October 24
LOOKING FOR GOODWIN
Dear Sirs , could you please provide me with a website location to learn about Strawberry Banke and the Goodwin house with emphasis on portrayal of the late governors wife Sarah Goodwin ?
Tim Whyte

EDITOR’S REPLY: The direct link to the Goodwin House page is attached below. To reach people at the Museum, go to Strawberybanke.org and click on the Museum Information button that leads to a long list of email addresses. Our extensive archive of images on the Goodwin Monument is the second link. The odd-spelling of Strawbery Banke includes only one “r” which often makes it hard to find online.
http://www.strawberybanke.org/museum/goodwin/goodwin.html
http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please110599.html

October 22
THE LOST FISHERMAN
Came across your very interesting site while looking for information on Hog Island. I have a reference to a Thomas BARNES, a fisherman, who lived on a Hog Island in the 1670's (perhaps before & after this time as well). I'm now trying to work out which Hog Island he lived on. I had no idea there were so many along the northern coast of NE with this name.

Would you have any reference to Barnes living on the Hog Island in the Isles of Shoals? He later moved to Rye in NH. Any assistance you could render me would be most welcome.
Kerrie Alexander in Australia

OLD SHOALER BOB TUTTLE OF ISHRA REPLIES: This is what I found in The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire By Noyes, Libby, and Davis (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1988)

BARNES THOMAS, of Hog Island, fisherman, owned house, flake room, etc., 1672, later of Rye and taxed Portsm. 1698. Lists 57, 68, 313a, 316, 330d, 332b. Liv. 1732. He m. 1st by 1689 Mary Rand, dau. of Francis; 2d by 1696 Joan, wid. of Thomas Stevens and mother of John Stevens, adult 1697. Ch: Thomas, Portsm. Lists 316, 339. W. Hannah and 5 or more ch. 1710-1728 (incl. Bridget). Adm. 1764 to s. Samuel. Dau., m. Stephen Noble. Elizabeth, m. 4 Dec. 1707 Joshua Shackford of Dover. Abraham. Taxed Str. Bank 1707. Rated to Old Meet. Ho. List 339. M. 17 Aug. 1711 Anne Wallis, dau. of George, who was dec. 1724-5. Ano. Elizabeth m. John Jordan, North Ch., 18 Sep. 1712, Mary was a domestic in Wibird family 1730-1740.

October 22
LINK FREE OR DIE TRYING
Dear Editor, Our school teaching staff is in the process of working on Intel projects. We are creating a student web page, and would your permission to use your web site as one of our internet links. Our presentation is about famous New Hampshire people. Thank you for your consideration of this matter. EDITOR’S REPLY: Link away! We’re only 17 famous NH characters into our master goal of 100 in Link Free or Die. Funding slows the way and sponsors who want to see this heavily-used project grow can apply any time. We’ve added an easy URL to remember to make things easier for the kids. http://www.linkfreeordie.com
Cutler School In Swanzey, NH

EDITOR’S REPLY: Link away! We’re only 17 famous NH characters into our master goal of 100 in Link Free or Die. Funding slows the way and sponsors who want to see this heavily-used project grow can apply any time. We’ve added an easy URL to remember to make things easier for the kids. http://www.linkfreeordie.com

October 18
BOOTH’S NEW DYING WORDS
While reading the section about "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" there is the following statement: In his final moments, he asked to have his hands lifted up before his eyes and reported said, "Useless, useless!" Or does he say something else? (Read our wild theory in "Booth's New Dying Words.")

