When I was home, I came across a document written (I believe) by my father's cousin, Francis Harper Sleeper about his grandmother (my great grandmother) Cora Margaret Carpenter. It seems like a copy that my father edited for him, and I don't know what happen to the final product. Given some of the comments he made, I suspect this was written in 2002. It is a bit odd, as I am transcribing his write up, that included quotes that Cora made as part of a 1910 speech. Normally, I put my transcriptions into italics, but thought it would be better to skip it this time. I've added some photos and maps where I thought it might help people understanding.
Cora M.
Putnam, My Eastern Star Grandmother
She taught
her male grandchildren how to play poker summers at the Putnam cottage on Drew’s
(Meduxnekeag) Lake in New Limerick. Several of the cousins used this skill with
great ability when they were in the armed services. The writer did not.
Instead, he lost all the money he'd made at the Temple Theater in Houlton
during a whole summer in a single poker game
--and never played poker again.
She organized
and cooked for large family gatherings at that same cottage. She was working
with very individualistic people but her innate organizing ability won everyone
over.
Cora M.
Putnam, at the age of 38, became the first Grand Worthy Matron of the
Eastern Star from Aroostook County in 1909-1910.
There was
good reason for that election. This lady, who had received her post high school
education at the Madawaska Training School (now the University of Maine at Fort
Kent) and who had taught in Upper Saint John Valley schools and in Oakfield,
had helped organize 0.E.S. chapters
in Fredericton, Saint John, Woodstock and Grand Falls, New
Brunswick, and Presque Isle, Patten, Mars Hill, Bridgewater, Ashland, Fort
Fairfield and Sherman Mills in this state.
Born in
Houlton June 14, 1872, about 130 years ago, Cora M. Carpenter married Amos
Putnam June 2, 1891. He was a descendant of one of the two founding families of
Houlton; the other family was the Houltons.
Stick your
finger in the pie of most Houlton community and OES activities for more than
half a century and you'd be liable to come up with the fine hand of Mrs.
Putnam. She lived the OES and Masonic ideal of service to her community and
country.
However, I
would like first to turn to her farewell address as Grand Worthy Matron, made
May 25, 1910 at the Eighteenth Annual Session of the Grand Chapter in Portland.
While much of the talk involves organization matters, there are some sections
which have relevance today.
Here are some
of her words:
"As
zealous workers for our Order, we all have, I trust, our ideals as to what the
Eastern Star should be, and all are alive to the tremendous possibilities of
its future. It cannot be said that we have yet attained to our full stature,
and with whatever satisfaction we may contemplate the results already attained,
the ideal is ever beyond them.”
"We have
a standard in the great Masonic fraternity to which we owe our existence. There
is a solidity and a firmness about Masonic ties which may not yet, but hope
sometime to attain. It would be useless to speculate on the secret sources of
Masonic life, and indeed by our very position as a dependent Order, we must always allow that that something makes the Masonic
Order superior to our own. But if it be true (as we affirm) that woman's heart
equally with man's beats responsive to the grand ideal of Brotherly Love,
Relief and Trust, so we may permit ourselves on these foundations to aspire to
erect a temple equally solid and enduring, if less glorious.”
"If we
have given abundance of our time and labor to Eastern Star work it is not
because we are unconscious of its imperfections, but because we are hopeful for
the future. The true optimist is led ever onward by the visions of a glorious
ideal, and in the contemplation of the ideal derives consolation amid the present
imperfections.”
"Fraternity
in the pursuit of noble aims is a grand ideal of the Eastern Star. Fraternity
is the thing insisted upon in our obligation, and noble aims are the lessons
inculcated by the heroines of our Order. Fraternity must have something to work
upon, some common purpose and endeavor. It was this common purpose and endeavor
which united the workmen on King Solomon's temple and laid the foundation for
the Masonic spirit. That was man's work."
"Woman
will find the fraternal bond in work more consistent with her sphere and learn
from Adah, Ruth, Esther, Martha and Electa the true ideal of womanhood. In our
common pursuit of this ideal we shall realize the true fraternal spirit in the
Order of the Eastern Star, and be drawn closer together as the principles of
our Order shine with undiminished luster through our lives. Only as we hold to
this high view of our privileges and responsibilities can it be true that in
entering the Order we enter a new phase of life. Only as we cherish the highest
ideals can we be said to have for our inspiration the Star of Bethlehem to
guide us to the new Jerusalem of our hopes."
My
grandmother concluded her speech thusly: "I may not have come up to what
you might have wished, yet I have done my best, always striving to live up to
the teachings of our Order--'That we love one another.'"
Is there
enough of the fraternal spirit my grandmother talks about in Maine Masonry now?
Do we really love one another as Christ taught us to do?
Since 9/11
this country has become more united than it has been since the days of World
War II. Has Maine Masonry become more united since then? I can't answer these
questions and don't even want to. I leave it up to the individual Mason. My
grandmother once told me "Don't get the Masons mad at you." I've not
always been successful at that due largely to my own ignorance and/or mistakes.
I've tried, however.
