Felicity Friday: Happy Flag Day

Flag Saluting our Deploying Troops at Pease Air Force Reserved Base

This flag was hanging on the fence at Pease Air Base, Portsmouth, New Hampshire so that the deploying troops could see it as the departed the United States.

 

The Art of Manliness: How to fold a Flag is my Where in the State of Mom posting.

My son had the honor of being part of the Air Force Honor Guard during 2001. He showed me how to properly fold a flag. I am sharing that information with the help of the Art of Manliness website. Thank you.

Traceable Thursday: White-Water Men”

Log Drives on the Connecticut River

This Historical Log Drives on the Connecticut River Marker is located on Route 3  in Stratford, New Hampshire about two miles south of North Stratford.

For more information on Log Drives read the article from The Atlantic online: LOG DRIVE ON THE CONNECTICUT by Robert E. Pike.

Tombstone Tuesday: Hannah Nelson, No not that one the other one

Hannah Nelson
Wife of Philip

 

Hannah

Wife of

Philip Nelson

Died April 16, 1831

In her 73, year

Virtue lies beyond the grave.

 

This grave marker does not tell Hannah’s full story. She was born 18 Oct 1758 in Sutton, New Hampshire to Moses Quimby and Judith Bean. Hannah married Philip Nelson 24 Oct 1776in Danville (Haverhill) Massachusetts. They settled in Sutton, New Hampshire. She was the mother of six children. She died 16 April 1831 in Sutton, New Hampshire.

 

I will post her husband, Philip Nelson and more information of their life in my next post.

 

Winsome Wednesday: Welcome to the Bay. Go home now. Don’t disembark.

Ann Vassal 1637

 

“Go back to England. You would be better off with the King and his wife than here.” “Go to another Colony; Plymouth, New Hampshire or Connecticut. Do not stay here.” “I know that is not the welcome you expected.” “My name is Ann Vassal, I arrived in the colony on the Arbella in 1630 as part of the Winthrop Fleet. My husband and our family left on the Lyon almost immediately after arriving in the Massachusetts Bay Colony returning to England. The Lyon then brought us to the Plymouth Colony in 1634. We live in Scituate the year of our Lord 1637. If you came here for religious freedom, you will not find it here. A man had his ears cut off because he did not worship as the magistrate and minister of the Bay wanted. Others have been banished to Connecticut for their beliefs. I could go on listed many other examples, but I will stop now.”

 

This paraphrasing was how “Dissent Among the Puritans” began. This program was sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities; held at Merrimack Public Library. It was described as:

 

 

Dissent Among the Puritans

The year is 1637. Ann Vassall, wife of William Vassall of Essex, England, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Company, welcomes you to your new home in the Bay. Her words of advice and narration of events going on in town might make you wish you had stayed in England or looked toward New Hampshire or Connecticut as a place of settlement. Living historian Linda Palmer follows up her portrayal of Ann Vassall with a colorful slide presentation which shatters some of our commonly-held stereotypes about the Puritans and chronicles the dissent of her husband, who was despised by minister and magistrate alike for his liberal ideas about civil liberty and religion. This program is suitable for adults and teens. Registration is strongly advised. This event is presented with a grant from the NH Humanities Council.

 

Linda Palmer portrayed Ann Vassal with grace and intelligence. She provided us with a look at our founding fathers that was not sugar coated like our history books. I have read John Winthrop diaries, Ann Hutchinson’s writings and several other journals from the 17^th Century. Like anything there are different points of view. Winthrop wanted to keep strong hold on the dissidents that come to the Bay to do the Lords work. He did not want to separate from the Church of England but to create changes from within. Others felt that Winthrop way was more restrictive than England’s. You could not vote if you were not a member of the church. John did not want the Quakers, Congregational or Unitarians in the Bay because they would cause confusion and unrest. Roger Williams, John Cotton and others felt that all should have the right to practice the freedom of religion.

 

The photograph of Ann Vassal/ Linda Palmer displayed her summer attire of linen and lace. We could appreciate that the clothes were cumbersome and uncomfortable in the summer heat. The night provided us with ninety degree weather and no air conditioning. We sat in the audience in our sleeveless summer outfits perspiring while she remained fully coverage as Ann Vassal. She did remove her hat at one point.

