Smith Middlefield History
New Searchable Edition
Index to Genealogies

Records & Collections
Original Vital Records
Museum Inventory
Document Hoard
The Ledger Story
Pine Grove Cemetery
The Lillian Savery Collection
Lillian Savery 1919 Diary
Philip Mack Smith Photos
CCC - Reservoir
Tim Pease Photos
Quilt Show
Boy’s Club
Bancroft
A Bancroft Wedding
Magic Lantern Slide Collection
Helena Drozd Photos
Maps
Early Annual Town Reports
The Coats Family
 Papers
Audio Records

Research Resources
Vitals to 1850
Vitals to 1850 - Searchable
Mack Descendants

Town Web Site Links
History
Historical Commission
Modern Town Reports

Contact
howardk758 “at” aol.com

 

 

 

Middlefield, Massachusetts
- A Collection of Local History -

 
The Middlefield Museum is located on the 2nd Floor of our Old Town Hall
This image is from a post card that was post marked 1902
Card by Eastern Illustrating Co., Belfast, ME

(Knickerbocker Collection)

 

6 May 2017 - Annual Town Meeting Warrant

ARTICLE 30. To see if the Town will rename the Town Museum to the Jack Cobb Town Museum; or take any other action relative thereto.
The vote was unanimously in favor. 

This Year is Different (Country Journal – Letter to the Editor - April 2017)

Each spring we grudgingly put together our written contributions to the Annual Town Report in preparation for the Town Meeting in May. The truth be known the present year’s tome usually closely – and sometimes exactly - resembles that of the preceding year. This year is different.

These Annual Town Reports have chronicled over the last 150 years the comings and goings of those hundreds and hundreds of citizens who have graciously contributed their time and energy to the betterment of Middlefield.

This year has been particularly painful for the Historical Commission as we have lost two of our guiding members.

Jack Donald Cobb joined the Commission in 1992 and was serving as chair by 1996. For the last 20 years he guided every facet of the museum and was instrumental in adding material to our collections. Jack’s partner Roy Haapala, who passed in March 2013, was our long-time secretary and was probably shanghaied into the position by Mr. Cobb. Jack was an antique dealer and retired interior designer. Both vocations adding greatly to the professional appearance and depth of exhibits at the museum. Most visitors are amazed that the tiny town of Middlefield has such an outstanding museum of local history. Jack died in late September of 2016. Hopefully the town will see fit to rename the museum in Jack’s memory.

Marjorie Batorski became Middlefield Town Clerk in 1990 and held the position until retiring in 2016. Marge joined the Historical Commission in 2002 and served continuously until her passing on March 23, 2017. Marge applied her record management skills gained from her town clerk position into organizing the records and inventories of the Commission. I will miss manning the history shed at the fair with Marge as it gave us an entire day to catch up with the town’s ever unfolding history set against the background of that special once a year ancient gathering of the town.

I believe that both of my friends with their encyclopedic historical knowledge were truly a walking, talking museum unto themselves. Their passing opens a huge hole in our collective town memory and we are all poorer for it. - Howard Knickerbocker

________________


I will include any element of local Middlefield history. One reason for starting this web site is to digitize the unique photographs and written material at the museum. I want to both electronically preserve these historical items in case of a disaster and to also make them available to those folks that cannot visit Middlefield. I will also include items from my own collection as well as those made available by other interested parties. Let me know what you would like to see here or what you could let me borrow for copying. I can include pictures, document scans, genealogies, family Bible listings, cemetery information, census enumerations, historical references and whatever else strikes a fancy.

Disclaimer: This site is neither sponsored nor approved by the Town of Middlefield.

 

 

A 1786 brick recovered from The William Church House cellar hole on Harry Pease Rd.
The partial brick was found when we were trenching in a power line when building
our new house. The cellar hole is now under my driveway. The hole was filled in during
the 1950s when the land was reclaimed to pasture from woodlands. The house burned in 1888.
My thanks to John Savery for his keen eye sight in spotting this early relic.
(42 20.803 N -73 1.417 W)

(Knickerbocker Collection)