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January 27 SEARCHING FOR SUNUNU My questions is on the congressional races in NH this year. I am a lifelong resident of Brentwood, NH, but I am currently attending the University of Hartford. I am in a campaign class, and I have to follow a campaign race from my home state. I have chosen John E. Sununu, assuming he will be running for re-election for the US House this year. I am looking for any information you can give me concerning his campaign for re-election. Michael A. Hamilton in CT mhamilton@mail.hartford.edu EDITOR'S REPLY: If you check the first series of links on our Primary Hotlinks page (see link below or big button on the homepage) you will find all the major statewide political media. Someone there must know. Also, we just went to the State of NH main legislative page and added a link below (third link). That may help. We haven't seen Mr Sununu our office since he helped bury the time capsule back in '98 (see second photo on second link below). Good luck. http://www.seacoastnh.com/primary2000.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/375th/timecapsule3.html http://www.state.nh.us/gencourt/gencourt.htm January 27 FREAK THE MIGHTY HOME DELIVERY Hi,my name is Meghan. In my literature and composition class we are studing freak the Mighty.I was just woundering if you could send me some inforation by e-mail. Or mabye if your ever up in Indiana up by Auhurn you could stop by at Dekalb Middle School.If you would happen to it would have to be like before May.In these in between these times. well gtg! Meghan in Indiana EDITOR'S REPLY: Jeeze, I'm afraid we don't get out that way much. You see, we're just a web site. All the material we have (which is quite a lot) is online here. Go to our search engine on the home page and type in Freak the Mighty (be careful about that spelling) and you will see what we have available. Web sites generally don't deliver door to door, but we have the next best thing. In addition, linked below, you will find the email address of the guy who wrote the book. He has his own web site with lots of stuff about the book. We'll send your letter to him as well. Maybe he will drive over to Indiana. Well gtg! http://www.seacoastnh.com/film/mighty.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/film/mighty.html#hotlinks http://www.rodmanphilbrick.com/ January 25 WHAT'S UP WITH WHALEBACK? In looking at a closeup of the whaleback lighthouse it appears that it is made of stone/granite masonry. Can anyone confirm if this is true and why? T. Demoines hambone@oms.net
WEBMASTER'S REPLY: My neighbor who is a merchant marine and history buff offered this explanation: In the early days of sailing (larger ships in particular) they needed
ballast in the cargo holds when they were making the half of their trip
with no real cargo. It was very common to use these somewhat square cut
stones to stack into the cargo holds to use as ballast. I guess there
were alot of these stones at most ports since it was a common need.
They were generally rough cut squares to stack cleaner and more efficiently. When
you got to the port where you were loading on real cargo, you left the
stones there and let the cargo itself provide the necessary ballast.
Later when early lighthouses were built, state governments took/bought
some of these stones that were nearby most lighthouse sites and made
the early stone lighthouses like Whaleback.
January 24 FAMILY WAS IN "THE TRADE" I was delighted to find this site on the web. I'm Al Newman (Arlen Newman when I graduated from PHS, Class of 1950). I'll be back in Portsmouth in August for my 50th reunion. I live in Sacramento and have been an ardent genealogist for over 50 years. The most frustrating element has been my attempts at tracing the activities of my grandmother, Catherine Newman (a.k.a. Katie Noonan) and her mother, Ellen (Hanley) Newman, who were -- relatives now dead once whispered to me -- involved in the "trade." My grandmother was born in Portsmouth, VA, in 1880 and showed up -- with her mother -- in Portsmouth, NH, in 1894. My father, John Joseph Newman, was an illegitimate Spanish American War baby, born in Portsmouth in 1899. He was, according to the record in the city clerk's office, the natural son of one Albert L. Lockwood, a marine. The Marine Corps disavows any knowledge of Albert Lockwood. Family lore also has it that my father might have been the natural son of Newington bachelor and war hero, Chauncey Hoyt. Anyhow, my father spent some time in the Chase Home for Children until my grandmother married a sailor in 1908, and my step-grandfather took my father out of the orphanage. They all continued to live in Portsmouth, and are buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery. Decades ago, when Portsmouth had a police chief named Remick, I approached him about searching police records. He