Calvin Salisbury

Bio

deaf and dumb; lived in Deerfield, MA, in the Maj. Dennis Stebbins household; broom maker with Maj. Stebbins; from George Sheldon in "History and Proceedings of the PVMA, Vol. IV, Annual Meeting 1900, pgs. 109 & 113: "Sixty years ago there were a good many expert broom makers in Deerfield, among others, a colored man, deaf and dumb, named Calvin Salisbury, who lived with Major Stebbins, a wonderful broom maker who could make a thousand brooms which all seemed just alike, and No. 1 brooms. At the shop of 'Uncle Dennis', the chief attraction besides the profit on candy, was to watch the deft workmanship and the mimcry of deaf and dumb black 'Cab'. His manual dexterity in fitting on the outside' of a broom seemed marvelous. The lightning-like stroke of his sharp broom-knife with which he trimmed a handful of the stalks for the fine braiding on the handle, three cuts to a stalk, each one of which it seemed must take off a finger, then a swift turn of the wrist, and the whole was in place under the binding wire in a trice. Of this we never tired. His talk with his fingers and his work with his fingers were alike fascinating." From George Sheldon's "Notes on Industrial Life in Old Deerfield", pg 19: One of the characters inseperably connected with this shop was 'Cal', alias Calvin Salisbury, the deaf and dumb darkey who for many years was a first-class broom tyer there. Full of rollicking fun, keen of observation, and unsurpassed as a mimic, 'Cal' was an infinite source of amusement for the boys. Did any of his acuaintance have any peculiarity of gait or motion or muscular trick of any kind, 'Cal' was sure to reproduce it to perfection."