Note: The articles that follow were written and published in newspapers around 1963-65.
(Editor's Note: The following is the first of three articles dealing with three of Norwood's old brick homes, historical landmarks in the village. The series has been written and compiled by Louise Fletcher Chase ( Mrs. Carroll), Jean J Higgins, (Mrs. John), and Susan C. Lyman (Mrs. Royal). This week's story concerns Baldwin Heights and Benjamin G Baldwin, founder of Norwood):
The village of Raquetteville (or Racquetteville or Racketville), now Norwood, was born in the imagination of Benjamin Gordon Baldwin and grew on his farm. He was a Vermonter, born to Captain Benjamin Peter and Mehitable Gordon Baldwin on May 13, 1806 in the Connecticut River village of Bradford.
His parents sent him to good academies and to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1826, aged 20. He taught a little, and studied law in Judge Jermain's office i n White Creek near Cambridge, came to Potsdam in 1828, studied under Horace Allen, and at the age of 26 in 1832,was admitted to the bar. For some 20 years he lived in Potsdam practicing law for himself or in partnership with Horace Allen or William A. Dart. He was a one term (1841) president of Potsdam Village, county surrogate for eight and a half years, and for three years, 1856-59 resided in Canton as county clerk for registry of deeds and was clerk of the court.
Land Purchases
During this long period he made land purchases. The first was, in 1835, a lot on Market St., Potsdam, perhaps for building a house. He had wed in Alstead, N.H., on Aug. 2, 1833 to Miss Mary Ann Lamphier.
Later land purchases were along the Pland Road leading to Norfolk. In 1856, having acquired a considerable acreage bit by bit, h i s dream of a village on his farm took shape in a map carefully drawn and colored by a surveyor, A.S. Smith of Parishville. (This map is in the County Clerk's office, in Canton)
Norwood was a village carefully planned by its landowner and his surveyor. The plan has never been basically altered.
1856 Map
Mr. Baldwin's 1856 map shows various projects already started; he had reserved a business block for a store and for his office where the Pert Block now stands (perhaps it housed Excelsior Hall); a school is indicated facing "Public Square".
There is a water power development for lumber mills (the name "Adsit & Co" appears at the east end of the dam and "Amos Bicknell' at the west end). "McGill's Tavern" stands where now is the Norwood Inn; two railroad depots and a freight house are sketched in.
Mr. Baldwin very early gave to the Northern Railroad 15 acres of land for a depot "if constructed within three years". The present Rutland freight house was the the passenger depot and the 15 acres stretched level from Main Street west to the Prospect St. hill.
He also gave the right of way across his farm to bring the railroad to his d r e a m village of Racquetteville rather than to the flourishing old-time villages, Potsdam and Norfolk, to the south and the North. The map indicated a "Mill Branch Track" to the "Piling Ground" for lumber piles to "Adsit & Co".
He induced the Potsdam & Watertown Railroad (New York Central) to extend its line to his farm, making Racquettville (Potsdam J u n ction) its terminus and effecting a junction with the Northern Railroad.
Post Office
A post office, North Potsdam, was established in 1850 and the village had a mushroom growth. Mr. Baldwin's 1856 map shows 134 numbered lots.
It would be an interesting project before the Norwood Centennial in 1971 to look up all these deeds and find who were Racquettville's f i r s t land purchasers.
In 1859, Mr. Baldwin concluded his county services and made his farm his permanent residence until his death in 1873. Where did he live? He built a big brick house near one of his depots on a slight rise of land.
The house was probably built of Raymondville brick from William Coates brickyard. His farmer's house was nearby. The names of his farmers have not revealed themselves. The steel engraving shows his house, farm buildings and f a r m house. The other buildings sketched in were either Depot St or were added for effect.
Lawrence and Lulu Smith live on the site of the old farm house in a building quite like the original house. The garden on the west slope in front of the brick house, rimmed by buck thorn and cedar hedges, was laid out in formal beds, oblong, square and round. There was a grape arbor, there were many trees and flowering shrubs.
