Part 7

They had to work everything out from the beginning. Their thread they bought, but they had to build a warping frame, after the old fashion, and warp and link the thread themselves, running four threads at a time, up and down the warping frame. It takes them about four hours to wind fifty yards of warp for forty-inch cloth. Warping the yarn is the most essential feature of the whole process, for if it is not done well, the yarn will not feed easily, and the weaving will be stopped.

Everything about the looms, except the operators and the harnesses, is old. The harnesses, which came with the looms, were of cord, and the new ones are superior. The reeds used in the looms are of split reed, and Mrs. Talbot considers them better than the modern ones of steel. The looms themselves are built of white oak, and as their history is known, Mr. Talbot is safe in the statement that they are each more than 200 years old. He has even procured the square and compasses with which they were built. One loom is used for plain weaving, the other one for pattern work.

Mr. and Mrs. Talbot have named it the Hearthside Loom, a charmingly descriptive name, and have already produced some very handsome patterns, some of them copies of old patterns of two centuries ago, some of them from Mrs. Talbot’s ideas, or from patterns made by Mr. Talbot for their original work. They have found a good demand for their products at prices ranging from $3 a yard for tabbie weaving--the straight up and down, plain weaving--to about $5 a yard for silk goods. In linen, which costs $2.50 a yard, they use all imported Irish linen, the American linen lacking the property of lasting, the oil having been extracted from it. Wool patterns and patterns in imported cloth are worth $6 a yard, with plain wool weaving forty or forty-five inches wide, at $4 a yard, and scrim curtains at $6 a pair.

A good woman weaver can weave about four yards of linen a day, or about five yards of wool a day, on such looms as these. The Hearthside Loom takes orders for pattern work on original patterns, and its work has already proved popular among people who are able to buy goods made to last. In addition to the two large looms, Mr. Talbot has a small ribbon loom that is even older than the larger ones, while the trade-mark of the establishment is a reproduction of a hand loom small enough to be held in one hand, and hardly bigger than a large shingle.

The room in which they are placed is a veritable curiosity shop. On the wall hangs the long crane from the old glebe house of St. John’s Church, torn down last year, with other iron fire pieces; at the hearth are old iron fire dogs; all along the rear wall hang other antiques. The house is filled with old and curious things, none older or more curious, however, than the looms forming the working machinery of the Hearthside Loom.

_Journal_, PROVIDENCE.

ERROR--MEMORIAL TREES

In our May number it is stated that Charles Sumner sent to Russia some acorns of an oak growing near the tomb of Washington, and from one of these sprang an oak now growing in Czarina Island. Dr. Samuel A. Green, Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, corrects this, showing that it was George, the brother of Charles Sumner. As he says: “The incident may seem too trivial for serious notice, but a memorial tree, if it is to have any meaning, should be deeply rooted in truth and accuracy.”

[Illustration]

BALTIMORE’S OLD STEPPING-STONES

In the midst of the enterprise and activity that mark the Baltimore of to-day, visitors frequently come across old landmarks that stand out distinctly as reminders of the earlier and more leisurely days of the city’s history. None of them is more familiar than the old-fashioned stepping-stones still to be seen at a few crossings, usually at the bottom of the steepest grades, and which become veritable Ararats of refuge when the streets are flooded after a heavy rain. Worn smooth on top by thousands of scurrying feet that now are still, chipped and scarred at the corners by hundreds of whirling wheels long since rotted, and streaked and pitted on the sides by the winter snows and summer rains of countless yesterdays, the stepping-stone stands amid the busy street like a milestone on the road that Greater Baltimore has trod--like the tombstone of the dead past.

Nowadays the most prominent of these old stepping-stones are at the foot of the hill below the town house of Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte, at Centre Street and Park Avenue.

There are traces of the stones still left on the steep grade of Saratoga Street, down from Courtland to Calvert, and there are some of these stones at North Avenue, near the Mount Royal Avenue entrance to the park, and their usefulness has been demonstrated more than once during the heavy downpours that have characterized this season’s rains.

Probably the best-known of the stepping-stones were those opposite the site of the old Hall of Congress, on what is now Baltimore Street, between Sharp and Liberty, at which the sessions of the Continental Congress were held in December, 1776.

