Grace Trowbridge Smith's Scrapbook

This History Note shares a page or two from a scrapbook in our collection once belonging to Miss Grace Trowbridge Smith. It sheds light on the election process of 1920.

Grace Trowbridge Smith's Scrapbook

Several scrapbooks reside in the archives of the Storrs House Museum, home of the Longmeadow Historical Society. Many are collections of newspaper clippings that the keeper thought worthy of collecting during their lifetime. One of particular interest these days belonged to Miss Grace Trowbridge Smith (1880-1969) who lived all of her life in Longmeadow.

Of keen relevance right now is a clipping about the November 1920 presidential election where the Warren G. Harding/ Calvin Coolidge ticket won against the opposing James M. Cox/ Franklin D. Roosevelt ticket. This election was the first presidential election in which the women of Massachusetts could vote. Grace T. Smith’s scrapbook contains a clipping advising would-be voters to hit the polls early as the turnout was expected to be much larger than usual. The clip states: “So great is the number of ballots expected on account of the enfranchisement of women that there is fear that not all who may want to vote can do so on account of the jam. The way to avoid losing your vote is to VOTE EARLY."

Scrapbook Clipping: November 1, 1920

In 1920, Grace T. Smith would have been 40 years old. She was a 1902 graduate of Mt. Holyoke College, a schoolteacher, and unmarried. Her family was deeply involved in civic life in Longmeadow. Her brother Frank at various times had served as town clerk, town treasurer, and tax collector. Her mother, Lucy Griswold Smith, was the very first woman elected to serve on the town’s School Committee. It is easy to imagine that the experience of voting in this election would have been very meaningful to Grace.

Annual Town Reports show that 1916’s presidential election drew 392 total votes as compared to the 1920s which saw an enormous increase to 1020 total votes cast.

1916 Election Results: Longmeadow

1920 Election Results: Longmeadow

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

Originally published October 15, 2020

William Sheldon (1788 - 1871)

Of the many daguerreotypes in the collections of the Longmeadow Historical Society, 10 of them are of this eccentric gentleman. He was described in the Springfield Republican Newspaper obituary as: "an aristocrat of the first water, never having accepted the American Revolution. A Tory, a monarchist of the day of Queen Bess, and a churchman of a higher order than any American..." He preferred to dress in old-fashioned clothing, "As he took his daily walk by the roadside, with a silver-headed cane in hand, he was a quaint and ancient looking figure of a portly old man with long white locks, a bell crowned hat of great breadth and height, a high standing collar, sustained by a white cravat, with ample bows and double frilled shirt bosom, and to complete the effect, a blue dress coat, with gilt buttons, and pantaloons of too ancient a cut for minute description."

Sheldon's father, Dr. William Sheldon, married Eunice Williams, one of Reverend Stephen Williams' granddaughters. Eunice was the younger sister of Sarah Williams Storrs, second wife to the Reverend Richard Salter Storrs. After both of the Williams sisters were widowed within a year of each other, they lived together in the family home in Longmeadow. The younger Sheldon lived with his aunt and mother in the Storrs home until about 1860. At that time he built a house at the north end of Longmeadow Street and proceeded to live there with domestic help. The census records describe him as a literary professor, gentleman, author, and retired farmer!

Wealthy enough not to have to work, he had the opportunity to explore scientific theories. According to the Springfield Republican obituary, "he understood all mysteries and explained the 'spirit rappings.' His greatest scientific discovery was the utilization of the 'Od Force' by which he claimed to have stayed Cholera and other epidemics. His Last and crowning invention, a secret to be buried with him, was a method of aerial navigation." Keep in mind that this was the mid-19th century!

St. Albans Daily Messenger

See also Stephen Gencarella's book: A Celebration of New England's Eccentric and Misfits: Wicked Weird & Wily Yankees

Contributed by Betsy McKee, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society Originally published October 8, 2020

Shaker Road

Driving around the area, you may have noticed a number of different streets named Shaker Road. Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Enfield all have Shaker Roads. Today none of these roads intersect, but at one time all of these roads led to the Shaker community in Enfield, Connecticut.

Though it is not named on the map, the path from Williams Street to the Shaker settlement (modern-day Shaker Road) appears on early maps of Longmeadow.

The Shakers were (and still are) a Utopian Protestant sect promoting and practicing pacifism and simplicity in dress, speech, and manner. They practiced communal living, believing that it was possible to form a more perfect society on earth by their actions. Races were equal and women were considered equal to men, although work assignments were assigned by gender. Sexes were kept physically apart, and Shaker buildings are distinctive in design, having separate doors and stairways for men and women. Starting in the late 1770s, Shakers established at least 18 settlements in the Northeast, Ohio, and Kentucky.

Enfield Shaker Community

Founded in 1792, the Enfield Shaker community was the only Shaker settlement in Connecticut. It was located in the northeastern section of Enfield, just south of East Longmeadow near the present-day intersections of Route 220, Cybulski Road, and Taylor Road. 

Hartford County, Connecticut Smith’s wall map, 1855

The Enfield Shakers were divided into groups known as families: Church Family; North Family; South Family; West Family; and East Family. Each family had both male and female members, adults and children.

Shakers were celibate, so they needed to adopt children and recruit converts into their community in order to maintain their membership numbers. Shaker families adopted orphans and children from distressed households, educating them and raising them to adulthood. Those who were adopted were given a choice when they turned 21 – either stay within the community or leave.

Martha Pease, a member of the North Family, was one of these children. She and her siblings had been adopted into the Enfield Shakers. While she decided to stay with the Shakers, her brother, Hezekiah, did not. Hezekiah moved to the eastern part of Longmeadow, married, farmed, and lived there until his death in 1886. A detailed and interesting history of the Enfield Shaker community can be found here.

The Shaker community was intentionally self-contained and we can find little evidence that it interacted much with either Longmeadow or East Longmeadow – except to pay taxes. The Church Family and North Family expanded their land holdings north into Massachusetts and the 1891 Valuation shows that Mr. Van Dusen and George Wilcox, elders for their respective families, were responsible for paying property taxes in Longmeadow.

1891 Valuation of Longmeadow

In 1835, the gunpowder factory that became the Hazard Powder Company was built on the Scantic River. This area of Enfield, which was about 4 miles south of the Shaker village, is now known as Hazardville. Over 78 years of operation, the Hazard Powder Company had 17 devastating gunpowder explosions. The shock waves and sounds from exploding munitions, which were heard in Longmeadow and as far away as Hartford and Northampton, would have reverberated through the quiet neighboring community of Shaker pacifists just 4 miles away.

The last Shakers left Enfield in 1917 and their lands now house the Enfield Correctional Institute. The Enfield Shakers Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, includes 15 of their former buildings. Due to security concerns at the prison, you are not allowed to visit the site, or even stop your car to take pictures of the buildings.

The Enfield Historical Society has a collection of artifacts from the Enfield Shaker community. Many of these are on display at the Martha A. Parsons House Museum.

At last count, two Shakers still remain and they live at the Sabbathday Lake community in Maine.

Sources

• 1831 Map of Longmeadow

• 1880 U.S. Census

• 1891 Valuation of Longmeadow

• Hartford County, Connecticut Smith’s wall map

• New Haven Register: Sat. Apr. 9, 1887

• Connecticut History: Enfield's Shaker Legacy

• National Park Service: History of the Shakers

• Smithsonian Magazine: There Are Only Two Shakers Left in the World

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published October 1. 2020