There Is A Lot to Like About Lowell -- The Cobblestones of Lowell

"There is A Lot to Like About Lowell" is the city slogan.

(See tab on right side called "Lowell Series" for many more articles about Lowell.)

THE COBBLESTONES OF LOWELL

The thing I love the most about cobblestones is how they look in pictures. Intersection of Shattuck and Middle Streets, above.

Intersection of Palmer and Middle Streets.

Center of Lowell, Merrimack Street, Central Street to the left.

Note: Unfortunately, the above stones were removed in November 2017, and the area was paved over. See news article, with photos.

Cobble, cobble toil and trouble: crews remove downtown Lowell cobblestones

Cobblestones on Palmer Street, above were repaired. Streets below need some repair.

Jackson Street at Market Street.

Some cross walks have a nice designs.

Above and below on Davidson Street. Photos taken on January 28, 2022.

Shattuck Street, Middle Street on left. Photo was taken in 2015.

Sept. 26, 1930 photo of Market St. at Dummer St. shows a portion of the street in cobblestones. Used with permission from Jacqueline Maguire Sumner, Feb. 11, 2022.

Ancestors of my "Brick Wall" Elizabeth Johnson of Massachusetts - Surname Saturday

Yesterday, my post was about hiring a professional researcher to help me solve my brick wall. Not only did I explain how he found me, but I also gave some useful information for New England researchers. See post HERE.

The post was rather long, so I decided to split the narrative part from the descendant report of Richard Nichols and ancestor report for Elizabeth Johnson (shown in red, everything above her name was new information). I wasn't surprised to see that I was related to myself, as shown in Generation 2, but was delighted to find that out. More research needs to be done on other members of the family.

A few months later, when the snow melted and the weather turned warmer, I went to Reading, Massachusetts and found the cemetery stone for James and many other Nichols in the same family line. Original post was written in April, may be seen HERE.

Cemetery Stone of my 8th grandfather

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Descendant Register, Generation No. 1

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1.	RICHARD NICHOLS died 22 NOV 1674 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. He married ANNAS  BEF 1651 in Ipswich/Reading, Massachusetts. She died 24 AUG 1692 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.
	Children of RICHARD NICHOLS and ANNAS are: + 2   i. JAMES NICHOLS was born 25 JUL 1658 in Ipswich (Chebacco), Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died 12 JAN 1744/45 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. 3   ii. Joanna NICHOLS was born 26 NOV 1660 in Ipswich (Chebacco), Essex Co., Massachusetts. 4   iii. Mary NICHOLS. She married Samuel LAMSON. 5   iv. Thomas NICHOLS. 6   v. John NICHOLS. 7   vi. Richard NICHOLS. 8   vii. Hannah NICHOLS.

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Descendant Register, Generation No. 2

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2.	JAMES NICHOLS (RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 25 JUL 1658 in Ipswich (Chebacco), Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died 12 JAN 1744?45 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. He was buried in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. He married MARY POOLE 9 OCT 1682 in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, daughter of JONATHAN POOLE and JUDITH. She was born 14 NOV 1662 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 18 JUL 1711 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. She was buried in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.
	Children of JAMES NICHOLS and MARY POOLE are: 9   i. James NICHOLS was born 2 JUL 1683 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. He married Joanna LAMSON 20 MAY 1707. + 10   ii. MARY NICHOLS was born 12 NOV 1685 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 12 FEB 1778 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. + 11   iii. Jonathan NICHOLS was born 23 FEB 1690/1 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. + 12   iv. William NICHOLS was born 14 FEB 1695/6 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. 13   v. Sarah NICHOLS was born 30 MAR 1699 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. She married Joseph BURNAP20 DEC 1722. 14   vi. Ebenezer NICHOLS was born 29 MAR 1703 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.

