Rock Meetinghouse

The second structure to serve as a meetinghouse at Rock was erected by the Third Baptist Church and Society in 1852 on Highland Street and stood until 1918. It was levelled by a fire sparked by a lightning strike on December 4, 1918. Initially the society considered the possibility of rebuilding, and in January, 1919, named a building committee "to solicit funds and also to get an expression of the people regarding the site." Mrs. Lucy Turner, Miss Marie Stone. Mrs. Bessie Bishop, C. T. Westgate and Miss Susie Merrihew were accordingly named, yet nothing came of the proposal. Instead, the land was given to the trustees of the Rock Cemetery Association who had a mortuary chapel built upon the site in 1925.

New Year's Day

Best Wishes for the Coming Year!

Star Mill: History

Central Congregational Church

Chinese Sugar Cane

Roller Polo

Voting Precincts, 1893

At the Middleborough town meeting in 1891, residents voted to divide the town into two voting precincts under the provisions of Chapter 423 of the Acts of 1890 (the "Election Act of 1890"). The action was taken upon the basis of a petition, presumably by residents of North Middleborough which was created Precinct One, with the remainder of the town, including Middleborough center, becoming Precinct Two. As part of their duties, the registrars of voters were required to interview those seeking registration as voters, a task which necessitated their appearance within each precinct. Apparently, the initial foray to North Middleborough following the creation of Precinct One was fraught with inconvenience. The following year's jaunt, in the depth of winter was no less successful as indicated by this clipping from the Middleboro Gazette believed to date from 1893.

Isn’t it possible that it was a mistake to have divided the town of Middleboro into two voting precincts? It at least appears to have been a mistake to mark the first precinct set off from the main territory number one. Having been set off and a precinct with all its paraphernalia established it soon began to be found that it was not so very convenient or useful as anticipated. On making their visit to precinct number one, the registrars found that they had a wearisome time of it; they could not get a meal of victuals anywhere in the precinct, and one of them, who had left his house without his usual breakfast, was quite ill from long fasting, and could not eat his supper, but was compelled to seek his couch for the night. This year, yesterday, the registrars, in compliance with the law, visited precinct number one again. After their first experience they have since carried their food with them, therefore they were well provided in that matter, but the roads were in bad shape, and travelling difficult. The four men, Nathan King, Charles T. Thatcher, Charles H. Carpenter, and Thomas C. Collins, started out with a stout horse and covered carriage from Otis Briggs’ stable. After crossing the railroad track and getting out on to the less frequented road where no carriages had preceded them, the horse had much hard work to draw his load, and, with frequent stops, made slow progress, until at last, Mr. Carpenter and Mr. Collins decided to relieve him by walking; the roadway was rough, uneven, and decidedly uncomfortable for walking. Mr. Collins pushed on ahead and was making better progress than the horse with his light load. Mr. Carpenter was behind the carriage, making such progress, as he could. It was not long before Mr. Collins was attracted by a shout, and looking back saw Mr. Carpenter needed his help. He returned and found him unable to walk farther alone, being ill. He helped him to the carriage and saw him comfortably fixed, and then trudged along again on foot. At twenty minutes to one o’clock the registrars arrived at their destination, took their seats and rested, got help for Mr. Carpenter, who soon somewhat recovered. After due sojourn, and finding no business to be transacted, they began to discuss ways and means of getting home. A kind resident came to their assistance and procured a two-seated sleigh, and they congratulated themselves over their probable easy journey home. They were all seated and had comfortably adjusted the lap-robes and started out, homeward bound. Not far had they proceed when the sleigh struck a deep cut in the snow, and one side went up while the other side went down, and the inmates went overboard rolling into the snow easily, and there they laid. The driver, Mr. Collins, hung to the reins, the horse behaved well, the capsized registrars recovered their equilibrium without injury, and righted the vehicle, and journeyed on, arriving home safely and glad to get here. So much for precinct number one; a full day for four registrars, a hired team, an expense of ten or fifteen dollars, and not an item of business!

