stumbled over again while digging through stuff. One of the many things found in my paternal grandfather's things was a medal presented to his father in 1908 (shown at right). Charles Stanton Adams was born 8 Jun 1870 in Winchester, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. In 1895 he married Grace Estelle Newhall and, in 1896, they had Arthur Stanton Adams, their only child and my grandfather.Through 1905 he is listed as a clerk but by the 1910 census he had become a proprietor of a grocery store and he and Grace had settled into the home they lived in for the rest of their lives at 7 Mystic Avenue in Winchester.
The mystery is the medal itself ... what was it given for and what group gave it?
The inscription on the back is:
Presented to Charles S. Adams By Aberjona Cl.(?) No. 1102 Jan 1908.
Aberjona is the name of a river running through Winchester. I am not certain of the reading of the two letters "Cl" although I am certain the first letter is a C I am not as certain about the second letter, it could be an h or possibly something else.
The other main clue is the design on the bar on the bottom of the ribbon. There is a closeup to the right. These appear to be intertwined letters, a C, W, A, and ???
I thought at first that these might be some sort of lodge initials such BOE for the Brotherhood of Elks or the like. But, this morning while poking around trying to find clues, I found a title pages from the 1895 and 1899 Winchester City Directories so this may be some sort of civic award.
Any clues or suggestions as to where to look would be appreciated !!!!!
1 comment:
ABERJONA on reverse refers I believe to the ABERJONA RIVER which runs between Woburn and Winchester
The letters C W A I believe are WAC. The W overlays all letters, the A overlays the next letter at three points of intersection and the C I believe is a G and is covered at all points by the other two letters.
The G, in my opinion, is defined because of the construction. The top of the letter is terminated with a curlicue, the bottom however is terminated with an outward flair.
There appears to be an “&” intertwined with the W and A, therefore I believe that the letters are
W & A G
Where W may stand for Winchester or Woburn. Winchester would be my guess because of his residence.
Where A may stand for Aberjona
And G is a guess but could be Group.
A search on this term resulted in nothing. However a contact with the Winchester Historical Society may resolve the issue. Here is a link to their site
http://www.winchesterhistoricalsociety.org/bulletin.html
In 1995 a bestseller “A Civil Action” and a 1998 film starring John Travolta, about a 15-acre parcel of forest, field, and marshland on the banks of the Aberjona River brought out a major health issue caused by W. R Grace.
A picture can be found here
USGS site http://nh.water.usgs.gov/projects/nawqa/sw_aberj.htm
Two pictures by a local can be found here
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1047043580034038696WxZeHZ
........john buczek Marlborough, Ma
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