Firemen's Monument, Hope Cemetery - Needent Hurry

Sculpted by Arthur B. Hewett, the figure of Simon E. Coombs, a member of the Worcester Fire Department, stands atop this monument. Coombs was a member of the Department for forty-three years and its chief from 1872 to 1891. [ Friends of Hope Cemetery ]

Inscription: ERECTED BY THE WORCESTER FIRE DEPARTMENT IN MEMORY OF THEIR DEPARTED COMRADES. | DEDICATED SEP. 15, 1896

Fireman’s Monument: March 20, 2021

Today, there are five headstones on this plot.
> George W. Blake | 1837 – 1860 [ Typhoid Fever ]
> Ira B. Hastings | 1840 – 1864 [ Consumption ]
> John Stockley | 1831 – 1865 [ Typhoid Fever ]
> Frank. B. Jones | 1853 – 1895 [ Multiple Injuries ]
> William Flynn | 1837 – 1900 [ Chronic Heart Disease ]

Postmark: 01/26/19?? 11:30AM - Spencer, Mass.

Sent to: Mrs V. Wesley Green
Address: 35 Lincoln St, Spencer Mass
As you will be out late tonight needent hurry down to morrow A  

THE MYSTERY
This card was sent in the late morning with an expectation that it would arrive before the recipient left home that same evening, which speaks to an abiding faith in the punctuality of the post office in those days. (Also interesting because the parties could have walked between their two houses in about 15 minutes.) In any case, one has to wonder what would keep a young, albeit married, woman out late (how late?) in the depths of a New England winter. [ Note: The postmark does not include a year, but it would have been sent between 1904 and 1908. ]

THE SENDER
The only personal identifier in this case is one lone letter, an “A” at the end of the message. However, given that the recipient’s mother’s given name was Addie, it seems almost certain the she was the sender.

THE RECIPIENT
Lella May Ashman, born in Spencer on September 26, 1883, married Van Wesley Green, a plumber, on June 13, 1904 and they were living together at the address on this card when the 1910 Federal Census was taken in January of that year. By 1920 Lella, now identified in the census records as Stella, had one child, Ruth M. Green, who was born in 1918. By 1930 she had another child, Gertrude B. Green, age 8 at the time, and the family had moved to Pleasant Street in Spencer. Efforts to locate further information about Stella after 1940 have so far proved fruitless.

REFERENCES

(1) Firemen’s Monument - Friends of Hope Cemetery
(2) Family Histories - Ancestry.com
(3) Spencer, Massachusetts - Wikipedia

THE CARD
Made in Germany for A.P. Lundborg
Worcester, Mass.
[ Front: A21994 ]

Chapel & Gateway, Hope Cemetery - Dear Sis!

This is the companion piece to an earlier post about Curtis Chapel, which is pictured above just inside the gates of Hope Cemetery’s (now disused) main entrance. According to Bill Wallace, Executive Director of the Worcester Historical Museum, The architect "(Stephen) Earle designed the (original) fence/gates many years before the chapel. Sections of this fence survive along Webster Street to the left of the current gates.”

Hope Cemetery Gates: June 29, 2018

Today, as seen above, both Curtis Chapel and the original wrought iron gates are gone. Again according to Bill Wallace, “The ‘new’ gates are early 20th century replacements; the bequest of Mary Nixon (she and her husband lived in the house formerly occupied by the Webster House restaurant). They were built by the Norcross Brothers in the style of the chapel.”

ADDRESS OF HONORABLE Pehr G. Holmes, MAYOR OP THE CITY OF WORCESTER, 1917 WITH THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 80, 1917:

A feature of permanent value and of special significance to every one having pride in the cemetery and its appointments, which calls for special mention in this report, is the addition of the Memorial entrance

Postmark: 12/15/1910 - Worcester, Mass.

