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Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society
Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society
The Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society of North Billerica was a Catholic temperance society of the Father Mathew movement, named for the Irish Capuchin priest Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), whose total abstinence pledge was taken by multitudes in Ireland and the United States. Its members pledged to give up drink entirely. Organized in 1887, it built and kept Father Mathew Hall on Lowell Street, which was for nearly sixty years its meeting place and a social hall of the North Village, and it gave the hall to the Archbishop of Boston in 1948. It is the only temperance society in Billerica with a substantial record in the town's sources.
The society and its hall
The society was organized in the fall of 1887 and held its twenty-fifth anniversary in November 1912. On December 19, 1889 The Talbot Mills, the corporation that ran the mill, gave the "Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society of North Billerica" for $1 a lot on the southerly side of Lowell Street, "upon the condition that a building shall be erected upon the land hereby conveyed for the uses and purposes of a Temperance Society and for no other uses and purposes, and that said land shall not be leased or sold." The society built its hall there. In 1912 it had 75 members and met every Tuesday evening at eight in Father Mathew Hall; its officers were William Taylor, president; James Bradley, vice-president; Charles Hayes, recording secretary; James Condon, financial secretary; and Bart T. Hayes, treasurer. Besides its meetings it gave whist parties in the hall, and on November 15, 1912 it celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary with a dance in Thomas Talbot Memorial Hall.
The society took part in the town's celebrations: it had a float in the Welcome Home parade for Billerica's soldiers and sailors of the World War on July 4, 1919 (see World War I). The assessors listed the property of "Temperance Societies" among the town's tax-exempt property, at $2,300 in 1939, and in October 1939 the Talbot Mills sold the society a second lot, Lot 58 of its Plan B, beside the hall.
End of the society
At a special meeting on August 9, 1948 the members voted "to transfer for a nominal consideration to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston ... all the property of the Society situated on Lowell Street," and the president, Timothy J. McCarthy, signed the deed of both parcels "with the buildings thereon." In 1949 the Talbot Mills released the temperance condition of 1889. Under St. Andrew's parish the hall was used for parish purposes, and in 1950 the pastor offered "the upper story of the Father Mathew Hall on Lowell Street" to the Bennett Public Library Association for a North Billerica branch library. The later history of the building, long the hall of the Disabled American Veterans and now a private house, is told under Father Mathew Hall.
Other temperance activity
Other temperance activity in the town's records is slight. On Sunday, April 27, 1913, Mrs. Elizabeth H. Tilton gave an address on "Temperance" in the vestry of the Unitarian church at the Centre.
References
- Wikipedia: Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), Irish Capuchin priest and temperance reformer, the "Apostle of Temperance"
- Billerica magazine, 1912, Societies and Clubs: 1887, Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society, officers; members 75; meets Tuesday evening at 8 in Father Mathew Hall
- Billerica magazine, Day Book, November 15, 1912: twenty-fifth anniversary of the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society, dance in Thomas Talbot Memorial Hall
- Billerica magazine, Day Book: meetings and whist parties of the Father Mathew T. A. Society in Father Mathew Hall
- Town Report 1919: Welcome Home parade, July 4, 1919; floats include the Father Mathew T. A. Society
- Town Report 1939, assessors: property exempted, Temperance Societies $2,300
- Town Report 1950, Bennett Public Library Association: offer of the upper story of the Father Mathew Hall on Lowell Street for a branch library
- Billerica magazine, Day Book, Sunday 27 (April 1913): address by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Tilton on "Temperance" in the Unitarian vestry
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| January 11, 1890 | Quitclaim | Talbot Mills, by Solomon Lincoln, President, and Frederic S. Clark, Treasurer | Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society of North Billerica | The Talbot Mills to the Society, Dec. 19, 1889, for $1, on condition of use by a temperance society | 212/73 |
Dated Dec. 19, 1889, for $1. A parcel "on the Southerly side of Lowell street": from the northerly corner of land now or late of Mrs. A. Wilson, "formerly the property of the grantor", southwesterly by the fence 90 feet to land of the North Billerica Baptist Society, 12 feet by the Society, northerly 140 feet by other land of the grantor to Lowell Street at a right angle, 68 feet 6 inches by Lowell Street, and 80 feet by the grantor to the start. "This conveyance is made upon the condition that a building shall be erected upon the land hereby conveyed for the uses and purposes of a Temperance Society and for no other uses and purposes, and that said land shall not be leased or sold", on pain of reverter. No title recital; the land was part of the Common conveyed to the company in 1884. Margin: "See B 1119 P 44".
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| October 31, 1939 | Quitclaim | Talbot Mills, by Thomas T. Clark, Treasurer | Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society | The Talbot Mills to the Society, Oct. 31, 1939: Lot 58, Plan B | 936/135 |
Dated Oct. 31, 1939 (50 cents in stamps). "The land in said Billerica situated on the southwesterly side of Lowell Street": NE by Lowell Street 62.70 feet, SE by other land of the grantee (the hall lot) 136.95 feet, SW by land of the Baptist Society of North Billerica 43.80 and 18.80 feet, NW by Lot 59 110.35 feet, 7,438 square feet, Lot 58 on Plan "B" of the Talbot Mills (Monahan, 1926-27-36, Plan Book 60 Plan 28). "Being a part of the fourth parcel" of the 1884 deeds from Frank P. Putnam, guardian (Book 169 Page 468) and Thomas Talbot and others (Book 169 Page 472). The company reserves the common sewer.
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| October 28, 1948 | Quitclaim | Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society, by Timothy J. McCarthy, President | Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a corporation sole | The Society to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, Aug. 9, 1948, by Timothy J. McCarthy, president | 1103/419 |
Dated Aug. 9, 1948, nominal consideration. "Two certain parcels of land with the buildings thereon" on the southerly side of Lowell Street: parcel 1 with the 1889 bounds (68.50 feet on Lowell Street) and parcel 2, Lot 58 on Plan "B" (7,438 square feet). "Parcel 1 above described is the land conveyed to the grantor by deed of Talbot Mills dated December 19, 1889 ... Book 212, Page 73"; parcel 2 by the deed of Oct. 31, 1939, Book 936 Page 135. Recorded with the vote of a special meeting of the society held Aug. 9, 1948 "to transfer for a nominal consideration to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston ... all the property of the Society situated on Lowell Street", attested by Thomas M. Barton, Clerk, and signed by seventeen members.
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| July 15, 1949 | Release | Talbot Mills, by Thomas Talbot Clark, Treasurer | Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society | The Talbot Mills releases the 1889 temperance condition, 1949 | 1119/44 |
Dated June 23, 1949 (acknowledged July 11). Reciting the 1889 deed (Book 212 Page 73) and its condition that a building be erected "for the uses and purposes of a Temperance Society, and for no other uses and purposes", and that "it is no longer the intent or desire of the said Talbot Mills that the premises therein conveyed be subject to such restriction and reversion", the company, for $1, releases the condition and quitclaims "all reversionary rights or interest" in the premises. Recorded with the directors' vote of June 23, 1949.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.