[LincolnTalk] “Did You Know …?” At 4 PM on this Day in 1787, the Constitution was Signed

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*“Did You Know …?” At 4 PM on this Day in 1787, the Constitution was Signed*

   No, John Adams was not among those men at Philadelphia who signed the
original document on September 17, 1787.  Both Adams and Thomas Jefferson
were abroad, serving as representatives of the United States.

   However, John Adams had written *A Defense of the Constitutions of the
United States of America* (1778) in which he discussed the constitutions
that had been adopted by each state after the Continental Congress had
declared independence from Great Britain.  James Madison, who is often
called the Father of the Constitution for his role in the drafting,
reportedly drew upon John Adams’ analysis for ideas in framing the federal
Constitution.

   John Adams did write the Massachusetts state constitution of 1780.  It
contains a key phrase that was the basis for ending slavery in the
Commonwealth: “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural,
essential, and unalienable rights;”

   On the other hand, judge for yourself whether we are lucky that Adams
was abroad when the national Constitution was drafted.  Here is John Adams’
phrasing in the Massachusetts constitution:

*We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful
hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording
us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and
peaceably, without fraud, violence, or surprise, of entering into an
original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other, and of forming a
new constitution of civil government for ourselves and posterity; and
devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon,
ordain, and establish the following declaration of rights and frame of
government as the constitution of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.*

And here is the phrase the Constitutional Convention settled upon in
September 1787:

*We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.*


*Happy Constitution Day!*



Donald L. Hafner

The Lincoln Historical Society
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] For those who missed it -- TRAPelo versus TraPELo

[Lincoln Historical Society]

At Lincoln’s Fourth of July parade, the Lincoln Historical Society had a
“float” with a tongue-in-cheek reminder of the great town debate over the
pronunciation of “Trapelo Road.”

The Historical Society also had a handout for the crowd with a “Did You
Know …?" on this great debate that we published a while back.  We
appreciate the interest and enthusiasm of the 150+ parade spectators who
received the handout, but we know there were some in the crowd that we
missed.  Here is the “Did You Know …?” handout for those who missed it.

Happy Birthday, America!
The Lincoln Historical Society


LHS-DYK-Trapelo Road .pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] “Did You Know …?” When America Welcomed Refugees in 1956-1957

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*The Lincoln Historical Society*

*“Did You Know …?”  When America Welcomed Refugees in 1956-1957 *

Adele Peterdi Harvey of Lincoln knows something of what it means to flee
from war and find refuge in the United States.

Adele was eleven years old when Soviet tanks rolled through the streets of
her village, to crush the Hungarian Uprising against Soviet rule in 1956.

Her father, A. John Peterdi, had been a reconnaissance pilot for the
Hungarian Air Force during World War II and spent the last few months of
that war as a POW on the Russian Front.  From 1946 to1956, John held
various jobs in Budapest ranging from commercial pilot to delivering
groceries on a motorbike, eventually working at a machine design firm as a
draftsman…whatever it took to feed his family.

The Hungarian Uprising had lasted only ten days when the Soviet army
invaded.  Her parents decided the family should flee.  Her father contacted
his brother, who lived in far western Hungary, for aid in getting the
family over the border into Austria.  The brother knew farmers living in
the border area, and the farmers knew the safest places to cross, unseen by
guards.


[image: Adele Peterdi Harvey.jpg]

Adele Peterdi Harvey 1959

Days later, Adele and her father departed for his brother’s home.  If
stopped and questioned, Adele's father hadprepared the excuse that his
daughter was ill (Adele was small and thin) and the trip was for health
reasons.  The next day, Adele’s mother followed with one of her adult sons.
 (The other son would cross the border later.)  Her prepared excuse was
that she was joining her husband for their daughter’s convalescence.  To
avoid suspicion, none of them carried any luggage, save for one small
briefcase containing papers.

A day or so later the family boarded a train headed west.  They were
instructed to exit the train at a stop near the Austrian border, to run to
the nearest building, and then wait for the guides who would arrive after
dark.  At nightfall, local people took them through ploughed fields toward
the Austrian border.  They were instructed to drop to the ground and stay
still if they saw searchlights or the bright headlights of border patrols.

