Here we have an amazing writeup of Fitchburg's former Mayor Eli Culley (February 4, 1840 – April 21, 1890) the 6th and 10th Mayor of the City of Fitchburg, who helped shape the future of our city’s water supply ultimately met a tragic end at the reservoir connected to one of his lasting civic contributions.

Thanks to Councilor Sally Cragin for sharing this story, and for all of the work she does to help preserve and tell Fitchburg’s history. Sally shared research from Eunice Halbedel, who has been documenting veterans buried in our cemeteries...

Culley’s story is fascinating..... born in Bath, England in 1840, immigrated to the United States at age 15, worked in a file factory in Lowell, served in the Civil War with the 43rd Massachusetts Infantry, and came home with his health weakened after contracting malaria during service. He later built his own file manufacturing business, first in Weymouth and then moved it to Fitchburg, where he founded what became the Fitchburg File Works.

From there, he was very involved in Fitchburg Public Service... serving as president of the Common Council, member of the Board of Aldermen, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (elected in 1879), and then mayor. He served 2 terms as mayor, and he also holds a unique place in our city’s political history as the first Fitchburg mayor to lose office and then win it back.

One thing I tout about Fitchburg's history is our preservation of water infrastructure. (The dam work sure is expensive today but incredible asset for our resiliency). 

Scott Reservoir was partly erected when he was president of the Common Council in 1875 and finished while he was mayor in 1889. He was described as being especially keen on the water needs of Fitchburg.... with a long range future planning outlook. 

And yet, for all of those accomplishments, his story ends in tragedy. In April 1890, after a period of illness, Eli Culley disappeared and was later found drowned in a Fitchburg reservoir.... almost certainly by suicide it was noted....a man who helped build the city’s future, lost in a place tied to one of his lasting civic legacies. Buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

FULL WRITEUP:

Civil War Records & Profiles- Private, Co. K, 43rd MA Infantry.  Enlisted from Weymouth on September 29, 1862.  Mustered in October 1, 1862, mustered out at Readville, MA July 30, 1863.  

Eli was born February 4, 1840 in Melksham, England, son of Edward Chapman and Eliza (Mayell) Culley.  

Siblings:

 Joseph Francis 1833-1900

 Mary Jane 1842-1876

 Andrew 1844-1934 (Co. C, 4th MA Heavy Artillery)

 Edward Chapman Jr. 1848-1930

 Charles C. 1854-1883

He married Martha Ann Redman (1845-1930) in Medford, MA October 5, 1862.  

Children:

 Charles Francis 1864-1948

 Walter Eli 1866-1930

 Fanny Eliza 1870-1934

 Albert Edward 1872-1937

 Elsie Burns 1874-1956

 Edith Florence 1876-1961

1851 U.K. Census- Living in Melksham, England with parents, Edward C. (41, Agriculture laborer) and Eliza (38), siblings Joseph (13, Sack weaver), Mary (8), Andrew (6), Eliza (4), and Edward (2).  Eli was 11 and listed as Scholar.

1860 U.S. Census- Boarding at a boarding house in Lawrence, MA.  Occupation- 20, File Cutter.

1865 MA State Census- Weymouth, MA with wife, Martha (20), son Charles (1), and boarder Robert Jubb (14).  Occupation- 25, File Cutter.

1870 U.S. Census- Living in Fitchburg, MA with wife, Martha (25), children Frank C. (6) and Walter E. (4).  Occupation- 30, File Manufacturer.

1880 U.S. Census- 23 Congress St. Fitchburg, MA with wife, Martha (35), children Francis C. (15, works in father’s shop), Walter (13), Fanny (9), Albert (7), Elsie (6), Edith (3), and brother Edward C. Culley (31, Agent, selling files).  Occupation- 40, Manufacturer of files.

Fitchburg Business Directories

1871-1882 Owner, Culley File Mfg., 11 Newton Place

U.S. Mason Membership Card

Eli Culley, residence Weymouth, MA

Lodge: Orphan’s Hope

Initiated November 21, 1866

Passed December 19, 1866

Raised January 6, 1867

Transferred/Joined Aurora Lodge, February 1, 1869

Worcester Master 1874-1875

D.D.G.M. District #12, 1883

November 12, 1873 Fitchburg Sentinel “Local Matters”- The petitions of the Putnam Machine and Eli Culley and others for the erection of a street lamp on Newton Lane, were referred to the committee on lighting streets.

June 22, 1881 Fitchburg Sentinel “The School Children Desire a Holiday”- We are informed that the following letter, written by an 11-year-old boy in one of the intermediate schools, probably expresses the sentiments of the majority of our school children:

Fitchburg, Mass., June 22, 1881.

Hon. Eli Culley: Dear Sir: I wish you would close school on Friday because I want to go to the circus.  If you don’t, I will go anyway.  I like to go there to see the elephants and the little shepard ponies.

Yours respectfully,

October 7, 1885 Fitchburg Sentinel “Board of Aldermen”- The petition of Eli Culley and 10 others for a new street between Highland Avenue and Cedar Streets, starting on the northerly side of the new school house was received and a hearing ordered on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 4 p.m.

November 3, 1888 Fitchburg Sentinel “Organ Dedication at St. Bernard’s Church”- The new and beautiful organ, purchased through the efforts of St. Bernard’s church choir, was dedicated with solemn and impressive ceremonies on Friday evening.  The organ corresponds with the spacious and richly decorated edifice and is a powerful and finely-toned instrument.  A large audience filled the church, among whom were noticed, ex-Congressman Norcross, Rodney Wallace, Judge T.K. Ware, Mayor Eli Culley, Supt. J.G. Edgerly, City Auditor Jackson, City Clerk Davis, City Solicitor Pierce, Postmaster Currier and other prominent citizens, most of who were accompanied by ladies.

December 15, 1888 Fitchburg Sentinel “51st Regiment Reunion”- …Mayor Eli Culley was the next speaker.  He said there was nothing he loved so much as a soldiers’ gathering, “particularly a company gathering, when you stand face to face with those whom you knew on the field.  Then the interest is intensified.  But having served in the brigade with you, I feel that I have a passport to your good graces”.  He related some old war incidents, which were promptly recognized by the vets, and for a time the hall was filled with laughing and cheering men.  In conclusion, he said “I have been honored at different times in my city of Fitchburg, and I feel proud of it, but there is no legacy I can hand down to my children which I cherish more than the fact that I enlisted under that glorious flag when it was in danger”.

Eli Culley died at Scott Reservoir in Fitchburg, MA April 21, 1890 by drowning.  He is buried Laurel Hill Cemetery, Magnolia Ave.

April 23, 1890 Springfield Republican, Springfield, MA- “Suicide of Ex-mayor Culley”

Ex-Mayor Eli Culley, 50, a prominent citizen of Fitchburg, disappeared suddenly Monday afternoon and his body was found in the reservoir near the city yesterday morning.

Mr. Culley had been ill for some time and he undoubtedly committed suicide, and had planned to do so when he drove from home Monday.

He was born at Bath, Eng., in 1840, and came to this country when 15, finding employment in a factory at Lowell.

He entered the 43rd Massachusetts regiment at the outbreak of the war and was mustered out in 1863, suffering with fever.

He went to Fitchburg in 1868, and became a manufacturer of files.

He was a much-respected citizen and passed through the successive city offices to the mayoralty and served in that office four times.

Culley was aged 50 years, 2 months & 17 days of age when he died of drowning.

May 31, 1890 Fitchburg Sentinel “Local Matters”- A very fine crayon picture of the late Eli Culley, made by the Crayon Portrait Society of Boston, is exhibited in the store of G.M. Faulkner, the Society’s agent here.

August 25, 1890 Fitchburg Sentinel “Local Matters”- The members of Co. C, 33rd Regiment, M.V.M. (the Zion’s Herald Company), at their recent annual reunion at the Center House, Nantasket, passed resolutions on the death of their late comrade, ex-Mayor Eli Culley of this city.

May 6, 1890 Fitchburg Sentinel- Rev. Daniel F. Feehan was nominated and confirmed a trustee of the public library, in place of the late Eli Culley.

January 6, 1905 Fitchburg Sentinel- In 1867, the late Eli Culley, who was later honored by his fellow citizens by an election to the office of mayor, four times, began the file cutting business in the Rollstone shop on Water Street, being induced to come here from Weymouth in this state by John Adams, then superintendent of the Fitchburg railroad.  Mr. Culley had been engaged in the same business in Weymouth since 1863.  For several years, Mr. Culley continued his work there, which was chiefly in the line of recutting files by hand, and then moved to Newton Place, where he occupied a building on leased land, the building which is now occupied by the Webber Lumber Co., as an office.  Here he continued the work until his death in 1890.  Associated with him in the work at that time were his two sons, Walter E. and Frank C., and they took up the business where their father left it.  In 1894 Albert E. Culley was taken into the firm.

January 2, 1963 Fitchburg Sentinel “Here and There, 75 Years Ago 1888”- Mayor Eli Culley’s inaugural address proves to be a clear and businesslike document.  He found the net debt of the city at about $646,000, a net increase of $2,587 over last year this time.  He recommends that Main Street from its junction with Summer and Lunenburg Streets to River Street, and River as far as the Pulp Mill Bridge, be paved with small block paving stones and that some of the other much used streets be macadamized.

April 23, 1965 Fitchburg Sentinel “Through the Years (75 years ago, 1890)”- Former Mayor Eli Culley has just passed away, and has been suitably honored by resolutions from several city boards.  Scott Reservoir dam was partly erected in 1875 when he was president of the Common Council, and was finished in 1889 when he was mayor.  He was always keen on the water needs of the city of Fitchburg.

April 7, 1972 Fitchburg Sentinel “SENTRY LINE, Questions & Answers” by Lou Meredith.

Question- Has any Fitchburg mayor ever gotten back in to office after being succeeded?

Answer- Only one.  Eli Culley was mayor in 1880 and 1881.  He was succeeded by George Robbins and then Alonzo Davis.  Culley tried a comeback in the next election and lost by a hundred votes to Frederick Fosdick.  The following year, 1887, he beat Fosdick and became the only deposed mayor of the city ever to regain office.

From Worcester County Biographies, 1899- Honorable Eli Culley, who was the mayor of Fitchburg in 1880, 1888 and 1889, and who founded the Fitchburg File Works, was born in Melksham, Wiltshire, England, February 4, 1840.  When he was fifteen years-old he came to this country, and when the war broke out, he was thoroughly American as if he had been born here.  In October 1862, he enlisted in Company K (Zion’s Herald Company), 43rd Massachusetts Regiment, and was out nine months, participating in the engagement at Newbern, N.C.  The hardships of army life undermined his health, and he was in feeble condition when he reached home.  In 1863 he began to manufacture files in North Weymouth, and in 1867 he moved his shop to Fitchburg.  From that time until the day of his death he was closely identified with the progress of the growing town.  A clear-headed, practical business man, Mr. Culley was of the unassuming but strong-willed type, and his influence was felt far beyond the limits of his business.  He was a ready speaker, and was often called upon for a public address.  He was the president of the Common Council of Fitchburg in 1875, a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1877 and 1878, and of the State legislature in 1880.  He was Mayor of the city in 1880 and 1881, in 1888 and 1889.  No other Mayor of Fitchburg has had the honor of serving the city so long.  The following from his last inaugural address shows his appreciation of his official responsibilities:

 “Let us enter upon our duties with an earnest desire and intention to perform them thoroughly and impartially, giving all the time necessary, all the investigation requisite, to every matter of business that shall come before us, so that every interest of the city shall be well cared for, every right of the citizen protected, and may the best and purest examples guide and inspire your course, so that you may wisely discriminate in all issues that may come before you, rejecting everything in your actions of a temporizing or accommodating policy, with one end or aim only in view, the demand of the good”.

The Scott Reservoir was started and finished under Mr. Culley’s administration.  He was essentially a self-made man, and was happy in the industry which he established.  Frank and sincere, he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen.  He was a Mason of Aurora Lodge, had been through all the chairs in Thomas Royal Arch Chapter, and he belonged to Jerusalem Commandery, K.T.  Also, in affiliation with Mount Roulstone Lodge I.O.O.F, he held all the chairs in King David Encampment, and was an honorary member of Canton Hebron.  He was a charter member of Reynolds Post G.A.R. North Weymouth and he belonged to the Park Club of Fitchburg.  For a number of years, he was a vestryman of Christ Church (Episcopal).  He died April 21, 1890.

On October 5, 1862 he was married to Martha, daughter of Eli Redman, or North Weymouth, Mass.  Her father afterward moved to Fitchburg, where he resided until his death.  Mr. Culley was named for his father-in-law, who was reared in the same place with his own father.  Six children survive him; Francis C., Walter Eli, Albert Edward, Fanny E., Elsie B., and Edith F.  His three sons carry on the business he established.

(Obituary excerpt for Albert Culley, son of Eli.  

…The file business, Culley File Works, was planned with his father.  Later Mr. Culley and his brother carried it on until 1906, when the Simonds company purchased an interest in it.

The 43rd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was first formed in September 1862 in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 300,000 men to serve for nine months.  The nucleus of the regiment was the Second Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a unit dating to 1798 known as the Boston Light Infantry and nicknamed the "Tigers." The 43rd Massachusetts therefore became known as the "Tiger Regiment." 

The regiment trained at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts just outside of Boston.  They departed Massachusetts on October 24, assigned to Maj. Gen. John G. Foster's Department of North Carolina, later designated as the XVIII Corps.  The regiment was stationed in New Bern, North Carolina at Camp Rogers.  In December, the regiment took part in the Goldsborough Expedition. The objective of this maneuver was to disrupt the Confederate supply line along the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad by destroying the Goldsborough Bridge.  During this expedition, was lightly engaged in the Battles of Kinston, White Hall and Goldsborough Bridge.

 

While based in New Bern, the 43rd Massachusetts participated in patrols and reconnaissance expeditions.  The unit returned to Boston in July 1863 and was mustered out on July 30, 1863. The regiment lost two men killed in action and 12 by disease.

A historical writeup of Fitchburg’s former Mayor Eli Culley (February 4, 1840 - April 21, 1890), the 6th and 10th Mayor of Fitchburg