The Bowditch family was one of New England’s most upstanding families. Most notably the American mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch was perhaps the most illustrious of the line. Born in Salem in 1773, he is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation. His book The New American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, is still […]
James Lucas Draper was 36 years old and had become quite wealthy as a result of his business acumen and being born to the right family. The sixth child of James and Anne Draper, James was entrepreneurial and successful. The mill that he and his brother inherited from their father employed over 200 workers and […]
Dr. Amos Evans was a young surgeon from Maryland. On June 11, 1812, at the age of 27, Evans found himself aboard the USS Constitution as she left the Washington Navy Yard and sailed to Annapolis. That was the day that Evans began keeping his journal as a private diary. Upon reaching Boston he “begrudgingly […]
The following is an excerpt from “Water Problems,” the latest installment of True Tales from Canton’s Past by local historian George T. Comeau. It has been a very wet year. Since the start of July in Massachusetts we have had four tropical systems, five tornadoes (and counting), and more than 21 inches of rain in […]
Julius Hollander arrived in New York City on April 5, 1938. The trip from Rotterdam was uneventful, despite the fact that German U-boats were frequently targeting both military and passenger ships, making the crossing to the United States extremely dangerous. Back in Amsterdam, Julius’ brother, Walter, was in a Jewish refugee camp and was awaiting […]
The idea came to Malcolm Stanley over time, and like many inventions, it was an iterative process. For many years Stanley had “dreamed of a lightweight fishing boat that could be strapped on a human back and easily carried through the woods.” Not only was Stanley a dreamer; he was also a “doer” and his […]
As I write this story, beside me on my desk is a 9×11-inch, brown Accogrip folder — the kind that has the spring clamp that holds down the papers contained therein. In the age of the internet, the folders likely aren’t seen very much these days. The small file is actually the medical report for […]
In a span of merely 20 years, Canton went from one of the busiest industrial communities in the commonwealth to a shuttered factory town. A small blurb in the Boston Globe in 1907 ran under the headline: “Will Be a Blow to Canton.” It was the passing of an industry, an obituary for a way […]
The following is the second in a two-part series. Part one appeared in the February 11 edition of the Citizen. The book is thick and heavy with a leather cover, gilded pages and a brass clasp. From a distance it is imposing, and up close it instantly bears the weight of history. Embossed on the […]
When big things happen in a small town the news can rush like wildfire. Tongues wag fast and the allure of a big crime story can be fodder for the newspapers for weeks. In the summer of 1906, big news literally exploded in Ponkapoag in what can only be described as a brazen robbery that […]