All was carefully supervised by an English gardner, Allen Wait, grandfather of the late Hazel Wait Tebo (Mrs. Arthur) and of Pauline Wait Besaw, White roses peonies syringa, "pineapple" shrubs (calacanthus), a lilac bush, honeysuckle, lilies of the valley, and grape hyacinth are still flourishing after a century. A dirt road, "Baldwin Lane" led to the main street where there was a gate. The lane was also dubbed "Lover's Lane".
Many Offices
Mr. Baldwin for the decade of the 60's pushed the growth of his village, served as lawyer, justice of the peace, officially deeded "Baldwin Park" as a recreation field for young people, gave land to the Congregational Church gave land for a cemetery on Park St. and later for Riverside, worked for incorporation of the village in 1871 and served as its first president. But his enjoyment of his "dream come true" was a short span of 13 years. Death came Jan. 21, 1873, his age just short of sixty-seven.
His wife Emeline, and her sister. Harriet Lamphier lived on in the brick house another 15 years until Mrs.. Baldwin's death, June 20, 1885, aged 76. They sometimes spent the winter in Florida.
Fletcher Buys
Loren R. Ashley, the executor of Mrs. Baldwin's estate, sold the brick house and 36 acres to a young lawyer, Willis J. Fletcher. He laid out two streets, Cottage and Lafayette and sold house lots over the years until his holding was reduced to the brick house and an acre of Land.
Mrs. Fletcher (Esther Hale) named it Baldwin Heights instead of "Paradise Plateau" as suggested by another landowner. Shortly after they had settled in their new quarters, a freak tornado on a hot July afternoon tore across Baldwin flats and lifted the roof off one part of the house and deposited it in a field at the rear. Two weeks later twin daughters arrived almost lacking a roof over their heads!
The house was elastic, always fined with school comrades, guests, and relatives. William (nephew of Willis J. Fletcher and now of Aurora, Ill.) grew up here from babyhood till his marriage. Mrs. Fletcher's mother, Mrs. 0. H. Hale, made it her home for her last ten years after the death of her husband.
Mr. Fletcher did not know Mr. Baldwin but the two men were similar in many respects. Both were lawyers and justices of the peace, interested in higher education and in the local school. Both enjoyed having a good garden.
Few Changes
Mr. Fletcher added a proch across the front but otherwise the structural changes have been few, perhaps because the room partitions are brick. Mr. Fletcher enjoyed a happy 50 years in Mr. Baldwin's fine brick house.
Soon after his death on July 15, 1939, Mrs. Fletcher went to live with her daughter, Margaret, and the late Dr. H. J. Worthing at West Brentwood, N.Y. Her death came on May 20, 1950.
During these years the house was cared for by her other daughter, Louise and the late Carroll Chase of Cambridge, Mass. When after the war, the pressure for housing became irresistable, three apartments were arranged and were full of young married folks for a dozen years, till after the Seaway work was over.
The house is still in the possession of the twin daughters, the co-writer of this article and Mrs. Harry J. Worthing (Margaret Fletcher). They spend long summers here.
The first floor is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Earle Wellner and their son, Jeff. Mr. Wellner is a superintendent in the Nekossa Edwards Paper Mill at "The Union".
The Baldwin's enjoyed their fine home for some 28 years, the Fletchers for 75 years to date, but they still like to think of it as "Baldwin Heights".
Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of historical sketches compiled and written by Mrs. Carroll Chase, Mrs. John Higgins, and Mrs. Royal Lyman, all of Norwood. This week's article concerns the Phelps (or Gibson) House, one of some 20 old brick houses in Norwood):
Norwood has some 20 brick houses perhaps all built within 20 years of each other (1860-1880). Two are of special interest because of their similarity to the Baldwin house in size and style and an even greater similarity to each other.