I have not been able to locate the place on your website that covers the new theory about Booth's Dying Words. I hope it will be possible for you to send a link or explanation of where I can read more about this. Thank you very much for your assistance... you have a wonderful website.
Kim D. Bosch

EDITOR’S REPLY: Of the thousands of links we’ve added within our 3,000 page site, we missed that one. You can always go to the SEARCH function listed on the homepage and the bottom of most pages that checks ever page on our site only. But just to be safe, we also added the link to the Lincoln Assassination page you referenced. It’s our unique theory about John Wilkes Booth and his lover Lucy from – of course – SeacoastNH. That’s our link to the world.
http://seacoastnh.com/arts/please042098.html

October 18
BESS STREETER & CHARLES ALDRICH?
I was wondering if Thomas Bailey Aldrich was related, by marriage to Bess Streeter Aldrich, another early American writer (ca. 1930). I have not seen a response in your column and wonder if historians are working on it and I should continue to be patient or if perhaps I should check elsewhere. Thanks very much.
Kathy Frederick Louv

EDITOR’S REPLY: We’re not aware of any connection between the Nebraska novelist and our NH novelist up here. TBA did have a son named Chalers Frost Aldich. Bess Streeter Aldrich married a man named Charles Sweetzer Aldrich who was from Iowa. TBA’s son died of a lung hemorrhage in 1904 and his other son married a young girl in Egypt a year or two following. That’s a long way from Nebraska and the timing is a couple of decades off. The only similarity is that both novelists homes, one in NE and one in NH, are open to the public for tours.
http://seacoastnh.com/aldrich/

October 17
HER PRIZE FINALLY ARRIVES
My sincerest apologies for my impatience! The package arrived today, and according to the UPS tracking information, it was mailed on October 14th. It is absolutely gorgeous.

I enter a lot of sweepstakes, and most of the time the prizes arrive in a timely manner. Except for one other instance this is the longest I've ever waited after being notified of a win. If fact, I won a hand knit sweater on your site a couple of years ago, and it arrived before I read about it in your newsletter. That was the main reason why I was so concerned.

I have had a couple of other cases where the prizes have never arrived. If its something that I really want (as it was in this case), then it's worth my while to remind people from time to time.

Thank you for your site and sweepstakes. One of these days I'm going to make it to New Hampshire. You've certainly given me an idea of what I want to see.
Elaine G

October 17
JUST A LITTLE MEMORY LOSS
I don't remember signing up for this newsletter...maybe, as you say, someone did it for me. Whatever....I thoroughly enjoyed it. Keep 'em coming!
Mew Reader

October 17
SHE LIKES OUR BREADTH
I have applied for a job in NH and so subscribed to your newsletter. This is the first issue I have received and I have to say I'm quite impressed with the breadth of the topics. Now I'm really hoping this job will come through. Keep up the good work!
Leigh at Nazareth College in NY

October 16
READER IN SOUTH AFRICA MISSES FALL
I have just received your newsletter. I'm not sure who put me on your e-mailing list -- a local friend, I suspect -- but nevertheless, I was delighted to receive it.

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your editor's note on fall ramblings. I was born and raised in Portsmouth, and still consider it probably my favourite place in the world. For the past several years, I have been living in Cape Town, South Africa, and, when people ask me what I miss most about home, I always reply "a stable currency, and fall leading into winter!" The past two weeks I was fortunate enough to make a business trip to Germany and Switzerland where, for the first time in 6 years -- even though it wasn't my beloved New England -- I at least had the chance to see coloured leaves, smell the scents of autumn, and see my breath in the cold air.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you. I will keep your article on my computer, and refer to it periodically as your fall progresses towards the beauty of winter, and our spring turns to summer with long hot days, unrelenting sun...and millions of tourists with diapers and cocoa butter!
C.J. Menard of Cape Town, South Africa

October 13
FIGUREHEAD OF USS CHESAPEAKE OF 1812
It may be of interest to you to know that the original figurehead of Chesapeake still exists in England in fairly good condition, I last saw it 30 years ago and it then was just been renovated. It is still in existence as far as I know and is a figure of a native Indian in a full-feathered headdress, a magnificent piece of work. The figurehead is in the dockyard where the Chesapeake is locally recorded as being broken up for scrap and that is not Portsmouth! Yours faithfully Mr. D.S.Farrow.
David Farrow
http://www.seacoastnh.com/jpj/chesapeake.html

