July, 1939 retrospective column from The Sutton Register.

Charles Brown was in his 22nd year of publishing The Sutton Register in 1939. He had a regular retrospective column that looked back 42 years to items from the paper, in this case from the first week of July, 1897. Francis Marion Brown (F.M.), Charles' father was the publisher from 1886 until his death in 1919. Not sure what the significance of 42 might have been.

Clipping from the July 6, 1939 issue of The Sutton Register.

An item in the second column refers to the Rev. Hiram Curtiss of Grafton. Rev. Curtiss was the father of Alida Curtiss who wrote the novel, "Mother Wanted a Son" that was set in Grafton with some scenes in Sutton. Miss Curtiss and Nellie Stevens who was the inspiration for the main character in the novel ran a millinery shop in Sutton for several years. Rev. Curtiss appears in the novel as the father of a boy who was a friend of Nellie's. Actually, Alida herself was that real-life friend.

See this article below...

http://suttonhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2011/10/nellie-stevens-pioneer-fictional.html