Look what I found on online! A Golden Wedding Announcement for a wedding 110 years ago!

 

From The Daily Item, Lynn, Massachusetts, Tuesday, February 18, 1964, page 15

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The Item Salutes Today

Ex-Stiles St. Couple Note 50th Anniversary

Marking Golden Anniversary are former West Lynn residents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Pogson. The couple is celebrating 50 years of marriage today at their home, 738 54th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, Fla.  Mr. Pogson retired from General Electric Co. River Works in 1952.

(This is the 1360th Greater Lynn couple to be saluted by The Item for having attained a half centry or more of married life.  A handsom illuminated scroll suitable for framing, with the name and marriage date of the couple will be present to them by The Item.  Greater Lynn residents are invited to submit the names of other couples about to observe their golden wedding day.)

A former West Lynn couple, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Pogson, now residing at 738 54th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, Fla., are today celebrating their gold wedding anniversary.

Mr. and Mrs. Pogson, who lived 40 years at 31 Stiles St., West Lynn, were married in All Soul's Church in England, Feb. 18, 1914.  Natives of Leeds, England, they came to this country shortly after their marriage.

They have been residing in Folorida since Mr. Pogson's retirement in 1952 from the General Electric Co. River Works, where he had been employed 37 years as a tool and die maker.  Now they return annually to visit their family and spend the Summer at Alton Bay, N.H.

There are four children, Mrs. George Davis and Arthur Pogson, both of Saugus; Miss Beatrice Pogson, who resides with them in St. Petersburg; Mrs. Ernest Tarbox of Millbury and four grandchildren. 

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My great aunt Hilda Mary Pogson was my grandmother's sister.  She was the eldest of three children of John Peter Bawden Roberts (1865 - 1925) and Emma Frances Warren (1865 - 1927).  Hilda was born 14 May 1891 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, and she died 1 July 1990 in Marlborough, Massachusetts.  Hilda and Herbert Pogson were first cousins.  Herbert's mother, Sarah Anne Roberts was the sister to John Roberts.  Herbert was born 6 August 1889 in Leeds, and died 11 January 1971 in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

This is the All Soul's Hood Memorial Church where they were married.  My grandmother wrote about this church in her diary.  She loved the church and all its social events including Sunday school, the "Needle Brigade" which made things to sell in the church bazaar, and the Girls Friendly Society. This church is still standing in Leeds. 

All Soul's Church 1907

Herbert's parents owned a drapery store in Armsley, a section of Leeds.  In my grandmother's diary she wrote "I remember going over there when I was a little girl.  We used to visit them.  And I loved to go in the store and my uncle would let me measure the ribbons and I thought that wonderful.  It was quite a nice store and they sold a lot of lovely things and they had five girls and just this one boy, Herbert."  Herbert came to Boston in 1911 aboard the ship Franconia, and on the ship manifest he listed his occupation as "mechanic", his father as "Mr. Pogson" and his address as "Ramsey House, Hill Lane, Armsley, Leeds". He also appeared on the ships manifest of the Bohemian on 18 March 1914 (one month after his marriage) with his wife Hilda, and the port of arrival was Boston. 

Some time before 1915 Hilda and Herbert came to Massachusetts and lived at 60 Colon Street in Beverly, Massachusetts.  In 1915 Hilda's parents, brother and sister all came to the United States and lived at 7 Dearborn Avenue, a few blocks from Hilda and Herbert's house.  In 1917 the Pogson family removed to nearby Saugus, Massachusetts. 

I have found several other ship's manifests showing Herbert visiting England in 1920 (with his wife and two small children- Dorothy age 4, and Hilda age 2), 1949, 1957 and 1960.  

Herbert died in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1971and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery.  When she was widowed Hilda moved from St. Petersburg back to Massachusetts where she lived at her daughter's house until she went to the Bolton Manor Nursing Home in Marlborough.  She died there in 1990 and is buried next to Herbert in St. Petersburg.  I remember visiting with Herbert and Hilda when I was a small child, and I loved to hear them talking in their Yorkshire accents, like my grandmother.    

Photo from the 1970s - from left to right

Hilda (looking at the camera), her eldest daughter Dorothy May, her daughter Hilda Bertha, my grandmother Bertha Louise, and in front is Hilda's youngest daughter Beatrice. 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Look what I found on online!  A Golden Wedding Announcement for a wedding 110 years ago!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 4, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/03/look-what-i-found-on-online-golden.html:  accessed [access date]). 

University of Durham Team Is Reaching Out to the Descendants of 17th Century Scottish Prisoners

The Scottish Prisoners of War research team from the University of Durham, UK

Last night in Saugus, Massachusetts a group of ordinary Americans met up to discuss an archaeological dig in Durham, England.  What did these folks have in common?  Not a common interest in archaeology per se,  but each one had an ancestor who had been forcibly brought to New England in chains as a Scottish prisoner of war in 1650 or 1651 during the English Civil War. 

