New Hampshire Tidbits: March 2020 is Women’s History Month

Posted on 1 March, 2020 by Janice Brown

Each year the National Women’s History Alliance selects a theme to encourage authors of all levels and abilities to write about women and to be inclusive of them in our collective history. Their 2020 Women’s History Month theme is “Valiant Women of the Vote,”that honors “the brave women who fought to win suffrage rights for women, and for the women who continue to fight for the voting rights of others.”

I am feeling very much in step, as in 2019 many of my stories focused on New Hampshire women AND men who worked on behalf of suffrage in New Hampshire and nation-wide. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Civic Leader, Woman’s Club Promoter, Suffragist: Nellie Fostina (Tupper) Woodward of Nashua

Posted on 25 February, 2020 by Janice Brown

Photograph of Mrs. Nellie F. Woodward from Granite State Monthly, Vol 43-44, 1911. Colorized by the blog editor.

Nellie Fostina Tupper was born on 20 October 1854 in Nashua NH, daughter of Freeman Eastman & Susan E. (Howe) Tupper.  She was educated in the local Nashua schools.  During the 1870s-80s there were several private high schools in addition to lower level grammar schools in that city.  Her father, Freeman was a trader and goods seller.

On her paternal side, she is descended from Thomas Tupper of Sandwich England who was an early settler of Sandwich MA and of the Ladds of Haverhill.  On her maternal side, she was a descendant of John Spofford and Elizabeth Scott, first settlers of Georgetown MA, and of the Howes of Peterborough NH.  Nellie was also a close cousin to  Earl Silas Tupper (who I wrote about previously), the inventor of “tupperware.” Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Glossary: Drug Mill

Posted on 19 February, 2020 by Janice Brown

Sketch of Coffee-Spice-Drug Mills, hand cranking from Enterprise Manufacturing Co. catalog 1901. Internet Archive.

The term ‘drug mill’ had a very different meaning in the early years of America’s existence than it does now. A drug mill was a term used to describe both/either the actual “mill” used to process medicine OR the building in which it was processed.

It was a perfectly legal shop or manufactory where large quantities of medicinal herbs (roots, leaves, seeds, flowers, etc) were collected, and dried.  Then it was ground, macerated or crushed, and processed into its final liquid or solid form. The final product was then packaged and labeled for sale to apothecary resellers and physicians. The drug mill would also create preparations for a multitude of problems. Prepared compounds were the forerunners of the soon to be called ‘patent medicines.’  Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Tidbits: A Valentine Party, A Poem, and Family History

Posted on 12 February, 2020 by Janice Brown

My research projects often take me on a journey down one or more rabbit holes. What I mean by this (and any seasoned family historian would agree) that we may start off focusing on one person or event, when suddenly due to some interesting news or discovery, we find ourselves investigating something or someone entirely different.

This story began with my looking at Valentine Day events in New Hampshire which led me to a pre-suffrage (1915) women’s party which in turn led me to some fascinating women–one of which was a noted poet, and another a well-known author. Continue reading →

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Jacob Foster 2d and The Foster Beef Co. of Manchester

Posted on 7 February, 2020 by Janice Brown

Early photo of Foster Beef Co. of Manchester NH. From Manchester Yesterday and today by New England Advertising Associates 1946

My father, Berwin “Webby” Webster worked as the night maintenance man for Foster Beef Co. of Manchester New Hampshire from 1953 to its closure in 1976. He was a mechanic and with an expertise in motor maintenance he repaired elevators, chillers and the company vehicles when they broke down. My uncle, Frank Manning, worked there too as a meat cutter.

It might not have seemed a glorious occupation to some, but it did insure that our growing family had plenty of meat, which my father bought at a great discount as an employee. We were never wanting for hamburgers, hotdogs and pot roasts. Continue reading →

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