Newsletter
Vol. 4, No. 1
January 2007
Lee Historical Society, Inc.
P. O. Box 170
Lee, MA 01238
The purposes of the Lee Historical Society are to promote and foster a greater knowledge and appreciation of the unique history of the Town of Lee to friends, students and citizens through research, lectures, exhibits, acquisition and preservation of historical material and sites for future generations. We also offer assistance to those in the pursuit of local historical information.
The funding that our society receives is strictly from membership dues and other private sources. There is no financial support received from any governmental source or agency. The Lee Historical Society is a non-profit corporation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, classified as a 501 (C) (3) charitable organization under the U.S. Revenue Service Code.
December Meeting:
The Annual December Meeting was held on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 7:00 P.M. in the old courtroom of Memorial Hall. Ethel Noonan and Jim DiMario were re-elected and Mary McGinnis was newly elected for three years terms on the Board of Directors. 2006 Officers, Steve Cozzaglio, Gary Allen and Mal Eckert were re-elected to their past positions. The office of Secretary is still open and will hopefully be filled by the January meeting. We wish to thank JoAnn Zarnoch for her faithful duty as Society Secretary for the past year.
The Treasurer’s report was read by Mal Eckert and accepted. The Membership Committee was read by Marion Leach. It was reported that we have 112 members and are looking for more and will have a Membership Committee meeting at date to be decided in January.
The Board of Directors and Officers decided to return the dates of our monthly meetings to the second Thursday of each month. President Cozzzglio will reserve the old courtroom on these dates for the year.
The Annual Meeting was then adjourned and the Program Meeting opened. Kathy Reilly presented a very interesting program about tracing the history of your house. Kathy is from the Berkshire Athenaeum and gave information and tips on finding your home’s history. There are members who are very interested in this “project” and we hope we can monitor their progress and report monthly in our newsletter on what they are finding.
January Meeting:
The January Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 11th at 7:00 P.M. in the old Courtroom in Memorial Hall. This will be a business meeting for the Board of Directors, Officers, Committee Members and interested members.
Some of the out of state members have mentioned that through the Society they have regained contact with old friends that they have not heard from in years. If anyone would like a list of the members with their addresses, let us know.
NEW MEMBERS TO WELCOME:
Gil & Peg Biron, 25 Housatonic Street, Lee, MA 01238
RECOLLECTIONS II
By Vic Mottarella
Growing up on the Farm
(Continued from the December issue)
A drought occurred about every four years. During these periods we used the horses to haul water from the Salinetti, Naventi or Bonafin wells. Their wells never seemed to dry up since they lived at an elevation that was about one hundred feet lower than where we lived. The Valenti’s lived on a farm about one quarter of a mile in the opposite direction. My father never seemed to hit it off with the Valenti’s but they always treated me well. He got along well with Mr. Valenti (the father) but had some disagreements with Joe, the son. One night Louie Naventi and I were walking home from school at dusk and noticed a deep red halo over the hill in the direction of the Valenti farm. As we climbed over the final hill it was confirmed that the Valenti barn was on fire. We learned later that Mr. Valenti (the father) died in the barn that had burned to the ground. I spent some time with Gino Valenti (Joe’s younger brother) who was three years older than me. Our friendship mostly involved hunting and fishing in an old quarry hole that was located on the Valenti property. In the winter months Louie and I played various card games with Gino. Popcorn was always available and it was always fresh and delicious. The loser of the card games was required to consume a certain portion of hard cider that always caused the desired effect of making one slightly inebriated. Gino introduced me to guns. First it was rifles and later it became shotguns. Soon after, Louie Naventi and I became even closer friends and spent most of our spare time together in the woods with and without guns. The guns that were available to me were a 20 gauge Winchester pump gun, a 22 Winchester pump gun, a very old 12 gauge double barrel shotgun and a 44 single shot rifle. The 20 gauge and the 22 were purchased new by my father. He never hunted but bought the guns to shoot crows and foxes. The crows were devastating our corn crop and foxes had killed several chickens early one morning. The 12 gauge shotgun had belonged to my grandfather while the 44 caliber rifle had belonged to my uncle. On one occasion I experimented with the 12 gauge by removing the powder from one shell and adding most of it to another. Louie was with me when I fired the gun-----it knocked me swiftly and abruptly on my can. I was stunned and learned later that what I had done was a very dangerous experiment. The type of metal in the barrels was twisted steel and was known to blow up even with a standard load. I never added extra powder to a shell again. Game consisted primarily of squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks and pheasants. Basically, we would try to shoot anything that moved of which I am ashamed of today. In all my hunting days on the farm I only saw one deer but never had a shot. I learned that my Uncle Peter had been an avid hunter and fisherman. We still had his ten point deer head hanging on the living room wall which he had mounted before he joined the army during World War I. Yellow perch and bull heads were the standard for the quarry. I had no fancy gear. I used plain string, a cork and usually cut a small sapling for a pole. I even made my own hooks when I didn’t have sufficient money to buy the commercial type. My stepmother would cook the fish after I cleaned them. When I was about ten years old I was fishing by myself at the quarry hole and fell in. At the time I could not swim. Fortunately, I was able to climb out by grabbing onto some rocks sitting on the bottom in the shallow side of the quarry. I was very cold and shivering so I stopped by the Valenti’s who dried my clothes in the oven before I walked home. On another occasion I was standing on the edge of a raft when a friend dove in from the same side that I was on. His diving action caused the raft to suddenly move back in the opposite direction. This caused me to loose my balance and I fell into very deep water. I almost drowned. Gino told me later that he kept yelling to the third party to save me but because of the splashing he could not be heard. The other party finally heard Gino and rescued me after I had gone down for the third time. It was scary because I almost passed out. I had swallowed a lot of water and was completely out of breath. It was several years later that I finally learned basic swimming (the dog paddle) at the same quarry hole. I was never a good swimmer and because of this, swimming became one of my most difficult challenges while striving to complete the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. I believe I had so much trouble swimming was because I was skinny which caused my body to be non-buoyant.
