During our flagging of veterans graves today we visited the grave of Ernest Smith at the North Cemetery, and left a memorial wreath. Mr. Smith was our first scoutmaster when we got our start in 1911 at the East Weymouth Congregational Church.
The photo below is of Mr. Smith at the 35th anniversary celebration for Troop 2 in 1946.
At that time there was a boys Sunday School class taught by Mr. Smith. This class was organized about 1908, and later formed into a social club.
As time went on they felt more in need of a program of activity, and when the Rev. Walter H. Commons, pastor of the Congregational Church, East Weymouth, read the Boy Scout Handbook, it was decided that a scout organization would provide valuable training for these young men.
On January 22, 1911 they voted to organize their class as a Boy Scout troop and immediately applied for a charter. At that time, Reverend Commons asked Mr. Smith to assume the role of scoutmaster. Troop 2 was officially chartered and organized formally as a Troop on April 16, 1911, holding their first scout meeting on Saturday, April 22, and the first hike on
May 20th.
Original scouts of the troop at our founding, to the best of our knowledge, were
John T. Dizer
Julian Merchant
Harold Gardner
Alton Blanchard
Donald Canterbury
Vincent Robinson
Howard Diersch
Elmer Sampson
William Rix
Merton Rix
Roderick Ells
Francis Dennison
Arthur Russo
Ralph Chase
Harold Morse
Robert Gay
William Savage
Reginald Bates
Parker Bates
Norman Dizer
These boys were led by Mr. Smith, who served from April to June 1911.
Photos of this event are below
