New Hampshire: Late 19th Century Facts About Footwear

FACTS ABOUT FOOTWEAR
Fashions changed; and “the whirligig of time” brings about many other things besides “revenges.” The sharply pointed toes of some of our ancestors will be along immediately.

Engraving from Concord [N.H.] and Its Attractions. Strangers' Guide to the Leading Business Houses,  (1881-1885) page 45

Engraving from Concord [N.H.] and Its Attractions. Strangers’ Guide to the Leading Business Houses, (1881-1885) page 45

Perhaps crimson rosettes and silver buckles will follow; perhaps the black velvet embroidered boots of a few hundred years ago; perhaps scarlet heels such as the great, the immortal Fox, was dowdy enough to wear; who knows?
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Poem: “Star Island Church,” by Edna Dean Proctor

STAR ISLAND CHURCH
(Isles of Shoals)

Star Island old church, Isles of Shoals, N.H.; Detroit Publishing Company; 1910; Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Star Island old church, Isles of Shoals, N.H.; Detroit Publishing Company; 1910; Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

 

“GRAY as the fog-wreaths over it blown
When the surf beats high and the caves make moan,
Stained with lichens and stormy weather
The church and the scarred rocks rise together;
And you scarce may tell, if a shadow falls,
Which are the ledges and which the walls.”

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Warner New Hampshire’s Pearl Habor Casualty: Ensign Edward Blanchard Cloues, USN (1917-1941)

Ensign Edward Blanchard Cloues, son of Alfred S. & Hattie (Blanchard) Cloues was born 25 December 1917 at Warner, New Hampshire  He was aboard the USS. Arizona when it was sunk on 7 December 1941 during the Japanese attack.  His body remains with the ship and his shipmates. He was awarded a Purple Heart posthumously, which was sent to his mother in May 1942.

Edward Blanchard Cloues
Photograph from the United States Naval Academy
http://www.usna.com/NC/History/ClassOf1940/C.htm

“Eddie,” as he was known to his family and friends, had graduated from Simonds Free High School at the top of his class, had been active in sports, and a member of the school’s orchestra. He attended the University of New Hampshire for a year pending his appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he graduated in 1940.

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Current Events: A Storm of Snow

A Storm of Snow has come and gone, leaving several feet of powdery, drifting snow behind.  It seems that since last autumn The Weather Channel started naming winter storms, and they called the most recent one ‘Nemo.’  WFSB Channel 3 (New Haven CT), who apparently was one of the first news stations to  name major winter storms, called it ‘Charlotte’ instead. No matter what they say, it was not the greatest snowfall New Hampshire has seen.

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Merrimack New Hampshire Educator and Actress: Marjorie “Maggi” Blanche Parker (1927-still living)

When I browsed the files of the Merrimack Historical Society a year ago, I found a yellowed newspaper clipping describing a remarkable woman whom I had never heard of. The people I write about on this blog are interesting in their own way, but mostly they come from a fairly conservative mold. Maggie broke hers. She is a lovely role model–a bold woman who has pursued her dreams.

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