Quincy History Quincy Historical Society, Quincy Massachusetts Spring, 1981

Squantum, 1910: Turning Point In Aviation By Gordon F. Nelson

For seven years after the Wright brothers ' first flight , aviation remained a minor novelty in this country . But then , in September, 1910, the nation 's second air meet was held at Squantum. It proved to be a turning point in the history of aviation in this country.

Not until after Wilbur Wright's success in Europe in 1908 did aviation assume much importance in this country . But early in 1910 Glenn Curtiss and the fliers in his company put on the country's first air meet, held in Los Angeles. It drew huge crowds.

A few months earlier, the Harvard Aeronautical Society was organized, in November , 1909, as an educational and scientific group dedicated to aeronautics .

And then, Sept. 3-10, 1910, the society, which had prepared an aviation field at Squantum, sponsored its meet.

People from all walks of life attended. They came by train, automo­bile, carriage , streetcar and bicycle to pay the entrance fee and sit in the stands that could accommodate 20,000 people. Wide-eyed and spellbound they viewed the great spectacle. Those who did not pay to enter the grounds

jammed the narrow dirt Squantum road or climbed the hills of the peninsula , for even a distant view of the activitie~.

President Taft was one of the many dignitaries at the meet who expressed appreciation of the great show. His daughter, Helen, and son, Charles ­who later became mayor of Cincinnati ­were also present. With them was Dr. Grayson , who became an admiral , and later was personal physician to President Woodrow Wilson .

Lost in the crowd was 22-year-old Franklin D. Roosevelt , a representa-

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. taken at the meet by the late Dr. H. M . Stetson of Weymouth . The original print of the photograph was presented to Gordon F. Nelson by the late Harold Wardwell of Hanover .

This Farman biplane, flown at the 1910 Squan·tum air meet by Claude Grahame-White , was also used to take passengers for brief trips over the field . The photo was

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tive in the New York Senate, from Dutchess County. As he stood and watched the planes in the sky, little did he realize that nearly 40 years later , two carrier groups of the Squantum Reservists training over the same area, would be ordered to duty aboard the Navy's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt .

The military was well represented, since they were keenly interested in the potentialities of the plane as a weapon of war. Among them was Army Gen . Nelson A. Miles, distinguished commander of the troops that captured Geronimo, the elusive Apache Indian, on March 21, 1886. Geronimo later escaped, but surrendered Sept. 4, 1886.

These people were but a few of the many who enjoyed the exciting meet . They thrilled to the realization that within such a short time from the creation of the airplane, they were seeing man fly after centuries of unsuccessful attempts.

They were not likely to forget the sensations they experienced at this meet as they watched the 17 airmen compete in speed contests, duration and altitude flights, accuracy in alighting at a marked spot , and shortest ground run and bomb dropping. They saw the finest planes of that time; the bi-planes of the Wright brothers of the United States and the Farmans of France - known as "pushers" (having their propellers on the back of the plane) , and the Bleriots ­and Nieuports from France - known as " tractors ."

Many of the names of those who flew their planes at Squantum are synonymous with flying. Their accomplishments and contributions in aviation have been recorded in the annals of aviation history .

One of the most colorful of these airmen was England 's Claude Grahame-White, who came into aviation prominence in 1910 as the result of his great air race with France's outstanding pioneer aviator , Louis Paulhan . The race from London to Manchester was for the Daily Mail prize of 10,000 pounds . Although White lost the closely contested two-day race, his display of determination

Pioneer aviator Claude Grahame­White , photographed at the 1910 Brockton Fair. He had gained prominence that year as a result of his great air race with Luis Paulhan of France and had made aviation history with his flight over Boston Harbor from Squantum in the nation 's second air meet.

and ability marked him as a future great in British aviation.

White was a graduate of the Bleriot flying school at Pau , France, the training ground for many outstanding pioneer aviators. He competed successfully in many European meets and his popularity preceded him to the United States.

