Lee Historical Society
Newsletter
Vol. 6, No. 10
October 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.
At our September meeting held on the 10th, we discussed out final plans for Founders’ Day. On Friday afternoon on the 25th and again, bright and early on the next morning we set up in our usual place near Memorial Hall. We had great weather, great help and great sales. Thanks go out to all the volunteers who gave us the time to help out at our booth.
The October Meeting was held on Thursday, October 8th at Crossway Village. Judith Monachina was present and continued discussions on the papermaking industry in the history of Lee.
The Laflins And Their Wallpaper Factory
By Robert M. Kelly
September, 2009
For the Lee Historical Society
(Continued from the September - 09 issue)
________________________
1. Introduction
2. The Laflin Family: Thumbnail Sketches
3. The Wallpaper Factory
4. McLane Report Q & A
5. A Laflin Timeline
6. Sources
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4. McLane Report Q & A
[Select questions from the 1833 McLane Report, with the answers from all Berkshire manufacturers as summarized by Jonathan Allen of Pittsfield. Both questions and answers are paraphrased for clarity.]
13. What is the percentage of all expense to all gross proceeds?
- 15%.
15. How many hours worked per day? How many months per year?
- 12 hours per day, 12 months per year.
16. What is the rate of wages for agricultural laborers per day in summer?
- .75 per day.
21. Have prices of the articles produced decreased, or increased?
- Manufacture of wool, cotton and paper has increased very much the last two, and nearly double the last three years.
23. Have household manufactures increased or diminished since 1824?
- They have diminished, since 1824, more than 50%.
28. Where are the products made in your county consumed?
- Principally vended in the city of New York.
34. If the duty on foreign goods were reduced to 12.5% ad valorem, what would happen?
- Woolen, cotton, and paper manufacturers would all fail.
36. What reduction of duty could be made, while still leaving domestic goods protected?
- The manufacturers say none. (emphasis in original)
5. A Laflin Timeline
1740: Charles Lavallin, Irish Protestant, arrives in Oxford, Mass. from Ulster.
1760's: His son, Captain Matthew Laflin (1735-1810), settles in Southwick, fights in the Revolutionary War and builds powder mills.
1780's: The Captain's son, Matthew Laflin (1765-1828), continues the powder business; also, fathers 8 children.
1817: Construction of the Erie Canal, requiring a steady supply of explosives, begins.
1817: Two of Matthew Laflin's children, Winthrop and Walter, with Riley Loomis, a close relative, move to Lee to start a powder mill. They also open a powder mill in South Lee near Beartown Mountain on a stream which was thereafter called Powdermill Brook.
1818: Caroline Laflin born to Winthrop in Lee.
1823: Laflin, Loomis & Co. powder mill in the Huddle blows up. Mercy Brown and Walter Quigly burn to death.
1824: On Sept. 18, the mill blows up again, igniting 5 tons of powder in a densely populated area of town. Charles Tourjee (Targee), Thomas I. Beach and Jesse Sparks are killed instantly, while Edmund Hinckley survives for 2 days.
1824: In Dec. the Laflin, Loomis mill on Powdermill Brook blows up, killing 2.
1824: Laflin, Loomis & Co. open a dry goods store at the south end of town.
1826: The Laflins and their cousin, Cutler, build a paper mill near Crow's Hollow.
1827: W. & W. & C. Laflin build another mill at the site of the present post office, installing the first cylinder machine in the county.
1827: Matthew Laflin and Miss Henrietta Hinman, daughter of Ransom, are married.
1830: The paper-hangings manufactory is begun.
1833: McLane Report includes the two Laflin paper mills and the W. & W. & C. Laflin paper-hangings manufactory.
1833: W. & W. & C. Laflin take over the dry goods store of Laflin, Loomis & Co.
1835: Caroline Laflin is a pupil at Alexander Hyde's select school at Lee Center District School House (corner of Maple and Housatonic).
1837: Winthrop moves to Saugerties, joining his brothers Luther and Matthew in operating a powder mill.
1837: Cutler is a selectman in Lee, but now moves to New Orleans to become head of the wholesale house Laflin, Stevens and Co.
1839: Caroline marries Zenas Marshall Crane of Dalton, son of Zenas Crane.
