portsmouthhistorynotes

View of Prescott House from Prescott Farm

As you pass by the Prescott House on the Portsmouth/Middletown border by West Main Road, you might think of it as the location of the famous raid of Colonel Barton to capture British General Prescott during the Revolutionary War.    There is a strong Portsmouth woman associated with that house as well.  Her name was Barbara Norman Cook, aka “Kitty Mouse” Cook.  Barbara was born in Newport and she was the granddaughter of George Norman who founded the Newport Water Works.  The Norman family was a major property owner in Portsmouth and owned land from the Middletown boarder to Redwood Farms.  Barbara’s father was Bradford Norman.  He owned Brook Farm and across the street the old Overing Property.  He willed his property on the east side of West Main Road to his daughter. In his will, he referred to this property as “Prescott Place.” By the time that Barbara Norman Cook came into the property in 1949, the farm included roughly 33 acres.

Barbara Norman married Daniel W. Jones in 1918 and the two moved to Portsmouth in 1930.  Both were co-administrators for the National Recovery Act under President Franklin Roosevelt and both were active in the Democratic Party.  Jones died in 1942, and Barbara married Benjamin Ladd Cook, Sr. in 1943.  She continued her wartime work, this time hosting a half-hour morning radio show telling listeners how to use their ration coupons.  She was active in civic organizations like the American Cancer Society, League of Women Voters, Birth Control League, Boys Club and the Newport Music Festival.  Barbara was one of the seven founders of the Portsmouth Historical Society and was awarded lifetime membership in the society.

Barbara bought the Lawton Valley Glen area from her grandfather’s estate in 1952.  She hoped to preserve the property for recreation.  It had long been a popular picnic spot and Boy Scout camping area.

Barbara Norman Cook lived in her Prescott Place house until 1969, when she sold it to Doris Duke for the sum of $475,000.  Doris Duke then deeded the property to the Newport Restoration Foundation in 1970. The home is a rental property now and not open to public view, but the Newport Restoration Foundation has established Prescott Farm on the Middletown side of the property.  Old Portsmouth buildings have been moved there as well as the Sherman Windmill.  This area is open to the public as well as lovely hiking trails in the back of the property.

In 1981 Barbara wrote a memoir “L’Histoire de Mme. Kitty Mouse.”  It relates tales of her youth in Newport.  Barbara died in 1985.

Gerry Leis and Mary Lou Lemieux

Growing up on Glen Farm was idyllic for an adventurous girl named Geraldine Camara.  Gerry and her sister Mary Lou shared stories of their childhood with Elmhurst students many years ago.   The students interviewed the Camara sisters on the porch of the Leonard Brown House.  They lived at that house (and others on the farm) because their father, Manuel Camara,  was a long term worker on the farm.  His story is another one that deserves to be told in a separate blog.

Stories about Gerry – in the words of the student interviewers.

Gerry was born at the Brown House on a very cold January day. She was so tiny they had to keep her warm, so the nurse put her on the oven door.

The fields around the house were filled with cows – Angus, Guernseys and later Charolais.  The girls had to walk up Linden Lane to get to the school bus and the cows followed them all the way.

Gerry was always getting into trouble.  She used to climb into the hayloft of the barns and she even tried to ride the cows.

There were seven wooden bridges over the paths around the stream that ran from the mill pond to the river.  One day Gerry used the wood from one of the bridges to make a raft.  Then there were only six bridges.

The Glen families were careful to let the Taylor family have their privacy.  They were the owners after all.  When Gerry picked daffodils from Mrs. Taylor’s garden, her mother was very upset with her.

Glen Farm has beautiful stone walls.  Mrs. Taylor’s second husband didn’t like to see the children sitting on the walls.  he paid them a quarter not to sit on the walls.  He had a fancy car and when the girls saw the car coming, they sat right on the walls so he would give them more quarters.

Gerry made the sheep barn into her own clubhouse.

It could get cold at the Brown House, so the workers would “bank the house.”  That meant they would put a wood frame around the outside of the basement and fill the frame with leaves to help keep the heat in.  Geri would walk on the frames even though she wasn’t suppose to do that!

The Camara sisters, Gerry Leis and Mary Lou Lemieux, have both passed away, but we cherish the stories they told us and continue to share them with other generations of Portsmouth school children.

The Brown House has memories for many families.  It was one of three homes Nan Howell Waters called home on the farm.  Nan was on the farm because her father, Arthur Howell, worked on the farm.  He started out as a mechanic, moved to bookkeeper for dairy cattle and then to superintendent of the farm. His office was in the Cow Barn and he worked up until he died at 76 years old. He worked close to 50 years on the farm.