 

A night to remember of an entertaining and accurate account of history that shall remain in my thoughts to ponder and decide who in my family could survive if we travel to 1630’s America. What will I find when I continue researching those who came before us? Where did they go? Did they stay in the Bay? Go to New Hampshire? Maine? Connecticut?

 

Linda provides walking tours of 17^th Century Boston as Ann Vassal.  “Where Did the Puritans Go?” I plan on taking that tour to hear more about the colony through Ann’s eyes.

 

My ancestors, Isaac Stearns and his family, are reported as having arrived on the Arbella in 1630. The same ship that Ann and William Vassal family most likely arrived on in the same year. They didn’t stay in Nameskeag (Salem, Massachusetts.) Instead they travel four miles up the Charles River establishing Watertowne. They followed Reverend Phillips, who stood alone in his beliefs of the Congregational way of practicing their faith until the Cotton Brothers arrived. This distancing them selves from John Winthrop, who settled in Boston, provided them with a semblance of freedom while maintaining the laws of the colony. Watertowne and the BostonChurch were the first two churches established July 1630 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

 

Check out other presentations by Linda Palmer

http://puritan-tour.com/

http://www.pioneervillagesalem.com/

Military Monday will return next week

Rev. Nelson Stearns
Ordination

Family commitments have kept me busy with graduations, ordinations, birthdays and a family reunion. My body is saying rest time this week. I will return to posting after my rest and recuperation.

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I require these rest periods on occasion. You can slow things down but you can not fight hereditary.  I have posted in the past on several of my blogs about the importance of researching death certificates. The knowledge we gather provides us with health information that can aid in prevention, or at least awareness of inhererited diseases.  The old motto, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure.” This week is my ounce of prevention.

Happy Blogging everyone,

Dame Gussie

Felicity Friday: Celebration of 1642

 

Pinkerton Academy
Derry, New Hampshire

Graduations and 1642: What do they have in Common?

You may not think there would be any graduations as early as 1642 in the Bay Colony: you would be mistaken. Those brave travelers that crossed the “pond,” known as the Atlantic Ocean,”  in 1634 ordered the braking of ground for the “College at Newtowne” now known as Harvard.  They wanted well educated ministers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Harvard was started even before the primary schools were built. Colonist continued to teach their younger children at home.  Here are a few of the requirements needed to enter the “College at Newtowne” in the 1640′s: you must speak/read Latin, be well versed in the Bible and have a minister sponsor.  Check out my Where in the State is Mom blog post regarding my own Reflections on Graduations.

http://whereinthestateismom.blogspot.com/

Traceable Thursday Landmarks: Early Settlers Dixville Notch

Dixville Notch, New Hampshire Early Settlers

Here lies buried the first and only settlers of Dixville until 1865.  John

Whittemore and his wife Betsey.  Dixville had been granted to Colonel Timothy Dix

in 1805 on the condition that thirty settlers be established here within five years.

Colonel Dix died in the War of 1812. the town was taken over by Daniel Webster,

a sponsor of Colonel Dix.

After the Whittemore’s arrived in 1812 they endured extreme privations for

three years. A road through the notch was opened, but not during the winter,

causing them to be isolated. In December 1815 Betsey died.  Her husband was

obliged to keep her body frozen all winter before he could bury it.  Following

her death John moved to Colebrook where he lived until his death in 1846.

He was laid to rest here by his wife’s side.

New Hampshire State Parks

Landmarks can be found anywhere, including the middle of a hiking trail in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire. When I look at this photo now, I think of what it can offer me from a genealogical point of view. When taken I just thought how interesting that someone actually lived in this remote area.  They survived the winter’s blistering winds, blinding snowstorms,  bone freezing ice and nature’s creatures that prowl those woods day and night.  They enjoyed the summer time refreshing breeze, breathtaking panoramic views and the comforting birdsong filled days.

Please take a moment to read the local landmark you walk or drive by daily.  It will offer you an insight into the life of your community in year past; maybe even a glimpse into your family ancestors.  If nothing else it will provide you with a tidbit of history.