Veterans' Day

Illustration:

"Honoring All Who Served", J. Luke Borland, United States Air Force News Agency

"I Think of Middleboro All the Time"

Throughout the duration of their overseas service, Middleborough World War I soldiers frequently recalled boyhood homes, and their hometown was never far from mind. The harsh realities of war prompted many to recall what they had left behind, and comfort and solace was often found in such thoughts amidst the chaos often surrounding these men. The smallest items could provoke such pleasant and homely memories as indicated by the letters below.

[Excerpt]
Chatellon sur Seine, France
May 13, 1919

Dear Mother:

…On the left side here is a slope and it runs along one-fourth mile all covered with red and white lilacs; some pretty sight. I can smell them, shut my eyes, and see home….

MILLARD E. RAYMOND
Prisoner of War Escort
Company 223

Many Middleborough soldiers recalled their childhoods and the events which had made them special. The advent of Christmas, 1918, prompted Fred Sherman to ask his father in a letter, “Do you remember the times we used to go skating on Christmas?” Writing to friend Fred Pratt in Middleborough, John E. Morrison mentioned thoughts of childhood which sustained him in the face of battle: “I have been over the top four times now and came out pretty lucky, thank God for doing so. Every time I went over I thought of the old dog cart and lots of other good things.” Even the weather, as poor as it was, could conjure these same feelings. “Tonight the wind blows like a good old New England blizzard. At first thought it gives one rather a homesick feeling,” wrote Clifton McCrillis from France on September 28, 1918.

Darragh L. Higgins remembered the Nemasket Grange, while James E. Quigley tired of Army food, missed the local ice cream. “Just think,” he wrote to Lorenzo Wood, “if I could only be in Tripp’s Waiting Room and a nice big plate of ice cream sitting in front of me. I wonder how quickly I could make it disappear.” Ironically, such memories provided greater sustenance to Middleborough soldiers, who desired little more than the small pleasures which they had once taken for granted. Warren F. White simply stated that “it will be a happy day for me when I walk up old Elm street again.”

Throughout the war, local servicemen, but particularly those serving overseas, were sustained by thoughts of Middleborough. Many admissions to this effect were made in response to the activities of the Middleboro Service Committee and other local relief agencies whose members sent letters and parcels to local residents serving in the armed forces. In one typical response to a letter from the Middleboro Service Committee, John B. Bartlett wrote, “I may have bettered myself by being a resident of Texas, but Middleboro is a town one cannot help wanting to call home and this last move only makes it stronger.” Arshag Derderian voiced a similar sentiment when he wrote, “I feel glad and proud of my home town and the folks who do not forget the boys who left behind all their loved ones and their personal interests for the ‘Great Cause.’” Arthur Robinson similarly expressed pride in his home town in a thank you letter to the town Service Committee.

[Excerpt]
Newport News, Va.

Dear Sirs:

I must express my appreciation for your kind thoughts of us boys in service and am sure you will find others feel the same. I must admit that it was a proud moment when I received the letter, telling what you planned, for my captain was with me at the time and I passed it to him and he asked if he might have the letter to send to his Commercial Club at home to show them what was being done in the north (he is from Birmingham, Ala.) and wake them up. You see we get moments when we feel pretty proud of our hometown….

Corp. ARTHUR T. ROBINSON,
Attending Surgeon’s Office,
Newport News, Va.

Melvin Southwick likewise wrote of the attention such letters and packages received from his fellow soldiers, and recognized the support he felt from the home front.

[Excerpt]
Somewhere in France,
Jan. 14, 1918

Kind Friends:

…Believe me when I say that I know there is not another town of any size in this country which is doing a bit more for their boys in the service. I say that from remarks that have been made to me by boys from every state in the Union. I have had it asked me more than once if I had to write for these boxes, and when I have said “of course not,” invariably I have had it asked where my home is; and I have never hesitated in the least to say, “Middleboro, Massachusetts”…

Sincerely yours,
MELVIN L. SOUTHWICK,
U. S. N. Air Station,
U. S. N. Operating Base

During his exploits with the British Army, Earl Dempsey remained proud of his hometown as indicated by a letter which he forwarded to the Middleboro Service Committee.

