Your Monthly News & Updates | |
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This is Where We're Headed? | |
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In fields of green and gold,
Where history's tales are told,
Lies Medfield, so serene,
With stories yet to glean.
From Kingsbury's brave stand,
To homes with pasts so grand,
This town has seen it all,
Through times both great and small.
Through wars and times of peace,
Its legacy will not cease,
For in its streets and squares,
The past still echoes there.
So come and walk awhile,
Amidst its historic style,
For in Medfield's embrace,
The past you can retrace.
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Or maybe this?
Lowell Mason, music man
Composer, teacher, with a plan
Hymns and melodies he wrote
Tunes that lift our hearts afloat
In Boston town he made his mark
Music education was his spark
Bringing harmony to the masses
His legacy, our ears amasses
Lowell Mason, music man
Through his songs, we understand
The power of melody and verse
His influence, forever diverse.
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These two “poems” were both written by ChatGPT, which I just started playing with.
Clearly, we are a long way from having AI write The Portal, but if Moore’s Law holds true for AI as it did for semiconductors, the future will be here much sooner than we think. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, these poems are “like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”
Polling readers: what poems about Medfield or Mason do you know – created with NOI (Natural, Organic Intelligence), not AI – that might be suitable to share with other readers?
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About the February 6 postponement - Jonathan Gray, reenacting his father’s experiences in World War II, was postponed to Monday, March 6, at 7:30 pm in the basement of the old meetinghouse, aka Unitarian Church.
The reason was that Eva Kendrick, the music teacher who uses that room for lessons, called me at 5 pm February 6. She said she had been feeling poorly all day but had continued working, all by Zoom. She had just then tested herself and came out positive for Covid.
The church has installed an air filtration system. But given the at-risk age of most of the people who attend society presentations, I felt it would be irresponsible to use that room just two hours later. The right thing to do was to cancel and reschedule the presentation for Monday, March 6.
Jonathan has a good story to tell, and I hope to see you there!
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Medfield Man, In Uniform, Reenacts His Father, WWII POW | |
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Monday, Mar 6
7:30 pm
First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church
26 North Street, Medfield
At age 11, Richard Gray moved with his family from the Ozarks to California during the Depression…only to be relocated months later, after his father died at 35, to the home of an aunt and uncle in Iowa.
There, as a 16-year-old, he joined the National Guard band to earn money to help his family and to buy a clarinet. Little did he know that his small unit would soon be among the first US ground troops to go up against the Germans, taking on “Desert Fox” Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
Gray’s introduction to combat was in the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943. The U.S. Army’s II Corps, under the incompetent Major General Lloyd Fredendall, were beaten, and Gray was wounded and taken prisoner. Fredendall was relieved of his command – sent back to Washington, D.C. – and promoted!
Richard’s proud son, Jonathan Gray of 87 North Street, Medfield, has been reenacting his father’s story for over 10 years, performing at schools, at scouting events in Medfield, and other Massachusetts locations. He will be performing it for the Medfield Historical Society on Monday, March 6, in the basement of the old meetinghouse, aka First Parish Unitarian Universalist church.
The presentation is free and open to the public. Mark your calendar!
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Sheryl Faye Returns as Eleanor Roosevelt | |
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Tuesday, Apr 4
7:30 pm
Medfield Public Library
Daley Room
468 Main Street, Medfield
Well-known local historical reenactor Sheryl Faye will be at the Medfield Library Tuesday, April 4 at 7:30 pm. She will perform as Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the most remarkable women of the 20th century, and the longest serving First Lady in history.
Co-sponsored by the Medfield Historical Society and the Friends of the Library, the performance will be in the beautiful Daley Room at the library.
An honors graduate of Emerson College, with a BFA in acting and membership in SAG and AFTRA, Ms. Faye has appeared in dozens of movies, plays, and television productions. For 20 years she has also gone solo playing the roles of important women ranging from Susan B. Anthony to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from Helen Keller to Anne Frank. From Amelia Earhart to Sally Ride.
