READ last month's email

June 27
HOMAGE TO BASHKA
For three years, I lived on Badgers Island, then moved elsewhere in Kittery for another five years. Who knows how many hundreds of times I drove by this monument? Yet, I never really looked at it and surely never knew the story you present so admirably here.
I have copied it as an “SI” document, meaning “story idea.” My first inclination is to do one of those brief GUIDEPOSTS stories, but right now my step-daughter and I have barely started on something with a deadline of JL 31 for submission – so it’ll be at least a month before I would start on this. Abundant thanks,
Carolyn L. Stoddard

June 26
DE ROCHEMONT’S WINDJAMMER
Between 1961 to 1963 I was a crew member of the USS Willis A. Lee (DL 4) a destroyer home ported in Newport, RI. Recently I looked up facts about the ship on the internet. One of the references indicated that the ship was involved in a movie, produced by Louis de Rochemont, entitled The Windjammer circa 1957. It may also be known as " The Windjammer: Voyage of the Christian Radich circa 1958. Can you tell me what role if any, did the Willis A. Lee play in the making of the above movie ?
Ben Buckner

EDITOR’S REPLY: We’re going to duck this question too, but tell you where to get the info. There is a superb “making of” book about the film Windjammer. You can find it for as little as a dollar on used sites like Bookfinder.com. Or look for an auction on eBay under the name “de rochemont” in Advanced Search. (Searching on Windjammer three bring up too much flotsam and jetsam. This colorful little hardcover book tells the whole story in detail with photos. Our copy of the book is currently on display in the De Rochemont Room at the Port of Call suite at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth along with other Louis de Rochemont items from the SeacoatsNH.com collection. 

June 25
SHOW WAS A GO
Our 6/21 show went off so well!  Over eighty people at each performance. 
Thanks for publishing the notice about our performance on SeacoastNH.com CALENDAR.
Anne Ferreira, Publicity, Old-Time Radio Players of Seabrook  

June 17
WE'RE ON ISLAND
We'll be back June 24 after another Webless week on Smuttynose. See you then.  (Thanks to the miracle of modern technology our new daily article will still post automatically on the homepage. Look for it.) -- The Editor

June 15
FAVE SPAM LETTER OF THE MONTH
Hello i have site about the American civil war and wonder if you can
link me on you site. It?s a big site about American Civil War. All war is greatly with information. And do you work with the site much. Please tell me if you can link me,
Regards Ann

EDITOR’S REPLY:  Ya, right!

June 13
OLD PORTSMOUTH HOSPITAL?
I found another old picture yesterday of a very old state looking house.  I don't know if it was taken in Portsmouth or Manchester.  I will send you the picture in the next email.  It was taken in the winter. It is very blurry but maybe you can sharpen it up.
June Page Saxon

June 11
FEEL THE LOVE
I absolutely love your website, by the way. I am from New England originally and we are planning on moving back to the seacoast region. Your web site has given me tremendous information regarding the area and I can't wait to get back and start exploring.
Dana Mordini

June 9
SEEKING STARK’S FLAG
I am doing some research on General John Stark of Revolutionary War fame. Would you know the flag his regiment carried into battle? I know he was instrumental in the Battle of Chelsea Creek about which I wrote to you several months ago. Is there perhaps a website that would show the early flag of Stark's New Hampshire outfit?
Much thanks. Jeffrey Pearlman

EDITOR’S REPLY:  I’m not sure Mr. Stark had his own flag. Things were pretty catch-as-catch-can back in those days. We see NH militia with a flag showing a liberty tree, but you would be best to talk to the experts. Here are links to the First Newmarket Militia, the American Independence Museum and the NH Historical Society.

June 8
DIET KUDOS
You have an outstanding, good and well-structured site. I enjoyed browsing through it.
From South Beach Diet  

Looking for informatin -- and found it -- on this great site..
Tom Scott

 June 6
LOOKING FOR LEARS
I am looking at the material pertinent to "Lear family tours historic house"  One of the photos denotes that the present Lear family met at the Lear House and visited the Point of Graves.  The photo was by Ralph Morang.  The reason for this brief description is to clarify the scene:

I was taken back in time when I saw the photo material and the name of Harry Lear, who I have never met or contacted while in Portsmouth.  I would like to introduce myself to the Lear Family as a extended family member who is alive and well.  My name is Richard Steele who is the son of Maybelle Lear.  Maybelle's father was Freddie Mortimer Lear who had
brothers: John Wallace Lear and Charles Edward Lear and her mother was Nellie Augusta Smith.  Freddie's parents were John E. Lear who had brothers and sisters: Albert Harvey Lear, Mehitable Mary Jane Lear,
Caroline A. Lear and Irena Lear and Anjanette's Wear Goshum Nutter (his second wife). John E. Lear's first wife was Sarah Bickford (1820-1863)  I think sufficient information is present to indicate, perhaps, a relationship with the Lear family.

