A String of Pearls
The New York Times named it one of the most picturesque roads in New England, where the bridge crosses over the river curving through a valley of pastures and marshes and twisting into the woods. Spring comes first to this area, in the scarlet flush of brambles and greening sedges. This summer the town purchased the acreage south of the bridge, and a few years ago voted to secure the development rights to the north. Protection of this pastoral place has always been important.
Owners of the farm that once comprised the entire area have also preserved its character. Currently, Chad and Betty Caffrey, who have creatively repurposed other elements of the farm, are repairing the enormous barn. Prior to the Caffreys, the Gardners raised sheep here and hosted Sheep Dog Trials. From 1958 to 1984, Oscar and Hazel Filipeit managed a dairy farm of eighty cows. The Filipeits bought the farm from William Pearl who, with his wife Mildred, raised three children: Joyce (Rodriquez), Joanne (Page), and Bill Pearl. Joanne recalls:
I loved living on the farm. We played up behind the barn on the big rock, in the brook, explored all the woods, fished in the Little River. We had Holstein cows, chickens, lambs when I was little. I was told they had a few pigs before my time. I know they had horses because I remember Dad burning a large hive off the side of the stall. They took that down to add the little milk room. I remember them removing the trees and the stone walls from the two big fields below the house. He grew corn there.
Her cousin, Dorothy Vander Muellen, writes:
Behind the farm house stood the old gray weathered barn with the out-house sitting close by. How I hated to use that outhouse having visions of big spiders sneaking up under me! The barn had a concrete aisle up the middle with troughs running the length of them, separating the cows from the aisle. Uncle Bill hand milked a cow one day and invited Joyce and me to stand there along with multiple semi-tame cats while he squirted streams of warm milk into our mouths. Messy, but fun!
William Pearl inherited the farm from his parents, William Austin and his wife, Mabel. Their children were Beatrice (Thayer), Dorothy (Overbaugh), Eleanor (Moon) and Bill. Their grand-daughter, Mrs. Vander Muellen, the family historian, chronicles her mother’s memories in one of her several books on the subject:
Will would be up to milk the cows before 5 a.m. in those days that was all done by hand…After breakfast, Will would return to the barn and fields to continue with the unending chores that farm life demands…caring for the animals, doing maintenance and repairs on equipment, plowing or sowing, cleaning out stalls…the farm was one of the last places in Hampton to be hooked up to electrical power because of the cost to bring lines down the hill to the valley.
In the Introduction of the appropriately titled “A String of Pearls”, Mrs. Vander Muellen writes, “One of the pictures that hung in my parents’ house was an old and faded watercolor painting of the home in which my mother grew up. It is titled, “the Jewel Case”. When I looked at that old picture it was easy to conjure up an image of a string of pearls in their protective box…the idea of a jewel case was, to me, an apt image for the home which sheltered my mother and her family in the early years of the 20th century.”
Across from “the Jewel Case”, the North Cemetery rises in mysterious tiers, many of its ancient stones marking the resting places of several of the Pearls, one of the town’s founding families, Timothy Pearl settling in Hampton in 1712. The union of his son, James, to Jane Orcutt in 1763 provided the family with their link to the Mayflower. The marriage of their grandson, John, to Maria Jewett in 1847 linked them with another early family, the Jewetts. The Hampton Pearls descend from their third child, Austin, whose son William ran the farm we feature this month. Though many descendants of the family remained here, their surname is no longer Pearl. Scarpino, Colburn, Becker, Krupula, Artz, Burnham, Rodriguez, Demontigny, Haddad, Hoffman, Freeman, Moon, Palmer, Buell – Pearls all, several still among us, as well as in our memories, and theirs. Here, members of the family reflect on “Growing up Pearl in Hampton”.
My mom’s mother, Evelyn Estabrooks, came from a long line of Pearls. Evelyn was the Postmaster so I got to know a lot of folks in town. I grew up in a house my great grandfather, Austin, built in 1880. Next door was my great uncle Rueben’s small farm. So I was surrounded by family and got away with nothing. If I did something wrong my parents would have known about it before I got home. To this day the family gathers each July to celebrate and catch up with many cousins. I think as we age we value more those close family ties.
Alan Freeman
It was nice to be a Pearl. Between the family and pumping gas at the Hampton Hill Garage – I knew everyone!
Bill Hoffman
Growing up in Hampton as a Pearl has been very special to me. In my early years, I knew all the people on Main Street as several of them were cousins. As kids we always felt safe walking to school to friends’ houses as everyone knew you and watched over you. As they say, it takes a village. My parents have always been into volunteering. They were very active in the Grange, Ladies Aide to the Congregational Church, the fire department and ambulance corps, and the Leslie Jewett Post of veterans. I remember them being very proud of the fact that they could honor our Hampton hero who was also a relative. That post of brave vets was responsible for the beginning of the Hampton Chaplin Ambulance Corps. I am proud to carry on my father’s fire department and ambulance service along with my husband, daughter, step son, and niece. I am proud of my family and their many years of volunteering. I will continue to do what I can to keep that tradition going.
