A complete archive of mail from Decemberr 2005
Read last month;s mail
NEXT MAIL DELIVERY Jan 2, 2006: Watch for it!
LE GRAND GIFT
Many thanks for your Wentworth book we ordered. Tony started reading it last night, and I can say it was the Grand Gift this Christmas! I appreciate your help with this endeavor, and I look forward to reading the book when he finishes with it. Many warm wishes for a happy and prosperous 2006!
Michelle Licater in Arlington, TX
December 28
MORE OLD IRONSIDES
Hi my name is Jim, I have an old print of Ironsides that my grandmother, who is 93, gave me several years ago and I was wanting to find information on its origin, value, and year printed. If anyone would be willing to assist me in obtaining this information or point me into a good direction, it would be greatly appreciated.
EDITOR’S REPLY: Best bet is to contact the USS CONSTITUTION museum in Charelston, MA. They know the most. It was most likely from the 1930s when the reconstructed ship was towed around the USA for a 2 year tour. Lots of posters and souvenirs are from that era. Value is most likely as a family heirloom. -- SeacoastNH.com
December 26
LIMBO LOWER NOW
We loved your piece about Limbo and Purgatory in the NH Gazette, and now on seacoastnh.com! Very educational for us; we went to the Webster's Unabridged for verification, but learned no more. Is it really true that the Pope has closed Limbo? From whence did he derive the authority? And where do all the countless people go who have now been displaced? Like a mega-New Orleans. Keep up the good work. And have a fine holiday down south. Best wishes to you both,
Nate Hazen
December 20
THE FIGURE OF ELIZA LAIGHTON
I own a 32 foot cutter named "Elisa Rymes". The name was the maiden name of Elisa Laighton wife of Thomas Laighton and mother of Celia Thaxter. I would love to know the origin or connection of an unknown previous owner of the vessel to Elisa Rymes if anyone knows. In addition If I had a likeness of Elisa I would consider having it copied in the form of a figurehead for the boat. Any help or reference that you could give me would be appreciated.
Jack Donahue
EDITOR’S REPLY: You may want to reconsider the figurehead idea since Eliza Rymes Laighton was a tad on the portly side. She was apparently so overweight that it was difficult for her to get around toward the end of her life. Thomas too was very large, but no picture of him has yet surfaced. The attached image of Eliza has been borrowed from The Isles of Shoals: A Visual History by John Bardwell, published by Peter E. Randall. If another reader knows more, please send along the details. It might be fun to introduce the two boats and bring along the Uncle Oscar out of Rye Harbor, named for the son of Eliza and Thomas Laighton.
JACK DONAHUE RESPONDS: Thank you for your quick response and the picture of Eliza is great. I will ponder the figurehead for a while. There is a lot of material to deal with. You will note that the spelling of her name became Elisa but there were some indications on the boat that it was originally Eliza. May have been changed by the signpainter. I have sent you a picture of the boat Elisa Rymes by separate email. I would love to have any info surrounding the boat that you and your readers would like to pass on. I'm looking forward to a sail to the Isle of Shoals from Salem, Ma sometime next summer and hope to have done more research before then.
December 19
KICKED OUT OF LIMBO
Enjoyed your essay on Purgatory -- the several kinds. I had missed the fact that the Catholic Church was about to eliminate Limbo. In doing some follow-up reading I enjoyed the commentators who go off on riffs as to who will adopt these babies, etc! The Catholic Church gets itself in trouble by promoting vivid, concrete images of theological concepts and then deciding to change them and wondering why people are confused.
This change to Limbo follows on the heels of the redefinition of Hell a few years ago. Not many people noticed when the Catholic Church quietly redefined it as the self-imposed (voluntary) absence from God. Quite different from the detailed images of hellfire and devils that were actively promoted for centuries! I wonder how long it will be before they redefine priestly celibacy or who knows what else. Great entertainment!
Roscoe in Durham
December 17
SAVORED THE BOOK LIKE CHOCOLATE
Dear Mr. Robinson, -- Thank you for sending my copy [ordered online] of your book on the Wentworth-by-the-sea hotel. More importantly, thank you for writing this book to tell the story. Growing up in Rye and Portsmouth in the 40s and 50s, I was always fascinated by the size and beauty of this "summer palace" of the "rich and famous." I was dismayed to learn years ago that it was not only closed but facing a wrecking ball.
Your book arrived on Nov. 15 and I have now finished it. Would you laugh to know that I savored each story as one might an expensive and rare chocolate! A book to re-read and let it stir up memories. Again thank you!,
Joyce Sperry
December 14
NINE YEARS ON
Thank you for ten years of Seacoastnh. Living in Minnesota, the newsletter keeps me close at heart and warm when I can read about my old neighborhood online. Long may you continue to thrive!
Joan Johnson, Bloomington MN
December 13
CAME TO WIN AND GOT A BONUS
I will admit that I came to your site at first in order to enter your monthly contest. But then I stayed a bit and looked around. You have the most interesting articles and you do not just tell us about your history. . . you whisk us into your past. I smell the salt spray, I hear the hawkers, I dodge as a gull sweeps too low over my head. Some day I must actually visit; you have painted a vision of Heaven on Earth in my head. Thank you!
nora zajac
December 12
YOUTH FINALLY FIGHTING BACK
J. Dennis Robinson's article on live at UNH and compairing it to todays youth was horrable, he sounds like a old pissy man unaware of what todays youth faces. They have pleanty to bitch about and the current leaders from his generation are the ones messing everything up.