There came a moment in the darkness when Adele believed they had reached
Austria.  She reached down, grabbed a handful of dirt, and put it in her
pocket.  This time when headlights appeared, their guides told them to run
through a ditch and toward the lights.  They were indeed in Austria, and
they were safe. The car was driven by two young American men who had come
to that area specifically to assist Hungarians fleeing the invading
Russians.

Eventually, 200,000 Hungarians fled their country during the Uprising, and
many found their way to the U.S.  Adele’s mother used her fluent German and
capable English to contact a cousin who lived in Detroit, and he agreed to
sponsor the family.  A month or so later, the family was flown to the U.S.
and taken to Camp Kilmer where “Operation Safe Haven” welcomed thousands of
Hungarian refugees into the United States.  By chance, Adele’s father was
recognized by a Hungarian-American who had immigrated years before and was
volunteering with the re‑settlement process.  He arranged for Adele’s
family to live with people in Connecticut who had volunteered to take in a
Hungarian family.  Thus began their life in America.

Ultimately, Adele’s father learned English, qualified as a draftsman,
completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, got an MBA,
and enjoyed a long career.  Her mother got a job on Wall Street as a
receptionist and eventually became an administrative assistant.  The
brother who had accompanied them received a law degree from the University
of North Dakota and made his career as an attorney for the Federal
Government.  Adele got her degree in English Literature from Northwestern
in 1967.  In 1978, Adele moved to Lincoln with her husband and two sons,
and in 2003, her father joined them in Lincoln as well.

Adele’s family could not have seen the Statue of Liberty from Camp Kilmer.  But
for these refugees from war, Liberty’s torch burned bright and welcoming.

Gus Browne

The Lincoln Historical Society
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] “Did You Know …?” That the issue of slavery almost made Lincoln ungovernable?

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*The Lincoln Historical Society*



*“Did You Know …?”  That the issue of slavery almost made Lincoln
ungovernable?*



During the early 1800s, Lincoln was pretty much a Whig town.  Time after
time, it voted overwhelmingly for the Whig’s presidential candidate, who
then lost to the candidate of the Jacksonian Democratic party.  But the
election of 1848 was different.  The Whig party had been ambivalent about
whether slavery should be allowed in the new territories of the southwest
acquired during the Mexican‑American War.  That sparked the rise of a new
Free Soil party, adamantly opposed to the extension of slavery.  In the
1848 election, Lincoln’s voters split with 52 votes for the Whig Zachary
Taylor and 50 votes for Martin Van Buren of the Free Soil Party.



[image: Free Soil Poster 1848 2.jpeg]

*Charles Frances Adams was Vice-President on the Free Soil ticket in 1848
with Martin Van Buren.  His son was later a resident of Lincoln.*

The town’s political division carried over to town meeting in March 1849.  It
took seven ballots to choose the three selectmen, and then one of those
chosen—Abel Wheeler—refused to serve.  Two more ballots were needed before
Dr. Henry Chapin was elected to fill that spot.  Two days later, Dr. Chapin
resigned.  Six more ballots were needed before William Wheeler was elected
and agreed to serve.  The polarized politics had delayed the election of
other minor town officers, and it was days before a town treasurer was
finally selected.

James L. Chapin, who attended the seemingly endless meetings, lamented the
political paralysis: “We are a strange set of people here in Lincoln—always
quarreling about something.  We have two parties, and if one of them
attempts to do anything, the other is sure to oppose them to the last.”

In the next two presidential elections, Lincoln voters would again side
overwhelmingly with the (losing) Whig candidate.  Finally, in 1860, Lincoln
voted in a landslide for a winning presidential candidate—a rough-hewn man
from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln.



For more on Lincoln’s politics in the era before the Civil War, see Jack
MacLean’s *A Rich Harvest*, available from the Lincoln Historical Society.



Donald L. Hafner

The Lincoln Historical Society
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] "Did You Know ..." About the battle over hymn singing in Lincoln’s first church?

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*The Lincoln Historical Society*


*“Did You Know …” About the battle over hymn singing in Lincoln’s first
church?*

When Lincoln formed its first church in 1746, the hymn singing at Sunday
services must have been dreadful.