Community
service has always been one of the bulwarks of Masonry. My grandmother had set
up these networks as she helped establish Eastern Star chapters. She used those
networks, I believe, for community betterment
which she herself led. She was, of course, a Past Matron of
Fidelity Chapter, OES in Houlton. Later, she was made an honorary member of the Grand Chapter, OES in New Brunswick. She organized an International OES Field
Day in 1914. That still exists as an International Night held by Fidelity Chapter and Victoria Chapter, OES, in Woodstock, New Brunswick. She received
honors from the Supreme Association, Order of the Rainbow, which enrolled her in the Grand Cross of Color Book of Membership in the International Rainbow
Temple.
On the
community level, my grandmother organized and was for some 30 years’ executive
secretary of the Southern Aroostook Chapter, American Red Cross. The chapter
was formed during World War I. It had 21 branches from Bridgewater to Danforth.
During World War II, she was chairman of overseas production for that chapter. She founded the
women's auxiliary of Chester L. Briggs Post, American Legion, was its president
five years and was vice president of the auxiliary's Maine Department two
years. She was a delegate to the International Legion Auxiliary convention in
Paris during 1927 and got a chance to use her Upper St. John Valley French for
the first time in many years. It worked quite well. Some years later, she was a
delegate to the auxiliary's national convention in Portland, Oregon.
Among
services my grandmother got started in Houlton were bringing a Red Cross nurse
into the town's schools along with milk lunches, a dental clinic for the
elementary schools and clothing for needy children.
She was a
past president of the Houlton Women's Club and the Houlton Business and Professional
Women's Club. The last time I talked to Senator Margaret Chase Smith she
clearly remembered my grandmother as one of her strongest supporters. A
Unitarian Church member, she was 30 years’ secretary of the Aroostook County
Unitarian Conference. Houlton Unitarians were, in
general, much more conservative than are most Unitarians today. She was a past regent of Lydia Putnam Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution. When you went to one of those DAR
meetings in Houlton, you found most offices held by Mrs. Putnam, her sister,
the mother of a son-in-law (Mrs. Mabel Cates) were also very active in Fidelity
Chapter and a strong support to my grandmother in all her civic endeavors.
My
grandmother received an overseas citation from the Red Cross and honors from
the American Legion and the Houlton Rotary Club. She was definitely interested
in history.
Cora Putnam
was a charter member and past president of the Aroostook Museum in Houlton. She
received a citation from Lydia Putnam Chapter, DAR, for her work to help
restore Garrison Hill (used as a fort during the bloodless Aroostook War) and
the Old Soldiers Cemetery in Houlton. At the age of 86, she had her 400 plus
page "Story of Houlton" published. That work had been started by her
husband, Amos Putnam, and she had worked on it more than 25 years. No other
hard cover history of Houlton has been written since that 1958 book.
But my grandmother was right up on the latest news until she died. That was probably because, in her younger days, she was "that reporter from Houlton." At one time or another, she reported for the Houlton Pioneer Times, the Bangor Daily News, the Lewiston Sun, the Waterville Sentinel, all the Boston papers and the Associated Press.
Her biggest story, she always said, was the attempt by Werner Horn, a German spy, to blow up the railroad bridge at Vanceboro, Maine. The attempt didn't work. Horn was arrested and taken to the jail in Machias. Once there, he would speak to only one reporter--my grandmother. She was lined up with the Boston Post then and had to stay in Machias a week, filing a daily story with the Post. Horn eventually went back to Germany and, some years later, was declared insane and died in a mental hospital.
My grandmother's greatest thrill during her life "was the introduction of railroad service to Houlton. It was a great day for the people here." Maybe that has something to do with one of my lawyer sons working in the present Bangor and Aroostook bankruptcy matter.
My grandmother influenced me in various ways beyond teaching me to play poker and telling me not to offend Masons. Her internationalism influenced me greatly, though not in the direction of Canada. She was a great stamp collector. I became a stamp collector because of her and this further influenced me toward internationalism, though I wasn't aware of it at the time.
She gave me an interest in history, best shown in the 12 books of collections of old photographs of Maine communities and regions that I've done. And she gave me a feeling for the town of Houlton which will always be my home town to me, even though I only spent most of my summers there from the time I was very small until I was 20 or so.
What about her husband, Amos Putnam? He was no piker Masonically even though he never held a chair in his home lodge, Monument of Houlton. He did rise to become Grand King of the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Maine. He was Past High Priest of the Aroostook Chapter, RAM, past commander of St. Aldemar Commandery, Knights Templar, in Houlton and past patron of Fidelity Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star in Houlton. He joined Monument Lodge in 1889.
His working life included a stint with the John Millar Store in Houlton, 23 years as superintendent of buildings and grounds at the Houlton Post Office and 43 years with the Houlton Fire Department. He retired in 1927 and held the post of captain in that department several years. He was a great outdoorsman, especially on the Allagash and Mount Katahdin.
I'm extremely proud of both my Masonic grandparents. I could never live up to all the standards they (especially my grandmother) set.
My grandfather had nearly completed work on a history of Monument Lodge when he died. He had also started work on a history of Houlton. both were eventually completed. I have a copy of the Monument Lodge history generously given me by Richard Rhoda, our new Maine Lodge of Research Fellow.
I also want to thank Mrs. Mildred Mcintosh, ever my grandmother's great helper, with supplying me with Cora Putnam's farewell address.
