The Face of Addie G. (Whittemore) Tallant of Pembroke New Hampshire (1850-1875)

Posted on 21 October, 2015 by Janice Brown
Photograph of Addie G. (Whittemore) Tallant, taken at MGC Kimball photographer in Concord NH circa 1870

Photograph of Addie G. (Whittemore) Tallant, taken at MGC Kimball photographer in Concord NH circa 1870

A lovely woman sat very still for a profile portrait at M.G.C. Kimball, Photographer, at the corner of Main and School Streets in Concord New Hampshire, probably in the early 1870s. Her naturally curly hair is carefully coiffed. She wears delicate earrings and a chain necklace.

She is Addie G. (Whittemore) Tallant, daughter of Aaron & Arianna S. (Barstow) Whittemore, fourth child and third daughter. Her parents would go on to have six more children. Addie grew up in, married and spent most of her life in the tiny town of Pembroke, New Hampshire.

She married in 1870 to John Gilman Tallant, but sadly she would die in 1875, at the age of 25 after having given birth to three children, the youngest being 5 months old at that time. Her death certificate states she died from pthisis, which is an old term for consumption, or tuberculosis. The disease was prevalent in this time, and took many lives of both young and old. Continue reading →

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Sewall D. Batchelder and Rebecca P. Kilborn of Concord New Hampshire and Other Places

Posted on 17 October, 2015 by Janice Brown
Tintype photograph marked Sewall Batchelder. Civil War Veteran, Co. G. 2nd NH Infantry

Tintype photograph marked Sewall Batchelder. He was a Civil War Veteran, in Co. G. 2nd NH Infantry

The faces of Sewall D. Batchelder and his first wife, Rebecca Page Kilborn gaze out from their photographs with serious faces. Oh yes, I know that in those days people rarely smiled for their formal portrait, however the intensity of these faces seem stronger than usual to me.

In Sewall’s case, perhaps he was a serious man because he had experienced the horrors of the Civil War. He enlisted at the tender age of 18, in Company G, New Hampshire 2nd Infantry Regiment on 21 April 1863. He was mustered out on 19 December 1865 at City Point, VA, still only 20 years old. For much of his life he worked at the serious job of “gate tender” for the railroad. People would die if he was not attentive to his duty. Hand cranked railroad gates started in the year 1874–it was mechanical with chains and cables underground. During his lifetime Sewall spelled his surname various ways, as Batchelder, Bachelder and Bachellor. He was also possibly a bigamist. Continue reading →

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Some Descendants of John Brown of Hampton, New Hampshire

Posted on 13 October, 2015 by Janice Brown
the common hampton falls nh

The Common, Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, from an old postcard.

I can almost see a few of my readers, shaking their heads in dismay, as they look at the title.  Oh no!  Not another Brown family.  The Brown surname in New Hampshire is about as prevalent as leaf peepers in the Fall–they are everywhere, and they look so much alike.  I myself have two Brown connections, only not with the Brown line I am about to present to you.

John Brown was one of the earliest settlers of what is now Hampton, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.  He and his wife, Sarah Walker, had several children.  However, in this article I will follow only one of John Brown’s lines to David Brown, 7th generation who was living in Sanbornton, New Hampshire. Continue reading →

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Portsmouth New Hampshire’s First Woman Legislator, Child Welfare Advocate, and Civic Leader: Gertrude Iola (Moran) Caldwell 1881-1964

Posted on 9 October, 2015 by Janice Brown
Mrs. Gertrude I. (Moran) Caldwell. Likeness from the Granite State Monthly.

Mrs. Gertrude I. (Moran) Caldwell. Likeness from the Granite State Monthly.

The December 31, 1922 edition of the Boston Herald, page 41 touted this headline: THREE WOMEN GO INTO N.H. LEGISLATURE WITH HIGH HOPES. Beneath were photographs of Mrs. Effie E. Yantis, Mrs. Gertrude M. Caldwell, and Mrs. Emma L. Bartlett.They were not the first women to go to the New Hampshire legislature, Dr. Mary (Rolfe) Farnum and Jessie Doe had preceded them in 1921. That does not make the effort and accomplishments of these women any less impressive.

In the fall of 1922, an unassuming, but energetic woman with strong ties to Portsmouth, entered the race for Ward 1’s representative to New Hampshire’s General Court (legislature).  No one outside her close circle expected Gertrude Caldwell to win. She was the first woman from Portsmouth to serve in the General Court. Mrs. Caldwell was chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture that in 1923 changed the name of New Hampshire College to the University of New Hampshire.

Continue reading →

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White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire: Edward Tuckerman and Tuckerman Ravine

Posted on 5 October, 2015 by Janice Brown

Tuckerman Ravine 2Tuckerman Ravine has been described as a “tremendous gulf in the southerly side of Mt. Washington.” This so-called gulf is actually a glacial cirque “carved by the movement of the great New England ice sheet into the side of the Northeast’s highest mountain (Mount Washington).”  Today the area is a skiing mecca of sorts, with the steepest single ski slope in the east found at the Tuckerman Headwall. Tuckerman Ravine was named in honor of Edward Tuckerman who explored the White Mountains to learn about, and catalog, its high altitude lichen and flora. Continue reading →

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