Sent to: Miss E Blanche Poole
Address: Fall River, Massachusetts
Dear Sis! Haven’t heard from ma yet so as to know if they are coming down. Yes I will help you with the sweater(.) How much do you want? Do you want to go together on pa’s too? I thought a nice pin of his order would be nice. He has always wanted one. or a charm. Have you bought Nellie’s present? She wants a nice back (?) comb. If you want you can send me as much as you want to spend for her and I will put some with it and get her as good a one as I can for the money. I should think $1.00 ought to get a nice one. I know just what she wants. Grais  

THE MYSTERY
The limited space on a postcard and the public nature of their messages often leads senders to write elliptically. This particular card is quite the exception. We know that Grais was writing to her sister, that the two of them were planning joint gifts for Christmas (the card was postmarked on December 15th), and even what gifts they had in mind. The mystery then is whether ma got the sweater, pa got the pin (or charm) and Nellie got the comb.

THE SENDER
Grais Florence Poole was born on July 4, 1890 in New Salem, Massachusetts. The “Nellie” she mentions is apparently Nellie May (Simonds) Burrage, although the early connection between them is not clear. However, three years after Nellie died in 1941, Grais married Nellie’s widower, James Burrage, who died in 1947. Grais died in 1968 and is buried in North New Salem Cemetery, along with her mother, father, and husband.

THE RECIPIENT
Blanche Poole was born on August 19, 1880 and at the time of the 1910 Federal Census was working as a servant for Rufus P. and Sarah S. Walker, who lived at the address on this card. On March 8, 1914, at the age of 33, she married Milton M. McIntyre, a widower with one son. After Milton died in 1925, Blanche returned to live with her parents in New Salem. She died in 1965 and is buried alongside her husband in South Cemetery, Orange, Massachusetts.

REFERENCES

(1) Family Histories - Ancestry.com

THE CARD
THE HUGH C. LEIGHTON CO
MANUFACTURERS PORTLAND, ME., U.S.A. L374

Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Bill Wallace, Executive Director of the Worcester Historical Museum, for his guidance on researching this topic and for permission to use his words in the blog.

Chapel, Hope Cemetery - Mama Arrived Home

This little jewel box of a building, “Curtis Chapel” at Hope Cemetery, was designed by noted Worcester architect Stephen Earle, dedicated on January 1, 1891 and demolished by the City of Worcester in 1962. It was the gift of Albert W. Curtis, one of the original Commissioners of Hope Cemetery and an owner of Curtis & Marble, a local textile machine company.

Hope Cemetery Gates: June 29, 2018

According to Bill Wallace, Executive Director of the Worcester Historical Museum, "The chapel stood just inside the currently unused entrance at the top of the rise as you approach from Webster Square. The 'new' gates [seen above] are early 20th century replacements, built by the Norcross Brothers in the style of the chapel."

Postmark: 03/24/1906 - Millbury Mass.

Sent to: Miss Lizzie Cullina
Address: Worcester, Massachusetts
Mama arrived home last night found everything all O.K.
Marion

THE MYSTERY
Punctuation on postcards from the early 20th century is often rather sparse. In this case, the lack of a dash, comma or period leads to some difficulty in understanding the true intent of the message. It might read, "Mama - Arrived home last night. Found everything all O.K." or "Mama arrived home last night (and) found everything all O.K." The correct interpretation is made clear by details provided below about the sender and recipient, neither of whom is "Mama."

THE SENDER
On June 19, 1900 the Federal census for that year records Marion Cullina living with her mother and five siblings in the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, roughly 10 miles from Worcester. Six years later, at the time this card was sent, she was 12 years old and, as the youngest member of a large family, was likely the one designated to communicate with her sister Lizzie.

THE RECIPIENT
Elizabeth ("Lizzie") Cullina was the sixth of ten children born to Michael and Ellen (Powers) Cullina. Her date of birth was August 11, 1874 and she died in May 1964. This card was almost certainly sent after a visit by her mother to Worcester where Lizzie (a "saleslady") lived at the time with her brother Edmund (a carpenter) and sister Nellie (a housekeeper).

REFERENCES

(1) Cullina Family History - Ancestry.com

THE CARD
Made in Germany
A. C. Bosselman & Co., New York.

Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Bill Wallace for his guidance on researching this topic, for essentially all of the basic information about Curtis Chapel (which is almost invisible on the Web), and for permission to use his words in the blog.
Also, thanks to Larry Abramoff for providing the postcard itself.