LAKIN FAMILY. I07 



The weather bureau will probably furnish an explanation of the 

 extraordin [ar]y state of the atmosphere yesterday. All day long a 

 heavy yellow haze hung over the central portion of New England, the 

 lower atmosphere being comparatively clear. Apparently it was only 

 a remarkable case of what is known as dry fog^ with the peculiarity of 

 remaining suspended high over the earth's surface and strengthened 

 by the additions of smoke from extensive wood fires. The lower 

 stratum of air was not obscured at all. The dome of the state house 

 could be seen as clearly as usual from the hills in Brookline. But the 

 sky was a bright yellow all day, and gas was necessary in all the stores 

 and counting-rooms of this city from morning until night. The air 

 was so murky that gas burned white like the electric Hght ; yet the 

 uniformity of the tinge of the sky showed that there was nothing like 

 an ordinary cloud above the horizon. Altogether it was one of the 

 strangest spectacles the present generation has seen, at least in New 

 England. The barometer showed but slight changes during the day, 

 and the temperature was remarkably even. The phenomenon seems 

 to have been specially marked in Boston, but was observed in New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, and Block Island. The wind reached a maxi- 

 mum of ten or twelve miles, but without any apparent effect, except 

 toward night, when the sky became somewhat clearer. Like all ex- 

 traordinary occurrences, the day had a marked effect upon the super- 

 stitious and upon the animal kingdom. 



" Boston Daily Advertiser," September 7, 1881. 



LAKIN FAMILY. 



Among the first settlers of Groton were the brothers Lieu- 

 tenant William and Ensign John Lakin, who each owned a 

 twenty-acre right as original proprietors of the town. They 

 had both previously lived at Reading, where they had been 

 married. During the earliest history of Groton their names 

 appear frequently in the affairs of the town, and they seem 

 both to have taken a prominent part in civil and ecclesiastical 

 matters. William's house-lot lay on both sides of the road 

 leading to Hawtree Meadow, which is now known as Chico- 

 pee Row ; and John's was at Nod, a district lying northerly 