Illustration:
Register & Vote stamp, United States Postal Service, designer V. S. McCloskey, engraver R. M. Bower, Scott catalog number 1249, 1964

Reverend Levi A. Abbott

Reverend Levi A. Abbott served as the pastor of the Central Baptist Church of Middleborough from 1863 through 1868 and "he and his wife were greatly beloved by their parishioners." As a Baptist, Abbott was not surprisingly a vocal advocate of temperance, and he frquently spoke to audiences on the topic. In 1868, he was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Middleborough. Though the results of the voting were contested and some local residents led by William N. Peirce opposed Abbott's election, the Baptist minister was finally seated and named to the house committee on the sale of alcohol. He later relocated to the Midwest where he passed away in 1919. Below is his obituary from the Alton Evening Telegraph of Alton, Illinois.

Rev. Levi A. Abbott, in his ninety-sixth year, entered into his eternal rest this morning at his home, 1608 Henry Street, after an illness of one week. The end came peacefully and members of his family say that while conscious to the last, he did not speak of the approaching change, but that he went out peacefully, quietly, just as he wished it could be. His death was no surprise to his close friends. They had feared that the sickness would prove fatal to the aged gentleman. He had been strong in body and mind for one of so great an age, but it was apparent for some time that he could not survive any serious sickness. His malady was similar to malaria, with fever on alternate days, but his friends thought it was just a wearing out of the old machine that had shown such lasting qualities as to cause all who knew Dr. Abbott to marvel. The funeral will be Sunday afternoon from his late home.

Dr. Abbott was a man who had rendered distinguished and lasting service to his fellow-man. For a man who, in boyhood, had very little chance to live because of a predisposition to tuberculosis, Dr. Abbott demonstrated the value of leading an outdoors life. Born at Beverly, Mass., April 19, 1824, he was left an orphan when a baby, and at the age of 14 left school. He became a member of the Baptist Church at the age of 15, and then he went to sea as cabin boy, and in twelve years he served on the sea, he became captain of his vessel. He educated himself, studying chiefly the Bible. He had been desirous of taking up the ministry from boyhood and he finally managed to get one year in the Worcester Academy. During the times he would be home from voyages he would take up the work of teaching and he was prevailed upon to take up the work of teacher in the school he had left at the age of 14. He was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature after entering the ministry, and he was a member of the celebrated War Legislature in Massachusetts. There he was associated with such men as George R. Hoar, Henry Dawes, N. P. Banks, Henry Wilson, and other men who became great in the country's history.

Dr. Abbott was ordained at Milford, Mass., in 1855, and was later pastor at Weymouth, Mass., and at Middleboro, Mass. After six and one half years at Middleboro, a trouble in his lungs forced him to leave that climate and he became pastor of the church at Rochester, Minn. With horse, gun, fishing tackle, and general open air work, in four years he got himself into better health. Later he served as pastor at LaCrosse, Wis., for seven years and then was called to the First Baptist Church at Alton, where he served for seventeen and one-half years. Then he served as a trustee, treasurer and comptroller of Shurtleff College for eighteen years. For many years he was a member of the Baptist State Board, and it was he who was entrusted with keeping the records of deaths of other Baptist pastors in the state.

One of the most remarkable facts about Dr. Abbott was the perfect preservation of his mental powers and his body. He was a frequent contributor to the Telegraph. He would write poems on patriotic occasions, and his poems at each of his last four or five birthday anniversaries were something for a man of his years to be proud of. He was a deeply religious man, possessed of a temper that made him beloved by all who knew him. It is a fact related by his friends and was admitted by Dr. Abbott, that he probably never uttered a prayer nor preached a sermon omitting some imagery of the sea. He used for his illustrations something about the sea, and he seemed at a loss to find anything that would so well fit into a discourse or a prayer as a figure of speech. He was one of the most ardent supporters of the Telegraph, and held this paper in the highest regard. As an illustration of his feeling for the paper he presented to the Telegraph one day a verse which, he said, he had read eighty years before, when a boy, in a newspaper office in the East. It was given a place of honor in the Telegraph, as he said that he believed it fitted this paper. It runs as follows: "Here shall the press, the people's rights maintain, Unawed by influence, unbribed by gain, And from the Truth our glorious precepts draw, Pledged to Religion, Liberty and Law." Dr. Abbott was one of the most regular visitors at the public library. He read much and he would come down town, even up to a few weeks ago, to get his regular allotment of the latest books. He kept up with every great movement, was conversant on all great questions. Few men are found entertaining, showed so much sprightliness, and such vigor of mind and body as he.

