Fire in the Acre - 1841

Headline for Lowell Courier, 1841

Sometimes when you search for a story, it just falls in your lap.  Other times you have to spend hours looking for a lead.  And then there are times you find that tip, and you follow it, and you develop it, and when you’re just about to go to post it you find there’s more to the story.   That’s what happened to this week’s entry. 

I keep a little list of items I’d like to blog about, suggestions folks have made, and sundry key words to remind me of things to write.  I even have a couple of spare articles just in case of writer’s block.  So I began a search for this week’s topic.  My eyes were just about to give out searching for an entry.  Then it appeared; the story I was looking for.  It had drama; it had pathos. 

The Boston Courier of 1841 reported that before midnight on Thursday of August 26^th a great fire took place in the Acre section of the city.  “Five entire blocks of wooden buildings and parts of others were consumed.”  Workshops, furnishings, and tools were also destroyed.  “About 50 poor families were burnt out, losing the greater portion of their furniture and effects.”  The most tragic detail of the story was the loss of life of a Mrs. McLaughlin and her infant child who were buried under the ashes.  The conflagration took place near the Catholic Church on Suffolk and Fenwick Streets.  Beyond the loss of human lives another entry details the loss of several animals.

The story could have ended here, but of course I asked Walter to check some facts.  He used his paranormal powers to find the following.  There was a fire as reported by the Boston papers a few days after it happened, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story?  A closer investigation (and this is the precise reason I do not call myself a historian) reveals the true facts.  The Lowell papers corrected the errors made by the Boston Courier report.  No human lives were lost.  The dog that died actually ran back into the house after being rescued.  The paper states, “We have not learned his name, but believe it was Bose.  His master says he was a good dog.”  The other animals were pigs that “had been converted into roast pork.”  Actually one pig leaped out of the attic window of one of the houses.

Google Image

Five blocks were not burned, but 2 houses and 4 “ten-footers” were destroyed.  Much of the furniture was saved, but it was also noted the families that were affected were those “of little property.”  Interestingly, the Courier lists the names of those who suffered loss.  They list them by American families, and then by Irish families.  The following days also state that the fire department had a difficult time fighting the fire since the canal had been drawn down and it was very difficult to get water to the flames.  Large stones lined the canal and an engine had to be lifted over the rocks to the canal’s edge to get the needed water.  A committee was formed by some concerned citizens, among who were Reverend James McDermott and Hugh Cummiskey to help the unfortunate victims. It was hoped that the sum of $800 could be raised in the churches that Sunday.

So a good story became an even better one, with Walt’s help.  This account helps us understand the bigger picture.  It’s important to remember that the Acre was home to many Yankee poor as well as Irish.  Pigs were still running around the neighborhood in the 1840s, telling us their necessary use as a food supply.  Housing was so much in need that multiple families were living in substandard dwellings.  The line between American and Irish was still something to make a note of.  The year was 1841.  What would happen when the Famine Irish arrive?

Dig 2012- Day 1: Questions and More Questions

Colm, Brian, Harry, Emily

What greater way to start a week in New England than a trip to Parker’s Maple Barn in Mason, NH.  The team (Colm, Harry, Emily, and Brian) probably had more than their fill of maple syrup and pumpkin pancakes.  So it was off to work to find out more about our “shanty” by taking a trip to Old Sturbridge Village.  We were fortunate to have OSV Curator, Tom Kelleher, as our guide.  Our first stop was the “small house.”  Tom was involved with the research and building of the house.  This type of house was quite popular in the early 1800s.  It was a working class home, often used for renters.  The basic design is almost square with a single fireplace for cooking and heating.  Some of these houses might have a room partitioned on the main floor to be used as a bedroom.  If there was a second floor, it was most often used as the children’s bedroom.

Tom Kelleher, OSV & Colm Donnelly

Tom knew every plank and nail of the building and could fascinate you with details such as the octagonal, wooden pegs used to hold the frame together.  The shape is such that it can grasp the wood and keep the building standing strong.  It was not uncommon for entire buildings to be lifted off of foundations to be relocated to another piece of land.  The building was so well made such an act could be done more than once without weakening the building.  But the foundation is what interested the team the most.

Inside the Small House at OSV

In 2010 and 2011, the general outline of our house at St. Patrick Church was somewhat identified.  But a clearer definition of how and on what our house stood still needs to be investigated.  Here in New England a wooden house will not last very long if allowed to lie directly on the ground.  Wood plus damp soil equals rot.  Any builder will tell you the wooden house should rest on a stone foundation.  The OSV house’s stone foundation uses dry wall construction, no mortar.  Each stone was taken from the field and laid one on top of the other so they fit together.  Was this how our house’s foundation was made?

Inside the shoeshop at OSV

Well, Tom brought us to another building, the shoemaker’s shop.  This too resembled our house.  This too had a stone foundation, but of a different type.  The building was lifted off the ground by piles of stones, not the solid dry wall that was found previously- one which fully encompassed the square of the foundation.  Was this the foundation of our house?  Again, using a block and tackle and a couple of team of oxen the house can be lifted from its foundation and moved to a new spot.  We know this was regularly done in Lowell.  There is a possibility that our house had been moved there. 

Oxen at OSV

The folks at OSV also spoke about the use of the term 10-footer.  I assumed it meant a 10 by 10 foot house.  The term can be more generic than that and is more aptly applied to be a small, simple, home.

Tomorrow, the pit that was closed up last July will be opened once again.  What will a clearer definition of the foundation tell us about Father McDermott’s shanty?  What about the cistern discovered last year?  If it can be opened, what might be inside?