New Hampshire’s Signers and the U.S. Constitution–17 September 1787

Posted on 17 September, 2016 by Janice Brown
Signatures of John Langdon and Nicholas Gilman on the US Constitution document.

Signatures of John Langdon and Nicholas Gilman on the US Constitution document.

September 17, 2016 is the 229th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, that occurred on 17 September 1787. This event is completely different than the earlier signing of New Hampshire’s state constitution (established October 31, 1783, that took effect June 2, 1784).

“Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,” appears just before the signatures.

Continue reading →

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New Hampshire WWI Military: Private William M. Bourdeau of Concord, NH

Posted on 15 September, 2016 by Janice Brown

Bourdeau William Moses watermarkedWilliam Moses Bourdeau was born on 16 July 1895 in Concord, Merrimack Co., New Hampshire, son of Frank & Josephine (Gouthier) Bourdeau. Frank had been born in Canada, and stated he had been naturalized to become a citizen.

William was the fifth of eleven children in the Bourdeau household, his siblings who lived to adulthood being Mary Georgianna, Joseph Francis, Simon Ira, Estelle, Thomas Francis, John Henry, George Arthur, Auguste Anthony, and Adelard Joseph.

He grew up in, and attended Concord NH schools. His parents lived first at 73 South Spring Street, and later at 178 Pembroke Road, and 44 Downing Street. Continue reading →

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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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