Category Archives: Photos

For Veterans’ Day: Melvin Simmons

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
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.

June 1924
This photo from June 1924 shows an especially happy bunch of schoolchildren from the Center Primary School, renamed the Faunce School later that same year in honor of Walter H. Faunce, a former teacher, superintendent of schools, and town selectman.
Source: Image from the School Photograph Collection IC5.

60 Main Street
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.
A carriage ride on the beach
Who’s ready for a day at the beach? Maybe not like this, but the weather sure looks nice here!
Source: Image from the Local History Room Image Collection IC7.

Memorial Day
Take a look at this snapshot of the 1946 Memorial Day parade as the procession, led by marshall Winfield Keene, exiting Evergreen Cemetery.
Source: Image from the Local History Room Image Collection IC7.

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

On this day in 1912…
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?
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
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.
Source: Images from the Emily Fuller Drew Collection (MC16).