July 2009 Reader Mail

email ASK, RANT OR PRAISE, BUT NEVER IGNORE

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YOUR LETTERS TO SEACOASTNH.com

TEXAN SEEKING APPLEDORE ANCESTOR
I will be traveling to NH & ME next week and hoped to visit a cemetery on Appledore or possibly the Isle of Shoals. While researching where these places might actually be... I am now confused. I have relatives buried somewhere in Appledore, York, Me and the Isle of Shoals but these are apparently islands. Are there cemeteries on these islands? They were buried between 1634 & 1700. Can I reach these by boat? And if so can you recommend something? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A visitor from far away Texas without a clue,
Julie Henderson

EDITOR’S REPLY: Appledore is an island, one of the nine Isles of Shoals, about 6 miles off the coast of NH . Maine. I'm unaware of anyone living there in 1634 whose name we would have, but you could check with the Old York Historical Society. York is a town on the coast of Maine, a bit north of the Isles of Shoals. Five of the islands are technical in Maine, four in NH. York is also the name of the county in which the town of York is based, so perhaps your reference was to Appledore in York County, Maine. Technically, these days, Appledore ISland is under the jurisdiction of Kittery, Maine, which is also in York County. Your best bet is to contact the York Historical Society before you get here, since it is not always open. They would likely know best if the names you are looking for have graves on the mainland in York. If they are on Appledore, my guess is, they are no longer there. There was an ancient cemetery, but now the only cemetery we know of is the Laighton family cemetery with half a dozen residents from the 19th century. There are certainly no labeled marker stones from 1634 anywhere in NH or Maine, and probably not in New England or the USA. No gravestone carvers were in the country at that time, and most graves were marked simply with rocks. The 1700 grave is another thing, since there are a number of graves in the region dating to 1700 or a little earlier that have engravings. But not on Appledore. You can visit Appledore on a very limited basis through the Shoals Marine Lab as described ina link to the Shaols Marine Lab I’ll send along. Or you can take the ferry Thomas Laighton and cruise AROUND the island, but there is no getting off at Appledore, although you can get off at Star Island, where there are a number of early graves -- not the ones you want, I fear -- but a very good approximation. There are hundreds of small private cemeteries in this region and an especially nice old churchyard cemetery in York right near the historical society as a substitute. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

UNDER GROUND TREASURE
In Santa Fe – across the street from where I work, they tore down
what had been first a school from the thirties, and then an outdated
convention center. The city benefits from this new convention center, but it also had the builders wait while historians sifted through what would become an underground garage. They found human remains, some 19th century, some older; they found a wall once part of local stabling for military horses. Bits and pieces (pun intended) of military life, and life before the Spanish and then the new United States took over New Mexican territory, were unearthed and studied. The nearby Palace of the Governors, the oldest continually used government building in the country, now has more displays and the historians know more about the layers of local culture, simply because they were allowed to sift through the intended parking garage before the building was constructed. Yes It took longer, but we all benefited from the extra time. You never know what might be found in the earth.
Belinda Perry

WORKED AT WENTWORTH
Dear Sirs: 33 years ago today I worked at the great Wentworth. I worked there for 2 seasons. It was a great memory and experience. New Castle was a great town. I met many nice people there, and had alot of fun. While I worked there I found a historic picture of the Wentworth going back to the early 1900's. I wish I was there right now. Anyway, keep up the good work of letting the Wentworth live on.
Nick Swann

SWANS IN RYE
For the past two years I have been enthralled by the Mute Swans of Eel Pond in Rye, NH. I have been able to get quite a bit of information about Mute Swans in general and the controversy surrounding these feral birds, but have had no luck when attempting to discover the history of this specific pair and/or any others which may have inhabited Eel Pond. I hope that either you or your readers might be able to provide information and/or suggest resource people/materials about the history, habits, and habitat of these swans.
Deb McGrath, Francestown, NH

BADGER ISLAND MEMORIES
Between 1974 and 1977, I lived on Badgers Island in the Piscataqua River. In all kinds of weather, when not needing my car for work as executive director of Seacoast United Way, I walked across that bridge round-trip between my home in Maine and my work in downtown Portsmouth NH. . The warning siren announcing the raising of Memorial Bridge's mid-section is my favorite sound remembered from living there.

Later, when I moved close to Kittery's border with York, when I was walking beside on US Rte 1, I was hit by a car driving at least 50 mph. An ambulance crew driving me across Memorial Bridge to Portsmouth Hospital helped save my life and my right leg. Please support these strongly personal reasons in your application for federal stimulus funds to help Memorial Bridge serve these communities for many more decades!
Carolyn S.

