EVENING TEA
Dedicated to Linda Boyd
It is time to be seated for evening tea,
Tea service at Winterthur. Photograph copyright Janice W. Brown at Cow Hampshire Blog.
The silver’s well-polished and so are we.
With place cards discovered, genteelly we pose,
To chat with our neighbor–anticipation grows. Continue reading
Representative Hall, New Hampshire State House, between 1864 and 1909; George W. Perry Scrapbooks, New Hampshire Historical Society
I first wrote about the New Hampshire State House in 2006, when the building was only 187 years old, and since then I’ve updated that story several times. This year (2019) the building is officially 200 years old, and the oldest legislative chamber in the United States still in continuous legislative use.
I have included some little known photographs of both outside and inside of this beautiful
Photograph of the Legislative Chamber probably prior to 1866 when the room was renovated and the seating changed. From Suzanne Isabelle, the collection of George Juckett, her great-grandmother’s husband. Notice the fold-down desks on the back of each chair.
building. Several people have come forward with additional photographs of the inside and outside, and I will add them as they are offered. I hope you enjoy looking at them.
Boat Landing at Star Island, Isles of Shoals, c1910, Library of Congress
My earliest New Hampshire ancestors hailed from the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of New Hampshire (or Maine, depending on your perspective). I have often pondered on their origin, as the surnames are not found on any known ship list. They could have been servants of David Thompson (1623). Perhaps they were Spanish or Portuguese fishermen who arrived early and remained on the new continent (DNA from the Iberian Peninsula shows up as part of my ancient ancestry).
An important part of genealogy is to study the history in which your ancestor lived. I came upon an 1882 story of the Isles of Shoals in a newspaper [The New York Times, 25 July 1882, page 5 ] that I found to be the best description of the area with its history. Even though written 100 years after my ancestors were removed from the Isles during the American Revolution, this story provides me (and you) with intriguing insight into the Isles of Shoals and its people. Continue reading
Jabez Hills led a seemingly normal life until his later years, when he became known as “Jabez the Hermit,” and was considered by some to be a somewhat odd, miserly recluse. This business-savy man led a productive, generous life and it is sad that he might be remembered only by his seeming later eccentricities. Continue reading
Boston Globe article of 30 November 1934.
It has to be true, as The Boston Globe of 30 November 1934, page 14 reported the unnatural event: “New Hampshire Freak Egg” read the headline, and the story continued as follows. “Lebanon NH. Nov 30 — An interesting freak of nature is a pair of “Siamese twin” eggs which were laid by a 6-months-old pullet raised by George Duplessis of 59 Young Street. The two eggs, one of which is much larger than the other, are connected by a hollow tubular cross-piece. The larger egg contains two yolks, the smaller egg but one. The white of the egg is common to both eggs and the cross piece.”
