Now, Even More Information About That Sturbridge Mystery

Yesterday, I received some more information about the "Sturbridge Mystery" I wrote about in April.  I still find it amazing how our questions can eventually find their way to those that have some answers.  Sometimes those answers may be from far away, or in this case, in our own backyard.

"Hello-
I had read your blog post about finding those pictures of people from Sturbidge. You were looking for some information on some of the people in the pictures. 
 
"The girl on the lower left center" (Edna) is Edna S Morse. She is my great great grandmother and was born in Sturbridge in 1863. She stayed in Massachusetts her whole life, marrying the artist George S Payne (my great great grandfather) in 1884, and dying in Springfield, Massachusetts, although there is no clear date on this.
 
Hopes this helps!
 
PS: Elisha Southwick, whom you also metioned in your blog post, was Edna's maternal grandfather and A.C. Morse, or Amasa Morse, was her father.
 
Hope this helps!

Joe Sullivan
Southwick, MA"
jsullivan2@live.com

More Information About That Sturbridge Mystery

I want to share some information I received in an email yesterday as a follow up to the posting "A Sturbridge Mystery"  from April.  Great information, and to quote the author of the email, "Isn't Google great?".

"Rev. Martin Luther Richardson was my great-great grandfather on my mother's side (Richardson), via William Shedd and Stephen Morse. My mother still refers to them as "the doctor" and "the minister". We think of them in terms of Montague MA rather than Sturbridge. I was looking up something about MLR (who graduated from Amherst College) and came across this thread. Isn't Google great!

We know about William and Harriet, but have no information about Gilbert. Harriet married an Ayer, but we don't know the first name. I believe they lived in Sturbridge. They had a daughter named Harriet who married Ralph D. Whitmore and lived in Sunderland, MA, next door to Montague. William was a doctor in Marlborough, MA, but when he died relatively young, my grandfather and his sister Martha went to live with MLR in Montague. The interesting part (for me, I guess) is that Martha married Phillip Whitmore, brother of Ralph, who married Harriet (the daughter of Harriet in your picture). The common connection, I guess, is MLR living in Montague, MA.

My grandfather married a Wyman (daughter of a very successful market gardening family in Arlington, MA), but went into the market gardening business with Philip Whitmore, who owned land on the Connecticut River in North Sunderland, MA. It was called Richmore Farms. My mother has very fond memories of growing up on the farm by the river with all of the relatives nearby. My aunt still lives in a cottage on the river there. Also interesting, is that MLR’s wife Angeletta’s mother was also a Richardson who goes back to the another of the Richardson brothers who first settled Woburn, MA.

We have some pictures of MLR and William, but I don't recall anything about Sturbridge. When my uncle died a few years ago, we got 16 (!) boxes and chests of family history. I tried to catalogue it, although there are many pictures and documents I can't place. Unfortunately, many of the things are mixed together so that we can't really guess to which family they belonged. It could be that many of the MLR documents went to Harriet's side of the family. I will ask my mother and her sister what they know of the four children of Harriet Ayer and Ralph Whitmore.

I grew up in Rockville, CT, but, perhaps ironically, have never been to Sturbridge. I do remember the billboard for the Publick House on Rte 84.

Sincerely,

Stephen Morse Hollister

Jamestown, RI"

There Was A Plan All Along

There has been a lot of hullabaloo about the front doors to the Town Hall not being open to the public because some  people feel that the building would not be ADA compliant if they were.  This, despite the fact that the building meets all requirements with its rear door facing the parking lot.

Everyone is just too skittish to act, and open the darn doors for fear of letting in a lawsuit, or some gosh-awful penalty from the state.

I have this vision of a roomful of "Don Knotts" sitting around a board table stuttering, and shaking  their way around the issue, and then ordering the door locked, nailed shut and the curtains drawn over it.

All this comotion about not being ADA compliant.  Nice sentiment, but is it sincere?  I am sure it is in this case, but...

The sidewalks along Route 20 in Fiskdale have not been ADA complaint since they were built, yet despite this fact the state has not cited the town, or closed the road down until made right.

Of course not, it's a state road, but where does the responsibility for the sidewalks lie?  Well, since the town has made such a fuss about private citizens maintaining them during snow storms, those sidewalks belong to the Town of Sturbridge.  They have to be if they are making rules, and bylaws about them, right?  So, what about the fix for the ADA deficient sidewalks?