In 1650 in Dunbar Scotland a force of Scottish soldiers faced the English army led by Cromwell and lost the battle.  Over 6,000 men and boys, mostly between the ages of 13 and 25 years old, were taken captive.  After the wounded were released about 5,000 soldiers were marched towards Durham, in Northeast England for imprisonment.  After the 120 mile march, only 3,000 of these starving men arrive and were locked inside the Durham Cathedral.  The rest had died along the way.  Within the next six weeks, another 1,600 soldiers would die.  Their final resting place would remain a mystery for the next 350 years.  Of the survivors, some were sent to Ireland, some to fight in France, and the rest were sent into forced servitude in the New World.

About 250 of these men were placed aboard the ship Unity, which brought them to labor at Hammersmith, the place now known as the Saugus Ironworks.  They arrived in Massachusetts and were divided up – some sent to the iron works, and others to lumber mills in New Hampshire and Maine.  All were sent to do hard labor in the New World.  These young men never went back to Scotland, but eventually made their way to communities scattered over New England and left large numbers of descendants.

In 2013, during an expansion project at the Durham University, a mass grave was found between the cathedral and Durham castle. The excavation site revealed human remains which have been studied by the Durham University team which examined about 17 – 28 bodies, and partial bodies.  They were all male, all between 13  to 25 years of age, all dated scientifically to the time period of incarceration in the Durham Cathedral in 1650.  It appeared to be the bodies of the Scottish soldiers, which had been tossed into a pit by the castle wall.  The findings were released to the public 2015. 

And so the team from Durham University came to Saugus, Massachusetts last night to explain the science and history behind this discovery.  They met early with the descendants of the Scottish Prisoners of War in New England to discuss the discovery, DNA projects, plans for reburial in Durham, and commemoration plans (a plaque near the discovery site and an upcoming 2018 exhibition in Durham).  This was followed by a public lecture co-sponsored by the National Park Service’s Saugus Ironworks.  It was standing room only, and extremely interesting to descendants, Saugus residents and the general public.

Descendants filled the room during a pre-lecture discussion group.
The lecture itself was standing room only!

Members of the Durham University team
answered questions from descendants
and the general public

If you think you might be descended of one of the Scottish Prisoners of War from the Battle of Dunbar, you could be part of this project.  See the links below for more information and for contacts.

  

The Durham team will be next visiting Berwick, Maine; Harvard University; Brown University and then Chris Gerrard, the project leader, will be back to the Old Berwick Historical Society for another public lecture (similar to the Saugus lecture) on November 2^nd, at 7:30pm at the Berwick Academy’s Whipple Arts Center, in Berwick, Maine). 

Contact information:

Website:  www.durham.ac.uk/scottishsoldiers

Twitter:  @durham_uni    or  @arcDurham  #ScotsSoldiers

Email SUBSCRIBE to Scottish.soldiers@durham.ac.uk

Video of the talk given in Saugus 25 October 2016:
https://vimeo.com/190898760

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For more information on the Scots Prisoners of War sent to New England:

My 2015 blog post:  “Discover of Scots Prisoners of War at Durham Cathedral in England!  How is this important to New England Genealogical Research?”  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/09/discovery-of-scots-prisoners-of-war-at.html

2016 blogpost:  “City Square Charlestown, Massachusetts – and so many ancestral connections!”  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/city-square-charlestown-massachusetts.html

My SPOW ancestor, William Munroe “Surname Saturday ~ Munroe of Lexington, Massachusetts”  

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/surname-saturday-munroe-of-lexington.html

Another SPOW ancestor, Alexander Thompson, “Surname Saturday ~ THOMSON/ THOMPSON of Scotland and Ipswich, Massachusetts”  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/05/surname-saturday-thomson-thompson-of.html

Scottish Prisoners of War genealogy website:   http://scottishprisonersofwar.com/

Scottish Prisoners of War Facebook community  https://www.facebook.com/scottishprisonersofwar?fref=ts

SPOW Yahoo Group   https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/scottish_war_prisoners/info

Scottish Prisoners of War DNA project:   https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/scottish-po-ws/about/background

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eather Wilkinson Rojo, "University of Durham Team Is Reaching Out to the Descendants of 17th Century Scottish Prisoners", October 25, 2016,  ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/10/university-of-durham-team-is-reaching.html: accessed [access date]).

Weathervane Wednesday ~ This one has family history!

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I first started by publishing posts about weathervanes from the Nutfield area, but now I've been finding interesting and historical weather vanes from all over New Hampshire and New England.  Sometimes my weathervanes have an interesting history, and sometimes they are just whimsical.  Often, my readers tip me off to some very unique and unusual weather vanes outside of New England.

Today's weathervane is from Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weather vane #238?  Scroll down to see the answer!

The Newfy Girl was the lobster boat operated by Frederick D. Penney on the Saugus River in Massachusetts.  He was born 10 April 1939, and died 18 June 2006 in West Boxford, Massachusetts.  Fred was the grandfather to my son-in-law, and great grandfather to my new grandchild.  Fred was a fisherman, and very proud of his boat.  The Penney's tell me that Newfy Girl is still on the water in Saugus. 