MORE WRITING QUIPS
Author Caroline Moorehead in the Sun. Boston Globe on the research/writing process: "I do all the research first and try terribly hard not to reach any conclusions about the people or the shape of the book.　 I have thousands of notes, then I settle down and read everything, and that period nearly drives me mad.　 After that it's like laying and egg, it sort of happens." Hmmmm, I wonder what her experience is with egg laying?　
Richard

JPJ IS HIS HERO
John Paul Jones has been my hero all my life. I understand you have a museum regarding him. Please send me information regarding joining this museum as well as any other info regarding JPJ.
Jim Poole in California

EDITOR’S REPLY: The museum is named for a boarding house where JPJ stayed during the American Revolution, but is largely dedicated to the history of Portsmouth, NH. You'll find a fairly large number of articles about Jones in our special section under Maritime History. The info on the museum is at their web site www.portsmouthhistory.org

REMEMBERING CEDAR ISLAND
I have read with interest all your articles on the shoals. My grandmother was a Caswell and I lived on Cedar Island from 1935 to 1939. My dad was a fisherman and built the house and your articles bring back many memories.
Charles M. Hall

EDITOR’S REPLY: Cedar and Duck are the only islands I have not visited at the Shoals, and we have almost no info on the place. That’s why I reprinted that odd turn-of-the-century article from the newspaper about the territorial dispute on Cedar. Have you items that might be assembled into a web page or feel free to write down your memories that I'd enjoy adding to the shoals section. And keep clicking to the homepage for new Shoals pieces during the summer.

CALLING ALL CALVERTS
Since I was a kid, the story of my family has been drilled into my head. My DNA is of the Calvert clan, which started Maryland. My grandmother’s maiden name was Calvert, the oldest link to my kin from this family. I just finished the book "Lord Baltimore" by J. Dennis Robinson. I still have many questions first; is there any direct linked Calverts like me? Is this book the only research on this family? Why is so little written about this clan? Can I find a family reunion? I am keeping it short for now because I find many of my letters going no where. If anyone has answers, please contact me!! If someone wants a DNA sample I am willing to give one up. I am a Genealogist and do side work so I know my way through libraries and the Census records. I am just at the dead end; I don’t won’t this tale of mine to die with me.
Ben Hughes of Indianapolis, IN

EDITOR’S REPLY: Thanks for your note. If you read my book, you know all I know. It was designed for middle-schoolers, so does not go into great detail. You will find huge archival info at the Maryland Historical Society and Maryland Archives and public library in Baltimore. I did the research a few years ago, but as I recall, there were all sorts of genealogical sites about the Calverts online. As the most famous name in MD, there certainly should be. You're right that there are few accessible books on the topic for general readers, which is why I wanted to focus on Cecil Calvert, who gets so little play because, technically, he stayed in England and ran the colony as an absentee landlord. I could not find another book dedicated to him. I'm sure the staff at Historic St. Mary's City can help you out, and that is certainly worth a field trip. If you have the book, you have the bibliography, but in case some items are missed, I will send along my complete working bibliography. The Krugler book is probably the most valuable, as well as the Wilson article in American Heritage Magazine. I got the first on Amazon.com and the second on eBay. -- JDR

RIDING THE WAGON
Hello , I wanted to know if it was ok to come see the wagon with my family, also sit my 2 boys ages 4 and 7 in the seat so we could take some pic's of them we were.
Russell

EDITOR’S REPLY: We forwarded this one to the City of Durham that owns and manages Wagon Hill Farm’s recreational site.

WHAT TO DO WITH OLD CHURCH MODEL?
I am a UU and find the history of the church in (see Seacoast History Blog) Portsmouth to be very interesting. I think the writer should check with the current minister and see if they have a replica of the church. If not, I think it would be a wonderful idea to donate the writer's replica to the church, as mentioned in the blog. What a wonderful piece of history that I'm sure the church would greatly appreciate.Kind Regards,
Lisa Martin

RALLY IN THE SQUARE
Mr Robinson: Given the controversy around using Market Square for rallies, perhaps a brief history of such events might be timely. I enjoy your Herald column.
Mark Brighton

EDITOR’S REPLY: I did write a history of Market Square Day for some publication since I happened to be a vendor at the first few. But now I’m so old, I cannot recall even in which publication the articles appeared. A definitive essay would require a lot of research, and probably not be very scintillating reading. There is also an old article floating around on the web about 400 years of history in Market Square. I’ll poke around in my hard drive and see what I can find.