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Descendant Register, Generation No. 3

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10.	MARY NICHOLS (JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 12 NOV 1685 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 12 FEB 1778 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. She married BENJAMIN WILEY 4 DEC 1707 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, son of JOHN WILEY and ELIZABETH w\o JOHN WILEY.
	Children of MARY NICHOLS and BENJAMIN WILEY are: + 15   i. ELIZABETH WILEY was born ABT 6 JUL 1712 in Wakefield, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 3 DEC 1798 in Woburn, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. 16   ii. Benjamin WILEY. 17   iii. James WILEY was born ABT 27 JUL 1718.

11.	Jonathan NICHOLS (JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 23 FEB 1690/1 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. He married Phebe EATON. She was born ABT 1690.
	Child of Jonathan NICHOLS and Phebe EATON is: + 18   i. Benjamin NICHOLS was born 1723.

12.	William NICHOLS (JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 14 FEB 1695/6 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. He married Abigail KENDALL 14 JAN 1719 in Woburn, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. She was born 31 MAR 1697 in Woburn, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 19 NOV 1728 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.
	Child of William NICHOLS and Abigail KENDALL is: 19   i. Samuel NICHOLS was born 15 FEB 1728 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 13 SEP 1777 in Guilford, Windham Co., Vermont. He married Anna STEVENS. She was born 17 MAR 1732 in Rutland, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, and died 24 MAR 1811 in Guilford, Windham Co., Vermont.

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Descendant Register, Generation No. 4

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15.	ELIZABETH WILEY (MARY NICHOLS3, JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born ABT 6 JUL 1712 in Wakefield, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 3 DEC 1798 in Woburn, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. She married WILLIAM JOHNSON 23 DEC 1733 in Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts, son of Unknown JOHNSON.
	Children of ELIZABETH WILEY and WILLIAM JOHNSON are: 20   i. William JOHNSON was born 1 DEC 1734 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. + 21   ii. James JOHNSON was born ABT 3 OCT 1736. 22   iii. Timothy JOHNSON was born 13 NOV 1743 in Wakefield, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. + 23   iv. ELIZABETH JOHNSON was born 7 NOV 1750 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 19 MAR 1799 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. 24   v. Joseph JOHNSON was born ABT 1 APR 1753.

18.	Benjamin NICHOLS (Jonathan NICHOLS3, JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 1723. He married Mary TROW. She was born 1728.
	Child of Benjamin NICHOLS and Mary TROW is: + 25   i. Benjamin NICHOLS was born 1754.

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Descendant Register, Generation No. 5

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21.	James JOHNSON (ELIZABETH WILEY4, MARY NICHOLS3, JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born ABT 3 OCT 1736. He married.
	Children of James JOHNSON and Wife are: 26   i. Molly JOHNSON was born ABT 20 SEP 1767 in Wakefield, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. + 27   ii. William JOHNSON was born 28 JUN 1772 in Wakefield, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.

23.	ELIZABETH JOHNSON (ELIZABETH WILEY4, MARY NICHOLS3, JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 7 NOV 1750 in Reading, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and died 19 MAR 1799 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. She was buried in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. She married DAVID MEAD 21 OCT 1773 in Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts, son of BENJAMIN MEAD and HEPHZIBAH. He was born 19 NOV 1749 in Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died BEF 1784 in New Ipswich, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire. She married Abner SANGER 1 APR 1784, son of Eleazer SANGER and Mary JACKSON. He was born 12 MAR 1739 in Hardwick, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, and died 1 OCT 1822 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. He was buried in Old Cemetery, (Known as Washington St. Cemetery) Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire.
	Children of ELIZABETH JOHNSON and DAVID MEAD are: + 28   i. Elizabeth MEAD was born 11 OCT 1774 in Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died 15 APR 1868 in Glover, Orleans Co., Vermont. + 29   ii. MARY MEAD was born 1777 in Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died 19 JUL 1813 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. + 30   iii. David MEAD was born 1779 in New Ipswich, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire, and died BET 1850 AND 1860 in of Danvers, Essex Co., Massachusetts. Children of ELIZABETH JOHNSON and Abner SANGER are: 31   i. Hepzibah SANGER was born 16 MAR 1785 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died 25 APR 1785 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. + 32   ii. Abner SANGER was born 19 APR 1786 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died 15 APR 1867 in So. Danvers, Essex Co., Massachusetts. + 33   iii. Hepzibah Meed SANGER was born 24 JUL 1788 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died NOV 1861 in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. 34   iv. Abigail SANGER was born 1 AUG 1790 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died 1 APR 1791 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. + 35   v. Abigail Willey SANGER was born 27 MAY 1792 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died 23 NOV 1878 in Swanzey, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. + 36   vi. Rhoda Jackson SANGER was born 12 AUG 1794 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died 7 APR 1871 in Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. 37   vii. Sally SANGER was born 8 OCT 1796 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, and died 21 AUG 1883 in Peabody, Essex Co., Massachusetts.

