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My Trip Abroad: 1909 J. Radford Abbot Diary Part 3

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Date: Friday, July 9th

Place: Lucania

 

Last night the sea was so rough that the boat dipped above the port holes on both sides of the saloon, and a bottle standing on our table flipped over. All of our party, however, are O.K. I did not get to sleep last night until after midnight. Every minute or two the boat would roll so that our porthole would be buried in the water and our dress suit cases on the floor slid back and forth as the boat rolled. The (rades?) were used at table all three meals today. Many people sick. Great fun at the table. Abe and I walked a mile on the deck to night. Sea calmer in the evening.  All O.K. 470 Miles.

 

In this entry of John’s travel journal, he writes about how he was in a saloon that night. The Lucania saloon was a bar and dining area, where passengers could go for meals, socializing, and entertainment. Usually the saloon was filled with about 100 to 13

First-Class-DIning-Room

Dining Hall

0 tables and over 700 velvet plush dining chairs. At the bar, there were raised chairs and a large counter. The passengers could eat and relax while being entertained for hours.  John also wrote a lot about how the seas were very rough and how high the water around the boat was getting. In 1909, there were many accounts of missing ships, due to the seas being so rough. On July 5th, a newspaper in London printed the reports of 5 missing ships during the few past weeks. The ship that John was sailing on, the Lucania, was lucky to not be caught in one of the more ferocious storms, and instead at the edge and end of a smaller sea storm. Later in his entry, Jo
hn writes ‘All O.K. 470 Miles.’  indicating how far the ship had sailed. This would have been very good in 1909, when traveling by ship took a lot of time. Two entries’ ago John wrote that they had sailed 460 miles. This means that the Lucania had traveled 10 miles in two days.

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My Trip Abroad: 1909 J. Radford Abbot Diary, Part 2

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

Date: Thursday July 8th

Place: Lucania

Slept like a top all night. Abe had upper berth and I lower. This morning the sky was overcast and there was a stormy N.E. wind blowing which kicks up quite a sea. We are at a table with two actresses and a man named Sargent who is a real Yankee joker so we have lots of fun. In the morning Abe and I went up in the aft wheel house and were shown compasses, wheel, sounding leads, etc. Dale had a hair-cut by the ships barber, and Abe also patroniges the barber by buying a cap. Sea rather rough and many sick. All of our party at church and dinner.  Afternoon sea very rough. Boat hitched and rolled a great deal.

In this entry, John mentions that he and Abe go and visit the aft wheel house and were shown “compasses, wheel, sounding leads, etc.” In 1909, big cruise ships like the Lucania had many different rooms for passengers to explore. One of these rooms was the aft wheel house. An aft  wheel house is the room where the wheel,  maps, and compasses are stored. When John and Abe went up into the wheel house, they saw many of these things. In 1909, most of the wheels were very large, had many spokes, and were usually made of oak or pine wood. Big ships always had to have someone at the wheel to prevent them from steering off course. A ship’s maps were usually pasted on a wall in the aft wheel room, so they could be easily accessed by the capion of the ship. Maps had to be extremely detailed and were always up to date. The maps could be in black and white, or in color, to show the different countries more easily. Compasses in 1909 were much simpler than the compasses we have today. In 1909, the compasses usually had a small sun or star in the center, with its points pointing to North, South, East West, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. The arrow would spin on a small pin, allowing it to point to north.

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My Trip Abroad: 1909 J.Radford Abbot Diary, Part 1

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

This blog entry includes the transcription of a diary from the Andover Historical Society written by John Radford Abbot in 1909 when he began a trip to various European countries.  Keep following Maddy’s post to learn about  John Radford Abbot and all the places he visited over 100 years ago!

Date: Wed. July 7th
Place: Lucania

We left the wharf about 10:15 and started off doron New York Harbor. Saw the N.Y. skyscraper, Liberty Satute, Coney Island, etc.  At about 11:45 we slowed down and a rowboat came alongside to take off the pilot and also a woman who had forgotten to get off the pier. It was quite an experience getting her off, but it was finally accomplished. At about noon we passed sandy hook and the Ambrose Channel Lightship where our official time is taken for Europe. The sea was calm and the weather great. In the afternoon Dale and I explored the boat from bow to stern, going into the second cabin and steerage. We had dinner at 7 P.M. 460 miles.

