Category Archives: Photos

Standing portrait of Melvin Simmons, in uniform, 1864

For Veterans’ Day: Melvin Simmons

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Standing portrait of Melvin Simmons, in uniform, 1864

Naval Constructor Melvin Simmons, born in Kingston on April 19, 1806, served as Master Carpenter for the first steam (or screw) frigate the USS Merrimack. Launched in June 1855 from the Charlestown Navy Yard, she was christened by Simmons’ daughter Mary Elizabeth, then 23.

When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, the US Navy burned the Merrimack, then trapped in Norfolk, to prevent her capture. A month later, the Confederates raised the hull, re-built her as the iron-clad ram CSS Virginia, and in 1862, sent her into battle with the Union’s iron-clad, the USS Monitor in Hampton Roads.

Simmons also served at Philadelphia Naval Yard, and ultimately returned to Charlestown as Naval Constructor in the Construction Corps of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Created in 1866, the Corps gave former civilian employees a formal rank in the US Navy.

Simmons’ son Frederick, then an unmarried clerk, was drafted into the Union Army in 1863. He served in the 35th Infantry, until his death on January 1, 1865 in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Melvin Simmons died in Charlestown on May 13, 1871, of apoplexy. He is buried in the Forest Hills Cemetery beside his wife Mary A. (Chase) Simmons, who lived in Kingston at the time of her death on May 10, 1890.

Source: Glass Plate Negatives IC3, photo ID: peo-09-0747-gpn

Happy Father’s Day

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Norma Drew poised to jump from a tree stump to her father Clarence Drew
Norma Drew poised to jump from a tree stump to her father Clarence Drew, c. 1925

In honor of Father’s Day this weekend, here is a sweet moment captured by Kingston historian and photographer Emily Fuller Drew of her niece, Norma, jumping into the waiting arms of her father, Clarence Drew (Emily’s brother).

 

Source: Image from the Emily Fuller Drew Collection MC16.

60 Main Street

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Four people, two sitting and two standing, in front of the Elbridge G. Winsor house
Elbridge G. Winsor house at 60 Main Street, c. 1905

In this photo, a group of people (unidentified) appear to be enjoying the shade on a nice, sunny day.  One of the women is holding a small dog in her arms. They’re gathered in front of the Elbridge G. Windsor House at 60 Main Street, built around 1860.

 

Source: Image from the Delano Photograph Collection IC11.

Black and white photo of a dirt road with trees. A house and a church are on the left side of the road

Seeing double

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Seth Washburn House, corner of Evergreen and Summer Streets, c. 1865
Seth Washburn House, corner of Evergreen and Summer Streets, c. 1865

 

In the Local History Room we have a number of stereoscopic photographs, known as stereographs or stereoviews. These prints feature two nearly identical images, side by side, typically mounted on a 3.5-by-7-inch card. When viewed through a stereoscope, they create the illusion of a single three-dimensional picture. They were popular among commercial and amateur photographers from the late 1850s to the 1920s.

The three stereoviews featured here belong to a series called “Views of Marshfield and vicinity” by M. Chandler of Marshfield.

 

Main Street, looking south, c. 1865
Main Street, looking south, c. 1865

 

Thomas Hill, looking north, c. 1865
Thomas Hill, looking north, c. 1865

 

 

Source: Images from the Local History Room Image Collection (IC7).

Unidentified man ("Father"), three partially identified women "Mother, Annie, Grace"), and dog called Lead in James Rickards's wood lot

On this day in 1912…

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Unidentified man ("Father"), three partially identified women "Mother, Annie, Grace"), and dog called Lead in James Rickards's wood lot

Here’s a snapshot taken 106 years ago. On the back, this image is captioned:

March 30, 1912
On James Rickards woodlot.
Father
Mother
Annie
Grace
Lead

According to census records for 1910, James C. Rickard owned a farm in Plymouth, where he lived with his wife, Lydia. The four people in this photo, however, remain unidentified.

Any ideas?

 

Source: Image from the Loring Photograph Collection (IC15).

A foul fowl?

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Sometimes you come across an image that really makes you wish someone had written a caption. Here is one such photo.

With Delano’s Wharf in the background, we know that the photo was taken on the edge of Kingston Bay. The man stooped over the water resembles Charlie Delano (1837 – 1903) who fished and clammed in the area. But what is he doing with that bird? Catching it? Releasing it? Giving it a rinse? Added to the puzzle are the expectant looks from the four by-standers to the left.

Any ideas?

 

Source: Image from the Delano Photograph Collection (IC11).

Thanksgiving 1917

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With Thanksgiving in just a few days, check out these negatives taken by noted Kingston historian and photographer, Emily Fuller Drew (1881-1950), on a freezing Thanksgiving Day in 1917.

Jones River at “the leaning tree,” Thanksgiving 1917

 

Curve of the Jones River, Thanksgiving 1917

 

Jones River “from the river path,” Thanksgiving 1917

 

Anchor Forge Dam
Anchor Forge Dam, Thanksgiving 1917

 

Source: Images from the Emily Fuller Drew Collection (MC16).