ASK, RANT OR PRAISE, BUT NEVER IGNORE 

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MORE ON PHO 
There is a great little Vietnamese place in Biddeford -- Wue Hanong, 49 Main Street, that does a great Pho and its a wonderful family that runs it. When I used to commute to Boston I found the Pho Pastuers to be awesome. I think there are four of them in Boston and Cambridge, and if you like Thai food be sure to checkout Makong Thai in Wells, ME on Rte 1. Awesome red curry and fresh spring rolls and be sure to check out the green papaya salad there. 
Mark Winslade

HISTORIAN LOVES BANKE BOOK 
Hi, Dennis, Just wanted you to know that I read every word and looked at every picture in your book "Strawberry Banke." Found it absolutely riveting and amazing. How did you and Mary Ellen manage to dredge up so much information and so many pix? I have passed it on to a resident who used to work as a volunteer at the "Banke", as have a few of the women here. I will probably add it to our book collection here. In years to come, historians and history buffs will be studying your wonderfully informative works with the same great pleasure that I have found. It should give you a lot of satisfaction for all your hard work. 
Olive Tardiff (aged 95)

TREASURE HUNTER 
Dear Sirs, I would like to get in contact with Mrs Prudy Randall. I would like to gather some information about the treasure chest hunting of the dear Edward Teach. I will be hunting this treasure and I am sure I will find it, ''we just have to look at the right place''. 
A.Ghattour

EDITOR'S REPLY: Ms Pandall has passed on and the legend of the treasure has long been disproven on this tiny private island.

SEEKING EVELYN GERSON 
Hello, I am a fourteen year old girl researching Ona Judge Staines as a history project. Evelyn Gerson seems to be the most educated in Ona's life story and i had a few questions I hoped to ask her. I have been researching George Washington and slavery and Ona Judge was my main project and I am very involved now and would love some more information on her so that I can create a timeline. I had hoped to get in contact with Evelyn Gerson and ask her my specific questions. Please send me her email? 
Janey F

MORE OLD TRUNKS 
My great grandfather and great great grand father owned New England trunk company of Massachusetts. I think it may have started in the early 1900's after they arrived from Germany. Do you have any of those trunks for sale? Or have you seen them of have any photos? My grandfather who started the business was Julius A Bolz and his brother Frank Bolz. I would love to have one, or look for one. 
Karen Walker

PAT MORSE OF TRUNK.com REPLIES: We have NETC listed in our book Antique Trunks: Identification and Price Guide, and it states that they made wardrobes, but that's all. If you know the town or city they operated in I would suggest you contact the local research librarian and ask for information. I can't remember seeing a trunk by them, but I will keep an eye out.

MORE ON THE SAFFORDS
I'm doing some family research on my great x5 grandfather Lt. James Bayard Stafford, and in the process have happened on your article about him and the flag hoax. I noticed in the article that the writer had read an article from 1896 in Peterson's Magazine about it all, and I was wondering if you had a copy of the article at all? Or more information than was included in the article? I'm located in New Zealand and it is making research difficult, so I'm following any leads that I can. 
With thanks, Charlotte

EDITOR’S REPLY: Nope, sorry. That piece was posted over 10 years ago. In that time Google has put millions of old magazines online, so chances of finding it in Google Books is quite high and growing.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Your recent story about Louisbourg broached an interesting side note -- that of shifting political allegiances and the names that we attach to such parties. This is perhaps more true in Nova Scotia than just about anywhere else.  The famous term ¨Bluenose¨ dates back to at least 1785, when it was used derisively to refer to the independence-minded New England Planters of the 1760´s who had moved to N.S. once the Acadians had been turfed. So the word Bluenose isn´t really referring to native Nova Scotians, at that time, so much as it´s referring to New Englanders. What we have, then, is British loyalists bemoaning the presence of Americans, even if those latent ¨Americans¨ were really just British subjects in the first place. In a somewhat related matter I recently saw an 1830´s reference to people of Maine being libeled ¨Maniacks¨.  Is it possible that a Canadian, er, not-yet-assigned British subject, was the first to attach such a label to those fine folks ? 
Your Irish-turned-Canadian servant, 
Mark Wilson

EDITOR’S REPLY: Not to mention "Yankees" that was a British attempt to rile us up and now we're selling it to the tourists from Canada.  Around here a "Mainiac" is a nice guy from Maine while a "maniac" is anyone from Massachusetts, or occasionally, anyone from anywhere except New Hampshire, or possibly from another region in New Hampshire.

