The blacksmith shop of William Wyman. William Wyman with box of tools, his brother Frank seated on stone, his son Frank seated in the door. Enos W> Boise leading horse out of shop. Truman Blair on his left, standing. Ruth Knox and Ruben Knox in wagon.
This picture taken at Campbell house by flashlight. Marie (Wyman) in front of Robert Nye and Percy Wyman. Robert Wyman at far left. I think in about 1901 while chapel was being built by Franky Wyman. (words of Percy Wyman)
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William Wyman and Edna (Wyman) Hart, possibly take in 1906.
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Frederick Burdette and Ella (Wyman) Hart, possibly from their 1892 wedding
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Back row, left to right: Elmer Hart, Elwin Wyman, Sven Anderson, Jr., Lee Wyman
Front row: Edna (Wyman) Hart, Ruth (Harris) Wyman, Ruby (Smith) Wyman, Mae (Wyman) Anderson, Beulah (Blanchard) Wyman
Front row: Edna (Wyman) Hart, Ruth (Harris) Wyman, Ruby (Smith) Wyman, Mae (Wyman) Anderson, Beulah (Blanchard) Wyman
A family photo taken at the Beagle Clubhouse.
Standing in back: Arnold Harris, Ernest Wyman, Ruby (Smith) Wyman, Elwin Wyman
Seated, top step: Lillian (Wyman) Harris, Sven Anderson, Jr. holding Sonja Anderson, Mae Anderson, Erwin Hart, Ruth (Harris) Wyman, Lee Wyman holding Darryl Wyman
Second row: Bobby Harris in front of Lillian, Lynn Anderson in front of Bobby, Glenn Hart, Elaine Hart, Beulah (Blanchard) Wyman, Edna (Wyman) Hart, Elmer Hart
Sitting in front: Duane Wyman and Hilton Hart
Standing in back: Arnold Harris, Ernest Wyman, Ruby (Smith) Wyman, Elwin Wyman
Seated, top step: Lillian (Wyman) Harris, Sven Anderson, Jr. holding Sonja Anderson, Mae Anderson, Erwin Hart, Ruth (Harris) Wyman, Lee Wyman holding Darryl Wyman
Second row: Bobby Harris in front of Lillian, Lynn Anderson in front of Bobby, Glenn Hart, Elaine Hart, Beulah (Blanchard) Wyman, Edna (Wyman) Hart, Elmer Hart
Sitting in front: Duane Wyman and Hilton Hart
This photo was taken at the wedding of Walter Birmingham and Lena Wyman which took place at the William Wyman home on June 20, 1900. William Wyman is seated, the third man from the left.
This Is from a letter from Emma (Reed) Wyman, wife of William, to her daughter-in-law, Cora Wyman, wife of Harry Wyman. It was written shortly after the wedding in the above photo and Emma mentions photographs.
Dear Cora,
I hardly know whether I saw you a week ago today or not, I was so busy. And I have a faint idea that Grace [Cora’s sister] did not enjoy hervisit to B. but as I say, I was so busy that I hardly saw anyone - and Harry, I can't remember that I spoke to him, but I believe I did.
Well it is all over and I am still sweeping rice. I did not realize how tired I was until after it was all over. But I shall get rested sometime. I feel good now, only the hot weather affects me as it never did before.
I have found an owner for a handkerchief, curler, comb, hat pin, and there are two h'dk'fs that I think must be Freda's (4.15) and Marie’s (4.12). I still have a cape and gloves that I think must belong to Grace. I wanted Ernie to take them last Sat. He took the gloves but had so much to do he forgot to leave them. But I will send them or bring them this week.
Do you think you will be up the 4th? I would like your father and mother to come up if they would like to get rid of the noise, and Grace also unless she is otherwise engaged. Perhaps you who are used to it do not mind the racket but you know how much more quiet it is here. It would annoy me greatly.
But perhaps both Mr. Phelps and Harry will be busy in the store so that there will be no time to come.
I received a letter Friday from Lena (3.6). She was then in Boston. You got them away slick and I do not think anyone mistrusted what you intended to do although there were some who said they knew it would be so as soon as they got in.
The pictures were a failure except one or two.