Dale M Pearl DeMontigny
My mother was born in “Uncle Will’s” farmhouse in 1920. She would tell stories of sliding down Hammond Hill on sleds after school. That must have been some ride. We were related to half the town, which was not a big deal until I got into college and people found it hard to comprehend. Cousins made up the elementary school! When I was 15, Oscar Filipeit asked me to run the farm while he went on vacation for a week. Why not? I did chores with him for a few days and off he went. My mother would drive me down at 4:30 a.m. and drop me off with my bike to come home. I also mowed cemeteries, so I went from the farm to the North Cemetery. I mowed the grass over many relatives!
Ralph Scarpino
I grew up in a grand Victorian house my grandparents bought right after they were married. We were fortunate to live right next door until we moved in with my grandmother after my grandfather passed away. I loved having my Nana Pearl around caring for us, teaching us about cooking, gardening, church and singing, telling us stories about the old days. It was the best childhood ever. I was in one of the largest elementary school classes which contained five Pearl cousins! Four Hampton siblings had their offspring in one class: Arthur Pearl’s granddaughter, Alma, Will Pearl’s grandsons Bill and Neal Moon, Evelyn Estabrook’s granddaughter, Jo Freeman, and me, Reuben Pearl’s granddaughter. We were related to everyone!
Nancy Hoffman Burnham
I am always drawn back to my teenage years, a time when I realized what I had as a family was special. Before that it was just — normal. I first felt like I was related to everyone in town. It was probably a little bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. I couldn’t keep half of the relationships straight. I was often surprised to find out who I was related to. Didn’t have to end in Pearl. The Jewetts were also a part of our reunion until recently. The Krupalas were also part of our extended family. The Pearls just had our 80th Reunion, which means it’s been going since 1939. We’ve kept historical data since the beginning of our reunions: births, deaths, marriages. Tradition is what I was raised on. The history of our family may not be unique, but it is a history passed down from my relatives by conversations.
Neal Moon
Being a Pearl growing up in Hampton meant being literally related to almost half the town! Not a bad thing really since that half was related to me. It meant looking at old and, at the time, current photos of Family Reunions and thinking, “We have a bunch of people in our extended family!” Riding my bike around town after hearing stories from Grandma Estabrooks, daughter of Austin and Mary Pearl, meant I could see buildings that my Great Grandfather had helped to build. What a sense I had of really belonging here, right here, because so much of my family had settled in Hampton long ago.
Jo Freeman
The first thing I can think of is FAMILY. I grew up in the same house with my grandparents Arthur and Estella Pearl. We had many relatives who lived in Hampton. My Grandfather’s brother, Uncle Will and sister Aunt Evelyn Esstabrooks, both lived near the center of town. My dad’s sister, Aunt Alice Krupula, remained in town and another of his sisters, Aunt Idamay Richmond, returned to Hampton after her husband died. My Grandmother’s sister, Aunt Bertha Burnham, also remained in town. I had a lot of cousins in school with me. My sister, Dale DeMontigny, as well as her daughter Becky still remain in town. My daughters, Cindy Palmer and Kathy Arzt, both built houses in town and now live in Hampton along with my Grandson Brady.
My second thought is COMMUNITY. My dad was involved with the Leslie Jewett American Legion Post. I remember him maintaining the guns that were used in the Memorial Day Parades, cleaning them before and after their use. We also kept the flag that was placed by the Veterans Memorial in the center of town. I would take the flag when I went to meet the school bus and place it on the flag pole in the morning. In the afternoon I would take the flag down and learned how to properly fold it. I also helped place flags on the graves of our veterans before each Memorial Day. As kids we would all march in the parade and look forward to getting ice cream from Uncle Henry Moon’s trunk at the end. Many people remember the annual chicken barbecue the Grange put on each Memorial Day. My dad cooked the chicken and my mom coordinated the rest of the dinner. Of course we all helped with preparing and serving it. Most of our involvement was with Little River Grange. My parents as well as Grandparents were all active in the Grange and I have followed in their footsteps. My mom organized many fundraisers and dinners which we all helped with. Mom also was in charge of the Holiday Bazaar for many years. I was involved with the Little River Juvenile Grange.
In a way, Family and Community were really the same thing in Hampton. You may not have been a “Pearl” but we all were part of the community family, helping each other when needed. I may not have lived in Hampton for many years, but I still feel that I am part of Hampton. You can leave Hampton, but it never leaves you.
Alma Pearl Graham