One of the deacons would stand before the congregation and read a line or
two of the psalm that had been selected for the day.  The parishioners
would sing the one or two lines and then stop.  The deacon would read the
next lines, and the congregation would again sing those and stop.  There
were only a few hymn melodies used at the time, and they were not attached
to specific psalms.  The deacon might propose his favorite melody, but
since few parishioners did any singing at all, except at church, we can
imagine the “tune” sung by many of them was an off-key warble or a droning
monotone.

In May 1770, some parishioners had a better idea.  They proposed that rows
of seats to the front of the church be reserved for “those persons who have
taken pains to acquire some good degree of understanding of the rules of
singing.”  This was a radical proposal, because seating at the front of the
church had always been assigned according to the wealth of the family, not
their singing ability.  Nonetheless, the proposal was adopted.  The
following March, town meeting approved a list of 25 men and 15 women who
had proved their skill in “the rules of singing” and were granted this
privileged seating. Many were from the town’s prominent families, but a few
were from the poorest.

This change did not sit well with some parishioners.  In town meeting on
May 17, 1771, a few disgruntled sorts proposed that the singers should be
ousted from their seats at the front, and if they wanted to sit together,
they should be sent to the back corners of the building.

The battle was joined, and there followed a rare event in Lincoln’s
history.  Up to this point, town meeting records were terse and bland.  The
town clerk wrote down each proposed warrant and whether the vote was “in
the affirmative” or the negative.  No record at all of the points of debate
or the tally of votes, yea and nay.  But not this time.

In clear handwriting, the clerk recorded: “Voted on the fourth article that
it be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.”  Take that, you disgruntled
sorts!!

For a more complete history of hymn singing in Lincoln, the Reverend
Charles M. Styron’s *The First Parish in Lincoln: History of the Church
1747-1942* is available in the Library.

Donald L. Hafner

Lincoln Historical Society
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

Re: [LincolnTalk] Fees for Town Online Bills

[Lincoln Historical Society]

there has been a fee for online credit card payment as long as I ahve been 
doing it.
Sara

> On Nov 26, 2021, at 11:44 AM, Richard Panetta  
> wrote:
> 
> Went online to pay my water bill and noticed a fee of $2.50 for submitting a 
> CC payment. Is this new or has that always been there, as I do not remember 
> that fee.
> 
> I know there has been a .50 cent fee for echeck which is why I usually did 
> the CC payment. Perhaps I am just not remembering or missed that fee in the 
> past
> 
> 
> -- 
> The LincolnTalk mailing list.
> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
> Change your subscription settings at 
> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
> 

-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] “Did You Know …?” That Lincoln Once Had a Lime Kiln?

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*The Lincoln Historical Society*


*“Did You Know …?”  That Lincoln Once Had a Lime Kiln?* * (A What!?)*


In 1730, Samuel Dakin with his brothers and three other investors had high
ambitions.  They formed a partnership for “searching after, digging, and
improving all such mines or ores as may be found in or upon the land of”
Samuel Dakin.  Iron ores were highly valued, and bog iron ore—which forms
in iron-rich, swampy water—had been found around Iron Mine Brook near
Beaver Pond in Lincoln.  The partners hoped a lode of bog iron ore might
lie buried beneath Samuel Dakin’s land.  Dakin’s mining ambitions, however,
were a bust.  If the partners ever found “such mines or ores,” they were
meager.

Fortunately for Samuel Dakin, his father had bequeathed to him a limestone
quarry and a kiln for roasting limestone at high heat, converting it into
powdery, white lime.  The quarry and the lime kiln were located on the
Dakin lands bounded by modern Sandy Pond and Baker Bridge roads.  For
Dakin’s neighbors, it might well have been cursed as “the Lime Kiln Field.”
 The heat needed to roast limestone into lime required large amounts of
wood and produced acrid smoke and toxic fumes.  The lime kiln cannot have
been a good neighbor.

[image: Lime Kiln Illustration 3.jpeg]

Lime had many uses in 18th century Lincoln.  Weaver Joshua Child used “two
pounds of the best rock lime” in his recipe for dyeing cloth.  Joshua
Brooks used lime at his tannery on the North Road to remove hair from the
hides before tanning.  And in March 1767, the town paid Joshua Brooks for
“eight bushels and half of hair to mix with lime for the meeting house.”  The
town had built a new gallery in the meeting house, and lime bought from
Amos Dakin was mixed with sand and the hair from Brooks’ tannery “to
plaster under the galleries in the meeting house.”  (The animal hair helped
bind the plaster together.)  Over the years, the town treasurer’s records
are sprinkled with payments for lime to be used in whitewashing the walls
of the town’s school houses.

