The Voice of Cinderella and Portsmouth New Hampshire Songbird: Jacquelyn Ruth “Jackie” “Ilene” (Woods) Steck Shaughnessy (1926-2010)

Posted on 4 August, 2016 by Janice Brown
A young Ilene Woods, from the Internet Archive.

Photograph of a young Ilene Woods, from the Internet Archive.

Jacquelyn “Jackie” “Ilene” Woods was called the “songbird of Portsmouth,” early on in her career.  She is probably most famous for being the “voice of Cinderella,” in the famed 1950 Disney cartoon movie. She was a singer and performer, in addition to being a radio/cartoon voice actress.

At the age of 12, she appeared in her the New Franklin School’s 5th Grade play, in Portsmouth NH, as Cinderella. Almost 12 years later, she appeared on a Boston MA stage, before a huge audience, singing Disney’s musical compositions to their screen version of the same story.
Continue reading →

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The Lost Faces of World War One — Part Thirteen

Posted on 2 August, 2016 by Janice Brown

This is the continuation of a series of stories about men who died in World War 1, and whose photographs appeared in a publication called “Our Nation’s Roll of Honor.” The original post and explanation can be found at this link.  There will also be a complete listing of all the names researched at that same blog post.

LOST FACES OF WORLD WAR ONE: Our Nation’s Roll of Honor — Part Thirteen


KERSHAW William coffeen ILLPrivate William Kershaw
Coffeen, Illinois
Killed in Action

William Dewey Kershaw was born 13 March 1898 in Coffeen, Montgomery County, Illinois , son of John Wesley & Seyrena/Ceyrena A. (Lawson) Kershaw.  He was killed in action 29 May 1918 at the Battle of Cantigny in France. he was the first Montgomery Co. IL boy killed in action. Continue reading →

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New Boston New Hampshire’s Famous “Frog Rock”

Posted on 31 July, 2016 by Janice Brown
frog rock mont vernon NH watermarked

And old postcard of Frog Rock, listed here as being in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. Does it look like a frog to you?

Is the Frog Rock famous, infamous or not famous at all? How many people nowadays even know about it? Is it located in New Boston, or Mont Vernon, or both places? Does the rock even look like a frog?

Lets go back in time a bit. During the mid to late 1800s Mont Vernon (a town lying south of New Boston, New Hampshire) was a tourist destination. Several hotels, and especially one called “The Grand,” were attractive summer resorts for the ‘upper crust’ seeking cooler air and relaxing activities. Continue reading →

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North Conway New Hampshire: Hotel Randall–Before It Was Eastern Slope Inn

Posted on 28 July, 2016 by Janice Brown

Photograph of Hotel Randall, North Conway, N.H. [Between and 1910, 1900] Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. (Accessed April 18, 2016.)

Photograph of Hotel Randall, North Conway, N.H. [Between 1900 and 1910] Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. (Accessed April 18, 2016.)

Built prior to 1864 on the spot where Eastern Slope Inn now sits, was first a small summer boarding house of Jonathan Melvin Seavey, a Conway NH carpenter. In 1864 this structure was sold to James T. Randall. In 1888 James T. Randall passed the reins of management to his son, Henry Harrison Randall.

In 1902 the boarding house burned, and now with Henry H. Randall as full owner, he built a “three-story Colonial Revival building with a fifteen-foot-wide, wrap-around piazza and flared gambrel roofs.” (see photograph directly below). “Among the hotel’s features were a long ell and a first floor dining room with views of the Saco River and White Mountains. Continue reading →

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The Lost Faces of World War One — Part Twelve

Posted on 26 July, 2016 by Janice Brown

This is the continuation of a series of stories about men who died in World War 1, and whose photographs appeared in a publication called “Our Nation’s Roll of Honor.” The original post and explanation can be found at this link.  There will also be a complete listing of all the names researched at that same blog post.

LOST FACES OF WORLD WAR ONE: Our Nation’s Roll of Honor — Part Twelve

KACZOR Joseph Junction City WIS
Sergeant Joseph Kaczor
Junction City, Wisconsin
Died of Wounds

Joseph Kaczor was born about 1882 in Austria, of Polish descent.  He died in France May 14, 1918, of wounds received in battle, while serving in the American Army, 1st Brigade Machine Gun Battalion, 1st Division. Continue reading →

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