Derry, Rockingham County, New Hampshire Educator & Library Trustee: Mary Harriett (Day) Low (1868-1957)

Posted on 27 August, 2013 by Janice Brown

A 36-year-old Mary Harriett Day, also known as “Hattie” peers out at you from this

Mary Harriett Day Low Derry NH teacher

Photograph of Mary Harriett (Day) Low of Derry NH. She was a school teacher and 50 year trustee of the Derry Public Library.

circa 1904 photograph.  She was unmarried at the time the photograph was taken, and probably a school teacher in the Derry-Londonderry area.  Within a year she would wed one of the local men, Benjamin Franklin Low, a prosperous businessman and farmer, with whom she would begin a family.
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Manchester New Hampshire’s Michael Prout: He put the ‘Prout’ in ‘Prout Park’

Posted on 16 August, 2013 by Janice Brown
Michael Prout from "The Mirror's Pictorial Manchester 1846-1896."

Michael Prout from “The Mirror’s Pictorial Manchester 1846-1896,” John B. Clarke Co., Manchester NH, 1896.

Michael Prout was an English farmer’s son, born 24 Feb 1824 in Plymouth, Devon, England.  It is not known what influenced his immigration to the United States, that  occurred about 1845.  What is definitively known is that Michael Prout was living and working in Manchester, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire as early as 1846 when he is shown in the city directory with his occupation as ‘car'(penter).  Ten years later in 1856 the directory shows his industriousness: “Prout, Michael brewer, 16 Elm, board 4 do.”  This would seem to indicate that the vicinity of the current Blessed Sacrament church and rectory was his residence and brewery.
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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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Posted in History, Military of New Hampshire, Not New Hampshire, Oddities, Accidents and Crazy Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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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