Clark W. Nicholls Family Tree
information – some special photographs.
This coming from the Pierce branch (which goes back to Mayflower days in the USA).
This page last edited Saturday, February 27, 2021
-------
Much more Pittsfield history at my webpage: www.phs1968.com
Family Tree information (further
information may be found at cwnicholls.com
)
My Family Tree main page - Here
Read the Pierce tree for more details, obituaries, etc. - Here
-------
50 Years on Union Street.
The
William Pierce (my GGGrandfather) home on North
Street on the south corner of Union Street, Pittsfield MA. Year unknown (late
1800s). William came from West Boylston at age 28 with 1-year old son William
Alton Pierce in 1850. He had a business building Melodeons, a keyboard organ
type of instrument cheaper than a piano. The melodeon at Arrowhead is
attributed to his business.
The land was sold to build the Brackin Block (then
renamed the North-Union block) ~1890, a 4 story business block with offices and
rooming quarters in upper floors in addition to the Spa theatre in the center
of the 2nd floor in the building's second iteration (more history later on this
page).
1865
Massachusetts Census.
Fanny
Henderson is Elizabeth's mother, Jane Pierce Newton is William's sister.
Henry G.
Pierce at some point was recorded as Harry G. in later years…
1880
United States Census of North Street showing the Murrays next door.
George
Arthur Pierce, the Physician, Married Marilla Gates
and was the doctor (probably practiced with his uncle Dr. Almon
N. Allen across Union St.) in Lebanon Springs, NY from 1880 to his death of
Pneumonia in 1890. Marilla predeceased him and their
2 daughters returned to live with their grandfather William in Pittsfield.
1876
Artist's depiction of the neighborhood:
1876
Map (below) of the Neighborhood. Note W. Pierce house on corner of Union and
North, Dr. Almon N. Allen across Union Street. Both
were demolished around 1890 for development by Dr. Brackin,
a prominent Pittsfield Veterinarian.
Also note W. Pierce building on the East side of North Street, south of
Melville St. That is his business block, located where the addition to the YMCA
is now. Also note some of the neighbors on Union St. M(oses?).
England amongst them. Railroad St then is Columbus Ave now. Note the residences
on Cottage Row (now Eagle St) where the Eagle building is now.
1889
Sanborn Map (below) showing Pierce property on the corner of North and Union
Streets.
The first
Burns Block is present on the corner of Summer St.:
1895
Sanborn Map (below) showing the Brakin (North-Union)
blocks on the corners.
The Pierce
family moved to #37 Union St from their former home on the corner.
The Burns
New Block had been built adjoining the original Burns Block on the corner of
Summer. These 2 Blocks now make up the Hotel on North.
2
spectacular and devastating fires consumed the one on the South corner (labeled
as Colt Blk, which later was known as the North-Union
Block). Wollisons lived in the Octagon house on the west corner of Union and Northrup (quite a story about them!).
Between
1889 and 1895, 2 houses were built on Union Street between the Pierce house and
#51 as shown in the above maps. I believe by my GGGrandfather
in preparation for selling the homestead on North St for development in 1890.
The Pierce family then moved to #37.
1902
Map (above) of the neighborhood. William Pierce died in 1901 and his properties
(2 houses, one where the Elks was built, the other is now the Elks parking lot)
on Union St are labeled as W. Pierce Est(ate). The
block we have discussed is labeled as Ryan's Block and Brackin's
other block is across Union St. The Mills property shown to the north and
across North St. Pierce's Block also shown on the East side of North St a few
buildings south of Melville St.
---
This
house in the post card below was located west of the Elks Lodge (#27-#29). The
house I believe was #37 and removed/torn down around 1955 based on Pittsfield
city directories (owned by Michael Harrington of Harrington Plumbing carried on
by his sons and grandsons). #35 was occupied by Frank P. LeClair and #37 by
Michael J. Harrington (founder of Harrington Plumbing, later Yankee Plumbing)
in 1951. I think that #35 and #37 were the same house as a 2 family house.
Based on house numbers today (2014) there was a 51, 51a, 53, 61, 63 after 37 in
1953. The Pittsfield Visiting Nurse Assoc. was located at 37 Union around 1920s
with Mrs. Phoebe W. Frost in #35. #37 was Mindlins
Home Dining Room in 1930 (rooming/boarding house) with LeClair at #35.
Dad
would park in the Elks lot when we went to see a movie at the Union Square
Theatre, saying that he could because it was family property. I should have
asked for more information!
