At Old Home Days Saturday in Wendell, among the items for sale will be a history of Wendell titled “Wendell Massachusetts: Its Settlers and Citizenry 1752-1900.” The book is written by Wendell summer resident Pamela Richardson and co-author Thomas E. Sawin, who lived from 1810-1873.
Richardson moved to Wendell in 1997 and in the early 2000s was assisting Dave Cullen of Greenfield, who had received a Cultural Council grant comparing old and new map locations in Franklin County.
“I was working with him on the Wendell part of the project, reporting back to him on what was there at this time. When that project was all over, Cullen was going through old files and noticed a reference to notes taken regarding a Wendell resident (Thomas E. Sawin) in the 1800s that were housed at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. He notified Richardson about his discovery, who, intrigued by the reference, visited the society.
Sawin, Richardson discovered, had moved to Wendell at age 5 when his father, a carriage maker, relocated there. Thomas, as an adult, became interested in the printing business as well as his family history and soon produced a family genealogy. “He also became passionately interested in the history of Wendell. He took a bunch of notebooks, walked around town and made absolutely correct drawings of every structure, every creek, every pond in Wendell,” said Richardson. All the houses were identified (on his map) by a square with a number on it, which correlated to notes with information on who built the house, who was living in it in the 1840s,” she continued, adding, “Along with the maps there were tons and tons of notes on animals, the flora and the fauna, fruit trees.” Sawin talked to people who lived in Wendell before it was a town, reproducing conversations with people who came to Wendell before it was incorporated in 1781. “He had conversations with everyone alive then about the history of Wendell,” Richardson said. “All these notes were so interesting. He also made a list of every man living in Wendell in the 1840s and next to their name he marked whether they were married, their wife’s name, whether they had children, their religion, their occupation, their political leanings and his own assessment of their character, among his assessment including noting people as a drunkard, a fighter, a womanizer or if they didn’t pay their bills,” Richardson continued.
“I found all these notes. There was so much valuable information. So I took everything that was written down and combined it with research, probate records, old newspaper articles, census information, and church records, to create the Wendell History. Sawin died in 1873 at the age of 63. “He died at the same age I wrote the book. He is buried in Wendell’s South Cemetery. I spoke to descendents of his family No one had a picture of him,” she said.
“He was dedicated to the history of the community. He spent many years recording people’s stories and a physical inventory of the town. He left no stone unturned, Richardson said.
When Sawin requested to donate his research to the antiquarian society, Richardson explained, he wrote a letter in which he asked if they would accept his papers, as “the people of Wendell are too poor, too few, and too illiterate ever to pay for publication.”
Wendell Old Home Days will begin at 10 a.m., when Richardson will lead a cemetery tour at the Center Cemetery followed by a parade at 11 a.m. Richardson will be selling copies of “Wendell Massachusetts: Its Settlers and Citizenry 1752-1900” at Old Home Days. A copy of the book can also be purchased by emailing Richardson at stoneoak2003@yahoo.com.
Dave Cullen’s website is oldmaps.com
A special thank you to the Athol Public Library for use of their computers when this columnist’s computer decided to stop working.
Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on history with a particular interest in the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.