[Excerpt]
France,
March 5, 1918

Dear Sirs:

…The boys in my section don’t know much about the United States, but they are learning fast. The two principal places now are New York city and Middleboro, and I think it won’t be long before I have them educated up to the idea that Middleboro is the principal town in the U. S. A.

Sincerely yours,
E. F. DEMPSEY,
[11th Battalion, C Co., 11 Sect. Tank Corps, British Expeditionary Force]

Once senses the gratitude and pride implicit in the words Sarkis K. Afarian wrote in July, 1918, “I will write always and keep in touch with my home town.”

Regardless of the sentiments or the reasons, Edward Kraus summed up most Middleborough soldiers’ thoughts when he wrote on December 21, 1917, from France: “I think of Middleboro all the time.”

Illustration:

Armistice Day Celebration, Middleborough, MA, photograph, November 11, 1918
When news of the Armistice reached Middleborough later in the day on November 11, an impromptu victory parade was held featuring School Street School children marching and waving American, French and Italian flags.

Doughboys

Following the outbreak of war in Europe in the summer of 1914, in an effort to maintain the strictest neutrality, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation August 4, 1914, barring American citizens from enlisting in the armed forces of the belligerent nations. The order was largely ignored. Men from across the country flocked to join Canadian, British, French, and other forces, including men from Middleborough. Demonstrating, indeed, that it truly was a world war, Middleborough men (many of foreign birth or with foreign-born parents) would early on enlist in the armies of Britain, Canada, France and Italy, flouting America’s declared policy of neutrality and becoming the first local participants in the Great War.

Regardless of which uniform they might don, these men shared one thing in common – an abiding belief in the honor and rightness of their cause. The numerous letters written by Middleborough men in foreign service nearly all indicate the common cause which they shared with their Middleborough friends and neighbors.

James E. Jones, John McNeil and Earl F. Dempsey were among those Middleborough residents who enlisted with the British. Dempsey's story is reflective of that of the others. Enlisting in the British Army in July, 1915, he was transported to England aboard a horse ship. Originally a cavalryman in the 2d King Edward's Horse, he served in the trenches as a bombsman, machine gunner and signal man during the 1915-16 campaigns after the command was dismounted when the futility of employing cavalry on the Western Front was realized. During the summer of 1916, the low point of the British experience in France, Dempsey served on special duties as a dispatch carrier, before rejoining his regiment. He was wounded at the Somme in 1917, following which he was trained as a gunner in the tank service. On September 28, 1918, he was again wounded, in the back and neck, by an exploding shell. The tank in which he was serving caught fire, and Dempsey badly burned. Nonetheless, he survived the war.

Still other Middleborough men joined the Canadian forces. In 1915, fifteen-year-old Roger Keedwell left his home on Frank Street to enlist with the Canadian Army and served some ten months in the Canadian Grenadier Guards before his father was successful in having him discharged due to his age. He would later perish as a member of the American forces in the Argonne.

Kenneth Cosseboom, whose father was a native of New Brunswick, also served with the Canadian Army. He enlisted in the fall of 1914 and shipped to France in March, 1915, with the rank of corporal. He served at the front the majority of the time. In 1916, he was awarded a medal for bravery in action and received an honorable mention several times. In March, 1918, he graduated from officers' training school in France, and was made a lieutenant and transferred to the 26th Battalion Canadian Infantry. He was engaged in training Canadian recruits up until October, 1918. He was wounded in the arm once, and was in the hospital for six months recuperating.

Herbert M. Jones, like Cosseboom, saw action with the Canadian Army in France, as a member of a railway engineer company responsible for constructing and supplying supply rail lines.
John A. P. Lacombe similarly saw service in France as a member of the Canadian Army and was wounded a number of times. He too recognized the common cause shared by Americans and Canadians alike. “I am not in the American army, but in the Canadian, but it is all the same these days and we are all fighting for the same cause.”

Following the American declaration of war upon Germany in April, 1917, Middleborough men would continue to join foreign armed services, as indicated by this letter from Charles Fish to Middleboro Gazette editor Lorenzo Wood.

Montreal, P. Q., Canada,
Oct. 10, 1918.