William
Pierce owned from North Street to past #37 Union Street. He sold the family
home and land on North Street for the 4-story (now 2-story due to a fire in the
1930s) brick building on the corner, more recently referred to as the
North-Union Block. That was the second building on the corner as the first, the
4-story Brackin Block, burned in 1891 shortly after
being built. The second 4-story iteration in 1932 also suffered a huge fire. It
was repaired as the 2-story building that is there today. See further below.
-------
Below
is the William Alton Pierce (my GGrandfather) home at
232 First Street, Pittsfield MA early 1900s. There was a barn in the back that
held much of the William Pierce (d.1901) household. The barn burned losing much
family history. W.A. Pierce lived at 3 Beaver Street (the section of East
Street today that is beyond the Elm/Fourth Street intersection) in the late
1880s. At the corner of Brown's (Fourth) Street where St. Luke's Square is
today. A Brown family owned the land from East to Fenn at that time.
This house
exists - 2021
In the 1800s, First Street north of the RR was named North First Street. Same
thing for Second Street.
-------
Pierce Coal and Wood
My
Grandfather Samuel Newton Nicholls around 1920. Sam married my grandmother
Clara Winthrop Pierce in 1918. Clara and her father William Alton Pierce bought
what became W A Pierce Coal and Wood from the estate of Charles D. Beebe (son
of Hosea Beebe of New Concord, NY) in 1906. Charles had committed suicide that
year and had been moving his coal yard from the West Pittsfield RR depot on
Cloverdale Street to downtown Pittsfield. 249 New West Street. We don't know if
the business transaction was in process at that time. WA Pierce was a pall
bearer for CD Beebe. WA Pierce died in 1925 but Sam and Clara had been running
the business for a few years by then. Sam was the estate manager at Tor Court,
the Salisbury Estate on West Street (starting in 1908 with the construction
phase) where he probably met Clara. Prior to that he worked at the Blythewood
Estate, also on the shore of Onota Lake, with his friend John Buckler who was
the head guy there and brought Sam to work there. Both were from Canada and
possibly met at the University of Iowa in Ames. Sam and Clara lived in the
farmhouse at Tor Court for a few years before Sam went to work in the coal
business and moving to 77 Elm Street.
Brightview Farm, the Nicholls farm (below),
Caistor Centre, Lincoln County, Ontario, Canada.
That
is Sam holding the horse.
Sam, third
from the left, and crew at Blythewood Farm.
The Farm at
Tor Court, The Salisbury Estate, now Hillcrest Hospital.
Sam
Nicholls was the estate superintendant from Tor Court's inception and lived
here in that capacity until ~1920.
Address
copper plaque used on crates for shipping (by railroad) produce, flowers, etc.
from the farm and greenhouses at Tor Court to Chicago and returning to
Pittsfield.
Clara
Winthrop Pierce and her father William Alton Pierce started Wm. A. Pierce Coal
and Wood in 1906.
William
probably took this photo of Clara about then.
The
truck/wagon scales were in the shed to Clara's left under the sloped roof.
This was a
post card. You could have post cards made of your photos back then.
Clara
graduated from Pittsfield High School on Second St in 1901.
In her
class were her cousin Eva Oatman and Charles White Whittlesey.
Samuel
Newton Nicholls in 1920s What's the car? Franklin?
My mother
told us that when she was pregnant with me she asked dad what he would like to
have, a boy or a girl.
He replied
"a collie dog". I'm sure dad loved this one, pictured with his
father.
Sam and the
fleet, late 1930s?
Pierce Coal horsepower. My dad,
George Alton Nicholls (b.1922), in the left photo. George is a Nicholls name
passed thru the generations, Alton is his grandfather's middle name (William
Alton Pierce) and his mother's brother's first name (Alton Reynolds Pierce, who
was 20 when he tragically died). There are Reynolds in the family tree also,
from the Petersburgh NY area. I visited Bill Reynolds there some time ago. RIP.
Dad referred to Gordon Reynolds (Reynolds, Barnes and Hebb
insurance company) in Pittsfield as his cousin. Sadly I didn't look into that
till they had both passed away.
Pittsfield Grain (Wirthmore brand Feeds) in the back of Pierce Coal and Oil,
sharing the New Haven RR siding, which continued onto a trestle over the coal
bins.
Advertisement
in the Berkshire Eagle newspaper
June
5, 1956 Berkshire Eagle article.:
Letter
to the Editor on June 13, 1956: "Because of the numerous inquiries at our
office, we would like to describe in detail the picture of the team of horses
and the steel wagon that appeared on June 5 in the Eagle. It was taken at the
Dan Hanna estate barns in Stockbridge. The team, Chestnut Clydesdales, had just
won first prize in a horse show there. The barns were used as dormitories in
recent years for the Stockbridge School and burned down about two years ago.
