The Last Angel of Bataan: Celebrating an American Hero
Every day we lose another member of the Greatest Generation — those who fought in ways large and small to defend freedom in the world during World War II. There are many stories and heroes that came from the war, and too many of them have been forgotten, especially those involving women. One of those, Mildred (Dalton) Manning, died at the age of 98 in March. She was the last surviving member of a brave group of women, the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, they turned their attention to the Philippines. The United States had large bases there. U.S. Army and Navy nurses were stationed at Stanberg General Hospital in Manila, as well as other hospitals nearby. A few weeks later, at the start of the Battle of the Phillippines, 88 nurses escaped from Manila to Bataan and Corregidor. Eleven Navy nurses were captured and sent to a Japanese internment camp at Santo Tomas.
Many of the nurses who escaped were assigned to hospitals in Bataan. For four months, they tended patients in open-air wards in the middle of the oppressive jungle. Over the course of the next four months, they administered to 6,000 patients, dealing not only with wounds and injuries but malaria, dysentery and more.
In April 1942, as Bataan was about to fall, those nurses were ordered to the island fortress at Corregidor. There, hospital wards were located in tunnels under the fortress. On April 29, a small group of army nurses were evacuated. The last remaining navy nurse and some more army nurses were evacuated by submarine four days later.
On May 6, Corregidor fell to the Japanese, and the 66 remaining nurses were captured. On July 2, they were sent to Santo Tomas. The internment camp was located on the campus of the University of Santo Tomas. U.S. Army Captain Maude C. Davison, age 57, took charge of the nurses. She insisted that they wear their uniforms and maintained regular duty schedules the entire time they were prisoners.
In May 1943, the navy nurses were transferred to the Los Baños camp, where they became known as “the sacred eleven.” The nurses remained prisoners for two and a half years. Their rations at the camp dwindled over time. By the end of 1944 they were on a diet of 960 calories a day. Then the civilian Japanese government turned control of the camp over to the Imperial Japanese Army. The army reduced it even further to 700 calories per day.
On February 3, 1945, more than four years after the nurses evacuated Manila, Santo Tomas was finally liberated by General Douglas MacArthur’s forces. Three weeks later, Los Baños was also liberated. The women, on average, had lost 30% of their body weight during their imprisonment. But through it all, the 77 brave women persevered and all of them survived.
Some of the Angels of Bataan being evacuated after the liberation of the internment camp at Santo Tomas.
During the course of the war, their story had been used to promote recruitment and war bonds sales. By the end of the war, almost 60,000 women volunteered as nurses, more than half of whom also volunteered and served in active combat zones. Sixteen were killed in service. One of the escapees wrote a book, and three movies were made about their story: Cry ‘Havoc’ (MGM, 1943), So Proudly We Hail! (Paramount, 1943), and They were Expendable (MGM, 1945).
These women were the first large group of American women in active combat. They remain the largest group of American women ever taken captive and imprisoned in wartime. There is a shrine to those who served at Bataan and Corregidor at Mount Samai, and a bronze plaque was dedicated there in 1980:
TO THE ANGELS—In honor of the valiant American military women who gave so much of themselves in the early days of World War II. They provided care and comfort to the gallant defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. They lived on a starvation diet, shared the bombing, strafing, sniping, sickness and disease while working endless hours of heartbreaking duty. These nurses always had a smile, a tender touch and a kind word for their patients. They truly earned the name—THE ANGELS OF BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR.
Mildren Manning was the of these brave, selfless women to survive. After her release, she was promoted to lieutenant. She toured the country promoting the sale of war bonds. It was on this tour that she met the man who would become her husband. In a notice of her death that appeared in the March 25 issue of Time magazine, she is quoted as having once said “I have never been bitter. If I could survive that, I could survive anything.”
Blogs and News for Genealogists, May 17, 2013
Jennifer R. James had a terrific post on the Huffington Post College Blog this week. With roots in Philadelphia, she wanted to work on her family history when she began graduate school at Drexel University. Unfortunately her white American mother (of English and German descent) and her Indian immigrant father became involved in a contentious divorce. This caused her difficulties, complicated by her multi-racial identity. Then one of her professors assigned family history as an assignment, and things started to change. Read more in Tangled Roots: Racial Identity and Family Trees.
Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, has an ongoing series about terms of use for websites. This week she discusses the terms for using the new FamilySearch.org. The site has moved from a focus on records to a focus on sharing information. As Judy says, when a website encourages people to upload material, it is time to examine closely the site’s terms of use to see what they will do with what you upload. And Judy lays out the terms for FamilySearch in plain English for you. Read the full story in FamilySearch: Sharing is Forever. You can read Judy’s review of Mocavo’s terms of use in Terms of Use: Mocavo.
The National Geographic Daily News reported on a story out of Iceland about the Vikings coming to America—and taking a Native American when departing. Mitochondrial DNA (passed from mother to child) studies have found a number of people in Iceland with a genetic variant that is very similar to one found almost exclusively in Native American populations. The DNA seems to have appeared about 1000 C.E., about the time that Vikings were known to have sailed to America. Read more in American Indian Sailed to Europe With Vikings?
This week the genealogical community lost a good friend, Carolyn L. Barkley. She was well-known and well-liked, and a popular face at genealogical conferences around the country. Dick Eastman ran a lovely tribute yesterday that was written by Craig Scott. Carolyn wrote the Genealogy and Family History blog. She shared from her deep breadth of knowledge gained in her many years as a librarian as well as a genealogist. Her last post was made two weeks ago. In Searching for Your Collegiate Ancestor, she discusses resources for finding family members who attended college or university. While you are there, take some time to look at some of the many other posts she made you can learn a lot from her.
There are several new television shows involving genealogy that are about to start airing. The first is Christopher Guest’s new HBO show Family Tree. Last week June Thomas wrote a review of the show. She sums it up by saying “That’s not to say that Guest is doing for family history what he once did for clapped-out rock bands, community theater, dog shows, folk music, or the Oscars. Although the eight-part series follows Tom Chadwick (Chris O’Dowd in charming loser mode) as he tries to learn more about his ancestors, its real subject is the international family of comedy.” You can read the full review in Christopher Guest’s Family Tree is Really About the Genealogy of Comedy.
Angelina Jolie’s Adventure in Family History
Family history has been very much in the news the last few days. More specifically, family health history. On Tuesday actress Angelina Jolie wrote an editorial for the new York Times in which she informed the world that due to a family history of cancer she is having a series of surgeries to prevent getting cancer.
Angelina’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died in 2007 at the age of 56 after an eight-year battle with ovarian cancer. Bertrand’s own mother, Lois (Gouwens) Bertrand, died at the age of 45. With this family history, Jolie had some genetic testing done. These tests revealed exactly what she was afraid of.
Her tests revealed the presence of the BRCA1 gene. Having this gene meant that her chance of getting breast cancer had increased to 87%. She also had an almost 50% chance of getting the ovarian cancer that had killed her mother.
Faced with these odds, Angelina made a courageous decision. At the age of 37, she elected to have preventive surgeries that would remove her breasts and ovaries, even though she is currently perfectly healthy. Removing them now dramatically drops her chances of getting cancer to less than 5%.
Even more courageous than her decision to have the surgery was her decision to be very public about it. She penned an editorial for the New York Times that was quickly picked up by news agencies around the world. She knows that her decision will likely prompt others to get tested, and hopefully save their lives as well.
As genealogists, we are becoming more and more aware of how DNA testing can help us. Often our focus is on the help it can give us in confirming or denying lineages through mitochondrial or y-DNA. In addition to keeping you healthier, knowing your family health history can also save your life.
Being alert to the fact that you carry a gene is only part of the story. It is important to know your family health history, as that can increase or decrease your chances of developing an illness. For example, the general odds of getting multiple sclerosis are .01% (one-tenth of one percent). But if your sibling or parent has the disease, your odds increase to 33%.
When researching your family history, you have all the tools you need to track your family health history as well. Death certificates are a great source of clues. Examine not only the cause of death, but the contributory causes as well. Check obituaries that might also give clues. Family stories, either oral or written, can also help you. Look for colloquialisms (such as references to someone in the family having “sugar,” which means that they had diabetes). The United States Surgeon General has a free online tool, called My Family Health Portrait, that you can use to help with your research.
Advances in technology are making it much easier to take care of our health. And the Affordable Care Act is forcing insurance companies to cover the costs of genetic testing like the testing Angelina Jolie had for those at high risk. Combining those tests with your talents as a genealogist can make a big difference in your life, and the lives of your family members.
Gaudeamus Igitur: Five Tips for Researching at Colleges and Universities
Many of us look back fondly on our college days. But our current thoughts can end up being focused on alumni associations sending us messages for money. But even if you never went to college a day in your life, the resources of your local colleges and universities can be very helpful to your genealogical research.
Houghton Library at Harvard University.
Colleges and university, as bastions of learning have a wide variety of resources available for research. Their resources for general history, social history, and the law are a treasure trove for genealogists.
1. Open to the Public
Many people don’t’ realize that college and university libraries are often open to the public. State schools and colleges are almost always available to anyone who wishes to use them. But even private schools often welcome anyone. Harvard University, for example, is arguably the most elite school in the country. Their main library, Widener, is generally open only to students, faculty, and staff. But that is only one of dozens of the university’s libraries, many of which are open to the public. I have
2. Newspapers
The United States Newspaper Project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities with technical assistance from the Library of Congress. One library from each of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is designated as the official repository for newspapers in that state to be preserved by the USNP. In many locations, the library is a college or university library. The USNP website has a list of participating libraries.
3. Government Documents
The Government Printing Office maintains the Federal Depository Library Program. The FDLP is mandated by Congress to provide public access to information published by the government. Each state has multiple repositories that serve as depositories, many of them are college and university libraries. By law, access to government documents is free and accessible to any member of the public. You can find an FDLP library near you on their website.
4. Manuscript Collections
One of the greatest resources for genealogists are manuscript collections. Colleges and universities will often have incredible resources for you. Large or long-lived employers, such as factories or hospitals, might donate their records to the school. There may also be important groups or organizations that your ancestor volunteered for or worked with. For example, the Houghton Library at Harvard University has records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), the first and largest Christian missionary movement in America.
5. Online Databases
College and university libraries will often have subscriptions to large online database collections that are not available as individual subscriptions. They run from well-known collections, such as the American Historical Newspapers Database, to the more esoteric (but still valuable), such as Early English Books Online (1475 – 1700). These databases may help you not only with names and data, but also with reference works that can teach you more about resources and help you to understand them better.
Not everyone can be as lucky as I am to live in the city of Boston, which has one of the largest number of colleges and universities in the country. There are 31 schools in the city itself. When you add in the bordering towns in the metropolitan area there are 58 colleges and universities. Take advantage of your local schools to access their tremendous resources.
Will Some DNA Testing Become a Felony?
The Boston Globe’s Kevin Hartnett contributed a thoughtful piece on DNA and privacy. According to the law, if you abandon something (e.g., throw it in the trash), it becomes free for anyone to grab. Perhaps you have seen people picking through trash barrels, looking for deposit bottles. Or people picking up furniture or other items left by the curb. This is all perfectly legal.
While most everything we discard is done so by a conscious choice, have you ever given thought to how much of yourself you throw away? I mean that in the literal sense. When you go to a coffee shop you throw away your disposable cup afterwards; and perhaps a plastic knife, fork, or spoon as well. Each time you do this, some of your cells are thrown away with it.
And included in these cells is your genetic material. Your DNA can be retrieved from it. Police have already started using techniques in criminal cases, in the event a suspect refuses to surrender a DNA sample. A case is actually in front of the Supreme Court this session that will determine whether a suspect can be compelled to surrender a DNA sample during an investigation.
This is bringing up all sorts of questions regarding our right to privacy, however. While the DNA is technically abandoned, it also contains information for which we have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The law, unfortunately, is in a particularly grey area right now.
Some are pushing to have new laws passed. Elizabeth Joh, a professor of law at the University of California at Davis is arguing for a particularly strong effort. In 2011, she penned an argument in the Boston University Law Review that conducting genetic sequencing on someone’s DNA without their consent should be classified as felony theft.
Clearly this has tremendous ramifications for genealogists. DNA testing is quickly proving extremely important for genealogical research. If such laws pass without exceptions, it could prove very difficult to trace DNA on people you could not prove were deceased. Suppose you found a brush with hair in it that you wish to have tested to help prove lineage. If you could not prove the owner was deceased, you would be committing a felony to have it tested. And would the right to privacy die when the person dies?
Kevin Hartnett published an interesting piece in the week’s Boston Globe that touches on this subject. His focus is on the legal and criminal ramifications, but the discussion is worth reading. And those interested in DNA testing will want to keep track of what lawmakers will be doing around this matter in the future. You can read his article, The DNA In Your Garbage: Up For Grabs, online.
A Brief History of the Huguenots
The Old Port at La Rochelle, one of the largest Protestant strongholds.
The Huguenots (properly pronounced yu-geh-noh) belonged to the Protestant Reformed Church of France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. France was a diverse territory at that time. Widespread dissatisfaction with corruption in the Catholic Church had led many to leave in favor of Martin Luther and John Calvin.
The total number of Huguenots peaked in the mid-sixteenth century when their numbers were estimated to be about 2 million (as compared to 16 million Catholics in the same period). Tensions were high between Catholics and the Huguenots.
The Edict of January, put forth by Catherine de Medici in 1562, attempted to quell the violence between the two groups, but it failed. The period from 1562 to 1598 is known as the French Wars of Religion. Henry IV, who recanted Protestantism for Catholicism when he ascended the throne in 1589, issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which, while enforcing Catholicism as the state religion, provided legitimacy for the Huguenots and a great degree of freedom.
Unfortunately, the peace did not last long, especially after Louis XIII ascended the throne in 1610. By this time, the majority of remaining Huguenots lived in the provinces of Aunis, Guyenne, Poitu, and Saintonge. As the seventeenth century progressed, the persecution continued. In 1685, Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared Protestantism to be illegal.
Huguenots started fleeing persecution in France in the mid-sixteenth century. Many went to nearby Eurpoean countries, such as England, Ireland, Wales, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. One group tried to settle in South America, at what is today Rio de Janeiro. Another group went to South Africa, where their descendants today are marked with their French surnames.
Many went to what is today the United States. They created the town of New Paltz, where they built what is today the oldest street in the country. They also formed the town of New Rochelle (named after the Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle in France).
Many Huguenots were members of the merchant class. They promoted the settlement of New France with the crown in the seventeenth century to increase business opportunities. While the official policy of the crown was to prevent Huguenots from settling in the colony, reality proved quite different.
Merchants travelled to oversee their business interests. And the colony was desperately in need of settlers, especially craftsmen. Although the Jesuits and other clergy were opposed, the civil authorities were quite tolerant of the Huguenots immigrating. In fact, during the seventeenth century, about one-third of all immigrants from France to New France came from the Huguenot strongholds of Aunis, Guyenne, Poitu, and Saintonge.
Unfortunately, they could not officially worship in Protestant churches. Starting in 1659, the Catholic Church required many of these immigrants to formally abjure their Protestant faith. But even for those who did not, because there were no official Protestant churches, and with their children and grandchildren marrying Catholics, the Huguenots were fully assimilated. Some of ancestors were among this group.
In the late nineteenth century, as the tercentenary of the Edict of Nantes approached, many descendants looked for ways to honor their ancestors. Thus were founded a number of Hugenot societies around the world, whose members are mostly descendants of the Huguenots. In the United States, we have both the Huguenot Society of America was founded in 1883. There are also societies in Australia, Great Britain and Ireland, and South Africa. Cyndi’s List has a list of societies with websites.
Blog Posts and News for Genealogists, May 10, 2013
Following are some recent stories and posts about genealogy and history that I found interesting and informative. I want to share them with you.
Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, shares an interesting story about last week’s Supreme Court decision that is of major importance to genealogists. In the case of McBurney v. Young, the court decided unanimously that freedom of information is a service provided by the states, and not a right enjoyed by the people. The case dealt with Virginia, but the decision applies throughout the country. States are no longer required to provide information to non-residents. Laws limiting access to residents are also in place in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Tennessee. Read more about the impact to genealogists in Freedom of Information: Residents Only.
Michael Hait had an important post in Planting the Seeds last week. Genealogists do a lot of writing to share their research results. But one of the biggest problems facing us with our writing is when to use the present tense and when to use the past tense. It can be frustrating to communicate clearly. Michael shares some rules from Ben Yagoda, professor of English and journalism at the University of Delaware. There are two basic conventions to apply for when to use the past tense and when to use the present. You can find out about them at Historical Writing and When to Use the Present Tense.
John L. Bell’s Boston 1775 blog is always very interesting. Last week he ran a two-part series on Bunker Hill. The posts are an interview with historian Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the recently-published Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution. The book beings just after the Boston Tea Party and ends with the evacuation of Boston upon the arrival of General Gage and his troops. It is a stimulating conversation that ranges from the truth of legends from the battle to Philbrick’s casting of great actors from the past for a film version of the book. You can read the full interview in Q& A on Bunker Hill with Nathaniel Philbrick, Part I and Part II.