Fred Penney (1939 - 2006)

Fred Penney's parents were born in Keels and Southern Bay, Newfoundland.  The family came to Massachusetts in the 1920s, where Fred and his siblings were all born.  

This wooden Newfy Girl weathervane was given to my son-in-law's family as part of a Yankee Swap at Christmas time. The swap was rigged so that he would win the weathervane, since they were getting married in a few months.  My son-in-law has his grandfather's name and an oar tattooed on his leg, in honor of Fred Penney.  This summer my daughter and her husband placed the Newfy Girl weathervane in the backyard of their new house in Malden, Massachusetts.  It is a custom made weathervane painted to look just like Newfy Girl, and the lobster buoy is painted in Fred's colors. (Every lobster fisherman has a uniquely colored buoy)

The name Newfy Girl reminds me of the Dick Nolan song "Newfie Girl" from 1972.  I'm a big fan of folk music, and New England sea shanties, and I've heard several performers play this song at festivals.  You can hear this song, and a list of the lyrics at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZJx2v72vSI   

Click here to see the entire series of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ This one has family history", Nutfield Genealogy,  posted December 9, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/12/weathervane-wednesday-this-one-has.html

Route 1, Saugus and Lynnfield, Massachusetts

.... another installment in the 20th Century Americana series!

Today I'm featuring the programmatic advertising architecture seen along Route 1 north of Boston, Massachusetts.  This was originally an old road known as the Newburyport Turnpike.  During the 20th century and the development of the interstate highway system, this road became Route 1, which stretches from the Canadian border with Maine, all the way to Key West in the state of Florida.

Last week I featured the Clam Box on Route 1A in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  This architecture seen on Route 1 north of Boston is similar.  It was developed to attract the travelers leaving or approach Boston, with wild and inventive colors and shapes. There are some restaurants and attractions built here in the early and mid 20th century that can be described as fun, tacky, weird, grotesque and/or historical- all depending on your point of view.

The Route 1 Mini Golf has been open since 1958.  It has now added batting cages and an arcade to attract modern youngsters, but the orange dinosaur has been there since the beginning.  When we were first married we lived in Malden, Massachusetts.  When I saw the orange dinosaur I knew I was at our exit to go home. It's a landmark in many, many ways, as well as a real piece of history and nostalgia on Route 1. No matter where you live in the USA, many of the roadside mini golf courses used to have all sorts of interesting themed creations and structures to attract the "golfers". 

The Kowloon Restaurant was established in 1950 by the Wong Family. At first it occupied the small section of the building right next to the roadside sign.  It has since grown into a huge building that seats over 1200 people.  Generations of Bostonians were introduced to Chinese food at this establishment, how about you? Check out the website below for lots of nostalgic looks at old menus, matchbooks and decor from over the years at the Kowloon. 

The Hilltop Steakhouse is famous for it's huge portions of food, and for the huge plaster steer grazing on the front lawn as the traffic zips by.  My parents went on dates here, and there is a famous family story about my Mom enjoying her first "Manhattan" mixed drink at the Hilltop (don't worry, Mom, I won't tell the story).   I'm sure that if you lived or went to school in the Boston area, you had at least one steak dinner at the Hilltop.  Generations of MIT students know the story of how one of these plaster cows was part of a very famous hack on their campus, too.

The Prince Pizzeria was built by the Castraberti family in 1961.  It still has the leaning tower of Pisa on the roof.  It was originally a drive-in pizza place known as the "Leaning Tower of Pizza" owned by the Prince pasta company.  

Of course, on Route 1 you will still find a 1950's style McDonald's restaurant, too, complete with the original style golden arches.  There aren't many of these left in New England. I remember when these were just counters for take out.  What did the first McDonald's you visited look like?

This wooden ship is a seafood restaurant known as "The Ship", but it is now part of a large complex housing a Christmas Tree Shop, complete with a lighthouse and wharf buildings.  This restaurant was first opened in 1925 by a Gloucester sea captain named James F. Wilkinson as a roadside stand.  He was trying to save money from the restaurant to build his own ship, but this is the ship he ended up building instead!  It has been a landmark along this road longer than any of the other interesting buildings along Route 1 north of Boston.  As a child I remember riding up Route 1A from Boston towards the North Shore, and watching out the car window for the dinosaur, the giant cactus and cows, and finally the ship.

The Ship restaurant is still owned by members of the Wilkinson family.   I have checked the census records, and the original Captain James F. Wilkinson was born in Nova Scotia, Canada.  He died in Lynnfield in 1940.  No, he can't be a relative, but it was tempting to check to see if he was a cousin! 

Route 1 Mini Golf and Batting Cages website http://www.theorangedinosaur.com/

The Kowloon Restaurant http://www.kowloonrestaurant.com/

The Hilltop Steakhouse website:  http://www.hilltopsteakhouse.com/

The Prince Pizzeria website http://www.princepizzeria.com/

The Ship restaurant website: http://www.theshiprestaurant.com/

Click here to see the other installments of the 20th Century Americana series

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The URL for this post is:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/route-1-saugus-and-lynnfield.html

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo