New Hampshire WWI Military: Private Alfred J Cote of Warren

Posted on 10 September, 2018 by Janice Brown

Headstone of P1c Alfred J. Cote at Arlington National Cemetery. Photograph from ANC website.

Private Alfred J. Cote is a bit of a mystery, though his military service in WWI and his death is not. In various records he is shown as being of Keene NH (the NH Adjutant General’s List of WWI Casualties) and of Warren New Hampshire (from his U.S. Military Transport Records).

What is known is that Alfred J. Cote was a Private in the U.S. Army who served in Company B, 314th Infantry, U.S. Army. His service number was 2886471. On 8 July 1918 he departed the United States at Hoboken NJ aboard the ship Leviathan bound for military service in Europe. At that time his next of kin was a “Mrs. Alice Contois” of Child Street, Warren New Hampshire. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire in WWI: Heroes of Raymond

Posted on 8 September, 2018 by Janice Brown

Dudley-Tucker Library, Raymond, NH. From Wikimedia Commons. Photographer John Phelan, taken on 21 April 2014.

The year 1917 was an especially difficult one for the Town of Raymond in Rockingham County, New Hampshire.  A month before the United States declared war the town hall burned down (13 March 1917). According to the book, Images of America: Raymond by Kristin Ozana Doyle, “the town offices were moved to the upper floor of the library, and remained there until 1974 when a new town hall was built.”

This incident did not dampen the town’s patriotism and they sent their full quota to service (2 to 2-1/2% of the town’s total residents of around 1200 people.).  Within the decade of World War I (1910-1920), the town’s population would decline by about 150 residents.  Two residents, Sergt. Dudley Gilman Tucker and Private Emerson Maple made the supreme sacrifice. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire in WWI: The Phelan Sisters of Milford

Posted on 6 September, 2018 by Janice Brown

Upper Row, Left to Right — Maurice Phelan, John Phelan, William Phelan, All in the United States Navy. Below–Katherine Phelan and Mrs. Alice Keefe.

 

This is a short story about the Phelan Family of Cambridge MA who spent summers on their Milford, New Hampshire farm.  The men mentioned served from Cambridge MA not Milford NH.  One of the women in the story, Katherine Phelan, married a Milford man, Leo D. Flanagan and lived in the town for many years.  My interest started with this newspaper story and photograph demonstrating how women often had the “men’s tasks” during wartime.

Boston Sunday Globe 22 September 1918, page 140
THREE SONS IN SERVICE / TWO SISTERS RUN FARM Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Slanguage: Beach Wagon

Posted on 4 September, 2018 by Janice Brown

1960s Boston newspaper advertising for rebuilding of “Beach Wagon” vehicles.

I was looking at some 1960-ish photographs today, a few showing my family’s pale yellow beach wagon parked in the driveway. BEACH WAGON was the local (New England) term for what most people then called a “Station Wagon” (or a “Woody” if you lived in California). It was the stalwart and utilitarian motorized family vehicle of the 1960s larger-sized family (there were 5 kids and 2 adults in mine). Continue reading →

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New Hampshire in World War I: U.S. Coast Guard Surfman George Henry Stenstream of Hampton and Rye

Posted on 2 September, 2018 by Janice Brown

Photograph of Wallis Sands Life-Saving Crew wearing “storm suits” with cork life vests, no date. From U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office, U.S. Coast Guard Museum.

World War I was a war that most people wanted to forget. It was a terrible time both for the brave men and women in service, but also for those who remained at home. No one was safe from the influenza scourge that took so many young lives.

Not all heroic service was performed across the sea on the battlefields of Belgium and France. The job of protecting the local seas was an important priority. George Henry Stenstream was a man who is today mostly forgotten. He was born on 27 March 1884 in Gloucester MA, son of Capt. Charles & Hulda A. (Hanson) Stenstream. He was only 6 years old when his father, Capt. Charles Stenstream was lost at sea. These losses were something the sea-faring families of the Northeast coast understood. Continue reading →

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