Turner's Public Spirit, January 7, 1922
A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant
“Center. The annual appraisal of the personal property at the town farm was taken last
Saturday by William E. Wright, Robert Prescott and W. Otis Day. The usual high standard of
condition of the house, long noted as one of the best in the state, was found. The overseers of the
poor and the selectmen were very properly present. They were served a dinner in Mrs. Ripley’s
excellent style. At the present there are seven inmates in the town home.
“Mr. Prior, who set up the new accounting system for the town in the spring, is here to oversee
the first balancing of accounts under the new system.
“The watch night service in the Congregational vestry was well attended and impressively
conducted by Miss Clark, of Boston, who also presided over the Sunday morning service. Miss
Clark is a bright young woman with an earnestness and enthusiasm along religious lines that is
sadly lacking in too many of us. This lady substituted for Mr. Blair, who went to Philadelphia,
his home, for the holiday vacation.
“Last Saturday Alec Fisher broke or badly bent a rib. Not satisfied, he cut one of his fingers
so that a splint had to be used.
“Edward Clement has purchased a horse and is doing half of the rural mail route for a time.
“On Monday the first telephone circuit of the local exchange was opened to Ayer after a
month of breakage due to the recent ice storm.
“The premises of John D. Psarias on the north shore of Chandler’s pond, often called Flushing
pond, were raided by Harry Whiting, chief of police, accompanied by Chief Prohibition Officer
Wilson of Boston. Psarias was found operating a fifty gallon still in an old shack guarded by two
double-barreled shotguns and was arrested, four gallons of fresh moonshine also being found. At
the district court in Ayer the next day Judge Atwood imposed a fine of $75 for Psarias to pay….
“About Town. Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Labouteley, of Three Rivers, [Quebec,] are receiving
congratulations on the birth of a son, Robert Burton, on January first. Mr. and Mrs. Labouteley
formerly lived here on the G. A. Drew farm.
“Hon. Herbert E. Fletcher and Mrs. Fletcher have gone to Baltimore, visiting their daughter,
Mrs. Pyle. Later on Mr. Fletcher will proceed further south in the interest of business of his
health and the business of his stone quarry, which is thoroughly equipped with modern machinery
and brains to do business for all who apply on an efficient business basis. We are glad to report
that Mr. Fletcher’s health, which was much impaired by asthma, has become very much repaired.
“On Wednesday evening about 9:30 the house of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Cutting near Fairview
cemetery was destroyed by a fire caused by some defect in the chimney. The Westford fire
department, the Chelmsford and the West Chelmsford departments responded and with the use of
chemicals the barn was saved. Mr. and Mrs. Cutting have proved themselves the kind of people
we like to have in Westford and we are sorry for this loss which has come to them.
“Graniteville. The members of the Westford school board have recently arranged to have a
no-school signal given here in case of stormy or bad weather. When there will be no school
session the bell at the Graniteville M. E. church will be rung at 7:30 in the morning, when five
strokes of the bell will be rung at three different intervals.
“Charles L. Hildreth, the genial Westford town clerk, wishes to inform local hunters and
fishermen that there has been some change made in the fees for licenses for the year 1922. The
new scale of prices are as follows: Resident citizens’ combination certificate (hunt, trap and fish)
two dollars; resident citizens’ hunting and trapping certificate $1.00; resident citizens’ fishing
certificate $1.00.
“The bowlers from the Abbot Worsted Co. in the Forge Village and Graniteville mills have
arranged a series of matches, best three out of five games. The first match will be played in
Forge Village this week, and the Graniteville players will be selected from W. R. Taylor, Larry
Kane, Dolord Cote, George Gower, Joe Viskoski, George Brullard, Eugene Guichard, Charles
Rioux, Peter Farquhar, Gaston Greenwood and Leo Provost.
“All the schools resumed the regular sessions on Tuesday after the Christmas vacation.
“We are pleased to note that our genial friend, Samuel L. Taylor, is rapidly recovering from
his recent illness. Mr. Taylor does certainly liven up the column with his witty sayings and his
‘about town’ is always followed with deep interest by the readers of the Wardsman.”
A new bell, used in 1922 as a “no-school alert,” was
installed in the steeple of the Methodist,Church in
Graniteville on July 15, 1905.
