Fridays with Zoe- Documenting Black Lives in Longmeadow

This summer the Longmeadow Historical Society has been participating in a project called “Documenting the Early History of Black Lives in the Connecticut River Valley” organized by the Pioneer Valley History Network (PVHN), the UMass Public History Program, and the UMass Amherst W.E.B. Du Bois Library, with support from Mass Humanities and the UMass Amherst Public Service Endowment Grant.

Most Fridays over the past few months, I have had the privilege of meeting with UMass Amherst Public History student, Zoe Cheek, as we continue the important work of uncovering the names and stories of free and enslaved black residents of early Longmeadow. Zoe has been inputting these names, dates, details and links to sources into a new database generated by the program which collects similar information from other participating organizations all over the Pioneer Valley. One of the goals of this work is to build a broader and more complete view of the role people of color have played in building the communities in which they lived and worked.

As part of our work, Zoe and I have been pouring over the diaries of Longmeadow’s first minister, Stephen Williams, for details of the community, his household, and the people he was known to enslave. Williams’ diaries, which cover the years 1716-1782, have been transcribed and studied before, and names and dates and some details of enslaved people have been known for well over a century. It has never been a secret that Williams, like many ministers in colonial New England, was an enslaver. We also know that Rev. Williams was not the only enslaver in 18th century Longmeadow. Now is the time to gather what we know and look at it in the larger context of what was happening in the region and hopefully be able to connect names and places and come to a more complete understanding of the racial and class complexities of the Connecticut River Valley in early America.

We have completed the first three of ten volumes of the diaries of Stephen Williams, all of which are available for the public to view in their handwritten and transcript forms on both the Storrs Library and Historical Society’s websites. There is nothing linear about this work. One mention of a name or set of initials sends us cross-referencing with available town and church records. In addition to that we must also compare what is transcribed to its 18th century handwritten counterpart. We’ve crossed borders between towns, counties and into Connecticut. Mentions of Stephen Williams visiting a “poor negro” in prison several times in 1732 led Zoe on a journey through newspapers of that year and a further hunt for court records about a case involving parties from Windsor and Suffield that was tried in Springfield.

We’ve known that Williams owned an enslaved boy named Nicholas in 1719-1720 before selling him to someone in Deerfield. By entering Nicholas’ name and the few details we are able to ascertain about him into the project’s database, will it be possible to trace his movements in another household after 1720? We hope.

There is mention in a Williams diary entry on July 30, 1734 that S.W. Esq. B “Bought me a servant.” Who is S.W. Esq. B.? By servant, does he mean slave? The two terms were interchangeable at the time. This diary entry also mentions the city of Boston. Does the “B” stand for “of Boston” meaning the “servant” came from Boston? Was that the seaport through which this person entered? Or had he or she come from another household? This query has sent our board president, Al McKee, to begin searching what he describes as a mammoth Boston directory called, "Boston, MA: Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston 1630 -1822.” He is beginning at the "Ws": “working my way from Wackum thru the end of the Ws.” We hope to find a clue as to the identity of this S.W. Esq. B to see what further information about the slave trade in Massachusetts we can learn as it relates to our community and region.

Our search for details about the lives of the free and enslaved people of early Longmeadow is a winding one, sending us into wills, probates, tax records, vital records, merchant account books, church records, and all manner of town records. It is work we are eager to take on, and we look forward to continuing this work with PVHN and UMass. It is time to bring the names of some of Longmeadow’s earliest residents to light and acknowledge their legacies - people like Nicholas, Robin, Phillis, Scipio, Zickrie, Peter, Stamford, Caesar, Tom, Patte, Tobiah, Cato, Joseph, Betty, Jack, Pomp, Pero, Richard, Andrew, Prince, Guy Gordon, Azuba (Guy’s mother), Susannah Freedom, Ceasar Avery, Prince Starkweather, and countless other souls who lived and toiled here.

For more information on the project "Documenting the Early History of Black Lives in the Connecticut River Valley" please visit their website.

Contributed by Melissa M. Cybulski, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published August 26, 2021

Granny Note- A Forest of Oak Trees

As our readers will recall, we love so-called "Granny Notes"--those sometimes cryptic, sometimes vague, sometimes incredible stories attached to objects that have been in the collection for a long time. We often explore the attached stories and attempt to verify the information.

Here's another interesting object from our collections. It's a pin and a pair of earrings, shaped out of some kind of brown material into an oak leaf/acorn design. The story attached is that they were carved from a piece of the famous "Charter Oak" tree that was felled by a storm exactly 165 years ago this week on August 21, 1856. Here in Longmeadow, we certainly know how powerful these summer storms can be at taking down large limbs and entire trees.

You've all seen a depiction of the famous, ancient white oak--on the Connecticut State quarter issued in 1999. This venerable tree grew in Hartford, Connecticut, and became famous as the hiding place of Connecticut's royal charter. King James II appointed Sir Edmund Andros as governor-general over the newly consolidated "Dominion of New England." His task was to collect the charters from the formerly more autonomous colonies. This was not a popular move, and there is some confusion about whether Connecticut actually gave up their charter or a copy. The oak tree was the supposed hiding place of the precious document and became a symbol of the revolutionary spirit.

When the tree was blown down by a violent storm on August 21, 1856, wood was salvaged by many people to make a number of relics, including chairs for the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Senate in the state capital, as well as the Governor of Connecticut's desk. Other items include a presentation baseball, a walking stick, and a cane given to President Andrew Johnson. There were so many people taking pieces of the famous tree as souvenirs that a guard had to posted! Gun maker Samuel Colt was lucky enough to get wood to make a cradle for Samuel Colt Jr., and a pistol with Charter Oak grips made in 1867. In fact, so many objects were claimed to have been made from the Charter Oak that the joke was that it must have been a forest of oak trees!

