My grandmother, who was born in Sweden, worked at the Wentworth hotel in 1899, and I assume there met my grandfather and they were subsequently married in 1901. I have an original copy of the book titled "New Castle", that was written by John Albee and published in Boston in 1884 with illustrations by Abbott F. Graves. You mention that it was written 1874 however my copy says 1884 ( a misprint?). I also have an original cedar ice bucket that is purported to have come from the hotel. It is hard to verify as it has no distinctive markings. Thanking you in advance.
David S. Campbell

EDITOR’S REPLY: We’ll send your note to the Campbell family, then put on your seat belt and get ready for much more info. Through your family we’ve discovered a cache of exciting new information about the origin of the Wentworth Hotel. Both Mr and Mrs. Charles Campbell had a much larger role in building the hotel in 1874 than we originally thought and this info will find its way into the upcoming book, with photos. The second Mr. Campbell, their son, was actually the night watchman, not a manager and he was the adopted son of the Campbells. After the original co-owner Mr. Chase, partner to the Campbells, went bankrupt in 1877, the hotel was taken over by Frank Hilton and Frank Jones. Keep your eye on our Wentworth Hotel section for more exciting details. The Albee book was published in 1884 as you noted.
http://seacoastnh.com/wentbysea/

What I’m looking for is the cause of the migration of these people at the beginning of the 19th century. Was it political or economical ? To have an answer, I need more information on the history of New Hampshire between 1795 and 1815.
Alain Ménard, Abbotsford, Quebec

EDITOR’S REPLY: That’s a new one on us. There is an historical society for each town around here and, sadly, we rarely talk. You want to contact the Epping Historical Society. 1 Water St. Box 348, Epping, 03042. The only info we have from the Net is that their address: And of course, there’s the NH Historical Scoiety
http://nhhistory.org/

Walker Lear, b. 1719 -- Joseph Lear, b. 1749 -- Robert Lear, b. 1774 – Nehemiah Lear, b. 1803 -- Alverse D. Lear, b. 1831 -- Robert H. Lear, b. 1879 -- Alverse W. Lear, b. 1919 -- Robert S. Lear, b. 1946

This part of the Lear family moved to the western part of NH in the early 1770's, then to the Leominster, MA area about 100 years later. My grandfather, Robert H. Lear, moved to Pittsfield in western MA in 1911, in order to teach mathematics in the GE apprentice program. I had been planning to visit the Portsmouth area to do some searching for sites related to the family, and was glad to see that the old house still exists.
Robert Lear
http://seacoastnh.com/tobiaslear/

Battery Farnsworth, built between 1897 and 1899, is located within a rocky promontory just to the south of the old fort. This area has been fenced off to the public for many years due to its deteriorating condition. Atop this outcrop of rock is also the crumbling ruins of Walbach Tower, a casemated brick gun platform built in 1814 to defend the landward approach to Fort Constitution against the British fleet then blockading the harbor. A mine casemate was built into the left flank of the battery in 1899, but was never operational. Armed in 1898 with two 8-inch guns on disappearing carriages, just in time for the Spanish war, Battery Farnsworth was disarmed in 1917 as outmoded. Because of continual water seepage problems, it was never electrified and modified or upgraded in its later years, compared to other batteries built during the same time-period around the country. This structure, therefore, remains as a veritable time-capsule of late 19th and early 20th-century military architectural design, now unique in the entire United States.

After the battery was retired, a power station was built in 1921 behind the battery to supply electricity to a new Mine Casemate that was built further behind the battery, also in 1921. Located behind the large concrete wall that was added in 1942 for gas-proofing, the mine casemate was built to house the controls and operation center for the minefield in the harbor. A minefield observation station was constructed on top of the right gunwell of the battery in 1942, used in conjunction with another station located across the harbor at Fort Foster, to spot and plot positions of enemy ships entering the harbor, and to signal the detonation of the mines.

Together all these structures represent over 130 years of military usage, from the War of 1812 to the Spanish-American War and through World War II. These structures present a story that help to fully chronicle Fort Constitution's role in defending Portsmouth Harbor over the centuries, from the time of old Fort William and Mary beginning from 1631 to 1778, including the much-told story of the December 1775 raid that truly began the American Revolution; and from 1794 to the Civil War, defending Portsmouth and the young United States from the British, French, and Confederates. These events are known to the casual tourists and historians that visit the area, but not so well-known and understood are the events after the Civil War, and Fort Constitution's continually active role in defending Portsmouth Harbor until 1948. The Officer's Quarters and enlisted men's barracks, the hospital and the commissary, stables, wharehouses, firehouse, and other outbuildings are long gone from the scene and public memory. Battery Farnsworth, along with Walbach Tower, the 1899 and 1921 mine casemates and the 1942 observation station, if preserved, will help to tell this important story of our heritage and fill in some of the gaps. Without them, all we are left with is old Fort Constitution, a gem in any light to be sure, but without half the story.