The "Phelps house" (Gibson) and the "Ashley House" (Nightengale) stand on opposite corners of South Main Street, making a group with the brick St. Philips (Episcopal) Church on the other corner. The various streets at these corners are called in the old deeds, "The Plank Road", later "The Stone Road" (now South Main Street), "Lamb Street" (now Bicknell Street) and "Bridge Street" (now Park Street).
The Phelps brick house was built on lots 8 and 9 on Mr. Baldwin's 1856 map. The two lots were sold about 1856 by him to Joseph and Sarah Almira Lamb and to Edwin E. and Sarah Poor Avery. Nathan Avery and Samuel Avery of Norwood were sons of Edwin E. Nathan who was a graduate in the first class, 1888, from the new brick school on Prospect Street.
Hall Buys Lot
Sam Avery says that his father recalled having a "merchantile" store on lot 9 and that it was torn down when the two lots were sold to Abel Hall of Raymondville on March 4, 1875. Abel Hall was a successful farmer and business man with two children, Erastus F. and Elizabeth "Lib".
On July 10, 1877 Abel deeded the two lots, 8 and 9 to his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Edgar T. Phelps. A newpaper clipping in a scrap book in the County Historians Museum in Canton N.Y. says: "Sept. 12, 1878", Norwood. The large brick residence of A.A. Hall is nearing completion and will be one of the finest residences in the county. It will be heated by steam and will contain all modern improvements and conveniences".
An older citizen recalls that one of the improvements was the removal of a "convenience" usually located at the far end of the back yard to the rear of the second floor, and possibly another at the rear of the first floor. Query: Were they steam heated?
Another news clipping dated May 13, 1879 says: "Mr. A. A. Hall has been leveling and sodding the grounds of his residence. By the time Mr. Hall gets his new fence up and sidewalk down, we think it will add very much to the appear- ance of his place."
1884 Plans
This seems authorative enough, but a note from Mrs. Herbert Phillips (her husband grew up in the house) mentions architect plans by. J. P. Johnston dated 1884. Here is a date difference of six years.
Over the inside front door was placed a glass panel with the initals "H&P" (Hall and Phelps), with no date, unfortunately. This panel may still be seen.
Mr. and Mrs. Abel Hall apparently lived with the Phelps. In August 1879 a Norwood News item lists Mr. Hall as a Justice of the Peace with office in the Union Block, Norwood, N. Y.
A legal paper at the time of the settlement of his estate in 1885 says that "Abel Hall at the time of his death and for several years prior thereto resided and did business in the village of Norwood.
These are from the Norwood News files at the Courier- Freeman office, Potsdam, N.Y. and a petition for order to publish for claims, on Surrogate's office, Canton, N. Y.
Craftsmanship
Although built some twenty years later than Mr. Baldwin's house, it is the same "bracketed" type (i. e. brackets under the overhanging roof). The rooms are smaller but higher than in Mr. Baldwin's house, the windows are higher and go to the floor, on the outside are granite slabs over and under each window, the inside wood- work is elaborate. Some of it took hours of an expert craftman's time, says Harry Gibson, a present occupant who knows carpentry.
The Phelps family lived in Norfolk where Samuel Mix Phelps and his wife Katherine, very early had an inn. They had come from Alburg, Vermont in 1835. Mr. Phelps went to California with the gold rush but after several years returned to Norfolk.
Four of their seven sons settled in Norwood: Sidney who bought the Whitney Houes and operated it for years; Hanson who lived in the house next to the hotel (now Blanche Green's); Edgar in the big brick corner house; William who later came from Louisville and was for years in our post office.
Edgar Phelp's older children must have been born before the Phelpses came to reside in their new, big, brick house.
The eldest, Stella, was in the first graduating class (1883) from the Prospect Street brick school.
She married Frank Bell, February l894. He was a young lawyer in Potsdam. They moved to Glenns Falls.
