Lee Historical Society
Newsletter
Vol. 6, No. 7
July 2009
Lee Historical Society, Inc.
P. O. Box 170
Lee, MA 01238
www.leehistoricsociety.homestead.com
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When friends, neighbors or relatives move, downsize, or just clean house, PLEASE, ask them to think of the LEE HISTORICAL 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.
The June Meeting was held on Thursday, June 11, 2009 at the Senior Center in Crossways Village. Committee reports were read and accepted.
The Society selected Peggy Biron to chair the newly established Lee Historical Society Scholarship Committee, which will establish rules and guidelines for an annual scholarship to be given to a graduating Lee High School senior starting in 2010. Other members of this committee are Mary Morrissey, Ethel Noonan and Steve Cozzaglio.
We will have a booth in the Town Park on July 25th along with many other vendors who will participate in a craft fair hosted by the Congregational Church. We are looking for members to help at this booth where we will be selling picture packets, mugs, cookbooks, “Historical Lee” books, magnets, and looking for new members. We will have copies of the book, “Third Strike”, by R. W. Smith for $15.00. Mr. Smith wrote this book, published in 1984, about life in the earlier days of Lee, which was the last in a series of three that he wrote.
The Fundraising Committee
The Program Committee has informed us that the August Program Meeting will feature Mr. Robert Kelly, a local wallpaper contractor who will speak about an old mill that make wallpaper right here in Lee. In October, Judith Monachina will revisit us and speak on her continuing research of the paper mills throughout the history of Lee. The dates and times of these programs will be posted in our monthly newsletters as they are confirmed.
The July Meeting was held on Thursday, July 09, 2009 at the Senior Center at Crossways Village. Committee reports were read and accepted and the Membership Committee reports that we have a total of 109 members enrolled for 2009. The Fundraising Committee reports that the new 2009 Commemorative mug with the image of the Central Fire Station will be here for the craft fair on July 25th in the Town Park. The Fundraising Committee will also start to solicit prizes for the annual “November Calendar Raffle”. Scholarship Committee Chairman, Peg Biron, reports that their committee is starting to put together a criteria for the newly created scholarship that will start in 2010.
August Program
The August Program Meeting will be held on Thursday, August 13th at 7:00 p.m. at the Senior Center in Crossways Village. The program will feature Mr. Robert M. Kelly, a local wallpaper contractor, who will speak about an old mill in Lee that produced wallpaper.
New Members to Welcome:
Morgan House Restaurant & Pub, 33 Main Street, Lee, MA 01238
Pam & Jim Loring, Owners
Information Request
Mr. Thomas Young is doing a film documentary on Owen Lattimore and others who were investigated by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, which was known as the McCarren Committee. In the early 1950’s, Federal agents from this committee raided a barn on West Road here in Lee on the farm of Edward C. Carter and seized papers that were used in this investigation. Mr. Young is looking for anyone who might remember where the barn stood, or might be still standing and the area where the farm was located. Anyone that has information that might help Mr. Young is asked to email him at holgateyoung@gmail.com
Shipwrecked
On 1 July 1892, the Inman Line Steamship, City of Chicago was shipwrecked on the rocks of the Old Head of Kinsale on the coast of Ireland. On board were two residents of Lee, Mrs. Edward H. Marsh and her 21 year old daughter, Harriet. Adeline Hyde Marsh {Mrs. Edward H.} was the daughter and eldest child of Alexander and Cornelia Hyde. Born in 1842, she grew up in the family home on West Park Street where her father ran the “Hyde Park Family Boarding School”. In 1870, she married Edward Marsh and moved to Brooklyn where she lived until his death in 1884. She then moved back to Lee to care for her aged mother who died a year later. Mrs. Marsh then continued to live in the family home until her death in 1931 at which time she was the oldest living member of the Lee Congregational Church of which her grandfather, Alvan, had been pastor for 41 years {1792 – 1883}. She had one daughter, Harriet, who was born in 1871 and who was accompanying her mother on the City of Chicago at the start of an extensive European tour – probably a twenty-first birthday gift.
Despite the inauspicious beginning of the trip and the traumatic experience of being rescued from a sinking ship, the two indomitable women continued their “grand tour”, spending two years in Europe visiting England and Scotland, then traveling through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany where they set up residence in Dresden for several months. Newspaper clippings relating to the shipwreck were found in a box of Mrs. Marsh’s letters to her daughter.
