1844: How a Yankee Weathervane Caused a Chinese Riot

Posted on 18 July, 2013 by Janice Brown

Another New Hampshire Blogger, Heather Wilkinson Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy, inspired this story.  Her photographic collection of weather vanes and the stories that go with them  caused me to ponder the importance of these metal spire ornaments in our state’s history.  It is obvious that they were essential to the farmer and the sea captain in predicting the weather.  However, nowadays they seem more decorative than predictive.

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Prominent Events in Early America (and New Hampshire) History

Posted on 13 July, 2013 by Janice Brown

PROMINENT EVENTS  in Early America, New England and New Hampshire (including the American Revolution)

The following was gleaned from the History of Barnstead NH from its first settlement in 1727 to 1872, by Jeremiah P. Jewett, Lowell Mass., Marden & Rowell, printers; 1872; page 208

Print from History of Barnstead NH from its first settlement in 1727 to 1872, by Jeremiah P. Jewett, Lowell Mass., Marden & Rowell, printers; 1872; page 10

Print from History of Barnstead NH from its first settlement in 1727 to 1872, by Jeremiah P. Jewett, Lowell Mass., Marden & Rowell, printers; 1872; page 10

1492 — Columbus discovered America.

1586 — Sir Francis Drake visited the New England shores.

1600 — Canada was settled by the French.

1607 — Virginia was settled by the English.

1614 — Capt. John Smith explored this part of the New World.
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1873-1890: How New Hampshire’s Weather Was Foretold

Posted on 8 July, 2013 by Janice Brown

We take many things for granted, including weather forecasts.  With the quickly changing elements in New Hampshire, there have been

The Signal Station in Winter, by W.F. Halsall, from "Mount Washington: A Handbook for Travelers. page 32.

Summit House, Mt. Washington, White Mountains, circa 1900-1906; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a08155

times I’ve felt badly for our local meteorologists. How can they possibly predict conditions that change from minute to minute.   And why the heck do they call them that anyway–meteorologists? Is it because they particularly good at predicting when large objects “impact” our state?  (Just a little weather humor here!)
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New Hampshire’s 4th of July: Freedom to those who have virtue to defend it

Posted on 3 July, 2013 by Janice Brown

AP004“Freedom to those who have virtue to defend it.”

— one of the toasts offered by the Provincial Congress to his Excellency General Washington, and his suite, the General and Staff Officers, and the Commanding Officer, of different regiments in & near the City of New York, on June 19, 1776.

[from: Freeman’s Journal, Published as the New-Hampshire Gazette, dated July 20, 1776, Vol. I, Issue 9.]
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New Hampshire’s 250 Year Old Towns

Posted on 30 June, 2013 by Janice Brown
Benning Wentworth

Likeness of Benning Wentworth from “History of New Hampshire,” by Everett S. Stackpole, Volume II, The American Historical Society, New York; 1916, page 46a

Happy Sestercentennial, Semiquincentennial, or Quarter-millennial to you!  In 1763 thirteen towns in New Hampshire were considered official by proclamation of then Provincial Governor Benning Wentworth.  In that year New Hampshire was a rough and dangerous place to live. Within a decade it was about to become more so,  as the American Revolution would break out.  In 1763 charters for these towns were granted: New Boston, Haverhill, Croydon, Cornish, Thornton, Warren, Plymouth, Lancaster, Alstead, Peeling [now Woodstock], Sandwich, Candia, and Gilsum. Continue reading →

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