First Wedding
Her wedding was the first church wedding in the new Episcopal Church next door. She wore a beautiful white gown (she made it herself) with a train and a veil. She had attendants, even a ringbearer, her small cousin Allan Hall. It all created a great stir in the village. Church Weddings just never occured.
Edith Phelps, the second daughter, and Clarence Pearson, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Noah Pearson, and a young Norwood dentist, took the parts of Evangeline and Gabriel in a production in Music Hall of Longfellow's poem. A romance and marriage developed. Later they moved to the Far West.
The third daughter, Mamie, went to live with Stella in Glens Falls after her fathers death in 1895.
A fourth child, George A., probably born in the brick house, lived only three years and is buried in Riverside Cemetery.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hall Phelps died in August 1890, only forty years of age. Her picture shows her as a woman of exceptional beauty.
Mr. Phelps died young, too, June 20, 1895, aged fifty-nine. He lived less than twenty years in the "Phelps House."
In his will he provided for his wife's mother, Mrs. Abel Hall who had continued to live with them after her husband's death a decade earlier 1885.
Abel Hall and his wife, their daughter Elizabeth Phelps and her husband Edgar T. and their infant son George share a large lot in Riverside Cemetery.
Handsome Ladies
In the decade 1885-95 there were three handsome older women living around that corner: Mrs. Allan Calkins, mother of Mrs. Sid Phelps in the hotel; Mrs. Abel Hall in the Phelps house; and Mrs. Norman in the Ashley house, which we tell about next.
The big Phelps brick house was fortunate to fall into the hands of A. J. and Kitty '(Wells) Phillips, and their children Herbert and Frances. For years it was a gay and busy household and a hospitable one. Teachers and non-resident students sometimes lived there. Mrs. Phillip's sister, Mrs. Carrie Wells, and a niece, Edna Boynton, (Mrs. Hollis Martin) both made it their residence for years. Mrs. Phillips had active community and church interests she was a woman who was everybody's age and friend, with a wonderful memory of people.
Following the Phillips regime, the house was altered somewhat to make four apartments. Its owner, Mrs. George Gibson (Grace) died this past summer.
Editor's Note:-This is the third in a series of historical sketches about the founding of Norwood, all written by Mrs. Carroll Chase, Mrs. John Higgins and Mrs. Royal Lyman. This week's story concerns the Ashley-Nightengale House, on the corner of Main and Park Spring Streets).
The third big brick house, the "Ashley House", fashioned on the size and "bracketed" type of Benjamin G. Baldwin's 1860 residence, was opposite the "Phelps' House", on the west side of 'the Plank Road" (Main Street) and on the south corner of Bridge Street (Park) and stands on lot #30 of Mr. Baldwin's 1856 map.
It overlooked the little school playground park officially given by Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin to the village after the village was incorporated in 1871, but clearly marked as "Public Square" on Mr. Baldwins 1856 plan of Racquetville.
The half-acre which was numbered 30 and the adjoining lot #29 were deeded by Mr. Baldwin on the same May 20, 1853 to two Ashley brothers, Norman and Rollin, from New Haven, Vt. (north of Middlebury) via, at least for Norman, a stay of several years in West Stockholm.
They were sons of Harry and Betsy Warren Ashley, Rollin Ashley's name appears on our village annals in 1850, when he served one year as our first Postmaster after the post office, "North Potdam" was established. On May 20, 1853 he became a land owner as did his brother Norman.
Norman, the oldest of six sons brought his own two sons to Racquettville, Loren Rolton, about thirteen and Henry aged seven. Loren R. fifteen years later bought lot #30 and probably built the brick house.
His purchase was not from his uncle Rollin, however, for there had been various changes in ownership. On April 14, 1856 the deeds for both lots 29 and 30 were recorded to Norman and Rollin. Rollin evidently had built a frame house during his short three year possession, for on May 9,1856 he and his wife Amelia sold their holding for $800. His purchase price had been $125. Rollin's name appears on tax lists, 1865-71, as owner of a "village lot and buildings" on Prospect street, as- sessed at $200.
