New Hampshire and National Women’s History Month–March 2021

Posted on 28 February, 2021 by Janice Brown

Collage of photographs–women included in 2021 NH Women’s History Month at Cow Hampshire. (with the help of BeFunky).

The month of March has a focus on women around the world if you include International Woman’s Day (IWD) on 8 March (with a spot light on women’s rights).  Since March of 1987, the United States has formally observed Women’s HISTORY Month. During this time women’s contributions to history, culture and society are shared.

The earliest known Women’s History month goes a bit further back to 1978 in a Sonoma California school district. The first national declaration of Women’s History Week occurred in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter passed a resolution for a national celebration. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Tidbits: Beware the Little Red Devil in the Tree Above

Posted on 24 February, 2021 by Janice Brown

Red Squirrel in the New Hampshire snow. Photograph by Tina Penrod-Bates, used with permission.

Depending on where you live in the United States you may call these furry creatures: tiny beasts, chickarees, fairy diddles, cute, squacks, pests, little red devils, pine squirrels, red squirrels, or even Tamiasciurus hudsonicus if you are the brainy sort. When they are still babies, you’d call them kits or kittens. They are born blind but make up for that disability in short order by maturing quickly. [Editor’s note: The term little red devils, from New Hampshire Wildlife Journal magazine, Sept/Oct 2015, attributed to Mark Beauchesne, a NH hunter. Continue reading →

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2021: Celebrating Black History Month in New Hampshire

Posted on 11 February, 2021 by Janice Brown

Photograph identified as “Quarters of Lt. Col. John H. Jackson 3rd NH between March-April 1862,” shows two African American men. Photographer Henry P. Moore, NH Historical Society. Used with permission. Colorized by the blog editor.

New Hampshire is probably the third-whitest state in the country (90-94 percent) following only its neighbors Vermont and Maine. Those facts notwithstanding, the stories of our black and brown citizens have been mostly ignored when it comes to being represented in both our local and national history.

Even today, their history stories are mostly given a token mention, if at all. We have a great amount of catching up to do, and public education is a good start. Continue reading →

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New Hampshire: The Snow-Storm, Or Was It a ‘Blizzard’?

Posted on 3 February, 2021 by Janice Brown

Snow covered hay rake in Merrimack NH. Copyright Tina Penrod-Bates. Used with permission.

Ralph Waldo Emerson perhaps said it best about a storm that includes snow:

“Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden’s end.
The sled and traveler stopped, the courier’s feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of Storm.”
— from the poem “Snow-Storm. Continue reading →

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Chief and 51 Year Member of Concord New Hampshire Fire Department: William Clarence Green (1853-1932)

Posted on 30 January, 2021 by Janice Brown

Photograph of Chief William C. Green from History and Genealogy of the Rix Family of America by Guy S. Rix; 1906; page 158B. HathiTrust. Colorized by the blog editor.

According to a 1932 obituary in The Boston Globe newspaper, William C. Green was appointed head of the Concord Fire Department on 11 December 1894, and it was then believed he was the oldest fire chief in years of service in the United States. His continuous connection with that department dated back 50 years.

He had first joined the Concord NH Fire Department in 1871, dropping out for a few years, but joining again on 1 July 1882, then being elected clerk of Kearsarge Engine Company. Later he became captain of the company and was made a member of the Board of Engineers in 1892. Two years later he was appointed chief of the Concord City Fire Department. Continue reading →

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