October 07
SHOALER FRED McGILL DIES AT 98
I hope you were notified of the recent death on Sept. 19th of Fred McGill, the long-time historian of the Isles. time historian of the Isles. You've mentioned him in your writings over the years and I wondered if you might write about him in an upcoming column. Fred had just celebrated his 80th year on the island with a huge cake and anniversary celebration during the week of UCC II. At 98 years young, he was so spry and alert, zipping along the Oceanic porch with his walker (actually, holding up his walker as he went!). It was a surprise to hear he died just shy of a month after leaving Star. Upon returning home to Florida in August, he contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized. Then he had a bad fall where he broke his hip at which time he went into a coma and never came out. He was a remarkable man, loved by many.
Priscilla Chellis

EDITOR’S REPLY: We had many great conversations with Fred as he walked back and forth across the porch of the Oceanic and heard him read his famous story about Fred, the fastest hound dog in Maine. His collection of letters to Celia Thaxter by her younger brother Cedric is one of the most interesting books every printed about the Shoals. He was the natural heir to the legacy of Uncle Oscar and Lyman Ruttledge, great storytellers all.

October 07
HIGH PRESSURE WITH WEATHERMAN KEN
Hi, I have a question about the term Hi Pressure. Are any numerical values given to the term Hi pressure and can these be seen on the weather broadcasts? I am a boater and from experience I look for Hi pressure and low winds in order to predict the ocean activity. Low wind and Hi pressure usually mean calm seas, are any other variables used to tell what the seas are doing?
Rickey Boggiatto

KEN MITCHEL RESPONDS: Pressures released to the public are usually in inches of mercury (or the equivalent thereof). This is based on the old mercury barometers that were literally 30-plus inches high, due to the weight of the liquid. The standard measure for an average atmosphere is 29.92". As we get higher, we call it high pressure, and obviously the reverse. I don't watch weather TV shows, but when I have they usually publish the current barometer reading.

While high pressure and low winds CAN and usually are a good predictor for calm seas, one can get caught by that trap IF there is a large ocean storm off the coast. This can cause high swells even with the other parameters in place. What I use to predict the sea heights are the two buoys out in Boston and Portland Harbor. These give hourly readouts to wave height, sea temp, etc. I believe surface winds are also provided. Here are the links to those:
http://www.seacoastnh.com/weather/index.html

October 07
SIMAS SAYS
Here’s one for your Film Trivai page. The made-for-TV moive "The Defection of Simas Kudirka" with Alan Arkin had parts filmed in and around Portsmouth. The film based on a true story used the "Castle" at PNSY as the prison in Lithuania and downtown shots (the Town Hall specifically) were used to represent Lithuania.
Marilyn Prescott

October 07
ILL AT BUNKER HILL
Re Brigadeer-General James Reed at the Battle of Bunker Hill: According to your website info., Reed was ill during the Battle of Bunker Hill. Please, what is your source for this? Other reports have him (then as Col. Reed) as the last officer to leave the battlefield on the retreat across the peninsula. Thanks for any help that you can give me.
Rosemary Linn

EDITOR’S REPLY: Sorry, that article was written in 1975 and the sources are long gone. Since that time a ton of enthusiastic historians and genealogists have added tons of data to the Internet. Our goal is simply to tell a New Hampshire slant of an otherwise well know Massachusetts story. We leave the details to people more learned than we.
http://www.seacoastnh.com/history/rev/bunker.html

October 06
NAME THAT BALLAD
Wendy at the Old Berwick Historical Society has pointed me toward you. If you are interested, I have a number of questions a background for S. O. Jewett's THE TORY LOVER. I'm working this up for the text at my web site, The Sarah Orne Jewett Text Project, a free archive of the complete works of Jewett. Do you recognize the ballad or know who might help me check it out?

