"trumble [trundle] bed:' At least briefly "Aunt Ruth" found contentment. "Friday — a violent NE storm began last night and continued all this day....spent this day very agreeably having no family but husband and little daughter — a small, agreeable family is certainly one of my hobbies. In evening and part of the day Mr. B. read to me — the letters of Sir Wm. Jones, & c & c. I sewed much:'"3 She soon opened her house to young boarders from outlying districts, allowing them to attend the special shortterm spelling, writing, and singing schools for which the community had appropriated funds. By the following spring, Mrs. Bascom noted: "Our family is now 13:'m She took an active part in these programs herself. "...I wrote musick for the girls while they sewed for me ..."15 It is also likely that through a combination of her artistry and sewing skills she contributed to the colorful costumes worn at one school's finale. "Almost all the girls dressed or finished putting on their top knots here ... Ladies uniform, for Contra [alto], white cambrick, purple silk shawls, a muslin band round the head, fastened in a bow behind the right ear, and a bow of purple ribbon over the left eye. The Treble the same except white muslin mantles thrown over the right shoulder and confined in a bow behind the left arm and white bows on the hands...'a mighty convenient and comfortable "" dress for a severe cold day truly!" In 1809 the Bascoms took in thirteenyear-old Clough R. Miles to board and school for much of that year, and often thereafter. He stayed with them later while he taught school sessions to support his studies at Harvard from which he graduated in 1817. When the death of Rev. Bascom's sister, Eunice (Bascom)Loveland, left her children as orphans,'' he and Ruth adopted the youngest child, five-year-old Lysander Bascom Loveland, and raised him together with Priscilla Elvira. It was not unusual that whole families of young children came to "tarry" while their
mothers recovered from a confinement, or that a recently widowed parent placed his or her offspring with the Bascoms during a period of readjustment. After the death of another of Rev. Bascom's sisters, her youngest child, Clymene Sophronia Allen, was taken "home on a visit" and stayed ten months, almost until her father's remarriage.'Clymene must have enjoyed the experience for afterwards she made long visits to her Aunt and Uncle Bascom. Following the death of Ruth's sister,' her infant, Phebe Henshaw Denny, came more and more under the Bascom's care until, she too became part of the lively household. "... band of music at our house ...entertained us until about sunset with their excellent music, and we them with toddy, cake and thanks...a multitude of little boys
and girls came to hear the music!'" In 1812, Ruth Bascom again taught school and wrote on May 16, 1814 that she began to "superintend" Phillipston's central school which she described as having "40 scholars:' Practical by nature, Mrs. Bascom responded to the demand for weaving cards'' in the nearby Massachusetts textile mills by setting up a cottage industry. Her own children, boarders and neighborhood children participated, enabling them all to subsidize their families' incomes. Similarly, Ruth sought instruction on the braiding of palm leaf hats,'" which she in turn generously shared with family and friends. It is worth noting that Ruth's interest in hats dates to her teen years. In fact, between her marriages, hatmaking became a source of income. Even after her second marriage, millinery continued as a hobby, source of pin
Eliza Ann Hubbard;1830: Pastel and pencil on paper, cut out in three pieces; 15 318 x II 318" (sight); Private collection. Eliza Ann Hubbard was born in Ashby, Massachusetts, on January 4, 1826, the third of Jonathan and Abigail (Taylor) Hubbard's six children. Although several generations ofboth of these Hubbard and Taylor families had gained prominence and affluence in Concord, Massachusetts. the lure of less expensive land in Ashby led themfurther inland. Eliza Ann wasfour years old when Ruth Bascom painted her portrait, as well as those of her two older brothers, George B. and Jonathan A., and younger sister. Ellen Jane, between April and July 1830. On November 29, 1849, when Eliza Ann was 24 years old, she married Joseph Willard Leland (1827-1901). A descendant of six generations of farmers. Joseph, a product of the age of industrialization, became a "tool turner" or "mechanic." Both youths had lost their mothers at an early age, Eliza Ann when she was ten and Joseph Willard when he was two. They moved to Maine for several years, but by 1855 returned to Massachusetts where they lived respectively in Templeton. Ashburnham and Winchendon, all towns adjacent to Ashby. Between 1852 and 1860 they became the parents of three sons and two daughters. Joseph Willard's health was never fully restored after illnesses sustained while serving in the Civil War. He died in a soldier's home in 1901. One month later, on December 24, 1901, Eliza Ann died ofapoplexy at the age of76.
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