Rollin Ashley's relationship in the family remained an unsolved question for the writers of this article. No other inhabitant remembered ever knowing about him. Rosamond Phelps Mason solved it by furnishing an old carbon copy of a 1897 letter written by Loren R. Ashley which reveals that Norman and Rollin were brothers and gives "Aunt Amelias" address, (Mrs. Roland Ashley) as Dixon, Ill.
The purchaser of lot #30 for eight hundred dollars was Edwin Sturtevant of Champlain, N.Y. who held it for five years and fades out of the village picture when on August 27,1861, he sold 1/2 acre and appurtances for nine hundred dollars to Arnold Gates who came with his wife and five year old son. His name appears on that corner lot on the Beer's "Map of Raquettevflle,1865", in the "Topographical Atlas of Maps of St. Lawrence County.
Mr. Gates is listed there as station agent for the Northern Railroad. He died young in 1868, age 36. His wife, Martha Holbrook, had predeceased him in 1865, aged 29. Their graves in Riverside Cemetery are in the same lot with Giles Holbrook, 1839-1916, and Jeanette E. Hale, his wife, 1836-1920. The Holbrook relationship of Giles and Martha has not been ascertained to date.
Mr. Gates left a will, a pathetic one, trying to provide for his only child, a son Fremont. Benjamin G. Baldwin , Reuben Holbrook (perhaps the boy's maternal grandfather) and Reuben Farmer were named Executors of the estate, Trustees and Guardians for the boy. Fremont however died, aged 20 before inheriting his father's property. He is buried beside them, 1856-1876.
Benjamin Baldwin, as executor of the Arnold Gates estate immediately sold the property to Loren R. Ashley, April 3, 1868.
The deed refers to "Raquetteville" as Potsdam Junction, Park Street replaces the earlier "Bridge Street", the "new Stone road" replaces "Plank Road".
Loren Ashley, now aged 27, had married in 1863, Miss Angeline (Angie) E. Valley. They were probably living with his father, Norman, in a frame house next door, for Mrs. Ashley in later life often said, "I started housekeeping in the frame house." They had lost a baby girl and had a young son, Leslie.
Mrs. Ashley was the daughter of Amable (Mab) Valley who lived up the hill and who had purchased from Benjamin Baldwin a number of village lots including one which he later gave to the Episcopal Church, St. Philips, for their new brick church building.
The records on lots # 30 and 29 are at this point not clear. Mr. Gates paid 'nine hundred dollars for lot # 30 and Loren Ashley paid: twenty-five hundred dollars. What caused the increase in value? Had Mr. Gates built a good frame house? Mr. Ashley did not build the brick house until 1880-1885.
Did he live in the Gates frame house from 1868 to 1880 and then move it to his father's lot # 29, when construction began on the brick house? Mrs. May Henderson Sullivan, the present owner of lot # 29, says she was told that a frame house was moved from Lot # 30 to Lot # 29.
There seem to be reasons to believe that all of Loren Ashley's eight children except the youngest daughter, Anna Maud, were born before the brick house was built. Five of them lived to grow up in the big house and to reside there until marriage, Leslie, Mabelle (Mrs. Herbert Drew), Blanche (Mrs. Frank Collins with her two beautiful golden colored Irish setters, a match for her own golden hair), Charles, and Auna Maud, (wife of Prentice Phelps M. D.)
The corner must have been a lively one, the five Ashley children, The Edgar Phelps quartette, the Sidney Phelps trio from the hotel, the Hanson Phelps three sons, and no automobiles to spoil street games or endanger road crossing. Five of the nine 1888 graduates of the first class graduating from Norwood Union School had some connection with this corner or with one or other of the three big houses: Nathan Avery, Stella Phelps, Mabelle Ashley, Jessie Phelps (from the Whitney House), Margaret Hale who in 1888 was living with the Fletcher's in the Baldwin House. Stella, Mabelle, Jessie and Margaret were great friends. Stella Phelps and Mabelle Ashley went on to Houghton Academy in Cazenovia, N. Y. Stella's mother, "Lib" Hall had also been to school there.
