Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Emerson Homestead :Lawrence and Main Streets, circa 1906

Description

Although there were several houses owned and occupied by members of the Emerson family, this is probably the home of Thomas Emerson, founder of Thomas Emerson & Sons at the corner of Main and Lawrence Streets. According to the Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts published in 1906, Emerson was born in 1785 and died in 1871. He and his wife Elizabeth Hartshorn, said to be the sister of Col. James Hartshorn, were the parents of five children: Thomas, Augusta, Sarah, Maria and James. James, the youngest, is the only child listed as being born in the home in 1830. Thomas Emerson was credited with instituting a system of paying wages in cash instead of "barter at the store," once a practice of shoe manufacturers. A Selectman, member of the School Committee, Representative to the General Court and a State Senator, the elder Thomas was one of the "most prominent citizens and business men active in political affairs" with a "charming personality and sterling character," traits carried on by his two sons, Thomas and James, both of whom are credited with growing the business in "volume and prosperity" and continuing his community and civic service. After their father's retirement in 1854, his two sons renamed the company Thomas Emerson's Sons. The younger Thomas was one of the founders of the Wakefield Horticultural and Agricultural Society, and although he was an integral part of Thomas Emerson's Sons, he also served as President of the Mechanic and Agricultural Institution, a bank, for 24 years, and as a trustee of the Wakefield Savings Bank and director of the National Bank, along with many other organizations. James Emerson followed his father's civic sense of duty as Town Treasurer for 28 years. He is credited as being a "leading spirit in the organization" of the Richard [i.e. Richardson] Light Guard, serving as Commander of the company, was the second President of the Wakefield Savings Bank, and was an organizer and charter member of the Wakefield Home for Aged Women (the Boit Home.) He played a "prominent role" in bringing water, electricity and gas to the town, and in acquiring land bordering Lake Quannapowitt for use as a public park. He died in the family home in 1906.

Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

ca. 1906

Format

image/jpeg

Language

eng

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Architecture, domestic

Emerson, Thomas

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture :black & white

Extent

32 x 16 cm.