Pete Barea, who was my godfather, owned a small grocery store on Center Street. He would deliver staples about twice a week to the farm. He kept a tab on the deliveries and my father would pay him periodically. Staples consisted of canned goods, bread, cheese, spaghetti, etc. The delivery truck had no ice or air conditioning so meat had to be purchased by my father at a market on Main Street. There was another delivery truck that came down from North Adams (28 miles) about once a month. As I recall this truck delivered various types of excellent imported cheeses. The delivery man’s name was Cavasa Montania (or something like that.
Soldiers of Lee in the Civil War:
ROLL OF HONOR SOLDIER
Private Hiram Sheffield – Company E, 27th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
Found in the American Civil War Soldiers Records:
Name: Hiram Sheffield
Residence: Lee, Massachusetts
Occupation: Farmer
Enlistment Date: 14 September 1861
Distinguished Service
Side Served: Union
State Served: Massachusetts
Unit Numbers: 929 929
Service Record: Enlisted as a private on September 14, 1861 at the age of 18. Enlisted in Company E, 27th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on 20 September 1861. Wounded on 08 February 1862 at Roanoke Island, North Carolina and died on 19 February 1862.
I find Hiram Sheffield in the 1860 United States Federal Census of the Town of Lee, County of Berkshire and State of Massachusetts as a 16 year old, employed as a woolen manufacturer and being born in Connecticut. He lives with his father, Hiram W. Sheffield, age 50, who is a farmer, his mother, Lucretia, age 48. Also in the family are sisters, Ellen V. Sheffield, age 23, who is employed in a woolen mill and Martha E. Sheffield, age 20, employed as papermaker. There is also a 9 year old brother, James.
Officers of the Lee Historical Society for 2007:
President – Stephen A. Cozzaglio, 413-243-3204 or scozzaglio@rcn.com
Vice-President – Gary Allen. 413-243-2140 or GaryWAllen@Earthlink.net
Secretary – Position open
Treasurer – Mal Eckert 413-243-1797 or Lee_Hist_Soc@msn.com
Board of Directors:
Marion Leach/2007 Mary Holt/2008 Ethel Noonan/2009
William Clarke/2007 Henry Holt/2008 James DiMario/2009
Cindy Packard/2007 Mary Morrissey/2008 Mary McGinnis/2009
Society Historian: Charlotte Davis, 413-243-1092
Newsletter Editor: Mal Eckert, 413-243-1797 or Lee_Hist_Soc@msn.com
The Lee Historical Society is continuously looking for articles and stories of Lee and its people to include in our newsletters. If anyone has an article or story, or is looking for an ancestor, please contact one of our officers or board members or send me an email.
The following article was copied from the Penny Saver of April 22, 1971 as written by Betty L. Dennis, the former Town Librarian, who wrote a series of articles regarding historical events about the Town of Lee for the Lee Rotary Club that were published in the Penny Saver under the column of “Historical Lee.”
Only about 150 years had elapsed after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 when Lee began to be settled. Sixteen other towns in Berkshire County were already settled before Lee, so some of our early settlers came to us from these other towns, while others came from Connecticut and Cape Cod.
The Indian Claiments to the entire region were of the Mohegan race, which means”the people of the waters that ebb and flow”, also designed “Stockbridge Tribe” and “Housatonic Tribe”.