It is not clear when the lime kiln in Samuel Dakin’s field ceased belching
smoke and fumes.  In 1788, Dakin sold his land to a Lincoln newcomer,
Zachariah Smith.  Whatever became of Dakin’s lime kiln, clearly it had not
transformed Lincoln into a mining town.  Yet perhaps scattered in that
field there still can be found a scorched stone or two that once were part
of Lincoln’s ancient lime kiln.



This account of the Dakin lime kiln is indebted to Jack MacLean’s *A Rich
Harvest*, which can be purchased from the Lincoln Historical Society.
Illustration
from Historic England, *Pre-Industrial Lime Kilns* (2018).



Donald L. Hafner

The Lincoln Historical Society
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] If you missed it...

[Lincoln Historical Society]

WATCH NOW: Entangled Lives, Black and White: Lincoln and its African American 
residents in the 18th century

watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WI7hIkML0I&t=6266s

-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] For those not able to watch/participate

[Lincoln Historical Society]

…in the screening and discussion if Mossville:When Great Trees Fall.
https://www.pbs.org/video/mossville-when-great-trees-fall-se2q8k/

It will not include the discussion, but is the video.
I will forward a link to the discussion if one becomes available.

Sara-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] TONIGHT!!!!

[Lincoln Historical Society]

The Lincoln Historical Society <>
 As we dig deeper into history, we began to explore Lincoln’s past as a 
town that included enslaved people with a talk by Elise Lemire, co-sponsored 
with the Bemis Free Lecture Series.  You can view Elise’s presentation at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEaXkTHSBd0 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEaXkTHSBd0>

Now, we dig deeper with this upcoming event—

Thursday, October 28th, 7 PM

Entangled Lives, Black and White: 
Lincoln and Its African American Residents in the 18th Century 
by Prof. Donald L. Hafner
 
Join the event here:  
https://zoom.us/j/93632760035?pwd=MHl1Mjg1V1R0ZlRNTlRhRzdtQzFyZz09 
<https://zoom.us/j/93632760035?pwd=MHl1Mjg1V1R0ZlRNTlRhRzdtQzFyZz09>
Meeting ID: 936 3276 0035
Passcode: 177417
 
 Please join Lincoln’s First Parish “Racial Justice Journey” and the 
Lincoln Historical Society in exploring the complicated legacy of Lincoln’s 
early racial history, with a presentation by Don Hafner, retired Vice Provost 
and Professor of Political Science at Boston College.  Prof. Hafner is a board 
member of the Lincoln Historical Society, and author of two important books 
about 18thcentury Lincoln history: William Smith, Captain: The Life and Death 
of a Soldier of the American Revolution, and Tales of the Battle Road April 19, 
1775.  He will take us on a deeper exploration into stories of some of 
Lincoln’s earliest residents.
 
 The First Parish Lincoln’s Racial Justice Journey began this fall with a 
focus on history – national, local, and church history – and the ways in which 
that history has involved us in questions of race.  The aim is to offer access 
to a variety of sources of information and perspectives that will let 
participants reconsider these questions together, in preparation for the next 
stages of the journey, focused on ISSUES (winter) and ACTION (spring).  This 
fall, every Thursday evening at 7 PM, Zoom meetings are held for talks, 
documentaries, book discussions, or movies.  Field trips are also offered as 
part of the program.  Everyone is invited.
 