1840: Zenas Crane, Jr., future benefactor of the Berkshire Museum and the Pittsfield Boy's Club, is born to Caroline and Zenas Marshall.
1845: On June 4, the powder mill at South Lee (now called "Kellog's"), explodes, killing an unnamed Irishman. This spells the end of powder production in Lee.
1849: Byron and Addison, sons of Walter, move to Herkimer, NY and found a paper company.
1849: Caroline dies: after a year, Zenas Marshall marries her sister, Louise.
1853: Winthrop Murray Crane, future governor of Massachusetts, is born to Louise and Zenas Marshall.
1867: Laflin Powder Company merges with Rand Powder Co.
1872: Henry Laflin, son of Luther, builds seven powder mills in Pennsylvania, creating Laflin, PA.
1875: Laflin/Rand is second largest in U.S., smaller than Du Pont but larger than the Hazard Powder Co.
1902: Du Pont buys out Laflin/Rand, achieving a complete monopoly.
1909: Federal regulators break up the Du Pont powder business.
6. Sources
The American Advertising Directory, for Manufacturers and Dealers in American Goods: for the year 1831. Jocelyn, Darling & Co., NY, 1831.
Cutler, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Vol. 3, 1913.
Collections of the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society, Vol. 2, pg. 340, 1894. (origins of Stockbridge Academy).
Chicago: Its History And Its Builders, Vol. 5, 1912.
Clarke. Early Lee School Houses, 1997.
Conaru, Howard Louis. "Matthew Laflin" in Magazine of Western History, Vol. 14, 1891.
The Crane Family (genealogy), 2005.
Gale, Rev. Amory. History of the Town of Lee, 1854.
Holman, Alfred. Laflin Genealogy, 1930.
Hyde, Rev. Alvan. Memoir of Rev. Alvan Hyde, 1834.
Hyde, Rev. Charles and Alexander. Centennial History of the Town of Lee, 1877.
Kelly, Jack. Gunpowder, 2005, Basic Books.
Lynn, Catherine. Wallpaper In America, 1980.
McGaw, Judith. Most Wonderful Machine, 1987.
McLane, Louis. Documents Relative To The Manufactures in the United States, Washington, 1833.
O'Hara, Mike. Name Origins of Northeast PA Towns.
Smith, R. W. Three Thumbnails, 1978.
Spear, W. F. History of North Adams, 1885.
Valley Gleaner, Lee.
Van Gelder, Arthur. History of the Explosives Industry in America, 1927.
Weston, Byron. History of Paper Making in Berkshire County, in Collections of the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society, pp. 3-22, 1895.
We wish to thank Robert Kelly for this article of wallpaper making in Lee and for the research he did on the Laflin family.
Recollections VI
By U. S. Navy Retired Commander Vic Mottarella,
A native of Lee
(Continued from the September – 09 issue)
Naval Auxiliary Air Station Beeville, Texas
We were transported by bus to the Beeville, Naval Air Station during the first week of December, 1945. The training here seemed to be much more relaxed – I don’t recall our even having any ground school. This phase of training had only been recently introduced to allow a cadet to fly a war machine prior to graduation. The normal pre-flight briefings were held and we went through the blindfold checkout in the cockpit of the SBD Douglas Dauntless Dive Bomber. It was quite a bit bigger and heavier than the SNJ Texan we had flown at Kingsville but it did not appear to be any more complicated. On the morning of December 14, 1945 I flew 1.4 hours with an instructor pilot by the name of Petterson with the rank of Ensign. On the afternoon of the same day I flew solo for a total of 1.7 hours. I was truly amazed at how easy an airplane it was to fly. While the Dauntless was a great airplane the ones we flew at Beeville were all veterans of the war and had made countless carrier landings. They were tired! Many of the planes had suffered combat damage, which could be identified by patches visible on the wings and fuselage. Most of these patches covered small holes caused by bullet entry while others involved major structural repairs. I never had a problem on any of my flights but Votolato remembers an afternoon flight when his engine started to act up while he was flying at two thousand feet. The plane started to backfire and belch black smoke with a sudden loss of power. After playing with the throttle and mixture control to no avail he looked down and found that he was surrounded by oil derricks making a safe forced landing next to impossible. He then slid the canopy back, released the shoulder straps and stepped up on the seat getting ready to bail out when suddenly the engine regained power - he made a dash back to base – he credits his good luck to Providence. My golf partner who flew the Dauntless during the same period mentioned that he had to bail out over the Everglades. All my flights at this base with the exception of the first were solo. John and I continued to visit our girl friends in Robstown at each opportunity but the distance was considerably farther than it had been at Kingsville. John’s girlfriend, Mabel, had gone off to college at the University of Texas at Austin so he didn’t get to see her all that often. She