During the beginning of J. Radford Abbot’s journey to Europe, he wrote that he ” Saw the N.Y. skyscraper, Liberty Satute, Coney Island, etc.” in the first decade of the 1900′s, these were very popular sights to see. The New York Skyscrapers were famous, but mostly  for their height.  In 1909, most skyscrapers were usually not over six stories high. New York’s Empire State Building has 106 floors. People often got excited when going into one of the skyscrapers, especially visiting the highest floor and looking over the city. Also in 1909 one of the biggest things to see was the Statue Of  Liberty. Lady Liberty has been standing for 127 years. She was built in 1875 by a french architect named Frederick Bartholdi as a gift to the United States  from the people of France. She was considered the symbol of freedom, democracy and America. People were originally allowed to travel up into the torch that she holds in her right hand high above her head, but soon, the arm that supported the torch grew weak, so the torch viewing point was shut down. Now people can only look out onto the city from the crown Lady Liberty wears on her head. J. Radfrod Abbot also wrote that he saw Coney Island. In 1909, Coney Island was just opening to the public. It first opened to the public on June 20th, 1909. This means that when Abbot saw Coney Island, it had only been open for less than eighteen days. Coney Island was one of the most elaborate amusement parks of it’s days. Otto B. Benschuetz, owner and founder, landscaped the grounds, put in a children’s playground, a bandstand for outdoor concerts, and a dance pavilion which served as an ice skating rink and theater.

 

John Radford Abbot

Today I found a photo of John Radford Abbot.  He was much younger when he began his European trip. This is the only photo I  found of him at the Andover Historical Society so far. I am still looking and will post another photo if I find it.

 

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (#43 and final)

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

These are Abby’s last entries for the year 1867.

Thomas Nast's images of Santa first appeared in Harper's Weekly during the Civil War, and by Christmas 1865 had taken on many of the characteristics of the image we know today.

Wednesday December 18: Since last writing E.W.D. has been up 3 or four times. Been to ride with him once. Bob Means came up to invite me to a dancing school party at No. Andover Friday night. E.W. Donald came up to night to make a call with me but I had a cold and did not feel able to go out.

Friday 20: A large wagon carried all the Andover people to No A. It came for me at ¼ to 8. I wore my white tucked muslin, coral jewelry, scarlet sash and fan, and scarlet heels and bows on my white slippers. I had Louise’s white opera cape and lace handkerchief and looked as well as possible. Had a splendid time. Got home at ½ past 3.
Wednesday 25: Willie Donald came up in the afternoon (how nice he is) and took tea. Mother did not get us presents. She says she will New Year’s.

Friday December 27: Spent the evening at Mrs. Morse’s. Had a nice time. Mary M rode down with me. Crowley came for me at ¼ past 10. Was introduced to Mr. Tennis.

In the years immediately following the Civil War, Andover residents celebrated the Holiday Season – which stretched, as it does now, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day – in ways that were sometimes faithful to old New England traditions but also increasingly resembled the commercialism of the “Gilded Age” that was to follow.
The dance that Abby attended on December 20th was probably one of a series of holiday galas hosted by the Master Machinists of the Davis & Furber Company at Stevens Hall in North Andover. The Lawrence American described the hall as “nearly filled with gaily dressed ladies and gents” and “tastefully” decorated with “some forty streamers [diverging] from the ceiling and ‘the flag’ displayed from numerous points in the room. The venue, with music provided by various “Quadrille Bands” from the area, allowed as many as 75 couples to stand up for twenty dances each evening.
Christmas itself would not be designated a federal holiday by Congress and President Ulysses Grant until 1870. In Andover, many people (like Abby’s mother, apparently) still favored New Year’s Day as the more significant observance. But new traditions like Christmas trees and the use of Santa Claus as a secular symbol of gift-giving were becoming ingrained.
Local merchants placed advertisements in December 1867 suggesting their merchandise – books, toys, and various “fancy goods” — as suitable for Christmas and New Year’s gifts. One shop explained that “so universal has become the custom of giving to and receiving from our friends some token of remembrance during the Holidays, that all expect something. “ Another emphasized its superior customer service with the assurance that “the great annoyance and loss of time generally experienced in the selection of suitable articles for presents at moderate prices will be entirely obviated,” and further explained that all purchases were fully exchangeable.
Some Andover churches (Baptist, Christ Episcopal, and South Parish) had a Christmas tree hung with gifts for the children of their congregations on Christmas Eve. Others (Frye Village Sunday School, Free Church, West Parish,) held their “Holiday Festivals” on New Year’s Day, complete with a Christmas Tree, and in one case (the North Andover Unitarians) a visit from “Old Santa Claus” himself.
Santa himself was starting to behave in the manner to which we are now accustomed. The Andover Advertiser reported that “after the children had retired. . . the stocking operation commenced. Santa Claus, as usual, visited their abodes regardless of bolts and locks and dispensed favors. It is strongly suspected that some of the little urchins borrowed for the occasion, stockings of such prodigious dimensions that they could not possibly wear them unless they got into them altogether. They were nonetheless well filled, and the stock of the visitor was not entirely exhausted. “