Nan Howell Waters

Nan came to Glen farm when she was a baby.  When Nan lived at the Brown House it was divided to hold two families.  Her family lived downstairs and the Camara family lived upstairs.  On their floor was a bath room,  two bedrooms, kitchen (with a wash tub and pantry),  dining room and a large living room.  It was heated with a big coal stove in the basement.  The basement was good sized and each family had partitioned areas.  The children like to play store in the basement.  With the four Camara girls and Nan and her brother, there was always someone to join in play.

Glen Farm was a self contained community.  They had electricity and telephone service.  There was a switchboard operator on the farm and they had a phone in the hall with each family having a different number of rings to signal calls for them.

Outside the yard was set off from the field by a stone wall.  There were kitchen gardens – each family had one.  Each family had a garage.  There was a chicken shed for each family, so they had fresh eggs.  Milk, meat and other vegetables came from the farm itself.

Majorie Wilkey’s mother and grandmother

Professionally trained, Sarah Eddy was an artist well into her 90’s. Painter, sculptor, master photographer. She was listed as a “painter of pictures” in the Providence census. As a pioneering woman photographer, Sarah exhibited in Paris and London as well as major exhibits in the US. Her images are in the collection of the Library of Congress. Her art was part of every cause worked for – as prizes, for fundraising, as a way of bringing beauty into the world. She was a master arts educator. She brought artists to Bristol Ferry, and encouraged amateurs. Sarah and her students went out painting with smocks and berets.

Sarah paid for the construction of an addition to the Portsmouth Free Public Library which would be a place to exhibit art in Portsmouth. The public library has a lovely landscape with sheep in the Reference Room that is attributed to Sarah and they have some of her sculptures in the Children’s Room.  It is fitting that the Portsmouth Free Public Library is a gallery space for special exhibits today.

Sarah never took any payment for her photos or paintings. She delighted in photographing and painting her neighbors in Bristol Ferry. What is in your attic? Could you have some of her artwork? After her death in 1945 there was a yard sale at her home.  Some items have surfaced at antique stores and in private collections. We know that Sarah gave artwork to church guilds and that a church in Tiverton has one of her bronze sculptures.  Marjorie Wilkey has shared some precious family portraits with us.  Her mother and grandmother were photographed and a sketch of them seems to be a “mother and child” image that was common in her work.  The Wilkey family allowed me to scan a glass plate that includes members of their family.  Mothers and children were her favorite subjects.  Let us know if you have some of Sarah’s artwork as part of your family treasures.

Sarah Eddy photograph of Portsmouth children.

Sarah James Eddy was a force in the Portsmouth community for over forty years, but her work was forgotten until recently.  Last fall, Sarah was recognized during the 21st annual Historical Induction Convocation at the Historic Bristol Statehouse and Courthouse, but many Portsmouth citizens are unaware of her accomplishments in the arts and in social causes.

I first became aware of Sarah when Marge Webster and I were working on an exhibit for the Portsmouth Historical Society. We stopped at the portrait of the woman that hung in the back of the historical society museum. We had very little information about it. We knew this was a painting from the Social Studio and that the artist, Sarah Eddy, was part of an artist colony at Bristol Ferry. Through newspaper databases we learned that the portrait was of Mrs. Burke, the mother of Emeline Eldredge who was a good friend of Sarah Eddy.  Mrs. Burke was portrayed preparing a Thanksgiving meal or at least the vegetables for that meal.  Sarah Eddy was a vegetarian and newspaper accounts tell of her meatless Thanksgiving feasts.

Mrs. Burke by Sarah J. Eddy

We began with very little information, but the harder we looked the more we found that evidence of Sarah’s work in our community was all around -” Hidden in Plain Sight”.

I found postcards of the Social Studio on Ebay and I began to collect them. Since Sarah was a noted photographer and founder of the Social Studio, I assume the photos are Sarah’s work.    They helped me to understand that the Social Studio was a marvelous art center for Portsmouth.  This was a project financed by Sarah Eddy and directed by her friend Emeline Eldredge.   Located across the street from the Eddy Home on Bristol Ferry Road, the basic building still exists as a private home.

This is a 1905 description of the Social Studio: “A large room used for assemblies, one end of which is occupied by a small stage, is furnished simply and artistically. Potted plants, a pianola, a huge open fireplace, oil paintings on the walls and a good library – all lend great charm to the big room, which is a delightful retreat for the young people who flock there from adjoining farms. Lectures, readings, musicals and social gatherings are frequently held. Classes were given in pyrography, drawing, water color painting and raffia.”

The Social Studio was meant to keep young people away from gossiping, loafing and “Immature lovemaking.”  The Social Studio was also a place were young people could earn money through their arts and crafts.

The Studio became a cultural center for Portsmouth’s adults.  Christmas celebrations, charity fund raisers, lectures and musical performances were all centered in the Social Studio.  From newspaper articles we know that activities went on at the Social Studio for at least 30 years or more.

