99 Years of History: Gypsy Tour Day to New Hampshire Motorcycle Week to Laconia Motorcycle Week

Posted on 13 May, 2015 by Janice Brown
A 1915 Manchester City (NH) Directory advertisement for an Indian motorcycle

A 1915 Manchester City (NH) Directory advertisement for an Indian motorcycle

New Hampshire is home to America’s Original Motorcycle Rally. Its a 99th year anniversary in New Hampshire in 2015, if you count sequentially from 1916—when some 150 motorcyclists unofficially gathered at Weirs Beach.

By the following year (1917) the Motorcycle and Allied Trades Association’s Lacy Crolius, who was chairman of their education committee announced a first national two-day motorcycle “Gypsy Tour” (aka Gypsy Day Tours, aka National Gypsy Holiday Tour) predicting that it would “bring out at least 20,000 enthusiasts of the two and three-wheeled sport.”

[Editor’s Note: The Laconia Bike Week web site is touting their event as the 92nd. They are either 1) basing it on the starting date of 1918, and subtracting several years when the event was either cancelled or not held, or 2) they started counting when the national championship was first brought to Laconia (it was held at Old Orchard Beach Maine and also in Keene a few years prior to the venue transfer).  See the extensive chart of historical dates here. I prefer to call it 99 years, since, for example, even if someone does not have a birthday party, they still gain a year in age.] Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, History, Really Old News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Tribute to My Mother on Mothers Day 2015

Posted on 10 May, 2015 by Janice Brown
mary manning at the beach w camera 2

Mary Manning, not yet Webster, with her camera at Hampton Beach late 1930s early 1940s.

Mary was born into a large Irish family in Manchester, New Hampshire, the youngest girl, and next to the youngest child of thirteen.  She had polio as a youngster, but felt lucky rather than upset.  She said that though she would always walk with a limp, her life had been spared when other children she knew had died. Continue reading →

Posted in History, New Hampshire Women, Personal History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Elusive Manuel Family of Franklin, New Hampshire

Posted on 9 May, 2015 by Janice Brown
A gem-sized tintype photograph of George Manuel of Franklin NH. He was born in 1848.

A gem-sized tintype photograph of George Manuel of Franklin NH. He was born in 1848, and died in 1911.

My quest to discover more about the Manuel Family of New Hampshire arose from my purchase of a gem sized tin type on Ebay of George Manuel of Franklin, New Hampshire. I remembered running across this rare name a few times during research of my own family in Boscawen.  As if often the case, I discovered a family relationship–that one member of this Manual clan married my 2nd great-grand uncle.

The origin of this family is obscure to say the least. In ancient records I find several “Manuel” lines possibly related to the New Hampshire branch, but probably not. The oldest record is of Minges Manuel who in February of 1671 was in Kingston NY court stating that a George Hall owed him 383 guilders. Closer to home, the earliest record is a marriage on 4 Sep 1731 between a Bathsheba Manuel and Peleg Barker in Rhode Island. In 1797 the Boston Athenaeum obituary lists a Joseph Manuel, mariner, born at Port o’Port and died 26 October 1797 in Boston MA, age 23 years. Several of these individuals are identified as black skinned, while other records do not say.  Manuel is a name found in many places, including England, Ireland and Portugal.  Continue reading →

Posted in Genealogy, History, New Hampshire Men | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Alfred Spalding of Merrimack and Nashua New Hampshire: Sailor, Farmer and Boarding House Keeper (1806-1887)

Posted on 5 May, 2015 by Janice Brown
Alfred Spalding of Merrimack and Nashua NH. He was the son of Silas and Betsy (Hills) Spaulding. (1806-1887)

Alfred Spalding of Merrimack and Nashua NH. He was the son of Silas and Betsy (Hills) Spaulding. (1806-1887)

Yes, you guessed it.  Another photograph came into my possession–actually I bought it on Ebay–this time of Alfred Spalding.  The Spalding family of southern New Hampshire area was particularly prolific, and so it is not always an easy task to sort them out.  His story is not unusual for the place nor the time.  Alfred Spalding was an average man who led an average life. This photograph was taken in the studio of E.W. Johnson in Nashua, NH.

Alfred Spalding was born in Merrimack, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire in 1806 into a farming family.  Some of the earlier ancestors were sea-faring men, and so Alfred as a young man did the same, as did one of his sons.  By 1850 he married and had turned to farming in his home town of Merrimack, New Hampshire.  In 1860 he ran a boarding house in nearby Nashua, on the corner of Spring and Eldridge Streets. Perhaps when his wife died in 1871 he no longer had the heart for it, for he gave up the boarding house, and for several years lived at 76 Chestnut Street in Nashua NH.  Continue reading →

Posted in History, New Hampshire Men | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

New Hampshire Missing Places: Dome Mount aka Pleasant Dome aka Mount Pleasant

Posted on 2 May, 2015 by Janice Brown
Old Postcard of the Presidential Range, White Mountains New Hampshire still showing Mt. Pleasant (now Mt. Eisenhower) and Mt. Clinton (now Mt. Pierce).

Old Postcard of the Presidential Range, White Mountains New Hampshire still showing Mt. Pleasant (now Mt. Eisenhower) and Mt. Clinton (now Mt. Pierce).

New Hampshire has a penchant for changing things–slogans, and place names especially.  It’s “in with the new and out with the old!”  As you’ve possibly guessed (as it is the case in most of my “Missing Places” posts) the mountain in question is not truly lost, it was just renamed. We don’t know if the native people had a unique name for it or not, but by 1820 one of the peaks in the White Mountain’s Presidential Range was called Dome Mount and Mount Pleasant. In 1969 it was renamed Mount Eisenhower. Continue reading →

Posted in History, N.H. Missing Places, New Hampshire Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment