On Jan. 1, 1900, George Wellington, then 73 years old, picked up a
pen and in an even, cursive script began to inscribe the first page of a nondescript black diary.
"I will [record] my experiences for the year of 1900, in hopes through the
[Arlington] Historical Society, now organized and
chartered, that this diary will be preserved and read in January A.D. 2000,"
he wrote.
For the following 11 months, he would record his daily activities in
turn-of-the-last-century Arlington.
It appears that Wellington's posthumous wish will come to pass, and with a
few months to spare, thanks in part to the a group
of Arlington residents who spotted the book at an Internet auction house.
Stone House Antiques and Books of Chesterfield, N.H., put the diary up for
sale last week. C.M. Broutsas, owner of the
store, said that the diary had come in with a box of old books his store had
recently purchased. In reading through the lot, he
and his employees saw Wellington first-page wish and decided that the best
way to advertise its availability to the widest
audience was with the giant on-line auctioneer eBay (www.ebay.com).
"I said, 'My Heavens, this is something we should put on eBay, hopefully by
Dec. 31," said Broutsas.
On Aug. 24, subscribers to an Arlington-oriented email discussion group got
wind of the auction and immediately began
pledging donations among themselves to buy the diary and contribute it to
Arlington Historical Society. More than a dozen of
the group's 182 members offered pledges of $10 and $20 to go toward its
purchase.
Last Friday, the auction closed at $375, the book having received 24 bids
from 12 people, from an opening price of $35. The
diary ended up with John Broderick, a genealogist who lives on Massachusetts
Avenue near the Lexington line.
"It was fun," he said. "I enjoyed the project, perhaps, more than anything."
Broderick was known to the on-line bidders as "Sean Raud," an Irish moniker
which translates as "John the Red," and he
received the diary by mail Monday. He is currently collecting pledged
donations from the Arlington email group and said they
will eventually figure out when and how to present the book to the
historical society.
For Arlington Historical Society to receive the diary in time for
Wellington's page-one deadline would be a sort of double
homecoming, since he was the founder of the AHS, said Richard Duffy, an
Arlington historian and member of the society's
board of trustees.
According to Duffy, Wellington worked as a surveyor for the Lexington and
West Cambridge branch railroad before entering
the insurance business. (West Cambridge became the town of Arlington in
1867.) His father Timothy, a physician, moved to
the area in 1809, living in a house that still stands on Pleasant Street.
His daughters ran a private school on Maple Street, and
Wellington Street, in Arlington Center, is named for the family.
The biographical note on eBay further states that Wellington was a trustee
of Arlington Five Cents Savings Bank and that he
attributed his longevity to "a regular schedule of habits and the ability to
sleep well."
Duffy, author of "Images of America: Arlington," for one, is looking forward
to pouring through the book. Wellington's stopped
recording on Dec. 1, 1900. A quick perusal of the text does not reveal why
he stopped short of his self-appointed goal, as he
lived for at least another decade.
The book does seem to contain echoes of current customs and sentiments,
occasionally with a 19th Century flavor.
"A most perfect day, and I was glad that these soldiers of the Civil War had
such weather for their [day] in decorating the
graves of their comrades that had passed on," wrote Wellington on Memorial
Day in 1900. "The `Boys' of '61 are becoming
`old Boys' now ... I noticed of them in their short parade in the Center of
Town their ranks are growing thin."
The next day, May 31, Wellington wrote about reminiscing with a friend about
Capt. Albert Ingals ("poor fellow"), in charge of
a company of West Cambridge soldiers during the Civil War who was shot to
death by sentries of his own regiment after failing
to give the proper password.
As to the true historical significance of Wellington's diary, that remains
to be determined.
"Until we have a chance to study it and compare it with other historical
accounts of the town in the 19th century ... we have to
assume that the principal value of the diary is as an artifact," wrote Duffy
in response to an Arlington Advocate query. "But
we're hoping that its contents will surprise us!" |