Courtesy Photo / Westford Museum
Methodist Episcopal Church, Graniteville, Bell Photograph
Westford Museum W.1998.7.1m
This photograph shows the second, and current, bell hung in the Methodist church steeple in Graniteville in 1905. The inscription shown in the photograph reads:
Methodist Episcopal Church
Graniteville, Mass.
Dedicated March 22, 1871
Rev. M. H. A. Evans, Pastor
Charles G. Sargent, J. K. Proctor, Cyrus Hosmer
Samuel Fletcher, Arthur Wright, Lyman A. Smith
William Reed, Trustees and Incorporators
The bell is also inscribed on the back:
Meneely Bell Co., Troy, N. Y.
This bell was donated by friends
And placed June 1905 by
Frederick G. Sargent, Wesley O. Hawkes
Walter C. Wright, Geo. W. Bent and
Lucy A. Blood, Trustees
Rev. W. E. Anderson, Pastor
The inscriptions were cast in raised letters when the bell itself was cast. The first inscription, shown in the photograph, is probably the inscription from the original bell reproduced on the 1905 bell. The name “Meneely” also appears on the hub of the yoke and “Troy” and “N.Y.” on the arms of the yoke on the side shown in the photograph. This is the side of the bell facing Church Street.
The church’s original bell is first mentioned in the church’s Quarterly Conference Minutes of September 7, 1872, when the pastor, Rev. Nathaniel B. Fisk, reported that, “We have also added to the fund in the Bank ($40.00), $93.00 making enough to get us a Bell, and have a balance of $8.00 toward the Expense of hanging it – also freight.” The bell cost $125. By the next Quarterly Conference, held December 5, 1872, Rev. Fisk was able to report that the bell had been procured and hung in the church steeple. He added, “Since it was hung we have noticed a marked improvement in punctuality on the time of the congregation.” Thus, this bell was probably hung in the fall of 1872. The church had been constructed in late 1870 and early 1871, and had been formally dedicated on the date indicated.
At some point around the turn of the century the first bell “became useless.” It probably developed a crack. Subscriptions were raised for a new bell, and the bell shown in the photograph was ordered from the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, N.Y. The first bell was made of chilled iron and weighed 600 pounds. Chilled iron, while inexpensive and affordable for a poor church like ours, was not a particularly good bell metal. The old bell was sold to Boutwell Brothers in Lowell at 30¢ per hundred weight, raising $1.80 applied to the purchase of the new bell, which cost $408.49 including mountings.
According to the receipt for the new bell, which is in the church archives, the new bell was actually ordered in June 1905 from the Meneely Bell Co. They shipped the bell to Westford on July 12 and on Saturday, July 15, the new bell was hung in the steeple. We presume this is the date of the photograph. It would have first called the congregation to church the next day.
The bell was paid for on August 7, and it appears that Frederick G. Sargent, Charles G. Sargent’s older son, paid for the bell and was then reimbursed from the subscriptions. What is clear is that Fred Sargent contributed $219.05 for the bell, well over half the bell’s cost!
The photo of the bell on the flatbed wagon looks like it was taken in front of the Sargent & Sons machine shop building on Broadway. One can see the rounded eaves on the south side of the main tower and the roof line above them. It also looks like you can see a window in the old Fletcher house that was moved from the site of the C. G. Sargent house to the lot next to the machine shop about 1870.
The circular logo on the bottom of the bell seems to have been rubber stamped to the bell. It does not appear there now. The text on the bottom says “SARGENT” and the text across the top says “June 25 1878 July 17”. There appears to be an early version of the moss rose logo of C. G. Sargent & Sons Inc. in the center of the circle. A 1967 version of the logo is shown to the right (“Founded 1852, Incorporated 1904”). We are not sure what the dates refer to, although Charles G. Sargent died on July 16, 1878; he was born July 17, 1819.
We have not been able to identify all the men in the photograph. However, we believe that the gentleman on the far right is Wesley O. Hawkes (b. 7 July 1842), a Civil War veteran and one of the trustees in 1905. The man next to him is almost certainly Frederick G. Sargent (b. 31 Dec 1843), also a trustee and the principal donor. Who the three younger men are we do not know. (Bob Oliphant 2022)