| Notes |
- Taken from the verbal stories/memories of Mary, Ruth, Anna and Harry:
Stephen, known as "Henry", 'was a worker; he was ambitious, and enjoyed his "spirits" to excess' (Harry); he was a confectioner, like his father and grandfather, and later was a baker at the family business (and home) at 140 Essex Street, Salem, established in 1807. This is also the address at which he, as well as his children (at least Mary), was born. The home was 250 years old when his children lived there. The Simon family owned the building next door (to right?) which was rented to a Chinese family that ran a laundry mat from it. In 1916, during the First World War, when sugar was in short supply, the business was changed from a confectionery to a bakery. At the street level, the back room served as 'kitchen' with a large brick oven used to bake bread, rolls and cake. At the street entrance was the store front for the bakery, where all the goodies were sold, including breads, jelly rolls, chocolate marshmallow rolls, donuts, peanuts, etc. The family lived upstairs, and were entitled to 'cuttins' (end pieces of jelly rolls) and 'malato' pans of rolls (mixed white bread and graham bread). 'Henry', the prankster, would entice new passerbys, the newspaper boy, and others to have some peanuts, which he would take out of the oil, place on a cloth, sprinkle on some salt and pass into their hands. Of course the peanuts were so hot they would burn in the hands of the screaming patron. At some point Stephen Henry changed his name from Simon to Simons to avoid an improper pronunciation.
The bakery was in business until June of 1925 when the family moved to 443a Cabot Street in Beverly. Henry retired explaining that his father retired when he was 50, so he could too. According to Harry, he walked a lot after retirement. He occasionally worked as a baker in Marblehead and elsewhere.
The building at 140 Essex Street no longer exists. In its place is the pavement of New Liberty Street between the Essex Mall parking garage and the Armory Park (formerly the Armory building). The building still remained on the 1957 map of Salem.
Henry was a cadet of the Second Corps Cadets at the Salem Armory located next door to his 140 Essex Street home. He received Marksman pins in 1895 and 1896, 1st class Marksman medal & ribbon in 1897 with an added 1898 bar, a sharpshooter medal & ribbon in 1899, and a Sharpshooter medal in 1902. He was called to duty during the brief Spanish American War at Fort Miller, Marblehead on Naugus Head at the mouth of Salem Harbor. Fearing that a fleet of Spanish war ships was headed for New England, many forts along the coast were garrisoned in preparation for an attack. Henry served in Company A which which took command of the fort on May 9, and was relieved by Companies B & D on May 17, 1898. The corps left the fort on June 1. On September 24, Henry was a member of the firing squad at the funeral of Private Kingsley, Co. B, 7th U.S. Regulars who died at Chelsea and was burried at Broad Street cemetery in Salem.
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1873 - 1956 (82 years)
