New Hampshire’s Famed Checkerologists of the 19th & 20th Centuries

Posted on 28 December, 2013 by Janice Brown

How to win at checkers millard hopper book coverInteresting stories, photographs and genealogical material can be gleaned from  the unlikeliest of sources. In this case it an  antique booklet about American checkers (the game is called draughts in Europe) that caught my eye. Who would have know that back in 1890 New Hampshire was a veritable ‘hot spot’ of checker competition activity.  The Manchester-Derry area was much esteemed for its skilled players and The Derry News proclaimed that it had “THE BEST CHECKER COLUMN of any weekly Journal in America.”

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New Hampshire’s Santa Claus of 1863

Posted on 24 December, 2013 by Janice Brown

Santa Claus

Here comes Santa Claus, with fur-trimmed coat and cap, and beard of icicles! Many a mile he has traveled this Christmas Eve, and many a toy-shop emptied, and father and mother consulted for the children’s sake.old santa postcard

How splendid it must be to have so much to give away, and such a heart to give it!–We are acquainted with a little girl who said with sparkling eyes , as she pulled the treasures from her stocking, “I know one thing–if I could not be God, I’d be Santa Claus–wouldn’t you?”

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Cow Concerns: Is Hotcha Music Bad for Bovine Health?

Posted on 15 December, 2013 by Janice Brown

The federal department of agriculture has gravely suggested that those farmers who have installed radios in their barns to delight the livestock should tune in on softer gentler cows by the rivermusic. Cows give more milk when contented, it seems, and no cow can be anything but restless while listening to hotcha music of the Big Apple variety. Hoofs itch and necks twist in the stanchions. — Philadelphia Inquirer [printed in the Portsmouth Herald and Times, October 18, 1937, page 9]

Apologies of my readers, but this article was really too funny not to share with you!

Janice

 

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Christmas Doings – Portsmouth NH of 1876

Posted on 10 December, 2013 by Janice Brown

Christmas passes off very quietly here. The break of day was ushered in by the English carolers, who favored the waking residents with their music, while the Kearsarge Fife and Drum Band serenaded many citizens with some equally choice music. Sleighing was brisk, especially in the afternoon.VIC1149

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New Hampshire Glossary: Tableaux

Posted on 5 December, 2013 by Janice Brown

Also called “Tableau” and “Tableau vivant“, these words describe a custom posed scene consisting of actors (either amateur or professional), often in costume with backdrops, created for  entertainment purposes.

Notice of Christmas Festival at Amherst NH in the Farmer's Cabinet of December 19, 1861, page 3

Notice of Christmas Festival at Amherst NH in the Farmer’s Cabinet of December 19, 1861, page 3

One of the most popular stage entertainments of the nineteenth century was a form of minstrel show, consisting of plays and tableaux (a mute scene or representation). Both adults and children would participate and such performances were often used to raise money for various worthy causes, such as orphanages, sick and disabled soldiers, etc.

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Posted in History, New Hampshire Glossary | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments