The Kangas Family: Finnish Immigrants to New Hampshire

Posted on 10 February, 2015 by Janice Brown
William "Willie" Kangas and Elmi Kemppainen pose on 25 December 1896.

William “Willie” Kangas and Elmi Kemppainen pose on 25 December 1896.

Between 1890 and 1920 1,558 immigrants from Finland became New Hampshire residents. This fact is dwarfed by the statistics that show in the same time period that 44,420 of the immigrants were French Canadian, 14,890 were Irish, followed by those of Greek, Russian, Polish, Austrian, Swedish, German, Italian and Lithuanian origin.

Certain towns in New Hampshire seemed to be attractive to the Finnish immigrants, some being New Ipswich, Rindge, and Milford.

One couple peers out at me from their wedding photograph (on the back is inscribed “Mr. & Mrs. Wm Kangas just married 1896.”).  They were captured on film at Desclos Bros in Manchester, New Hampshire. Continue reading →

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John B. Varick Co. — New England’s Largest Hardware Business in 1915

Posted on 6 February, 2015 by Janice Brown
John B. Varick Co., Elm Street, Manchester NH from a 1903 booklet.

John B. Varick Co.,
809-819 Elm Street,
Manchester NH from a
1903 booklet

This brief description of the JOHN B. VARICK COMPANY is the perfect way to begin this blog post.  “The John B. Varick Co. was established in 1845, on the same spot where the present Varick Building stands, by John P. Adriance, who came to Manchester from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. In 1849 John B. Varick, a boy of sixteen, came to Manchester from Poughkeepsie and entered the employ of Mr. Adriance. In 1851 Mr. Adriance sold out the business to Messrs S. James Dennis and John B. Varick [and the company was known as Dennis & Varick, see receipt below]. In 1855 Mr. Dennis retired and the firm became known as Varick, Storm & Co.”

 

1854 receipt from the firm of Dennis & Varick, Manchester NH

1854 receipt from the
firm of Dennis &
Varick, Manchester NH

“In 1858 Walter Adriance, John B. Varick’s cousin, purchased Mr. Storm’s interest and the firm now known as John B. Varick & Co. In 1860 John B. Varick bought his partner out, and became sole owner. In 1884 the business was incorporated under the name of John B. Varick Co., with John B. Varick, president and treasurer, and Charles A. Adams manager. John B. Varick died in 1902 after having been actively engaged in the same business in the same location for over fifty-three years. The present officers of the company are Richard Varick, president, Charles A. Adams, manager, and Thomas R. Varick, treasurer.” Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Slanguage: Cunnin

Posted on 2 February, 2015 by Janice Brown
Cartoon from Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth Ohio) 12 June 1922, page 1. "An Maw says I'm cunnin now who the dickens can I believe anyway?

Cartoon from Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth Ohio) 12 June 1922, page 1. “Pop says I’m a bad boy ‘n maw says I’m cunning now who the dickens can I believe anyway?

Recently the word cunnin(g) was brought up in a FaceBook discussion group, as to whether or not it was New England slang.  To be honest, I am not certain.  But it was in a New Hampshire household where I heard it used first.  I suspect it was perhaps Irish in origin, or at the least a New England country slang word.

I have personal remembrances of hearing the word cunnin‘ used by my mother who was born and raised in New Hampshire. When she used the word, it was always in reference to a baby or small child, implying by her usage of someone cute, pretty, and precious. My mom loved poetry, so it would not be a great stretch for me to think she learned it through reading, rather than from her parents. She always pronounced the word clearly, ‘cunnin’ with no sound of the ‘g‘ as shown in the cartoon shown to the left in this article.

Continue reading →

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Charlestown NH Farmer, Inventor, Barbed Wire King: Joseph Farwell Glidden (1813-1906)

Posted on 28 January, 2015 by Janice Brown
Joseph F. Glidden, King of Barbed Wire.

Joseph F. Glidden, King of Barbed Wire. Courtesy Illinois Digital Archives

What happened when the cow jumped over a barbed wire fence? Utter catastrophe! This poor joke is a lead into today’s blog story, about the potentate of wire fences–a Charlestown NH native named Joseph Farwell Glidden. Sometimes called “devil’s rope,” it was composed of a twisted wire that included a pointed barb, efficient for enclosing larger livestock. Mr. Glidden didn’t invent the first barbed wire, he simply invented and patented a new version and along with it a method to mass produced miles of it. He made a fortune. Continue reading →

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New England’s Great Snow of 1717

Posted on 26 January, 2015 by Janice Brown
Scene at snow carnival, Lancaster, New Hampshire, photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1936; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Scene at snow carnival, Lancaster, New Hampshire, photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1936; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

In February 1717 occurred the greatest fall of snow recorded in the annals of New England–almost burying under the frozen mass the small log houses of the new plantations. So effectively were even the most traveled roads blocked that the magistrates and ministers of Boston, who had come out of the town on the first day of the storm to attend the funeral of the Rev. Mr. Brattle at Cambridge, were unable to return for some days. The storm began on the 20th and ended on the 24th of February. Old Indians, of a hundred years, said that their fathers had never told them of such a snow. Continue reading →

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