25.	Benjamin NICHOLS (Benjamin NICHOLS4, Jonathan NICHOLS3, JAMES NICHOLS2, RICHARD NICHOLS1) was born 1754. He married Rebecca BANCROFT. She was born 1761.
	Child of Benjamin NICHOLS and Rebecca BANCROFT is: + 38   i. Rebeckah NICHOLS was born ABT 1791.

Somebody Answered my Plea to Help Solve A Brick Wall, and I Gladly Paid Him!

One nice thing about asking for help, even if you have to pay for it, is it sure saves a lot of time. And, in my case, I got more than I bargained for when John, a professional genealogist and historian responded to my request to help solve one of my top ten brick walls, see HERE. His first email to me stated, "I have found additional records for her (Elizabeth) (birth and baptism) and her parents, including her mother's identity," I knew instantly I wanted to learn more. He went over and above what I asked for by finding an additional three generations of ancestors. I believe he sent me seven deeds and so much more information! Not bad for a cold March weekend in 2014.

When I asked if he felt he had the right parents, his reply, "Yes, I feel I have the parents. To start, I am attaching a deed from Essex County Registry of Deeds, Vol. 98, p. 133. It is for 30 acres being sold in March 1748. No buildings were mentioned on the lot, but William was listed as a yeoman. Note that the land is on the Saugus River; it would have been in current Lynnfield (then part of Lynn), near current Wakefield line (then part of Reading). Noter also references to the lot bordering lands of Benjamin Wiley and land of a widow Wiley. Finally, William Johnson's wife, Elizabeth Johnson, also signs, acknowledging that she was giving up any right of dower in the land (this was standard practice), signing with her mark, suggesting that she could not write."

Among things I learned, I want to share with you. He wrote about a single woman using Mrs. before she married, and the usefulness of finding deeds.

"As Elizabeth was listed as "Mrs." when she was married, it was of course quite possible that she was a widow, but we now know that Johnson was her maiden name, and there is no evidence that she married a man named Johnson prior to the Mead marriage. I have seen "Mrs." used in many marriage records of the period, even though the person had not been married prior to the entry, so this was actually not unusual."

"Deeds are not as yet used that much by people doing genealogy, but they are a valuable source that professionals will more often consult. If nothing else, the one I sent yesterday documents that William Johnson's occupation was a yeoman (farmer) and that Elizabeth signed with an "X" (her mark), so she likely could not write. The description places their land on the Saugus River, near a saw mill and adjoining land of Benjamin Wiley. I will be sending some more deeds and add some comments. You may also find them difficult to relate to, but the deeds serve as key evidence for being able to attribute who Elizabeth's parents were [Benjamin and Mary (Nichols) Wiley]."

I highly recommend this professional, and if you would like his name, please write me. I believe he took a personal interest in this case, and just based on the following information I'm sharing I think you'll agree. Obviously, he didn't just find me the parents of Elizabeth.

"I wondered if the Pooles of Reading were connected to you. Fun when different lines end up connecting.

Books I consulted regarding John Wiley and family in Reading included:

Loea Parker Howard. Ancient Redding in Massachusetts Bay Colony [1944], pp. 44-45.