John Heshire
EDITOR’S REPLY: We’re thrilled to finally have a young reader with an opinion and a sense of outrage. Now if someone would only show this rebel where the spell checker button is.
December 11
WALKING THE WALK
I just have a quick question. I like to walk and I was trying to find out if there is a group of people that go on these walks (on your web site) and whether or not people can join in.
Pat
EDITOR’S REPLYL Sorry, as far as we know there is no group that walks the places listed in our travel column Seacoast Walks. It’s a good idea though. We’ll keep posting them, and you get the group together.
December 10
CAPTAIN LETTER FROM THE USS NANTUCKET
On the caption in the bonus photo here you writes: "Notice stack of steam powered tugboat . . ." Not so. The stack is actually a gunboat's stack. Vessels of that vintage, in addition to having sails, were fitted with coal burning boilers and steam engines. Look closely, or enlarge picture. Note the shrouds which hold the main (middle) mast in vertical position. The port shrouds disappear behind the stack, putting it in center of vessel. Aso note numerous cowl ventilators surrounding stack to provide cool air to flow into boiler room and also aid combustion. The Massachusetts Nautical School's NANTUCKET in use from 1912(?) to 1942 was a similar vessel. I sailed in her on two Summer training cruises, 1940 and 1941. We called into Portsmouth on the 1941 cruise and the "Herald" ran a great picture.
Cordially.
Capt. George W. Duffy
December 9
SCANNING CAPTAIN SMITH
I get a newsletter from you and find it very interesting. Thank you. I Just downloaded your copy of Captain John Smith's map of New England. I have found this, and the map of Virginia in several old, and a couple of new, books. Who owns the copyrights to these maps? I understand that the original maps went back to England. I did not see a notice of copyright with the downloaded graphic of the map.
Jo Proferes
EDITOR’S REPLY: Actually you didn’t download that map from us. We offered a link to an outside site where it is available online in a large format. As far as we understand the confusing rules – you can use an image that is in the public domain as long as no one owns the copyright to the original. But technically it is not acceptable to use a scan made by another person without permission. Although the vendor may not hold rights to the image, they own the scan, so you’d have to write to them for permission or scan your own copy. At least that’s how we read it these days. With Smith dead for nearly 400 years, you’re at least safe from his lawyers.
December 8
NEW CASTLE RAID RELATIONS
I'm interestd in learning more about the Dec. 1774 action. My Berry ancestor was supposed to have been a participant.
Diane Mather
EDITOR’S REPLY: There are a number of excellent web sites that offer even more detail on the raid than the three or four pieces in our database. We can’t list them all, but you will find them in a careful search of Google. One includes a list of key people involved in the read. With hundreds of local citizens spontaneously attacking the fort, it would, of course, be impossible to get a comprehensive list of who was or wasn’t there. Estimates say 400 citizens and many times that number returning the next day. Good luck in your search.
December 7
CARTOONIST TAKES ON PRESIDENT
I was hawking my book, George W, The Son King ,over the weekend at the Button Factory when one person walked by and said over her shoulder in passing ³I read that great review of it," but disappeared into the throng before I could ask her where-what-why-or by whom.
Then Nancy Grossman cautioned me yesterday not to read the review you wrote implying that the swelled head I got after reading it wouldn¹t allow me get through a doorway. Which is, true -- I read it anyway and I¹m now stuck in my garret with only my Mac for company.
You were kind to take the time to write it and post it on your www.site and I appreciate the more-than-flattering appraisal. Other than a few postcards through the years, the book is my first literary [sic] effort of consequence since college, and -- since I am pathetically slow and tend to not only rewrite, but re-rewrite, and then re-re-rewrite -- it may be my last literary [sic] effort. However, vol. 2 -- The Meltdown Years -- almost seems to be writing itself: The gush just keeps a-gushing from Fort Crackpot. Vol. 2 may be in the works in spite of myself.
I have only one teensy-weensy quibble: your characterizing that (blank)-in-chief as a pilot, without putting the word in quotes. I know pilots and he was no pilot. A "pilot" maybe, not a pilot. (To quote Bette Midler, we got our standards; they may be low low but we still got ‘em.)
Mike Dater
December 6
PORTSMOUTH ON FIRE
Dear Mr. Robinson -- Your article on the Christmas Fires of Portsmouth, NH was a pleasure to read. I am in the process of writing an article on emergency preparedness for people who are hard of hearing or deaf. The Portsmouth fire of 1802 led to the Congressional Act of 1803 - the beginnings of FEMA - instead of just saying that, I'd like to use part of your article to make it clear why Congress felt the need to create the legislation.
With your permission, I'd like to reprint part of your article. The article I'm in the process of drafting will appear sometime in spring in Hearing Loss, a national magazine for members of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People. I would of course, give credit to your website, and to you individually as the author of the article.
Lise Hamlin
Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Persons
December 5
CANNOT MISS AN ISSUE
I love your emails; however, I have had to change my e mail address. I would not want to miss a single issue! I have many family ties to Kittery and Portsmouth. Thank you very much!
Priscilla Gavel
December 4
THE FOREST IN THE CITY
Thanks for the great article about the Urban Forestry Center where I work...it seems everyone agrees that it is a wonderful, but relatively unknown, Seacoast resource.
Donna Haskins
December 3
OLD IRONSIDES IN PORTSMOUTH
Love the history, great photo and story. Born and raised in Winthrop,Ma. Seen many times. Never knew it served as a barracks. Wow--Thanks
Stephen J. VanDalinda
Please visit these SeacoastNH.com ad partners.
