Every town has its stories. So does every house.
When Lynne Stopen and her husband, John O’Keefe, purchased the Milton Bliss House in the Blissville section of Orange in 1991, they were given a folder of newspaper clippings and a copy of an 1831 map showing the house, which was originally built by Stephen Bliss and his sons. The Bliss family were carpenters, furniture makers and house movers. They came from Royalston, where Timothy Bliss settled after coming from Rehoboth around 1761.
“The spark that got me interested into diving into the house’s history was that the Bliss House was on the opposite side of the road on the map,” Stopen said. “Originally, I thought it was an error in the map. Then I thought maybe the location of Flagg Road had been changed, but there was no evidence of that.”
Stopen then began searching the Wheeler Memorial Library newspaper archives for any information on Stephen and Milton Bliss, his son, the original owners of the house. There she found an article that mentioned the house had been built in 1832.
“Then it occurred to me, that there were two different houses, although I still don’t know how it happened. The house was possibly moved across the street and used as a workshop or blacksmith shop, I don’t really know,” Stopen said. “At this point, there is no evidence of an outbuilding.”
She said the property did have two mills, a smaller sawmill near the house and a grist mill that was later turned into a furniture factory. These mills may have also been built by Stephen Bliss, Stopen believes. Milton Bliss also built the dam that created Bliss Pond, now known as Club House Pond or Sheomet Pond.
The 1831 map showed the sawmill, which was used until the 1890s.
“There is no information on when it was built. I have found references in the paper to Milton’s sawmill,” Stopen stated, adding that the Blisses made chair pieces that were sent to Gardner.
Milton was married, widowed and then remarried. With each marriage, Milton had seven children. His youngest four boys had muscular dystrophy, Stopen said. As a result, Milton changed his work focus to producing wheelchairs and crutches.
“The wheelchairs were regular chairs with casters on them,” Stopen said. There remains evidence today at the house of the boys in their wheelchairs, including scrapes on the walls. “Milton also took out the thresholds in the doors so they could get through.”
Milton Bliss died in 1901 and the house went through various owners from 1903 to 1938. Nathaniel Lawrence bought the house in 1903 and rented rooms, selling the home in 1928 to a woman named Annie P. Jacobs. In 1938, Elmer and Bertha Haskins bought the home.
Stopen said she is still looking for information on Nathaniel Lawrence and Annie P. Jacobs.
“All I know (of Jacobs) is a 1932 reference to the Jacobs house fire,” she said. “I can’t even find her name in the papers. I can only find her paying taxes.”
Anyone with more information on the Bliss home can contact Stopen at lstopen@gmail.com. Both the Athol Public Library and Orange Historical Society have copies of the of the Bliss House research done by Stopen.
Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on history with a particular interest in the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.