— A Southwick Time Machine Original   On a Tuesday, April 30, 1844, a grim discovery was made in the Connecticut River at Suffield. A body had been found floating in the river. Authorities believed the deceased was a man around fifty years old. He wore black pantaloons and a vest, but no coat. There was little to immediately identify him, though the contents of his pockets offered several clues. Among his possessions were a pocketbook marked "E. F. P. Jeffreys'," a three-bladed knife bearing the name Perkins, a pair of silver-bowed spectacles, a half-dollar piece, and a vial labeled "Moore's Essence of Life," a popular patent medicine of the era. As was customary, a jury of inquest was assembled to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death. After examining the body and evidence, the jurors returned a verdict of accidental drowning. The body appeared to have been in the river for several weeks. Beyond that, little else was known. Officials posted ...

— A Southwick Time Machine Historical Record | Medical Mystery   Mary Bronson was the only daughter of John Bronson of Russell, Massachusetts. In 1845, the four-year-old fell ill and began complaining of distress in her stomach. Shortly after, she vomited a live toad, which remained alive for about twelve hours after being expelled from her stomach. The toad measured two and a half inches from its mouth to the end of its body, with its body and lower extremities measuring five inches and a circumference of three and a half inches. Whether the event occurred exactly as described is impossible to determine today, as no known medical examination survived. For Mary Bronson, however, the reported incident was only a brief episode in a much longer life.   An imagined 1800s medical school illustration of the toad's internal structure   Born on July 30, 1840, Mary spent her early years in Western Massachusetts. By the time she reached adulthood, she was living in Westfield, where...

Content Note: This account includes events that may be unsettling to some readers.   — A Southwick Time Machine Original Series | The Longyard   Paris Green: Poison in the Longyard   Duane A. Rising was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, on August 15, 1838. He married Estella G. Marvin in November 1858.  The couple initially lived on Estella's father's Southwick farm, where Duane earned a living as a peddler. Eventually, Duane purchased a large farm in the Long Yard section of Southwick, near the Suffield, Connecticut, line, where the couple raised their family.  The couple's children included William Henry, Arthur Duane, Edith Emeline, and Stella Emily. Another child, Herbert, known as “Herbie,” died in infancy at about six months old. Duane was well-known throughout the area. Folks said that he became “despondent at intervals.” During one of these periods, he took Paris Green. Paris Green, an arsenic compound used as a pigment, insecticide, and rodent pois...

— A Southwick Time Machine Original | Biographical Reconstruction   Frederick Lovatus Noble was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, on August 25, 1822. Known by his middle name, Lovatus, he grew up in a wealthy and highly respected Southwick family. He later married Julia Ann Sarah Warner of Suffield, Connecticut, on April 23, 1851. The newlyweds settled in the Long Yard section of Southwick.   The Noble Homestead in the Longyard Their first son, Frederick “Freddie” Lovatus Noble, was born on March 12, 1854. Two years later, on May 12, 1856, they welcomed another son, Frank Wilbur Noble. Lovatus was a man of exemplary character. He earned his living peddling whips for a manufacturer in Westfield, Massachusetts. In November 1857, he was returning home from a business trip when he stopped at the Granby, Connecticut, home of Jeremiah “Jeremy” H. Holcomb, an acquaintance with whom he had arranged to spend the Sabbath. Lovatus stayed at the Holcomb residence for a day or two. On the ...

— A Southwick Time Machine Original Series | Tales from the Field Robert J. McComb, a Suffield, Connecticut native who entered the tobacco business around 1912, returned home from Avon, Connecticut, in March 1916 to become assistant manager of the American Sumatra Tobacco Company’s Southwick Plantation. Despite its name, the plantation straddled the Connecticut–Massachusetts border, occupying land in both West Suffield, Connecticut, and neighboring Southwick, Massachusetts. At its height, it encompassed roughly 300 acres, reflecting the enormous scale of Connecticut River Valley shade tobacco operations during the early twentieth century. The American Sumatra Tobacco Company stood among the dominant forces in the shade-grown tobacco industry.  Vast fields stretched beneath white cheesecloth tents produced the delicate wrapper leaf used for high-quality cigars. The company’s operations crossed town and state lines, with plantations, curing barns, labor camps, and warehouses spr...