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e a Week NO. 78 BATH, MAI»%%tia1e d A904forjneInne-orine;htch.58 YEARS WEDMr. and Mrs. Read NicholsStudCelebrate AnniversaryMR. NICHOLS OLDEST LIVING CHIEFOf Bath’s Fire Department and Still an Active Business Manthe ind I oftheberalud.outka.G.;anmuijr,8 a antikeitlytanTea688.89.rt-lyrtfSTUBBORNCAUSEDHFamily Overh location biklira»r-•e-idQKherenerdhevetieA flfty-elgath wedding anniversary ot a couple is a rare event and very few are lacky enough to enjoy the privilege. It ib an event in winch all should take interdfit and here in Bath ia a couple who, yesterday celebrated such an event surrounded with al! the t?i*a?Jtprta of life and with a happy family of children and grandchildren gathered to make the occasion sesiorabie.Tuesday was the fifty-eighth wedding anniversary of Mr and Mrs Read Nichols of 60i Washington street. Mr Nichols passed the day, as is his custom. at the office of the Read Nichols company on Commercial Btreeo in whica he is two*tnirds owner. Mr Ntchols received many congratulations on the -event, «whiie his wife, who passed the day quietly at home, was visited by many neighbors and friends who wished her many more years ofFire broke o the wooden e: studio in the Fi owned by Miss dnmige topropt fully insured, time any dange any of the near menfc having it it proved a mo? due and conti before the all o Ifc was about when Charles studio and afte rior he steppedfew minutcB atrear of ibe buii veil of smoke. Investigation, 1 such headway so and at once Hose and Chi street and not then going out? Officer Wm. A. to ring in a ge: went immediati cent sleet storr so that it was v was able to get partmeut respohappinet 8 and prosper! y Mr Nic'sif-x-36R.tobojftotna.11e-aF,ittoNichols was born in the town of Bowdoin March 11, 1822, toe son of Beniamin Nionols, a farmer. Mr Niotiols was one of nine obildren and he is the only one living. oMr Nichols came to this city in 1B3« and Btarted to learn the mason’s trade with the late Joseoh Corliss, father of William OorllaB who for years has managed a blacksmith shop in this ci.y.In' a few years he.had learned all the points of the trade and when in comfortable circumstances in 1846 he married MiBS Rachel Ann Little, daughter of the late Capt Charles Little who sailed vessels for Charles and WilliamOrooker of this city for twenty yearsand in all that time never lost a man or vessel. Mrs Nichols had one eistei, Barab, who married Soloman Retd.Mr ano Mrs Niohols were married at the Little homestead which was situated on the Bite where their present home 1b located A peculiar circumstance is, that Mrs Nichols was born m a house on this site anu has livedthere all her life. •Although Mr and Mrs Nichols have lived on the site of their present home ail through tneir married life they have occupied two bouaee# The old house was moved onto Bath street and is now occupied by Qjasxrge QD.-V£j. The present house was built 8tventelt;*n years ago and at that timewas one of the best structures in tneoRy*One year alter their marriage Mr Nichols and the late Solomon Reed, husband of Mrs Nichols’s Bister, formed a partnership and had as headquarters a little shop on Water street wnere they manufactured cemeBt pipes and did masonry. This was in 1847. In 1869 Mr Reed died aud Mr Nioholb has ainoe managed the business alone and bus built up a trade which is one of the beBt among Mainefirms of masons.The email quari era on Water street were found to be inadequate for the growing business of the firm and bo the present stand, with all its advantages. was purchased by Mr Nlouois from the late James Wakefield father of the late James W Wakefield. That was in 1876. The change greatly in creased the business of the firm and proved one of the best investments that Mr Niohols evei .made.Mr Niobo's has held several public offices. He was Overseer of Bath’s Poor for twelve years, was a Councilman several terms and has been all through the Fire Department from handling tne hose to cnUf engineer. He was chief for two years and it was during that time that many big fires occurred. He was an able fireman and when he resigned from the D* part-ment he was reappointed, eo desirous were the citizens for bis aeivicis.Among the fires vivid in the mind of Mr Nichols are the fires whlon destroyed the Harvey Block which was located where Brown’s shoe store now. is. and the Tarhox Block, where T G Campbell now keeps a grocery store. When the latter burned the weather was five degrees below zero and it wasone of the hardest fires MrNioholB ever fought. In those days the pay of the fire fighters was very little, the firemen receiving but ten dollars and the chief engineer twenty five dollars per year. *Mr and Mrs Niohols were blesseddied the blaze iThe extenaio and it was onlj work that the Dense smoke j thns making I doubly hard, extension was negatives of th a large amour backgrounds ic net known’ ho are destroyed, frozen togethei them, but if it rate them the The interior.of gutted by the it will prove s cleared up agaiexpeots\to be rJ^mes McDi family of sever and realizingat once nOtifie.tions to move*» .• v ■at the time an ized their dan* filled with the children were Mrs. McDonal tempted to d they were read they were ^e Reynolds- and planned a met! np the stairs ncoccupants, inc just a month a rescue, for tl dut y at their c cation from th done to their tMr. Higginsoriginated, bulthat it must thrown down rear. Mr. Hig were cold how the fire beforei .possible thatt waste materii nited from theThe smoke s nearby stores damage. It is twenty mi put sounded, smok of H. T. Fassn street. Seven it made a com mill, and Arth with making c convinced tha any of the bu from the stud Ithough the fidiscovered.The boxing street wbiob 1 always remali help to the fir ble for them Water street i rear end of thlt;The buildini of New York, of this oity a fully insured.with eight ol gone to the son, Oharlei father, and Pierce, who to oelebrate them today.This eveni bright by tblt; will take pla and their cb: lug with MrThe grand' are: MissOlArthur, Fredcbel NioholsThe membc mona grangedahoo grange
Newspaper Details
Bath Independent and Enterprise
Bath, Maine, US
Wed, Jan 27, 1904
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Sarah D.
USA 20 Jun 2018
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