OHA Newsletter
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Issue No. 37 Oakham Historical Association December 2007
Happy Holidays!
Another year has passed. On the attached sheet you’ll see a review of 2007 at the OHA. We’re proud of the fact that the Association is spending more time on its mission of education. You’ll see we’ve become more involved with the school, and that we’re holding events, not as fundraisers, but as educational events. Planning for 2008 activities is under way. If you have any ideas, please let us know.
As always, if you have questions you can call Jeff Young at 508-882-3111, or check our website www.oakhamhistory.com.
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1820 School Expenditures
Speaking of education, I have a document showing the school expenditures per district in 1820 for Oakham. Yes, Oakham had school districts, seven of them in fact. The total cost for the year was $344.61, distributed as follows:
$89.30 West District
$66.14 North District
$82.86 Center District
$25.71 Southwest District
$40.74 South District
$14.12 Southeast District
$25.74 East District
Based on those amounts, you can tell where the population of schoolchildren was most prominent.
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Potter and Rice/Allen
Yes, more information gleaned from the store registers of Potter and Rice/Allen. First, a follow-up to our earlier story about palm-leaf hats. If you remember, customers of the store would buy palm leaf, make hats, and bring them to the store in exchange for store credit. I’ve found a few instances where a Mr. Weston came to purchase the hats from Potter and Rice for $10 per dozen hats. Considering the store was giving about 35 cents credit per hat, they made a nice profit.
Each entry in the registers has the name of the person, then each item purchased along with its price. What is interesting about the entries, is that the men are referred to simply with their first and last names, unless they had a title such as Capt. Or Col., while the women’s names are preceded by Mrs., Miss, or Widow.
In Wright’s genealogy, it says that Freeman French eventually left Oakham for Philadelphia where he was a principal in a shoe manufacturing firm. Apparently Mr. French had an early start in that business, as in early 1835 he sold 97 pairs of boots at $1.85 each to Potter and Allen.
Throughout the registers we see where local residents came to the store bringing hats, cheese, cows, pigs, etc. in exchange for store credit. Clearly, with the amount of hats and cheese alone, these products were sent elsewhere for sale. But where and how? The answer for the hats we just discussed, and some entries in the store registers give us clues for the rest. Several times, people such as Cheney Bothwell, Jesse Fitts, and Jonas Brimhall, were paid for carting goods to Boston. They were paid a half-cent per pound for the trip, sometimes carting over 4000 pounds. Considering that at that time a day’s labor was probably worth close to a dollar, $20 to bring 4000 pounds of goods to Boston may have sounded good.
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36th Massachusetts Infantry, Company K
In the summer of 1862, 15 men from Oakham enlisted in Company K of the 36th Mass. Infantry organized at Camp Wool in Worcester. The 15 were: John B. Fairbank, Edward Chamberlain, Charles L. Haskell, Silas J. Howell, James D. Johnson, Henry I. Macomber, William Macomber, Lewis T. Pellett, Daniel Rawson, Barzillai M. Reed, Edwin C. Spooner, Charles H. Stearns, Daniel W. Dean, Seth Dean, and William Ware. Three of these men were in their thirties at the time of their enlistment, and one, Charles Haskell, was 42. Of these 15, six died during the war (D. Dean, S. Dean, Stearns, Reed, Rawson, Haskell), four from disease and two due to combat.
At the time of the company’s organization, John B. Fairbank was chosen First Sergeant. During the war he rose through the ranks to become Major in 1865. Edward Chamberlain was also recognized for his efforts, rising from the rank of Private to Lieutenant during his three years of service.
In September of 1862 the unit went to Washington, and then joined the 9th Army near Sharpsburg, MD, participating in the Battle of Fredricksburg. In 1863 the company went west under General Burnside (who is responsible for the term “sideburns”) and was sent to Vicksburg in June. They fought battles in Kentucky and Tennessee, then returned to the east in 1864. The unit lost several men in May of that year at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania. Then in June at Cold Harbor the regiment lost another 57 men. Later that month the regiment was involved in the assault on Petersburg. In April the following year, they were in action again at Petersburg, in the battle that led to Lee’s surrender days later.
It was during the first assault on Petersburg in 1864 that the 36th regiment had its most successful engagement. The regiment had less than 90 men in the battle, and of these 19 were killed or wounded early in the action. Captain Hodgkins in his description of the battle said: “As the rebel commander was pulled over the breastworks as a prisoner, he shouted to his men ‘Stand firm; their right is all gone.’ The enemy discovered the break in our line and commenced a sharp cross-fire upon the regiment. At this critical moment, Captain Smith, commanding the regiment, with wonderful presence of mind, turned toward the left and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Fairbank, bring up your brigade!’ at the same moment yelling ‘Charge!’ The ruse had its desired effect, and before Lieutenant Fairbank could hurry his ‘brigade’ of eight men of Co. K from the left, the enemy wavered. Our men leaped the breastworks and captured all the defenders who did not take to their heels.”
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Oakham’s Washington Grenadiers
In October of 1813 (during the War of 1812), a petition was read and accepted by the Massachusetts Committee on Military Affairs to establish a company of grenadiers among the residents of Oakham and New Braintree. This petition was sent to the committee by members of those towns under the leadership of William Crawford, Jr. The company was annexed to the Third Regiment, First Brigade, and Seventh Division, of the Militia of Massachusetts.
The book the OHA has contains the notes for the company, beginning in 1813 and continuing through 1829. So this company of militia may have started during a war, but continued for many years after. Each of the volunteers appears to have signed the book, starting with about 35 in 1813, and adding names as late as 1835. Some of the original signers were: William Crawford Jr., James Allen, Jonas Brimhall, Thomas Haskell, Isaac Stone, Seth Stone, Michael Lincoln, James Barr, Edward Woodis, George Mullet, Fabian Tomlinson, Lot Conant, James Conant Jr., Daniel Flint, and Stephen Lincoln.
As of 1815 the company was organized as follows: Captain – William Crawford Jr., Lieutenant – James Allen, Ensign – Michal Lincoln, and Sergeants – Stephen Lincoln, Edward Woodis, and Stephen Fay Jr. Music was provided by Lot Conant, George Mullet, and Benjamin Mullet as Druumers, and Sylvester Morse and John Thompson as Fifers. Each man was required to have a uniform, musket, bayonet, cartridge box, iron hammer, scabbard and belt, flints, wire brush, and a knapsack.
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Cheney Bothwell
Cheney Bothwell was born in Oakham in 1790, the grandson of one of Oakham’s first settlers, Alexander Bothwell 2nd, who came to Oakham in 1750. Cheney married Electa Rockwood in 1810. Electa was from New Braintree, having moved there with her family from Holliston. Unfortunately, Electa died in January 1825 at the age of 35, leaving Cheney with no children. Luckily for Cheney, Electa had a younger sister (10 years her junior) named Charlotte. Cheney and Charlotte were married in April 1825. They went on to have nine children between 1826 and 1841.
One of the nine children was named Cheney Jr., born in 1835 in Oakham. Cheney Jr. married Ellen Allen of Spencer in 1863. They had three children, Nellie, Cheney R., and Florence. Florence Bothwell was born in 1876 and went on to become a teacher in the Oakham schools for over 50 years. Many of her former pupils remember her well.
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Reminders: Regular meetings – 3rd Wednesday of the month @ 7pm
Work meetings – 1st Wednesday of the month @ 7pm