Around Town

Civil War Nurses of Mount Auburn Cemetery: Mary Phinney von Olnhausen

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Mary Phinney von Olnhausen

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of National Nurses Week, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War nurses who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part four of seven. If you heard this name recently, it stemmed from PBS’s series, Mercy Street. I located and read her diary in 2012, long before PBS’s 2016 series. I gave several lectures that noted her diary.

Around Town

Watertown Seeking New Library Director After Current One Announced Her Resignation

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City of WatertownCaitlin Browne announced she will be resigning as Watertown Library Director. After just over a year working as permanent Director of the Watertown Free Public Library, Caitlin Browne announced her resignation at the Board of Trustees meeting on May 2. Browne was appointed the new Library Director in April 2022, succeeding longtime director Leone Cole. Prior to that, she worked as assistant director at the Library for many years, and served as interim director after Cole retired. At the May 2 Trustees meeting, Browne publicly announced her resignation, which she had already sent to the board.

Around Town

Community Foundation Hosting Food Drives to Help Watertown’s Food Pantries

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The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Community Foundation:

Our Watertown food pantries need your donations! On May 13 and May 20 Watertown’s food pantries are collecting nonperishable food items such as pasta, beans, tea/coffee, and canned goods to replenish stocks for those in need. The Watertown Community Fridge welcomes donations daily at the Belmont Watertown United Methodist Church, 80 Mt. Auburn St. Check out WATERTOWN HELPS OUT volunteer opportunities in May.

Around Town

Civil War Nurses of Mount Auburn Cemetery: Mary Sullivan Felton

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The grave of Mary Sullivan Felton at Mount Auburn Cemetery. By Bill McEvoy

In honor of National Nurses Week, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War nurses who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part three of seven. Mary Sullivan Felton was born on April 30th, 1839, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She died April 29th, 1896, in Boston, from pneumonia and pericarditis. Her father, Cornelius Conway Felton, died in 1862 at age 57.

Around Town

Civil War Nurses of Mount Auburn Cemetery: Emily Elizabeth Parsons

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Emily Elizabeth Parsons

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of National Nurses Week, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War nurses who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part two of seven. Emily was the daughter of Professor Theophilus Parsons of the Harvard Law School. She was described as indomitable, heroic, and warm-hearted. 

At the beginning of the Civil War, she trained to be a Nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her intent was to go to the War and care for sick and wounded Union Soldiers.

Around Town

Civil War Nurses of Mount Auburn Cemetery: Dorothea Lynde Dix

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Dorothea Lynde Dix

By Bill McEvoy

In honor of National Nurses Week, local historian Bill McEvoy has compiled histories of some of the Civil War nurses who are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. This is part one of seven. Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802, in Hampton Maine. She died on July 17th, 1887, at the State Asylum in Trenton NJ. 

Dorothea had founded that asylum. In 1848 she opened the first state hospital for the mentally ill there.

Around Town

Our History: Watertown Was Home to Two Dairies

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Woodland Dairy wagon (photo courtesy of the Watertown Free Public Library)

The following story was written by Sigrid Reddy Watson Terman for the April 2010 Historical Society newsletter, “The Town Crier.” Sigrid is a former Board member and former President of the Historical Society, as well at a former Director of the Watertown Free Public Library. For several years starting in 1997, she wrote a Watertown history column for the Watertown TAB/Press called “Echoes.”

WATERTOWN’S DAIRIES SUPPLIED SURROUNDING TOWNS

I’m sure many of you Watertown history fans remember the “Echoes” column that Sigrid Reddy Watson wrote for several years for the Watertown TAB/Press beginning in 1997. Ms. Watson was the Director of the Watertown Free Public Library from 1971-1989 and President of the Historical Society of Watertown from 2001-2003. Ms. Watson’s weekly column was about Watertown history. She covered subjects includingWatertown during the Revolution, the Arsenal, women’s suffrage, the Fowles, renowned localpeople and buildings and houses, our many ethnic groups, the industries that made Watertown aplace to settle in during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and many other subjects.