Eleanor Roosevelt suffered through an unhappy childhood, losing her parents and one of her brothers. Eventually, she figured out where she could fit in and make a difference. She grew up, married FDR, her cousin, and became the longest serving First Lady of the United States.
She was the first presidential spouse to hold press conferences, write a syndicated newspaper column, and speak at a national convention. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. She became one of the first delegates to the United Nations.
One of the top ten most admired people of the 20th century. “As individuals we live cooperatively, and, to the best of our ability, serve the community in which we live…our own success, to be real, must contribute.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
The performance is free and open to the public.
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Medfield History Weekend 2023 | |
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Fri, Apr 28 - Sun Apr 30
Fri evening, Sat 10am -4pm, Sun 1 pm-4 pm
Various Medfield establishments and historic sites
Mark your calendars for Medfield History Weekend 2023! Event planners are putting together a great list of free and ticketed activities that will take place over a three-day period.
Highlights include walking tours of Downtown Medfield and Medfield State Hospital, Town clock/steeple tour, narrated Old Town Trolley tours, and a children’s scavenger hunt. The town’s most historic sites, including Dwight-Derby House, Kingsbury Grist Mill, Lowell Mason House, Medfield Historical Society and the Peak House Heritage Center will offer featured attractions all weekend. The Hannah Adams Woman’s Club will also have a presence. Look for more information coming soon.
Participating partners also include MEMO and Medfield TV. The initiative is funded by a Medfield Cultural Council grant.
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Clarence Cutler's Propeller | |
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Medfield’s first honor square, at the intersection of North, Main, and Pleasant streets, was created by a town meeting vote in 1921 in memory of Clarence Meredith Cutler.
Cutler was the valedictorian at Medfield High School in 1910, a mere seven years after the Wright brothers’ first flight. He became a pilot in World War I, trained other pilots, and stayed in the service after the war ended in November, 1918. He was killed January 28, 1921, when his De Havilland DH-4 crashed in Irlich, Germany. He was 30 years old.
A recent out-of-the-blue email from Carol Triplett Radven of Tomball, Texas led to a poignant artifact donation for the Medfield Historical Society: three albums with photos from the 1920s of men in Germany in the Army Air Service, and photos of Cutler’s funeral procession – and, from Cutler’s wrecked plane, the tip of the propeller, with an engraving. (Disclaimer – the funeral procession is definitely for Cutler, but despite the inscription on the back of the other 1921 photo, it is not 100% certain that the dapper leather-clad man standing in front of the DH-4 plane is actually Cutler.)
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The tip of the propeller from Cutler's wrecked airplane with an engraving. | |
Funeral procession for Clarence Meredith Cutler. | |
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Carol wrote, “I am not related to Lt. Cutler, but my paternal grandfather, Edward Vincent Triplett (1902-1978) served with him and attended his funeral in Germany. I wish I had more information, but it has taken me 15 years to put together just whose funeral my grandfather attended overseas.”
Carol went on to explain that her grandfather’s photo albums, along with the broken-off propellor tip, had passed down to her father, who died in 2008. She added, “I have no family members who want the albums, and I don’t want them to end up in the landfill. I’m so happy to get these treasures into appreciative hands and out of my spare bedroom closet!”
Click here to read more >>
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Possibly Lt. Cutler in front of his plane. | |
Burnin' Down the House 1976 | |
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by Claire Shaw
When, on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, Medfield was already 127 years old; King Philip’s burning of the town had occurred in 1676 and a great deal of history had transpired in the 300 years since then. The Talking Heads and David Byrne notwithstanding, in 1976, during one commemoration of these events, houses were actually burned to the ground.
Medfield has always celebrated major, and even minor, historical occasions, and America’s Bicentennial was certainly a cause worth honoring. Virtually the entire town participated. Women dusted off their sewing machines and made colonial garb for themselves and, in many cases, their families. Men unearthed antique firearms long stored in attics or basements to be put on display during parades or reenacting military exercises and committees were formed to determine just how the celebrations were to commence.
