DID YOU KNOW: Passing of Oliver Ames
Your weekly historical fact, courtesy of the Easton Historical Society
DID YOU KNOW On March 9, 1877 Oliver Ames died. Mr. Ames had been President of the Union Pacific Railroad during its construction phase. He paid for the construction of Unity Church and the Parsonage and left stock in his will for the creation and funding of the Ames Free Library.
Linda Manning Crowley Williams
8:44 am on Thursday, March 29, 2012
People adopt children, pets, and causes; Easton's two illustrious Ames families adopted our whole town. My first contact with the family was during the forties, when Mrs. Frothingham presented every elementary (grammar) school student with a wrapped present at Christmas. In the spring I rode my bike to her home--now Easton's town offices-- to thank her. The maid accompanied me in a private elevator to talk with her, and she was delighted to be remembered.
My class of 1957 was the last class to graduate from the original high school on Lincoln Street and Buddy (Matt) Welch and his wife, Liz Howard, were two of my forty-eight classmates.) Our town's family's doctor, Dr. Edward Jacoubs, asked me to be one of three town nurses to special the maternal grandmothers in each Ames Family. Amazing experiences working in two castles. I was also called in to special Mr. Parker, married to an Ames' family member. A few years later, my sister, Katherine Manning Taylor and her husband, Robin, bought the house.
For four years, my family lived at Borderland and later moved to Pond Street for two years, the first painted house in Easton, owned by Elizabeth Ames. For those of us lucky enough to be called Easonites and fortunate enough to have truly lived those fifties' "Happy Days" I say thank you to the powers-that-be.
Best regards, Linda Williams
Pat Maguire Parrie
4:04 pm on Thursday, March 29, 2012
LInda Manning Williams...you've voiced my thoughts exactly. We of THAT era lived with, respected, and were grateful for the many 'gifts' the extended Ames family gave to the citizens of Easton. We KNOW it wasn't Eden, but those surely were "Happy Days"! Thank you for your posting! Patricia Maguire Parrie
Sinclair
12:20 am on Friday, March 30, 2012
I've enjoyed hearing the stories from my aunts and uncles describing Mrs. Frothingham's simple charity toward poor children. She would drive her electric automobile around North Easton handing out nickels to children of families in need. She knew who they were. This was during the 1920's.
She was such a grand lady.
After the Christmas party for elementry school children, Miss Harvey, my sixth grade teacher at the North Easton Grammer School, had my class write thank you letters to Mrs. Frothingham.