Groton and the Great Depression
December 04, 2025
Deborah Jurist
While doing research on the Page Chain Company, I found myself intrigued by what life was like in Groton during the Great Depression.
Sewell Page, owner of the Page Chain Company, died suddenly in 1934, leaving his wife Alice with 2 teenaged boys and one 3 year old girl named Marge. The boys, Russell and Ronald, decided to drop out of school and get jobs in order to provide for their Mother and little sister, thus preventing them from having to become dependents of the town. They were successful, Russell joined the Army Air Force at 16, and Ronald, just 14, began a long career as a successful farmer. His farm has become the central part of Newbury’s Four Corners Farm.
Source: Cindy Orr, Ryegate Postmistress and Sewell Page’s granddaughter
I asked myself the question, what did it mean for Alice Page and her baby to become dependents of the town?
Reading Groton town reports for the years 1931, through 1934, a picture began to form of what life during the Great Depression might have looked like.
We had an “Overseer of the Poor” who was elected at Town Meeting. Listed in the Reports, were the costs of services and goods provided to people who needed them. In other words, Groton citizens raised funds through the collection of taxes to provide for the poor, both those who lived in Groton, and for those who were listed as “Tramps”, transients who arrived by train. .
Many people boarded with families or individuals. People who took others into their homes were paid for this service by the taxpayers. Those who needed help were often in need for multiple years. There were sometimes children with no parents needing care, as well as the elderly, oftentimes people died during the time they were being cared for.
Groton paid for hundreds of gallons of milk from Blanchards, JK Whites, and EC Frost. Dozens of cords of wood came from individuals. Taxpayers paid for medical care, trips to the Cottage and Brightlook Hospitals, tobacco, telephone calls, clothes, a stove, moving expenses, legal advice, shoes, grave digging, manure, dental care, and glasses. The Overseer of the Poor was paid for a trip to St. Johnsbury to pick up government issued pork
One family appears over and over again. There seemed to be no father, and at first the mother received financial help for caring for her family. Then the Overseer of the Poor was paid for taking one child to New York, then for taking one to the Barre Sanatorium and eventually for taking the rest of the children “away”..
Tramps were “cared for” by individuals and the taxpayers footed the bill, oftentimes in groups. Once there was a charge for 50, once for 27. It looks like the cost for taking care of one tramp was $.75. The service provided was not defined.
In 1995 a 7th grade student, named Emily Dyer, wrote a paper called “Memories of the Depression”. She interviewed several people who had lived in Groton during the 1930s. Among those people were Norma Hosmer, 89 years old, Evelyn Frost Ricker, 75 years old, Margaret Blanchard Miller, Peggy Smith and Raymond Page, who had been an Overseer of the Poor.
Norma remembered eating lots of parsnips and potatoes, but her Mom also made sour cream cookies and cake with apple frosting. Evelyn Frost’s mother made grape sherbet. Margaret Miller’s Mom made donuts, pies and cakes once a week. Raymond Page, who raised 4 children during the Depression remembered hasty pudding, johnny cake, and milk toast. He mentioned that some people the town had supported, paid the funds back, and some of the transients worked on the roads for $.30 an hour.
In 1932 there were roughly 145 entries for payment to individuals, mostly local men, for work done on the roads.
In 1933 the Civil Works Administration, what we usually refer to as the Civilian Conservation Corps, brought 43 men to Groton who worked on the Westville School, the Hatch Brook Rd. and what they referred to as Ricker Rd.
Mrs. Blanche Miller, recalled the work of Harold Miller, who came from NY to work with the CCC Boys..
In Groton he became a stone mason and helped build fireplaces at Stillwater Campground, and the stone tower and steps to Owl’s Head, dragging the stones up the path by hand. Harold Miller and Margaret Blanchard married in 1935, they were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary the year Emily Dyer wrote her essay.
Local people were skeptical about how the CCC boys would fare in rural Groton. It turned out they did great. Alice Lord Goodine recalled that her husband Henry, the barber, would go to the CCC Camp once a week to give the boys haircuts and the young men often came into Groton, and spent money after they were paid.
In conclusion, there was a clear commitment to taking care of “our own” as well as those who came to town because they were homeless. Groton, being a farming town, probably fared better than many urban areas during the depression because food production was common.
As we face the new needs of our neighbors and those who land here without means, we have an opportunity to carry on the tradition set by Groton during the last century.
