02/06/2026
Happy Birthday to Martha Goward who was born in Mansfield, MA, on this day in 1821. In 1862, Martha and her husband, Zephania, built an 11-room house at 274 Appleton St. across from the South Common. Her portrait by an itinerant artist was donated to the Lowell Historical Society. According to family records, the portrait was badly damaged during the tornado of June 9, 1953 that blew through Shrewsbury. The family had it restored by specialists at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Martha and her husband are buried on Wilberford Ave. Their epitaph reads: Death Is But The Gate To Immortality.