Counterfeiters and Loyalist: The Colton Family Register

Sometime around 1799, a family register was made to record the births, marriages, and deaths in Samuel Colton's family. This printed and hand-colored register was almost certainly created by Richard Brunton (1750-1832), a notorious engraver, counterfeiter and British deserter. Born in 1750 in Birmingham, England, he apprenticed with an engraver before enlisting in the British Army Grenadiers. He served from 1774-1779 in America during the Revolution, and saw heavy action, including the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Battle of Brandywine, and the British retreat from Philadelphia before deserting in New York in 1779. His career in engraving included counterfeiting currency, which landed him in prison on more than one occasion, including a two-year sentence at hard labor served at Connecticut's New-Gate prison, where he earned money to repay the costs of his prosecution as well as better living conditions by painting portraits of the warden and his family and by creating engravings. In 1807, Brunton was arrested again, this time in Massachusetts, and was given a life sentence. Four years later, the state granted his petition for release due to ill health. In exchange for the early release, he promised to return to his native England, but instead went to live in Groton, Massachusetts, where he died in the poorhouse in 1832.

One of Brunton's legitimate, and perhaps more lucrative creations, were family registers--documents with decorative borders that often included depictions of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Peace, and left room for the recording of the family births, deaths and marriages.

These pre-printed family registers are considered some of the earliest American examples. The Colton register includes Samuel and Flavia Colton's marriage, the births (and deaths) of their children, his second marriage to Lucy Colton and their family. These types of family registers were considered proof for official documentation.

Samuel Colton (1727-1784) was a well-known wealthy Longmeadow merchant, earning him the nickname, "Marchant" Colton. His impressive large home, built circa 1754, stood on a rise just south of the Longmeadow town green. When the house was demolished in the early 20th century, parts of the house were salvaged as souvenirs, including the very imposing "Connecticut River God" front doorway, which now resides in a place of honor in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Al McKee at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

In 1776, a kind of local "tea party" took place at Samuel Colton's shop. Unhappy with Colton's prices for the West India goods he imported (essentials such as rum), townspeople, including his brother-in-law, dressed up as Native Americans and raided his shop. They removed the disputed goods, calculated what they felt to be fair prices and left that sum in exchange. Colton's suit for legal redress failed, and he is said to have remained bitter for the rest of this life about the "theft".

To learn more about Richard Brunton's fascinating life, see Deborah Child's book, Soldier, Engraver, Forger: Richard Brunton's Life on the Fringe in America's New Republic. For more information about Samuel Colton, see Barbara Smith's book, After the Revolution.

Contributed by Betsy McKee, Board member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published January 28, 2021

Dogs of Longmeadow

Today's History Note celebrates the real champions of a quarantine lifestyle - dogs!

Any morning and any late afternoon in Longmeadow you are sure to see promenading down the sidewalks and side streets of our town the proud dogs of Longmeadow out for their walks, accompanied by their faithful owners. All shapes, all sizes. Some shaggy, fluffy and straining against leashes to chase a scampering squirrel. Others sleek, dignified and clearly pleased by their own elegance and good training. No matter the weather, out they come! During these many, many months of pandemic living, family dogs have been such a source of comfort and pleasant distraction for adults and children alike.

This week, we’d like to share images of some dogs of Longmeadow from days of yore. It is striking how even more than a hundred years ago, these dogs seem so much a part of the families with which they pose.

Unidentified Man and 2 dogs, Longmeadow Green

Cordis Family Collection

Unidentified Woman and Pug Cordis Family Collection

Kempton Family, 1909

Emerson Collection

"P.M. Taylor Back Piazza" 1910 Emerson Collection

Did you know that dog licensing money was an integral part of the town’s school and library funding for many years? In 1880, $139.50 of “Dog Money” was appropriated by the town for the schools. In 1895, the first year the town supported an official town library (which occupied a modest spare room in the rear of the town office building), the Annual Report mentions the amount appropriated for the library as “$25 + dog money.” That remained the case for decades to follow. Every town meeting warrant featured an article asking voting residents to “decide what use shall be made of the dog money... “. From 1895-1974, it appears that this money was specifically used to supplement whatever the town budgeted for library funding. What a great trade-off - register your dog AND support your town library!