To learn more, please contact Mary Helen Lorenz at
mhelen808...@gmail.com <mailto:mhelen808...@gmail.com>.
 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] Program this Thursday: "Lincoln and Its African-American Residents in the 18th Century"

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*The Lincoln Historical Society*

 As we dig deeper into history, we began to explore Lincoln’s past as a
town that included enslaved people with a talk by Elise Lemire,
co-sponsored with the Bemis Free Lecture Series.  You can view Elise’s
presentation at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEaXkTHSBd0


Now, we dig deeper with this upcoming event—


*Thursday, October 28th, 7 PM*


*Entangled Lives, Black and White: *

*Lincoln and Its African American Residents in the 18th Century*

by Prof. Donald L. Hafner



Join the event here:

https://zoom.us/j/93632760035?pwd=MHl1Mjg1V1R0ZlRNTlRhRzdtQzFyZz09

Meeting ID: 936 3276 0035

Passcode: 177417



 Please join Lincoln’s First Parish “Racial Justice Journey” and the
Lincoln Historical Society in exploring the complicated legacy of Lincoln’s
early racial history, with a presentation by Don Hafner, retired Vice
Provost and Professor of Political Science at Boston College.  Prof. Hafner
is a board member of the Lincoln Historical Society, and author of two
important books about 18thcentury Lincoln history: *William Smith, Captain:
The Life and Death of a Soldier of the American Revolution, *and* Tales of
the Battle Road April 19, 1775.*  He will take us on a deeper exploration
into stories of some of Lincoln’s earliest residents.



 The First Parish Lincoln’s Racial Justice Journey began this fall with
a focus on history – national, local, and church history – and the ways in
which that history has involved us in questions of race.  The aim is to
offer access to a variety of sources of information and perspectives that
will let participants reconsider these questions together, in preparation
for the next stages of the journey, focused on ISSUES (winter) and ACTION
(spring).  This fall, every Thursday evening at 7 PM, Zoom meetings are
held for talks, documentaries, book discussions, or movies.  Field trips
are also offered as part of the program.  Everyone is invited.



To learn more, please contact Mary Helen Lorenz at

mhelen808...@gmail.com.
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] Did You Know…?” The so-called “Muster Field” is not where Lincoln’s minute men mustered in 1775

[Lincoln Historical Society]

*The Lincoln Historical Society*

 Contrary to popular Lincoln myth, the town’s minute men did not muster
in the field at the corner of Sandy Pond and Baker Bridge Roads.  The
mistaken identity of that field as the “Muster Field” came about from a
mis-reading of Lincoln’s history and from the politics of the town’s
acquisition of that field in 1983.

 In the early hours of April 19, 1775, Lincoln’s minute men and militia
company mustered on the Town Common near to the meetinghouse, where the
town stored its gunpowder and military supplies.  From there, the soldiers
began their march to Concord along what is now Sandy Pond Road.

 When they reached the junction with modern Baker Bridge Road, they
were joined by members of the Baker and Billing families, who lived along
the western border of town.  Amos Baker, age 19 at the time, wrote many
years later that, “When I went to Concord in the morning, I joined the
Lincoln company at the brook, by Flint’s pond, near the house then of
Zachary Smith …”

 In the early 1980s, Sumner Smith, who then owned much of the land
around Flint’s Pond, offered to sell several large tracts to the town
before offering them to a developer.  A Special Town meeting in November
1983 hotly debated the financial cost against the value of preserving the
land as open space.  In the debate, it was asserted the land was of
incalculable historical importance, because it was the place where the
minute men mustered on April 19th.  This was a mis-reading of Amos Baker,
who only stated that he and his family joined up with the minute men at the
site, not that all the town’s soldiers had mustered there.  One of the
town’s modern minute men even promised to erect a commemorative marker on
the “Muster Field,” if the town purchased it.  The town responded
enthusiastically, voted to buy the land, and a large stone was soon moved
to the site.

 The myth of the “Muster Field” began to unravel shortly after the
purchase, and the large stone sat un‑engraved for 17 years.  But the name
stuck.  In the year 2000—the 225th anniversary of April 19, 1775—engraved
markers were finally placed on both the Town Common and the mis-named
“Muster Field,” commemorating the march of Lincoln’s soldiers to
Concord.  Together,
the two stone markers erected in 2000 tell the correct story.  But old
names—even incorrect ones—die hard.

 For more about this history, see Rick Wiggin, “Recognition of a Proud
Legacy,” *The Lincoln Review*, January/February 2000.



Rick Wiggin

The Lincoln Historical Society
-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

Re: [LincolnTalk] Invasive Spotted Lanternfly

[Lincoln Historical Society]

Many are along roadways and in Town ROW-perhaps we can ask Tree 
Warden/Town/DPW/Con.Comm. to take them.
I bet most are small enough to grab easily.


