💯 STORY CHALLENGE
“He was One of the Finest Men That Ever Lived,” said his Old Friend and Neighbor Newton D. Crossman(Day 70)
William Hemenway was the first chairman of the Shutesbury library board of trustees and today he lies buried in an unmarked grave
“‘William Hemenway,’ said his old friend and neighbor Newton D. Crossman ‘was one of the finest men that ever lived. He would do everything that was in his power for everybody, and charge little or nothing for his services.
He loaned money freely to almost everyone who asked, especially if they were in distress, and was not always discriminating as to his security.
It was generally supposed that William H. Hemenway was worth at least $100,000 and some thought his wealth must approximate one million, but the disclosure which came as a thunderbolt from a clear sky soon after his death in 1911 revealed that for a number of years he had been a poor man and he had long been paying taxes on a great deal of property that he did not possess, rather than that the truth be known… The last chapter of his story closed Saturday with what he most abhorred, a public auction of personal effects and the sale of the old homestead.”
— -Springfield Sunday…
