The Westford Wardsman, February, 1907
Saturday, February 9, 1907
Historical. In the historical and genealogical columns of a recent number of the [Lowell] Courier-Citizen was a picture and an account of the life of General Joseph Bradley Varnum of Dracut, which ought to be of interest to Westford people. Gen. Varnum was one of the founders of our own Westford academy, and the late J. Varnum Fletcher, the donor of our library and sometime trustee of the academy, was named for him. When Gen. Varnum lived in Dracut, Lowell was nothing but a barren place, so naturally he sent his four sons to Westford academy. One of them, John Varnum [1778-1836], was state senator [and Representative to Congress (1825-1836)].
Graniteville. The ladies’ aid society of the M.E. church held a supper and entertainment in the vestry, Friday evening, Feb. 8. An entertainment followed the supper.
The following clipping, taken from an Oakland, California, paper will prove interesting to the people of Graniteville:
A quiet wedding was solemnized on Tuesday evening in the parlors of the first Congregational church, Rev. Charles R. Brown officiating, in which Clifford C. LeGrow of Portland, Me., and Miss Margaret Carmichael of Graniteville, Mass., were the principals. Mr. LeGrow arrived from Portland two months ago and holds a responsible position in the civil engineering department of the Southern Pacific, while his bride, a very charming and estimable young lady, is a recent arrival from Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. LeGrow are to make their future home in Oakland, where they are sure to make many friends.
Saturday, February 16, 1907
The Ladies’ Aid Society of the M.E. church held a supper and entertainment in the vestry last week Friday night, which was very successful in every way. The attendance was large and aside from those present from the immediate vicinity there were many from Westford and Forge Village. Supper was served from seven to eight. Immediately after supper the entertainment commenced and the novelty of the affair, with the clever manner in which the different numbers were successfully given by the children and others, was a source of pleasure to the large audience present. Following is the program:
Piano trio, Grace Robinson, Alice May Gilson, Georgie Wilson; Japanese love song, Carrie Prinn, Rachel Wall, Mildred Lorman, and a chorus of young girls all dressed in Japanese costume; piano solo, Georgie Wilson; “Barney Oldfield” and friends appeared on the stage in a large “touring car” and sang “My oldsmobile,” soloist, E. G. Boynton, assisted by Miss Emily Prinn, Mrs. W. C. Wright and William Sargent; reading from “Real diary of a real boy”, Mrs. May Wright; piano solo, Rachel Wall; selections from Mother Goose rhymes, by several small girls dressed in baby attire; song, Rev. W. E. Anderson. The last number was a regular pow-wow, given by several boys in full Indian costume and done in the true western style. This, with the merry automobile party, made a decided hit.
Miss Harriet C. Sargent, who had general charge of the entertainment, deserves great credit for the able manner in which the success of this affair was brought about. The following women constituted the committees:
General committee, Mrs. W. C. Wright, chairman; supper, Mrs. C. H. Wright, Mrs. Wm. Welch, Mrs. Mary Wright, Mrs. T. E. Woods; entertainment, Miss Harriet C. Sargent, Miss Emily Prinn, Mrs. W. C. Wright.
Miss Edith Normington presided at the piano during the evening. Wm. H. Beebe assisted the different committees in various ways.
Saturday, February 23, 1907
About Town. Mr. and Mrs. Theodore H. Hamblett observed in a quiet way their sixty-first wedding anniversary on Tuesday. So unusual is such an occasion that it causes one to stop and think of their keen interest in all good things, their remarkable activity and their attendance at church services, even though they are much over eighty “years young.” …
The snow roller for our roads has been tried before a jury of 2600 people recently, and while in all probability the jury will not return a unanimous verdict in its favor at the annual meeting in March, yet there is one of this jury that is so unanimous in its favor that he will vote away the people’s money to build another. With wider roads at less expense the verdict should be an easy one for the jury to agree on.
Accident. Last week Thursday the morning local freight leaving Ayer for Lowell met with an accident at Brookside. The freight was left on the main track while the engine ran onto the switch of H. E. Fletcher & Co., where it was derailed by the spreading of the rails. This is the second time that derailment from the same cause has occurred here. The passenger train that followed was obliged to push the freight on the main line to the switch at West Chelmsford. The wrecking train from Lowell had to be called to reinstate the engine on its equilibrium. Not much damage was done as the speed at time of derailment was only about one-eight mile per hour.
Town Officers. As we are approaching the caucus season of the year, discussion of nominations for town officers will soon come to maturity. The officers whose terms expire in March are, selectman, Alex Fisher; assessor, Geo. H. Hartford; overseer of the poor and tax collector, L. W. Wheeler; treasurer, Nahum H. Wright; school committee, A. R. Choate, John C. Abbot; auditor, Wm. R. Taylor. All will accept renomination except the school committee, who have notified the chairman that they will not accept renomination. As this will still leave two members of the committee at the center, the easterly and Brookside portions of the town feel that they should be represented.
Centre. A jolly party of about twenty-five members of Westford grange made up a theatre party and saw the play, “Quincy Adams Sawyer,” in Worcester, is ill with scarlet fever. It is a mild case and she is much improved, although still in quarantine.
Farmers’ Institute. Westford was the mecca of hundreds of people Wednesday, who came to attend the North Middlesex farmers institute, which has come to be looked forward to as an annual event. The weather, the fine sleighing, and what comes as near the leisure season of the year as the busy farmer ever knows, all contributed toward a record-breaking attendance. They came from Concord, Carlisle, Acton, Groton, Littleton and Dunstable, as well as the towns that are always so well represented at these gatherings—Chelmsford, Tewksbury, Dracut, Billerica and Tyngsboro.
Mrs. Alma Anderson, widow of the late Gustaf Anderson, is ill at her home with an attack of appendicitis.
The ladies’ aid society of the Methodist church met with Mrs. L. A. Blood last week Thursday afternoon.