On July 29,2016 Stan Prager appeared on Western Mass News television to showcase digitization as the marriage of history & technology and to promote “History Camp” at HCC in Holyoke on July 30th where Stan did a presentation on the George W. Gould letters and D.I.Y Digital Archiving. This website was featured in the news segment:

One the favorable results of my trip to Leicester to photograph the plaque at the Town Hall was that it put me in contact with Don Lennerton and Patrick McKeon, members of the Leicester Historical Commission.  After a couple of lengthy telephone calls and some email exchanges, I made another trip to Leicester to meet up with Patrick in person, who had gone way above and beyond to gather pertinent materials about George W. Gould and his family for me. Gifted with strong intellectual curiosity and a passion for history, Patrick invested time online and on foot to assist me with my research.  He assembled a biography of George W. Gould as well as a concise regimental history of the Mass 25th, and presented me with a typed document plus a sheaf of other papers containing a wealth of materials when I met him at a local doughnut shop on July 26, 2016.  It was Patrick who solved for me the mystery of George’s missing daughter Clarra Etta; it turns out that after George’s death she was adopted by Charles and Sarah Hatch and given a new name, Nellie Elizabeth Hatch, which is why I ran into a dead end researching her. Patrick also volunteered his afternoon to give me a tour of historic Leicester, regale me with tales of Civil War lore, and serve as a guide to the grave-sites of both Cora Gould McKinstry and Nelle Hatch Stillman.

I am grateful to Patrick for his kind assistance! Some of his materials will be added to this website in the near future. And I expect we will continue to stay in touch going forward as we each continue to pursue our shared passion for history.

In the course of my research into the life of George W. Gould, I previously visited his grave in Paxton, but I wondered if his name was engraved on any Civil War memorials.  There is a modest Civil War memorial on the green in Paxton across from the cemetery where he lies, and a much larger one in Worcester, but his name was inscribed on neither one. In my attempt to solve this mystery, I happened upon the Facebook page for the Grand Army of The Republic for the City of Worcester Board of Trustees, where I posted an inquiry and a link to this website.  They were kind enough to look into it and discover that George W. Gould’s name does appear on a plaque honoring the dead from Leicester; they posted a photo of the plaque and directed me to the Town Hall in Leicester where it is housed.

On July 11, 2016, I took it upon myself to drive to Leicester to see the plaque for myself.  Upon arrival, I was treated with great kindness by Kelly at the P&Z desk, who directed me to the plaque’s location. The plaque actually fills up an entire wall in the front hallway.  There I encountered Bill, in maintenance, a fascinating man with an interest in black powder and re-enacting, who helped me move furniture so I could get a good picture.

Here is a close-up of the George W. Gould inscription … Wonder if he was related to Levander M. Gould?  Need to look into that …

I love the quote on the top of the plaque:

Bill also took the time to relate the history of the building and to take me downstairs where framed pictures of that history are on display.  Apparently, the plaque was originally housed in the Old Town Hall, which burned down in 1937:

That original building contained its own GAR Hall where the plaque was featured.  I so wish that was still extant:

According to Bill, the plaque — which survived the fire —  was relocated to this building, which was once a high school, in 1939.  I am so grateful to Bill and Kelly for taking the time to assist me in my research, as well as Grand Army of The Republic for the City of Worcester Board of Trustees for directing me to the Leicester Town Hall.