Bueller?  Bueller?

Don't bother expecting an answer.  They do know it has to be done, but the fix is harder and costs way more than those town hall doors.

The town halls front doors do need to be opened, and I don't think anyone can say that it was an oversight, or a mistake.  It was planned for them to remain closed, and it was planned without the proper input of the the residents.

And, that is the entire point.

Front "dummy" doors to the Center Office Building.

How can I assume this to be true?  Well, if you look across the street to the Center Office Building that was restored at the same time the town hall was, designed by the same architect, you will notice that the front doors are without door knobs.  In fact, the brick walkways leading to those doors are higher than the driveway grade, and there are not steps, or ramps to access those doors.

Front doors.  Not accessible, and just for show and tell.  There is an unmistakable pattern emerging here.

Rear doors to the Center Office Building.

Now, look around back.  There are two doors around back.  One door has a knob, and access with a ramped curb cut.  There is also access to an elevator at that entrance.  there is also an other door facing the rear of the building without a knob.

So, the Center Office Building has only one door leading into it that has a knob to allow access, and the other five doors without knobs are for looks, and hopefully, exiting in case of an emergency.

Now, if a mobility disabled person is in the building in an emergency they had better be near the rear doors since they are the only ones that lead to a ramped curb cut.  If that person is forced to use the front doors, good luck getting down from the sidewalk onto the driveway.  I guess just getting ones backside out of a burning building outweighs falling off the curb onto the same backside.

The design of both buildings shows that the front doors were never designed to be used, and this came as a shock to many in town that assumed the buildings were going to be restored to the level of functioning they had before, but significantly improved.

I realize that the Board of Selectmen are working on getting the doors opened by submitting a request for a variance with the state.   Good luck with that, and I hope we hear from the state in short order.  All I want to illustrate this today is that the design was intended, and since it was, it had to be approved by people from town in the know.  All I'd like to know was who were those that signed off on this without allowing for the residents input, and do they still have input into issues concerning the town?

A better awareness of the inner working of town government would be good, how the  decisions being made there affect us, and how to be sure that those decisions are for the benefit of all in town.

We just need to be more aware, and if those in office aren't anxious to do it, we need to take the reigns ourselves.

Simple Enough

Birthdays are an annual reminder of just how we've done, how we're doing, and a bench mark that we can use to determine how we'll do down the road.

If you're not celebrating a birthday this year chances are you aren't doing well at all. If you are, then you may, just for an instant, scan the past year to determine if you are where you thought you would be twelve months ago.  Most of us aren't where we saw ourselves, so we do a quick little shake of our heads,  and move on to finish loading the dishwasher, or buttoning our shirt.

Then of course, if we are breathing, loved by another, able to pay cash for a clam plate, and have something worthwhile to do each day, we are in better shape than most.

I'm in better shape than most on this birthday, and I am very thankful to be able to look back over each year to see things in the rearview mirror. Just being able to do that, no matter how things have gone, puts me far ahead of those that changed their address to Forest Lawn.

So, today I am running the year in review through my head, and making mental notes in the margin of the script for the upcoming year.  Nothing major, but little things that can cause major things to happen.

• Breathe.
• Love.
• Laugh.
• Repeat.

Simple enough.

You're Invited! The New Whistling Swan Restaurant

The New Whistling Swan Restaurant

Friday, May 6, 2011 • 5:30–8:00pm

Please join us as we celebrate the re-opening of the refurbished Whistling Swan Restaurant. For this special event we will be providing a complimentary wine tasting event with hors d’oeuvres, artfully prepared and paired to each wine selection by Head Chef, Rob Fecteau. We will be enjoying premium wines from some of the most prominent boutique vineyards of the McLaren Vale region of South Australia. The evening’s wine selections will be provided by Panther Distributing and are available locally at Yankee Spirits. So come over to the “Swan” to see what’s new, enjoy some fantastic wine and food pairings, and say hello to some old friends and maybe make a few new friends as well.

The Whistling Swan and The Ugly Duckling Loft

Open Daily at 11:30am

502 Main Street

Sturbridge, MA 01566

(508) 347-2321

www.thewhistlingswan.com