Friday, December 7, 2012
A weekly column by Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
He died 83 years ago this week, on Dec. 7, 1929, and the town greatly felt his loss. His portrait watches over those working in the reference room of Medfield’s Memorial Public Library and yet only a handful of people in town know it is him. His donations and gifts to the town still impacts Medfield’s character to this very day. Others in town actually named their children after him. He is Granville F. Dailey. Granville Dailey was born in New York City on March 20, 1848, and was educated in the public schools there. Dailey went on to become a very successful merchant, business partner with the Medfield hat factory and vice president of the Harlem Savings Bank in New York City. Starting in 1871, Dailey and brother-in-law Haskell Searle, …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Richard DeSorgher announces his run for the Board of Selectmen.
Dear Medfield Citizen, I write announcing my candidacy for Selectman and seek your vote in the upcoming March Town Elections. As a life-long resident of Medfield, I have been given much by the town and its citizens. As a strong believer in the view that “when much is given, much will be asked,” I feel an obligation to give back to my hometown and I now have the time, energy and ability to do so. Medfield provided me a safe environment in which to grow up and, because of countless volunteers, allowed me to participate in town sports and activities. I was given an excellent education in the Medfield Public Schools and graduation from Medfield High School enabled me to go on to college and receive both undergraduate and master’s degrees from…
Friday, November 30, 2012
A weekly column by Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
As we enter the final month of the year 2012, and before we enter the new year of 2013, it would be interesting in looking back to what was happening in this same community of Medfield exactly 100 years ago, in the year 1912. While Medfield’s current appropriations for all our operating budgets went over the $50,000,000 mark for the first time this year, in 1912, the total appropriation was only $32,278 -- about the same amount as this year’s operation and salaries for our conservation commission. The 1912 budget included $7,300 for our schools, $4,000 for the highway department, $2,500 for street lights, $1,200 for police and $400 for snow removal. The large highway budget reflected the new use of putting tarvia (now known as tar) on many…
Monday, November 26, 2012
A weekly Patch column by Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
With all the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving and Black Friday and the busy weekend, did you see last week's edition of Uniquely Medfield? Click here to read Richard DeSorgher's interesting history of "The Street Named Frairy." The street name "Frairy" is unique and often mispronounced. It hosts Medfield Day every September, is home to the historic Dwight-Derby House, is part of the shore-line of Meetinghouse Pond, has the only bridge in town where the cars travel under the train tracks, is the location of...[read more] Tune in each Friday for another edition of Uniquely Medfield.
Friday, November 23, 2012
A weekly column by Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
The street name "Frairy" is unique and often mispronounced. It hosts Medfield Day every September, is home to the historic Dwight-Derby House, is part of the shore-line of Meetinghouse Pond, has the only bridge in town where the cars travel under the train tracks, is the location of Basil's Restaurant (formerly the Frances Cafe), and was home to Medfield’s Italian immigrant population which first arrived in the early 1900s. It runs from North Street to Dale Street. Who was this Frairy family that the street was named after? John Frairy was one of the founders of Dedham, Massachusetts. He came from England with his wife Prudence and one or more of his children. He was made a freeman in Dedham in 1638. He became a cordwainer or shoemaker …
Friday, November 16, 2012
A weekly column by Medfield Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
- OPINION
-
Friday, November 16, 2012
They came to America by the millions. Some two million Huguenots, or French Protestants, fled France after the Edict of Nantes in 1685 designated France an official “Catholic” nation. At first, the edict protected the Protestants from persecution at the hands of the Catholic Church but that soon wore away and the Huguenots faced a life of hardship and persecution. By the end of the 17th century, roughly 200,000 Huguenots had fled France, most relocated to Protestant nations such as English America. One of the Huguenots that fled France arrived in Medfield in 1718. His name was Dr. James Gerauld and he was one of a family of 21 children. His name is spelled numerous ways—Gerould, Gerar, Jirauld, Jerauld, etc. He arrived here with his wife…
Friday, November 2, 2012
Town Historian Richard DeSorgher remembers when the town had two elementary schools and the rivalry between them.
Today, students in the Medfield Public School system enjoy a sense of harmony in the grade organization of the town’s five school buildings: Memorial, Dale, Wheelock, Blake and Medfield High School. From the students' first experience of kindergarten at the Memorial School, all town students stay together through graduation at Medfield High School; K-1 at Memorial, 2-3 at Wheelock, 4-5 at Dale, 6-8 at the Blake Middle School and 9-12 at Medfield High School. The camaraderie the students enjoy results in knowing each other and that stays with them and builds as the students march towards graduation. The small town atmosphere of “knowing everyone” is unique to Medfield in their system of keeping all students in the same grade and not …
Friday, October 12, 2012
A weekly column by Medfield Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
At the founding of the town of Medfield in 1651, a Church Society was organized. At that time, the Society was called the Church of Christ. The church no doubt was actually organized before 1651; and the process of organizing had probably run through the several months proceeding. The forming of a religious society or church among the New England Puritans of that day was very serious and deliberate. When the First Parish Church in Dedham was formed only 13 years before Medfield’s church (and by some of the same people who later formed this town and parish), many months were spent in reaching the desired result. Week after week and month after month the people met in little groups in their homes and deliberated upon the subject. There were…
Friday, October 5, 2012
Town Historian and Patch columnist Richard DeSorgher highlights aspects of the town of Medfield that make it unique.
The United Church of Christ’s history begins with that of the First Parish Church, located on North Street. In 1828, the first 11 members had broken away from the original church, organized in 1651. The break followed a controversy of more than a decade concerning the Trinitarian-Unitarian Doctrine, which was a major issue in eastern Massachusetts at that time. The painful decision was intensified by the raging controversy of the day between the traditional Christian thought and the new Unitarian thinking that supported the individual spirit as the ultimate true reality which equaled the spirit of God. Sides were drawn and stands taken. A radical break with this concept of underemphasizing man in the God-man relationship was made …
Friday, September 28, 2012
On Monday, the Medfield Historical Society will debut a retrospective about the Native American assault on Medfield during the King Philip War. Admission is free.
The Medfield Historical Society will kick off its 2012-2013 program season with the première showing of “Once Upon a Town; Medfield Under Attack,” a brand new retrospective about the Native American assault on Medfield on February 21, 1676, during the King Philip War. The public is invited to the viewing on Monday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the T. A. Blake Middle School Auditorium on 24 Pound Street. Admission is free. Filmed on location at each of the battle sites, the movie takes you step by step through Medfield, recounting the events of that fateful day. Hear the stories behind the lives lost, the homes torched and the flight of Native Americans over the burning Charles River bridges, told on the spot where they occurred. The one-hour…
Chad
1:37 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
There is value in history as it informs how/why things are today. Thank you for your work & placing it where we can access it. more ›