"Mrs. Craig's South Park Avenue, 1915

Emerson Collection

"Carl Withe, 41 Longmeadow Street" undated

Emerson Collection

"P.M. Taylor, girls and front door" 1910 Emerson Collection

All images here are courtesy of the Emerson Collection at the Longmeadow Historical Society and the Cordis Family Collection.

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

Originally published January 21, 2021

The Truth is in the Teeth

Did you know that two dentists connected to Longmeadow were critical witnesses in one of the most celebrated murder trials of the Nineteenth Century? Their testimony about the dental evidence successfully convicted a murderer. Let’s travel back to 1849 Boston…

On Friday, November 23, 1849, a respected, well-known, and wealthy Boston resident, Dr. George Parkman, disappeared. Over the next week, large rewards were offered for his recovery. City officials searched high and low for him, even dredging rivers, but he could not be found.

On the following Friday, in a grisly turn of events, the janitor at Harvard Medical School found the partial remains of a man in areas of the building controlled by Professor John W. Webster; the head, torso, and other parts of the body had been burned in the furnace of the school.

Harvard Medical School in the 1880's

Evidence led police to suspect that Professor Webster, a chemistry professor at Harvard Medical School, had murdered Dr. Parkman after Dr. Parkman had attempted to collect on a debt. However, they were unable to conclusively identify the body parts as belonging to Dr. Parkman. Without identification of the body, the murderer would escape punishment for the crime.

Prof. John W. Webster

This gruesome crime was a media sensation and the story was carried in newspapers throughout the country, and it is still famous today. Without going into all of the many twists and turns of the story, suffice it to says that its intrigue and gore has been the subject of many articles and books, some of which are listed below.

One of the few pieces of evidence recovered from the furnace was a set of porcelain teeth, and this is where our first hero enters the story. Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep, who had been born and raised in Longmeadow, had been Dr. Parkman’s personal dentist and had created the porcelain teeth and gold plate for Dr. Parkman.

Dental Plate and Teeth for Dr. Parkman

Our second hero, Dr. Lester Noble, was training under Dr. Keep when the false teeth were made and he often repaired them. In "Incidents Connected with the Trial of Professor Webster," Dr. Noble said, “With Dr. Parkman's teeth I had more than a first acquaintance. He was a very nervous man, and occasionally would take out his plates and put them in his coattail pocket, and soon he would forget them, and when he sat down the teeth would suffer considerably, necessitating repairs. I must have repaired those plates at least half a dozen times.”

In 1850, Lester Noble was a student at Baltimore School of Dentistry, but he traveled to Boston in March for the trial. Both men examined the teeth and plates carefully, comparing them to the models that Dr. Keep had used to create the teeth for Dr. Parkman, and concluded without a doubt that these were the teeth and plates which they had made for Dr. Parkman. At the trial of Professor Webster in March, 1850, they both testified as such. Here is a link where you can the trial record and the testimony for both men. The conclusive dental evidence convinced the jury that the remains were indeed the body of Dr. Parkman. Professor Webster was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. This landmark case is considered to be the first time that forensic evidence was successfully used to prosecute a defendant.

After the trial, Lester Noble returned to Baltimore and finished dental school. He moved to Longmeadow in 1860 where he lived until his death in 1905. For more information on Dr. Noble and Dr. Keep, read our earlier History Notes article--> Drs. Lester Noble and Nathan Cooley Keep.

Sources

1. Incidents Connected with the Trial of Professor Webster by Dr. Lester Noble

2. Report of the Case of John W. Webster

3. Trial Transcripts and Newspaper Reports

4. The Murder of a Wealthy Boston Physician by a Harvard Professor, 1849

5. The Murder of Dr. Parkman

6. Blood & Ivy, by Paul Collins

7. Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations, by Simon Schama

8. The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman, by Robert Sullivan

9. Springfield Republican- Nov. 17, 1896

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published January 14, 2021