History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1800–1899

[27] In the 1812 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, Dedham voters cast 299 votes for Democratic-Republican Party Elbridge Gerry and 172 for Federalist candidate Caleb Strong.

[31] The commissioners were persuaded that something more was required... than what was barely necessary; that... the state of this County, rapidly advancing in wealth and prosperity, required a liberal and judiciously expenditure for public accommodation, and that acquiring a taste for the fine arts was intimately connected with a refinement of manners and even with moral sentiment; that a magnificent temple of Justice would inspire an elevation of mind and contribute to cherish those feelings of reverence for the administration of the laws which it is so desirable to cultivate in a free community; the as the situation was in the most handsome and conspicuous place in the town, the building should be made in accordance with the architectural spirit of the times and comporting with the dignity and taste of the citizens of the County.

[42] Thomas Cobbett, who was a member of an artillery company when he was younger, dragged the cannon to a meadow far from the village, filled it with gunpowder and gravel, and then lit a long fuse.

[50] Pitt Butterfield, a republican and captain of the artillerists, "faced the church militant and in language more forcible than elegant gave the other party to understand that any interference with the loading or firing of the field piece would result in a fight then and there and that the broadcloth of a priest would not protect a meddling and domineering politician.

[62] A number of other similar votes took place in the coming years such that the town spent a total of $136,090.81 on outfitting the troops, supporting the families, and providing bonuses for soldiers who enlisted.

[136] They were very social with the boys of the neighborhood, although practical jokes were played on the family, including lighting a quantity of gunpowder placed under one of their beds on the morning of the Fourth of July.

[139] When James Richardson came to Abba seeking a companion for his frail sister who could also help out with some light housekeeping, Alcott volunteered to serve in the house filled with book, music, artwork, and good company on Highland Avenue.

In his speech he "outlined for the first time the basic principles that he would return to in his subsequent public statements, arguing that education, intelligent use of the elective franchise, and religious freedom are the means by which American liberties are preserved.

He was the president of Arlington Mills in Lawrence and director of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and built a home near Connecticut Corner where he "took an active part in community affairs and made generous donations to charitable causes.

"[147] He sold the house to his brother George[148] when he had a dispute with the town over taxes and improvements he wished to make to the property a few years later and moved to an estate on Buzzards Bay.

[19][r] Major Jacob Clark[s] was a building contractor who later became a millwright, setting up water-wheels at mills around New England and the maritime provinces before the advent of the steam engine.

[164][165] The architect of the building, who also served on the company's board, was Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr.[166] The plant, which rarely if ever employed more than six people at a time, was located on Pottery Lane, off High Street, where the 2012 Avery School stands.

In addition to the passengers from Dedham, West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, the President and Superintendent of the railroad attended the party at his home and presented him with a silver plate.

[178] In 1800, a group of tinsmiths from Connecticut, including Calvin Whiting[ab] and Eli Parsons, began a business at the corner of Lowder and High Streets.

[8] Ten months after creation, however, the bank had 66 shareholders in Dedham, Boston, Bellingham, Medway, Dover, Walpole, Franklin, Needham, Woburn, Roxbury, Medfield, Sharon, Wrentham, Hopkington, Bridgewater, Canton, and Sherburne.

[129] The products produced in town that year included boots, cabinets, chocolate, carriages, cigars, dresses, harnesses, slippers, suspenders, soap, tools, watches, and whips.

[212] Among the groups using the hall were ventriloquists, magicians, a painted panorama entitled "The Burning of Moscow," a glassblowing exhibition, a demonstration of a model volcano called "The Eruption of Vesuvius," plays, concerts, including one by the Mendelssohn String Quartet, lectures, fundraisers, debates, bell ringers, and marching sessions by a para-military drill club.

[212] Among the speakers who took the podium there were Theodore Parker, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Frederick Douglass, Horace Mann, Father Matthew, Abraham Lincoln, William R. Alger, and John Boyle O'Reilly.

[219] On March 7, 1836, they reported that they engaged Samuel Foster Haven to compose and deliver an address on that occasion at the First Parish meetinghouse on September 21, 1836, at 11 a.m.[219] All the clergy and choirs of the town were invited and asked to participate, and the Dedham Light Infantry Company was requested escort the procession.

[225][105] On announcing sentiments alluding to the guests or their ancestors, several besides the governor addressed the company, including John Davis, Judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts, Josiah Quincy III, President of Harvard College, Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, Adjutant General of the Commonwealth, William Jackson, Representative in Congress, Franklin Dexter, Alexander Hill Everett, and Robert C. Winthrop, Aid to Governor Everett.

[228] He then returned to the court room and, from the bench, made a short address to the ladies in which he remarked on the privations, sufferings, fortitude, and piety of the first mothers and daughters of the town.

"[117] By the end of the century a gazetteer with entries for each city and town in Massachusetts described "the substantial old court house, with its massive columns and yellow dome; the county jail; the house of the boat club on the bank of the Charles; the beautiful building of the Dedham Historical Society; the ample town-hall, erected in 1867 as a memorial of the fallen brave; the old cemetery and the beautiful modern one; and the new library building with its 10,000 volumes,— making a list of attractions such as few towns can show.

"[117] On January 11, 1895, the citizens of the town gathered in Memorial Hall to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the first free, tax supported public school in the nation.

Governor, former senator George Cabot, Francis Dana, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and several congressmen and clergy, Hamilton stopped in Dedham.

[258][95] Next door, Fisher's brother Nathaniel was not pleased with the visit, writing in his journal that "A. Hamilton the high Adul[tere]r run after a tiptoe thro' Dedham.

[260] Fairbanks had told a friend that "planned to meet Betsey, in order to have the matter settled" and that he "either intended to violate her chastity, or carry her to Wrentham, to be married, for he had waited long enough.

The note stated Sir--from the many insults received, and attempts made on my life by you, I cannot rest easy until I get satisfaction: and as I am about to leave Dedham, it does hurt my feelings (though mean indeed) to fight with a barber.

[279] Caretaker John Carey found blood scattered on the white marble gravestone of Lavinia Turner the next morning, as well as a bloody handprint on the iron rail surrounding the family plot.

[279] In the early 1800s, residents would gather at a tavern for a feast, to drink toasts, read the United States Declaration of Independence, and to celebrate the "Glorious Fourth" of July.

[282] Mocking the Boston parade of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, older residents and young people would dress in outlandish costumes.