Speaking of these old landmarks, Col. William H. Love said:

“For many years Baltimore and Fredericksburg, Va., shared with Pompeii the distinction of having stepping-stones across the public highways. Some years ago, when ex-Mayor Latrobe and his father, the late John H. B. Latrobe, were visiting Pompeii, the elder Mr. Latrobe said: ‘Ferdinand, do you see anything familiar?’ Mr. Latrobe said that he suddenly felt at home; he saw some old stepping-stones.

Some years ago, if I am not mistaken, there were stepping-stones at the crossings on Lexington Street leading toward Liberty, and on Liberty at the crossings all the way down to Lombard Street. They were the cause of some painful accidents to children who were crossing and slipped, cutting their faces badly. But as a rule they could not have been dispensed with, because of the enormous body of water that came down the streets when it rained in those days.

The flow of water was especially strong down Baltimore Street, and the old stones opposite Congress Hall I remember well. The stones were quite high at the curb and were somewhat lower near the center of the street. I have known the rush of water to be so great down Baltimore Street at that point that traffic was altogether stopped by it until the storm was over.”

_Baltimore Sun._

THE GRAVE OF LEATHERSTOCKING

The grave of Daniel Shipman, who is generally believed to have been the original of Cooper’s Leather Stocking, has been definitely located in the Adams cemetery at Fly Creek, near Cooperstown, N. Y. A committee has been appointed for the purpose of erecting a suitable tablet to mark the grave, which is now merely covered with a large flat stone with no inscription whatever.

THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA

(At a recent meeting of the Saratoga County Society, Mr. William L. Stone made an address on the subject of the battle, from which we make an excerpt.--Ed.)

This event (which has been called by Creasy one of the fifteen decisive battles of the world) secured for us the French alliance; and lifted the cloud of moral and financial gloom that had settled upon the hearts of the people, dampening the hopes of the leaders of the Revolution, and wringing despairing words even from the hopeful Washington.

More than a century has elapsed since that illustrious event. All the actors in the drama have passed away, and their descendants are now sharing in the rewards of their devotion and suffering. And now after years of labor a noble shaft has arisen at Schuylerville to commemorate that turning point of our National destiny; which, like those of Lexington and Bunker Hill, tells of one of the earliest bloodsheds in the cause of Cisatlantic freedom, and makes the selfsacrifice of our ancestors endure in granite records for the admiration of generations yet to be.

It is a noteworthy fact, in connection with the Battles of Saratoga, that, until recently, there has been no map of the battle-ground from an American standpoint (Neilson’s is the same as no map), our only means of information being those maps made by Burgoyne’s engineers [these were then shown by the speaker] and which were published in 1781 to illustrate Burgoyne’s defence when he was tried in Parliament for his defeat at Saratoga. But, within a few years, there has been found a map of the battle-ground, by General Rufus Putnam, which throws great light on one point in particular, viz.: It has always been a mystery, as I say in my “Burgoyne’s Campaign,” why Gates did not renew the battle on the next day, the 8th. But from this map [here the speaker exhibited the map, which has never been published] it appears that the ravines at Wilbur’s Basin had been so fortified by the British, that (to quote from the map in Putnam’s handwriting) “These defences (_i. e._: on these ravines) thus fortified, prevented our attack on the British the next day.”

It is also of interest, as showing the good judgment of Burgoyne’s engineers, that the roads which they cut through the (at that time) primeval forest, are the same that the farmers and road commissioners adopted for their present roads--the one, for instance, from Victory Mills to Quaker Springs, on the high ridge which Fraser took, while Burgoyne and Riedesel took the river bank.

COMMUNICATION

Mr. Hammond in his article on John Paul Jones (July MAGAZINE) says that Jones left Portsmouth for Philadelphia, November 6, 1782. He might have added, as you will see by the following paragraph copied from the Journal of Claude Blanchard, commissary of Rochambeau’s army, that Jones sailed from Boston with the Frenchmen on December 23, 1782 (never to return to the United States alive.)

BOSTON. A. A. FOLSOM.

