EDDINGTON – It all began in 1909 as the brainchild of Boston Post publisher Edwin A. Grazier, who picked up several hundred canes at an auction.

The canes were made of African ebony with 14-carat gold heads. He devised a plan to give out some 700 canes to the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Initially, the cane was given to men only. It was not presented to women until the 1930s – long after Grazier had died.

Today, the Town of Eddington keeps its original Boston Post Cane in a special glass case. A replica of it has been made by Peavey Manufacturing Co. for the Eddington Historical Society. This cane, along with a plaque commemorating the event, is presented to the recipient by the historical society.

This year, the cane was given to Clayton Roy Ackley by Eddington town manager Russell Smith. Ackley was born in Cutler on May 7, 1915. He received the Boston Post Cane on his 90th birthday.

His parents were Ezra Allen Ackley Jr. and Annie Eudora Davis. The youngest of 12 children, Ackley had seven sisters and four brothers. One sister, Marguerite Allison Ackley Grof, lives in California.

Having lost his hearing at a young age, Ackley received his education at the Baxter School for the Deaf.

He married Evangeline Smith – known as Eva – on May 21, 1943, in Bangor. Together, they had two children: Allen Clayton Ackley of West Virginia, who is retired from the U.S. Navy; and Gail Ackley Hodgins, who married Harold Hodgins and has since died. Mrs. Ackley died in 2001.

Ackley has seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Through his mother’s family, Ackley is descended from a passenger on the Mayflower. He is the fifth great-grandson of Nicholas Ackley, who settled in this country in the 1600s.