{"id":98650,"date":"2024-04-16T08:46:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T12:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=98650"},"modified":"2024-04-25T15:16:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T19:16:48","slug":"19th-century-stonecutters-featured-in-old-scrapbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/19th-century-stonecutters-featured-in-old-scrapbook.html","title":{"rendered":"19th Century Stonecutters Featured in Old Scrapbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry gives news clippings and photos from a scrapbook showing an earlier way of life. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A scrapbook created by the Village Hall Association of Annisquam, a waterfront village in the city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, reveals a rich and colorful history.<\/p>\n

This precious relic is at the Annisquam Historical Society<\/a> (AHS).<\/p>\n

A newspaper photograph in the scrapbook featured two veteran granite cutters from Annisquam. This snapshot was taken for an article written by John F. Coggswell in 1930.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: granite cutters Charles Harvey and Daniel W. Sylvester, 1930. Credit: Annisquam Historical Society.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The photo caption reads:<\/p>\n

The famous Blood Ledge Pit at Bayview, near Gloucester, whence came the granite for the old Boston Post Office. Inset: Charles Harvey and Daniel W. Sylvester, two of the old time granite cutters, who cut the stone for the building that has now been demolished.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Subjects\u2019 Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles Albert Harvey (1859-1950) was born to Warren A. Harvey and Lydia Ann Daggett. He married Caroline Sargeant Chard, daughter of William Dennison Chard and Caroline Lane Dennen. The couple had a son, Gilman Clifton Harvey Sr., who married Helen May Parsons and left descendants.<\/p>\n

Daniel Webster \u201cWeb\u201d Sylvester (1852-1932) was born to Samuel Sylvester and Eliza Ann Rowe. He married Annie M. Rowe<\/a>, daughter of Captain William Henry Rowe and Charlotte Webb. They had one daughter, Minnie Sylvester, who married William Everett Blanchard and left descendants.<\/p>\n

Granite Quarry & Old Boston Post Office<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two stonecutters reminisced in 1930 with reporter Coggswell about their experiences working in the quarries. Sylvester was 77 years old and Harvey was 71 at that time.<\/p>\n

The two men were disturbed by the recent demolition of the Boston Post Office<\/a> in October 1929. They, along with other \u201crock-hard men,\u201d were proud of their contribution to the federal edifice.<\/p>\n

Sylvester said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I can\u2019t understand is how they ever came to condemn and tear the best building that man ever built. It was good honest rock. It works well and stands up in any weather and holds its color\u2026 From the very heart of Blood Ledge, in the Rockport Granite Company\u2019s quarry of Bayview, were cut the huge sills that supported the old post office \u2013 50,000 pounds apiece they weighed, and it took 20 yoke oxen to drag them to the dock.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I found an image of the early construction.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: construction of the Boston Post Office, 1 September 1875. Credit: Historic New England Collection; Annisquam Historical Society.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During that time Sylvester worked 10 hours every day, except on Sundays and Washington\u2019s Birthday, and drew in $27.50 for his monthly pay.<\/p>\n

Harvey was a bit younger than Sylvester. Here is his story:<\/p>\n

When the extension was put on to the Old Boston Post Office a few years later Harvey was old enough to work. Sylvester was working in Baltimore with other stonecutters from the village, so this gave way for opportunity for new blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave 24 of us youngsters a chance to learn the business as apprentices. There was Ned and Jack Tobin, George Mackenzie, Tom Ferguson, Sam Jones, and Bill Sleep\u2026 the rest I cannot remember. Our folks had to put up a $200 bond for each of us, that we\u2019d serve our full two-year apprenticeship. We got 75 cents a day for the first year and $1.25 for the second\u2026 It was on June 25, 1878, we started cutting stone for the extension. And we were finally granite cutters by the time we finished the job. All kinds of stonecutters on that job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sylvester piped in and said \u201cCharley\u2019s right, there were all kinds of nationalities \u2013 Welshmen, Scotchmen, Englishmen, Swedes, Spaniards, and Italians.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This photograph of an ox team carting a large granite stone also appears in the Coggswell article in the scrapbook.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: huge granite slab pulled by oxen. Credit: Annisquam Historical Society.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found a newspaper clip that describes a scene similar to the photo above, as well as another clip reminding us of how dangerous this work could be.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Cape Ann Advertiser (Gloucester, Massachusetts), 27 May 1870, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stonecutting Was Not the Only Trade for These Two Chaps<\/strong><\/p>\n

An obituary published in the Boston Herald<\/em> for Charles A. Harvey, who died at age 91, stated he was the \u201clast of the old New England stagecoach drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 8 May 1950, page 15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Skipping over his early years, when in the strength of youth he was a stonecutter, this obituary details Harvey\u2019s work in his later years:<\/p>\n

Born in Gloucester, he once drove a stagecoach between Gloucester center and Annisquam Village. Later he operated a livery stable, then a garage, and finally a taxi and express service.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Harvey was an on-call firefighter for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n

Here are two photos of Harvey\u2019s enterprises shared by a descendant. The first is Harvey in his career as a stagecoach driver.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Charles Harvey driving a stagecoach with his son Gilman sitting on Charles\u2019 left. Courtesy of Cheryl Olney.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This next photo shows Harvey in his trucking business.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Charles Harvey driving a truck with son Gilman sitting on Charles\u2019 right. Courtesy of Cheryl Olney.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his later years, Daniel \u201cWeb\u201d Sylvester also had other jobs. He owned and operated the Overlook Hotel, located on the highest land in Annisquam.<\/p>\n

The hotel was built in 1895 by H. P. Boutelle of Dorchester. Sylvester managed it. In 1900 he purchased the business and put on a large addition, giving the hotel 100 rooms.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: advertisement for the Overlook Hotel, Rockland Avenue, Annisquam. Credit: Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the later part of the 1920s the hotel suffered financial losses due to the crash. A letter<\/a> dated 8 April 1928 from W. E. B. Du Bois to Sylvester survives, suggesting he advertise the Overlook in the Crisis<\/em> to draw in customers.<\/p>\n

The hotel was severely damaged by fire on 7 January 1929. Sylvester died on 20 February 1932.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> ox team hauling granite slab on Washington Street, Annisquam, Massachusetts. Colonel Jonas French is standing second to the right. According to sources, Elizabeth Blood, widow of Joseph Blood, sold the quarry and lands to Col. French for the sum of $2,500. Credit: Annisquam Historical Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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