Families

Town Clerking Runs in the Fernald Family

Robert Fernald always has lived in the long, white farmhouse along Route 200. He also has known forever the feeling of townspeople coming to the door for this or that.

They still do that today because Fernald has been the town clerk since 1993. Before that, his mother Dorothy was town clerk. And before her, the position fell to her husband, Lloyd. He had assumed the position back in 1943.

“Mother had been Father’s deputy clerk since 1945, which is when she started doing the recording,” Fernald said. “I can tell that from the handwriting.

“She liked being town clerk because she had nothing else to do. People came to the house because they needed research, and she had the time to do it.”

Robert Fernald can say he inherited the clerk position: He remembers clearly the day Dorothy died.

“She was still in office when she died, and she sat down and fussed about how hot it was,” he said. “That was her last official act.

“I called the selectmen the next morning. I was her deputy anyway. I said that the town clerk’s office was still open, and everything was still in order as before.”

By the time of the next town meeting in March 1994, Fernald took out the formal nomination papers to make his own clerk status official.

He had just returned to Franklin, full-time, after retiring from teaching in 1992. He had spent 25 years working in Brooklin and Sedgwick. He had spent all his summers back in Franklin as a manager in the blueberry factory.

Ten years after Robert Fernald took over clerk duties, Franklin residents still can get service from the clerk anytime, day or night. Fernald does not mind the caller who comes at midnight looking for a hunting permit, just hours before the season starts. That actually happens.

“I do not mind, because that’s how we chose to do it, and that’s how it has always been done in this house.

“I could go down to the town office and be there from 9 to 4, but I don’t. Most people have their needs during the evenings or weekends, because they’re working during the day.

“I do like this, because there is always something interesting. And I seldom run into any miserable people. Even if someone comes by and is annoyed or angry, usually we can get what they need in two shakes, and it’s all right.”

But Fernald stops short of the service his father provided when residents wanted a fishing license. Years ago the family had cows and a manure pile. After issuing the license, Lloyd Fernald invited the person to go out back and dig his worms for the morning out of that pile.