On the 23d of December, 1782, I went on board of the _Triomphant_, eighty guns with M. de Viomenil, and on the 24th the whole squadron, carrying the army, set sail and left the harbor of Boston; the channel is narrow and has little depth; so that we were not without uneasiness. Our pilot himself did not appear to be quite composed and incessantly repeated orders. However, we fortunately got through; one only of the transport ships was shattered upon the rocks on setting sail; happily, there were not troops on board. We were to cruise as high up as Portsmouth, a pretty good port beyond Boston, where two ships of war were, which were to rejoin us and then to cruise alongside of Rhode Island in order to meet with the _Fantasque_, a vessel armed _en flute_. The bad weather changed these designs; we could not, without danger, remain upon these coasts exposed to being cast away upon them or driven upon sand banks.

On the 27th, the frigate _Iris_ left us, to proceed to France. On the same day we lost sight of our convoy and our frigate. Moreover, every vessel carried a sealed package pointing out the general destination of the squadron.

The staff of the _Triomphant_ consisted of thirteen officers. Three auxiliary and three officers of the regiment Médoc, keeping garrison in the ship, who, with the officers who were passengers made fifty-five persons. The soldiers and sailors were in proportion, so that there were more than eleven hundred persons on board of this ship. We also had on board the famous Paul Jones, who had asked permission to embark on board of us, who behaved with great propriety.

February, 1783. On the 8th, several of our ships were obliged to put into port at Curacoa. The squadron finally sailed for France, April 4th, arrived at Brest 17th of June.

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

LETTER FROM COL. HENRY GLEN, OF SCHENECTADY, N. Y., TO COL. MARINUS WILLETT.

[The writer was distinguished during the Revolution, and his correspondent even more so. The letter is interesting as covering a variety of subjects, including the failure of the Oswego expedition, local politics, etc., and for its phonetic spelling.]

SCHENECTADY, _13th March, 1783_.

My worthy Friend COLO M. WILLETT

SIR:

Your letter with the disgreeable Titings of that unhappy day I have Before me and any delay of not answering you sooner was in an exspatation of sending you the Grat & Gloriss news of peace. But out of my power as yet, But momently exspected, when I shall loss no time of sending that Longwished pease of newes. NO MEN Felt moor unhappy Then I hearing the Miscariges of the Expedition & that through the conduct of the dam Savage(s). I cannot but condol on the ocasion & that Sincerely.

However as its the change of war for Fourthen (fortune), & Miss Fourthen to authir (other) Generals, dukes Lords & the first Generals of the Earth Let’s Go back to Jullis Cisier’s time Al’xd the Grat, Malberg (Marlborough) Charles the 12 of Sweden, Prince Ugen (Eugene), Cumberland & the King of prusia, what has befallen them in a moment, a woeful amangumercy (emergency) who both fell in Pursuitt of that thing called Glory & Honour which promised the fairest of every thing in the world, for you to be crowned with, for I blieve by your own acc’t Major (Van Courtland?) & several other Gentlemen who was with you that not a soul of the garrison new ware you came from--you might as well been Tropt (dropped) out of the moon--for what they new--the only way is to make your self happy, its well known your activity Bravery & Courage in the case, that you are not Blamed--a few of your Enemies may say the men had no business there, But what for....

I am last Evening from Albany--saw all the Polititians not a word of newes but you had in the last papers. Major Hale Just from head-Quarters, no aRivals momently Exspected--the Assembly ware to Brack (break) up on Saturday next, Mr Morris[38] whants to resign--he has some Enemies in Philadelphia who Excuse him for making Parde (part) payment--Congress won’t Suffer him to Resign, wether they have it in their power to prevent him I am not able to Judge, I am sorrow for it.

The Shrief (sheriff) has a letter for Publican (publication?) the day of aLection for a Governer, Lieut Governer, one Senator for the northen district in the Room of Genl Tenbroeck & the Reprecentatives, which is to be on the 3rd Thursday in April next--no talk of any body for to apose Governor Clinton--the Barroom talk is Judge R. Yates (a pair?)--and Thomas Pallmer--neither of the three will answer, tho the one has abbility enough but their is something wanting Palame (Palmer?) I thing had the better ... various are the Congecturs who are the persons for Rang of Goverment.

My opinion, George Clinton, Esq, Governer, for thre years moor, Pier(re) V(an) Cortland Lieut Gov’r some Considerable Alteration in the Lower House....

Civil List either John M. Scott,[39] or James Duane for Mayir for the city of N. York. Recorder, I am at the last I believe, Marrinus Willet, High Shreff, tho you have been misforthen’d you have still friends at Court. So much for a little Pollitics. Calling yesterday at the post office I found a letter to you from His Excellency, which accompanies mine & Rest assured in a few days you will have one wether the war is to continue or pease to take place--there is no telling till a packet which had not come in within these fiew days

I am & Remain with Sentiments of Regard, &c.,

H. GLEN.

Addressed on back, “Col^o Marinus Willett, Commanding the Troops westward, Tryon County.”

LETTER OF WASHINGTON PARTLY IN REFERENCE TO UNIFORMS

[A valuable historical letter in reference to the uniform of the Army.]

HEAD QUARTERS, NEAR NEW WINDSOR, (N. Y.,) _29th May, 1781_.

_To the Board of War_:

GENTLEMEN.--I have been honored with your favors of the 13th 14th and 17th instants. My late absence from the Army prevented my acknowledging them sooner.

If the Uniforms which were fixed upon for the Troops of North and South Carolina have not been ordered from Europe, I do not see that any inconvenience can attend the proposed alteration. I think, however, the Lace ought to be dispensed with as altogether superfluous and very expensive.

It seems reasonable that a due proportion should be observed between the pay of the Deputies and the principal in any department, and as Congress were pleased to augment the Salary of Mr Laurance the Judge Advocate General very considerably by the Resolve of the 10th of November there can I think be no impropriety in augmenting the Salaries of the Deputies also to 60 dolls p. month, which is what they request.

Sir Henry Clinton has informed me that it is not in his power to permit the transportation of Tobacco from Virginia to Charlestown. I imagine there are some commercial Regulations in the way. But he says that he mentioned certain Articles to Colo Magaw and Colo Ely which might be sent in and sold for the benefit of our prisoners. What they were I do not exactly recollect, but I think Lumber and Iron.

I have the Honor to be with great Respect Gentlemen Your most obt. Servt. GO WASHINGTON.

Honble Board of War.

LETTER OF JOHN DICKINSON TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

[Letter of John Dickinson, member of the Continental Congress, to the President of Congress, in reference to the mutiny of the army, when the soldiers had surrounded and threatened Congress. It was written under the influence of strong excitement, as is evinced by the many erasures and additions in the original. The troops had surrounded the Congress building, demanding their arrears of pay, and honorable discharge from service, under dire threats of violence. It relates to one of the most trying periods of the Revolution, and one which threatened the country with internal troubles.]

PHILADELPHIA, _July 27, 1783_.

SIR:

Yesterday evening the Soldiers from Lancaster began their March for that Place Under the Command of their officers.--Those in the barracks behave very quietly, & are desirous of being dismist.--Colonel Hampton informs me that Letters were sent by the principal Authors of the late Disturbance, to excite General Armand’s Legion & Colonel Moylan’s Regiment, to join in the Mutiny. The general Disposition of those Troops I know not; But I expect to receive immediate Advice of any Movements of Importance among them, which I shall communicate to Congress.

I am, Sir Your very obt. Serv’t. JOHN DICKINSON.

Mr. Thomson[40] who does me the Honor of charging himself with this Letter, will deliver to Congress a copy of the last proposals of the Soldiers to Councils, & the Act of Council thereon.

His Excellency The President of Congress.

[Congress had adjourned from Philadelphia to Princeton, N. J.--ED.]

FOOTNOTES:

[38] Robert Morris, the great financier.

[39] Gen. John Morin Scott

[40] Probably Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress.

