Thumbing the Files

Thursday, February 25, 2010

100 years ago: 1910

From Milford: Mrs. Chester Wilkins was very ill. Roy Pritchard was home from East Pepperell, Mass., on a short visit. Mrs. and Mrs. Pritchard and little Josephine spent Sunday in Boston with friends who were going west to make their home.

Several local families put in telephones. The telephone “seems to be a household necessity as well as indispensable in business.” From Mont Vernon: Mrs. Peck left for Boston to pass the weekend. Mrs. Cicil Smith was passing a part of his vacation with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith. A “jolly party of young people” went to Milford and took in the moving pictures at Eagle Hall.

From East Milford, the news that Joseph Comoli would leave in a few days for Montpelier in search of work.

In South Lyndeborough, Mrs. and Mrs. Frank W. Crame came to the Cram homestead for a few days. Mrs. S.I. Patterson was entertaining Mr. and Mrs. Everett Brown of Woburn, Mass., and Miss Hattie Carson, of Lyndeborough.

From Wilton, the news that Mrs. Sarah J. Fiske was in East Jaffrey as the guest of her daughter.

The Cabinet reported that complaints were being made all over the state of dogs chasing and killing deer. But, the paper said, “The Wilton hunters who own rabbit and fox dogs are very careful in this respect and their dogs wear collars. We do not think that there is a dog in this vicinity that is guilty of such a thing. They may chase a deer, but for chasing and then eating the deer, we don’t believe it, for the hunters here are real sports and feed their dogs.”

75 years ago: 1935

Mrs. William Bowes returned from Everett, Mass., to Mason. Her grandchildren, Jack and Fred Gilmore, came with her to attend school in Mason.

Miss Mildred Bishop of Brookline was detained at home the past week with a bad cold.

Mrs. Maud B. Proctor of Boston rented the lower half of Mrs. John C. Hutchinson’s house on Highland Avenue in Milford. She moved to Milford to be near friends.

Santo Mannino’s foot was cut by a pick while he was working for the Milford Water Works.

Mary Smith of Mont Vernon was confined to her home by illness for more than a week.

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph R. Melendy of New York City spent the weekend with his father and his sister at the Melendy farm in Temple.

Friends and neighbors gave Mr. and Mrs. John Morrison of Perham Corner, newlyweds, an “old fashioned serenade.” Mr. and Mrs. Morrison were making their home with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. H.R. Chase.

From Wilton the news that Mrs. Joseph E. Hurley, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Nashua, was reported as slightly improved following a mastoid operation.

50 years ago: 1960

Janet Elizabeth Brown was named the 1960 Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow at Milford High School.

Milford selectmen agreed to pay Arthur Savage $13,000 for the land for a new well site.

In a letter to the editor, Robert Philbrick, the Hillsborough County Democratic chairman, argued that town employees deserve a living wage and took the Cabinet editorial writer to task, writing: For shame, Mr. Editor, for revealing yourself in favor of a Robber-Baron, Republican, anti-labor philosophy that was buried in the nineteenth century.” (Editor’s note: Mr. Philbrick joined the Republican Party in the 1980s and served for many years as Milford’s town moderator.) Mr. and Mrs. Milton F. Rogers and family of Manchester recently moved to Amherst where they were living in the Boutelle home on Foundry Street. Mrs. Rogers was the former Avis Boutelle.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bishop of Quincy, Mass., recently spent several days at their summer home, “The Parsonage,” in Lyndeborough. Their daughter, Virginia, came with them.

The Milford Pigeon Club held “its most successful show to date” at Milford Fish and Game Club.

Mrs. Judith Aveni of Milford accepted a position with Kenneth R. Dunham at the Barry Insurance Agency in Wilton.

25 years ago: 1985

Herbert W. Baum, Ernest L. Barrett and May C. Gaffney were running for two seats on the Milford Board of Selectmen.

Darlene Goodin was elected chairman of the Milford Republican Committee. Others elected: Stuart English, vice chairman; Margaret Swiezynski, secretary; Emma Wheeler, treasurer, and Lorraine Prestipino, Kim Williamson and John Leslie, executive council members.

Richard Greeley, Donna Hoover and Michael Davidson were seeking one seat on the Wilton Board of Selectmen.

In Amherst, Linda Dahlmann, Catherine Cummings and Thomas Grella were running for two seats on the Board of Selectmen.

Kim Kenyon had the female lead in the Amherst PTA’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” First prizes in the annual essay contest sponsored by the Captain Josiah Crosby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution were Michelle Pouliot of Milford, Charles Gentes of Wilton, and Julie Gleneck of Wilton. The topic was “The Statue of Liberty, The Lady with a Lamp.”