Merrimack County, NH

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    This collection consists of assorted eighteenth, nineteenth, and some twentieth-century New Hampshire newspapers, mostly from Dover, Exeter, and Portsmouth. These are rarely complete runs, and often only individual issues. Also included in the…
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    Joab Nelson Patterson was born in Hopkinton, NH on January 2, 1835. He fought in the Civil War enlisting as a First Lieutenant in Company H, 2nd Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers. He was promoted captain in May 1862 and the following year was wounded…
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    The first training school for nurses in New Hampshire was opened at the New Hampshire State Hospital in 1888. The forerunner of the American Nurses Association was formed in 1896 and that of the National League for Nursing in 1893. On May 28, 1906, at…
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    The New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association was organized on April 10, 1976. It was incorporated as a voluntary association with the New Hampshire Secretary of State on April 12, 1977. The Association’s mission is “to discover, restore, maintain, map…
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    John W. F. Locke was born on October 13, 1838 in Barnstead, New Hampshire to Eliphalet and Sally Locke. When the Civil War began he was unable to join the New Hampshire Volunteers because he suffered from asthma. According to his diary entries, he…
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    Eliot Grant Fitch, son of Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, was born on March 12, 1895. He attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire between 1910 and 1913. While at St. Paul’s, Fitch wrote his mother on an almost daily basis. In 1923 he began his…
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    Norris Cotton (1900-1989), member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, was born in Warren, NH. Cotton became active in state politics in 1923, as member of the NH House of Representatives. He also served as clerk of the NH Senate (1927-1929), Grafton County Solicitor (1933-1939), and…
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    Alice Ericson Cosgrove was born in Concord, N.H. on February 16, 1909. Among her many projects were geological maps, posters, and covers for state publications. She created the figure of “Chippa Granite” to promote tourism and agriculture in New…
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    Eleanor Parmenter (1914-1994) was brought up with the Shakers at East Canterbury for several years along with several other orphaned and abandoned children. While at Canterbury, Eleanor attended school taught by Sister Marguerite Frost. She worked…
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    The Association of Historical Societies of New Hampshire, Inc., was formed at a meeting held on September 19, 1950, in Wakefield with 13 local historical societies represented. Incorporated in October 1951, with 24 Charter Members, the non-profit…
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    Epsom is a New Hampshire town in Merrimack County. 1860 Epsom, N.H. tax list that documents the various amounts paid by non-resident land owners for Epsom’s annual tax assessment.
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    Printer and politician of Concord, N.H., who lived from 1789 to 1851. Letter (1838) in which Hill lists the names of several blind students resident in Concord. In this Apr. 7, 1838 letter Hill discusses the expenses of several individual pupils and lists the appropriations given to each one.
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    William P. Mason, of Canterbury, N.H., enlisted in Company F of the New Hampshire Twelfth Regiment on August 15, 1862 and mustered in as a Private the following month. After seeing action at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, he was…
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    Betsey Kaime lived at Canterbury Shaker Village. A 120 page leather-bound book filled with occasional poems written over a period of two years (August 1846-October 1848) at Canterbury Shaker Village.
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    American poet, New Hampshire resident and teacher Two-page letter and accompanying poem, “Forest Flowers,” from Robert Frost to Miss Myrtle Raitt at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, where Frost had previously taught. There is also a fourteen-page typed transcription of an untitled essay…
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    Labor Union of Concord New Hampshire and vicinities in Merrimack County. This group first organized in November 1891 to represent granite cutters, quarrymen, painters, printers, barbers, carpenters, cigar makers, tool sharpeners, plumbers, boot and shoe…
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    Minister, Epsom, N.H., lived 1755-1813 Seven holograph sermons, 1786-1813, written on rag paper notebooks and sewn into 7 marbled protective covers. Haseltine, a Dartmouth College graduate, was the minister in Epsom, N.H. from 1784 until his death in 1813…
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    Edwin Terry was a peddler from Granby, Conn. He was born in Harford 22 Oct. 1832, married Maryette Allen in June 1856, and died 6 Aug. 1893 in Springfield MA. His parents were Harmon Terry and Emeline Ellis. Account book kept by Edwin Terry between 1841 and 1878. Terry frequently travelled to New…
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    Free Will Baptist roots can be traced to England as early as 1611. In 1780, under the leadership of Benjamin Randall, Free Will Baptists were established in the northeast at New Durham, New Hampshire. Free Will Baptist churches voluntarily organized…
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    Moses Humphrey, son of Moses Leavitt and Sarah (Lincoln). Humphrey was born in Hingham, Mass., October 20, 1807, and died in Concord, N. H., August 20, 1901. He was a businessman, Mayor of Concord, N.H., state representative, and President of the N.H. Board of Agriculture, largely responsible for…
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    Businessman, Adjutant General of New Hampshire, state senator, and one-time Governor of New Hampshire. Letter to William Schouler, Adjutant General of Massachusetts from Adjutant General’s Office, Concord [N.H.], congratulating Schouler for his promotion to Major General.
