MERRIMACK, (Thornton’s Ferry) has an infant twelve weeks old, which weighs two and one-quarter pounds, with its clothes on, but when born it weighed two and one-half pounds.
Its place of repose in the day-time is on the stove, which is heated by coal, thus an even heat, of 90 degrees is obtained, which is essential to keep life.
Published in “Farmer’s Cabinet,” 3 December 1878; Volume: 77; Issue: 22; Page: [2];
“In 1646 the shoemakers of Boston, provoked by ‘much bad work produced by their craft,’ petitioned ‘Ye Governor of Ye Bay Colonie’ that ‘all boots might be alike made well.’ So began America’s pride in Craftsmanship. Pride in the production of the finest Quality still lives. It is in the spirit upon which in 1874 at Manchester, New Hampshire, Roger G. Sullivan founded 7-20-4–now the largest strictly hand-made cigar industry in the world….”
On July 9, 1930, page six of the Portsmouth (NH) Herald newspaper touted the above advertisement. At this time the company founder, Roger G. Sullivan had been dead for 12 years, but his legacy continues today.
Roger G. Sullivan was born in 1851 in Bradford NH of Irish parents. He lived most of his life in Manchester New Hampshire. His early education was in the public schools of Bradford and Manchester NH. At a young age began working at the Manchester Print Works. At the age of 14 he was indentured to learn the carriage-painting trade at South Amesbury MA for 3 years. At 19 he went into business as a cigar manufacturer, with two employees. In 1883 he started a cigar company that became famed in northern New Hampshire for selling a “ten cent cigar,” and eventually employing 200 people. His goods were sold throughout the United states. Continue reading
New Hampshire place names are something we can count on.
They are the constant anchors in our lives. No matter if you lived two hundred years ago, or today, Portsmouth is called by the same name, as is the Merrimack River. There were, however, a few places that have be awarded new monikers.
The mouth of a New Hampshire stream, having possibly the longest place name in the State of New Hampshire is Quokquinapessakessanannagnog. The gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire, published in 1823, reported that this name of 28 letters of “that part of this stream [Black Brook] near the mouth” in Mont Vernon New Hampshire, was called this by the Native Peoples.
Janice
When the world was formed and the morning stars
Upon their paths were sent,
The loftiest-browed of the angels was made
The Angel of Discontent.
And he dwelt with man in the caves of the hills,
Where the crested serpent stings
And the tiger tears and the she-wolf howls,–
And he told of better things.
And he led man forth to the towered town,
And forth to the fields of corn;
And told of the ampler work ahead
For which his race was born.
And he whispers to men of those hills he sees
In the blush of the misty west;
And they look to the heights of his lifted eye–
And they hate the name of rest.
In the light of that eye does the slave behold
A hope that is high and brave;
And the madness of war comes into his blood–
For he knows himself a slave.
The serfs of wrong by the light of that eye
March with victorious songs;
For the strength of the right comes into their hearts
When they behold their wrongs.
‘Tis by the light of that lifted eye
That Error’s mists are rent:
A guide to the table-lands of Truth
Is the Angel of Discontent
And still he looks with his lifted eye,
And his glance is far away.
On a light that shines on the glimmering hills
Of a diviner day.
Learn more about the poet, Sam Walter Foss.
Source: Cornell University Library.
A Native American soapstone bowl/kettle found on a farm in Goffstown c1848. Gift of Nancy Barr, Manchester NH 1888; New Hampshire Historical Society Collection
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, usually called Steatite by mineralogists, that formed from 300 to 400 million years ago under intense heat and pressure. Because of its ability to be cut or carved easily, from ancient times this stone was used to create sculptures. Due to its tendency to both resist and retain heat, it has often been used for cooking, heating and serving food. Continue reading
