Month: October 2012

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Reading Photographs

I enjoy examining old photographs and trying to tease out all the facts I can about the subject but sometimes the full meaning of what is going on eludes me.  Today I came across an image that I just can’t seem to figure out…perhaps you will have a suggestion as to its content.

The image is of a Duxbury, MA gathering. The man on the far right smoking a pipe is George Ellis Hathaway (1851-1944), the grandson of the painter, Rufus Hathaway.  George lived at 95 West Street, although the location of the photo is uncertain.  The photograph was taken by F. S. Needham of Duxbury.  Based on the style of dress on the women (the loose drooping sleeves above the elbow, for example) the photo is c. 1893-1896.  I love everything about it – the rich velvet fabric on the shoulders of the woman seated on the left; the pug and jack russell terriers, both blurred in movement; the smiling faces; the hats.  It’s all wonderful.  I wish I could identify everyone and maybe with a bit more investigation, I will be able to put names to at least one or two more individuals. 

Have you spotted my real dilemma yet?  Take a close look…closer…closer still.  Notice the man standing next to George Ellis Hathaway?  Yes, that’s the one, the one wearing the dress.  I would love to know what is going on there.  Are they a group of amateur actors just finishing a performance?  There does seem to be a certain amount of playfulness on everyone’s face – except for his.  If you have any idea what the true subject of this photograph is or can identify anyone pictured, please let me know.

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Journals are here!

There is a new tab atop this page – Journals.  As we transcribe our many fascinating diaries we will be posting them online.  Currently a portion of Amherst A. Alden’s 1847 journal has been added.  Have fun reading about this adventurous 15 year old traveler and check back to see what our other diarists were up to.

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Follow Amherst A. Alden on Facebook

For those of you, like me, who are simply amazed that a 15 year old young man could find his way to Illinois solo, I have a treat for you.  Amherst now has a Facebook page.  His journal entries will be updated daily.  Please “like” his page to follow him down the Erie Canal all the way to Illinois.  Read about life in a mid-nineteenth century rural western town.

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“My Conscience!” The Journal of Amherst A. Alden

First page of Amherst A. Alden’s journal, 1847.

September 28, 1847,

Left Duxbury at 10 o’clock AM.  My birthplace; the town where I have always resided, left all friends, acquaintances, my home, to make my abode in the far West.  There is a feeling upon leaving home which no pen can describe, “there is no place like home.”

Thus begins the journal of 15 year-old Duxbury native Amherst A. Alden (1832-1909) as he embarked on his journey to Illinois.  At the time Amherst left Duxbury there was little to keep an educated young man at home. The decline of the town’s great shipbuilding era left scant employment other than the ill-paid and laborious work of shoemaking. Luckily the United States was full of places a man of ambition could make his mark.  Many moved to Boston (see previous blog post about Eugene Sampson), some went to sea and others followed the country’s manifest destiny and went west.

Prior to leaving Duxbury in the fall of 1847, Amherst was presented a journal by his neighbor, Ann Thomas Porter, the wife of the local doctor, John Porter. His travels to the “far west” took him through western New England, down the Erie Canal, and eventually to Pekin, Illinois where he became employed as a teacher.  He diligently recorded his day’s activities every evening until the book was complete on April 19, 1848.  It is a wonderful look into daily life in Illinois during this period – names, places and events are recorded that would be of interest to anyone whose ancestors founded the towns of Pekin or Tremont.  Also fascinating are his use of exclamations such as “Oh Scissors” and “My Conscience.”

After only a year in Illinois Amherst made his way back to Massachusetts.  He became the private secretary to Daniel Webster and then a clerk in the Boston Post Office.  In 1853 he married Georgina Cook, the daughter of a shipwright. They had one child, Jennie. The family split their time between Duxbury (366 Washington Street) and Boston.  Amherst A. Alden died in 1909 and is buried in Mayflower Cemetery in Duxbury.

The journal is currently being transcribed by a Duxbury High School intern, Gaby Davis.