Twenty-three years after the wreck of the City of Chicago and in the same location off the Old Head of Kinsale another sea disaster took place of far greater significance. After the outbreak of war in 1914, the Germans introduced submarine warfare as a means of preventing Great Britain from receiving the materials and food necessary for her to continue fighting. On May 7, 1915 the British liner, Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-Boat off the Old Head of Kinsale. Of the 1,925 people aboard the ship, 1,119 lost their lives. The Germans resort to “unrestricted submarine warfare” in 1917 led to the entrance of the United States into the war.
About the Ship
SS City of Chicago shipwrecked at the Old Head of Kinsale – 1892
The Inman liner SS City of Chicago was built in Glasgow by Charles Connell & Company. The liner stretched to 132m in length, was 14m wide and had a gross weight of about 5200 tons and was powered by a three cylinder compound steam engine. First launched on 23 May 1883, the City of Chicago started her maiden voyage on 18 September that same year from Liverpool to New York via Queenstown Cork (now Cobb). In the following nine years she would make regular crossings from Liverpool to New York carrying an average of 600 passengers and on a few occasions even carrying over 1100 passengers. A one way crossing would take about nine days.
On 22 June 1892 a heavy fog hung low over the Old Head of Kinsale as the SS City of Chicago, under the command of Captain Redford, steamed across the southern tip of Courtmacsherry Bay. Unknown to the captain the ship was much further north than he intended and on a direct collision course with the treacherous cliffs of the Old Head of Kinsale. Had he throttled speed sooner and checked the depths there may have been some chance of saving the liner, but the City of Chicago ran aground on the rocks at Ringagurteen Point on the western side of the Old Head of Kinsale.
Luck was surely sailing with those passengers on that foggy day in June 1892, not only were there no serious injuries, but miraculously while the liner had run aground, it did not immediately sink. Captain Redford order the propellers be kept running to hold the liner firm against the rocks and prevent it from slipping back into deeper waters. All passengers were rescued and surprisingly also the baggage of the passengers. For three days the 132m long liner withstood the incessant battering of the Atlantic seas, but the proud liner finally succumbed, listed to one side, then began to break up and sink.
Now, well over one hundred and ten later, the broken wreck of the City of Chicago still lies down there in her watery grave, twenty meters below the surface, at the foot of the cliffs at Ringagurteen Point.
Thanks to John Hyde for the above article that he sent to us along with a couple of news articles and pictures of the ship that were found in the New York Times. If anyone would like to read the newspaper articles, let me know and I will forward John’s email along to you.
Recollections VI
By U. S. Navy Retired Commander Vic Mottarella,
A native of Lee
(Continued from the June – 09 issue)
Naval Auxiliary Air Station Kingsville, Texas
We were transported by bus to the Naval Air Station at Kingsville, a distance of 40 miles, during the first week of June 1945. Here we would commence advanced training that included tactics, navigation, gunnery, acrobatics, night flying, formation flying and more instruments. While most of our formation flying included only three airplanes we occasionally practiced various exercises with as many as six planes. The plane was still the reliable SNJ Texan that we had flown at Cuddihy. On a few of our final flights we would finally get to fire on a moving target by pulling the trigger located on the stick. The single 30 caliber machine gun was synchronized to fire thru the propeller. We spent the first several days undergoing the usual boring routines of checking in, attending various briefings and being assigned to a barracks with four cadets to a room. We learned that the Mansion of the Famous King Ranch was to be used as the initial point on returning to the base – it was also the point (directly overhead) that we would extend the landing gear in preparation for landing. I’m sure it must have bothered the residents with all those planes flying overhead both day and night at a relatively low altitude but it was par for the course during World War Two – almost everyone was patriotic and willing to put up with some inconvenience in support of the war effort. For flight operations cadets were divided into groups of six with each group being assigned different flight numbers. Ours was Flight 29. Flight 29 consisted of Frank Cassidy, John Votolato, Ray Cerimsac, Jim Rodeghero, Bill Hansen and myself. Of the group only Votolato and I finished the program and earned our Navy Wings of Gold. A short time after the Japanese surrendered all cadets who volunteered were immediately released to civilian life. Cassidy, Cerimsac and Rodeghero all chose to get out while Votolato and I opted to finish the program. Actually, it was Votolato who convinced me to finish the program but very little persuasion was needed. I do not recall clearly what happened to Hansen but I believe he was washed out at Kingsville on one of his last flights when he landed downwind (the wrong way) in a night landing. Cassidy went back to the Boston area, attended Tuffs University and became a dentist. Cerimsac decided to become a Catholic Jesuit Priest. Rodeghero, who may have been the smartest of the group, became a medical doctor. Votolato chose to resign his commission about two and a half years later and he too attended Tuffs University where he became reacquainted with Cassidy and also became a dentist. Of the six in our flight, three of us were of Italian descent. It became a challenge and a tease to rattle off the names Votolato, Rodeghero, Mottarella, Cassidy and Cerimsac.