When Lee was settled there were few Indians left, and those who remained had given up their war paint and feathers in favor of the dress of the Pale Face. However every Spring some of the tribe would return to this area, building wigwams in which to live for a few weeks while gathering Maple syrup for sugaring. History pictures for us a “Maple Orchard” south of today’s Water Pollution Treatment Plant.
Lee was not incorporated until 1777, but the first people began coming as early as 1760. Our town, six miles long and five miles wide, tucked between the Taconic and Green Mountain ranges, is our inheritance from those staunch people, and much history has been made.
The Rev. C. M. Hyde and Alexander Hyde prepared “Centennial History of Lee, 1777 – 1877” giving us the story of our first hundred years. Now it is our responsibility to leave future generations an account of the last hundred years.
A Bi-Centennial History Study Committee is established and we’d like your help. If you are interested just leave your name at the Lee Library and a postal will inform you of the next meeting of the group.
SCHEDULE OF 2007 MEETINGS:
Meetings of the Lee Historical Society will take place on the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 P.M. Business meetings will be held in the old courtroom at Memorial Hall and some of the program meetings may take place on the site of the subject matter of the meeting. We will try to advertise all meetings in various places in town. We will also try to advertise in the local media and TV stations. Our Program Meetings are free and open to the public and people are encouraged to attend. This schedule will be updated as more speakers and locations are confirmed.
Thursday, January 11, 2007 --- Business Meeting for all Board of Directors and Officers and all interested members.
Thursday, February 8, 2007 --- Program Meeting for all members and the public. The subject will be “The History of the Lee Fire Department”. Location to be advertised next month.
Thursday, March 8, 2007 --- Business Meeting for all Board of Directors and Officers and all interested members.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 --- Program Meeting for all members and the public. The subject and location to be confirmed.
Thursday, May 10, 2007 --- Business Meeting for all Board of Directors and Officers and all interested members.
Thursday, June 14, 2007 --- Program Meeting for all members and the public. The subject and location to be confirmed.
Thursday, July 12, 2007 --- Business Meeting for all Board of Directors and Officers and all interested members.
Thursday, August 9, 2007 --- Program Meeting for all members and the public. The subject and location to be confirmed.
Thursday, September 13, 2007 --- Business Meeting for all Board of Directors and Officers and all interested members.
Thursday, October 11, 2007 --- Program Meeting for all members and the public. The subject and location to be confirmed.
Thursday, November 8, 2007 --- Business Meeting for all Board of Directors and Officers and all interested members. Nominations for members of the Board of Directors.
Thursday, December 13, 2007 --- Annual Meeting --- Election of members of the Board of Directors and Officers.
When friends, neighbors or relatives move, downsize, move or just clean house, PLEASE, ask them to think of the LEE HISTORIC SOCIETY before they discard any old books, pictures postcards, letters or memorabilia of the TOWN OF LEE. We are also interested in obtaining old Lee High School yearbooks and Town Reports.
BECOME A MEMBER OR ENROLL AN OUT OF TOWN FRIEND OR RELATIVE. HOW ABOUT A PRESENT OF A MEMBERSHIP, COOKBOOK, SET OF REFRIGERATOR MAGNETS OR PICTURE PACKET OF “OLD LEE”?
MEMBERSHIP FORM
Membership fees:
Student Membership --- $5.00 Senior Membership (1 person over age 65) --- $5.00
Business Membership --- $25.00 Individual Membership (1 person under age 65) --- $10.00
Family Membership (all members of a family living at home) --- $15.00
Please circle one: Student Senior Individual Family Business
Name_______________________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________________
City__________________________State____________Zip____________
Telephone__________________Email_____________________________
Is this a renewal?_______or a new membership?________
Would you be interested in serving on a committee?________
Or helping out at one of our fundraisers?___________
The Lee Historical Society has available for sale the following items:
Picture Packets – Six, 8” x 10” colored pictures of “Old Lee” for $10.00 each or 3 for $25.00 plus $2.50 if shipped.
Refrigerator Magnets – (approx. 2” x 3”) street scenes of early Lee for $3.00 each or $7.50 for a set of three different scenes. No shipping charges.
Cookbook, “Boiling Water” – A 400 recipe cookbook put together by the ladies of the Society for the price of $10.00 plus $3.50 if shipped.
Please send me______________Picture Packets
Please send me______________Refrigerator Magnets
Please send me______________cookbooks
Enclosed is my check or money order (NO CASH) for $__________________
NAME___________________________________________________________
ADDRESS________________________________________________________
CITY_________________________STATE_______________ZIP____________
Lee Historical Society
P. O. Box 170
Lee, MA 01238
