“Cow Hampshire” Blog Turns Nine in 2015

Happy Birthday Cow Hampshire.  My first post on this blog was made on March 16, 2006, one month exactly after my twin sister, Kathi’s death.  She was a blogger, often posting her own poems and thoughts.  I posted a photograph that she had taken in Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH.  The same day I posted an article called “Cow Hampshire Explained, ”  where I state, “What do I plan to do with this blog–I’m not quite sure at this point.  I am really into genealogy and history, mostly in New Hampshire where many of my ancestors lived, and so I expect that I will focus on those topics, along with posting some photographs.”  That was nine years ago today. I have remained true to my original blog focus.

Cow Hampshire is not New Hampshire’s oldest history blog. Seacoastnh.com was started in 1997 by J. Dennis Robinson, although its focus has always been on Portsmouth, and the seacoast area (and really it is more of a web site than a blog). That venture also seems to be for-profit, as it is connected with book sales and online news.  What I can state is that Cow Hampshire is New Hampshire’s oldest continuous nonprofit history blog, and the oldest NH history and genealogy blog with a state-wide focus.  As a Genealogy Blogger, my works are different in that they are mostly written about people who are not related to me (although it turns out as I research that many are distant cousins).

I come from a long line of strong women.  You won’t find a single one of them in any published history book, or biography of famous people. Yet they all contributed greatly to the history of the places where they lived.  They produced children who went out into the world and became teachers, nurses, mill workers, farmers. They inspire me to write about little known women of New Hampshire (and elsewhere).

I never seem to run out of blog fodder–those tidbits of New Hampshire history or genealogy that beg for a more detailed story to be written.  My native state teems with unusual, interesting people, and locations that are different from anywhere else in the world.  I am so fortunate to live here, despite the harsh winters.

Thank you, my reader(s) for visiting Cow Hampshire, and showing your own interest in New Hampshire’s rich and curious past. 

***Additional Reading***

Photograph (my first post): Bright Flowers against a Canterbury Fence