The Lyme Local History Archives is honoring the life of Joseph A. Caples of Gungy Road,  Lyme, Connecticut (1874-1954) for Black History Month, 2016.  He wrote a memoir (1949) and several diaries (1913-1941) which are  now in the Archives’ Collection. They are unique and historically important documents. He wrote: “I am starting this little Memoir from way back in the Middle 1700s when there was a serf-lad known only as Cuff, who grew to manhood – raised a large family of about Ten children, and subsequently bought his time. Adopted the name of Condol and with the support of his family Acquired quite a bit of property on both sides of this road now known as the Gungy road.”

The documents provide autobiographical material about  him and his  life as  a son, husband, farmer,  sheep shearer, day laborer, friend,  church member and community citizen living  in rural  Lyme in the late 19th to mid-20th century. He also makes insightful observations about the community, its geography, environment, society and economy. Caples completed grade 6 at the Grassy Hill one-room-school, was treasurer over several years in the Grassy Hill Church and a member ad secretary of the Grassy Hill School District Committee.

Caple’s memoir and the thousands of his daily diary entries are hand-written in  his clear script.  He recounts his family’s long history  and the interweaving of genealogies of related families. Other portions read  like a survivalist, naturalist or sportsman’s  guide to the  flora and fauna of Lyme (learned at the feet of his father and grandfather).  Caples maintained multi-year records for his services to others – plowing and planting gardens, haying, hauling, and servicing with his oxen and horses. He sheared sheep for over sixty owners over fifty years. Because his writing covers a lifetime of  80  years, the reader meets up time and again with his family, friends, visitors, and his clients. Beyond the facts he  recorded, he enjoyed a turn of phrase, an irony or the unusual , and he could muse about life, the future, and the meaning of things.

Caples and his wife Mattie worked hard with long days but they also  enjoyed  their home, neighbors and friends, reading newspapers and magazines, the artists who drew sketches for them,  frequent callers and  the Grassy Hill Church festivities. Joseph Caples’ memoir was finished in 1949, four years before his death  at 80 years, in 1954. He is buried in Griffin Cemetery, Beaver Brook Road. The final paragraph in his Memoir reads:

“Yes, the times have surely changed and I guess we have changed with the times.  Also, there are and always will be some that are far better situated than we are, and we are glad for them all.  And there are some who are much worse off than we are and for such we express our most sincere sympathy.  So we have no cause to complain, and trust that fortitude may continue to the end – which time we all know will be very short at the longest.”

The Memoir and diaries are  being transcribed by the Lyme  Local History Archives of the  Lyme Public Hall Association, Lyme, Connecticut.