New Hampshire’s Most Celebrated Artist: Exeter’s Elizabeth Jane (Gardner) Bouguereau (1837-1922)

Posted on 2 November, 2015 by Janice Brown
Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau

Elizabeth (Gardner) Bouguereau

Elizabeth (Gardner) Bouguereau was one of the most celebrated women painters in the world. She was born in Exeter New Hampshire in the old colonial home of the Gardners, near the square. She attended the public and private schools of the town, and attended Lasell Seminary (a member of the class of 1856). There she studied drawing and painting.

After her graduation from Lasell she was one of the principals of the newly founded Worcester Academy of the Fine Arts, along with Miss M.Immogene Robinson. The school was dedicated in August of 1858 and by 1859 it focused on fine arts, classical literature and languages (English, French and German). Continue reading →

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A 2015 New Hampshire Halloween

Posted on 31 October, 2015 by Janice Brown

halloween cracker victorianWhen you have been alive for longer than a half-century, you tend to have plenty of  memories. Halloween used to be one of my very favorite days.  But then I grew up in a time when celebrating that holiday was less worrisome and more playful.

While growing up in the early 1950s, costumes were always home-made, as were the goody bags we carried.  Each child had the responsibility to think up a character and then to find all the costume pieces, or make the props from every day items. We were sailors, and nurses, paupers and princesses. A few of us were even monsters, though that was not the majority.  No one worried that their children might be kidnapped, or that someone would give out harmful candy.  The worst treat might be an apple instead of a candy bar.  Once you got home, we would spread the candy out like a blanket and swap with our siblings for the preferred sweets. Continue reading →

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Ghastly and Ghostly Halloween Stories Gleaned from Old New Hampshire Newspapers

Posted on 29 October, 2015 by Janice Brown

With Halloween quickly approaching in the Granite State, many thoughts turn to ghouls,

A ghoul, from "The Giant Crab and Other Old Tales from India," by W. H. D. Rouse, 1897

A ghoul, from “The Giant Crab and Other Old Tales from India,” by W. H. D. Rouse, 1897

ghost, skeletons, and everything haunted or creepy.  This need to scare ourselves silly is not a modern day occurrence.  In looking back to the ancient newspapers, reporting strange happenings were probably more prevalent–evidence of the early “sensationalism” of the press to increase subscriptions.

In a prior year I wrote about Haunted Houses in New Hampshire and nearby places.  I have also written about strange hauntings, body snatchings, haunted New Hampshire history, and really bad poetry.   Here is a link to a recap of them all.  Meanwhile, I hope you will enjoy the strange, and sometimes gruesome humor in the following real stories gleaned from New Hampshire newspapers. Continue reading →

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Ezra T. Rumery: Carpenter of Strafford, New Hampshire (1805-1865)

Posted on 25 October, 2015 by Janice Brown
Rumery ET watermarked

Ezra T. Rumery (1805-1865)

 

Ezra T. Rumery was born in Effingham, New Hampshire, and lived in Strafford County New Hampshire, locations that is to this day, are still very much rural.  He was a carpenter, and his son (and namesake) apprenticed with him to learn the trade. Carpentry in the Civil War years could cover everything from house building to ship building.

Ezra’s ancestors were from Maine, and for at least a few generations, none of them lived too far from the sea.  He died in May of 1865, a month after the end of the Civil War, of consumption. Continue reading →

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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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