How Newspapers Can Help Tell Your Family Story

Posted on 6 July, 2019 by Janice Brown

Photo of B.H. Webster performing a motorcycle stunt of riding through a burning fence c1939.

For years I worked on my genealogy without using a newspaper as a reference.  I had boxes of starter material, and of course both my parents were alive to allow me to interview them. Easily 20 years had passed before I even considered the value of a newspaper, other than hunting for an obituary.

Now I am an old-newspaper junkie. Granted it helps if the person or event you are hunting for has an unusual spelling, but if you narrow your focus down to a state or area, you are apt to find something about your research target. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Tidbits: Not On The Fourth of July

Posted on 4 July, 2019 by Janice Brown

Many Americans accept the Fourth of July as the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However it was not signed on that day.

The Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times of 26 March 1885 credits the research of Judge Millen Chamberlain, chief librarian of the Boston public library for proving this. In his notable document, “The Authentication of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776,” after a thorough study of the original records and of all the available evidence, he proved that the signing did not take place upon the Fourth of July. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire’s Cow Appreciation Day

Posted on 1 July, 2019 by Janice Brown

There is a day or a month devoted to almost any object, event or pastime that you can imagine.  One day each year in July is devoted to Cow Appreciation.  This year [in 2019] the celebrations are being held on July 9th. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Suffragist, Civic Leader, and Philanthropist: Julia Beatrice (Ball) Thayer of Winchester and Keene (1835-1905)

Posted on 30 June, 2019 by Janice Brown

Photograph of Julia Ball Thayer from Thayer Public Library, Ashuelot NH. Thanks to Karen Berthiaume of the Thayer Public Library. Used with permission.

She was born Julia Beatrice Ball on 19 January 1835 in Winchester NH, daughter of David & Fanny Parker (Capron) Ball. She would have attended the local Winchester NH schools, and possibly either an academy or a music school, for by the 1870 United States census her occupation is shown to be “music teacher.”

Her father was a “merchant manufacturer” who had many business interests including merchandising, the manufacture of linseed oil, and was the owner of a woolen mill. [Editor’s note: to avoid confusion it should be known that Ashuelot is a village within the town of Winchester, Cheshire County, New Hampshire.] Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Suffragist, Lecturer, Clubwoman: Mabel Harlakenden (Hall) Churchill of Cornish and Plainfield (1873-1945).

Posted on 28 June, 2019 by Janice Brown

Likeness of Mrs. Winston [Mabel] Churchill from “History of the Town of Cornish, New Hampshire, 1912, page 307.

Mabel Harlakenden Hall was born on 5 September 1873 in New Haven CT, daughter of George Duffield & Louise (Allen) Hall.  She died on 26 May 1945 in Plainfield, Sullivan NH, and is buried at Churchill Cemetery, Plainfield NH next to her husband. She married 22 Oct 1895 in St. Louis, Missouri to Winston C. Churchill, son of Edward Spaulding & Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill. He was a writer and politician. Mabel Harlakenden (Hall) Churchill died in May of 1945, at the age of 71. She was buried in Churchill Cemetery, beside her husband in Plainfield, Sullivan Co. NH.

In the book, One Thousand New Hampshire notables; brief biographical sketches, Henry H. Metcalf, 1918, her biography is given as follows: “Mabel Harlakenden Hall Churchill (Mrs. Winston Churchill); b. New Haven, Conn.; dau. George B. and Lucretia (Allen) Hall; ;ed. Mary Institute, St. Louis, Mo.; Miss Comegys’ School, Philadelphia PA; Episcopalian; Woman Suffragist; member N.H. Woman Suffrage Ass’n (Vice-president), National Woman Suffrage Ass’n, Chilton Club, Boston, Mass.; m. Oct 22, 1895 Winston Churchill; children, Mabel Harlakenden, John Dwight, James Creighton. Residences Cornish N.H., Windsor VT. P.O.” Continue reading →

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