periodically came home to Robstown and on one occasion he met her in Austin. On another occasion Shirley and I met them half way between Robstown and Austin for a picnic. By the middle of November I realized that I had been smitten by the love bug – while it was not openly discussed, Shirley also showed the same signs. I remember hitchhiking back to the base from Robstown on those cold November and December nights – our uniforms were somewhat lacking for those low temperatures – it was just the opposite of what it had been during the summer months. There were no particular weapons, instruments or acrobatics requirements at Beeville. Our only requirement here was to fly about 16 flights in the airplane to accumulate some time in this war machine. Things appeared to be pretty loose and because of a lot of nasty weather we were at this base for well over a month. On one of my flights I decided to do something interesting but stupid - I made a little parachute using a cotton handkerchief for a canopy with four strings attached from the corners to a sock in which I put some old watch parts for weight. All of our flights from this base were flown in the daytime. On this particular day I flew down to Robstown and buzzed Shirley’s house at a very low altitude and at maximum speed, which in that airplane was only about 200 miles per hour. I threw the parachute out of the partially opened cockpit at a point where I thought the parachute would land in Shirley’s back yard. It turned out she saw and definitely heard the plane but she never did see the parachute. Fortunately, because I only made one low pass, no one who might have tried could have gotten my side number and I returned to Beeville without incident. We had about a week off for Christmas so I headed for Robstown – after two days I became very sick with the flu which resulted in a bad headache and a high fever. I had been staying at the hotel but when Mrs. Shanley found out I was sick she insisted that I stay at their house. I spent about four days in bed getting royal treatment and finally recovered enough to resume my normal duties at Beeville. I flew my last flight at Beeville on January 12, 1946. I had flown 23.6 hours in the Dauntless and my Navy flight time now totaled 275.1 hours. We then relocated back to the temporary barracks at the Main Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi for the graduation exercise. The attitude of the Navy had changed considerably since the Japanese surrendered. Now, the Navy was encouraging us to sign up for at least one more year of active duty. I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that our ally, the Soviets, could no longer be trusted. Neither John nor I had ever been up in a Seaplane before so during our stay at the main base we decided to get a ride in a twin engine Catalina Flying Boat. We finally got a ride with an instructor who was checking out an Argentine cadet. The cadet made many very hard landings on the water and nearly scared us to death so neither of us has ever gone near a seaplane since. As mentioned earlier Votolato was and still is a good talker. We both wanted to stay together and we both wanted to fly fighters. John went to the administration building and talked to a First Class Yeoman (A Petty Officer). The Yeoman promised him that if we signed up for an additional year he would arrange to get us assigned to fighters. We received our wings on the morning of January 16, 1945. Of course, the girls attended the ceremony. John and I had ordered new khaki’s, dress blues and aviation green uniforms from a tailor shop in Corpus Christi. We wore our dress blue Ensign’s uniform at the ceremony. After the ceremony, in accordance with Navy tradition, we gave the first man who saluted us a dollar. Needless to say we were very proud to have survived the “thinning” process and damned proud to wear those Navy wings of gold. Only about 12 percent of those who started as cadets in 1943 went on to receive their wings. I gave Shirley a set of wings after the ceremony and we returned to her home that afternoon. On the next day John and I returned to the base and picked up our orders for further assignment – the Yeoman kept his promise and we were assigned to Hellcats at Miami, Florida - our date-of-rank as Ensigns would date from December 15, 1945. As we walked out of the administration building we heard a Senior Lieutenant who was a Naval Academy graduate moan loudly because he was assigned to “the Beast” (the Curtis Helldiver instead of fighters). This airplane did not have a good reputation. After graduation from the Naval Academy he had spent two years in the fleet before attending flight school. We were to learn later that this officer’s father was Admiral Holloway, the Chief of Naval Personnel. John and I felt especially lucky to have been assigned to fighters, especially after we learned the Admiral’s son asked for but was denied assignment to fighters. The individual’s name was Jim Holloway. We