Leslie Ashley and his sister Anna Maud both married Phelp's from the hotel across the way. Leslie married Jessie Phelps and Anna Maud married 'Print" Phelps an M. D. who also managed our local electric light system for many years before moving to Malone.
"Les and Jess" had five children: Phelps, Mark, Eleanor, Gordon and Norma. The first three not living (1964). "Print," and Anna Maud had a son Sidney, now living in Cazenovia, and Rosamond Phelps Mason, living in Malone, who expresses a great affection for the Ashley House, "I grew up there", she says.
There is an Ashley tradition that Loren Ashley built the big brick house. Our oldest inhabitants say the same and recall the actual period of construction in their very early youth, 1880-85. They agree that the Hall-Phelps house was built first for they cannot recall its building operations. One older inhabitant has said that the Ashley house was a "spite house" to show Ed Phelps how to build a house. There was evidently friendly rivalry between the two men.
Their elaborate brick houses resemble each other more than either one resembles the rather simple house of Benjamin Baldwin. In both, the windows go to the floor and are narrow, there are gray granite slabs over and under each window. The rooms are extremely high, the woodwork bespeaks tooling in a mill.
"Mr. Ashley had a lumber mill and a lumber yard" says Dan McKenty, who knew the mill well. "Nothing but hard wood and the very best went into that Ashley House." The "Phelps" house too, had elaborate interior wood work. Both stand high off the street.
The older residents remember Loren Ashley as one of our most able, far-sighted, successful citizens. He was a member of the school board, had a Men's Class in the Congregational Church, owned with his father Norman, and then with his brother Henry, a "merchantile" business, Ashley's on the corner of Junction (Mechanic) Street and the "New Stone Road" (Main Street).
It is now "Elwood's" in operation over a hundred years, our oldest business. Loren Ashley was the moving spirit and President of the Norwood Lumber Company, and later helped start the Norwood State Bank, serving as the Vice-President. The Presidency was an honorary office for years. He was also Vice-President of the Savings and Loan Association.
Editor's note: We continue with the third article in the historical series about the old brick houses in Norwood. Last week we began the story of the Ashley Nightengale House and the families who lived in it. This week we bring you up to date with the acquisition of the property by St. Philips Episcopal Church and their current plans for restoration.
Mr. Ashley's father, Norman, in the frame house next door, died April 11, 1889 and Mrs. Norman Ashley moved into the North West room of the big house. She was always present for Sunday services in the Congregational Church no matter what the weather.
She sat in an "Amen" pew directly under the marble scroll placed by the church to honor her husband who had been a church founder and deacon. She wore a widow's bonner with a long black veil and in winter a long black cape, mink lined and very elegant. Her face showed a strenght of character, a calm reserve, and great beauty.
Loren Ashley's death and hers occured the same year, 1900. Mrs. Ashley, "Angie", kept the big house and lived there with Anna Maud, then alone or perhaps with a renter, then winters with Dr. and Mrs. Print Phelps, (Anna Maud Ashley) after they moved in. Dr. Phelps had his office there. Mrs. Ashley's summer residence for herself and her parrot was the frame house next door where she had started housekeeping.
Her death came in 1927. The frame house on Lot #29 was sold to Nelson and May Henderson Pernice. It had been in Ashley ownership for 74 years. The Print Phelps moved to Malone and the big brick house on Lot #30 held by the Loren Ashley family for 63 years was sold in 1931 to Miss Irene Louise Nightingale, a cousin of Alice Nightingale Drew (Mrs. Sherman) who lived further along on Park Street.
Miss Nightingale belonged to an early family of Massena, was a graduate of Potsdam Normal and taught many years in Brooklyn. She divided vacations between her Mountain View N.Y. cottage and the brick house which was interestingly furbished by her and her sister Marguerite who lived there for several years.