The Charter Oak, taken the morning of its fall

Connecticut Historical Society

So could our earrings and pin be the real deal? Hartford is not far away, and both Richard Salter (Salter) Storrs and his sister Sarah Storrs taught at the School for the Deaf, then located in Hartford and were there at the 1856 time period. Regardless of whether it is truly made from wood from the Charter Oak, it sure is a lovely and unusual set and we are happy to have it!

Contributed by Betsy McKee, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published August 19, 2021

Silver and Gold Spectacles and Thimbles

Did you know that Longmeadow once had a thriving spectacle and thimble manufacturing industry? From 1830 through 1861, at least 38 men in Longmeadow made gold or silver spectacles and thimbles for a living. According to an account in the archives of the Longmeadow Historical Society four manufacturing shops were in town; they were run by: Jacob Colton and Gilson Hollister; E. K. Colton and George Ferre; Sumner W. Gates; and Samuel Burbank.

Jacob Colton began making spectacles and thimbles in the early 1830s and all sources point to him as the founder of the Longmeadow industry. Dimond Chandler, who had learned to be a silversmith in New York City, was also an early craftsman. He sold his business to Jacob Colton in 1847 or 1848.

New-York Daily Advertiser, Sept. 14, 1821

Jacob Colton enlarged his business, partnering with Lester Noble (his nephew) from 1844-1847 and then with Gilson Hollister from 1847-1860, and the Longmeadow Historical Society archives contain five account books from these partnerships. In reviewing these books, names of almost all of the Longmeadow spectacle makers appear as either apprentices or employees, documenting the training that Jacob Colton provided to his fellow townsmen.

So, what supplies do you need to make spectacles and thimbles? The account books document purchases of silver, gold, convex glass, and steel tops. Why steel tops? Thimbles made solely of silver were too soft and could be easily punctured by sewing needles; steel tops greatly increased the useful lifetime of the thimble. Records reflect that, in addition to bars of silver and gold, Jacob purchased old gold coins and old silver to melt down to make his products.

Manufacturing shops were located up and down Longmeadow Street, often in small buildings which had previously served other purposes. For example, the E. K. Colton and George Ferre shop had previously been a schoolhouse. After the spectacle shop closed, the building moved to Williams Street and became the first Catholic church in town- St. Mary's RC Church.

In 1848, Dimond Chandler purchased 776 Longmeadow Street (where The Spa on the Green resides today) and began his button manufacturing business. The button business flourished and it moved next door to 19 Chandler Avenue. Dimond Chandler was a true entrepreneur and today’s Chandler Avenue is named for him. In the 1850s, Dimond sold the button business to his son-in-law, Nelson Newell, and Nelson's brother. Newell Brothers soon outgrew its space in Longmeadow and the business relocated to Springfield around 1863. To learn more about the button manufacturing enterprise, please see this article- Buttons, Buttons, Everywhere.... by Michael Gelinas, former president of the Longmeadow Historical Society.

After buttons ceased to be made at 776 Longmeadow Street, at least part of the building became a shop to manufacture spectacles and thimbles. A dry goods store occupied the front part of the building and a shop in the back of the building (visible in the c. 1885 image below, but not longer standing today) was a spectacle shop. E. K. Colton, a former spectacle manufacturer, operated the general store in the front and William W. Coomes operated the spectacle shop in the back.

776 Longmeadow Street circa 1885

The account books show that Jacob Colton sold spectacles and thimbles to over 60 stores from Boston to New York. William Rogers & Co. in Hartford was a frequent customer.

Hartford Daily Courant, Mar. 5, 1845

And, the industry was lucrative. A number of Jacob Colton’s apprentices accumulated enough capital during their employment with him to start their own shops. In 1860, Jacob Colton sold $15,000 worth of spectacles and thimbles and Sumner W. Gates sold $6,000 worth of spectacles.

1860 Nonpopulation Schedule Manufacturing

This booming business came to an abrupt halt in 1861. The uncertainties at the start of the Civil War caused many customers to cancel their orders. And, many of the technically-trained men working in the shops found other employment. Springfield Armory ramped up armament production and many of these skilled men were enticed to Springfield to make rifles. And, at least eight of the former spectacle makers were drafted into the U.S. Army to use these rifles in the Union Army.

Former spectacle makers, Lester Noble and his brother, Henry Bliss Noble, utilized their skills in working with gold when they became dentists. Both started their dental practices in Washington, D.C.; Lester later moved to Longmeadow and opened a practice in Springfield.

Jacob Colton, who never resumed his business, sold his company to one of his employees, William W. Coomes. Mr. Coomes continued working in the spectacle shop behind the general store until he died in 1893, the last remaining spectacle maker in Longmeadow.

With such an abundance of precious metals in Longmeadow, I was surprised to find only one account of theft. According to an article in the Springfield Republican, both the store and the spectacle shop were robbed in December, 1888. The burglars blew open the safe and absconded with a bar of silver and 4 pieces of gold, and gun play ensued as James W. Coomes, the nephew of William W. Coomes, chased the wounded burglar down Longmeadow Street.

Springfield Republican, Dec. 22, 1888

Although there are few tangible reminders of spectacle and thimble manufacturing in today’s Longmeadow, the collections of the Longmeadow Historical Society include some of the spectacles that were created here.

Sources

- Longmeadow Historical Society Archives - Springfield Republican, Dec. 22, 1888 - New-York Daily Advertiser, Sept. 14, 1821 - Hartford Daily Courant, Mar. 5, 1845 - U.S. Censuses: 1850, 1860, 1870 - Massachusetts Census: 1855, - 1865 U.S. Nonpopulation Schedule Manufacturing 1860

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member Originally published August 12, 2021