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (40)

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Abby’s entries for November 1867 continue

Tuesday 5:  Went to a sort of Society at the Old South and after up to Mrs. Eaton’s.  Mr. Johnson took care of me.  There was quite a little party.  Went up and had a nice time.

Wednesday November 6: Louise had a little company in the evening.  I had a splendid time.  Mr. Spaulding, Babbitt, Dennis, Frye and Means, Ella Fisher, Clara and Georgia Ray.  And in the afternoon up to the Public Speaking at Phillips.  Seth Williams spoke as finely as he usually does.  The last time I went up I heard Dennis and they are both the finest speakers I’ve heard in school.  Played [spills], euchre, piano.  Had ice cream and coffee.

Friday 7: Chose readers for the prize reading next term.  The results will be given to morrow.  Dr. Moore and Mr. Frye came up.  Mr. F. brought a pound of candy.

Saturday November 8:  Father went to Washington.  Next to Hattie Tufts in our division, I had the most votes.  4 are to read from one division.  Hattie Tufts, Emma Eastern, Nannie Dillingham and myself.

Sunday 10:  Rained nearly all the day.  Went down to Mrs. Raymonds’s to hear Mr. Haines sing and play.  Frank Safford (?) and Edith took tea with us.

Monday 11:  Mr. Frye and Mr. Spaulding spent the evening.  Played euchre.  Mr. S. brought two poiunds of candy.  We had five or seven pounds last week.

John Wesley Churchill (1839-1900) was the elocution teacher for all three schools on Andover Hill from 1866 to 1900.

Abbot Academy’s Draper Reading Prize was awarded in the spring term of 1868 with a thirty dollar donation to the school by Irene Rowley Draper, and Abbot alumna and the wife of Warren F. Draper, an important trustee and benefactor of the school who had already established a similar contest for the Phillips Academy boys.  Sixteen to twenty Abbot readers were elected by the students for the first round of the contest, after which ten were chosen for private instruction from elocution professor J. Wesley Churchill.  The school’s relationship with Churchill, who was employed for thirty-four years by all three schools on Andover Hill (and was incidentally the brother-in-law of Abby’s friends Willy and E.W. Donald) became a significant source of pride for the school.  Principal Philena McKeen wrote in her 1897 history of the school (published by Mr. Draper) that the opportunity for lessons with churchill gave the school “one advantage over every other school or college for young women in the land.”

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (38)

Friday, October 21st, 2011

The J.C. Handley & Co manufactured "Cinderella" steam engines in Lawrence from 1857 into the 1870s.

Abby’s entries from October 1867 continue:

Tuesday 15:  Fred Taylor, Eaton & C. came up in the evening.  Had a nice time.  Next Tuesday we are going to have a small sociable.  F.T. is to invite the boys.  I and Clara the girls.

Wednesday October 16:  Went over to the Pacific Mills and into one or two shops to see Steam Engines with the Philosophy class.  Was very tired on reaching home.

Thursday 17:  Went down to Aunt Abbie’s to see Grandmother and Aunt L. – they went yesterday morning from here.  Stayed to tea.  Father and Mother came in the evening. 

Friday 18:  Went after ferns at Indian Ridge with Clara Brown.  Called on Hattie and she showed me her new jewelry Rosa brought her from abroad.  Both elegant sets.

Saturday October 19:  called on G. Ray after school.  Virgie Houghton came to make Louise a visit.  She has been expecting her some time.  Mr. F. spent the evening.

Sunday 20:  Mr. Frye, Virgie.  Louise and I went to the young men’s lecture by Mr. Babbit in the eve.  In the middle of the prayer a cow bellowed and it sounded so funny we laughed. 

