Redstone New Hampshire DAR Chapter & State Regent, National Librarian-General, Mayflower Descendant and Governor: Florence May (Tilton) Crockett (1886-1946)

Posted on 11 March, 2016 by Janice Brown
Florence M. (Tilton) Crockett

Florence M. (Tilton) Crockett

Florence May Tilton was born 6 May 1886 in Farmington, Franklin Co. ME and d. 3 Sep 1946 in Conway, Carrol Co. NH. Her parents were Joseph Adelbert Tilton and Lizzie Norton Eaton.

After her marriage to Ralph Lynden Crockett in 1916, they moved to Redstone, a small village in Conway, New Hampshire where they resided for the rest of their lives. Ralph was a manufacturer associated with the Redstone quarry.

Florence’s mother was a teacher, and so no doubt that influenced her education.  She came from a farming family but had attended Maine elementary schools, and was a graduate of high school and Farmington (Maine) State Normal School. She was a Congregationalist. Continue reading →

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First Woman and Second Person Named New Hampshire Poet Laureate: Eleanor Winthrop Vinton (1899-1977)

Posted on 8 March, 2016 by Janice Brown
Photograph of Eleanor Winthrop Vinton, taken at the time of her being named Poet Laureate of New Hampshire

Photograph of Eleanor Winthrop Vinton, taken at the time of her being named Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. Property of Janice W. Brown at blog: Cow Hampshire.

At the age of eight years, Eleanor Winthrop Vinton moved with her family from her birthplace of Stoneham, Massachusetts to Concord, New Hampshire. Her father was an upholsterer by profession. She was a direct descendant of John Vinton of Lynn MA as shown in the genealogy below.

On her 73rd birthday (August 1972), by then a sixty-five year resident of Concord, she was appointed the second New Hampshire Poet Laureate, the first women to be awarded this honor.  Then-Governor Walter Peterson telephoned her on July 25th to notify her of her appointment.

Gov. Walter Peterson of NH

Gov. Walter Peterson of NH who appointed Eleanor Vinton as poet laureate, from Manual for the General Court 1969.

The no-salaried position of poet laureate had been established in 1967, as a life-time appointment.  After Eleanor’s appointment, it was determined that future poet laureates would serve in five year terms.  A 1973 Telegraph newspaper (Nashua NH) article by Brenda W. Rotzoll quotes Eleanor:  “I promised them I’d try to die within five years…”  The article also mentions that she was “whitehaired, delicate, soft-spoken and possessed of a wicked wit.”

Continue reading →

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Manchester New Hampshire Teacher, WW1 Red Cross Nurse, Public Health Nurse, Women’s Rights Advocate, Civic Leader, Clubwoman: Elena Mae (Crough) Lockwood (1884-1962)

Posted on 4 March, 2016 by Janice Brown
Elena M. Crough, photograph taken in 1917 for her Red Cross nursing application.

Elena M. Crough, photograph taken in 1917 for her Red Cross nursing application.

She was the youngest daughter, and eighth child, of Irish immigrants, born in 1884 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Elena Mae Crough was bright, and well liked. She grew up at 343 Harrison Street, graduated from the Ash Street Grammar School, and Manchester High School. She worked as a teacher while she attended two years of normal school, followed by two more years at the Lynn Hospital nursing program, where she graduated in 1908.

She combined her love of teaching and nursing, working in private homes, and later in child welfare, district nursing, and as a school nurse. One must remember that nursing as a licensed profession was in its infancy during this time.  It was only in 1906 that the Graduate Nurses Association of New Hampshire was formed.  The following year (1907) then-Governor John McLane signed a bill into law requiring nurse registration.

Continue reading →

Posted in Genealogy, History, Irish in New Hampshire, New Hampshire Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Exeter and North Hampton New Hampshire Writer and Poet: Lillian “Lilja” (Hillbom) Rogers (1901-1993)

Posted on 1 March, 2016 by Janice Brown
Lillian Rogers in 1982, the year her book of poems was published. On the porch of Seawind Farm, North Hampton NH

Lillian Rogers in 1982, the year her book of poems, “More Laughter Than Tears,” was published. Her pen name was Lilja Rogers. Shown on the porch of Sea Wind Farm, North Hampton NH. Photograph provided by, and used with permission of, her grand-daughter, Heather Hillbom Hogan.

Lilja Rogers is an often-quoted but little known New Hampshire poet. We share her with Wallingford, Connecticut, her birth place in 1901, where she was brought up in a talented family.

Her father Henrik Hillbom (sometimes mis-spelled Hillborn) was a noted landscape painter and silverware designer. Lilja  was also called “Lilly” but most often she used the name Lillian. She attended Wallingford schools, and attended one year at the Tilton School (1918), then a finishing school in New Hampshire. She graduated from Wallingford High School (Wallingford CT) in 1919.

In June 1922 she married Percy Couch Rogers. A few months later they applied for passports to travel to Europe, where Percy studied languages at Toulouse University and the University of Granada. While in Europe she attended the University of Toulouse, France 1922-23 Ecole des Beaux Arts, and when living in Stockholm Sweden from 1939-40, she attended the School of Foreign Languages. Continue reading →

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March 2016: Celebrating Women’s History Month in New Hampshire

Posted on 28 February, 2016 by Janice Brown

Womens history month logoThe March 2016 Women’s History Month Theme (as designated by the National Women’s History Project) is “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.” Their goal is to make women’s historic achievements visible.

My goal is somewhat different. I believe that every woman’s life is interesting and important to history. Views about a person’s historical significance are often shaped by contemporary contexts and are dependent upon the values and interests of individuals or groups considering them.

Today, for example, it would not be thought of as unusual for a women to graduate from college, but even into the late 19th century it was an accomplishment, and not a commonality. In another example, a woman who served as an eclectic physician was, on more than one occasion, left out of a local history that managed to include all the men (because of a bias against both women and the style of medicine). Continue reading →

Posted in Carnivals and Memes, Genealogy, History, New Hampshire Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments