Saturday, March 12, 2011

1894 Joshua Dunn

Last Thursday was the 65th birthday of our genial Joshua Dunn. He was given a complete surprise and wasd very appropriately entertained by "Cal's Club" at Cal's pleasant residence on that evening. As usual, Joshua furnished his share of the pleasantry and is only sorry that his birthdays are a whole year apart. The Club presented him with a very fine pipe with which to solace his solitary hours to and from the village.

Joshua Dunn was the favored milkman in the mid-to-late 1800s. He was constantly being praised in the local newspaper for his genial demeanor and his generosity of always providing more like a "baker's dozen" when it came to milk delivery -- always a bit extra.

"Cal's Club" was a men's group that met on a fairly regular basis for an evening of good food, conversation, and companionship -- "Cal" being Calvin Lockwood.

A year later, the following announcement was made in the local paper -- We have noticed that the genial countenance of our veteran milkman, "Uncle Josh," has been even more smiling than usual for the past few days and an investigation leads to the development of the fact that he is grandpa to a brand new baby born to Mr. and Mrs. John Dunn a few days since. Whether this will lead to an increase or decrease in the price of milk, we have not yet learned, but we shall not be surprised to hear Josh shout grandpa instead of ringing his bell some day.

A much earlier article, in 1879, published in the newspaper showed how appreciated his deliveries were -- The work of publishing a country newspaper with its many disadvantages and discouragements is not always as pleasant as some night suspect. There are individuals -- and circumstances that frequently occur -- however, that lighten the burdens of such a life and the publisher of the Review has found that, among many others, that worthy personage who vends the bovinial fluid in this village, Joshua Dunn, belongs to that class of persons who delight in making others happy. He has our thanks for numerous favors.

What a wonderful public thank you!

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