ASK, RANT OR PRAISE, BUT NEVER IGNORE

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READ last month's email

November 15
NOT RELATED TO CELIA
I greatly enjoyed reviewing the C.T. Timeline. I am not a Levi & Celia Thaxter descendant, but from quite another Thaxter line. However, I always like learning more about Celia & Levi,etc., and you have provided many more links.
Thanks, TOM THAXTER

November 14
SEE MY TWIG CRADLE
I have a very large twig cradle, it was purchased in New Hampshire about 40 years ago by my sister in law. She is looking for more information on it. However there is very little I can find. When she purchased it the man said he thought it was between 75 and 100 years old and made by local indians. But it is hard to tell. At that time he had a lot of antiques from Canada. I really looks Adirondack to me. Do you know where we can get more info, on how to date this item and if it needs to be insured. I think this item needs to be in a Museum, I have never seen another one like this and it was very well made.
Sue Schreter

EDITOR’S REPLY: Thanks for the photos of this unique item. We passed it by a few Indian experts who say it is interesting, for sure, but without more info, hard to quantify. Seems most likely to have been made as an item to sell to tourists. If readers know more, send us info.

November 13
LIVING WITH THE DEAD
Fascinating piece. Do you have any info on the old Newington cemetery. Is there a cemetery that predates the one next to the church? I think I have relatives there but was unable to find any markers. He was buried in Newington in 1691 which probably explains why there is no marker. The last name would have been Rawlins. Thanks.
michael griffin

EDITOR’S REPLY: Not yet. But we’ll get there before we die. 

November 12
KUDOS FOR YOUR CALENDAR
Dear Dennis, Several people at the Salmon Falls tour told me that they saw it on your web site. One of them, also a member of ours, stumbled across it recently and was very impressed. She was singing the praises of it and of membership with Historic New England. It was better then a paid advertisement for both of us.
Peter Michaud, Historic New England

November 10
MORE SCENIC WALKS SUGGESTED
Thanks for your great site. I have been to almost all of the areas you have listed. I have recently gone on a few hikes in the area that I didn’t see on your site.

1) Northwood Meadows State Park
it is right off of Rt 4 in Northwood, NH. Brown state park sign across the street from the store that sells all kinds of puzzles.

2) Isinglass River - Gonic Trails - this is the Waste Management Forest/recreation area. Look for brown state hiking sign on Rt125 at the light Rochester Neck Rd. Trail head is 1mile down on the right. Great trail maps, good blazes. Waterfall. History of area and forest management. Easy. Red trail only had one short easy upclimb. I was really surprise what a nice walk in the woods this was. There are three trails available.

3) Blue Job Mt in Rochester/Strafford
Parking lot and Trail head we used was off of Crown Pointe Rd. Easy to follow trail. Some easy/moderate uphill to get to the firetower on Blue Job. Great views of the white mountains from Bald Mt!!!! the two mountains have a connecting trail which is easy and has some info about the blueberry fields there.

Sorry I couldnt send any pictures, have a bunch but they are in my cell phone.

Laura

EDITOR’S REPLY: One down (see Blue Job photo tour) and two to go. Thanks. We’re always interested in suggested trails. We get out when we can and keep adding them to the Walking Trail homepage.

November 9
LOST REVOLUTIONARY ANCESTOR
Dear Mr. Robinson, We corresponded last winter (see below). I read a lot of fascinating information as you advised. I am wondering if there might be someone who is an expert (amateur or otherwise) on the early years of the

revolution in New Hampshire. An ancestor of mine, the 21 year old son of the man I refer to in my previous email, (who was not on any of the lists), kept a log of a trip he took with 10 loaded ox-carts from Portsmouth to Albany Ferry (NY), in Nov- Dec. of 1776. Whatever happened to the cannon which were removed from The Fort in Dec of 1775? Did they end up going

to George Washington in Dorchester Heights? If so, then what? My ancestor, Joshua Berry, who was a private at the time, is supposed to have been sent on this journey by Stark. I have not been able to find

any reference to it in the New Hampshire State Papers (I have the 2 CDs). If you happen to know of anyone who can help me I would be most grateful.
Diane Mather

EDITOR’S REPLY: Other than the libraries listed on our genealogy search web page, we can send the names of a couple of professional researchers who work for a fee. It’s sometimes best to hire a person who knows where to look and the lay of the land.

