10/13/2026
Another "slice of life" from the Milton Historical Society. . .
This photograph is part of the Society’s extensive collection of images by Margaret Sutermeister, a Milton photographer active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She documented many fascinating local people and places, though some photographs, including this one, remain unidentified.
Our research suggests that those pictured may be members of Milton resident Mary Emeline Crowd’s household.
Mary Emeline’s father, Daniel Crowd, was a member of the Ponkapoag, a Native American tribe in Massachusetts. He farmed in Canton and married Betsey Diggins, an African American woman. Mary was one of the couple’s ten children.
In 1859, she married George Crowd, who was probably her cousin. About ten years later, they moved to the corner of Canton Avenue and Harland Street in Milton, possibly because George worked as a stonemason at the nearby quarry. After George’s death in 1879, Mary Emeline stayed in Milton with their three children, Sarah, Alfred, and Mary.
Her children were much older than those pictured by the time Sutermeister began taking photographs. However, to support herself as a widow, Mary boarded young orphans and eventually adopted two or three of the boys. Although the identification remains speculative, the photograph may show Mary’s young boarders.
The seated older woman may be Mary’s daughter, also named Mary, who lived with her mother and is identified as appearing in another Sutermeister photograph. She was the last member of the Crowd family to live in the Milton house. She died in 1933 and was buried with relatives on Lilac Path in Milton Cemetery.
Watch our page for more “slice of life” images from the Society collections. This image is property of the Milton (MA) Historical Society. For permission to use, please contact the Society.
