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HIRAM — Alice Elizabeth Wadsworth, 97, received the town’s Boston Post Cane in a ceremony at her home April 20.
The cane is presented to the old resident of Hiram.
Sally Williams, president of Hiram Historical Society, presented the cane, which is kept in the town office. Williams also presented Wentworth with the Boston Post Cane Pin, which is hers to wear and keep. Attending the ceremony were Alice’s son, Lee Alan Wadsworth, and his wife, Sue, as well as Town Clerk Marylou Stacey.
Wentworth is descended from Brig. Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, principal founder of Hiram.
The Boston Post Cane tradition began in 1909, when the Boston Post newspaper distributed the canes to towns throughout New England with instructions that each should be presented to the oldest man in the town, to be used by him as long as he lives, or until he moves away. The newspaper said that the cane would belong to the town and not the man who received it. Women were included in 1930. The cane is made from Gabon ebony and its head is finished with a 14-carat gold top and is elaborately sculpted. As many as 700 canes were originally conferred by the newspaper, which folded in 1956, and hundreds of towns in New England still bestow it.