PRINT OF IRONSIDES BATTLE 
Is it possible to buy a print of this photo of the battle between the USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere ?

EDITOR’S REPLY: No photos available, since cameras were not invented for decades after the War of 1812. We don't sell prints, but yes, there are tons of them available. If you don't find one on eBay, contact the USS Constitution Museum in Charlestown, MA where they have an excellent gift shop dedicated entirely to Old Ironsides.

SEGWAYS ARE GREAT 
Dennis, Loved your latest newsletter. The Segway tours should be great and your script will be the best. The tours are very successful in St Pete, FL and in Queenstown, NZ (where they didn't know where NH was!) Love reading your stuff. 
John Wheeler

FOUND WHITTIER POEM?
I have been online trying to find a copy of J.G. Whittier's handwriting.  We have found a 2-page poem handwritten in an old book from the late 1800's. The paper is yellowed but the title  of the piece has  J.G. Whittier as the heading. Do you know who would be able to authenticate the writing if it's his?   Jean Griffin-Young

EDITOR’S REPLY:  I could swear I posted a Whittier signature on the site somewhere. Or contact the Whittier Home in Amesbury MAS or the Haverhill Library where they have lots of Whittier signatures and manuscripts to compare them to. They are the ones who care the most about Whittier these days in a shrinking field.

UPDATING RUTH BLAY

EDITOR'S REPLY TO AN ANGRY LETTER: Thanks for the note. Not sure where you found the info, but am guessing you stumbled on a very old page on this site. Can you dig out the URL so I can see if it's one of the elderly pages scheduled for demolition? I've been reporting on this story online for 15 years and in that period it has evolved, thanks to the scholarship of a number of local historians. Rod Paul did some work in the early days as did Ray Brighton, Bruce Ingmire and others, but it was Carolyn Marvin who recently did the primary work. I have been super pleased to see her book -- the only authentic research published on the topic -- reaching a wide audience through her recent lectures. Checking facts is one thing but repairing and updating thousands of past pages is a massive task that only gets bigger as time moves on because history is a moving target. The minute we write something down, it is subject to "new facts" from hardworking researchers, of which this town is well supplied. Best bet is always to SEARCH for a topic in our search engine to find the latest updates.

ODE TO THE OLD MAN
Here's a poem I wrote back in 2003 just a few days after the old man fell off the mountain. If you like it please publish it with my permission. Thanx and peace! William J Urmson

The Ultimate Outdoorsman (poem)
Like any old man he was set in his ways. For thousands of years his stoic face did gaze. Stubborn, not budging, very hard headed, New Hampshire's White Mountains, where he was embedded watching over his children, the babes of the woods. Sadly witnessing their destruction to build neighborhoods. What has happened to my land, sea, and air? A head made of rock, but still smart enough to care. The once proud symbol perched in the sky, instead became the motto:To Live Free or Die. Like a lot of old men, he was simply ignored. So the ultimate outdoorsman bungee jumped with no cord.

FROST ON FROST 
Loved the Joe Frost column last week! You really captured the guy. Glad he let you make that recording. One of our problems around here is lots of lost info because there are no records kept - one reason we started PDAS (Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society). 
Joyce Volk

PHOTO OF GEORGE WASHINGTON?  
We have a photo of Old Iron Side dated 1925. We bought an old photo of G. Washington from an old country school house, many yrs ago. OIS and another of GW, was behind the first GW photo. Any idea of it's value??

EDITOR’S REPLY: GW never had his photo taken since he died decades before photography was invented, but always interested in seeing old items. There were zillions of photos of Old Ironsides distributed as souvenirs during her restoration, so not likely much value there, but you can check with the museum in Massachusetts. Our interest is in historic value, not money value, so we're happy to post a picture if you send a JPG.

DOVER MOTORBIKE RACE 1949
I am looking for anyone who might have a newspaper clipping or a race program for a Motorcycle race run off at Dover, NH on Oct. 9,1949. The event was a New England Championship race event.  If anyone can help with a scan or scan of a newspaper account, I would appreciate it.
R. Lee Lyons

EDITOR’S REPLY: There is no longer, sadly, a newspaper “morgue” at Fosters Daily Democrat. The newspaper refers questions to the very competent librarians at the Dover Public Library where we assume you will find microfilm copies of newspapers.

RUSTICATOR TRUNK 
We are selling what we believe to be a VERY RARE Sacramento Longshore step-up style steamer trunk, but are trying to understand a little more about it's value before we do so. There are not many left out there as we've discovered. Some on the internet have a similar top hinge style with a slanted side configuration, but none so far on the market that have this step-up style. Our trunk needs some refinishing but is structurally sound. Any guidance you could offer would be greatly and genuinely appreciated. Links to the only two references we've found so far online; 
Dave Spencer, Joliet, IL

PAT MORSE OF TRUNK.com RESPONDS: Dear Dave -- What you have is commonly referred to as a "Dresser Trunk". They were popular amongst "Rusticators", people who would go traveling into the country for the season. Typically, these trunks would substitute as a chest of drawers or "dresser" for the summer in rustic accommodations such as a hunting camp or summer cottage on a Maine lake. One of the larger manufacturers of dresser trunks was Frank Stallman at Stallman's Dresser Trunks, East Spring Street, Columbus, Ohio who also made other unusual styles of trunks such as theatrical trunks. This style was made by Stallman, Hartmann, Louis Vuitton, and a number of other makers. We don't see many around today and if they are in good condition they often bring several thousand dollars. If they are tattered and moldy you will have a major project ahead of you in attempting any restoration because of the number of drawers involved. We currently have such a trunk on our website called the Upright with a patent date of 1867.

FOUND A SPEARHEAD 
I found what looks like an Indian spearhead/dart on the beach off of Plum Island.  I'm not interested in selling it, but would like to learn more about it.  It looks very similar to one you have pictured that dates back 7,000 to 8,000 years.  I'm the director of Coastal Discoveries out of Newburyport and love to share such finds with our students.
Lee Yeomans

EDITOR’S REPLY: Lots of early Indian activity around that area, I believe. I'm no expert, but can attempt to pass a few good photos along to archeologist in the region as long as I can post copies and their responses on my site.  JPGs are the best. Be sure to take photos that are clear, not fuzzy, and put something in the photo -- a quarter or a pencil or a ruler, so we can see the size of the item. Flip it over and show both sides.  I'm aware of your group as a a Smuttynose Steward myself. The more accurately you can pinpoint where you found it and under what conditions, the better for the experts.

LORDY, LORDY 
I was wondering if you have any record on the family by the last name of Lord. My wife’s family tree said they drowned just off shore of the isles and I think it was in the 1800's and if so do you know if they would be buried on the isle. 
Rick Mayo

EDITOR’S REPLY: Drowned usually meant lost at sea. There are just a few graves on the Isles of Shoals and I don't have a list of them. We don't do genealogy, but your first bet is always to search the Web site of the Portsmouth Athenaeum. There were a lot of Lords around here in the 19th century. There was a Lord who lived for awhile in what is now the Portsmouth Historical Society House, a banker, I think. You could ask Sandra Rux the curator about that. But I don't see any Lords in the local burying grounds in Portsmouth, but there are a couple in South Berwick Maine seen here

STAN THE MAN 
Hi Dennis, I thought it may please you to hear that Stan put down the paper today and said, "That Dennis Robinson sure is a good writer.  A lot of times, I start reading a story thinking I'm going to skim through it and I end up reading the whole thing."  Take good care, 
Tammy Baker

COOLODIGE QUESTION
Was Joseph Coolidge in the attached NY Times article kin to the Wentworth-Coolidge's John Templeman Coolidge III?
Jim Macdonald

PETER MICHAUD REPLIES: Dear Dennis & Mr. Macdonald, I have to admit that Genealogy is not my strongest point but I did find the following page a page online that shows Joseph Coolidge’s son Charles married Mehitable Templeman and named one of their sons John Templeman Coolidge (b.1811.)  John Templeman Coolidge had a son named John Templeman Coolidge II (b.1834) who is the father of John Templeman Coolidge III (b.1856) and was the owner of the Wentworth Coolidge Mansion.

