New Boston Historical Society

New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire

Boston Post cane
The 14K gold head of the original 1909 cane

The Boston Post Cane in New Boston

Ever since 1909, an ebony-and-gold cane has been awarded to the oldest citizen of New Boston. Seven hundred canes just like ours were distributed by the Boston Post to towns all over New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and the resulting publicity helped make the Post New England's most-read newspaper.

BostonPost

Each cane is made from a three-foot length of polished ebony, and has a 14-carat gold head, engraved with the names of the town and the newspaper. The story is told that the Post's publisher Edwin Grozier bought seven hundred ebony sticks at a good price, and had to think of something to do with them. The Boston Post cane was his solution.

At first, the cane was given only to the oldest male citizen of a town. After considerable debate, women became eligible to receive the cane in 1930, although it took another eight years for New Boston to get the news. In 1938, Sarah Goodwin was the first New Boston woman to be awarded the cane. "Granny" Goodwin held the Boston Post cane for ten years, more than anyone else in our town's history.

Grozier intended that a cane should be "transmitted," i.e., returned to a town's selectmen upon the death of a holder, to be passed on to the next oldest citizen. In New Boston, the selectmen now give the oldest citizen a replica of the 1909 cane to keep, and the original is on permanent display in the Historical Society museum. In 2020 there was some difficulty in obtaining a replica cane but a new supplier was found thanks to the efforts of State Representative Donna Mombourquette and Laura Bernard and Maralyn Segien in the Town Hall.

Holder's name	Born	Received cane	Died	Age*
Hooper, Levi	1818	1909	1915	97
Todd, James P.	1822	1915	1917	95
Todd, John M.	1835	1917	1918	83
Wilson, Andrew C.	1838	1918	1924	86
Warren, Almus	1839	1924	1927	88
Langdell, George	1842	1927	1929	87
Morgan, Franklin B.	1849	1929	1932	83
Corliss, John C.	1852	1932	1934	82
Bailey, Philester P.	1852	1934	1937	85
Leach, Allen A.	1856	1937	1938	82
Goodwin, Sarah (Farley)	1846	1938	1948	102
Dane, Alice (Todd)	1854	1948	1953	99
Cann, Edgar	1862	1953	1958	96
Cleland, Alice Lillian (Moses)	1863	1958	1959	96
Cochran, Lilla	1870	1960	1963	93
Daniels, Joseph	1870	1963	1968	98
Warren, Josie	1875	1968	1976	101
Warren, Elsie	1879	1976	1978	99
Boulter, Artemus	1882	1978	1981	99
Mason, William O.	1892	1981	1983	91
Craig, Ethel Maude	1880	1983	1986	106
Saltmarsh, Ruth M. (Smith)	1895	1988	1992	97
Christiansen, Helen D. (Bergquist)	1896	1992	1996	99
Gould, Charles	1901	1996	2004	103
Smith, Charlotte (Fiske)	1909	2005	2007	98
Clark, Rhoda Shaw	1911	2007	2011	100
Daniels, Ella (Leavitt)**	1916	2011	2012	95
Towne, Howard	1919	2012	2020	101
Poltrack, Betty	1921	2020	2024	102
Towne, Frances (Byam)	1927	2024

*Age at time of death may be up to 1 year more than the holder's true age, due to spreadsheet rounding errors.
**Ella Daniels did not actually receive her cane before she died in January 2012; her son Wayne attended a ceremony in her memory in March 2012.

In the list above, James P. Todd and John M. Todd were brothers and Josie Warren and Elsie Warren were cousins.