His initial visit to this country was to compete in the 1910 Harvard meet at Squantum, where his continued success- increased hi-s -popul-arity. -l=Ie was first in points scored , and the winner of $10,000 donated by the Boston Globe for a flight from the Squantum field around Boston Light , twice. White was the only contestant to attempt this flight . Victories in the speed and bomb-dropping contests brought his total meet winnings to $22,100.

The bomb-dropping contest created tremendous interest , for it , was the first meet demonstration in this country . Glenn Curtiss , reputed to be the first flyer to carry out bombing tests , was entered in this event. He had gained this reputation by dropping dummy bombs on Lake Keuka, N.Y. in July, 1910, aimed at the outline of a ship marked by flaqs. At the

Squantum meet , contestants tried to drop dummy bombs of flour and plaster-of-paris from a height of 100 feet into the funnel of a mock battle­ship on the field below. So great was the interest in this event, the meet was extended an additional day in order for Secretary of Navy George von L. Meyer to attend and see a mass bombing from 1,800 feet. Again Claude Grahame-White displayed out­standing accuracy.

The accuracy with which bombs were dropped was a great surprise to all military officers present. As a · result, Adams Claflin , chairman of the meet remarked, "the demonstration proved concl,usively that the airplane must be seriously reckoned with in any future wars. "

During the ll-day meet, White took passengers up in his Farman biplane , facetiously nicknamed the " Squantum Bus." He charged up to $500 for a flight conSisting of two or three trips around the field. These flights added thousands of dollars to his meet winnings .

Mayor John F. Fitzgerald of Boston , grandfather of President John F . Kennedy, enjoyed a ride with White over Dorches·ter bay to Boston and back to Squantum. Here the jovial mayor was greeted by President Taft with a handshake and smile as they discussed the flight.

The prospect of the Boston Light flight filled the air with expectancy. For publicity had stirred the people to a fever pitch. All precautions were taken for safety; this included lining the route to the Light with boats ready to aid White if necessary. . Thousands of eyes were focused on

White as he sat in his plane with his large cloth cap on backward , a White trademark which was to set the style in this area for many years . On each wing of the plane was a flag . British and American , symbolic of the friendship existing between these two great nations . Amidst the resounding cheers of a tremendous crowd he took off in his French "Bleriot" monoplane.

The field was soon behind him . His flight took him over the northerly end of the Squantum peninsula and the green clad islands projecting majestically above the bay , which early writers described as among the

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QUINCY HISTORY - Page Three

Aviator Grahame-White pilots Farman biplane over the mock bomb thrown by Grahame-White at a target on the airfield at Squantum. Speck just below the lower wing is a ground to demonstrate the potential wartime use of

aircraft.

Historic Air -Meet Stars Grahame-White Continued from Page Two

most picturesque in the world . The name of the bay has varied as each explorer placed upon his map the name of his choice . In 1527, Fernando Columbus named it the Bay of St. Antonio, others followed. In 1614, Capt. James Smith of the Jamestown , Virginia colony, called it Massa­chusetts bay, after the tribe of Indians · living on its shore. It still bears this name .

Claude Graham-White 's epoch-making flight looked down upon an area rich in history . The harbor had sheltered the ships of many nations . Explorers had sailed in , followed by

settle on its shore nearly 300 years before . Here in 1782, the British frigate Albermarle patrolled the coastal waters with one of White's illustrious countrymen in command , later known as Lord Nelson , one of the world's greatest admirals .

White's goal , the historic Boston light, is on one of a cluster of seven islands compnSIng the Brewster

. group , named after Elder Brewster , teacher and preacher at the Plymouth settlement .

Nearing the Brewsters , White focused his eyes on one of the oldest lighthouses in the country , that through the years had flashed its light ,

traders , fishermen and settlers . Some ~rning of the graveyard of ships . ships brought exiles to be sold as slaves . For many years this harbor had been headquarters for ocean commerce and had seen ships from the smallest to the largest afloat .

It was perhaps ironic but yet fitting that an English pioneer of aviation should be first to fly over the harbor route that his countrymen followed to

This cluster of rocky islands is said to be the foundation of one of the harbor ' s largest islands , washed away by the storms of the past. As the plane circled the beacon for the homeward trek , the lighthouse keeper and his guests waved it on .

Seagulls, placidly riding the sparkling wavelets of the open waters

of the bay , were startled into flight by this strange "bird" in the sky . As White 's gaze followed the flight of the birds , he saw in the distance the picturesque Blue Hills looming up behind historic Quincy . Of these hills President John Adams once said , " If there is a Bostonian who ever sailed from his own harbor for distant lands or returned to it from them , without feeling at the site of the Blue Hills which he is unable to express , his heart is differently cons~ituted from mine . "

Soon White was over Long Island , Moon Island and Squantum where during the Revolutionary War small skirmishes between the Colonists and the British took place. Below, on the tip of the Squantum peninsula , where in 1621 a small shallop from Plymouth landed on its shore, White could see

, the famous "profile rock." The shallop with Governor Bradford , Captain Myles Standish and nine other men ,

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together with Squanto as interpreter, were the first white settlers to visit this area. Thompson Island lay across a . narrow strip of water from "profile . rock". It is named after John, !

Thompson who, in 1626, established on the island the first trading post in the Boston harbor area.

. Arriving over the Harvard air field, White circled once, again headed for the Light, seeing once more the beauW of the bay below. His return from the Light was in a blinding sunlight, however , making it difficult for him to keep a straight course .

Back at the field and on the Squantum hills, the growing speck in the sky quicke·ned the heart beats of the tremendous crowd. This was the climax to the event they had waited for , fully expecting White and his

Auiation Trophy, a siluer bowl presented to the famed British auiator, Claude Grahame· White at the Brockton Fair in 1910.

In 1961, two years after the death of Claude Grahame-White, Gordon Nelson of Squantum wrote to Mrs. White seeking a memento that the City of Quincy could haue as a reminder of her husband's uisit to Squantum. Her return letter mentioned that al/ his trophies and awards had been giuen to museum and clubs be she did haue a siluer bowl . After time -consuming arrangements, John R. Herbert, then editor of The Patriot Ledger, was able to make deliuery of the bowl possible.

The Grahame-White trophy was presented to the Quincy Historical Society, Friday, Nouember 30, 1963, by Mr. Herbert in behalf of Mrs . White.

The inscription on the bowl is: "Presented to Claude Grahame-White by the management of the Brockton Fair, Brockton, Mass. U.S.A. , October 7th, 1910. A Souuenir ofyour gal/ant and daring flights in a 40 mile an hour gale and torrential rain at Brockton Fair on the occasion of the uisit of the gouernors and mayors of New England." (Oberg Photo)

Tri-plane is prepared for flight at 1910 air meet.

plane to crash into the bay. His safe flying career , he founded the Hendon return set off . the emotions of the airport near London , and later sold it spectators; they cheered their to the English government for 21Jz approval while the band played , "God million dollars . Save The King" . He was the first qualified airmail

It was a hazardous flight as pilot in British history , and at the evidenced by the refusal of other great second Squantum meet in 1911 he flyers to attempt it. Even an offer of a competed against Earle OVington, $1,000 each to some of the flyers just America 's first airmail pilot. to start the flight could not tempt White is likened to America's Glenn them . This was not the longest flight Curtiss in that each believed therecord in this country at this time, but success of any endeavor depends uponit was full of danger and most exciting. man 's confidence in his ability , and

"The Squantum meet was the faith in his enterprise. Where .Curtiss turning point of . aviation in this helped convince the United States country, " wrote A. J. Philpot of the Navy of the practicability of aircraft asBoston Globe , first New England a weapon of war , White proved this to aviation reporter. Its sweeping success the British government. He flewgreatly contributed to making the members of Parliament, andOctober , 1910, Belmont Park (New accurately dropped dummy bombs on York) meet the greatest of the decade. targets below. Previously, EnglandIn addition to most of the great flyers had considered the aircraft ineffective from the Squantum meet, others from as a weapon , and contrary to inter­England and the United States national propriety. competed.

Again Claude Grahame-White World War I found White among the attra<::ted crowds by his captivating first aviators in air raids over personality and flying ability_ He Germany, demonstrating in actual thrilled the nation 's capital, when on warfare the belief and faith he had in Oct. 14, he flew his plane .from the the planes as a weapon of war . New York Benning race track, and Claude Grahame-White's devotion became the first flyer to land in to aviation ended with his death in Washington, D.C. He met with many August, 1959, at the age of 80. prominent people and visited the War and Navy Departments before taking [The author of this article , Gordon off from Executive Avenue for the Nelson , is a longtime resident of return trip . Squantum whose hobby is the history

He climaxed his United States visit of North Quincy . It first appeared in by winning for England, on Oct. 29, the December 5, 1963, issue of The the Gordon Bennett speed trophy, Patriot Ledger and is reprinted here by averaging 60 miles an hour . permission of the author and the

During the early days of White's newspaper.]

QUINCY HISTORY - Page Five

Hancock Cemetery: The Old Burying ~lace By H. HOBART HOLLY

Hancock Cemetery represents the history of Quincy for over two hundred years , a history of far more than local interest . Further it is part of the Adams story for which Quincy is known the world over. Here lie those who made our history from the earliest settlers down through the colonial period, those who brought this country into being , and those who in years after 1800 made their town and country develop and prosper. It is a monument to Quincy's past. The . original facilities of the town of 1640, and it was typical of all , consisted of the meeting house , the schoolhouse, the training field , and the burying ground . Of these , only Hancock Cemetery remains to represent our earliest heritage.

History This was the only burial place in the

old Town of Braintree , incorporated 1640, for its first 75 years . There may have been some burials on farms but it is unlikely in the close-knit New England town of that time. All the burials of record were in the town burying place. It was not a burial place , it was the burial place for the area that is today the City of QUincy and the towns of Braintree, Randolph and Holbrook. Many of the early burials did not have headstones , and

of course many have been lost over the years. The tombs , some around three hundred years old , contain many bodies. Thus the number of burials here is far greater than the surviving stones indicate .

The burying ground and the training field across the road were not planned by the town; there is no mention of them in the town records . These essential facilities appear to have happened by permission, principally on the part of William Tynge, a prominent citizen and large land owner. It is quite possible that there were burials here before Mr. Tynge acquired the property around 1640. There must have been deaths in the settlement that started in 1634, and there has never been a suggestion of another burial place. In any case , the burying ground and the training field (Capt. Tynge was the second commander of the local militia company) were within the boundaries of Tynge 's property. After Tynge 's time , adjoining property is described as bounding the burying place , thus shOWing that it was then recognized as an established entity. From the distribution of early graves, it appears that its area was always close to what it is today . The only addition was a strip at the south end in 1819 when the town house was built on the adjoining lot

and a piece of land was made available for tombs . It was not until 1809 that the town officially took custody of the old burying ground . Up to that time cattle had been allowed to graze there and the toppling of gravestones had become a concern to the townspeople . Accordingly the town tool< custody and erected a protective fence. Ladies of the Church were responsible for erecting the ornamental iron fence along Hancock Street in 1844, the year present City HalI to the north was built.

Those Buried Here Here lie the early inhabitants of Old

Braintree bar.k to the first settlers. The oldest identified grave is that of Henry Adams , progenitor of the famous family , who died here in 1646. The monument now marking the grave was placed there by his great, great grandson, President John Adams, who Similarly honored his father, grand­father and great grandfather. These monuments have recently been restored by the family . Here too is the Adams family tomb in which the Presidents and their wives rested ul)til moved across the street to the crypt beneath the church ; and here today lie other members of the presidential family. Thus the old burial ground is part of the unique Adams story that

Continued on Page S ix

taken from the Adams Building across Hancock Street. Date is uncertain, but print appears to be from early in the century. (Society files)

./

Late afternoon sun and a blanket of snow delineate headstones in this photograph of Hancock Cemetery

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Burying Ground Continued from Page Five

attracts thousands of visitors to Quincy annually. Along with the birthplaces , the Old House, the First Parish Church, and some lesser sites, it presents the visual legacy of one of America's foremost families.

