Segregation

The Danvers of my youth was an all-white town. That's my memory. And in my youth I did not question the situation; I took it for granted.  

This month I read Richard Rothstein’s 2017 book, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. My daughter had urged me to read it, and wanted my reaction to a section in the first chapter about a California neighborhood near where we lived when she was young. She and I have long been aware of the housing patterns there, with inequities obvious. This book documented what I already had heard informally from neighbors who had lived there through an earlier era. The segregation hadn't just happened naturally. There were policies and forces at play that led to separation by color, with the result that African Americans and other non-whites lived in poorer housing east of the freeway, while whites predominated west of the freeway, where I lived from 1971 to 1992.   

Danvers is not mentioned in Rothstein's book. But reading it brought forth memories of my mother’s strong reactions to a racial discrimination case in Danvers. She was appalled that a young Black couple couldn’t buy the new house that they wanted in Danvers. The couple sued, and when that lawsuit was settled, my mother was happy that they had won the right to purchase the home. When that couple chose, ultimately, not to purchase the house, and not to move to Danvers, my mother was sad, but expressed empathy, understanding how awkward and unpleasant it would be to move into a neighborhood that doesn't want you there.  

That case shattered my naive notion that Danvers "just happened" to be filled with white residents. 

I want to learn more about that case. This month I've tried searching newspaper back-files (via databases accessible through my public library and through the Boston Public Library's online services), but none of those resources go back before 1980.  

My search is hampered by lack of details. I only have long-ago memories of my mother's comments. I vaguely recall that the housing development in question was new, and located not far from our high school. But I lack names, address, and dates. 

I can make some estimates about the time period. I'm quite sure that I was away from Danvers at the time, and hearing reports from my mother (perhaps through phone calls or letters, or during vacations back home). I didn't hear of the case directly through news media; I wasn't paying attention to Danvers news at that time -- other than what my mother conveyed to me. So, was this case in the 1970's while I lived in CA? Or during the 1960's while I was away at college or grad school, and then my first job in NYC?  I first went away in fall 1959, attending 11th grade in a school in VT.

Thus, 1959-1979 is the likely time frame within which that lawsuit happened. I've called the Danvers library and consulted with Archivist Richard Trask.  No clues found yet. 

I hope someone reading this may be able to fill in the gaps. Please comment below, or send me an email via the contact form on this blog. THANK YOU. 

Nathan P. Nichols

As I awoke today and considered the date, January 8th, memories of my father quickly surfaced. So many memories! January 8 was his birthday. I thought of adding a photo of him here, on this Danvers blog, to mark this day.

Nathan P. Nichols (1912-1996)

This photograph may trigger memories in the minds of other Danvers people who knew him in his role as a businessman, owner of a Danvers business. I've written previously on this blog about his company and shared some of his own stories about his working life, but this photo had not yet been posted. I chose it from a large 3-ring binder in which I've collected and retained many photos and articles about my father.

I'd welcome comments from people who remember his work in Danvers.

I know he was an active and loyal member of the Rotary Club of Danvers, attending Rotary luncheons regularly. He hated to miss a Rotary meeting. If traveling away from Danvers, he'd seek out another Rotary luncheon to attend. (He enjoyed having a perfect attendance record, and told us that by attending a Rotary meeting elsewhere he'd get some 'credit' to replace a missed Danvers meeting.)

To find my previous blog entries about my father, you can use the Search box, upper right. Today I typed in "Nathan" and up came many entries, including ones about the Nichols and Clark company, which made hearing aids and other products in Danvers. For example, this one includes his own words about that company and how he got into that business:
   In His Words: My Father's Business

You can also search on keywords "Nick" (as he preferred to be called) or "Daddy" to bring up more entries in which I've mentioned him.

For more PHOTOS, I invite you to see my albums on SmugMug, a photo-sharing site:
   Nichols & Clark, Inc.
   Nick

260 years ago

On the 22nd of November two hundred and sixty years ago (1759),  a young woman named Mary Vial married Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke.  She was 21; he was 31.  It was her first marriage, his second.  [The Doctor's first wife (Judith) and an infant daughter had died in 1756.]

Here are two portraits of Mary:

Mary Vial at 15 years old (painted 1753)

Mary Vial Holyoke at 33  (painted 1771)

By the time of the 1771 portrait, Mary was the mother of 8 year old Margaret ("Peggy"), her second child. Her first child had died before the age of four.  Five other babies had arrived, but each died in infancy. This must have been a very difficult period for Dr. Holyoke and his wife.

Mary was pregnant again in 1771, giving birth that September to Elizabeth ("Betsy"), who would live until 1789.  In all, Mary birthed twelve babies!  I am descended from the 11th one, Susanna, born April 1779.  Mary lived to age 64 in 1802, with three daughters surviving her and living on for decades.

Dr. Holyoke lived "one hundred years and eight months, lacking one day" – according to the introduction to the Holyoke Diaries [published by the Essex Institute, 1911].  He was a well-known doctor in Salem, "very attentive to his medical practice." "His charge books show an average of eleven professional visits a day for a period of seventy-five years."

On this November 22, I am thinking of the wedding anniversary of Dr. Holyoke and Mary Vial, and the family connections, leading eventually to my family in Danvers.

Their daughter Susanna, my great-great-great-grandmother, lived a long full life, into her 80th year.  Susanna's daughter Mary, born in 1800, lived to 1880. The next generation included Mary's son Andrew Nichols, who was born in 1837, built the Pine Knoll cottage in Danvers in 1861, and lived there until his death in 1921. His youngest son, William, born 1872, became my grandfather and in the 1940's and 1950's lived right next door to us, so I remember him very well.  I didn't at that time care about history or pay much attention to family stories about ancestors. Now, in my older years, I'm looking at the connections back through the years.