November 6
HE REMEMBERS THE REAL CAINE MUTINY
One of my favorite plays, "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial", is to take the stage at the Music Hall in Portsmouth on November 11 and 12 and I must see it because I was there..

Herman Wouk’s play which he adapted from the novel, is about a confrontation on the Caine, a 1200 ton destroyer-minesweeper, in the Pacific during World War II. My ship, the Hamilton, was exactly the same as the Caine. That all happened 60 years ago but its drama is everlasting and takes me back to my own experiences – in real life. .

The Caine was built for World War I. In 1942 it, and dozens of others, were refitted to become minesweepers. They were fast and valuable but probably in the eyes of Navy brass they were expendable. (We gave 50 of them to the British).Herman Wouk, who wrote the book "The Caine Mutiny" in 1951 and the play in 1954, was the executive officer on the USS Southard. His ship and mine, the USS Hamilton, went into invasions in the same group - Minesweep 10 - and our job was to clear mines around a target three days before the big boys – the battleships and cruisers -- bombarded it, getting ready for the invasion. This, of course, meant my ship and the others were first on the scene with no big boys and only occasional air cover. At Iwo Jima, our 10 sweepers suffered two sunk and six damaged and out of action because of the Kamikaze attacks. Only the Hamilton, my ship, and the Southard, Wouk's ship, were unscathed although wet had some narrow escapes from diving planes

In March '45 my ship was ordered home. We were happy not to go to Okinawa or, for that matter, to help invade Japan. On the way to Honolulu we were instructed to pick up the crew of a B 29 that had run out of fuel and splashed in the ocean. We did that and took the 11-man crew to Majuro Island. There I met Wouk in the officers club and chatted with him not realizing he was going to write such prize winning stuff. A picture was taken of 26 of us, officers of the two ships. (I've lost the picture, of course.)

I was on the Hamilton for two years but some of the crew had been aboard I 1942 covering the invasion of North Africa, at Morocco. The ship then went to the Pacific and swept mines for many invasions such as Guadalcanal, Pelleliu, Saipan, Leyte and Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines and, of course, Iwo Jima. Even as a newcomer to this veteran crew, I learned, early on, that the skipper was a tyrant and I learned not to cross him. Wouk, in rhe book, quotes the Caine’s captain as saying "There are four ways to run my ship – the right way, the wrong way, the Navy way and my way." Interestingly, some of the petty things our skipper did appeared in Wouk's book and I wondered if he picked up these items from me or others when we were in Majuro. In the movie, with Humphrey Bogart playing Captain Queeg, the ship's number was 18! Same as my ship.

Yes, I plan to see the play at the Music Hall because, as I said, I was there in the scenes Wouk wrote about. It is a remarkable work evoking all sorts of reactions and perhaps personal involvement in the meaning of such a contest.
Bill Ferguson, Exeter

November 5
HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH, THE BOOK
Is the book Historic Portsmouth (that you use to put the delightful pictures of Portsmouth in the Portsmouth Herald) available for sale? If so do you know where?
Judy Frappier

EDITOR’s REPLY: It was just recently reprinted to go along with the column. You can find it at the Strawbery Banke Gift Shop in the new Visitor Center in Portsmouth, NH.

November 4
HENRY LUNT AND THE RANGER
I have a book titled "when tyranny trembled" and have been searching for additional copies. This book was written about John Paul Jones and his first mate Henry Lunt during the revolutionary war. It was written by a descendent of Henry. I would give you the name but the book is tucked away in the attick while we renovate. Are you formiliar with the book and do you know where I may be able to get a copy?
Russell Lunt

EDITOR’S REPLY: The only Lunt book we know is HENRY LUNT & THE RANGER by Tom McNamara (1990). We have a copy here, but it is a work of historical fiction reportedly based on actual events, but based on the title, that does not seem likely. Neither Samuel Eliot Morison (page 203) nor Joseph Sawtelle (crew list of the Ranger in his appendix) list Lunt as a crewman or officer aboard the RANGER, but Morison note that he was in prison at the time. Evan Thomas does not mention Lunt in his bestselling biography of JPJ, but Joseph Callo does in his new bio of JPJ out this year. Callo (page 111) notes that Lunt served with Jones on the Alliance, the Providence and the Bonhomme Richard -- but not on the Ranger. Lunt appears to have been a prison of war during the time when the Ranger was in Europe and rejoined Jones later on the Bonhomme Richard, so the book is best read as fiction, not fact. You can find used copies of this book in quantity for less than a dollar on Amazon.com or Bookfinder.com. It appears to be a self-published book since no record of the publishing company shows up on Google.

