Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2014

Posted on 17 March, 2014 by Janice Brown

HLDY14

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

– New Hampshire’s Irish Myths and Legends

– A New Hampshirite’s Irish Surprise

– What My Irish Heritage Means To Me

– A New Hampshire Irish Christmas Carnival

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Sixteen Completely Free Ways to Research Your Family Tree in New Hampshire

Posted on 13 March, 2014 by Janice Brown

GP12Certain expensive, pay-to-use genealogy corporations are using mass media in an attempt to convince us that we need their services in order to research our personal family histories.  TAINT TRUE!  You don’t need shaking leaves to point you in the right direction, or to perform genealogical research. People (including myself) were effectively researching our genealogies long before the internet, and those corporations existed.

Here is a list of some of the FREE and EASY ways to research your family tree.  Most of these apply to people everywhere, not just in New Hampshire.

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Celebrating Women’s History Month in New Hampshire 2014

Posted on 7 March, 2014 by Janice Brown

March is Women’s History Month–when we have thirty-one days to celebrate women’s contributions to history.  In the case of this blog, it is the stories of New Hampshire women that I mostly share.

Mattie (Kilborn) Webster, Merrimack's first historian, and my grandmother.

Mattie (Kilborn) Webster (1885-1964).  Merrimack, New Hampshire’s first historian, my grandmother and inspiration for much of my research of women’s history.

Why is women’s history important? Because women have been, and still are equal contributors to every historical event in our world history.  No noted military officer could have gone off to war without someone (usually his wife, mother or sister) at home to look after his children, farm his land or otherwise tend his property.  No writer or inventor could have dedicated the time he did without someone to make his meals, tend to his household, and often act as sounding board and inspiration for him.  No noted businessman could have built his empire alone.

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Wilfred Ernest Burpee (1860-1948) and Other Early Opticians of New Hampshire

Posted on 26 February, 2014 by Janice Brown
Office of Brown & Burpee, Optometrists, 940 Elm Street, Manchester NH

Office of Brown & Burpee, Optometrists, 940 Elm Street, Manchester NH

Many of my blog stories are generated based on the view of a curious, old postcard.

“Reception Room, Brown & Burpee” was inscribed on the front of this particular postcard.  Three men are present–one sitting.  There are display cases in a room that did not seem typical to me of one belonging to merchants. The sign over the fireplace states “Our work is not done, until you are satisfied.”

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New Hampshire Missing Places: State Theatre of Manchester

Posted on 22 February, 2014 by Janice Brown
Manchester's State Theatre being built. Photograph copyright by Dan LaRochelle, used here with his permission.

Manchester’s State Theatre being built. Photograph property of Dan LaRochelle, used here with his permission.

Manchester New Hampshire’s State Theatre was built on the then most important street in the city, at 1118 Elm Street on the corner of Baldwin or Washington (now called Wall Street).  It reportedly opened to a sizable crowd on Thanksgiving Eve, 27 November 1929. [However the Manchester City Directory for 1930 showed only the Palace and Park Theatres as being active in the city].  At the State Theatre’s introduction, reportedly movies with sound were first brought to the city. The State Theater’s art deco facade was considered one of the loveliest in New England. What we do know for certain is that by 1931, evidenced by the photograph directly below, the State Theatre was a well known and popular landmark of Manchester.

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