The Driver of the team, Peter Frye, was well known to us at the office and was
not "unidentified" as stated under the picture. He drove and cared
for the teams at the Pierce Coal Company from 1906 until trucks replaced the
horses. Pete formerly served as coachman for wealthy families in the Lenox
area. Pete Frye, of course, is well remembered by all of us. G. Alton
Nicholls" :
The End of
an era May 18, 1973 Berkshire Eagle article.
RR
map of area of Wm. A. Pierce Coal (upper left before the RR underpass on New
West Street), it looks like we had our own trolley stop!
Melville
Ice was across the street with their huge warehouse full of ice. Frumkin and Rivlin was the
Berkshire Stove and Furniture Store at 288 North St. Complete House Furnishers.
A bit north of the Pierce Block, where the YMCA addition is now.
-------
Sam and Clara Nicholls's house at 77 Elm Street. Today it is a childrens dentist office. I have some information of the previous owner, Eugene Smith who was in the Grocery business on West St., that I will add in the future.
Dad and his
parents, late 1920s. Dad was born Dec 23, 1922.
My father
and his sled in the back yard of Elm Street. Possibly Christmas Day late 1920s.
One of my
favorite photos. I still have the sled.
-------
This
is the Pierce Block (below, with the Piano sign) on North Street just South of
where the YMCA main building is now (not in this photo that predates the YMCA)
on the SE corner of Melville. It is where the YMCA addition is now. William
Pierce built Melodeons in Pittsfield and also sold pianos and music and ?. He
died in his office there in 1901. Wood Brothers put him out of the melodeon
business selling products manufactured elsewhere. Allen Dewey, memorialized on
the Civil War monument at Park Square, worked building melodeons. He died in
hospital in New Orleans.
This
is the Pierce Block (below) with the Uneeda Biscuit
billboard on the roof, City Garage signage on the side. William Pierce died in
his office there in 1901. The YMCA, built in 1909, is now in the photo as are
the Mills Buildings further North. The Capitol Theater was built behind the
northern-most of the Mills Buildings with the entrance to the auditorium taking
you through the first floor to the back. The southern Mills Building was
removed in the 1930s by fire. The 4th floor of the remaining Mills Building was
removed due to that fire also.
Pierce
Block in 1914 postcard. Building with Lee Poy
Laundry. See the mailbox and trolley car. YMCA to the left. Tompkins Building
between YMCA and Pierce Block.
Map showing
the Pierce Block on North St. and vicinity. Probably late 1800s.
Anyone with
other photos of the Pierce Block or Union Street or any of these locations,
please contact me!
Postcard
showing the 2-story North-Union block having been refurbished after the fire
without the top 2 floors. Red brick bldg on the right.
These cards
are hand colored and color may not be accurate.
Note that in both cards here that both Mills buildings exist and easily seen in
the first one, there were 4 stories on both.
The remaining Mills building, which was in front of the Capitol Theatre
auditorium, is now the Senior Center.
Postcard
showing the Brackin/North-Union block before the
fire. Tan brick building on the lower right.
The Pierce home was located where this building is.
These cards are hand colored and color may not be accurate.
July
16, 1891. First building on the corner, Brackin's
Block, was destroyed by fire. Here is part of the clipping about the fire
mentioning the Pierce property to the rear of the fire.
The
new Burns Block mentioned is what now is the Hotel on North's northern building
(greenish tint in the postcard above). The building to its south is the
"old" Burns Block (tan with awning), built first. Located in which we
may remember Besse-Clarke.
Dr.
Brackin, who lived across Union Street in what had
been Dr. Almon N. Allen's house and medical practice.
Almon's wife Mary Knowlton was my grandmother's aunt,
the sister of her mother Ellen Adelaide Knowlton (m. William Alton Pierce). The
Allens and Knowltons were
from Petersburgh NY (both families participants in the Revolution). Ellen was a
school teacher in the Union Street School at the corner of Francis Avenue.
I'll
add info about the 193x fire later.
The
2 Mills Buildings. The Mills family lived across the street, a bit north of
Union Street.
The
first Mills Building was the one to the South of the Auto Garage entrance,
which I assume lead directly to the Elevator (and later thru to the Capitol
Theatre auditorium). It burned and was removed in the 1930s. The 4th Floor of
the Northern building also was burned and removed at that time.
This
was the early location of the Johnson-O'Connell car business, which I believe
started on Union Street towards Francis Ave.
From
the 1908 Pittsfield Directory.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
For
Newspaper searches I have used:
Other
interesting sources:
http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index
-----
-----