Category Archives: History

A New Hampshire Mother of a President: Eliza (Ballou) Garfield 1801-1888

She was the first woman in American History to see her son sworn in as President of the United States.  At his inauguration ceremony, the new President turned first to his mother, kissing her on the cheek, before he kissed … Continue reading

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The Origin and History of New Hampshire’s Daniel Webster Highway

The Daniel Webster Highway in New Hampshire was originally called the “Merrimack Valley Road” and followed the course of the Merrimack River. On January 23, 1921, the Anaconda Standard newspaper (of Anaconda MT) announced that “backed by many prominent citizens, … Continue reading

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Manchester New Hampshire’s 1946 Centennial Celebration

This story, as usually is the case, begins with a photograph–in this case several.  My mother (Mary Webster) was a “camera nut” and took hundreds of photographs in the Manchester area, but most were of family.  She did not take … Continue reading

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New Hampshire’s First Woman Sheriff and Deputy Sheriffs: Helen Kenney of Concord, M. Jennie (Wood) Kendall of Nashua, and Lillian (Christian) Bryant of Conway

Even today a woman sheriff in New Hampshire would be a rarity.  In 1906, 1939 and 1944 when the three women mentioned in this story were appointed, they were momentous occasions.  These women were not the first sheriffs in the … Continue reading

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The Early History of Manchester New Hampshire’s Hesser Business College (now Mount Washington College) and the Hesser Family

The small business school started in Manchester, New Hampshire by Joel Harter Hesser on 1 June 1900 (for the first few years called simply “Hesser School”) still exists, though it no longer bears its founder’s name. [Editor’s note: At the … Continue reading

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