The destruction of such historic structures would be a travesty to the historical preservation of the long military heritage of Portsmouth Harbor, and should not be allowed to proceed as currently proposed.
Pete Payette in VA
http://www.portsmouthforts.com

Dennis, you've written a tremendous review and your commentary on the subject is insightful and enlightened. Thank you.- FROM WEBMASTER Erik Ojakaar
http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/index.html

Needless to say, after a few chapter I was hooked, and I understood that the author had really done a good piece of investigations before writing the story (the topological/geographical/historical descriptions from “Laurvig” in the novel is fairly correct). The intended few lines turned into a big article about the book, but mostly about the dramatic immigrant-story underneath the fiction. Before I wrote the article, I tried to get in touch with the author in US –through the daughter of our reader – but didn’t manage that. I wanted to ask her about her research, whether she had visited the birthplace of the Norwegians immigrants (Larvik) and interviewed their descendants in Norway Things like that (By the way, she mentions one name in her book – Marianne Gullestad – that is a well known social anthropologists in Norway today)

A few day after the article had been printed in the paper, I got a phone. It was from a descendant of Anethe. Anethe had been his mothers aunt, and he told me that the murders had been a wild “Indian-tale” in his family when he was a kid. After growing up he learned that there was plain reality underneath, and he had done some research by himself and found out what really had happened. We did an interview with this “source” and printed a new article, using pictures of the birth-house of Anethe in Larvik (she grew up in a place called Brunlanes outside Larvik.A beautiful place near the coast and a popular summer-spot).And that was that.

Then – a few years later - I learned about the movie “The Weight of Water” with Sean Penn and Elisabeth Hurley (but I haven’t seen it yet, it is coming to a few cinemas in the big cities in Norway, Oslo etc, in the end of February). And I wrote a new story about the murders. Focusing on the film. But - and now we are slowly approaching the point in this expanding letter - by doing that I entered the Internet, found the web side Smuttynose and understood that this old murder story is still quite big and “hot” in the US.

The day after the new article was printed in the paper (on January the sixth) another descendant turned up. A young man that could tell me about Maren Hontvet and the tiny farm in Larvik (Kvelde) where she grew up before travelling to USA with her husband John (by the way, he is from a city in Norway called Tønsberg – it is the oldest city in Norway and both Larvik and Tønsberg are famous in Norway for being historical Viking-areas). And now I am getting real interested. I phone our first reader again, asking if he – through his daughter in Boston – could try to connect me with Anita Shreve. He said he will try, and now i am waiting with growing enthusiasm on the answer

My idea and plan is, and this IS the point, to do some further investigations here in Larvik (for instance find out where Maren is buried, examine further the descendants etc) and then persuade our editor to send me to New Hampshire and Smuttynose Island. My intention is to write some articles about the old story after visiting the locations in USA, hopefully manage to get an interview with Anita Shreve, and talk to people over there who can tell me more about the Norwegian immigrants and their destiny. But before entering a plane to Boston – via Amsterdam – I must dig up some informations and set up a convincing schedule and project, and that is why I write to you. I understand, by reading your articles on the net, that you are the right man.

What I want to know is: How and when can I best visit Smuttynose Island? Who can I talk to? What is there to be seen? Where – in the area/mainland can I stay on a “local-newspaper-budget” How to travel from Boston (bus, train) Things like that. I have never visited US before and should I manage to persuade my editor to realise this project, I must “pay my debts” by doing a lot of work over there. My plan therefore is, besides the articles of the Smuttynose-murders, to write about the daughter of our reader who first gave me the novel by Shreve. I will also travel to New York and write about a fellow-citicen from Larvik that is working as an ambassador in the FN, and perhaps do some stories about Ellis Island where the immigrants first landed. Und so weiter.

Hopefully I can spend ten days in US before returning to Norway. I would also imagine that the best time to travel to US and specially Boston, New Hampshire, Maine is off-season. Therefore I plan to go in early April – before easter this year– or early May, but that depends on when - and if - I can nail an appointment with Mrs. Shreve. I would be very very grateful If you could help me with any kind of informations about this kind of a journey and intended stay in US, eventually about available books and further readings about the case, and would very much appreciate an answer.
KWH in Norway

EDITOR’S REPLY: Come on over. We can certainly help find accommodations in the region and arrange for you to visit Smuttynose Island. In exchange, we want to publish your info about the Norwegian version of the story on Smuttynose pages. The story is “hot” only in the Seacoast region here, a very tiny part of the USA. There are plenty of local experts to talk to and make your research worth the trip.
http://seacoastnh.com/smuttynose