 The Pacific Mills was a Lawrence corporation with Andover roots.  The company had been established in 1853, when Mr. Jeremiah S. Young (one of Abraham Marland’s sons-in-law) transferred the worsted operation (including specialized machinery imported from England for the manufacture of delaines – a high-grade woolen fabric for ladies clothing) from its original location in Ballardvale. Pacific Mills was incorporated with The Essex Company’s Abbot Lawrence, one of the founders of the city, as President, and Young as Treasurer, and an initial capitalization of one million dollars.  The years between the company’s incorporation and the end of the Civil War were not profitable, but the company was known for the modernity of its equipment, including the first fine combing machines brought into the country and a dyeing and printing process that could turn out cloth – both cotton, wool and blends —  with 16 different shades and colors.  In 1867 (the year of Abby’s visit) the Pacific Mills won a medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris for “developing a spirit of harmony among all those cooperating in the same work, and have provided for the material, moral and intellectual well-being of the workmen. “ 

The  main operations of all the Lawrence mills were powered by water turbines turned by the mightly Merrimack River, but portable steam engines were used for internal jobs such as heating (and humidifying) the factory work areas, turning mills for grinding lead and other minerals for the dyeing process and running the elevator.  The engines Abby visited (as part of her “Natural Philosophy” or physics class) were likely some version of the “Cinderella” manufactured by Lawrence’s J.C. Hoadley Co.   The company sold 762 engines between the years 1857 and 1870 (many to the Essex Company and the Lawrence mills) and “gained a good reputation for efficiency , safety, durability, convenience and general utility, combined with reasonable economy of fuel.”

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (#37)

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Thursday October 10:  A beautiful day.  Had a nice drive [with] Mary [Means] and Mary [Morton] and Clara.  Got some autumn leaves.  Met the boys going into the Gymnasium going and coming out as we came back.

Friday 11:  Amy Charnley, girl [?] and Lottie M(orton). went from Andover to day to Chicago.  Lottie is to stay till Spring.

Saturday 12:  Rained very hard.  Went to the Old South at ten to hear Mr. Hall.  The school was obliged to go.  Academy boys and theologues.  Most of the girls had on their best.  I wore my old brown hat and did not look very well.   I did not know any one would be there but our school.

Monday 14:  Grandmother, Grandfather and my Great Aunt came to day.  Found them at the house when I got home from a nice long walk with MM and MM. 

The two Marys – Means and Morton – are two of Abby’s closest friends throughout the two years of the diary, and the trio would remain close for years to come.  In July 1880, Abby and Mary Morton would bring sons for baptism on the same day at Andover’s Christ Church, with Mary Means standing sponsor for little Arthur Whitreau, Mary Morton’s son. 

Mary Hoppin Morton was the daughter of Judge Marcus Morton.  He had represented Andover in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 1850s, and had been a respected town leader during the Civil War.  In 1867, he held a position in the Superior Court of Suffolk County, and would be named Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 1869.  Mary attended Abbot Academy and married Mr. Clarence Whitreau and lived as an adult in Staten Island and Katonah, New York. 

Mary McGregor Means was the daughter of William G. Means, who was the treasurer of the Manchester (NH) Locomotive Works, manufacturers of locomotives, stationary steam engines and tools.  She was the cousin of Emily Means, the Andover teacher and artist who later became the straight-laced principal of Abbot Academy, and the grand-niece of Mrs. Jane Means Appleton Pierce, the wife of President Franklin Pierce, who spent several summers in Andover.  Mary Means died in 1906 at the age of 57.

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (#36)

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Abby’s entries from late September and early October 1867 continue:

Thursday 26:  Phenie went to Exeter to day.  She is coming back in a week I believe.

Monday 30:  Monday it rained very hard and at noon snow flakes were mixed with the rain.

Wednesday 2:  Went up to Mrs. S. to bid the Goldsmiths good bye and good riddance.  Eliza had some company and part of the evening I played with them. 

Thursday 3:  Met F. Taylor going up to school.  Said he was coming down Sat. and play euchre with Mr. Eaton.

Poison sumac (another name for poison dogwood) is a smooth-barked American swamp shrub whose leaves turn bright red in the fall.

Saturday 5:  Yesterday Louise went with G. Ray to get leaves.  Got some dogwood and brought it to the house and to day my face is poisoned.  I only looked at it.