There were several stories this week about a fascinating discovery by British scientists. A team of University of Reading linguists has been examining words in English, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, and more. They have determined that these modern languages descend from a single ancestral tongue that existed about 15,000 years ago. They looked at a handful of words in several languages that are very similar in sound, appearance, and meeting. We of these words are considered “ultraconservative” and would likely still sound familiar to our far-off ancestors. Read more in The 15,000-Year-Old Ancestral Language that Birthed English and Russian.
Finally comes a subject near and dear to my heart. Dick Eastman posted yesterday about the fallacy of ancient ancestry. Nothing is more frustrating to professional genealogists than hearing someone tell us how they have traced their family tree all the way back to ancient Rome, or worse, still, to Adam and Eve. This is 100% impossible. Unfortunately, many people see these false pedigrees in out-of-copyright genealogies and believe them without investigating further. In I Have My Family Tree Back to Adam and Eve, Dick discusses articles by Nathan Murphy, a Senior Research Consultant in the LDS Genealogical Department, and Robert C. Gunderson, Senior Royalty Research Specialist there that discuss the impossibility of such pedigrees.
North American Dialects and Fonetik Speling
There is an interesting meme making the rounds of Facebook this week. It is a map of North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns. Rick Aschmann operates a website, Aaschmann.net, that includes a lot of genealogy information. His interest in dialects has led him to find some very interesting data. Thus, he created the page with the map, and a whole lot of other useful information as well.
According to Aschmann, there are eight dialects in North America:
- Canada
- Northern New England
- The North
- Greater New York City
- The Midland
- The South
- North Central
- The West
These regions do not necessarily conform to generally accepted locations. For example, Boston is included in the Northern New England dialect, while the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts is geographically located in Southern New England. There is a small map, and then a full-scale version that is much easier to read. It allows you to get in and see subsections of the regions, as well localized versions of dialects.
The next section is a Dialect Description Chart. This chart explains the dialects. The eight regions are divided into subsections and sub-subsections (such as the St. Louis Corridor, a subsection of the Inland North, which is a subsection of the North). There are some interesting observations, such as making Downtown New Orleans a subsection of Greater New York City. The chart is cross referenced to the maps, so you can easily move back and forth.
He then provides a Guide to the Sounds of North American English. He explains the phonemic guide employed on his site, and why he used it. He asks the question “How many vowels are there in American English?” Then he moves on to explain the difference between the vowel letters (a,e,i.o, and u) and vowel sounds, of which there are 16. He then goes on to illustrate those sounds. This is followed by a discussion of the 24 consonant sounds.
At the bottom are audio samples of many local dialects. A number of them are YouTube videos of famous peoples: singers, politicians, actors, such as Alison Kraus, Jimmy Carter Jack Kemp, Clint Eastwood, Alicia Silverstone, Merv Griffin, and Bill Elliott.
Just before this section, however, is a part of particular interest to genealogists. Aschmann includes a section where words are spelled phonetically. For example:
“Awl əv thə sowndz wee hav awlredee diskust aar shohn in thə chaarts bəloh. Thee ohnlee speshəl kairəktər yoo stil haf tə mes withh iz “ə” and thats not too haard tə kopee intə yər tekst. Thee ohnlee thhing not in theez chaarts thət iy səjest yoo doo iz tə riyt thə fiynəl ‘s’ sownd az “ss” tə keep peepəl frəm thhingking its a ‘z’ sownd. Thair aar too igzampəlz əv this in thə nekst pairəgraf.”
This is exactly how many of our ancestors wrote. Their spelling was based on what they heard, not from any standard education in English grammar and spelling. Understanding the dialect of a particular area my help you to interpret original records of the time, especially those written by individuals with less education. This site can be a great help to you with this.
Tracking Your Genealogy Library: iBookshelf
Genealogists tend to be pack rates in many different ways. We also have a tremendous eagerness to learn. This combination tends to lead to very large collections of books and journals of all types. After a while, it can be difficult to remember exactly which books one has in one’s collection. This can lead to trouble when you are out at a conference or seminar with book vendors and you can’t remember whether or not you already own a book. There are a number of solutions to this, including a variety of apps. One of my favorites is iBookshelf.
iBookshelf is the top-rated book database app in iTunes. It will allow you to keep track of your collection, and access it in a number of different ways. Entering your books can be done a number of ways. You can scan a book’s ISBN (International Standard Book Number) bar code, and the database will automatically search for the information about the book: title, author, genre, cover image, etc. Once scanned, an editing page will appear, allowing you to add additional information.