This is the first of three blogs on Sarah James Eddy.  Other blogs will focus on her social causes and her artistic work.

Children working on crafts at the Social Studio

Social Studio postcard – GSchmidt collection

Ancient Shield of Town of Portsmouth

Elizabeth Wilkey wrote a pamphlet on how she came to design the Portsmouth insignia. Denise Wilkey sent me images from the pamphlet. I am including these images on this blog so you can read them for yourself. I will summarize some of the new information I noticed as I read the pamphlet. Having Elizabeth’s description in her own words is a valuable document.

When the Portsmouth Historical Society was founded in 1938, Evelyn Chase asked Henry Wilkey to construct a large sign for the Society and Elizabeth (a RISD grad) was asked to letter and paint the Seal of Portsmouth on both sides of the sign.  Miss Chase loaned Elizabeth an old leather bound book to refer to in painting the seal.  The seal – a circle with seven irregularly spaced stars with eight wavy rays – was on the left hand side of the reference page.  “On the opposite page was a shield containing the same seven stars in vertical balance – three stars down the center – two on either side.” Elizabeth said that metal replicas of the shield were placed at all the entrances to the town as part of the 300th celebration.

In 1961 the Town Council asked Mrs Wilkey to design an emblem that could be an insignia on town vehicles.  Elizabeth began to gather information for the project.  In 1957 a town councilman brought back a scroll from the city of Portsmouth in England.  Elizabeth noticed that the star on the scroll was the same as the stars on our seal.  She wrote the city of Portsmouth in England and they sent her information on the star and a colored transfer.  No one in our town knew why our seal and shield had seven stars.  Albert Sherman was asked and he thought it might be because the compact was signed on the 7th day of March (which was the first month in those days.)

The Town Council requested that the “Compact of 1638″be incorporated into the design.

In 1976 the town wanted a flag for Portsmouth.  Elizabeth worked on the design even though she lost her husband and was going through many adjustments.  “It remained on my conscience that I had not completed my assignment.”  She worked with the Ebenezer Flag Company and there were difficulties in getting colors just right.  She used the design of the shield that had the seven stars in balanced order.

To our shame the town and the Portsmouth Historical Society did not pay Elizabeth for her time, work, or materials.  She comments that she was willing to give of herself and her time.

Recently someone asked me about the Portsmouth Town Insignia and the significance of the wavy stars. As I was researching the answer, I was reminded that Elizabeth Wilkey, a long time art teacher in Portsmouth, designed the seal we use today.  This blog will cover both Elizabeth Wilkey and what we know about the Portsmouth seal.

Elizabeth Wilkey was born in Portsmouth in 1903.  She was the daughter of Eliza and William Anthony and the wife of Henry Wilkey.  Trained as an artist, Elizabeth was a long time art teacher and arts supervisor for the Portsmouth School System.  In a speech to the Coggeshall School PTA in 1958, Elizabeth talked about her work.  She conducted thirty-five art classes each week. The older students had two classes a week while the young students had one art class a week.  She enjoyed teaching the students to use a variety of materials, even some they brought from home – like wrapping paper and milk cartons.  Ahead of her time, Mrs. Wilkey co-ordinated the art program with the other school subjects.  Her name constantly appeared in newspaper articles as she was busy designing posters, decorating for events,  illustrating brochures and exhibiting student work.

In 1962 a Daily News article describes a new 14-inch town insignia which would be displayed on all town vehicles.  The article commented that it was designed by Mrs. Henry Wilkey, Portsmouth Schools art supervisor.  It was described as consisting of a “blue shield with six unique eight pointed gold stars which are also carried on the town seal.  ‘Founded on the Compact of 1638 – Portsmouth R.I.’ encircles the shield on a gold field.”

What is the significance of the eight pointed stars? A November 5, 1960 Daily News article gives us an idea of the story behind the stars.  According to Graham Carey (who had been a partner in the John Stevens stonecutting shop and a heraldry expert) it probably relates to the seal of the City of Portsmouth in England. In the ancient Sumerian civilization, the eight-rayed sun or star above a crescent was common on seals.  Before Richard the Lionhearted set out for the Crusades in 1189 he added a star with six wavy points above a crescent to Britain’s seal.  It is thought that it represented the Star of Bethlehem over the Moslem crescent.  When Richard came back in 1194, he gave a charter to the new seaport of Portsmouth and assigned as a seal a star with eight wavy points above an upturned crescent.  Carey thought the early settlers adopted a seal in memory of Portsmouth, England, but dropped the Islamic crescent and multiplied the star by seven. Seven is a special number in the Bible and signifies completion and perfection.   The earliest Portsmouth seal had six stars around a central star.

So is that the explanation for Portsmouth’s seal?  I am not sure we will ever know for sure.