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[phelps.FTW]

[2812.ftw]

[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 4, Ed. 1, Tree #2812, Date of Import: Nov 11, 1998]

Ice Cutting

During the 1930's Francis cut ice for his own use, for the East Braintree Store and others. He used a circular saw powered by a gasoline engine, to partially cut the blocks. He then broke them apart with a bar. One year, the Blanchards, the Davis Acres farm and Carl Wakefield cut the pond over twice.

View Points

More typical of Carl Wakefield's outlook on life were stories about how he routinely did his chores; cut, split, and delivered one cord of wood to Randolph; and returned home in the evening to do his chores again. Francis Blanchard explained how it was done: After chores, Carl drove up to the Meadow and then up to the Bowman pasture above the Wakefield sugarbush. There he cut enough trees for one cord of wood and skidded them to the drag way to Randolph, he split the wood and stacked it near the front. Axie Norman Blanchard saw him do the splitting as he passed her home on Rt. 12.
On another occasion, Salmon Williams hired Carl to cut a 5-acre field of oats by hand. Carl was told in jest that when he finished the work, he could call it a day. Carl arrived at first light and, swinging a large scythe while walking non-stop around the field, finished the job by 1 p.m. An exceptional feet for only one man!

Poultry Farms

Francis Blanchard had more poultry during the 1940's than anyone in the valley. Each year he raised over 2000 pullets and sold the 2000 year-old hens in the fall. His Hall Cross hens grew to 7 or 8 pounds each and layed a total of about 30 cases of eggs per week. In September, the poultry buyers came to weigh and load the hens. During WWII, the black market price of such hens went as high as $4 or $5 each, since meat was scarce and could be bought only with ration coupons.
After several years in the poultry business, Francis Blanchard watched egg prices go down from 60 cents/doz. while grain went up from $2.50/cwt. Axie had washed and sorted so many eggs that she was "sick of it". They decided to call it quits with hens.
Hens required intensive labor, particularly in the spring and fall. For this reason, Lewis Wakefield sold most of his poultry during World War II when help was short. Although Horace, Arthur, and especially George Wakefield kept their hens, Lewis Wakefield and Francis Blanchard became primary dairy farmers with larger herds and increased acreage.

Dairying

While the Wakefields came to farm most of the land immediately around the village center, the hills were worked by other families. The higher land to the south of West Brookfield has for many years been dominated by the Blanchard farm which has been family owned since 1878. Francis Blanchard took over his father's 62 acres in 1929 and continued to milk the 12 cows. As was common at the time, he farmed and also worked out, sawing lumber with water power at Abel's mill in East Braintree in the spring, and working on town roads and other construction projects during the remainder of the year.
In 1931, he bought a shingle mill and sawed shingles at his farm as a sideline. For $1.50 per thousand, logs were cut into 16 inch blocks with a drag saw and run through the mill, powered by a Model T Ford engine. One of his customers, Carl Wakefield, used to deliver hemlock logs at 3:30 a.m. so that it would be cooler for his horses. Winters were spent cutting ice.
During the 40's the Blanchards were in the hen business. But as profits slipped, they began adding more cows and land to graze them on. In 1956, they puchased the 100-acre upper farm (once woned by the Farnsworths) and cleared rocks and brush from the best fields.
Then, in 1958, they bought half of the Bannister farm. They also acquired a Model 45 International Baler -- the first small hay baler in the area. Previously, it was necessary to wait for custom baling by the Flints or Rogers who used larger machines.
Francis was helped by his two sons, Earl and Perry, so that by 1968, they were milking about 85 Jerseys. Then misfortune struck. Earl developed farmer's lung -- a progressive lung disease caused by mold spores in hay. It was the first case diagnosed by the Randolph Hospital. The best treatment is complete separation from hay and barns. Earl now works at Bethel Mills.
Perry took over the farm in 1969 when Earl left and his mother and father took over the Snowsville Store. He had increased the farm to 100 milkers when he too was stricken with farmer's lung. He tried switching to corn but it was not enough to cure him so eventually, the dary cows were sold. Today, Perry and his father raise between 40 and 100 Polled Herefords and sell some hay.

Sugaring

With the construction of centrally located boiling places, sap continued to be hand-carried at first. As sugar houses became more elaborate with several kettles hung over a single open fire, followed by large evaporators made of English tin, sap was gathered more efficiently in horse-drawn gathering tanks. Several local farmers built large sugar houses equipped with bricked-in arch, iron fire-box doors and evaporators capable of boiling large quantities of sap at once. Among them were the Wakefields, Maloneys, and Blanchards. Francis Blanchard hung between 1000 and 1200 buckets with his neighbor Homer Bannister.
During World War I and II, cane sugar was hard to come by so several sugar houses were in operation. Only 7 of them are still standing. The Wakefields' and Blanchards' sugarhouses wer the only ones operated recently.

Francis E. Blanchard
83, of Braintree, died April 16 (1995). Born in Brookfield in 1912, he was the sone of Earl and Avis (Fullam) Blanchard. He was educated in Brookfield schools. In 1933, he married Axie Norman. The carried on the operation of his family's farm and in 1968, purchased the Snowsville General Store and operated it until retirement in 1975. He was a member of the East Braintree and West Brookfield churches. Survivors include his wife; two sons, Earl and Perry; one daughter, Stella Flint; three sisters; seven grandchildren; nieces and nephews.