Dear Editor:

Perhaps you would like to print a letter from one of the Middleboro boys in the service of Canada. I joined the Canadians just one month ago and have been in training steadily here in Montreal for overseas service, soon. My company is the 1st Depot Battalion, Quebec, but I'm attached to the tanks. Most of the fellows here are from the states and they are all Americans like myself. We call ourselves the American reserve Forces of Canada…. We are all soldiers fighting for democracy so there isn't any feeling shown between the Canadians and Americans. In fact the Americans are making the Canadian army….

Sincerely,
CHARLES L. FISH,
1st Depot Battalion, 1st Quebec Regiment,
Guy Street Barracks

Still other Middleborough men enlisted with the French forces. Haroutune Haroutunian, an Armenian native, enlisted with a number of other local Armenians including Sarkis K. Afarian, Madirus Gochgarian, Dicran Baghdelian and Mihran Piranian, on August 3, 1917, in the French Army Legion d'Orient, anxious to serve in the front lines against Germany’s Turkish ally to avenge the Armenian genocide which had been perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey. The Legion, created in November 1916, included some 2,000 Armenian Americans. In 1918, Haroutunian wrote his brother John, "We are ready to attack the Turkish army by orders from Gen. Allenby. We are very happy at the present time because we are seeing the surrender of our enemy from our motherland." Haroutunian gave voice to the local Armenian community’s willingness to sacrifice when he wrote Lorenzo Wood on March 16, 1918, that “for humanity and justice, we will be ready for all happenings…”.

Six Middleborough residents not recognized on its honor roll, but two of whom would ultimately make the supreme sacrifice were the Merluccio brothers who departed Middleborough for their former homes in Italy where they enlisted in the Italian Army.

Despite the fact that Middleborough men would join the forces of foreign nations, and might not always consider themselves firstly as Americans, they clearly recognized the mutual goals which they shared with the native born Middleborough soldiers. The color of the uniform ultimately was irrelevant. Herbert M. Jones, then serving with the Canadians in England, succinctly wrote the President of the Middleborough Red Cross Association, emphasizing the common ideals shared by all.

[Excerpt]
Purfleet Camp, Essex, Eng.
Sept. 28, 1917.

Dear Madam:

…We are all fighting for one common ideal freedom from militarism – an ideal that America has stood for and I hope will continue to stand for in the years to come…. As I go to France, I go as a comrade and brother in arms to my American brothers. I have worked with them and played with them and eaten with them. I’m glad to know that I am to fight in a just cause shoulder to shoulder with your best and bravest. Many of us will not come back. I only hope that we shall all die to some purpose…. Here’s to the cause – God bless America and Americans and may they be worthy of their ancestors.

Sincerely,
HERBERT M. JONES

Illustration:

Prior to shipping overseas, many World War I soldiers had their portraits taken for posterity, either individually, or in groups as did the eight soldiers above who posed for Irving Kimball at his studio in Boston. Though unidentified, the group presumably includes Middleborough men.

Brett's Clothing Store

One of the most prolific advertisers in Victorian Middleborough was Brett's Clothing Store. Operated on Center Street by George L. Brett, the store was a purveyor of men's and boys clothing and furnishings. Additionally, a steam laundry was operated by the firm for the convenience of customers. Throughout the early 1880s, Brett's issued numerous trade or advertising cards both to solicit business and to attract repeat customers, many of whom collected the colorful lithographic cards and pasted them into albums. Brett's was shortly succeeded as a dealer in men's apparel by Sparrow Brothers and the Middleborough Clothing Company, but neither left behind such a colorful legacy as did Brett's.



Illustrations:
Brett's Clothing Store trade cards, Gies & Company Lithographers and Publishers, Buffalo, NY, numbers E2 and E1, early 1880s.
These cards were produced by a publisher in Buffalo and overprinted in Middleborough with Brett's information by local printer Thatcher & Company. Trade cards were (and remain) highly collectible for their beautiful scenes and skilled printing.

Oak Street, 1849

The first developed portion of Oak Street appears to have been the section north of Center Street. The street was opened along the division line between the 17 acre parcel Dr. William R. Wells had acquired in 1846 from Susan Erpel on the east and James A. Leonard’s estate on the west. Wells sought to develop the remaining portion of this land as what is today Pearl Street. As early as August, 1849, there is a reference to Oak Street as the “New Muttock road”, in distinction to the old Muttock road, that is, North Street. In deeds, Oak Street was also known as the highway leading from the depot to Muttock. In the mid-1850s when Middleborough's streets were named, it came to be called Oak Street.

