinsettias, and Pierrots, and pirouetting. A happy band of harlequins claimed you at once as their long-lost brother, and you wondered vaguely how you had lived without them all these years, the while you danced.
Who would not don a fool’s cap when with it he can put on care-freeness and mirth? It was wisdom to be foolish, and last night you were clever enough to realize that great fact. So was everyone else. On every hand you saw tile caps which were the badge of their knowledge. Cocked red hats patriotically edged with white stars upon a background of blue, gay pink caps, chanticleer caps that all but crowed out their happiness to be at the Mardi Gras party, and the tall various colored ones of the Pierrots.
For the beautiful Pierrots were everywhere, a rainbow group, with their tall crooks shepherdessing the crowd into the true spirit of the occasion. And some of them were in green, with great collars of tulle fluffing around their white throats, and saucy little yarn puffs punctuating their tall hats. There were pink Pierrots, and blue-white Pierrots, and black-crimson Pierrots, and purple-yellow Pierrots, and orange and even an exceedingly charming polka dot Pierrot. They dispensed confections and confetti, did the Pierrots, but chiefly color and delight.
The big hall of the Duff building was no longer the big hall of the Duff or any other building. It was suddenly a gay street corner of some romance land in flower time, with revelers all about. From corner to corner of the room, and interlacing back again to the center, ran lacy lengths of pale blue bunting, hung with crimson poinsettias with silver leaves dangling below. The lights of the chandelier in the center looked out just dimly enough through a vast sheaf of foliage and of flowers. Baskets of flowers dangled with just the true Mardi Gras profusion here and there. The music came from a summer arbor that had been the stage, and there was a grotto of ferns behind which the fairies and the queen of the carnival concealed themselves.
In keeping, too, with the real Mardi Gras spirit, were the refreshment and favor booths on either side of the stage, and the gay costumed ladies who presided over them. It lends a great deal to the spirit of enchantment when you purchase your cap from an houri clad in the trappings of oriental lands, or your ice from a sprite in silken shepherdess attire. Mrs. Frank A. Mosher had charge of the favors, and Mrs. Fred R. Fish and John S. Howland dispensed refreshments. The latter included, besides the caps already mentioned, balloons and baubles, toy windmills, watchmen’s rattles, and the confetti which the revelers threw, in place of the rose petals of the Mardi Gras pageants of France or New Orleans, or the West. But flower petals or confetti, it mattered little, for the high spirit of adventure and joy was equally there.
And there was nothing more Mardi-Grasy than the fortunetellers’ tent in the opposite corner of the room, in charge of Miss Alice McCullough. The tent was draped in the hangings of the Far East, or the rugs that Hiawatha himself wove, as someone else opined. There was a spirit of [mystery] and breathless Sphinxdom about the corner before you even entered the mystic place, where Miss Cathcart sat revealing that which is to be, in a way to strike creepy little thrills to the stoutest heart.
About 8:30 the general dancing began, a pretty sight with gay Pierrots frolicking with staid gentlemen in conventional evening attire, and maids of France making merry with cap-clad tangoists. The balcony was quite crowded with delighted spectators, and a little group of the spectators that was as pretty as anything at the Mardi Gras was the one in the corner, where the children sat during the early part of the evening, some of them in caps and some in immense hair bows, with big, admiring eyes almost starting from their heads, as they watched the revels.
There was a little hush about 9:30 which proclaimed that something was about to happen. The floor was cleared of bright colored bits of paper and confetti and the orchestra struck up an alluring and joyous march. Then, led by Harry L. Pope, in a wonderful Mardi Gras costume over which the roses bloomed in profusion, and Miss Elsie Snow, in the red and black attire of a joyous little gipsy of France or Spain, began a joyous parade around the hall. Behind, the Pierrots fell into line, skipping along like mischievous elves, beating time to the music with the butts of their shepherd’s crooks. The audience broke into applause with the first few rounds of the hall, and again as the revelers paid homage to President Cushman of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, and Mrs. Cushman.
Again the ring was formed about the dance floor, and the two leaders, Miss Snow and Mr. Pope, performed a beautiful Spanish dance. In its grace and carnival spirit the dance was as cleaver and as much in keeping with the spirit of the Mardi Gras as any of the outdoor ones that professional dancers perform on similar occasions upon the chief street corner of New Orleans at the pageant time.
And then came the supreme moment of the evening, the moment that was to reveal the queen of the Mardi Gras, and the veiled prophet. Miss Snow and Mr. Pope ended their dance by the stage steps, and stood waiting there to welcome the king and queen of the harlequinade. Down the steps then came masked, the queen in the black bolero and short red skirt, the white stockings and small black slippers of the real Mardi Gras, the veiled prophet in black velvet costume, half caballero and half Parisian, rich with gold braid, and gay with red sash. The masks were removed, revealing in the prophet and the queen, H. Harrison Nye and Miss Viola Midgeley of Providence, already well known in New Bedford for their unusually clever and artistic dancing.
In the joyous abandon of the Mardi Gras the two dancers excelled anything that they had done on previous occasions. Without losing any of the perfection of technique which makes their dancing a joy to watch, they seemed to gain in gayety of spirit, so that the spectators not only marveled but smiled to see them. They began with the tango, and later in the evening also danced the hesitation, the fox trot and the maxixe.
At 11 o’clock the real revel of the Mardi Gras began, and those who thought that they had been merry during the earlier part of the evening learned for the first time what real gayety meant. As light-hearted as bubbles they danced on, and the confetti that flew here and there was no more care-free than themselves. The original Mardi Gras meant fat Tuesday, but there could have been no undue avoirdupois about revelers who fox-trotted with such whole-hearted hilarity as did the guests of the Mardi Gras last night.
At last, of course, the dance ended. The caps had to be taken off, and the revelers had to reclaim the outer wraps of civilization and boredom, which they had checked in the dressing rooms. But the Mardi Gras will live in the memory of New Bedford, as it has lived in the pages of history. It was a unique social achievement, and those in charge may congratulate themselves with having dispensed a bit of the elixir of human happiness which will gladden the atmosphere for a long time.
The event was in charge of a special entertainment committee: Miss Mary S. Hayes, chairman; Miss Dorris Hough, Miss Elsie Snow, Mrs. John S. Howland, Mrs. Fred R. Fish, Miss Louise Allen, Miss Mildred James, Mrs. Frank Mosher, Miss Alice McCullough, H. L. Pope, S. J. Besse, Miss Anna Tripp, Miss Margaret Yorke.
The ticket committee comprised Miss Hayes, W. T. Read and Arthur D. Delano.
The Perriots were the following: Miss Marguerite Walmsley, Miss Pauline Hawes, Mrs. J. F. Knowles, Miss Margaret York, Miss Mary Dexter, Miss Hayes, Miss Ellen Stetson, Miss Alice McCullough, Miss Katherine Hough, Miss Edith Snow, Miss Mildred James, Mrs. Frederick Browne, Miss Elise Vinal, Miss Anne Oswall, Miss Florence Taber, Miss Marion Briggs, Miss Marion Vincent, Miss Ethel Wilcox, Miss Alice Shaw, Miss Dorothy Williams.