SUNUNU'S GARBAGE
Though I have visited New Hampshire in the past, it was with disbelief that I have read of the reprehensible "garbage" comment by Republican Chair Sununu. I was saddened to learn such bigotry and hate exist in the state.
Mike Meyers

BURIAL AT SEA
My husband toured with Teen Challenge Choir some years back it was one of the happiest times in his life. He passed away in December & he asked to have his ashes spread over the area. What would I have to do to arrange that & do you know someone I could contact to discuss this? Thank you for one of my husband's best memories. He said it was one of the most beautiful peaceful places he had ever been to.
Sincerely Donna A

EDITOR’S REPLY: We sent this reader our condolences, our agreement, and a list of a few local ships that provide cremation burial at sea services including the Uncle Oscar out of Rye Harbor.

JET CRASH MEMORIES
It was interesting to read the articles (two features under History Matters in the HISTORY section) about the crash of the FB-111A in Portsmouth back in 1981. Something today reminded me of that crash and I decided to get online to see if I could find anything about it. I was stationed at Pease at the time and heading to the base to get ready for work. We were coming up from a day in Boston and heading for the back gate. Just as we were getting ready to take the exit off of I-95 we watched the bomber go down. I can still see it so clearly... the spinning on it's way to the ground... black smoke... flames shooting out in spurts... an incredible thing to see. Anyway, I was glad to see you had the article on it. It's the first time I read or heard anything about it. It was a day I'll never forget.
Mark Sylvia

GENERAL LEE IN NEW ENGLAND?
I've spent the last few years doing a lot of research on the old families of New Castle. I sort of took up where my father in law left off when he died. He'd been researching New CAstle for over 50 years. I don't know if his name is familiar to you or not, but he was Fred White. Anyhow, I recently found this obituary of one of my husband's ancestors and you'll note it says Robert E. Lee once visited the Isles of Shoals. I was wondering if you had any information to confirm or reject what the obituary says. Thanks.
Carol White

EDITOR’S REPLY: This started out as a letter and ended up as a rabbit hole of research that, at this writing continues. You can learn more about Captain Charlers E. Becker and General Lee, and read Becker’s obituary in my Seacoast History Blog #42.

UFO OBSERVERS IN EXETER
Hello Mr. Robinson, I recently was doing a bit of genealogical internet research on my family and stumbled upon a page on your web site, the address for which I pasted below. The links at the top of the page go to interviews Exeter high school students conducted back in 1980 with various people involved with the 1965 "Incident at Exeter". I'm assuming you are the Dennis Robinson who was the faculty advisor overseeing the interviews. It looks like you posted them to the site back in 2000.

One of the names listed at the top of the page, "Mr. and Mrs. Linwood Dore", does not have a live link to an interview, however. I believe this could be my great uncle Linwood R. Dore Jr (How many could there be?), a resident of Amesbury, who passed away last December at 83 years old. Or, it could possibly be his father and my great-grandfather Linwood Dore Sr, who passed away back in 2001.

Do you have any additional information regarding Mr. and Mrs. Linwood Dore that was not posted on the website, and what their involvement with the incident was? Anything you can forward I'd appreciate and would be really interested in seeing. Thanks and Regards,
Matthew Dore

EDITOR’S REPLY: Yes, that was the couple from Amesbury. The interview by one of my high school students was brief and didn't have any added info and just never made it to the site. I've rebuilt much of it and those pages will eventually be moved or removed. The interview was in 1981 and published in a school newspaper. Since this site is a giant labor of love, I often start things that I never finish. So far, this is still one of them. I assume if my kids picked up on the Dore family, that they got the name from Fuller's book or from newspaper reports since they had to do some research prior to the interview exercise. I have yo checked the book Incident at Exeter? -- JDR

MORE TRUNKS
Yes, I was wondering if you might be able to tell me how I would go about getting a value of a trunk I own. It is a steamer trunk in pretty good condition, but the interesting thing is that it still has the tags on it where it was shipped on the ship the Lusitania which went down off the coast of Ireland May 7th, of 1915. I know there is a market for something this rare I just don’t know where to start. I would value your opinion and suggestions. Any direction you could give me would be greatly appreciated.Thank you in advance for your time.
Peggy Neill

EDITOR’S NOTE: Forwarded to Pat Morse at Trunk.com.

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