Mrs. Harriet Augusta (Hildreth) Tenney Obituary
98 Years Old
March 20, 1940
NEW IPSWICH
Correspondent: Mrs. Bessie Cushing
Tel. Greenville 58-12
Mrs. Harriet Augusta (Hildreth) Tenney died in Medford, Mass., March 20. She was born in New Ipswich May 14, 1841, and would have been 99 years old had she lived to May 14. Her parents were Deacon John C. and Harriet Maria (Blanchard) Hildreth, who came to this town in 1839 and bought the black smithy in Smith Village which he carried on successfully for many years. He built for his home the house now standing on the opposite side of the narrow road in front of the smithy. He was a deacon of the Baptist church for 55 years. Here Mrs. Tenney lived until her marriage, although part of this time was spent in Boston as she trained for a nurse at the Massachusetts General hospital and was the first trained nurse to graduate from that hospital. She was married to Alfred Reed Tenney, August 13, 1884, when she went to live on the Benjamin Adams farm, one of the earliest farms of the town, and when they were unable to carry on the farm longer they bought the Sophronia Knowlton place now occupied by Leon Livingston. Here Mr. Tenney died. Mrs. Tenney lived here until within a few years when she went to Medford to board. Two of Mrs. Tenney's brothers were physicians of prominence, the late Dr. John L. Hildreth of New Ipswich and Cambridge and Dr. William Hartwell Hildreth of Newton Upper Falls. The body was cremated and the ashes will be brought here for burial in the spring..
Barrett House
James Roger diary entry
7th July 1913
Warm but much cooler than previous days; cloudy and northwest wind. Our sale of hay today realized $51.50. Not many buyers present as there has [sic] been several other hay sales and Longees’ (?) yet to come, which is convenient for the Finns. David cutting grass in forenoon at John Cummings’ and Dan Brown's place for Mr. Hardy. The Spofford grass also sold this afternoon. Got letter from Miss Handley today. Received from Mr. Phelps $36.80 of Mason's funds. Myron Whitney paid his grass $11.25. Got letter from Elizabeth at night. All well and asking us to send on the potatoes I spoke about in my letter on Sunday.
Good for Harriet and her academic achievement! Except in those days and for another couple of generations thereafter I think nurses had to wear uncomfortable uniforms and stand whenever a doctor entered the room. Nowadays Harriet might have been trained as a physician like her brothers.
And of our woman in print, Bessie Cushing, and her phone number. Were New Ipswich phones also on the Greenville exchange? Our number as 151-2. A party line. Private lines we assumed were reserved for businesses or the wealthy. I seem to remember a bank of telephone operators in Greenville sitting at a switch board. Was this on a second floor on the main drag? Above Mr. Crisafulli’s shoe store? Why do I remember this anyway? Was a troop of Girl Scouts brought there on a field trip?
Harriet's parents Deacon John C. and Harriet I belive lived in what is now the home of Olliver Niemi. Harriet's brother John L. lived in the house across the Smithville Bridge that was Dick Martin's house.