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Wood Square Mystery Solved!
| We had published the following photo, which came to us labeled "North Side, Wood Square". We added "Tuckerton, N.J." to the label and placed the photo in the "Historic Photo Album" section. It has since been withdrawn. Shirley Whealton, local historian-genealogist, contacted us with an alert that the photo may well not be from Tuckerton. |
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It is well known that the Jillson twins, Arthur and Alfred, did, in fact, operate a taxidermy business from their Tuckerton farm in the late 1800's. They were born in Lynn, Ma., moved later to Bolton, Ma. (Hudson Co.), and came to Little Egg Harbor in 1872 with their parents.
When we received the Wood Square photo a few weeks ago at the Historical Society, we saw the Jillson name on the building, a deer and shore bird on the front of the building which would indicate a taxidermist business, and a Woods Sqaure notation with the photo and assumed it must be an old view of Wood Street and Main Street in Tuckerton. Shirley Whealton's research would tend to indicate otherwise.
It seems that a James Jillson, age 35, is listed in the Federal 1880 Hudson, Massachusuets census with "Taxidermist" listed as his occupation. There is no evidence in any Federal census, or any other record here at the Historical Society, of a James Jillson living in Little Egg Harbor or Tuckerton, N.J. The photo might well be of Woods Square in Hudson, Ma. We are trying to contact the Hudson, Ma. Library or Historical Society to see if they can identify the photo. Hopefully, this might give us an answer.
Anyone having any information concerning this photo or the Jillson family that may shed some light on the location of the photo, please write a comment in our "Guest Book" and/or contact us at the Historical Society.
CASE SOLVED!
We emailed the Hudson, Massachusuts Library regarding the photo in question and received this response from Cora Arsenault, Hudson Public Library Reference Librarian:
We had some fun with your mystery today. The picture is definitely of Wood Square, Hudson, Massachusetts. I have attached the photo and caption from a book our Historical Society published Images of America: Hudson. [Note: The photo is the same as the one posted on this site.] The building that was the Apothecary is still standing.
I also did some investigation into the Jillson family. James Jillson lived here in Hudson; he was the son of Samuel and Lucy Jillson. He was born in Lynn on Oct 11, 1844 and died June 4, 1887. The twins Arthur and Alfred were his brothers, also born of Samuel and Lucy in Lynn on June 14, 1851. I believe there was a Samuel Jr as well, who also stayed around here.