PLYMOUTH WAX MUSEUM
I was so very disappointed today when, while in Plymouth for the first time in 27 years, I discovered that the wax museum is no longer in existence.  I am here with my daughter and my two granddaughters.  I have told them all about my last trip to Plymouth, touring the Mayflower and going through the museum.  All were excited to see the sights Plymouth has to offer.  However, much to our disappointment, the museum has been closed.  Why?  I appears that we will have to adjust our touring list and perhaps make a trip to Boston to see the Children's Museum and Aquarium instead.  -- Lana Reed

EDITOR REPLIES: It was a unique place, for sure. We kept our page up in memory of the museum. They apparently sold off the wax dummies that will live on in other costumes somewhere. Some of the scenes were drawn from legend, not fact, as is Plymouth Rock itself. We have no connection to the museum and only visited ite a decade ago, but if you get up to Portsmouth, NH, that's our turf.

SLIPPING INTO DARKNESS 
As a Portsmouth native who will be 56 soon, I appreciated “Crossing the Ungrateful Divide” in your newsletter. It made me laugh out loud, and I needed that! 
Susan Lee

GUNS IN THE CAPTOL
Although I do not totally disagree with your commentary on guns in the NH capitol, I am so tired of the, "I am right and you are evil or at least stupid "   mentality that has infected the current self appointed mouth pieces on both sides of every issue. How is it that such smart people don't realize that insulting an adversary does nothing to soften a position. It often has the opposite effect.  Signed EMC2

EDITOR’S REPLY: I used that approach because, apparently, nothing else seems to work. Certainly not reason, logic, discussion, etc. Just trying a new tactic after 40 years of being friendly. The whole guns-are-our-right thing did not begin until the 1970s and is entirely due to the fully evil NRA that simply wants to sell guns and build a constituency that is armed and dangerous. Before they came along intelligent Americans knew that our forefathers intended only to reserve the right to bear arms to citizens in a militia in an emergency. 90% of constitutional scholars have made that crystal clear. Hard to see that sarcasm will scar the opposing forces who have been using lies and misrepresentation and great gobs of money (and now threats of a blood bath from right wing politicians)  to lobby for the expansion of gun sales in the least civilized most violent nation going.  The result has been the endless killing of innocent  men, women and children here with the highest murder rate in the civilized world. (Check the stats. Compare us to Canada, Europe, etc.) I guess you win some and you lose some -- If calling the truth the truth makes you want to pack iron. My feeling is if it make you angry enough to write a letter, no matter what side you take, that's better than watching the coming battle from the sidelines. The sad part is that they will win because they have the guns. All we have is the honor of being right. Some things -- slavery, child abuse, Hitler, racism, murder, torture -- are simply evil. This just happens to be one of them. Calling it anything less to me seems, well, evil. Thanks for the note and your reply..

SNOW-BOUND IN ROLLINSFORD? 
Did you know "Snowbound" was written in Rollinsford, NH in what was John Greenleaf Whittier's grandmothers house on Sligo Road? Wondering how many people know that now? I finally found a copy of the book "Snowbound" last year. It was republished by a company in California. ...One can actually drive down Sligo Road and see the scenes from the original book....the house is still there...

