Poem: “The Song of a River” by Sam Walter Foss

Posted on 13 September, 2016 by Janice Brown
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Piscataquog River in Goffstown NH, 2012. Photograph copyright Janice W. Brown

I
Hear my song of a river,
Its calm and its strife;
‘Tis the song of a river,
The song of a life.

Afar amid benignant hills in caverns of deep shade,
‘Neath rippling arches of cool leaves, within a forest glade,
The mountain rivulet leaps down in silvery cascade.
Child of the hills, it sings its song and spills it wayward glee
In tangled music through the rocks and dreams not of the sea,
It spills ambrosial morning joy and dreams not of the sea. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire WWI Military: Pvt Harry Lambrukos of Penacook NH (1892-1919)

Posted on 11 September, 2016 by Janice Brown

LAMBRUKOS HARRY PHOTO 2 watermarkedHarry Lambrukos was born 9 Oct 1892, the son of Philip & Katherine (Belias) Lambrukos. He was a native of Greece, possibly from Megalopolis, like his older brother Theodore. At the age of 14 he immigrated to the United States, and by 1910 was living with his brother, and older sisters Carrie and Julia in Penacook, New Hampshire, working as a salesman for his brother’s fruit store.

[Editor’s note: Harry’s WWI draft registration form says he was born in 1882, but his age is also listed as 24. This would make his birth year closer to 1892 which is confirmed by his listing in the 1910 census]. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Missing Places: The Goyette Museum of Americana at Peterborough

Posted on 9 September, 2016 by Janice Brown
Postcard showing the Goyette Museum, Peterborough NH.

Postcard showing the Goyette Museum, Peterborough NH.

Sometime shortly before 1946 the Goyette Museum of Americana was opened in Peterborough, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. A newspaper notice in that year noted its “reopening.

In June the Boston Herald wrote: “He has collected Americana 25 years–Maj. A. Erland Goyette of Peterborough NH admires a model of a Napoleonic coach made entirely by hand by a North Carolina craftsman. The model, which required 3000 hours to construct, is one of thousands of items in the Goyette Museum, which houses some of the choicest and most unique antiques in New England.” [Boston Herald, June 23, 1946, page 48] Continue reading →

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New Hampshire WWI Military: Wagoner Walter T. Drew of Concord NH (1895-1919)

Posted on 7 September, 2016 by Janice Brown

New Hampshire’s World War I military monuments were mostly built to recognize the

Penacook, New Hampshire's WWI Memorial. The City of Concord NH is severely lacking in a similar display of honor. This photograph courtesy of Debbie LaValley

Photograph of Penacook, New Hampshire’s WWI Memorial. This photograph is provided, courtesy of Debbie LaValley. The City of Concord has a memorial tablet dedicated to local WWI military who died during ‘The Great War’ at Memorial Field.

soldiers and sailors who were high ranking or the first to be killed in battle from their respective cities or towns.  What many do not realize is that  “influenza and pneumonia killed more American soldiers and sailors during the war than did enemy weapons.”

Over the next few months I will be writing about soldiers from New Hampshire who served during “The Great War,” aka WWI, who died in battle, from wounds, from disease, and some who were wounded but lived to return home to the Unites States.  All of these warriors are heroes. Continue reading →

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African-American Soprano and “Queen of Song”: Dover New Hampshire’s Nellie (Brown) Mitchell (1845-1924)

Posted on 5 September, 2016 by Janice Brown
Print of Nellie E. Brown, circa 1878, James > Trotter, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, NYPL Digital Library

Print of Nellie E. Brown, circa 1878, James Trotter, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, NYPL Digital Library

She was born, Nellie Brown, the daughter of Charles & Martha (Runnels) Brown. Her father was a shoemaker turned barber/hairdresser. In the 1850 census, Nellie along with her parents and siblings, are listed as mulatto, which would indicate that both of her parents were from bi-racial backgrounds.

Through both direct research and secondary evidence, I believe that Nellie’s great-grandfather probably was Peleg Runnels, a soldier of the American Revolution, and a member of the famed 1st Rhode Island Regiment.

Two online sources have already well-documented Nellie’s career–the Dover Public Library (quoting the book, African American Concert Singers before 1950 by Darryl Glenn Nettles), and “Let Freedom Ring! Four African-American Concert Singers in Nineteenth-Century America,” by Sonya R. Gable-Wilson. For the most part I won’t repeat their research.

Continue reading →

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