A Chaffin Discovery

The Historical Society continues to upgrade its offerings. Along with changing its display area, adding technology and a downstairs research library,  a group of members have been working hard to catalog the collection in preparation for scanning key documents. Now Curator Frank Meninno has begun to rearrange the deepest storage areas in the library's attic. Yesterday, an interesting notebook by Reverend William Chaffin came to light. Chaffin, the pastor of Unity Church for a bazillion years, wrote the first history of Easton based on meticulous research. Over the years Chaffin added other historical and genealogical writings. Thus, it was a surprise to find a notebook labelled "My Fernery" that relates his research for the fern garden that apparently still exists behind Holly House on the Unity Church property.

Chaffin donated the notebook to the library in 1923, and it came into the possession of the Historical Society after World War II. A break occurred in the meetings of the Society so their document collection was again saved at the library. When the new library addition was underway, the notebook and other important documents finally found their way back to the Society. Internal references so far discovered link the notebook to the period between 1897 and 1907 and show Chaffin to be a serious fern collector.

Ferns have been around for about 360 million years. They produce neither flowers nor seeds instead reproducing from spores. From a personal perspective they are darned hard to identify so Chaffin had to study hard to become an expert. The notebook tells us that Chaffin imported dried fern specimens and living plants from as far away as the West Coast, but the most important thing is the listing of native ferns. Old listings of plants and the arrival dates of migrating birds have become a hot topic for scientists studying climate change. While an individual old record may be incomplete comparing a number of old records to new research can provide valuable information. A quick glance yesterday showed that the genus names in Chaffin are mostly still in use today so it should be possible to compare his records with recent research at Sheep Pasture.

The fernery at the Unity Parsonage was apparently constructed in 1897 because the notebook lists the expenses for the labor of August Anderson who also supplied 9 loads of "muck." Besides whatever native ferns Chaffin planted, he added in September, 1897 ferns from Southwick, Massachusetts costing $4 (shipping cost another $4.40). In 1898 he added ferns from California costing $1.25. A maple was planted in the fernery for shade and a flowering dogwood for spring color. How much of the fernery remains is an interesting question, but an exploration will be helped by two photographs contained in the notebook.