Laundryman and Cigar-maker: Chester M. Fairbanks of Hillsborough Bridge and Nashua NH (1832-1863)

Posted on 13 July, 2015 by Janice Brown
Chester and Emma Fairbanks of Nashua, New Hampshire. Photograph probably taken in the 1880.

Chester and Emma Fairbanks of Nashua, New Hampshire. Photograph probably taken in the 1880.

The youthful, hopeful faces of Chester M. Fairbanks, and his first wife Emma Belle peer out at me from the fragile tintype photograph.  Along with the tintypes I have two CDVs of them, with a delicate but enigmatic script on the back: “‘C.W’ and “‘E.B.’ Fairbanks.  Send to Myrtie B. Fairbanks, La Gloria, Cuba.”

There was nothing simple about researching this family, for their lives and journeys were convoluted, as lives often are–full of hopes, joys and disappointments. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Tidbits: Land Serpents of the Granite State

Posted on 9 July, 2015 by Janice Brown
TIMBER RATTLESNAKE, Crotalus horridus. From the reptile book, by Raymond Lee Ditmars, 1915.

TIMBER RATTLESNAKE, Crotalus horridus. From the reptile book, by Raymond Lee Ditmars, 1915, the Internet Archive.

Down deep in that hollow the bees never come–
The shade is too black for a flower;
And jewel winged birds, with their musical hum,
Never flash in the night of that bower:–
But the cold blooded snake, in the edge of the
brake,
Lies amid the rank grass half asleep, half awake;
–from The Philosopher Toad by Mrs. Rebecca S. Nichols Continue reading →

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Manchester, New Hampshire’s Distinguished Artist, Instructor, Director, Civic Leader: Maud Briggs Knowlton (1870-1956)

Posted on 5 July, 2015 by Janice Brown
Maud (Briggs) Knowlton, artist, first director of the Currier Art Gallery of Manchester NH, instructor at the Institute of Arts and Sciences.

Photograph of Maud Briggs Knowlton, taken in 1930. Credit: Teti Library , Institute Archives, New Hampshire Institute of Art

Although I credit Maud Briggs Knowlton to Manchester, New Hampshire where she lived and worked for most of her life, I should mention that she was not a native of this city. She was born in Penacook, which was then and is still today, a village and tight-knit community within the city of Concord NH. Maud’s mother, Louise (Morgan) Briggs was from Penacook, so they had family ties there.

The following biography is gleaned from a variety of sources, listed later in this story. Maud Briggs Knowlton was a remarkable woman, and I hope this story draws attention not only to her amazing talent, but also to her role in guiding Manchester’s early art and cultural organizations. Continue reading →

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1835 New Hampshire Toasts for Independence

Posted on 3 July, 2015 by Janice Brown

Vic Card ToastFor many years following America’s war for independence,  it was traditional to offer a series of toasts to those involved living or dead, to our country and to our leadership. The American Centuries web site states that in the early days of our country, these toasting events were accompanied by ‘riotous drunkenness,’ and they give additional examples, very similar to the ones I have provided here, from a New Hampshire newspaper. These toasts were  also often a time to knock those with opposing political views. After reading the following formal and general toasts, think about what or who would you have offered a toast to? Continue reading →

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Cow Stories: Bringing in the Cows, by Arthur Corning White

Posted on 1 July, 2015 by Janice Brown
Photograph: Producer to Consumer, man milking a cow in Milford NH; c1909 J.P. Proctor. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Photograph: Producer to Consumer, man milking a cow in Milford NH; c1909 J.P. Proctor. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division


“A precious, elusive element of poetry has gone out of farming with the passing of the old style smoke house, home made mittens, and those great, round, shining, shallow milk pans for raising of the cream.

Now, the rural population eats hams cured in Chicago, wears mittens knit by machinery in a factory near Boston, and buys butter made at some up-to-date creamery in a sanitary churn. Now, we farm by the clock. We milk in these hurried days of the twentieth century by a gasoline driven vacuum milker. We keep expense and receipt accounts with the punctilious accuracy of a C.P.A. We are forced to do our chores according to system, or very soon have the bank foreclosing and leaving us no farm and no chores to do. Working days, to be sure, are shorter than when I was a boy. And we certain produce more onions, cabbages, and pigs than we did then. But we’ve a lot more money invested in the process. Continue reading →

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