This passage is in Jewett's THE TORY LOVER. It was an old Portsmouth ballad that all the river knew; the very sound of it was like a message: -- "The mermaids they beneath the wave, / The mermaids they o'er my sailor's grave, / The mermaids they at the bottom of the sea, / Are weeping their salt tears for me. / "The morning star was shining still, / 'T was daybreak over the eastern hill"
Terry
http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/sj-index.htm

EDITOR’S REPLY: You’ve stumped us and every researcher we tested. The experts at the Portsmouth Athenaeum worked on it for days. We’re beginning to think that the lyrics were simply made up by Sarah to fit the story. We’d guess Whittier, but haven’t found the link yet. Sounds like a great project and we look forward to getting much more SOJ info online. She is definitely among the top talents to hail from this region.

October 06
INFANTICIDE AT THE SHOALS
I recently took a cruise along the Isles of Shoals and was quite itrigued.Being a writer it spawned many an idea. I am quite interested in the history of the Isles, and have found many of my questions answered here on this site, however the one thing I cannot seem to find is this... when taking the cruise I'm more than certain the tour guide had mentioned something of a woman who hid in a cave on one of the Isles and accidentally smothered her baby in an attempt to keep the child quiet. If you could relay this information in some detail back to me I would greatly appreciate it.
JB Murray of Orange, MA

EDITOR’S REPLY: Hey, my grandparents lived in Orange, MA. Don’t hear about that town much up here. You’ve got the details right. You’ll find that legend in Celia’s “Among the Isles of Shoals”. Betty Moody’s cave is still part of the Star Island history tour. Whether the story actually happened during the brief era of Native American conflict on the Shoals called Lovell’s War is unknown. The story is told in bits and pieces through most of the basic shoals history books. Check Celia’s “Among the Isles of Shoals” and the 1873 history by John Scribner Jenness. It is likely repeated in Ruttledge, Bardwekk and others. These stories were great devices to draw in tourists in the 19th century, and all became the focus of tourist stereo photo cards and postcards. The story of Maren’s Rock on nearby Smuttynose is a similar legend. Since most of the rocky caves look just about the same on the islands, it’s hard to imagine the locations are more than lore, but each story seems to have some basis in truth. For more, why not join the Isles of Shoals Historic and Research Association (ISHRA) and tap the combined knowledge of this group? http://seacoastnh.com/shoals/ishra.html

October 06
REPRINTED IN CALIFORNIA
Dear Dennis: Thanks for your reply to my e-mail. Thank you also for permission to reprint your article (in the Revolutionary War). We are a non-profit historical/civic group, but we're really trying to get things rolling, we typically offer ourselves free of charge to come and talk in schools, etc. on historical issues. And thanks again for a wonderful website. I never before really had a desire to go to New Hampshire, but as I've had the opportunity to view your site, it's really sparked an interest in coming sometime. With Kind Regard,
Nathan in San Luis Obisopo, CA

October 06
FOUNDER OF RYE BEACH?
I was wondering if you have any information on Captian John Locke, My Great Grammother was Anna Mary Streton. Maiden ( Locke ) I believe there is still a "Locke" family reunion (suppose to be the longest running reunion in the US ) held there in the lower half of a little church that sis above a grave yard. My name is Laura Herring maiden (stroud) Captain John Locke is my 7th Great Grandfather this is all I know. Any help you could give would be appreciated.
L Herring

EDITOR’S REPLY: We don’t know the story of the “founding” if Rye, a record that usually goes to David Thompson. But there is are a LOT of early Locke’s in the records. Start with the Lane Memorial Library and the NH Society of Genealogists that have records available. We’ve also created a link to the Locke Family web site below. So what is the story of Rye Beach?
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us
http://www.lockefamilyassociation.org
http://nhsog.org/nhoga/sites/oga_xg30.htm