Social Life
Votolato and I batted close to zero when it came to socializing with women while at Cuddihy and that was to continue for about six weeks at Kingsville. The best word that I can use to describe dating for us during that period was that it was nonexistent. We were nineteen years old and were starving for female companionship. While at Cuddihy and in the early days at Kingsville the nearest we ever got to a woman was at an occasional USO dance in Corpus Christi. The girls at the USO were not allowed to date. Although women did exist in Corpus Christi and numerous Navy Waves were stationed on the various bases, the ratio of men to women was at least twenty-five to one. When one considers the thousands of sailors, marines and cadets in the area as well as officers of both services why should a girl date a poor cadet who earned a total of seventy-five dollars a month when she could date an officer who had both class and money. John Votolato and I spent most of the time in the USO playing table tennis and listening to big band music. A big change that John and I noticed during this era of our training was the easing of discipline from what it had been prior to our arriving in Texas. It was never formally approved but we noticed that cadets were hitchhiking without being called on the carpet. We would have been washed out if we were caught hitchhiking at any of our previous duty stations. Our work schedule was a continuous seven days on followed by two days off. The days off seldom corresponded with the weekend. On one occasion we rode a bus to Matamores, Mexico, which is just directly across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. It was the first time either of us had been out of the country and we found it most interesting. We noticed several girls but they did not appear to be interested in us – besides, most of them were chaperoned and did not speak English. During our first visit to this foreign country we encountered many strange sights and smells most of which were undesirable. The streets were filthy and it gave us a better appreciation of what we had in our own country. On our days off we normally rode a bus to Corpus during the early days at Kingsville but on one occasion we hitchhiked and were dropped off at the small town of Robstown, which at the time, had a population of about five thousand. It was about 7 PM and we were hungry. Before leaving the vehicle we asked the driver if he could recommend a restaurant. He drove us to the “The Steak House”. There I was introduced to the best T-bone steak I had ever eaten and upon the insistence of my friend Votolato I tried A-1 sauce for the first time in my life. When growing up on the farm on Fairview St. in Lee, Mass. the only steaks I had ever eaten were cooked to a frazzle but I never knew the difference until I tried a medium rare steak as recommended by Votolato. That has been my choice ever since. By the time we were through with dinner, dusk was at hand. We left the restaurant and started hitchhiking again hoping to get a ride to Corpus Christi when along came a two door Model A Ford with a rumble seat. The Ford was driven by a Second Class Petty Officer with a girl sitting beside him. In the rumble seat were two teenage girls who had just graduated from high school. The girl in the front seat was Jayne Shanley – she was a beautiful twenty year old brunette and the oldest of three sisters. The driver’s name was Ray DeGinaro. In the rumble seat were Shirley Shanley (sister of Jayne) and Mabel Welty. Shirley was a tall and attractive gal with auburn hair. I was to learn later that she was a very sensitive person who wrote a lot of poetry concerning deep subjects. Mabel was a cute brunette of medium height and slender frame. They all appeared to have very high IQ’s and had wonderful personalities. Four people in the rumble seat of a Model A Ford got to be a little tight but under the circumstances neither John nor I were about to complain and in fact must say that we thoroughly enjoyed the ride to Corpus. We were having so much fun that we decided to ride back to Robstown with the girls. John paired off with Mabel and I paired off with Shirley. We all talked until the girls had to go home which was about 11 PM. John and I decided to stay overnight and ended up registering at the broken down Brendle Hotel. I believe a night’s lodging cost about one dollar. It was old but the only hotel in town so there was little choice. This happened during the month of July and it was stifling hot with super high humidity. Like every other hotel in the area at the time there was no air conditioning. We would get to spend several nights in this old broken down hotel and would occasionally see cockroaches in our room but we were young and would not let a few bugs interfere with our having a great time. On one occasion we even saw a scorpion crawling across the floor. We met the girls on the next day and it was the beginning of what for me gradually became something more than just a casual friendship. I suspect that John felt the same way about Mabel. We had so much fun that we asked the girls if we could see them on our next days off and this was to continue until we received our wings. What we didn’t know at our first meeting was that Mabel had a fairly new Buick