News

Saturday, June 10, 2023, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm. Weld Hall, Hyde Park Library.

Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution.

Dr. Eli Merritt discusses his new book Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution.

Merritt reveals the deep political divisions that almost tore the Union apart during the American Revolution.

Dr. Eli Merritt is on faculty at Vanderbilt University. He has written for the LA Times, NY Times, USA Today, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The American Journal of Legal History and other publications.

CBS News and WBZ reporter Levin Reid and the Society’s Victoria Gall discuss the pioneering work of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler. This news report was featured on CBS News on March 27, 2023.

Additional resources on Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Historic Boston Inc. Campaign Raises Funds to Commemorate Dr. Rebecca Crumpler, African-American Female Physician

Boston University. Boston Honors Trailblazing School of Medicine Alum Rebecca Lee Crumpler (MED 1864)

Boston University. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Black woman to graduate from a US medical school

Robert Hannan, president emeritus of the Hyde Park Historical Society sadly passed away at the age of 97 years.

ROBERT HANNAN OBITUARY

Hannan, Robert Francis Sr. In Boston, March 9, 2023, at 97 years of age. Beloved husband of the late Nancy Hughes Hannan and loving son of the late Jeremiah and Kathleen (nee Richards) Hannan. He is survived by his five children: Robert F. and his wife Lorrie Clark Hannan of Falls Church, VA.; Dr. Christopher W. and his wife Susan, of Weymouth; Dr. Mary K. and her husband Edmund Yee of Dalton, MA; Nancy L. and her husband Richard Rainer of Annapolis, MD; and Sally T. and her husband Paul Croarkin of Kensington, MD. Proud grandfather to 17 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and devoted brother of the late William F. Hannan and the late Richard D. Hannan. He is survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

Robert F. Hannan grew up in Medford Hillside and was a graduate of Medford High School, class of 1944. He attended Northeastern University graduating in 1949. He began his career as a reporter for the Boston Herald Traveler. Robert married and moved to Hyde Park in 1959, embracing this community for the next 56 years. He became the Boston City Hall beat reporter, covering mayors Hynes, Collins, and White, before moving to the Massachusetts State House to cover statewide politics. He became the Research Director for the Boston City Council and retired in this role. He was a longtime officer of the Hyde Park Historical Society and the R.O.M.E.O. group for retired political reporters and politicians. He also founded the Companions of St. Joseph’s Parish. Robert moved to Allerton House in Hingham in 2015, immersing himself in this community for the last years of his life. Camping throughout America and visiting many countries worldwide highlighted his love of travel. A gentleman in every sense of the word, his character and interest in everyone and everything around him made him an unforgettable friend to so many and a hero to his family.

A wake will be held on March 24, 2023, from 4:00-8:00 PM at the McDonald Keohane Funeral Home 40 Sea Street, NORTH WEYMOUTH, MA. There will be a Catholic Funeral Mass on March 25, 2023, at 10:00 AM at St. Paul’s Church, 147 North Street, Hingham, MA. Burial is private.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Robert’s memory may be made to the Hyde Park Historical Society, by using the donate button below or c/o Hyde Park Public Library, 35 Harvard Avenue, Hyde Park, MA 02136.

We encourage blood and other donations to be made to the Dana Farber Center. https://www.brighamandwomens.org/patients-and-families/blood-donation/blood-donation-center

 

 

Scan to donate by phone.

 

http://www.sturtevantfan.com/HP.html

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It came to the attention of members of the Hyde Park Historical Society (HPHS) that the gravesite of some of Hyde Park’s most historical figures, the Weld/Grimké  family, needed cleaning and repair. Members of this family are interred on Evergreen Walk in Mount Hope Cemetery, Boston.

Theodore Dwight Weld (1805-1895), his wife Angelina Emily Grimké Weld (1805-1879), and her sister, Sarah Moore Grimké (1792-1873) moved to Hyde Park in 1864 and  lived on Fairmount Hill.

The trio were early and ardent abolitionists and friends of William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone, and Frederick Douglass. Together they wrote “American Slavery As It Is” in 1839, a comprehensive and exhaustive description of the state of slavery in the United States. Their book was used as the source material by Harriet Beecher Stowe for her book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which was influential in changing the tide of public opinion on slavery prior to the Civil War.

As a result of the sisters’ experience on the lecture circuit demanding freedom for enslaved people, they began to see the necessity of gaining equal rights for women and began to speak out.  Angelina is known for being the first woman to address a state legislature in the US when in 1838 she spoke in the Massachusetts State House decrying slavery.

As prominent  suffragists, in 1870 some 50 years before the nineteenth amendment granted women the right to vote,  the  Grimké sisters participated in a march and local election casting ballots in Hyde Park sending shock waves around the country. In 2019 the Hyde Park Dana Avenue bridge was dedicated to the sisters for their suffrage effort.

In the Summer of 2021, the Society began the process to have the grave site made fitting for these distinguished citizens. Kelly Thomas from the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative, Boston Parks and Recreation Department approved the project, and Kevin Duffy of Line and Stone Inc, Monument and Sculpture Service, Arlington MA, completed the work.

The Weld name on the front side of the upright gravestone faces Evergreen Walk and lists four family members, although eleven are interred in the family plot. The backside of the stone has information solely on Sarah Grimké. It is likely that her name originally faced the road, she being the first person in the family to die. Twenty-three years later the Weld name was added, and that side now faces the road.

Interestingly, Angelina Grimké Weld’s name is omitted on the family gravestone because she may have requested so. Theodore Weld followed her instructions and buried her in plain clothing with a simple graveside ceremony. The HPHS funded and installed a simple flat gravestone only to recognize Angelina, not to glorify her.

When the Hyde Park Branch Library opens for community meetings, lecture series hosted by the Hyde Park Historical Society will resume in Weld Hall.

If you would like to join or support the work of the HPHS you do so on this site. Questions comment  to info@hydeparkhistoricalsociety.org.

*Evergreen Walk is .4 mile from the front gate. Follow Central Avenue which is to the left of the flag pole. Go up the hill and turn left on Grove Avenue ( .3 mile). Take the 1st  right and the gravesite will be on on your right side up near the 3rd tree.