The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-09-22
Bobson
Reminisces In His Home Town

GLOUCESTER. MASS, Sept.
q = For many years 1 have
been planning to visit the oldest
cemetery on Cape Ann. In it is
buried Isabel Babson, the first
Babson COR Rabson) who came
to this country, and from whom
all Babsons here descend. When
she left England. the name may
have been Rabson; but her sigma
ture could not be clearly read
when she arrived in Salem in
1887. Hence. the name was in
terpreted as Babson. which she
accepted. and which has been
the family name ever since.
To my great disappointment. l
found this old cemetery over
grown with weeds and shrubs
four feet high. and many of the
tombstones we're broken and
overturned. I. however, found
tombstones of the prominent
families of the first hundred
years of settlement on Cape Ann.
felt ashamed to find the GENE
terry in such condition and l
urge readers who have similar
cemeteries in their towns to get
them cleaned up and be sure
all the headstones are erect.
Granite Versus Cement
When l was boy, the great
business of Cape Ann was granite
quarries. Not only did Cape Ann
granite pave the streets of large
eastern cities, but the walls Of
the city halls, banks, and other
important buildings had granite
facings. The wealthiest families
in town were then in the granite
business. There was a certain
amount Of fishing. but not much,
as only sailboats were used and
the fish were caught by lines
and surface nets. Even the keen
est businessmen then believed
the granite business was good for
a hundred or two hundred years.
There certainly was granite
enough, and even now there must
be million tons left.
But suddenly Portland cement
became popular, and quickly
took the place of granite. Side
walk edgestones which hereto
fore had been made of granite
were being made of concrete:
walls were built of concrete; and
the facings were made of con
crete. AS petroleum came into
use at about the same time, the
existing paved roads were COW
cred by either concerto or as
phalt. In a few years, the great
granite business Of Gloucester
and Cape Ann came to an end.
This causes me to wonder what
other changes may now be going
on. 1t may be that the leading
industry of every city in which
this column appears will be sub
ject to similar changes. This
means that your leading indus
trialists. and especially the sec
rotary of your Chamber of Com
merce. must not be content with
present conditions and close
their eyes to new industries in
the hope Of thus protecting the
present industries.
Initiation
have been interested also in
reading the Court Records of the
wills of persons who died before
1900. These appraisals would
state the value of acreage. of
the house. the tools. and of the
hogs, cattle and horses - es-
pecially the mares. These ap-
praisals rated a mare" worth
one pound which was equiva-
lent to IS in the currency of that
day. As the price Of good mare
today is around 5000. it would ap-
pear that the currency has been
devalued. or the price has in
creased forty times! Further
more. going back several CEN
turtles. we find that a country
hotel charged only 1.-TWO pence
for overnight compared with So
S. today.
When forecasting prices of the
future. we are inclined to believe
that a good mare will sell for
several thousand dollars. It
really seems that In only fifty