Frances Towne

Frances Towne, cane holder 2024—

New Boston's newest Boston Post cane holder is Frances Emily Towne, who will celebrate her 97th birthday in 2024. Frances was born in New Boston, the daughter of Jesse Byam and Emily Upton Byam who lived on South Hill. In 1946 Frances married Howard Towne, who received the Boston Post cane in 2011. In the photo above Brian, Bradley, and Rodney Towne watch their mother receive her cane from the New Boston Selectpersons Bill McFadden, Kary Jencks, and Donna Mombourquette. Frances's son Dan was just off-camera. Photo by Mary Atai

Betty Poltrack

Betty Poltrack, cane holder 2020-2024

Betty (Pratt) Poltrack, who celebrated her 99th birthday in 2020, was born in Bellingham, WA. Betty married Anthony Poltrack in 1945, and they had three children, John Poltrack, Susan Carr of New Boston, and Patricia Poltrack. (John took the color photo of Betty and made a 2-minute video of the July 23, 2020 presentation of the cane by Selectman Joe Constance.) Betty moved to New Boston in 1997. She enjoyed reading to the children at the Central School and volunteering at the Historical Society.

HowardTowne

Howard Towne, cane holder 2011-2020

Howard Towne was born in New Boston in 1919. He accepted his Boston Post cane about a hundred years after his grandfather, James Towne, received the cane for Peterborough, NH, in 1910. Howard's 100th birthday was celebrated in the Central School gym to accomodate all his family, friends, and well-wishers.

Howard's sister Esthermary Towne Hadley, born in New Boston in 1922, held the Boston Post cane for Weare until December 2020.

HelenChristiansen

Helen Christiansen, cane holder 1992-1996

Helen Christiansen was born in Dorchester, MA, in 1896, and moved to New Boston in 1979. When she received the Boston Post cane in 1992, she was congratulated by President George H.W. Bush, while he was campaigning in New Boston. Until we find the photo of Helen and the President, we'll use this photo of Selectman Arthur "Butch" Johnston presenting the cane to Helen.

Helen's granddaughter Ellen McDowell Ruggles, great-granddaughter Jane Byam, and two great-great-granddaughters all live in New Boston today.

There is a story for almost every one of the Boston Post cane holders, and in time we'll add more to this page. For now, we'll close with a Boston Post cane mystery — and its solution!

MaudeCraig1983NBTownReport
Excerpt from the 1983 New Boston Town Report

Ethel Maude Craig, cane holder 1983-1986

The Historical Society keeps a list of New Boston cane holders, which I've reproduced near the top of this page. I did add an "Age" column to the list, because someone asked me, "How old was each of the cane holders?" To calculate their ages, I needed to know the year in which everyone was born. That was a few minutes' work, using FindAGrave and FamilySearch. However, for the longest time I could not find Ethel Maude Craig, in any of my usual sources!

Finally, I found an Ethel Amelia Maude Craig, who is buried in Dublin, NH. Then I found in the Dublin town reports that Maude Craig, which is what she called herself, held the Boston Post cane for Dublin, from 1980-1986. Did Maude Craig possess two Boston Post canes at once, New Boston's and Dublin's? (Spoiler alert: the answer is "Yes.") Or were there two different Maude Craigs? (Answer: No.)

I asked the other Historical Society volunteers if anyone remembered Maude. Betsy Moody looked through a dozen New Boston town reports, and found a Milestone for 1983: "The cane was presented at the July 4th celebration to Miss Maude Craig of Chestnut Hill, age 103." Therefore, our Maude was born around 1880, which matches the birth year for Dublin's Ethel Amelia Maude Craig, born in Milton, MA on May 30, 1880.

Next I contacted the Town of Dublin. Archivist Nancy Campbell did some research, and after several emails back and forth, we now know the whole story. "According to the Town of Dublin checklist records Miss Craig first appeared on our checklist in 1960... According to our annual reports, she died here in Dublin on November 16, 1986, at the age of 106. She also had a sister, Blanche I.A. Craig. The sisters lived at the Fairwood Bible Institute." Ms. Campbell found a history of the Fairwood which stated that Maude lived with the Miller family on Chestnut Hill in New Boston until the fall of 1983 (in other words, a few months after she received our Boston Post cane) at which time she returned to the Fairwood, in Dublin.

— Dan R. townfarm@comcast.net