I live in Rollinsford now, originally a Kansan, but married into the Janetos Family in 1951. Hearing stories about early Rollinsford from Ruth Emerson who was Rollinsford's historian for many years. Thank you for bring "Snowbound" back to life. -- Ele Janetos

EDITOR’S REPLY: I'd love to know more about what Whitter wrote in Rollinsford, but I’m certain it was not Snow-Bound. The poem is clearly about his childhood home in Haverhill, MA and you can still go see the hearth and house on which it is based in the museum there today. Whittier's biographer and his own notes bear this out. It was written (at least Whittier said so) at his desk at his house in Amesbury, MA where he lived for over 50 years. He wrote quite a few poems about this area, but unless I miss my guess, you've mixing SnowBound with "Maud Muller" a poem that Whittier wrote about an incident at a spring (now gone) between Rollinsford, South Berwick and York, Maine. I'm interested in that poem too because I have the world's largest collection of Maud Muller illustrations from his equally popular bestseller. I don't believe, however, that Whitter actually wrote the poem there, but was just inspired by the region. Again, he clearly appears to have penned the poem back at his desk in Amesbury. But I’m curious about the origin of your story, where it came from, and who Whittier might have known personally in that area.

BABB OF APPLEDORE 
Is it possible for you to send me information about Appledore Island? I am a descendent of Philip Babb who resided there in the 1630s. One more question, if one of my ancestors died  n Isle of Shoals, where would the cemetery be? Ancestor in question, Philip Babb died 1671 
Mary Anne of Taylor, SC

EDITOR’S REPLY: Lots about the history of Appledore on my Web site (in two sections). Not sure what to send. Today it is the Shoals Marine Lab and I can send you their Web site link. Or you can stay at Star Island nearby and visit Appledore by boat in summer. No regular traffic there, except the SML ferry that runs with students in season. They do have environmental events for adults in their calendar, I think. Tons of info about Appledore on Google Books, all sorts of articles from the 19th century online.  A few local history books on the Shoals in general talk mostly about the rise and fall of Appledore House and the Celia Thaxter and the Laighton family. What is it you're interested in? The island had a number of names including Hogg Island and, as far as I know, there is nothing connected with the Babb family there, certainly no graves or markers – just legends and a few notes in the Gosport history record.

MARY ANNE REPLIES: Thank you very much for this information. I am researching my family trees and one of them is the Babb tree. I read in a website that he raised his family on the Appledore Island and was thinking of trying to see the island. Maybe this summer. I will check out your web site in more detail and will let you know if I need anything. What kind of accommodations do they have on Star Island to stay at?

MILKMAN ON HORSE-DRAWN SLEIGH 
Dennis, I enjoyed seeing a photo of my great uncle Charlie Garland (Historic Portsmouth). He was the son of James Garland and first wife Mary Cate. My grandmother Amelia told me about her uncle Charlie, that he would get up before the sun to deliver the milk, no matter how cold or how much snow. Thank you for your photos and notations. My grandfather Garland Patch would be very pleased. PS. Tell your editor that two of my friends, both from Portsmouth, forwarded the picture to me knowing that I would be interested. Actually I have an original photo of the same but was glad to see it. So actually a lot of people DO read the historical things! I spend hours every week on genealogy/history research so very much appreciate your type of investigation and writing.  -- Debbie (Patch) Wilson

HI-TECH HISTORY GUY 
Love the picture of you surrounded by and wearing technology! Skimmed through the article and took a look at Dropbox -- what I can't figure out is who actually owns it and what their business model is that allows them to do this. Plus it looks kind of expensive if you ramp up beyond a few gigabytes, e.g., if you started storing quite a bit of imagery there. I certainly agree with the amazing convenience of using historical sources scanned by Google.  And it constantly amazes me how many relatively obscure items they have scanned. I save copies of the books in PDF form, but Google is clever ... the copy you save is not keyword searchable, just the copy they have online.  I've also seen at least one case where a book was available online, disappeared for a year or so, and then reappeared online.Jim Cerny

SEABROOK INDIAN LINK 
My grandmother’s name was Emma Eaton. Her mother was Margaret Follansbee. My grandmother Emma always said her mother was Indian. What tribe was in the Seabrook area. Thank you for any help. -- paula fowler

EDITOR’S REPLY: Not aware of any contemporary tribes in the Seabrook area. Most Native Americans were gone from this region by the 1600s. You might try contacting the Seabrook Historical Society. The remains found during the archeology dig there were 5,000 years old, so no records of names or other info survive that we're aware of. Most likely anyone of Native blood in the 1800s or 1900s would have been from elsewhere, not an indigenous tribe. The Howard Sargent Museum is also a great resource.

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