Bullard Camp in winter

New Ipswich Historical Society

Bullard Camp

Bullard Camp photo given by Mrs. Walter Hardy, Photo taken by Leon R. Willard. Location unknown.

FATHER (Hilma Stark)

John Abraham Stark - Born Feb 14, 1870

Father was very strict and a hard worker, and he expected the same from all his children. Depression which begin with the banks closing in 1929 did not really affect us. Living on a farm, we had plenty to eat, all the milk, eggs, butter, bread, potatoes and fruit we wanted. I was appalled to learn later that people were actually starving or living on just potatoes, morning noon and night, unable to pay their rent and sleeping with whole families in one room. This was in the nearby cities.

Father was a good provider. As long as I can remember, he always had an automobile and was able to go for provisions, so he started a country store at his home. There was a lumber camp in the woods across the road from the house, so I believe he made a success of the store. I can just barely remember Mother grinding coffee for customers and the hard candies and cookies. There were, of course, the staples, such as flour, salt, sugar, etc., and soda pop in the cellar.

There was a story later that Father was half German, that his father had escaped to Northern Finland to avoid the German war and had married a Finnish girl and raised a family. His character was more like the Germans and he was a gifted machinist. He was always working on a machine which would run under its own power or a perpetual motion deal, but I guess it never materialized. He did fashion a machine and made his own berry baskets. He even made the thin slats from logs in his saw mill, folded to just the right size, and put a rim around the basket. He fashioned a heavy stapler to hold the rim in place and the whole basket was finished completely from scratch. He was also a blacksmith and had the job of shoeing all the neighborhood horses.

He had quite a talent for ironwork, and at least two of the boys inherited this talent and have accomplished such endeavors as to be classed outstanding in this field. He also grew the biggest strawberries around, with a new field started every spring. Our chore was weeding the long rows of new plants and picking the luscious berries of the two older fields for sale in the city. Needless to say, they got top price in the market

Reminisces  from Hilma Stark (b. 1917) who grew up in New Ipswich. She was sister to the late Elmer Stark who lived at the family place on Fox Farm Road (uncle of Sharon Anderson Rosenfelder). (probably recorded in the late 1970’s)

James Roger diary entry- Pimples

17th June 1912

Cloudy; wind westerly; threatening rain. David painting doors at library in forenoon. Walter Hardy at Spoffords’. David and him there in afternoon. I cut 40 bean poles for Mr. Lowe and cut grass at Prestons’. Mrs. Dakin left Lowes today. The mailman forgot to come for Mrs. Ames’ daughter in the afternoon. Chandler took her in auto to Fitchburg. Gordons and Knowltons went today. Got letter from Hamish whose face has broken out in pimples.