I had a scare the other day. I missed Harry's rifle and could not remember when I saw it last. But Ernie said Hal took it with him. So I was easy in my mind.
Well I suppose you will be going to housekeeping this fall. Then all my boys and girls will have homes and I hope happy ones.
Well I must close and get some supper for the men have been in the shop all day without any dinner.
Give my love to Harry and keep a big chunk for yourself.
Mamma
[Lena Wyman married Walter Birmingham June 20, 1900.]
This Is from a letter from Emma (Reed) Wyman, wife of William, to her daughter-in-law, Cora Wyman, wife of Harry Wyman. It was written shortly after the wedding in the above photo and Emma mentions photographs.
Dear Cora,
I hardly know whether I saw you a week ago today or not, I was so busy. And I have a faint idea that Grace [Cora’s sister] did not enjoy hervisit to B. but as I say, I was so busy that I hardly saw anyone - and Harry, I can't remember that I spoke to him, but I believe I did.
Well it is all over and I am still sweeping rice. I did not realize how tired I was until after it was all over. But I shall get rested sometime. I feel good now, only the hot weather affects me as it never did before.
I have found an owner for a handkerchief, curler, comb, hat pin, and there are two h'dk'fs that I think must be Freda's (4.15) and Marie’s (4.12). I still have a cape and gloves that I think must belong to Grace. I wanted Ernie to take them last Sat. He took the gloves but had so much to do he forgot to leave them. But I will send them or bring them this week.
Do you think you will be up the 4th? I would like your father and mother to come up if they would like to get rid of the noise, and Grace also unless she is otherwise engaged. Perhaps you who are used to it do not mind the racket but you know how much more quiet it is here. It would annoy me greatly.
But perhaps both Mr. Phelps and Harry will be busy in the store so that there will be no time to come.
I received a letter Friday from Lena (3.6). She was then in Boston. You got them away slick and I do not think anyone mistrusted what you intended to do although there were some who said they knew it would be so as soon as they got in.
The pictures were a failure except one or two.
I had a scare the other day. I missed Harry's rifle and could not remember when I saw it last. But Ernie said Hal took it with him. So I was easy in my mind.
Well I suppose you will be going to housekeeping this fall. Then all my boys and girls will have homes and I hope happy ones.
Well I must close and get some supper for the men have been in the shop all day without any dinner.
Give my love to Harry and keep a big chunk for yourself.
Mamma
[Lena Wyman married Walter Birmingham June 20, 1900.]
Ely and Abbie (Aldrich) Wyman
The following information about Ely Wyman is taken from three stories that Percy Wyman shared that included information about his father: “My Mother, Abbie Aldrich Wyman” by Percy Wyman, 1977; “Stories About My Mother and Father, Abbie and Ely Wyman,” told by Percy Wyman, recorded by Esther Hart Ripley, transcribed by Diana (Davidson) Healy; and a recording done by 77-year-old Percy Wyman on March 10, 1967 for Varian (Wyman) Brewer.
We don’t know much about Ely when he was young, but we do have this story from Percy: “Father tore off his right thumb when he was a boy turning a grindstone and it got twisted up in there. When the doctor cut it off, he did it right around the joint and so that finger would get sore and start to bleed come cold weather up through spring so that he had to keep it done up in mutton tallow to keep it soft and pliable. But he could milk a cow or take a hold of your ear just as hard as anyone you ever saw.” Percy remembered: “I don’t know much about Father when he was little because Father was a man that said little. But when he said something, he meant it. If he said run, you run. If he said go and get it, you went and got it.”
Ely and Abbie first lived in Russell where their first child, Inez was born. They moved to Blandford and lived at the Waterman place, about an eighth of a mile above the Gate House. A second daughter, Ella was born here. Percy shared: The next day lying in bed with her baby, and Ely off working at the Knox place, a tramp came to the door, and walked in. He asked if she was all alone. “Certainly not!” said Abbie, “Do you think my husband would leave me alone in bed?” “Inez, run out to the barn and fetch your father right away.” And Inez without question went. And the tramp set off down the road.