would meet again eight months later when we were all assigned to the same Air Group (Air Group 3). John and I were assigned to Fighter/Bomber Squadron 3 flying Hellcats while Holloway was assigned to Bombing Squadron 3 flying Curtis Helldivers. Jim Holloway eventually went all the way to top. He became Chief of Naval Operations before retiring from the Navy. Included in our orders were instructions to report to the Miami Naval Air Station on February 2, 1946. This meant a two week leave – John and I immediately bought train tickets and rode together as far as New York where we both made connections to our home towns. Prior to leaving Robstown Shirley and I discussed our situation. I had just turned twenty while she was close to nineteen. We decided to continue writing to each other with the possibility, should we continue to feel the same way, of becoming engaged at some future date. One major problem that would have to be overcome was the fact that I was Catholic while she was Protestant. While the majority of Mexicans living in the area were Catholics few others were and most of these people seemed to look down on the Catholic faith. While on our train trip to New York John and I discussed buying a car together. Since I was the more mechanically inclined he left it up to me to look for a car – I was to call him and give him the details before making a final decision. First, I needed to talk to and get the advice of Paul Naventi in Lee. Paul was the excellent mechanic for whom I had worked during my senior year in high school. Paul mentioned that his brother Louie had a 1934 Chevrolet Sedan for sale. At the time new cars were almost nonexistent and besides neither John nor I had that kind of money. As mentioned earlier Louie and I were old childhood friends. I don’t remember the price but it seemed fair at the time - the car was mechanically sound so we made a deal and I called John who was staying with his folks in Taunton, Mass. After about ten days in Lee I drove to Taunton and stayed overnight with the Votolato’s . We left for Miami on the following day. Before we arose John’s father put a big sign on the car – “Miami or Bust”.
(Continued to the November - 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 BankDevonfield Inn
Lee BankDevonfield Inn 33 Main Street75 Park Street85 Stockbridge Road
75 Park Street85 Stockbridge RoadLee, MA01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
01238Lee, MA 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
NOVEMBER CALENDAR RAFFLE
We know everybody had fun last year participating in the “November Calendar Raffle” and once again this year we will have many great prizes that we will be giving out throughout the month of November to lucky ticket holders. The rules are the same as last year; the raffle will be held every day of November, $10.00 a ticket, all paid ticket stubs must be returned to the raffle committee by Saturday, October 31st at 5:00 p.m. You do not have to be present to win prizes, you can win more than once as the winning tickets are put back into the drawing box each day. You can’t win if you don’t have a ticket! The proceeds of this raffle will fund our newly created Scholarship that will start in 2010 to be given to a graduating high school senior and other Society programs.
Attached to the last page is a copy of the “November Calendar Raffle” Ticket**. Look it over and check out the great prizes that can be won. If you would like a ticket, call Marion Leach at 243-0907 or Mal Eckert at 243-1797 or fill out the attached ticket, send it to the Lee Historical Society at P. O. Box 170, Lee, MA 01238 along with $10.00. We will assign a number to the ticket and return the stub to you.
**I have not included the copy of the raffle ticket to those of you who receive this newsletter by electronic mailing as I have sent it out to the list lat month.
Again this year memberships will be discounted for early and multiple year sign ups until January 1st.
1.Sign up as a new member or renew your membership between September 25, and January 31, 2009 and pay the following:
Sign up as a new member or renew your membership between September 25, and January 31, 2009 and pay the following:(a.)A Senior or a Student Membership for the next three years will be $12.00.
A Senior or a Student Membership for the next three years will be $12.00.(b.)An Individual Membership for the next three years will be $27.00.
An Individual Membership for the next three years will be $27.00.(c.)A Family Membership for the next three years will be $42.00.
A Family Membership for the next three years will be $42.00.(d.)A Business/Corporate Membership for the next three years will be $72.00.
A Business/Corporate Membership for the next three years will be $72.00.Any one signing up as a new member will also receive the rest of 2009.
I am sorry for the delay in the October Newsletter. Our printer is on limited hours because of an injury and yours truly was on vacation for the past week.