“JOHN WILEY

“Sergt. John Wiley was an early settler on land in

the Woodville district of Wakefield. The men of this [44]

family took a deep interest in military affairs and were

officers in all of the early companies. His descendants

settled in Stoneham and Lynnfield, also.”

Lilley Eaton. Genealogical History of the Town of Reading, Mass.(1874), pp. 125-26.

“Wiley, John, one of the earliest settlers; lived in "Little World," now

called Woodville. He died probably in 1672. His wife, whose [125]

name was Elizabeth, d. 1662. Chil. : John (perhaps);

Benjamin (perhaps), who m. 1707, Mary Nichols; Elizabeth, b. 1649;

Timothy, b. 1653; Susanna, b. 1655, and m. 1678, John Damon;

Sarah, b. 1658.”

Savage vol. 4, p. 550 only says of John Wiley “Reading 1640, or at least an early sett.”

Curious, I thought I read in Howard that he likely had been from Ipswich. I guess my memory is slipping—I saw something and quickly checked Ipswich VR (finding nothing), but I failed to make a notation. Eaton certainly did more study of the Reading families than I, so he may have had a reason for thinking the most likely candidate for Benjamin’s father was immigrant John. My own instinct would be to look for possibility of Benjamin being a grandson of John.

Deeds are on microfilm at NEHGS, where I used to look them up. Copies are now uploaded in FamilySearch, but they are not as yet searchable. Originals are now at the Massachusetts Archives in Boston. I downloaded a few others if you are interested in some more."

Since this post is longer than I expected, I just posted the descendant, and it may be seen HERE.

Cemetery Stone of my 8th grandfather

Prince Spaghetti of Lowell, Massachusetts

Prince Spaghetti of Lowell, Massachusetts

Home of Prince Spaghetti and Prince Grotto Restaurant, Lowell, Massachusetts

I am including my employment at Prince Spaghetti as one of the things I like about Lowell. When I got the job, my mother-in-law was thrilled, since she had worked there in the 40s. I began working there the 8th year of being owned by Borden and lasted just two years before Borden sold the company in 1997. Below are various photos I took during my employment.

The building in red brick is the original plant (where shipping, quality control, mini grocery store, and the Prince museum are ) and the large white/grey building was where the pasta was manufactured and executive offices. The party picture shown below was on the 2nd floor of the new building.

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The courtyard of The Prince Grotto Restaurant faces the old and new buildings. Below are two railroad cars. There was also a fleet of large trucks with the same logo.

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Original business envelope.

A cook's paper hat, front and back. Some employees got together for dinner the week after the plant closed, and we signed our names.

Paper placemat (above).

Here is an iconic ad: Prince Spaghetti commercial, starring Anthony.

 The small book, Prince Treasury of Italian Recipes has 305 pages.

The above items were used for advertising the Prince Spaghetti Company and their restaurant, The Grotto Restaurant in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Some of the employees shown are Geoffry Ireland, Plant Manager in yellow shirt with tie; Dennis Hovland, Plant Engineer; Kathy Blair, Edmund T. Nelson, Systems Manager, Tony Iria, and Vincent Federici (Vinny). Gabriel Cannata. I am in the rose jacket, looking elsewhere.

Other employees I knew were Connie Gath, Larry LeCam, and briefly Margaret Carnevale (I replaced her when she left).

These two photos show what the area looks like in December 2021. The old factory and restaurant were torn down. There is a black iron fence around the entire facility. Photo taken on Newhall Street.

The above photo was taken on October 18, 2015.

The entrance to the new company, Markley, on Moore Street. The photo was taken on April 23, 2017.

Update:  A rare look inside the largest data center in Massachusetts (as reported by WBZ Boston and shared by YouTube. (As reported June 21, 2026)

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/inside-lowell-markley-data-center/

Genealogy Do-Over without Using the Internet

How do I work on my genealogy research without the internet and still participate in Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over for 2015?

When genealogist Thomas MacEntee mentioned his Genealogy Do-Over in January 2015, for genealogists, I got pretty excited. After 25 years of doing research, I’m ready for a partial do-over, but not one in which I start from scratch. With over 44,000 names in my database, I feel I wouldn't survive the Genealogy Do-Over challenge, nor would my ancestors.