MINOR TOPICS

THE FIRST U. S. FLAG

The first Stars and Stripes were displayed at Fort Schuyler (the present Rome, N. Y.), August 5, 1777. This much every schoolboy is supposed [it is very much of a supposition, however, how many in the average High School could tell the story off-hand--ED.] to know. What is not generally known is that this historic flag is still in existence; being in the possession of Mrs. Abram Lansing, of Albany, N. Y., a grand-daughter of Colonel Gansevoort, and who possesses also the original of the following letter:

Poughkeepsie, 29th August, 1778.

COL. PETER GANSEVOORT, Fort Schuyler.

Dear Sir:

The great distance which your duty calls us apart obliges me at this time to give you this trouble which otherwise I would not. You may remember I was to have an order for eight yards of broadcloth on the commissary for clothing of this State, in lieu of my blue cloak _which was used for colours at Fort Schuyler_. An opportunity now presenting itself, I beg (you) to send me an order enclosed to Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, paymaster at Albany, or to Henry Van Vaughter, Albany, where I will receive it, and you will oblige one who will always acknowledge the same with true gratitude

Please to make my compliments to the other officers of the regiment

I am, dear Sir, your humble servant,

Abraham Swartwout, Captain.

GENEALOGICAL

[All communications for this department (including genealogical publications for review) should be sent to William Prescott Greenlaw, Commonwealth Hotel, Boston.]

QUERIES

27 _a._ ALLEN--In 1808, William B. Allen began to publish in Haverhill, Mass., _The Merrimack Intelligencer_. In February, 1812, he took his brother, H. G. Allen (Horatio Gates Allen?) into partnership. January 1, 1814, H. G. Allen, who had bought the interest of William B. in 1813, “sold out his paper, printing office and book store to William Greenough and Nathan Burrill.” [Chase’s History of Haverhill.] Wanted, the names of parents and birthplace of Wm. B. and H. G. Allen.

* * * * *

_b._ HOWARD--Benjamin Howard, born in 1691, resided in Chelmsford, Mass. Whose daughter was his wife, Mary?

* * * * *

_c._ SNOW--Samuel Howard, b. 1731, son of Benjamin and Mary, married (Int. pub. Sept., 1758), Mary Snow. Who was she?

* * * * *

_d._ WRIGHT--Mary, wife of Timothy Wright of Stoneham, Mass., died Oct. 27, 1755, aged 45 years (gravestone). Who was she? Timothy Wright’s second wife whom he married in 1756 was Mary Green, the widow of Thomas Green.

* * * * *

_e._ PERRY--Who was Deborah Perry of Lynnfield, who married, Feb. 14, 1796, Wright Newhall? She died in August, 1855, aged 80. G2.

ANSWERS

19 _a._ CHAMBERLAIN--James Savage derived his information relative to Rebecca Chamberlain from Farmer’s and Moore’s “Historical Collections” (vol. II, p. 70), published at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1823, and republished in Smith’s “Boston News-Letter” (vol. I, p. 232), in 1826.

The article on the “Early History of Billerica, Mass.,” in the “Historical Collections,” although unsigned was doubtless prepared by John Farmer himself, as he had published in 1816 his “Historical Memoir of Billerica.”

In the article in the “Historical Collections” here referred to we read: “Though there is no positive evidence that any of the inhabitants of Billerica were put upon trial for the supposed crime of witchcraft in the time of this delusion, yet it may be safely inferred that several were suspected and one or two apprehended. Besides the authority of Hutchinson, the town records inform us that during the height of the delusion, two persons were in the prison at Cambridge, and that they both died there. Rebecca, wife of William Chamberlain, died there Sept. 26, 1692, and John Durant, Oct. 27, 1692. They were probably both victims of the infatuation which prevailed at that time.”

The writer has made a careful examination of the original court files of Middlesex County for 1691 and 1692 and finds nothing for or against Farmer’s statements. However, John Farmer, a native of the town of Chelmsford, adjoining Billerica, does not write as though this phase of his subject were traditional with him, but rather conjectural.

GEO. W. CHAMBERLAIN, Weymouth, Mass.

* * * * *

20 _d._ GRIDLEY--On Dec 19, 1717, John Gridley, then of Beverly, Mass., married Joanna, daughter of Josiah^8 Dodge, of Wenham, Mass. [Genealogy of the Dodge Family of Essex County, page 35.]

* * * * *