The House at 17 Central Street

Unfortunately, I have not located a photo of the house. First of all, let me say that the house was more than just a house. It was an edifice. The concrete walkway from the sidewalk to the left front of the house was probably twenty or thirty feet long and a least ten or so feet wide. Two steps led up to a small landing facing two huge doors each of which had long frosted glass windows. Each door had a cut glass door knob and there was a glass knob which when pulled out sounded chimes that could readily be heard within.
To the right of the person or persons facing the doors was a long wooden porch bordered by a wooden railing. Off that porch was a door leading to the living room on the first floor.
This magnificent house consisted of a full cellar and three floors above.......truly impressive to say the least.
Once inside the home it became obvious that it was not built to have apartments. Upon entering the house via the two heavy doors you were faced with a hallway and a stairway on the left side having a mahogany type banister that led to the second floor. On the right, the hallway had one or two doors and to the left at the end of the hallway a door to the cellar. A big grandfather clock with a swinging pendulum stood at the end of the hallway.
To the right at the head of the stairway was the entryway to the kitchen. Beyond that there was a small hallway off which there was a relatively narrow stairway leading to the third floor. Also, there was a steep, narrow stairway going from the second floor to the first floor. All stairways ran in the same direction, i.e., north to south. At the north end of this small hallway there was a door on the left that opened to a small landing with steps running east & west going from the second floor to to the rear yard.
To me, the house with its many stairways, rooms and halls was a mysterious and intriguing home away from home.
I was told that the entire property consisting of the main house, two smaller houses just to the west, a two car garage to the east and a huge tract of land was purchased by my grandfather, Thomas' family from the French parish and that the main house had been a convent and possibly had some offices.
The nuns taught at a parish school in the back of St. Joseph's church on Central Street opposite Jackson Street.
I will leave the matter of the church and school to further posts on this blog.

June 17, 1904

Born in 1883, Johnny Sicotte was 20 years old and probably working as a fireman aboard a locomotive when this photo was taken. (Later, he worked for the Buckle Factory.) In 8 years time, John would settle down and marry Mary Rodier, but in 1904 he seems a rather jaunty turn-of-the century young man in celluloid collar and cap.

Waltham Watch Company

A significant physical presence in the city and maybe even a claim to fame, the Waltham Watch Company was known for the quality of its timepieces. Therese’s Bronx-born husband Alex owned stock in the company well before he met his future bride.
    The Sicottes had their impact on Waltham Watch (or vice versa.) Quite a few worked there in various capacities. Edward says: “My brother Leo worked for over twenty years at the Watch Factory, however, he was in the Speedometer Department assembling & repairing speedometers. As far as I know he never worked on watches. At that time, the Watch Co. made speedometers for the Ford Motor Company. For many years he was the only technician in that department except for a foreman who would drop in every so often to see how things were going. My aunts Annie, Leonie & Alma worked there for a few years when they were probably in their twenties. Annie got married & moved to Canada. Leonie left the Waltham Watch Company employment in 1915 to take care of the household on Central Street after her mother died and Alma quit to go to work for E.A. Young Watch Repair Company on Moody Street. She and the owner, Mr. Young, did all the watch repairing. She was very clever and even the production manager at the Waltham Watch Company used to bring his watch in to be cleaned, etc. Alma said he would ask her to come back to work for the Waltham Watch Co., but she was happy where she was and told him so. For about a year, I worked in the Waltham Watch Company on defense work, making anti aircraft time fuses. I quit there to work for the Raytheon Company for a few months until I was called into the Air Force in January 1943. I had signed up in the Air Force Reserve Aviation Cadet program in October of 1942.”

Waltham Watch Company

Edward took this photo of the Watch Factory building from a vantage point at the Mount Feake Cemetery across the Charles River in 1962. “You can see the pilings of what formerly was the dance hall and boat house, Nuttings on the Charles, that burned down. The river, in the winter, sometimes froze completely from Nuttings to Forest Grove quite a distance away. It's hard to believe, but at times a truck was placed on the ice to plow the snow so skaters could skate all the way. I skated it many times.
    Although I was a good ice skater, I never became a passable roller skater. I tried roller skating in Nuttings when it was no longer a dance hall, but allowed roller skating.
    I had to quit that pastime because I kept bumping into the pillars in the huge room and falling to the floor when I tried to stop or turn. That floor gave one quite a burn besides putting a hole in one's trousers.”

School Days: Lawrence

Lawrence was called Peanuts because of his stature. He and his brother Ernest owned and operated a dry cleaning business.

School Days: Ernest

Ernest, the boy with the temper, which the rest of the family seemed to take pleasure in provoking.
   He used to taunt his brother Edward, "If I had your nose full of nickels, I'd be rich... To which Edward would reply, "If I had your ears and could purr, I'd take off and fly..."

School Days: Irene

Irene, daughter of John and Mary, was brought up by her Aunts, Annie, Leonie & Alma. Irene had been born with a cleft palate and a hearing deficit and somehow it was decided that it would be too difficult for her mother to take care of her in addition to the rest of a growing family. According to Irene's sister Therese, the Aunts feared that other children would make fun of her, so they taught Irene at home. If this photo is any evidence, she spent some time in grammar school and was a little girl with a penetrating and inquiring gaze.