The prominent Quincy family from early colonial days had this as their burial place. Famous members here include Josiah QUincy, the Patriot and great orator of the Revolution ; and Col. John Quincy, prominent leader in the Province of Massachusetts and grandfather of Abigail Adams, for whom both John Quincy Adam_s and the Town of Quincy were named . In one Quincy stone is a recess from which the lead plaque bearing the family coat of arms was pried and melted into bullets after the battle of Lexington .

The oldest surviving stone is that of the Rev. William Tompson, the first minister of the town, who died in 1666. The first teacher and second minister, Henry Flynt lies nearby. . In the ministers' tomb is the Rev. John Hancock, father of the Patriot, for whom the third meeting house and the Hancock Cemetery were named. The poem inscribed on the ministers' tomb was written in 1708 by Benjamin Tompson, son of the Rev . WilHam, who is considered to have been

Veterans in uniform and civilians line a path in Hancock Cemetery for a 1931 Memorial Day ceremony. The younger soldiers wear uniforms of The Great War (now called World War I), older, bearded men wear uniforms of the Spanish-Amerian War, with at least one of them an aged survivor of the Civil War. (Snapshot from the Society's files)

America's first native-born poet . There is an impressive monument to

Dr. Leonard Hoar, the colorful third President of Harvard College. The large number of Revolutionary War soldiers buried here are commemo­rated by a modern monument bearing their names.

Many visitors come here to view the burial place of their ancestors. Few graves anywhere have more reason for such visitation than that of early settler , Samuel Bass who, when he

Quincy History Published by the Quincy Historical Society at Adams Academy, 8 Adams Street , Quincy, Massachusetts, 02169. This is the fourth bulletin published under this name. Previous issues were Spring, 1980, Fall, 1980, and Winter, 1981.

Dr. James R. Cameron President

Richard W. Carlisle Editor

Lawrence J. Yerdon . Executive Director

The Quincy Historial Society, incorporated November 16, 1893, maintains the Adams Academy Building as a museum, library, visitor information center and place of meeting. The purposes of the Society are: to represent historical interests in the community, to preserve materials and information related to Quincy history through exhibits, programs and educational activities, and to publish materials of historical significance.

died in 1694 at the age of 94, left one hundred and sixty-two descendants . His daughter-in-law, Ruth Bass , daughter of Pilgrim John Alden , lies nearby .

The Stones

The gravestones themselves tell much history through their epitaphs and carving .

The designs and the epitaphs tell much of the people's experiences and their philosophies toward life and death , and thus present an insight into life in those days. The changes in thought and experience through the years can be traced from the styles and messages of the stones.

Here too are presented examples of the stonecutter's art for over two hundred years, reflecting not only the changes in styles but also the develop­ment of the art in this country. The latter point is particularly significant in Quincy which for many years was

known nationally for its granite , and is still a granite cutting center. Best known of the stones are the Cleverly peacock stone and the Deacon Joseph Penniman stone, both of which are depicted in books.

In 1854, the Hancock Cemetery was succeeded as town burial ground by the Mount Wollaston Cemetery. This was at a time when Quincy was supplying the finest of monuments to many parts of the country. At Mount Wollaston Cemetery are monuments to the granite men, their families and friends . It is only natural that these should be second to none as examples of the stone cutters ' art at that time and later. Thus the stones in the Hancock Cemetery become part of a larger story and of even greater significance to· those interested in the stonecutters' art .

(Mr. Holly, author of this article, is the society's historian and served as its president for two decades.)

Quincy Savings Bank

a part of Quincy life since

1845, is pleased to

sponsor this issue of

Quincy History