Without the internet for almost three weeks, I've had plenty of time to think about where I want to go with my genealogy goals for 2015. During my downtime, I’ve been able to accomplish things I've always put aside in order to spend time reading Facebook, reading posts, and writing my own blog at Life From The Roots. Out of necessity, I had to find ways to continue with my research and organizing.

So what have I been able to do?

I went through Xerox copies of book pages taken at various libraries many years ago and entered the data on my RootsMagic6 database. There are many more to do, and this will keep me busy for many weeks. As I go along, I'll keep notes of what sources I need to locate online. This report and others done today are being done at my local library.

Located images of book pages I took at libraries on my iPad and transcribed them to my database. Taking photos of books with the iPad Air is incredibly easy, all pages are sharp and easy to read or if not quite so, I can enlarge each page.

A fun project was deleting over 13,000 photos from the 33,000 in my hard drive, thereby making it easier for me to locate images and photos for future posts. I hope this task will save me time during my future backup process. My current 20,000 are not in any particular order, everything is by date. As long as my brain's memory holds out, I think I'll be fine. But, yes I should have labeled and tagged everything.

I've merged duplicate sources into one. And, along this line, check for consistency. If I have the state abbreviation of MA it needs to be changed to Massachusetts, and county needs to be co. I recently changed all my Brome and Missisquoi counties in Quebec to read, Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada.

The last thing that’s kept me busy is reading several genealogy magazines and journals. Something I normally didn’t have time for.

I've even thought about several major projects I want to accomplish during the Do-Over time frame when the internet is up and running again. My thinking about ideas for improvement flows freely. I love it!

A New Discovery this week, Another Mill called Western Studios, But First Some Photos Of Mill No. 5.

A New Discovery this Week in the Mills

The mill is on the right (below).

There has been quite a bit written lately about Mill No. 5 and the Western Avenue Studios, two former mills. Unlike many other mills in the city that are used as office space or for apartments / condos, these mills now have shops, cafe, Luna (a small movie theater) and special events for the public. It's a great way to see a mill first hand.

My husband and I went the day after Christmas to both, and since most of the artists and shop owners weren't there, we had the buildings to ourselves, free to roam, explore and take photos.

At Mill No. 5, you need to take the elevator to the 4th floor.

Perhaps you can tell, work is still being done on the mill.

The entire floor was decked out in holiday decorations, and all the shops looked quite magical.

Note: Three of my photos have been stolen by http://thehammersmithgroup.com/#!projects/cwvn and are claimed as theirs.

thehammersmithgroup should be ashamed because they have easy access to their own projects and should use their own resources and not resort to taking photos from my blog. I discovered this when I read Curbed by Rachel B. Doyle and saw 2 of my photos. From that site, "Doors from Dr. Seuss' house. The facade of a 17th-century Georgian facade from London. Stained glass windows. All of these elements are present in an 1873 textile mill that was recently reborn as an eclectic retail complex in Lowell, Massachusetts. Instead of the typical warehouse look, the interiors of Mill No. 5 feature architectural elements salvaged from historic buildings all over New England. The biggest challenge, says Constantine Valhouli, who worked on the project, was "getting some of the large pieces up the dramatic curved stairwell when they couldn't be craned through an open window."

 Entrance to the Luna theater (above).

Large comfortable seats with a table shared by two.

 Coffee shop.

 Yoga Studio, with 4 huge windows and a nice view.

 

 

Jackson Street, looking towards the Western Avenue mill in the distance. Below are photos from the 2nd mill containing 245 studio rental space for over 300 artisans.

 Western Avenue Studios

Entrance (above)

The cooperative gallery has items to buy.

Public sitting area.

Love what they did with the loading dock.

 There are five floors of studio rental space for artists to live and or work.

 

We walked down five flights of stairs, all looking like these.

 Ground level (above and below).

From a vacant studio, I looked out on a canal.