Around the time of Ella’s birth Ely began working at the Knox Farm. He worked for the Knox family from 1872 until they moved away in the 1880’s and after that he looked after the farm until it was sold in 1899.
By 1877 they moved once more to the so-called Allen place on South Street, where their third child and first son, Charles was born. Percy shared: “However, there were strange disturbances in that house. At night, Abbie would hear a group of people talking and laughing as they apparently came to the door, but upon opening the door, all would be silence with no-one there. After a while she could put up with the hauntings no longer, and another house was looked for. It should be noted that no one else ever lived in that Allen house on South Street. It was allowed to fall in and decay, hiding its secret of an old murder done.”
Esther (Hart) Ripley, granddaughter of Ely and Abbie told this story: “About a mile up the road (from the Hart house on South Street), the old Allen house set back away in a lot. My grandparents, Ely and Abbie Wyman lived there. Their first son, Charlie was born there. My grandparents became aware of strange disturbances in the house. Voices of people talking and laughing could be heard approaching the front door. There was never anyone there when the door was opened. Mama [Ella Wyman would talk about it. My grandparents couldn’t take it, they moved away. I don’t remember anyone living there. Grass and brush grew up around it. I and some of the neighbor children would try to be brave, go part way down to the house, never brave enough to go all the way.”
They next moved to the house built by Ely’s father Horatio which was vacant at the time. Percy tells us, “Father was a wheelwright, and a carpenter, and he looked after the roads, and he was a farmer. He had a shop that was built right opposite from Grandfather (Horatio) Wyman’s shop right below where the old house stood. He built sleighs and wagons and wheels. All of us boys every rainy day that come, we had to go saw out something with a rip saw to get the right shape to fit it in to a wagon. They were never straight pieces. They were always bent here or there. Father also worked in the blacksmith shop a good deal. When Uncle Bill [William Wyman] got backed up on shoeing horses, when they got eight or ten horses, he would help shoe the horses. When we had the old place, he still had the East Lot, but he didn’t have only one horse. He used Uncle Bill’s horse and with the two horses they did the plowing.”
The little house where they lived became crowded with 12 children at home during this time. Ten children who had been sleeping on corn-husk mattresses on the floor of the attic. It had only one little window on each end; the boys slept in the West half, and the girls in the East half.
An addition had been built onto the back of the house for a pantry, dining room and a small bedroom where Cora and Daisy slept.
In 1894, they bought the Rowley place, which was a good-sized farm, on the main road a short distance from the house on Birch Hill. The Rowley house seemed like a palace after being huddled together in the old house. They even had beds from the Knox house and mattresses filled with rye straw. Abbie made the mattresses by putting buttons down a center opening which allowed for changing the straw every fall after thrashing time. She and the girls made dozens of quilts, some patchwork, others of whole cloth. She made most of her children’s clothes, usually without a pattern, except for following the lines of old dresses and coats. She made butter which she took to Westfield to sell along with eggs. Yeast was kept in the cellar for making bread, and vegetables and fruits were canned every summer to feed the large family during the winter months. As the older children were able, they went out to work, and the younger ones took over the chores on the farm.
When Ely lived on the farm, he looked after and rebuilt the roads, using four horses on the scraper, with men following to remove stones, and make a ridge across on hills to turn water into the ditches. Stone culverts were made to carry water off into pastures or woodland. They used a two-horse hand shovel or scraper to do this, but sometimes it had to be plowed first to loosen the dirt. Every year he planted a garden, and crops for the cattle. When not working on roads, he did carpentering, and was always more than busy.
When Ely’s brother-in-law Almon Smith died in 1907, Ely took over for him as caretaker of the burial grounds at the Hill Cemetery. He dug the graves and drove the hearse, drawn by two horses. The hearse had glass panels on the sides so that one could see the casket inside. A high seat for the driver in front made it resemble a coach. In winter a light double runner sleigh was used, and a blanket put over the casket. This continued until the coming of gasoline which replaced the horses about 1926.
About 1920, with all the children married, except Blanche Porter [a niece who was living with them] Ely sold the Rowley Farm, had an auction to sell the farm machinery, and moved up into thecenter of town. Most of the cows and animals had already been sold after the youngest son, Robert, had married. Ely worked as a caretaker for the Watson place, which went to Dr. Dean after Mrs. Watson’s death.
