William Dummer's New England Family

This article, third in a series relating to the Dummer Family, first appeared in the 1934 Milestone. As you read through the genealogy and family history of William Dummer, you will find the names of several early New England settlers. The article was written by Clavin Eldred, a friend of the Academy (***Click on each image to enlarge)

Plow horses in front of Frost Building

This photograph of plow horses in front of the Frost Building in the June 7, 1958 copy of The Archon is both appealing and fasinationg as it truly captures the end of an era. Not only is it interesting to see the last pair of horses in Newbury, Massachusetts in the late 1950s, but also to note the man driving the team is Martin Burns. A graduate of Class of 1916, the photograph below is of Burns while a student at the Academy. **Click on photograph to enlarge

Put Flint Lacrosse Stick Donated to The Ragle Archives Room

Pictured to the left is a member of the class of 2011 holding the recently donated lacrosse stick given by Putnam Flint of the class of 1937. “Put” Flint was a member of the first Lacrosse Squad to play the sport at the Academy in the spring of 1937. The donation is the first gift made to the newly named The Ragle Archives Room honoring the former Headmaster of the Governor’s Academy from 1972-1982.

The following information from the 1937 Milestone describes the excitement involved with organizing and playing a new sport.

“The coming of spring this year brought a new sport, lacrosse, to Governor Dummer. Lacrosse, as a sport in general, was played a great deal up until about ten years ago when, for some strange reason, its popularity faded. Apparently it is becoming very popular once again, and several of the leading New England preparatory schools have recently taken it up. Governor Dummer, recognizing this fact, has added the sport to its spring schedule. Mr. Murphy, head coach of this sport, wished for several years that he might organize a lacrosse squad here at school, but, because of several handicaps, he has been unable to do so until this year. Great enthusiasm was shown from the beginning and twenty-four boys turned out for the sport at the first of the season. There were only three or four members of the squad who had played the game before, and even none of these had ever played organized lacrosse. In spite of this the coaches felt that great progress was made by the entire squad from the start.

Russell Simons, who captained the team, was one of the most outstanding players throughout the season. He was extremely fast and always seemed to have excellent control over his stick. Gordon Ellis, too, was a great aid to the team since he never became tired, and since he always played a very fast and accurate game. Putnam Flint, who played goal, made many excellent saves considering his inexperience, and he deserves credit for his superior defense.

The team was at a disadvantage when it came up against other teams on strange fields, because the field space at home was limited to about half of the official field length. In spite of the handicaps there was never a sign of poor spirit shown by any member of the squad. The boys were always eager to pick up any information about the sport from either of the coaches.

Of the twenty-four candidates who were out for lacrosse this year there will be fifteen returning next year, and, because of this number, Mr. Murphy feels certain that he will have exceptionally fine material with which to work next season. – J.W.F ”

The 1937 Lacrosse Squad
Goalie Putnam Flint - second row - fourth from the left

Obituary of Rev. Isaac Smith, Headmaster 1790-1809

Morse Flag Award 1916

During the winter of 1968, Mrs. Gladys Fish, Secretary to the Director of Development and Editor of The Archon, began collecting the reminiscences of past Morse Flag prize winners. Established in 1913 by Rev. Glenn Tilley Morse, the Morse Flag Award is given each year “to that senior whose record in all respects has met with the highest approval of the faculty.” In her introductory letter, Mrs. Fish asks each prize holder “if you feel that the winning of the Flag influenced you in any way-what meaning it may have had for you over the years.” Thirty-five prize winners responded to Mrs. Fish’s request and their recollections appear together in an article entitled, The Morse Flag Award, in the summer 1968 issue of The Archon. Recently while glancing through the correspondences Mrs. Fish received, I came across the following five-page-typewritten memories of Fred H. Goodwin, Morse Flag Award winner of 1916. I think you will find his memories enjoyable to read.

The photograph to the right is of Fred H. Goodwin '16

*Click on each page to enlarge.

Fort Dummer Revisited

The following information on Fort Dummer is from a series of articles first published in the Academy yearbook, Milestone, during the 1930s. The first article of the series entitled, The Father of William Dummer, appears in its entity in the archives blog dated December 13, 2007. The article appearing below entitled, Fort Dummer, from the 1933 Milestone was written by Calvin Eldred. (*Click on the photographs to enlarge the text. To view the photograph of a piece of Fort Dummer see the blog posting for March, 22, 2007.)

Scrapbook Memories

If anyone were to ask me what my favorite item was in the Academy’s archives, I would have to say the scrapbook of Waldo Thorne Worcester. As a student at Dummer Academy from 1916 until his graduation in June 1920, Waldo pasted photographs, newspapers articles, wrote down names of friends and listed scores of athletic games helping to keep alive memories of his three years at the school. ( Waldo is the boy with the Dummer (D) sweater on in the photograph to the left.)

Accompanying the scrapbook is a letter written in 1993 by his son Waldo Thorne Worcester, Jr. in which he wrote:

“Dad always felt that G. D. was his home. He often spoke of athletics and scholarship at the same time. This always impressed me because I was not the student that he felt I should be. My children and grandchildren have experienced this album and feel as I do that it should be returned to G. D. Please feel free to discard anything not of interest to you. Again, thank you for an interest in an old man’s treasure.”

And what a treasure it is! The scrapbook captures the life of adolescent boy during the first-quarter-of-the-Twentieth Century. It clearly expresses what was important to him such as the Dummer Academy baseball and football teams whose members affectionately called him “The Brat.”

He was alert to the war raging in Europe and dedicated several pages to images of Generals and Field Marshals and pencil sketches of angry Germans. He also saved a receipt for a war savings stamp he purchased on June 14, 1918. He went to the movies to see Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks and he kept one copy of his report cards with all As and Bs.

While turning the fragile pages of the album for the first time, something metal fell out on to the table. Picking up the object I found it to be an old razor. Attached to one page was a white envelope on which Waldo wrote, “Razor inside with is the first razor with which I ever shaved myself.”

Waldo Thorne Worcester came as a student to Dummer Academy on January 8, 1916 at the age of 14 ½ and graduated on June 12, 1920, three weeks short of his 19th birthday. He graduated from Boston University in 1924 and passed away in the early 1990s.

***Scroll down to see more pages of the scrapbook.