Thursday, May 11, 2017

Seavers in the News -- Fred Seaver Thrown in the Lake in 1925

It's time for another episode of Seavers in the News, wherein I find interesting, fun, gruesome or embarrassing newspaper articles for persons named Seaver.

This week's article is from the Fitchburg [Mass.] Sentinel newspaper, dated 23 September 1925, page 7:


The transcription of this article is:

"Lyman Eden of Whalom, charged with assault on Fred Seaver, son of Fred Seaver, 282 Central street, was fined $5.  Seaver was represented by Atty. J. Ward Healey who asserted that Eden who was formerly in charge of a boathouse in Whalom, threw the lad into the water when he refused to keep away from the landing.  He asserted that it was an unprovoked and deliberate assault and asked that he be punished.  Eden testified that the boys had been troubling him and he had warned them to keep away.  When the Seaver boy and three companions came down to the wharf and started fishing he reprimanded them and in attempting to catch hold of the Seaver boy threw him into the water.  Judge Robbins said that he felt the charge was merely a technicality, and felt that Eden was provoked into doing it.  Inasmuch as he had pleaded guilty and admitted throwing the boy into the water he fined him.

"The Seaver boy merely received a thorough wetting which it is alleged did not hurt him as the accident occurred July 14.  The water into which he was thrown was not very deep."

The source citation for this article is:

"Fined $100 for Tipsy Driving," The Fitchburg [Mass.] Sentinel, 23 September 1925, page 7, column 2, Fred Seaver article; indexed database and digital images,  Ancestry.com   (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 May  2017).

The paragraphs about Fred Seaver are in an article headlined "Fined $100 for Tipsy Driving." The Seaver paragraphs are not part of that article, but there is no headline for the Seaver article, just a new paragraph below the headlined article.

I didn't even have to look in my database for this Fred Seaver, son of Fred Seaver of Leominster, Mass.  He was my father, born 15 October 1911, so when this event happened he was age 13, almost 14.  The event occurred on 14 July 1925.  The Fred Seaver family spent many summer weekends and whole weeks at Whalom Lake near Fitchburg, where they owned a cabin.  Whalom Lake had a wharf, a boathouse, cabins, restaurants and entertainment in this time period, according to my aunts (Fred's sisters).  

I can so see my 13 year old father, tall and rangy, giving the boathouse guy a hard time trying to impress his three buddies.  

It's unfortunate that my father is no longer living - I would love to be able to give him this article and ask for his memories.  I'll be sure to put this in my book about my father's life and ancestry!

That was genealogy fun to find this article about my father.  The Fitchburg papers are full of articles about my father's family, mainly because his mother and sisters were musicians and performed or played in the Leominster area.


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