While it is possible that Abby had a sensitivity to the flowering dogwood tree (cornus  florida), it is much more likely that she was using an old-fashioned Americanism (1815 c. according to dictionary.com) for the plant that we now commonly call “poison sumac”  – (toxicodrun vernix). 

It’s too bad that Louise and Georgia Ray didn’t have access to the advice of Caroline Creevey in her “Harper’s Guide to Wild Flowers.” (which wasn’t published until 1912!).  Mrs. Creevey describes the plant as “the most poisonous plant of our country and it possesses, moreover, the fatal gift of beauty, often alluring unsuspecting persons in the autumn to fill their arms with its brilliantly colored leaves.  With the swamp maple, it adds, most of all plants, to the glory of the swamps.  Insanity and even fatal results have been known to follow the handling of its branches.  Many people are wholly immune to this plant’s evil effects, while others are poisoned simply by passing the shrub. “

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (#35)

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Abby’s entries continue to be sporadic in September 1867.

Tuesday 17:  Clara had a Surprise Party and they had a delightful time.  Merriam was there.  I thought it strange and ever so many nice boys.  The girls weren’t quite so jolly.  Mary Stevens came over.  Sam went home with Belle Ray.  Eddie Roberts was real sick.  Clara is going to set one for him soon.

Thursday September 19:  Coming home from a drive we found Mr. Raulson on the steps.  We called on the Goldsmiths in the evening.  He gave us each a little knife.

From the lofty perch of her sixteen years, Abby appears to find the social lives of her younger sister and brother quite amusing, as well she might.  Clara was 13 in 1867 and Sam was only 11. 

Clara was the only other of the Locke siblings (besides Abby) to marry.  After teaching in Andover for many years (and living with her parents at 70 Elm Street),  Clara married Francis Jordan Thomsen of Baltimore in 1885, when she was 31 years old, and went on to raise 4 children. 

Sammy worked for his father in the family’s iron salvage business, but his life appears to have unraveled a bit after his father’s death in 1901.  He moved away from Andover, apparently without maintaining contact with his family.  Abby’s descendants remembered only that he was said to have “[gone] West and disappeared. “  He appears in San Francisco, California county voter registration directories in 1914 and 1916.  He is listed in the 1920 Federal Census as a patient, age 64 years, in the Fresno, California County Hospital and died on March 29, 1920 of “pernicious anaemia,” a disorder now easily treated with vitamin B12 shots.

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Abby Locke’s Splendid Days: A Teenager’s Diary in 1860s Andover (#34)

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Abby’s diary entries were sporadic in September, 1867. 

Wednesday September 4:  We finished a white tucked skirt.  15 small tucks.  It is very pretty indeed.  Hattie Baker came tonight.

Thursday 5:  School commenced:  Miss McKeen gave me Algebra, Nat. Philosophy & physiology.

no entries Sept. 6 – 9

1867 was the first year that Abbot Academy required examinations for admission.  Enrollments in the school do not seem to have been affected; the Andover Advertiser reported this week that the boarding houses for the young ladies were again full to the brim. 

Abby is again (at the age of 16) taking a full course load in the rigorous curriculum intended to “finish” female students and not to prepare them for college.  Math offerings in 1867 were arithmetic, algebra and geometry.  Natural philosophy was the 19th century term for the study of the laws of the physical universe and was the precursor to the study of physics.  Both natural philosophy and physiology were part of the school’s curriculum from the school’s founding, despite the lack of laboratory facilities. 

Abbot principal Philena McKeen was dogged in her efforts to improve the school’s resources and equipment.  One of her most wanted educational aids (finally obtained in 1879) was a papier-mache model of a woman, with detachable limbs and organs for use in the anatomy and physiology classes.  But earlier students (like those in Abby’s era) had to make due with “the grim outlines of the skeleton which aided in their instruction.”  Miss McKeen further wrote, “It may interest [old scholars] to know that in the days of his flesh this osseous personage was a warrior. That he was a mercenary who grew very sick of his bargain must be inferred from the fact that he was a Prussian in the British army, and was shot for desertion in Canada. What remained of him came into the possession of a Vermont physician, who found his bones useful in the tuition of private students of medicine. From him, after he retired from practice, the skeleton was purchased for Abbot Academy.” As of 1979 (and the publication of Susan McIntosh Lloyd’s history of Abbot Academy) the skeleton was still in the possession of the Phillips Academy art department.

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