A brother Charles in Massena and Marguerite both died in 1954. Miss Nightingale who had retired in 1941 or 1942 closed her brother's Massena house and for 10 years lived alone in the big brick house. In later years she became an invalid. Her death came March 24, 1964.
Her will gave the house to St. Philip's Church for a rectory. The Vestry voted at a meeting on October 20, 1964 to accept the bequest.
The Church is creating a Building Fund to aid in the restoration of the house for use as a rectory. The present rector of St.Philips is the Rev. John V. Higgins. Once more Lot #30 of Mr. Baldwin's dream village will have a lively household, for the Rev. and Mrs. Higgins have five children: Karen, John Jr., Robert, Nancy, and Susan.
The three big houses are all of a lovely soft pink-red brick. A chat with Mr. Thomas Rickard Sr. of Massena Center is revealing. The Hall family in Raymondville had a brick yard. It lay along the Raquette River east bank just to the north of the old Raymondville bridge. The Halls sold it in 1841 to Mr. Rickard's great-grandfather, William Coates. He and later his son operated it until about 1900 when the clay which baked to the lovely soft pinkish red was all gone.
Mr. Rickard said that probably the Baldwin House, the Hall-Phelps, the Ashley-Nightingale and all the other 25 or so old Norwood houses of brick had used the Raymondville bricks. So had the 1885 school on Prospect Street, the Music Hall on Baldwin Park, the Methodist church, and the Episcopal Church and perhaps some of the business blocks.
It has given to Benjamin Gordon Baldwin's dream-come-true village a pleasant air of distinction and a unique charm.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
We could not have produced this series of articles without the help of many of our Friends, namely:
Miss Helen Cassidy
Mr. and Mrs. Dan McKenty
C.F. Vance
Margaret Gl Powell
Arthur Tebo
D.B. Stiles
Pauline Wait Besaw
Frances Philips Thobin
Herbert and Iris Philips
Lucia Yale
Rosamond Phelps Mason
Raymond White
Harry Gibson
Mary Douglass
Reuben Yale
Blanche Gebo Bush
Samuel Avery
Mrs. Dan Regan
Cora McClelland
Will Bowhall
Prof. W. Chas. Lahey
Mrs. Leslie Haggett
May Henderson Sullivan
Margaret Fletcher Worthing
Floyd Brownell
Mildred S. Fullerton
Edward E. Wright
Della Plumley Long
Kermit McKiver
Adelaide Chase Miller
Jeanette Brown
Thomas Rickard Sr.
Special thanks to:
Carol Lyman
Mrs. Nina Smithers
Eva Dean
Lott Hall Wells
Mr. Howard J. Jebo of the Snap Shop for photo copying.
The Authors of This Series
Louise Fletcher Chase, a native of Norwood majored in History at Vasser College under Profl Lucy Solomon, a pioneer exponent of the use of local source material. Prof. Solmon spent her summers in Canton, N. Y. Mrs. Chase taught history and government in Norwood High School for four years 1911-1915. Since her marriage in 1921, she has resided in Cambridge, Mass. but always retained the Norwood connection.
She is a 25-year member of Cambridge League of Women Voters, President 1933-1936, and later a meuber of Board of Massachusetts League of Women Voters.
In 1961 she initiated the Civil War Memorial exhibit and meeting which led to formation of Norwood Historical Association and is a charter member of the Association. She is a member of St. Lawrence County Historical Society and served a term on its executive Board, also of the U. S. Capital Historical Association and the White House Historical Sc-ciety, and a member of the Cambridge Historical Society and a member of the recently created Archives Committee of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational founded in 1633.
Jean J. Higgins is a native of Carthage, N. Y. and attended college at Plattsburgh. She is the busy wife of the Rev. John V. Higgins, Rector of St. Philip's Church in Norwood and the mother of five children. She is very interested in the research aspect of writing historical articles and is looking forward to next spring when the ladies plan to embark on another project.