> On Sep 18, 2021, at 1:10 PM, Debra Daugherty  wrote:
> 
> One important takeaway is that we need to remove Trees of Heaven (invasive 
> plant and the host to the lantern fly) wherever we find them. I can tell you 
> that Trees of Heaven exist in Lincoln because I just removed a young one from 
> our property! (Was kind of shocked to find it there ... where did it come 
> from??)
> 
> --Debra
> 
> On Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 9:58 AM Cmontie  > wrote:
> Hi Folks
> I read a NYT article about an invasive insect called the Spotted Lanternfly.  
> It reportedly can do a lot of damage by sucking sap from tender parts of 
> plants.  To learn more, I visited mass.gov  which referred 
> me to a fact sheet.  It appears this insect has been found in Concord (so: 
> close by), and it’s requested that any sitings be reported.  There are no 
> known natural predators and organic pest management is not effective, so 
> being proactive and stopping an infestation at the start is the way to go.  
> 
> Here is the fact sheet:  
> 
> https://massnrc.org/pests/pestFAQsheets/spottedlanternfly.html 
> 
> 
> Best
> 
> Carolyn Montie
> -- 
> The LincolnTalk mailing list.
> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org 
> .
> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/ 
> .
> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ 
> .
> Change your subscription settings at 
> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln 
> .
> 
> -- 
> The LincolnTalk mailing list.
> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
> Change your subscription settings at 
> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
> 

-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] Did you know...

[Lincoln Historical Society]

…that Lincoln’s first known inhabitants were thought to have lived here 11,000 
years ago?

 About 1,000 years ago, the inhabitants of what would become Lincoln were the 
Algonkin people.  The paths created for trade between tribes, in some 
instances, became the routes of roads in use today. But contact with Europeans 
in the 17th century brought diseases that killed a significant portion these 
original inhabitants. 

 A settlement that survived in the Concord area, led by Squaw Sachem and 
sagamore Tahattawan, was known as Musketaquid, their name for the 
Concord-Sudbury River.

 In 1635, the Great and General Court granted a six-mile square tract at 
Musketaquid to English settlers, to be called Concord.  The following year, 
Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and others consented to the sale of this land to the 
English settlers.

Some of the original Massachusetts tribe remained on the land, but by the end 
of King Philips War in 1678, the few remaining original habitants had been 
driven from their homes or had died from disease brought by the Europeans.

 By the time Lincoln was formed in 1754, all of its portion of Musketaquid was 
owned and settled by Europeans.

 None of this tells of the conditions of the relationships between the First 
Peoples and the Europeans in Lincoln, and especially under what terms the sale 
of land was made.

 That is a topic of another day.

 

This summary report in indebted to A Rich Harvest by Lincoln’s Town Historian, 
Jack MacLean.  A Rich Harvest is available at the Lincoln Public Library and 
for purchase from the Lincoln Historical Society.

 For a more in-depth study, see The First People of the Northeast by Lincoln 
authors Esther K. Braun and David P. Braun, also available at the Lincoln 
Public Library and for purchase online.

 

Sara Mattes

The Lincoln Historical Society

-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

[LincolnTalk] Did you know...

[Lincoln Historical Society]

… that one of Lincoln’s foremost builders started with house plans from a Sears 
Roebuck catalog?

Robert Douglass Donaldson was born in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, in 1870. He 
migrated to Boston in 1888. Like many immigrants, he came without formal 
schooling past the eighth grade, but with farming and building experience, 
family and community values, and motivation.

In the banner year of 1900, he married Charlotte Alcock, daughter of Irish 
immigrants, and became a U.S. citizen. In 1902, the couple acquired the house 
at 7 Old Lexington Rd., the original part of which was completed by the town in 
1786 as the poorhouse. At the time, Lincoln was a farm town with a scattering 
of rural estates and summer homes, sufficiently close to Boston for farmers to 
take their produce to market and for Bostonians to escape via road or railroad 
for fresh air.