Dr. Abbott leaves his wife, Mrs. Mary Abbott, and three children: Augustus L. Abbott, Grace A. Blair, and Mary L. Epps.

Illustration:
Reverend and Mrs. Levi A. Abbott, photographic halftone, c. 1865

Source:
Alton Evening Telegraph, [Alton, Illinois], September 26, 1919

Sacred Heart Church

The following article was published on May 26, 1916, at the time plans for the present Church of the Sacred Heart in Middleborough were being finalized. The church took two years to complete and replaced an earlier woodframe church which stood nearby and which had served local Catholics since 1881. On June 19, 1918, the church was dedicated by Cardinal O'Connell.

AN IMPOSING EDIFICE.

NEW CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART IS SHORTLY TO BE ERECTED IN IDEAL LOCATION.

Plans are nearing completion and work will soon be started on the new Church of the Sacred Heart, Middleboro, Rev. Timothy A. Curtin, pastor. The new church will face directly on Centre street, at the corner of Oak street, occupying the site of the present rectory, which will be removed to the west side of the present church, the use of which will not be interrupted by the new construction work.

The plans, which are being prepared by the office of the well known architect, Charles R. Greco of Boston, show an imposing structure in the English Gothic style, the whole building to be of Quincy granite with limestone trimmings. The shape of the lot has been utilized to the greatest advantage in the location and design of the church, which has been so placed as to have an unusually generous set-back from the street and well away from the corner of oak street. The chief emphasis of the design has been drawn to the impressive square tower which rises to a height of over 70 feet, at the corner of the main front, towards Oak street. This not only emphasizes the splendid location of this corner, but gives a chance for an entrance through the base of the tower from both streets leaving the centre of the front open for a large traceried window with figures of saints in canopied niches on either side above the central entrance door. This large window is repeated at the other end of the nave, over the main altar, which with the smaller side windows, should make a very impressive interior.

The chapel is located on the west side of the main church and is connected with it in such a manner that both can be used together on special occasions. On either side of the chapel entrance door are the baptistry and a chamber for a small organ [to be used for] small services in the chapel. The large organ is located over the main entrance vestibule of the church in a spacious choir gallery. The sacristies are grouped at the back of the church and chapel in such a manner that the boys' sacristy is easily accessible from the side porch on Oak street, while the priests' sacristy connects directly with a porch on the side of the chapel, toward the re-located rectory.

The main body of the church has a seating capacity of 600 and can be augmented to 800 when the chapel and church are used together, which is made possible by the open arches between, the lower part being filled with open metal work grilles as in mediavial [sic] church work.

The new Church of the Sacred Heart, when completed, should be one of the most impressive and pleasing in the vicinity of Boston, by reason of its fine location, material and design, and, while by no means the largest, forms a worthy successor to the series of churches which have recently been constructed in the diocese.

For more on the history and architecture of Sacred Heart Church, click here to visit their website.

Illustration:

"Sacred Heart Church, Middleboro, Mass." C. T. American Art, postcard, c. 1920.

Source:

"An Imposing Edifice", Middleboro Gazette, May 26, 1916, page 1.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all the readers of Recollecting Nemasket a happy Christmas!

Illustration:

The Fairman Company, Cincinatti, OH, postcard, early 20th century

If Americans replaced their increasingly obsolete carriages and sleighs with sleek automobiles during the early 20th century, why, too, shouldn't Santa have a shiny new roadster? Although seemingly incongruous today, depictions of Santa Claus posed in automobiles of the era were particularly popular at the time, though they became rarer and rarer as the automobile became a ubiquitous part of American culture and sleighs became a nostalgic reminder of the past.