MORE ON HENRY LUNT: From the History of the Lunt Family in America, written by Thomas Simpson Lunt in 1913.

"Henry Lunt (6th generation in America) enlisted in the navy at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He was first a member of the crew of the ship Alfred, 440 tons register, ... of which JPJ was first Lieutenant. When JPJ was given command of the sloop-of-war Providence, he took Henry Lunt with him. They sailed from Newport to New York and then sailed from there on the fourteenth of June, 1776 on a cruise which resulted in the capture of sixteen vessels." Henry then returned home before sailing with his kinsman Cutting Lunt on the brig Dalton out of Newburyport. They were captured, imprisoned then liberated. Henry then sailed as master's mate on the Bon Homme Richard with JPJ. As second Lieutenant, Henry was absent when JPJ won the struggle with Serapis and took her over as the Bon Homme Richard was lost. Just prior to this battle, Henry was sent out in a small boat with 14 men to capture a collier in the offing and was unable to return until the firing ceased. There were actually four Lunts on the Bon Homme Richard at the time of this battle. "On December 26, 1779, Henry Lunt sailed as first Lieutenant with JPJ on the Alliance and afterwards came with him in Ariel,... to Philadelphia, arriving February 18, 1781,". Henry was then released from service and he returned to Newburyport after serving four years and three months.

November 3
MORE ANTIQUE TRUNKS FROM PAT
hello. i have had this trunk/chest in my family for many many years. i am in the UK so don't know if you will be able to help but would appreciate it if you knew more than me! apparently it might be from a seaman who lived in my house over 100 years ago? not sure. would like to know its value if that possible. can you help? many thanks 
rob cutler

TRUNK.com OWNER PAT MORSE RESPONDS: Hi, Rob -- Your ca. 1875 canvas covered dome top trunk is a real beauty. It looks like it has all of the original hardware including the original lock and latches with built in lid lifters. It also looks like it has copper buttons holding the hardwood slats on. The label inside the lid indicates it was made by A.F. Mitcalf, which sounds like an English name and the address looks British as well. Coupled with the fact that you are in the UK would lead one to assume the trunk was made there. I don't think this is the case. It has all of the hallmarks of an American made trunk. Although we are not familiar with the name Mitcalf, the style, hardware, and construction all point to American manufacture. I can't see the handles but if they are leather then I would go ahead and say that it is American. Regardless, you have a great trunk in nice condition. I would encourage you to keep the canvas covering on (don't remove it like most people do) and do minimal work on it in order to preserve the value. You may want to have it professionally restored some day to increase the value and looks. As it is, it would be valued in the $200-300 range. Professionally restored, it would raise the value to about $1500.

November 2
ON THE FRANK JONES TRAIL
My 4th grade son is currently assigned the task of doing a report on Frank Jones. What a fascinating character. I thought it would be more fun for a 10-year-old if we were to take a trip to Portsmouth and perhaps bring the history alive by checking out places. Would you be able to help me get addresses for the following areas and any other points of interest associated with Frank Jones.

1. Harmony Grove Cemetery
2. Frank Jones Brewer site
3. Frank Jones home on Woodbury Ave
4. Wentworth-by-the-Sea
5. The farm where he was born (if still in existence)
6. A live look at the drinking song manuscript, if possible.
Kimberly in Pelham NH

EDITOR’S REPLY: We’ve forwarded you directions and info on most of your items above. Also suggested is the Sinclair House that Jones built for his daughter on Middle Street and the large portrait of him on the third floor of the Portsmouth Athenaeum. We wish all parents could take their kids on history safaris.

November 1
NEITHER A BORROWER NOR LENDER BE
Hello. I read you were sent a bootleg copy of THE WHISTLE AT EATON FALLS. I would very much like to see this film. Is there anyway I could get a copy of it from you? If not, do you have any idea how I could get a copy of this film? Enjoying the web site.
John Swartz

EDITOR’S REPLY: The last borrower beat you to it and, as the old saying warned, we haven’t seen the VHS tape since.