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    Author and poet who was born in Henniker, N.H. and wrote "Mountain Maid and other Poems of New Hampshire" A letter sent from Framingham, MA to Amos R. Wells in which Proctor expresses appreciation for Wells’ work in the Authors Club and promises to attend the Club’s meeting whenever she is in…
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    New Hampshire author who wrote Let Me Show You New Hampshire. A 9 page typescript of The Witch's Cavern, a story about three children who explore a dangerous cave.
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    Author and illustrator of children’s books. Sketch of Big Anthony, Bambolona, the baker’s daughter, and Strega Nona from the book Big Anthony and the Magic Ring.
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    Poet and novelist who lived in Warner, New Hampshire. Four letters between Maxine Kumin and William B. Ewert in 1973 that document the publication of Kumin’s poem “On Digging Out Old Lilacs” in the Friends of the University of New Hampshire Library Newsletter (Dec. 1973). Also included is a…
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    Meldrim Thomson Jr., 1912-2001, served as the Republican Governor of New Hampshire from 1973-1979. Program listing the events, speakers, and organizers of Meldrim Thomson’s 1976 re-election dinner. The program is signed by Thomson, Nancy Reagan, and Ronald Reagan, who gave the keynote address of…
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    Herbalist and doctor of Concord, N.H. Illustrated broadside sent by Dr. O.C. Gage of Concord, N.H. to Alex W. Young. The broadside contains information pertaining to Gage’s practice, examples of his “miraculous” herbal cures and words of comfort to the 'suffering, wearied, anxious and despairing'.
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    Jessie Evens lived from 1867-1937. “Birthday Ode” written by Jessie Evans to celebrate the one hundredth birthday of Sister Myra Green of Canterbury Shaker Village on March 9, 1935. Words without music to tune of "Auld Lang Syne”.
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    Martin Snow, Civil War sailor, was born in Boston, Mass. in 1839 and died in Blair, Neb. in 1891. He married Caroline Augusta Barker in 1860 and was buried in Pittsfield, N.H., where he once lived and where his daughter, Lena Snow Sargent, resided. Contains a 92-page diary kept by Martin Snow from…
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    Levi Bartlett (1793-1885) was a tanner and farmer of Warner, New Hampshire. In the 1830s, Bartlett sold off his tannery and struggled to cultivate his family’s farm. From his experience in reclaiming this nutrient-exhausted land, Bartlett became a…
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    Frederick Smyth (1819-1899), thirty-second governor of New Hampshire, was born in Candia, NH. In 1839, he moved to Manchester, N.H., where he worked for ten years, first as a clerk and then as proprietor of a store. He became Manchester city clerk in 1849 and later served four terms as mayor of the…
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    The Starks of Suncook and Pembroke, NH were the descendents of Revolutionary War Major-General John Stark. The family appears to have engaged primarily in agricultural activities. However, sometime after 1810, Major Caleb Stark and his son Henry…
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    Dudley Laufman (b. 1930) is a folk dance caller, band leader, musician, composer, author, and poet from Canterbury, NH. He was heavily influenced by the late caller Ralph Page, and was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship Award in 2009. Without…
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    HUMANALO, the Science Fiction Society of New Hampshire, was organized in July 1979 at the home of Steve Goldstein, its first president. The society took its name from the first two letters of each of the towns in which charter members resided, Hudson…
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    William M. Carr & Company was founded in Bradford, New Hampshire in 1824 by William A. and Daniel Carr, purveyors of general merchandise. The company supplied all manner of goods to south central New Hampshire for over one hundred years. The Carr…
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    Alice Brown (1857-1948) was born in Hampton Falls, N.H., the daughter of Levi and Elizabeth (Lucas) Brown. She graduated from the Robinson Seminary in Exeter, N.H. in 1876. She worked on the staffs of The Christian Register and Youth’s Companion and…
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    Amy Marcy Cheney (1867-1944) was born in Henniker, New Hampshire. In 1883, at age sixteen, she made her professional debut as a pianist and later a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After her marriage in 1885, to Henry Harris Aubrey Beach,…
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    The Balch family first came to the United States in 1623 and resided in northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The best known member of the family was the author Elizabeth Arabella Balch (1851-1934), daughter of Wesley P. (1794-1856) and Elizabeth…