was not cooperative. I would enthusiastically like to search police and court records while I am in Portsmouth to see whether I can find any reference to my forebears. I'd truly appreciate any guidance you might be able to give me in this effort. I would also like to obtain copies of the book and the thesis mentioned in the Water Street article. Could you point me in the right direction to find them? Al Newman gobelize@jps.net EDITOR'S REPLY: Al is the winner of our Genealogy form letter which lists the key spots to hit when doing local research. We, of course, cannot do the research, even on Water Street. This is, after all, a G-rated site. http://www.seacoastnh.com/20th/prostitute.html January 23 NEW YORKER AMAZED BY NH. WE AGREE!!!! Hello to you two, there in NH area!!! Wow, I am amazed!!! Really!!! You have put together quite an information page of NH and surroundings from what I have seen at WHAT'S NEW!!! I could sit here for days and learn something new everyday!!!!! It was fantastic!!! I was really interested in the SMUTTYNOSE MURDERS!!! How interesting!! I am a NATIVE NEW YORKER, from Upstate, and have vacationed in your neck of the woods as our family took our summer vacations there frequently!! I look forward to coming there sometime soon and to bring my daughter and granddaughter, too!!!! Thanks again, for a great page of information!!!!! A new reader, Tamara M. Waddell THEBAGLADY40@webtv.net January 21 IS THERE A DOC IN THE HARBOR? I am a Boston, Ma boater looking for dockage at the Isles of Shoals. Everything I've read, says there isn't any, except for possible anchorage in Gosport Harbor where the holding isn't all that great. A friend of mine heard that there is one of the islands that does allow dockage or mooring potential. Please be good enough to clarify this for me. Thank you. Ted Chisholm etchisholm@yahoo.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Everything you've read is right. The nine islands are privately owned with no moorings or docking space for outside vessels. We suggest placing a memo on our Shoaler Bulletin Board. Who knows, some local boater may have a secret plan. http://www.seacoastnh.com/shoaler/index.html January 20 NH ONLINE? LAST TIME WE LOOKED, IT WAS. Looking for general info on vacationing in NH. Can you direct us? Thank you. SuzetteVictoria@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: The "official" state of NH tourism website is linked below. In the coming months we'll be adding links to scores of NH-wide attractions and over 1,000 local web sites for your easy free access to NH data. The state puts out a gorgeous, content-rich free guide and map that is available via their web site. You will notice that the cover of the guide looks hauntingly (read "exactly") like the New Castle lighthouse in our logo. However, you will not find us or any independent NH guide websites linked to the state of NH site, despite up to 7,000 visitors reading 20,000 of our pages daily. Our tax dollars at work - enjoy. http://www.visitnh.gov/ January 20 WE'VE GOT THE BEST LINKS I am doin a school report on Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. I was wondering if I sent you my address if you could send me some info on these people? Thank You for your time. Tamara EDITOR'S REPLY: We're just a website - two guys and two computers, but we have put together the best darned hotlinks page for those two guys. You will find it by clicking below http://www.seacoastnh.com/johnsmith/links.html January 18 MISSES VOTING IN NH PRIMARY !!!!!! I'm so upset for missing another voting experience in NH.!!!! I was always brought up with politics in my home. I sure wish I still had the campaign buttons my family had over the years!!! I vote here in Va Bch where I've voted for articles with local government and know the article passed and then been asked years later to vote again?? Why because they used the funds somewhere else!!!!! !It's so infuriating NO TOWN MEETINGS!! They make a difference for Sure. We can meet with city council, but your better off not bothering they tell you to sit down, no more time. I remember in EPPING NH staying in town for days off and on because the people wanted to be heard. AND THEY WERE!!!! Thanks for your time I get on the band wagon some times and I miss the whole thrill of small town AMERICA Joanne Vasselian Shelton of VA Beach jshelton@aquik.net http://www.seacoastnh.com/primary2000.html January 15 USING GOOD GRAMMER "SIC" I have been reading about families (Ladds, Tuftons) that have played great parts in Portsmouth's rich past. I keep coming across three letters "SIC", and am unclear of their specific meaning. Are they related to jewels, badges, etc.? Please help if you can. Ann S or St. George, UTAH madmarth@hotmail.