convertible sedan – they had named it the Blue Beetle and we would get to roam the area many times in this beautiful car. Mabel’s mother had died several years before. We didn’t see much of her father because he was always busy in the well drilling business. I got to know Shirley’s parents (Ivan and Florence) and they seemed to approve of me after a few meetings. The girls were all very nice and it was always just clean fun. There was never any drinking or any other type of hanky panky by these girls – of course, back in those days drugs were practically non-existent. A watermelon party in front of the Shanley home was a big deal and always resulted in hilarious laughter. There were also several picnics. Much singing took place by all present – the girl’s favorite song was: “The Eyes of Texas are Upon You….”. You had better not say a mean word about Texas in their presence. They were extremely proud of their state. The Shanley’s had many friends both young and old. John Votolato and I would spend every possible minute with the Robstown girls from that first meeting until being transferred after commissioning. Among other pastimes, we did some swimming in the Nueces River on the outskirts of Robstown while picnicking with the girls. Here John and I played Tarzan by swinging from a rope suspended from a tree from which we dropped about twenty feet into the water. Of course, we were trying to impress the girls. We learned later that poisonous snakes and gars occasionally occupied these same waters - this curtailed most of our swimming sessions! A gar is a fresh-water fish with a long beak and several very large and sharp teeth. Later, on a few occasions, the girls fixed up the remainder of Flight 29 with some of their friends. The girls even wrote a poem about the “Gallant Guys of Flight 29”. Robstown was about half way between Kingsville and Corpus Christi, a distance of about 20 miles. We always managed to find our way back to the base either by bus or by hitchhiking. On one occasion shortly after the end of the war Mrs. Shanley drove me back to the base with Shirley but the car had a flat tire when we were about half way. I knew that I would be in big trouble for being late. When a car stopped by to help, Mrs. Shanley insisted that I ride on with the car so that I would not be late. It was dark and I wanted to remain with her and Shirley but I finally gave in and managed to make it back on time. Leisure time on the base included a few rounds of golf, which I had never before played and an introduction to bridge with other cadets in the barracks.
(Continued to the August - 09 issue)
Please support our “Business Members” that support us.
Bartini Roofing Company
Ben’s ShopCharles Flint Antiques
Ben’s ShopCharles Flint Antiques290 Pleasant Street68 Main Street52 Housatonic Street
68 Main Street52 Housatonic StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lenox, MA 01240
Lee, MA 01238Lenox, MA 01240Greylock Federal UnionQuality PlusL. V. Toole Insurance Agency
Quality PlusL. V. Toole Insurance Agency47 Main Street260 Chestnut Street195 Main Street
260 Chestnut Street195 Main StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Sullivan Station RestaurantPaperdilly, Inc.Dresser Hull Company
Paperdilly, Inc.Dresser Hull CompanyRailroad Street74 Main Street60 Railroad Street
74 Main Street60 Railroad StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Robert M. Kelly, PaperhangingKelly Funeral HomeThe Jonathon Foote 1778 House
Kelly Funeral HomeThe Jonathon Foote 1778 HouseSouth Prospect Street3 Main Street1 East Street
3 Main Street1 East StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Morgan House Restaurant & PubLee Bank
Lee Bank33 Main Street75 Park Street
75 Park StreetLee, MA01238Lee, MA 01238
01238Lee, MA 01238Our Meetings
The monthly meetings of the Lee Historical Society are held on the second Thursday of the month, unless otherwise advertised at the Senior Center at the Crossways Village on High Street in Lee. Some Program
Meetings may take place on the site of the subject matter of the meeting. We will try to advertise all meetings at various places in town. We will also try to advertise the meetings in the local media and on local TV stations. Our Program Meetings are free and open to the public and people are encouraged to attend. We will try to post and advertise our speakers as soon as they are confirmed.
Our Mission Statement
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, acquisitions and preservation of the historical material and sites.
Officers of the Lee Historical Society for the year of 2009
President – Gary W. Allen – 413-243-2140 or garywallen@earthlink.net
Vice- President – Myron Hood – 413-243-2470 or MYRONSCALL@verizon.net
Treasurer – Mal Eckert – 413-243-1797 or MalEckert@msn.com
Secretary – Mary Hood – 413-243-2470 or mehflowers@msn.com
Board of Directors of the Lee Historical Society
Ethel Noonan/2009Marion Leach/2010Mary Morrissey/2011
Marion Leach/2010Mary Morrissey/2011James DiMario/2009Danna Snow/2010Peg Biron/2011
Danna Snow/2010Peg Biron/2011Mary McGinnis/2009William Clarke/2010Josh Hall/2011
William Clarke/2010Josh Hall/2011Matt Macnayr/2011Immediate-Past President and Board Member – Stephen Cozzaglio
Society Historian – Charlotte Davis
Newsletter Editor – Mal Eckert
