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Quick Facts

Name

Alan Shepard

Occupation

Astronaut

Birth Date

November 18, 1923

Death Date

July 21, 1998

Education

Naval Test Pilot School, United States Naval Academy

Place of Birth

East Derry, New Hampshire

Place of Death

Monterey, California

AKA

Alan Shepard

Alan B. Shepard

Full Name

Alan Bartlett Shepard

Jr.

Alan Shepard became one of the original seven Mercury program astronauts in 1959. He later commanded the Apollo 14 flight.

Synopsis

Alan Shepard was born on November 18, 1923, in New Hampshire. In 1959, Shepard became one of the original seven Mercury program astronauts. In May 1961, 23 days after Yury A. Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth, Shepard made a 15-minute suborbital flight that reached an altitude of 115 miles. He later commanded the Apollo 14 flight (1971), the first to land in the lunar highlands. Shepard died on July 21, 1998.

Early Career

Legendary astronaut Alan Shepard was born on November 18, 1923, in East Derry, New Hampshire. After completing high school, Shepard enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy. Shepard served on the destroyer Cogswell in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he trained to become a pilot. He attended the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1950.

As a test pilot, Shepard flew a number of experimental planes, including the F3H Demon and F5D Skylancer. He also served as an instructor at the Test Pilot School for a time. Later on, Shepard attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

American Astronaut

In 1959, Shepard won a coveted spot in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's program for space exploration. He and six others, including John Glenn and Gus Grissom, became known as the "Mercury 7." They were an elite group chosen from one hundred test pilot who have volunteered for the program.

Shepard made history on May 5, 1961, as his Freedom 7 spacecraft flew up into the sky from its Florida launch pad. He became the first American in space, a month after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had earned the distinction as the first person in space. After roughly four hours of delays, Shepard traveled more than 300 miles in his 15-minute-long mission. Shepard came down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas, where he was picked up by the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain.

Shortly after returning to the United States, Shepard traveled to the White House to receive the NASA Distinguished Service Medal from President John F. Kennedy. He was also honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

For nearly a decade after his famous first mission, Shepard was grounded because of an ear problem. He had surgery to fix his condition, hoping to make it back into space. In 1971, Shepard got his wish. He and Ed Mitchell were selected for the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. They took off on January 31, 1971, and they spent more than 33 hours on the moon. During this mission, Shepard became the fifth person to walk on the moon, and the first to play golf on its surface. He had packed a specially designed golf club just for this purpose.

Later Years

After retiring in 1974, Shepard became chairman of Marathon Construction Corporation and founded his company, Seven Fourteen Enterprises. He also chaired the Mercury 7 Foundation, which offered college scholarships to those interested in science and engineering.

Shepard died in California in 1998, after a long battle with leukemia. He was survived by his wife, Louise, their three daughters, and several grandchildren. At the time of his passing, fellow astronaut John Glenn spoke about Shepard with The New York Times: "He was a patriot, he was a leader, he was a competitor, a fierce competitor. He was a hero. Most importantly to us, he was a close friend." President Bill Clinton remembered Shepard as "one of the great heroes of modern America," according to a separate report in The New York Times.

Fact Check

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Name Alan Shepard Occupation Astronaut Birth Date November 18, 1923 Death Date July 21, 1998 Education Naval Test Pilot School, United States Naval Academy Place of Birth East Derry, New Hampshire Place of Death Monterey, California AKA Alan Shepard Alan B. Shepard Full Name Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.

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Jones, Elizabeth Orton. Maminka's Children. New York: Macmillan, 1940. Maminka's Children is a collection of stories about Jones' happy memories of a Bohemian family that lived with the Jones family when Elizabeth was a child. Elizabeth Orton Jones Papers, Coll. 200. Letter from Doris Patee, Jones' editor at Macmillan, accepting Jones' book Maminka's Children, July 6, 1939.