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Now you're making us work for a living. As we remember from college, "sic" means that the editor or person citing the phrase, knows the original may be misspelled, but is showing the precise spelling and not fixing it -- because it was in the original. Usually it is in lower case. January 14 SHHHHH…NOT SO LOUD! Thank you for sharing the pictures of Ms. Dorothy. I attended school in Portsmouth from 1957-1970 and spent many hours in the Public Library where Dorothy Vaughn's face was a comfort. She always helped kids find what they needed and ran a tight ship, there was no talking in the Library, and we never ventured to fight that rule. She hasn't changed, I had a very warm feeling seeing her picture and remembering when I was very young. What a joy to see a friendly face from my past. Marie Martel yfyinc@ttlc.net http://www.seacoastnh.com/tobiaslear/birthday.html January 13 JUST A STONE'S THROW FROM NASHUA What cities/towns lie within a 75 mile radius of Nashua,NH? M. Marques, Danvers, MA mmarques@apwu.org WEBMASTER'S REPLY: You're talking about quite a large stretch of land here. While I can't provide you with a clear itemized/alphabetized list of towns within your 75 mile criteria, I can tell you this: All the towns in our Seacoast Region are easily within the 75 mile radius. In fact all of southern NH and most of central NH is within 75 miles of Nashua. You could even go to Boston (about 40 miles away) and a large number of Massachusetts cities and towns since Nashua is on the southern border of NH. Eg. Cambridge, Worcester, Gloucester, Brockton, Framingham, etc. Your 75 mile radius from Nashua would also take you well into the south coast of Maine eg. Kittery, York, Kennebunk, nearly all towns just south of Portland, Maine. Click here to view a well detailed map of the area surrounding Nashua from MapQuest.com.
Click here to view just the seacoast region and some of its highlights. January 11 HONEY FITZ KNICKS IRONSIDES How long was "Old Ironsides" docked in Portsmouth? Also what was the role of John F. Fitgzerald in trying to move the ship to Boston in 1897? Thanks Jeff Pearlman, Malden, MA jpearlman18@hotmail.com EDITOR'S REPLY: The NH version of the story is in 1897 that sweet talking "Honey" Fitz, grandfather of JFK, came up and stole Old Ironsides from us. The Massachusetts version is that Charleston saved the ship from ending up at the end of the Piscataqua. You'll find the whole story and whole lot of pictures on our Ironsides special section, including photos of all THREE Ironsides visits to the port of Portsmouth. Of the top of our heads the total time in port was about 18 years, but you can check that out by click on the many articles at this address: http://www.seacoastnh.com/ussconstitution/index.html January 10 SPEAKING OF POPLIN, NH Where did Poplin, NH get its unique name? The name of the town was changed from Poplin to Fremont in 1854. Fremont became the site of the first Civil War Riot in New England on July 4, 1861, and was the site of the first Mast Tree Riot in America in 1734. There are five NH State historic markers in this town, yet tourist books seem to have overlooked the fascinating history this town has to offer. Matthew E. Thomas of Fremont, NH MtThomas56@aol.com January 09 NORTH HAMPTON IS NOW SANS SIMEON Does anyone remember Simeon Marshall who lived with his mom and dad at the Homestead Inn Restaurant in North Hampton? Well that's me a little older, but still remember the one room school house on the road. I've forgot. what happened to my home? Any x-girlfriends out there? Now drop a e-mail. Simeon Marshall, Carolina Beach, NC marshalgar@aol.com January 08 MR. JONES NOT PORTSMOUTH HOMEOWNER How was it that John Paul Jones came to have a house in Portsmouth? In an encyclopedia I have there is no mention of New Hampshire, let alone Portsmouth. Can you give me more information on this subject? Stephanie McGreevy of Lowell, MA samcgreevy@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: That's the question nearest and dearest to our hearts here, since our office is on the grounds of the historic "JPJ House" here inn Portsmouth. In fact, we can see his bedroom window from here, right now. But he did not OWN the house, just stayed here as a guest in a boarding house for a total of 18 months. Always questions authority; your encyclopedia needs revision. We just obtained an 1850-ish "penny dreadful" called "Paul Jones the Pirate" printed in Glasgow, Scotland that says JPJ started his famous military career "at Piscataway in New England". Jones came here in 1777 by order of the fledgling US government to take the Portsmouth-built ship Ranger to carry a message about the defeat of the British leader Burgoyne to Benjamin Franklin in Paris. His assignment was also to cause as much disruption to British shipping as he could - an assignment he took very seriously. Jones also took the first American flag into foreign waters, thus allowing the USA to be recognized by the French as a sovereign nation. As you can read on our site in detail (with updates added frequently) Jones spent months waiting and getting the ship rigged, armed, provisioned and manned and all this info comes from his letters and contemporary reports. After his exploits in Europe on the Ranger and Bonhomme, he returned to Portsmouth in 1783 for nearly a year during the outfitting of the ship of war America. Your best resource is Joe Sawtelle's book "John Paul Jones and the Ranger". http://www.seacoastnh.com/jpj/index.