After moving into the center, life became much easier and more comfortable for them. Ely became the custodian of the new school in the Dean Memorial building, and Abbie had only three to care for. However, she was always a loving and concerned mother and grandmother to their large family. Sundays usually found several cars parked in front of their house, and the living room filled with relatives from near and far. The children were sure to be given a piece of cake or cookies from the pantry, and if there was a long trip home, supper for all of baked beans and brown bread with pickled beets and cucumber pickles, pies and cakes for dessert.
In the afternoon Abbie would always change her dress, pinning a black velvet ribbon around her throat and start getting supper. While it was cooking, she would sit in her chair by the window looking up the street watching for Ely to come home. Then it was time for supper. After the dishes were done, he would sit beside the living room table, she on the other side, and read the paper to her, and discuss the news. He always tucked her into her side of the bed, a nice feather bed, before getting in himself.
Tragedy struck in November 1927. Ely suffered a strangulated hernia which turned into peritonitis, and he died within a few days. Abbie’s heart was broken, and she never again could be reconciled to her loss. She lived alone in the big old house except for a grandchild or two who spent a week at a time visiting. But always on Sundays the children returned to see her and each other. Her daughter Daisy, with her husband Willis, gave up their home in Westfield, and moved in to care for her in her last years. She suffered the inroads of failing health in mind and body and died November 1933.
From the Westfield Valley Herald, Dec. 2, 1926: “Members of the Ely Wyman family from the Eastern states gathered yesterday in the Blandford Chapel for a Thanksgiving Day dinner and family reunion. With two families present representing four generations, dinner was served to 89 persons under the direction of Mrs. F. B. Hart and Mrs. W. V. Bodurtha. In the afternoon a party was conducted in the reception room with 45 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren attending.
The two families representing four generations included Mrs. Ely Wyman and Mrs. F. B. Hart of Blandford, W. K. Wyman and Mrs. Clarence Atwood and Carl Atwood of Westfield. The family orchestra, with banjo solos by Leonard Robbins of Holyoke, violin solos by Melvin Wyman of Westfield, and piano solos by Mrs. Ralph Porter of Lancaster, N. H. provided a musical entertainment.
Mr. and Mrs. Ely Wyman have been married more than 50 years.”
We don’t know much about Ely when he was young, but we do have this story from Percy: “Father tore off his right thumb when he was a boy turning a grindstone and it got twisted up in there. When the doctor cut it off, he did it right around the joint and so that finger would get sore and start to bleed come cold weather up through spring so that he had to keep it done up in mutton tallow to keep it soft and pliable. But he could milk a cow or take a hold of your ear just as hard as anyone you ever saw.” Percy remembered: “I don’t know much about Father when he was little because Father was a man that said little. But when he said something, he meant it. If he said run, you run. If he said go and get it, you went and got it.”
Ely and Abbie first lived in Russell where their first child, Inez was born. They moved to Blandford and lived at the Waterman place, about an eighth of a mile above the Gate House. A second daughter, Ella was born here. Percy shared: The next day lying in bed with her baby, and Ely off working at the Knox place, a tramp came to the door, and walked in. He asked if she was all alone. “Certainly not!” said Abbie, “Do you think my husband would leave me alone in bed?” “Inez, run out to the barn and fetch your father right away.” And Inez without question went. And the tramp set off down the road.
Around the time of Ella’s birth Ely began working at the Knox Farm. He worked for the Knox family from 1872 until they moved away in the 1880’s and after that he looked after the farm until it was sold in 1899.
By 1877 they moved once more to the so-called Allen place on South Street, where their third child and first son, Charles was born. Percy shared: “However, there were strange disturbances in that house. At night, Abbie would hear a group of people talking and laughing as they apparently came to the door, but upon opening the door, all would be silence with no-one there. After a while she could put up with the hauntings no longer, and another house was looked for. It should be noted that no one else ever lived in that Allen house on South Street. It was allowed to fall in and decay, hiding its secret of an old murder done.”