The Donaldsons quickly got busy raising a family (four boys and two girls), 
expanding a contracting business, farming, and engaging in civic activities. To 
his kids and grandkids as well as employees, R.D. Donaldson was well known as 
“the boss.” The well-kept secret was that his bride, Charlotte, was at least 
the co-boss, with her bookkeeping and communication skills. Other Nova Scotians 
from his home community migrated to Lincoln for work with Donaldson, including 
his brother James and the Langilles, Isaac and Claire.

 <https://lincolnsquirrel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RD-Donaldson-photo.jpg>
R.D. Donaldson at the age of about 40 (ca. 1910).
Donaldson served as a Selectman from 1913-1939 and on the Board of Health and 
the Cemetery Commission. The Lincoln chestnut tree on Lincoln Common, included 
on the town seal, was salvaged by Donaldson after it succumbed to the chestnut 
blight. He milled and stored the boards, some of which now line the conference 
room at Town Office Building. By 1942, he was a leader of the Congregational 
Stone Church on Bedford Road when it merged with the Unitarian Church to form 
the consolidated First Parish, sealing the deal by handshake with Dr. Robert L. 
DeNormandie. The Donaldsons’ Glendale Dairy of Guernsey cows functioned until 
1947 on land at 16 Weston Rd. acquired from John H. Pierce.

Donaldson constructed his first house in Lincoln in 1895 at 27 Tower Rd., using 
plans bought from the Sears Roebuck catalogue. His later projects included 
moving the Old Town Hall from its adopted site beside the Unitarian white 
church to its current location on Lincoln Road across from the Town Office 
Building. Because it was in use as a general store and post office, the Old 
Town Hall was kept open during its ride on rollers to the new site. The Center 
School (now the Town Office Building) was completed by Donaldson in 1908.

Scattered along the south side of Trapelo Road are many houses displaying 
Donaldson’s craft, including one that was cut off from a piece of a house on 
Weston Road and rolled across the field. More than 90 Lincoln buildings were 
constructed or altered by Donaldson, including the Farrington Memorial, the 
current Massachusetts Audubon headquarters, and the Storrow/Carroll School.

 
<https://lincolnsquirrel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Sears-Roebuck-Catalog-Home-1912.jpg>
An image from a 1912 Sears Roebuck catalog of a complete home via mail order. 
This model resembles one of the R.D. Donaldson houses still standing in 
Lincoln. Sears sold this house — blueprints and all building materials 
delivered to the site — for $753.
R.D. Donaldson placed a distinctive mark on the town’s architecture. Rob Loud 
has described the style as “vernacular.” A unique feature of the style is a 
sleeping porch, examples of which are evident at 3 Pierce Hill, 1 Old Lexington 
Rd., and 27 Lexington Rd.

Robert and Charlotte’s kids also placed their mark on the town. Three of the 
four Donaldson boys played baseball in school and college and were members of 
the Lincoln Mohawks, coached at one time by Robert. All six offspring were put 
through college in pursuit of careers in business, law, medicine, hospital 
care, and resort hospitality. During the 1950s and ’60s, they all lived at one 
time or another in Lincoln Center’s “Fertile Valley 
<https://lincolnsquirrel.com/blog/2021/03/17/recalling-lincolns-fertile-valley-era/>”
 neighborhood with families totaling 11 grandchildren. The original Donaldson 
house in Lincoln is now occupied by one such grandson, with another grandson 
and three great-grandchildren still currently in town.

Robert Douglass Donaldson, builder of Lincoln, died in 1964.




Craig Donaldson
Lincoln Historical Society-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.

Re: [LincolnTalk] Why are codman farm goods so expensive

[Lincoln Historical Society]

Given all Adam has described, yes indeed!

You have many choices - meat and chicken produced at large, factory farms, will 
of course be cheaper.
Any meat/chicken sold through chain stores will be cheaper.
You have that choice -it is locally available at Donelans, Market Basket, 
Costco.
It is your choice.

You get what you pay for.

Sara

> On Jul 13, 2021, at 8:58 AM, garrick niemiec  
> wrote:
> 
> Adam
> 
> What about the frozen chicken and beef...reasonable?
> -- 
> The LincolnTalk mailing list.
> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
> Change your subscription settings at 
> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
> 

-- 
The LincolnTalk mailing list.
To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org.
Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/.
Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/.
Change your subscription settings at 
https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.