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/touring/jpjhouse.html January 07 MILLENNIUM TIME CAPSULE: LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES DEPT. I am interested in creating a time capsule for my Fire Department and noticed that the time one you buried appeared much larger then any I have found so far. Could you please tell me where it came from? David Cox of Bel Air, MD FFDave135@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Our green plastic time capsule was potentially a piece of city sewer PVC piping which the historical group rescued from the City of Portsmouth Public Works Dept. That city agency created the screw top cap in its workshop. The whole painful story is on the web in our all-too-vivid coverage of the burial in 1998. The third link will get you in touch with the City in case you want to compare PVC prices. Good luck. http://www.seacoastnh.com/375th/timecapsule1.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please101198.html http://www.cityofportsmouth.com/ January 05 CASE OF THE MISSING TUGBOATS I have a question. Do you have any info on the website address: (www.portsmouthnh.com/harbourtrail/tugboats.com)? My husband printed a page at the local library of a picture of some tugboats and the above address was listed, but when I try to bring it up on our computer at home, I get a message saying the address has either changed or is no longer available. My husband is interested in pictures of tugboats. Thanks for your help. Priscilla A wethree@cyberwc.net EDITOR'S REPLY: That's an easy one. Somebody copied the web address wrong. Look closely and you will see that your URL has the "dot-com" listing twice. That can't happen. Simply remove the "dot-com" (.com) at the end and replace it with "dot-html" (.html) and you will see your lovely tugboarts at the online PortCity Harbour Trail guide. Attached also is one of our tugboat picture links and the link to our own Harbour Trail page. You should also check out the link for "Tugboats on the Piscataqua" by Woody Openo at Peter Randall Publishing. Oh, and don't forget the store Tugboat Alley on Ceres Street, right next to the tugs on the Portsmouth waterfront. Their link is below as well. http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/photosmorang/ph1.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/harbourtrail/index.html http://www.perpublisher.com/pms18.html http://www.tugboatalley.com/ January 04 LOGOS TO GO-GO I would be honored if I may put a link in my web page to your site. I am an ex-Rangerman, and your writings of John Paul Jones is by far the best I have seen to date. Please let me know if it is all right to put a link to your site. Mark meeisenb@cc.ysu.edu EDITOR'S REPLY: Technically, we have no control over who links to us, but it sure is nice when nice people ask. To make things easier, webmaster Tim rustled up an easy logo links page for you. Or you can link directly to any web page you like best. http://www.seacoastnh.com/logo/ http://www.seacoastnh.com/jpj/index.html January 02 SEEKING WILLIE LYNCH LETTER I was searching the web for Black History and was fortunate enough to find your website! I was very pleased to see a site with so much information as well as information on other sites that supported Black History as well. I am writting you to ask if you would be able to help me find any information on the "Willy Lynch Papers".I do know that these documents contained information on Africans , it also was used as a guide on how to seperate various African tribes.These papers also contained info on which tribes were aggresive and which tribes would not be resistant to slavery.Any information that you could find would be appreciated. sheparnshepard@africana.com Our focus is on Seacoast New Hampshire, but we did try a quick search under the slightly altered spelling of "Willie Lynch" and found these references.The reported letter by this slave owner is a chilling article from 1712 -- often quoted on the web, but we could find no primary source documentation. Stay tuned for our annual barrage of new Seacoast black history articles coming in February. http://www.blackspeak.com/speeches/make_a_slave.htm http://www.uky.edu/StudentOrgs/AWARE/archives/lynch.html http://www.carlnelson.com/fulltext.htm http://www.northtulsa.com/willielyn.htm |
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