Esther (Hart) Ripley, granddaughter of Ely and Abbie told this story: “About a mile up the road (from the Hart house on South Street), the old Allen house set back away in a lot. My grandparents, Ely and Abbie Wyman lived there. Their first son, Charlie was born there. My grandparents became aware of strange disturbances in the house. Voices of people talking and laughing could be heard approaching the front door. There was never anyone there when the door was opened. Mama [Ella Wyman would talk about it. My grandparents couldn’t take it, they moved away. I don’t remember anyone living there. Grass and brush grew up around it. I and some of the neighbor children would try to be brave, go part way down to the house, never brave enough to go all the way.”
They next moved to the house built by Ely’s father Horatio which was vacant at the time. Percy tells us, “Father was a wheelwright, and a carpenter, and he looked after the roads, and he was a farmer. He had a shop that was built right opposite from Grandfather (Horatio) Wyman’s shop right below where the old house stood. He built sleighs and wagons and wheels. All of us boys every rainy day that come, we had to go saw out something with a rip saw to get the right shape to fit it in to a wagon. They were never straight pieces. They were always bent here or there. Father also worked in the blacksmith shop a good deal. When Uncle Bill [William Wyman] got backed up on shoeing horses, when they got eight or ten horses, he would help shoe the horses. When we had the old place, he still had the East Lot, but he didn’t have only one horse. He used Uncle Bill’s horse and with the two horses they did the plowing.”
The little house where they lived became crowded with 12 children at home during this time. Ten children who had been sleeping on corn-husk mattresses on the floor of the attic. It had only one little window on each end; the boys slept in the West half, and the girls in the East half.
An addition had been built onto the back of the house for a pantry, dining room and a small bedroom where Cora and Daisy slept.
In 1894, they bought the Rowley place, which was a good-sized farm, on the main road a short distance from the house on Birch Hill. The Rowley house seemed like a palace after being huddled together in the old house. They even had beds from the Knox house and mattresses filled with rye straw. Abbie made the mattresses by putting buttons down a center opening which allowed for changing the straw every fall after thrashing time. She and the girls made dozens of quilts, some patchwork, others of whole cloth. She made most of her children’s clothes, usually without a pattern, except for following the lines of old dresses and coats. She made butter which she took to Westfield to sell along with eggs. Yeast was kept in the cellar for making bread, and vegetables and fruits were canned every summer to feed the large family during the winter months. As the older children were able, they went out to work, and the younger ones took over the chores on the farm.
When Ely lived on the farm, he looked after and rebuilt the roads, using four horses on the scraper, with men following to remove stones, and make a ridge across on hills to turn water into the ditches. Stone culverts were made to carry water off into pastures or woodland. They used a two-horse hand shovel or scraper to do this, but sometimes it had to be plowed first to loosen the dirt. Every year he planted a garden, and crops for the cattle. When not working on roads, he did carpentering, and was always more than busy.
When Ely’s brother-in-law Almon Smith died in 1907, Ely took over for him as caretaker of the burial grounds at the Hill Cemetery. He dug the graves and drove the hearse, drawn by two horses. The hearse had glass panels on the sides so that one could see the casket inside. A high seat for the driver in front made it resemble a coach. In winter a light double runner sleigh was used, and a blanket put over the casket. This continued until the coming of gasoline which replaced the horses about 1926.
About 1920, with all the children married, except Blanche Porter [a niece who was living with them] Ely sold the Rowley Farm, had an auction to sell the farm machinery, and moved up into thecenter of town. Most of the cows and animals had already been sold after the youngest son, Robert, had married. Ely worked as a caretaker for the Watson place, which went to Dr. Dean after Mrs. Watson’s death.
After moving into the center, life became much easier and more comfortable for them. Ely became the custodian of the new school in the Dean Memorial building, and Abbie had only three to care for. However, she was always a loving and concerned mother and grandmother to their large family. Sundays usually found several cars parked in front of their house, and the living room filled with relatives from near and far. The children were sure to be given a piece of cake or cookies from the pantry, and if there was a long trip home, supper for all of baked beans and brown bread with pickled beets and cucumber pickles, pies and cakes for dessert.