Sewell Page, owner of the Page Chain Company, died suddenly in 1934, leaving his wife Alice with 2 teenaged boys and one 3 year old girl named Marge. The boys, Russell and Ronald, decided to drop out of school and get jobs in order to provide for their Mother and little sister, thus preventing them from having to become dependents of the town. They were successful, Russell joined the Army Air Force at 16, and Ronald, just 14, began a long career as a successful farmer. His farm has become the central part of Newbury’s Four Corners Farm.
Source: Cindy Orr, Ryegate Postmistress and Sewell Page’s granddaughter
I asked myself the question, what did it mean for Alice Page and her baby to become dependents of the town?
Reading Groton town reports for the years 1931, through 1934, a picture began to form of what life during the Great Depression might have looked like.
We had an “Overseer of the Poor” who was elected at Town Meeting. Listed in the Reports, were the costs of services and goods provided to people who needed them. In other words, Groton citizens raised funds through the collection of taxes to provide for the poor, both those who lived in Groton, and for those who were listed as “Tramps”, transients who arrived by train. .
Many people boarded with families or individuals. People who took others into their homes were paid for this service by the taxpayers. Those who needed help were often in need for multiple years. There were sometimes children with no parents needing care, as well as the elderly, oftentimes people died during the time they were being cared for.
Groton paid for hundreds of gallons of milk from Blanchards, JK Whites, and EC Frost. Dozens of cords of wood came from individuals. Taxpayers paid for medical care, trips to the Cottage and Brightlook Hospitals, tobacco, telephone calls, clothes, a stove, moving expenses, legal advice, shoes, grave digging, manure, dental care, and glasses. The Overseer of the Poor was paid for a trip to St. Johnsbury to pick up government issued pork
One family appears over and over again. There seemed to be no father, and at first the mother received financial help for caring for her family. Then the Overseer of the Poor was paid for taking one child to New York, then for taking one to the Barre Sanatorium and eventually for taking the rest of the children “away”..
Tramps were “cared for” by individuals and the taxpayers footed the bill, oftentimes in groups. Once there was a charge for 50, once for 27. It looks like the cost for taking care of one tramp was $.75. The service provided was not defined.
In 1995 a 7th grade student, named Emily Dyer, wrote a paper called “Memories of the Depression”. She interviewed several people who had lived in Groton during the 1930s. Among those people were Norma Hosmer, 89 years old, Evelyn Frost Ricker, 75 years old, Margaret Blanchard Miller, Peggy Smith and Raymond Page, who had been an Overseer of the Poor.
Norma remembered eating lots of parsnips and potatoes, but her Mom also made sour cream cookies and cake with apple frosting. Evelyn Frost’s mother made grape sherbet. Margaret Miller’s Mom made donuts, pies and cakes once a week. Raymond Page, who raised 4 children during the Depression remembered hasty pudding, johnny cake, and milk toast. He mentioned that some people the town had supported, paid the funds back, and some of the transients worked on the roads for $.30 an hour.
In 1932 there were roughly 145 entries for payment to individuals, mostly local men, for work done on the roads.
In 1933 the Civil Works Administration, what we usually refer to as the Civilian Conservation Corps, brought 43 men to Groton who worked on the Westville School, the Hatch Brook Rd. and what they referred to as Ricker Rd.
Mrs. Blanche Miller, recalled the work of Harold Miller, who came from NY to work with the CCC Boys..
In Groton he became a stone mason and helped build fireplaces at Stillwater Campground, and the stone tower and steps to Owl’s Head, dragging the stones up the path by hand. Harold Miller and Margaret Blanchard married in 1935, they were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary the year Emily Dyer wrote her essay.
Local people were skeptical about how the CCC boys would fare in rural Groton. It turned out they did great. Alice Lord Goodine recalled that her husband Henry, the barber, would go to the CCC Camp once a week to give the boys haircuts and the young men often came into Groton, and spent money after they were paid.
In conclusion, there was a clear commitment to taking care of “our own” as well as those who came to town because they were homeless. Groton, being a farming town, probably fared better than many urban areas during the depression because food production was common.
As we face the new needs of our neighbors and those who land here without means, we have an opportunity to carry on the tradition set by Groton during the last century.
Care for the poor expenses. The cost of maintenance of local roads is listed for reference.
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