Boston Post Cane Recipients in New Sweden, Maine

Your tombstone stands among the rest, Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out…On old gray granite stone.
It reaches out to all who care…It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist…You died…and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you…In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse…Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled…One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left…Who would have loved you so.
I wonder when you lived and loved; I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot…And come and visit you.

Author Unknown

The Boston Post Cane for New Sweden is presented to the oldest living resident of New Sweden by the town of New Sweden. The canes were distributed to towns in New England by the newspaper the Boston Post for the purpose of recognizing the elders in each town. The original Boston Post cane for New Sweden is housed in the New Sweden Historical Society Museum and is ceremoniously presented to the recipients as the occasion presents itself. The following list of recipients accompanies the cane in the museum case.

List of Boston Post Cane Holders in New Sweden, Maine: (years the cane was held preceeds name of recipient)

1907-1910        Eric Sjoblum
1910-1913        Eric C. Olivenbom I

Eric Christian August Olivenbaum (1828-1913)

1913-1921       John Otto Wickstrom
1921-1925       Eric Malmquist

Eric Pearson Malmquist (1838-1926), Capitol Hill Cemetery, New Sweden, ME

1925-1927      Truls Pearson

Truls Persson (1837-1927), One of the first fifty-one settlers on July 23, 1870

1927-1927      John Peterson
1927-1932      Anders Olson

Anders Olson (1836-1932), Capitol Hill Cemetery, New Sweden, ME

1932-1935      E. C. A. Olivenbom II
1935-1935      Jonas Peterson

1935-1936      Maria Sundstrom

Israel Bodin and Maria Bodin Sundstrom (1845-1937), siblings among the first settlers July 23, 1870 in New Sweden; Photo taken in the 1930’s

1937-1939      Nels Bengston

Nils Bengston (1849-1939) Capitol Hill Cemetery, New Sweden, ME

1939-1942        Lars Peter Larsson

Lars Petter Larsson (1855-1942)

1942-1952        Hana (Jenson) Larson
1952-1954        Eric O. Hedman

Eric Olof Hedman (1864-1954)

1954-1959        Martin Sandstrom

Martin Sundstrom. Born in Sweden in 1934 and died April 16, 1913.

1959-1961        John N. Johnson

John N. (1866-1961) and Hannah P. Johnson

1961-1962        Lars N. Larson

1962-1967        Ellin (Olson) Johnson

1967-1968        Hilma (Peterson Carlson) Wickstrom

Hilma Marie (Carlson) Wickstrom (1876-1968)

1968-1977        Alma Peterson

Carl J. and Alma (Johanson) (1879-1977) Peterson and family

1977-1977        Dr. Jane Hall
1977-1989        Herman Anderson    age 93

Herman Edwin Anderson 1885-1989

1989-1993        Elvira (Johnson) Engstrom    age 93

Elvira Johnson Engstrom 1895-1993

1993-1996        Mildred (Hedman) Taylor    age 93

Mildred Hedman Taylor 1900-1996

1996-2004        A. Forrest Nelson    age 91

Andrew Forrest Nelson 1905-2004

2004-2005        Madeline Madge (Fay) Nelson        age 94

2005-2008        Helen (Johnson) Borjeson        age 94 ¾

Helen Johnson Borjeson (1910-2008)

2008-present         Edmund  F. Anderson     age 96

Edmund F. Anderson was born in 1912

About the Boston Post Cane:

“In August 1909, Mr. Edwin A. Grozier, publisher of the Boston Post, a newspaper, forwarded to the Board of Selectmen in 700 towns (no cities included) in New England a gold-headed ebony cane with the request that it be presented with the compliments of the Boston Post to the oldest male citizen of the town, to be used by him as long as he lives (or moves from the town), and at his death handed down to the next oldest citizen of the town. The cane would belong to the town and not the man who received it.

The canes were all made by J. F. Fradley and Co., a New York manufacturer, from ebony shipped in seven-foot lengths from the Congo in Africa. They were   cut to cane lengths, seasoned for six months, turned on lathes to the right thickness, coated and polished. They had a 14-carat gold head two inches long, decorated by hand, and a ferruled tip. The head was engraved with the inscription, —Presented by the Boston Post to the oldest citizen of (name of town)— “To be Transmitted.” The Board of Selectmen were  to be the trustees of the cane and keep it always in the hands of the oldest citizen. Apparently no Connecticut towns were included, and only two towns in Vermont are known to have canes.

In 1930, after considerable controversy, eligibility for the cane was opened to women as well.”

Retrieved from http://web.maynard.ma.us/history/bpcane.htm

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Update on December 27, 2010: Edmund Anderson passed away on July 22, 2010. His wife Eloise Adele Larsson Anderson became the next holder of the Boston Post Cane. She was born in 1916 in New Sweden.