It seems to be the season for genealogy foolishness. Yes, long time genealogists, including myself, are keenly aware that over the past thirty-five years (and before that) writers have been stealing other people’s stuff. It is just not right. Its thievery.
On the other hand, think back a bit. Have you ever read something bad about someone, and you knew it wasn’t true at all? Yes, I have too. Continue reading
Here is a collection of “April Fool” stories gleaned from New Hampshire Papers. DISCLAIMER.–Do not attempt to duplicate these foolhardy events, as some are dangerous and stupid.
1843.–April Fool.
As the passenger train of cards which usually arrived here at 11-1/2 o’clock, A.M., were on their way up on Saturday last, about one mile below Manchester, at a short turn in the road, the engineer perceived what appeared to be a man directly over the track, leaning forward, as if examining something on the track. The air was filled with snow, and prevented the engineer from seeing distinctly the form and situation of the figure, before it was too late, and the locomotive and cars passed over the object, severing the head from the body. The cars immediately pull back, and after a “minute investigation,” found that they had severed the head of an effigy from its body–and then recollected that it was the first of April. The engineer was somewhat frightened, and the women screamed a little; but no bad effects are know to have resulted from a rather too serious “April Fool” joke. — New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord, New Hampshire) page 2, Thursday, April 6, 1843. Continue reading
Mary Ann (Powers) Filley. Photograph from New Hampshire Women. A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches, Concord NH, 1895
Mary Ann (Powers) Filley was passionate about causes. She was eager to try new careers. She was quick to adopt and promote what mattered to her.
At the age of 11, Mary Ann Powers had lost her mother, and as eldest girl had to take on many “motherly” responsibilities, caring for her younger siblings. Her father did not remarry right away, but when he did it allowed her time to attend an academy, at least for one year to get additional schooling.
She left home and moved to New Jersey to gain expertise in the tailor trade. She lived for a while with her maternal aunt in Lansingburgh, New York. It was there she met her future husband, Edward Augustus Filley, who she married at the age of 30. They immediately moved to St. Louis, Missouri where his business was based. She gave birth to several children there. Continue reading
Mrs. Emma L. Bartlett (1859-1933) one of the early women legislators of NH and the first chairperson.
Emma Louise (Tucker) Bartlett, according to NH legislative historian Leon Anderson‘s 1971 booklet, New Hampshire Women Legislators, was “of Raymond, 63-year-old operator of an insurance business and mother of four [and a Democrat]” was one of the three women in the 1923 New Hampshire Legislature.
He adds that she was a “one-time teacher and Deerfield native, [who] became the first woman committee chairman. She headed the House Public Health Committee along with membership on the Forestry Committee.”
Mrs. Emma Bartlett was elected in what I call the “second wave” of women legislators of the General Court of New Hampshire in 1923. In the “first wave,” Dr. Mary L.R. Farnum, and Miss Jessie Doe had been elected the first women lawmakers in the State of New Hampshire. In 1923 Emma Bartlett, along with Mrs. Gertrude (Moran) Caldwell and Mrs. Effie Earll Yantis were elected. Continue reading
A 1958 photograph of Sherman Adams and his wife Leona (White) Adams., as they arrive for a congressional hearing.
Rachel Leona White was born in 1905 in Mount Holly, Rutland Co. VT. Her father was a house painter and decorator (her grandfather was a carriage painter) in a rural area of Vermont. She had a great interest in the arts. She was a refined, talented, and always loyal woman, much admired by her family, friends, and citizens of New Hampshire.
As Rachel (White) Adams, she was an artist and author, publishing an autobiography, “On the Other Hand” in 1963. While living in Washington D.C. from 1953 to 1958, she had helped organize an international group of wives of diplomats and White House staff members, to promote friendship and understanding among women. She was a member of the New Hampshire Commission on the Arts from 1965-1971, and she served as a trustee of the New Hampshire Youth Orchestra. Continue reading