In the afternoon Abbie would always change her dress, pinning a black velvet ribbon around her throat and start getting supper. While it was cooking, she would sit in her chair by the window looking up the street watching for Ely to come home. Then it was time for supper. After the dishes were done, he would sit beside the living room table, she on the other side, and read the paper to her, and discuss the news. He always tucked her into her side of the bed, a nice feather bed, before getting in himself.
Tragedy struck in November 1927. Ely suffered a strangulated hernia which turned into peritonitis, and he died within a few days. Abbie’s heart was broken, and she never again could be reconciled to her loss. She lived alone in the big old house except for a grandchild or two who spent a week at a time visiting. But always on Sundays the children returned to see her and each other. Her daughter Daisy, with her husband Willis, gave up their home in Westfield, and moved in to care for her in her last years. She suffered the inroads of failing health in mind and body and died November 1933.
From the Westfield Valley Herald, Dec. 2, 1926: “Members of the Ely Wyman family from the Eastern states gathered yesterday in the Blandford Chapel for a Thanksgiving Day dinner and family reunion. With two families present representing four generations, dinner was served to 89 persons under the direction of Mrs. F. B. Hart and Mrs. W. V. Bodurtha. In the afternoon a party was conducted in the reception room with 45 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren attending.
The two families representing four generations included Mrs. Ely Wyman and Mrs. F. B. Hart of Blandford, W. K. Wyman and Mrs. Clarence Atwood and Carl Atwood of Westfield. The family orchestra, with banjo solos by Leonard Robbins of Holyoke, violin solos by Melvin Wyman of Westfield, and piano solos by Mrs. Ralph Porter of Lancaster, N. H. provided a musical entertainment.
Mr. and Mrs. Ely Wyman have been married more than 50 years.”
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Ernest Crossman Wyman
original photo and restored photo
original photo and restored photo
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Lillie or Lillian May (Wyman) Fowler
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Lena (Wyman) Birmingham
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Lillian Karr, Ethel Candee, David Ripley, Blanche Porter, Edna (Wyman) Hart
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Lillian Wyman, Blanche Porter, Gladys Wyman
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Gladys Wyman and Lillian Wyman
Ernest Wyman and Mineola
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Lee Wyman and Elmer Hart
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Lillian and Edna Wyman, 1905.
From the Westfield Valley Herald, Dec. 2, 1926: “Members of the Ely Wyman family from the Eastern states gathered yesterday in the Blandford Chapel for a Thanksgiving Day dinner and family reunion. With two families present representing four generations, dinner was served to 89 persons under the direction of Mrs. F. B. Hart (3.17) and Mrs. W. V. Bodurtha (3.23). In the afternoon a party was conducted in the reception room with 45 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren attending.
The two families representing four generations included Mrs. Ely Wyman and Mrs. F. B. Hart of Blandford, W. K. Wyman (3.19) and Mrs. Clarence Atwood (4.54) and Carl Atwood (5.96) of Westfield. The family orchestra, with banjo solos by Leonard Robbins (4.75) of Holyoke, violin solos by Melvin Wyman (4.55) of Westfield, and piano solos by Mrs. Ralph Porter of Lancaster, N. H. provided a musical entertainment.
Mr. and Mrs. Ely Wyman have been married more than 50 years.”
The two families representing four generations included Mrs. Ely Wyman and Mrs. F. B. Hart of Blandford, W. K. Wyman (3.19) and Mrs. Clarence Atwood (4.54) and Carl Atwood (5.96) of Westfield. The family orchestra, with banjo solos by Leonard Robbins (4.75) of Holyoke, violin solos by Melvin Wyman (4.55) of Westfield, and piano solos by Mrs. Ralph Porter of Lancaster, N. H. provided a musical entertainment.
Mr. and Mrs. Ely Wyman have been married more than 50 years.”
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Ernest and Ruby (Smith) Wyman
Grand March, 50th Wedding Anniversary of Ernest and Ruby Wyman
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Siblings, children of William and Emma (Reed) Wyman. Ernest, Frank Lilly and Harry Wyman
Mae Wyman
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Elwin Wyman
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Lee Wyman
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Glenn Hart, Duane Wyman, Hilton Hart. Skating at Hayden's Pond