Illustration:
"Middleborough Four Corners" detail from H. F. Walling, “Map of the County of Plymouth, Massachusetts”. Boston:
D. R. Smith & Co., 1857.
The map shows the layout of Oak Street as well as the rapid residential development it underwent in the period following 1848-49. The arrival of the railroad in Middleborough in the 1840s created an economic boom and a consequent need for new residential housing. Oak Street helped fill that need, though it initially served the professional rather than working classes.

Early Herring Auctions

Throughout the eighteenth century, the Nemasket alewife fishery was regarded as a valuable communal asset, but the manner in which it was exploited would change radically. While the town of Middleborough initially operated the fishery itself, engaging men to take the fish, overseeing the sale of the herring at the weirs and paying agents to supervise the process and protect the fishery, the town by the mid-eighteenth century was of the opinion that the run could be operated more profitably by auctioning the right to take fish from the river to a single individual for a specified period of time (generally one year), with that person being relatively free to dispose of the fish as he saw fit. In essence, Middleborough was looking to privatize its fishery. While it has been stated that Middleborough did not establish such a commercial fishery until 1792, as early as October 8, 1764, the town had “voted to sell the privilege of catching the fish at auction to the highest bidder”. Nelson Finney was the high bidder that year, paying the town 80 pounds for the privilege. Subsequently, the alewife auction would become an annual fixture in Middleborough and Lakeville until 1966.

An unusual feature of the early herring auctions was not the availability of alcohol at these events, but the fact that it was provided by the town at taxpayer expense, undoubtedly as a means to lower financial restraint on the part of bidders. A record of October 6, 1789, notes the naming of a “vendue master” (auctioneer) and a vote that free liquor should be provided “to encourage the sale”. Other votes record the earmarking of ten shillings for the purchase of liquor and compensating a local resident for the use of his home as both an auction locale and site for storing the drink. In fact, much greater amounts were expended by the town providing alcohol with which to “lubricate” its auctions. In 1779, Hercules Weston was paid two pounds, 10 shillings for “Liquor at the Sale of the Alewives”, while Thomas Sproat was paid nearly twice as much the following year. Given these sums, the figure for providing liquor at the 1781 auctions – twelve pounds (which was paid to Sproat) – was truly astounding.

Too much alcohol, however, could prove problematic; yet “another record reveals that with the free liquor at a herring sale, the crowd became too noisy to continue the sale, which had to be adjourned.” Undoubtedly, such rowdiness at the annual alewife auction fueled efforts by local temperance advocates to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol which would be pursued with renewed vigor during the first half of the nineteenth century.

By the 1790s, the practice of auctioning the right to take fish from the river to a single individual seems to have created some consternation, and ultimately the practice was considered by the Massachusetts legislature. “…Doubts have arisen, whether the inhabitants of … Middleborough are authorized by law to agree with and hire any person or persons to take [alewives], and sell them at the price stipulated by the law, and to account with the said inhabitants for the net proceeds.” Ultimately, in early 1802, the legislature passed an act sanctioning the practice.

Illustration:

Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus). Courtesy of Cornell University.

Sources:
An Act in Addition to the Several Acts Now in Force, Regulating the Taking of the Fish Called Alewives, in the Town of Middleborough.

Brockton Enterprise, “Selectmen Hear Interesting Data on Herring Disposition”, February 23, 1949.

Middleborough Town Treasurers Book July 18th 1769 et seq.

Old Colony Memorial, “County and Elsewhere”, June 21, 1883.

Weston, Thomas. History of the Town of Middleboro. Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906.

Nemasket's Largest Cornfield, 1878

The biggest cornfield in Plymouth County is on the old Camp Joe Hooker field, at Lakeville, known as the Basset farm. It comprises thirty-seven acres, and the yield promises to be an exceptionally large one.

The fields on the farm stretched from Main Street nearly all the way to Lake Assawompsett along what is now Staples Shore Road.

Illustration:
"Corn - Early Golden", Aggeler & Musser Seed Company, Los Angeles, California, seed packet, early 20th century.

Source:
Old Colony Memorial, "County and Elsewhere", August 22, 1878, p. 5.