In 1997, a committee was formed to recommend names for the meeting rooms
in the new town hall. Here are the recommendations made by the committee
to the Selectmen of Town of Carlisle.
These recommendations for naming the new meeting rooms at the Carlisle Town Hall were done in consultation with Helen Wilkie, former director of the Gleason Public Library and a Carlisle native (born in the present David Woodward house on Bedford Road and now living on East Street). The six names presented represent families and individuals who contributed much to Carlisle's civic life. I chose to honor people who gave time and effort in their civic capacity as Town Clerk, Town Treasurer or Selectman, etc.; therefore such names as Rev. Paul Litchfield, Carlisle's first settled minister, or Dr. Austin Marsh, Carlisle's longtime physician, are not on the list despite their undisputed value to the Town. It seemed appropriate to choose two names each from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. None of the families is honored by the naming of a school building. In three cases portraits accompany the suggestions. These portraits are the property of the Gleason Public Library and have hung in the former Town Offices for over twenty years; they would be on indefinite loan to the Town Hall as is the poster of Women's Suffrage hanging in the Town Clerk's Office. I think they will provide continuity and a sense of Carlisle's past to people who have lived in town for only a few years. Whatever we do now is really built on the decisions and hard work of those here before us.
18th century
Asa PARLIN: Lived in the present Sorli house, Westford Road. His contributions are legion: Town Clerk, 1785-1802, 1806-08 (21 yrs); Representative to the General Court, 1803; One of five founders of Carlisle's first private library society, 1797; a member of the committee to build the meetinghouse; justice of the peace 1789-1824 (35 years); Selectman 1782, 1785-1802, 1806-08.
NICKLES family (pronounced "nickless") The family homestead is now the present Watson/Howland home on North Road. "The Nickles family has been represented in town and military affairs from the incorporation of the District. James Nickles was one of seven men in 1781 to raise men to serve in the Continental Army..." Five Nickles men served in the Civil War, "Otis Nickles giving his life to the cause." (Wilkins Papers, v.16,p.6) Asa Nickles was a selectman from 1876-1883. Family members began the Carlisle Cranberry Co. Fred Nickles was Town Accountant, 1917-1930, and inspector of beef and provisions for over ten years. A portrait of Prescott Nickles is available. A well-respected man, he was one of the first trustees of the Carlisle Public Library (in 1872) and one of the first cemetery commissioners.
19th century
HEALD family: one of the most numerous and influential families in Carlisle's history; they held positions of responsibility from the Town's early days until the 1960's when Margaret Heald was Town Clerk. An entire notebook of the Wilkins Papers is devoted to the family. Jonathan Heald was a selectman for twenty-one years; Captain Timothy Heald, Thomas Heald, Jonathan Heald, Captain John Heald, Cyrus Heald, Thomas Heald, Jr., & Calvin Heald were also selectmen. John Heald, John Heald, Jr, Cyrus Heald, & Calvin Heald were all Town Clerks; Captain Samuel Heald was Carlisle's first Town Treasurer. A portrait of Major Benjamin Franklin Heald is available. He was a chairman of the Carlisle school board, a selectman for seven years and a state legislator. A road is not enough to name after such a family.
The GREEN family served Carlisle in many capacities for decades. The home across Bedford Road from the Library is known as the Green Homestead. William Green, whose portrait is available, was Town Treasurer for eighteen years. His ancestor Thomas Green was Treasurer for twenty-four years as were Samuel, Nathan, Jr. and John. Samuel Green, Zacheus Green, Leonard Green, Nathan Green, Jr., John Green, Isiah Green, James Green, Cyrus Green, William Green 2d, Thomas Green and J.Q.A. Green were all selectmen!
20th century
Herbert A. LEE was active in Carlisle throughout his life. Born in 1879 at what is now the David Woodward home on Bedford Road (he was the father of Helen Wilkie), he was a farmer and then a house painter. His name appears again and again in Carlisle's history during the first fifty years of this century (he died in 1949). He was one of the first associate members of the permanent Old Home Day Association in 1913, a member of the Red Cross and chairman of Liberty Load Drives during World War I. Town Clerk from 1912 to 1914, he was Town Treasurer for six years, 1907-08, 1917-20. A member of the By-Law Committee, the Park Commission (instrumental in obtaining Spalding Park for the Town), an ERA administrator in 1935, active in civil defense and selectman during World War II.
Guy W. CLARK has worked long and hard for Carlisle for most of his 95
years. A member of the Park Committee, he was instrumental in developing
a ball field for the town in the 1930's. In 1931 he was named Carlisle
Director of the Middlesex County Extension Service. In past years he was
a fence viewer and a surveyor of wood and lumber. He hold two sensitive
jobs for many years: Assessor, 1931-1969 and Moderator, 1951-1967. He was
on the rationing board during World War II. The town report was dedicated
to him in 1968 and he was named Honored Citizen in 1978. As the citation
stated, "many will be inspired by the contributions of this fine citizen
whose entire lifetime in Carlisle exemplifies a warmth, a sincere friendliness,
an unselfish dedication to responsibility not only to his family but also
to his community, a truly gentle man." Not to honor the living because
it might arouse jealousy is in this case ridiculous. We should honor him
now because he is most deserving - what would we wait for?
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