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One such sub-committee was The Burning of Medfield Committee, formed under the 325th (1651 INCORPORATION) and Special Bicentennial Committee (1776) appointed by the town. Richard DeSorgher, to whom I am indebted for his notes and recollections of these events, was a member of the committee which was chaired by Pauline Coulter. Among others on the committee were Gay Holderreid, Dick Kenney, Bob Coulter, and Barbara Smith. The committee met for almost a year to plan the extraordinary occasion.
Richard did the historical research and developed the script used to plan the reenactment. The Boy Scouts, led by Dick Kenney, and the Girl Scouts, led by Gay Holderreid, built the plywood buildings that were to represent the town in 1676. An old sepia map from that time was used to lay out the town on land at the state hospital now known as the William E. McCarthy Memorial Fields. Medfield resident Don Batting, long-time broadcaster at WBZ, Boston’s NBC outlet in Boston, read Richard’s script over the PA system.
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1976 photo of the author in colonial period costume. | |
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Characters, both settlers and Native Americans, were developed to role-play during the “attack” on the town. Young 6th grader, Laura Hart, stated that for the Girl Scouts, each participant was assigned the name of an actual settler, she playing the part of Experience Metcalf wearing an historically appropriate garment and a white muslin bonnet. She commented on the noise and, what she hoped was, the organized chaos of the raid. She said numbers were assigned and signs held up so, on cue, everyone participating in the foray would run toward their number. Great cooperation was readily available from the Highway, police and fire departments, with fire trucks on standby throughout the event.
Older boys were to play the Native Americans, complete with burning torches and fiendish whooping, and were the ones to set fire to the “town”. One 11-year-old girl, who now prefers to remain anonymous, reported being extremely annoyed that she had to be a settler and couldn’t be one of Philip’s marauding band. And yet another young participant remembered being unsettled by the level and volume of noise. Evidently it had been a significant occasion for her. I am happy to report that no one was hurt nor did the fire spread beyond its intended borders.
While books can very effectively transmit events of the past, the reenactment of the burning of Medfield gave the participants a real and even physical sense of the risks and perils of frontier living in the time of King Phillip. Each and every person who took part in the Bicentennial celebrations remembers this particular event as a major highlight.
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Local Historic Properties and Areas You May Not Know About | |
Holiday Farm Guesthouse at 45 Elm Street. | |
Albion C. Gilbert House at 4 Curve Street. | |
People and Places of the Past | |
The Bizarre Jason Fairbanks Murder Case of 1801 | |
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by Tom Connors
Longtime Medfield resident Tom Connors sat as a judge in three Norfolk Country district courts and then moved up to spend over 16 years in the Dedham Superior Court. Dedham courthouse has been the site of many famous trials -and it will be the site of the trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of murdering his wife Ana and dismembering her body last month.
Jason Fairbanks came from of a prominent family. The Fairbanks house in Dedham is the oldest surviving wood-frame structure in North America. Built in 1641, it belonged to the same family for over 250 years; descendants included Charles Fairbanks, Theodore Roosevelt’s vice president.
Jason struck up a relationship with a young woman who lived nearby, Elizabeth “Betsey” Fales, who was 18. Her family didn’t approve: Jason suffered from health problems, including a withered arm resulting from smallpox, and he was not viewed as a suitable prospect. Because of that, the two would meet in secret in a grove of trees a short distance from her residence. Reputedly, the two had an on-off relationship with Elizabeth breaking up, then taking him back.
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On a late spring day in May 1801, Jason staggered into her home, with stab wounds and covered in blood. He told her family that Betsey had committed suicide and that he had then attempted the same but was unsuccessful. Her parents ran to the woods and found her dying, later determined that she had been stabbed 11 times. Jason’s injuries were fairly severe, and he was left at the Fales House and treated.
The circumstances of Betsey’s death, however, promptly gave rise to very serious doubts about his version of events. Chiefly, the 11 stab wounds to Betsey included one to her back, making it implausible that these were self-inflicted. An arrest warrant issued, and Jason was bound over to the next sitting of the grand jury, which returned indictment for murder in August. Still suffering from his own wounds, he had to be carried on a litter from the Fales’ home to the county jail, where he was held in custody.
Click here to read more >>
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