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The Spectator - Ernest E. Sanborn, Reporter - 3/2/1972

This is the story of George Alan Simcock, who was born in Chesire County, England, in 1854, one of sixteen children! He and his brother Jim came to this country in the year 1873. Jim went to Swansea to work on a farm, and George went to Boston to live with his older brother David, who had come here earlier, bringing with him, the art of smoking haddock and herring. He had set himself up in business and was doing well. George learned the art of smoking fish and learned it well. He had to because he landed in Boston penniless.

In 1876, David and George Simcock moved to Swansea and built a smokehouse on Gardner's Neck Road. This location was chosen because the Ferry boat plying between Fall River and Brayton Point, Somerset made the delivery of raw fish from Boston and the delivery of the finished product to Fall River and Boston alot easier.

Business faces crisis

Almost every business which is started from scratch has its problems. The founders who solve these problems flourished and made money. Those who did not solve their problems failed and were forgotten. The one big problem which the Simcock Brothers had to overcome was how to get their finished product to Fall River during the epidemic of hoof and mouth disease which hit here in the early 1880s. The Fall River Board of Health issued orders forbidding all horses entrance to the city. This did not stop George Simcock! Until the ban on horses was lifted, the smoked fish was delivered to the stores in the city and to the Railroad Station for shipments to Boston, by hand cart! No epidemic was going to put George Simcock out of business!

In the year 1886, George Simcock bought the Edward Earle Farm on Sharp's Lot Road in Swansea and went into the business of farming. His assets? A strong back and one rented horse! In the year 1887, Jim Simcock married and set up housekeeping in the Benjamin Earle house next door to George.

Milk being an important product of a farm, George started building a herd of milk cows. It was not very long before Mrs. George Simcock had an income from the sale of butter and buttermilk she alone produced with a swinging churn. Along with the regular line of vegetables which every farmer raises, George started raising strawberries. For a number of years the strawberries raised by the Dighton, Swansea and Somerset farmers were shipped to Boston daily by special train. The bottom fell out of the strawberry business when the southern berries began to arrive earlier and cheaper.

Builds smoke house

Smoking fish, being a cold weather operation, did not interfere with the farm work. So a larger smokehouse was built in the rear of Jim's house on Sharp's Lot Road and the one on Gardner's Neck Road was closed. From this location, it was easier to pick up the fish from Boston at the Somerset Depot. Smoking season started in October and ended around the last of March. For several years the output of Smoked Finnan Haddie exceeded one hundred thousand pounds.

On May 2, 1902, Jim's house was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. He then bought the Steven Eddy Farm on Marvel St. When he passed away, his two sons Robert and Earle took over the management. Earle is now retired, and Robert is semi-retired. Robert's son Alan and Earle's sons George and Bruce are now carrying the load. Farming can be an independent way of earning a living. The rewards gained by a farmer are nothing more than dividends paid on the work he puts into it. There is nothing free in farming!

Through the years 1886 to 1922, the farm and the family of George Simcock grew and prospered. He raised a family of six boys and two girls. Being the business man that he was, he put his money to work. He paid off what he owed on the farm and he then acquired forty acres of land on Hailes Hill Road in Swansea, two tenement houses in Fall River, a parcel of land in the Brightman St. area of Fall River, a parcel of land in Pottersville, running west from the Taunton River to land owned by Chester Hathaway. This parcel of land contained about six and one half acres. Grandview Avenue now runs through this land from County St. to the river.

In 1904 George built a house, with a barn in the rear, on what is now the northeast corner of Grandview Avenue and Riverside Avenue. The house is still there, as it was built, except for a few alterations, on the outside. The barn has been remodeled and is now a beautiful home where Ruth Simcock now resides. A smoke house was also built down near the river.

George Simcock never fully retired even though he spent the winters in his new home in Pottersville. His sons, Herbert and Chester, carried the heavy load on the farm, but George held the reins and made the decisions. George Simcock passed away in 1922 at the age of 68. Herbert, Chester and David, continued to operate the fish smoking business until 1938. Herbert and Chester prepared the fish and David did the smoking. During this period the fresh fish was practically dropped at the front door. The Eastern Mass. St. Railway brought the fish right to the corner of Grandview Avenue and Riverside Avenue, unloaded it into a wagon and the wagon carried it to the Fish House, one hundred yards away. I spent many pleasant hours at the "Fish House", watching the boys preparing the fish for smoking. I also had several trips to Woonsocket, RI with David to pick up hardwood sawdust and shavings which were used in the process of smoking.

All things have a beginning and an ending. The 1938 hurricane hit here and washed the "Simcock Smoked Finnan Haddie" business right out of existance. There are five members of George Simcock's family now living, all in Somerset, namely, Sadie (Mrs. Edwin Rothwell), Chester, Ruth, Lyman and David.

P.S. I had my first lesson on how to play poker at the "Fish House". I am still taking lessons.