October 04
FAMILY HAS PAINTING BY UNCLE OSCAR
I ran across your web site by accident and when I saw the drawing of the ship by Oscar Laighton I Immediately recognized it as a match to ours. It hung in my Grandfather's (Zeferino Machado) home in East Boston for over 50 years, possibly longer. I was told it was drawn by a friend of his and given to the family. In 1996, Rose Machado, Zeferino's daughter and the last surviving member of the Boston family came to a nursing home in South Carolina. The drawing has been hanging in my home in Lexington SC since that time. I have mixed feelings about donating or selling the drawing, I would like to keep it but there is something about things from New England that make you feel guilty about removing them from their original place. I will keep your E Mail address and after a discussion with the descendants will make a decision about the drawing.
David in South Carolina
http://seacoastnh.com/celia/oscar.html

October 04
THE ORIGINAL GOSPORT SPEAKS UP
The original Gosport after which the harbour is originally named...if you did not know it is in 'olde' hampshire in 'Olde' England and its near Portsmouth....Sound familiar? Your sections are very good but i could not find one mention of it....It would be nice to get a mention..........Kind regards
Dean Searleof Gosport in Hampshire, UK

EDITOR’S REPLY: We should mention that, but then we’d have to mention it for all 25 towns in the Seacoast. Every single one, with the exceptions of Stratham and Kittery, come directly form English towns – Portsmouth, Exeter, Newmarket, Durham, Dover, Hampton, New Castle, etc.. Other are listed after old UK investors -- Rockingham, Barrington, Somersworth. And Gosport, sadly, is not longer Gosport at all since the town was dissolved legally off the records of the state of NH.
http://seacoastnh.com/shoals/photos.html

October 02
BELATED THANKS FROM 80-YR OLD PORTSMOUTH FAN
This is a long overdo thank you for the pleasure you have given me with the pieces you have done on historical Portsmouth and surrounds people, placs, things and events. As an 80 year old Portsmouth native who grew up in the shadow of Meeting House Hill on Whidden Street I loved it all, Maryellen's wedding dress reminded me of my junior prom dress my grand mother made. My grandfather was the city blacksmith who raised his own racing horses and also worked and raced Frank Jones stable. I am now living in the High School I graduated from in 1940. This year I and seven other women on the class committee researched and printed a 40 page memoir of the class of 1940 WW2 war effort, so that the memory of our five classmates who died and the contribution of the class will not be forgotten. Sorry -- I digress -- Congratulations and Best Wishes on your wedding. I signed up for your newsletter, wish I had known of it sooner. RHBrett:horse my father trained and raced== set rcords.
Elaine Hussey aka Mickey
http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please082502.html

October 01
LOVE THAT LOUISBOURG
I am visiting my daughter in Madbury (NH) for a couple of days from Reno, and LOVED the article in yesterday's Foster's because I had an uncle who went with Pepperell. Capt. James Whidden -- Whidden St. in Ports, and the Whidden Cemetery just off Rt. 1 in Ports. is the NH family. Samuel Whidden is first reported in Ports. in 1662/3 according to the NH and ME genealogy of early families. Capt. Whidden was a grandson of Samuel.

There's a great story following the Louisbourg capture. Capt. Whidden was awarded Swan Island in the Androscoggin (sp?) river near Topsham, for his participation. He moved there with his family about 1747, built a home. They were attacked by Indians in 1748-9, the Capt. & wife hid in the cellar, but the rest of the family were carried away as captives. Some were ransomed, others were allowed to return, one child died in Halifax on his way home, and a 3 year old granddaughter was raised by a prominent French family, married and became a widow there, eventually returned, to Newmarket, I think I remember, where her father had gone -- and he only knew English and she only knew French. There is a pamphlet at the state park at Swan Island which tells part of the story -- and the old book about NE captives, and the journals of early Maine, tell the long story about attempts for ransom, several petitions to the governor, etc. I found the items in Dover library, but they are surely in Portsmouth lib., too or the Athaneum. So much history in a small area -- and thanks to you and SeacoastNH, we are so much richer for your site and efforts. Many, many thanks
Margaret G. Fish in Reno NV
http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please092702.html