While I have not met any family members residing in New Hampshire, I have had a contact with  member residing in Maine.  My genealogy research adventure started many years ago and continues at present.  My
pleasures have included the visit to Tobias Lear's residence in Portsmouth during the renovations of the residence.  In addition, I have also visited Mount Vernon to obtain a flavor of the world he lived in while serving George Washington.

In order not to write a novel or book on the subject of the Lear Family, I am recommending a contact with the Lear family to make a possible connection.  I can schedule a possible trip to New England should the opportunity present itself.
Richard A. Steele  

June 4
STIRRING UP TROUBLE IN KITTERY
Dear Dennis: How can we thank you enough for making our Annual Pot-Luck lunch such a smashing success?!  You were a great speaker, both intelligent and funny.  That's an unbeatable combination.

June 3
THAT U-SHAPED BUILDING
There was a letter back February 8, 2006 that talked about a U-Shaped building and the writer wanted to know the location.  It used to be located on Market Square.  The left side of the building was the original home of the Portsmouth Savings Bank (now merged with BankNorth) and the right side was the Piscataqua Bank (with was recharted as the Piscataqua Exchange Bank and eventually the First National Bank of Portsmouth).  The building stood on Market Square next to the current location of Breaking New Grounds.  It was replaced in 1903 with the two granite-fronted edifices that are currently there.  In case inquiring minds need to know, all of this "good stuff" is documented in a book at the Portsmouth Athenaeum on the History of the First National Bank of Portsmouth.
Kevin Lafond

June 2
ROOSEVELT’S IMAGINARY SOFA
I recently saw an item on E-Bay. Obviously the seller didn't research his subject too well or if he did he is lying to his potential customers. IT said: ROOSEVELT's COUCH from PORTSMOUTH PEACE TREATY C. 1905, It read: "This particular couch was paired with a matching chair, recessed back from the conference table.  This is where the main political fiqures would sit (i.e., Roosevelt, Tsar Nickolas, Emperor Meiji), while their negotiators sat at the conference table.  Therefore, this is where all the "big names" from the conference would recline, and the negotiations took place."
Shaun Rafferty

EDITOR'S REPLY: Thanks for the tip that inspired this editorial.

June 1
DID CAPTAIN MASON HAVE A CREST?
A question about Captain John Mason (founder of New Hampshire) and his heirs - is there any record of his family having a crest or coat of arms? I have explored a number of pay sites claiming to have "Mason" coats of arms and such, but no two are alike - raising my suspicions.  I was hoping you might have some better idea if he had one at all.
Seeking Mason

EDITOR’S REPLY: Good question, but not one we know the answer to. You might ask the historical or library people in Mason, NH, who have a claim to the name, or try the Tuck Library in Concord, NH that houses the collection of the NH Historical Society. They know genealogy better than we. I have personally never seen a Mason crest in any of a dozen books. Not sure why he would have a crest since he was a military captain, not a member of the gentry. Paul Jones had one 150 years later that he simply fabricated to impress his American employers.

I'd say the best source is the ONLY biography of Mason which is long out of print and costs $50 on Bookfinder.com. (Captain John Mason, Founder of New Hampshire. 491 pages, John Ward Dean, with memoir by Tuttle, C. W. 1887, Reprinted in 1991). While there certainly may be a Mason crest, finding it via a pay genealogy site seems a tough way to go, especially because many of the crests offered there are bogus anyway, and tying this particular Mason family to any heraldry would require some digging. Seems from what I've seen, that if there is any legitimate info, it is on the web site of a Mason family genealogist.

Mason, of course, had no direct male blood heirs, His grandchildren who followed the NH Mason claims were related through his daughter and, in order to collect (or attempt to collect) on their inheritance, had to change their names to "Mason".

(c) Copyright SeacoastNH.com. All rights reserved.