Around Town

Film About Women Who Keep Haitian Markets Running to be Shown at Watertown Library

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A film about the women who worked to keep markets in Haiti stocked and operating will be show followed by a Q&A at the Watertown Free Public Library on Saturday, May 27, at 4:30 p.m.

The documentary, Madan Sara, was created by Haitian journalist Etant Dupain to highlight the lives and struggles the Madan Saras face in Haiti. The film’s director and one of the co-producers will be on hand to speak with attendees of the screening. The event announcement said:

The women known as Madan Sara in Haiti work tirelessly to buy, distribute, and sell food and other essentials in markets through the country. The documentary tells the stories of these indefatigable women who work at the margins to make Haiti’s economy run. Join co-executive producer Lulaine Childs and director Etant Dupain following the film!

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Samuel Higginson

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Samuel Storow Higginson

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part six of 15. Samuel Storrow Higginson was born March 22, 1841, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He died on April 10, 1907, of myocardial degeneration, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

He graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1863, and a Master of Arts in 1866. Higginson studied under Henry David Thoreau.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: James Kimball

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By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part five of 15. James Sherman Kimball was born, on January 26, 1844, in Boston. He died on December 16, 1864, in Nashville, Tennessee, from a fever. He was the son of James W. and Mary Tappan Kimball.

Police/Fire

Watertown Father & Son Get Prison Sentence Prison for Lottery and Tax Fraud Scheme

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The following announcement was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts:

A father and son were sentenced today in federal court in Boston for orchestrating an elaborate “ten-percenting” scheme involving dozens of convenience stores across Massachusetts. The defendants unlawfully claimed more than 14,000 winning lottery tickets, laundered over $20 million in proceeds, and then lied on their tax returns. The result was more than $6 million in federal tax loss. As a direct result of this case, the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission is in the process of revoking or suspending the licenses of more than 40 of its lottery agents. Ali Jaafar, 63, and Yousef Jaafar, 29, both of Watertown, were sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to five years and 50 months in prison, respectively, in addition to orders of restitution in the amount of $6,082,578 and forfeiture of their profits from the scheme.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Jotham Horton

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By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part four of 15. Reverend Jotham Warren Horton was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in April 28, 1826. He was a descendant of General Joseph Warren who fell during the Battle of Bunker Hill. Reverend Horton died August 5th, 1865, in New Orleans, Louisiana, killed, by a mob, praying, on his knees. He was attempting to quell a Pro-Slavery riot.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Rev. William Channing

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William Henry Channing

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part three of 15. Reverend William Henry Channing was born May 25, 1810, in Boston. He died December 24, 1884, in London, England. Dorothea Dix lived with the William Ellery Channing family for six months, traveling with them and tutoring the Channing children. Reverend Channing graduated from Harvard College in 1829, and at the  Cambridge divinity school in 1833. 

After preaching in several places for brief periods, and spending a year in Europe, he was a minister-at-large in New York during the year 1837.

Around Town

Residents Can Sign Up for Curbside Composting Pickup

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Watertown residents can now sign up to be part of the curbside composting program, run by Black Earth Compost. The company provided the following information:

Black Earth Compost (BEC) is excited to announce a new partnership with the City of Watertown! Watertown’s program provides free weekly curbside collection of food scraps and other organic materials. Please view the complete compostable guide for more details on everything that can be collected in your compost bin. As part of the program, you will receive a starter kit and online account to manage your service.

Around Town

Civil War Clergy at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Adeline Tyler

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Adeline Blanchard Tyler

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of Memorial Day, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War clergy who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part two of 15. I am grateful to Reverend Daphne Noyes, retired Deacon of Boston’s Church of the Advent for her assistance in adding an additional background to Sister Tyler’s life. 

The biography of William Rollinson Whittingham, Bishop of Maryland set apart, Adeline Tyler, as the first Deaconess in the Episcopal Church. 

Per Deacon Noyes, most sources agree that these women were not ordained (laying on of hands, invocation of the Trinity) but were “set apart” — living under a rule, often but not always in community, under the direction of a Bishop. In Adeline’s case, that was Bishop Whittingham. I also drew heavily from the: Project Gutenberg’s 2007 eBook release of 1867, text, Woman’s Work in the Civil War, by Linus Pierpont Brockett and Mary C. Vaughan

Adaline Blanchard Tyler was born on December 8, 1805, in Billerica, Massachusetts.