One field that will come in very handy if you have as many books as I do is location. I have eleven bookshelves located in seven different locations in four rooms. The location field allows me to quickly understand exactly where my books are so I can easily lay my hand on it. You can mark a books as read or unread, so you can see what your reading list looks like. You can enter pricing information for each book, which will show you the value of your library (which can be a scary thought). A comment field allows you to put all kinds of descriptive information about each title.
You can also enter a book by keying in the ISBN number directly. The database also allows you to import CSV (comma separated values) files. As genealogists, we tend to acquire many works that were published prior to the establishment of ISBNs in 1965. For these books, you can enter the author’s name or title, and the database will search for the rest of the information. If it cannot be found, you can continue to add the remainder of the information manually.
Genealogists are a friendly lot, and we are often lending our books to friends and colleagues. iBookshelf allows you to mark a book as lent out, and make a note in the comments field that tells you to whom you lent it. You can also mark a book in your possession that you borrowed, and note from whom you borrowed it.
The app allows you to look at your collection by title, author, genre, status, rating series, format, and whether or not you’ve read it. You can also create collections (e.g., reference, census, Smith family, Massachusetts, etc.) and view the titles by collection.
The developer, Josh Pressnell, has created a YouTube video that illustrates various features of the app. He also eagerly appreciates feedback from users, not only about how well the app works, but where there are opportunities for improviement. He also appreciates suggestions for additional features and is constantly working to update the app to incorporate such suggestions.
iBookshelf is available for iOS or Android for $1.99. There is a free version that allows you to test it out with limited titles. Also available are My Box Office (which tracks your movies) and CD Tracker (for your CD collection). The My Library app ($3.99) combines all three of these into a single app.
Everything Old is New Again: Municipal Projects versus Private Enterprise
Everything old is new again. Today in America, our Congress is split on exactly what role government should play in supporting citizens. Back in the mid-nineteenth century, the same discussion was occurring right here in Boston.
The population of the city was growing massively. The population of Boston doubled in the eighteen years between 1830 and 1848 alone. By this time, water had become a critical issue for the city. Only half of the city’s houses had their own wells, and many of these were dry. Of the remaining, none had water that was soft enough to use for tasks such as laundry.
Two options faced the city, which needed to determine which would serve the city better. The first option was to build a publicly-funded works that would bring water in from Long Pond in Framingham and Natick that, once constructed, would continue to be run by the city. The other option was to contract with private businessmen to build and operate a waterworks that would bring water in from Spot Pond in Stoneham.
The question was quite a contentious one. In 1795, the Boston Aqueduct Company started pumping water from Jamaica Pond in Roxbury (now a part of the city), but by the mid-nineteenth century, only 1,400 (mostly affluent) families were part of the service. The question that faced Bostonians was higher taxes to support the project, or depending on private enterprise not to charge extortionate rates.
Cities such as New Orleans, Buffalo, and even nearby Providence had all opted for the private enterprise route. But from the beginning of the debate in the 1820s, the concern of many was that the water supply should be public. Josiah Quincy, Sr., in his 1826 mayoral address pointed out that businesses would do nothing without a mind to profit, therefore creating cheap infrastructure to cheap water while charging high rates to the best customers.
Celebration at the Boston Common Frog Pond in 1848 for the city’s new waterworks.
The debate was contentious and took decades. After the first public referendum in 1845 failed by a narrow margin, a campaign for the public option entered high gear. A second referendum passed the public option by more than 90%. In October, 1848, Mayor Josiah Quincy, Jr., (son of the 1826 mayor) presided over a ceremony at the Frog Pond in Boston Common. A valve was turned, and water started gushing high into the air.
More than a century and a half later, water still gushes from the center of the Frog Pond. The water now comes from the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts. And the question of whether it should be a municipal operation or a private one still arises from time to time. The Boston Globe recently ran an interesting story about this subject, Boston’s Water: Public or Private? In many ways, the fact that we are still having such discussions is a commentary on our society in general. Our ancestors faced these questions, and though they had settled them in 1845. And here we are.