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By: Ewald, Russ, Swimming World & Junior Swimmer, 00397431, Jul95, Vol. 36, Issue 7
Username: boynton
Password: Bulldog$20

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Important User Information: Remote access to EBSCO's databases is permitted to patrons of subscribing institutions accessing from remote locations for personal, non-commercial use. However, remote access to EBSCO's databases from non-subscribing institutions is not allowed if the purpose of the use is for commercial gain through cost reduction or avoidance for a non-subscribing institution.

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A brilliant commando leader in the French and Indian war, Rogers led the 600-man force known as "Rogers' Rangers" that contributed to British success in the wilderness of present-day northern New York, Montreal, and Michigan.

Robert Rogers was born on November 18, 1731, in the town of Methuen, on the northeastern frontier of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Just to the north lay a wilderness still largely unsettled by Europeans. Rogers's parents, James and Mary, moved there with some neighbors from Methuen in 1738, taking seven-year-old Robert, his three older brothers, younger brother, and sister. The Rogers family, Scotch-descended Presbyterian immigrants from northern Ireland, had not been warmly accepted by the Massachusetts Puritans. Along with other Scotch-Irish immigrants of the time, they hoped to carve out a more secure place for themselves to the north. They bought land and began farming near Rumford, along the Merrimack River.

Like other early immigrants, the Rogers's desire for land took them to the edge of white settlement, to lands that the Indians had occupied for centuries and were struggling to hold on to. During the 1740s the Indians, encouraged by their French allies, carried out raids on British settlements north of Massachusetts. In 1746 the fourteen-year-old Robert enlisted in the local militia, which helped guard the isolated farms but had no success in searching out Indian war parties. Two years later the militia guard proved to be no match for the raiding Indians, who destroyed the Rogers's farm, including crops and livestock, in an attack on Rumford.

Indians were not the only raiders that frontier settlers had to face. In 1740 the border of Massachusetts ran just north of Methuen, and the area that the Rogers family had settled in was officially created as a separate colony, called New Hampshire. Their claim to the land rested on its being part of Massachusetts, however, and in the same year that their farm was destroyed, Rogers's family lost their property to a group of rival claimants. They received a smaller amount of land in compensation. At the time, land clearly equalled wealth and opportunity. With the reduced acreage and with older brothers ahead of him, Rogers's prospects for sharing in the family holdings looked dim.

Rogers did not seem cut out for farming anyway. When he was a boy his parents had given him a small farm south of Rumford, which he moved to in 1752. He soon gave up the situation, however, renting it out and joining the militia on another expedition. In March 1753 the twenty-one-year-old went north with a group to map and mark out a route for a road along the Connecticut River. One of the dangers they faced came from the Indians of St. Francis, who threatened any newcomers. They returned safely, and Rogers bought more land, this time in Merrimack, just north of the Massachusetts border. Further Indian raids in 1754 led to militia patrols, in which Rogers served. Once again, the Indians could not be found. The militiamen heard so much gunfire in the nearby hills, though, that they believed the Indians were making fun of their efforts.

In buying the Merrimack land, Rogers had gone into debt, and he soon found himself unable to pay it off. He nearly joined a counterfeit ring that was passing false bills in the area. Apparently, on the advice of a friend, Rogers pulled away from the counterfeiters, but in 1755 he was listed among a group of suspects (along with his brother Richard). Some of the others went to jail, but the charges were dropped against the Rogers boys.

By this time Rogers had seen much of the northern wilderness, having served in military expeditions that faced winter conditions in mountainous and wooded terrain. He preferred the expeditions to a quiet farmer's life and took every opportunity to talk with hunters and Indians about areas that he had not been to himself. According to descriptions, Rogers was about six-feet tall, "well proportioned and one of the most athletic men of his time-well known in all trials of strength ... among the young men of his vicinity, and for many miles around" (Cuneo, p. 12). In 1755 the call went out for soldiers to serve in a new campaign against the French. Rogers, restless and eager to clear his reputation after the brush with the counterfeiters, enlisted immediately.

The British and French were fighting for control of North America, a struggle that was only a part of a larger, worldwide conflict between the two major European powers. The French controlled territory from Canada through the present-day midwestern United States all the way south to Louisiana. The British colonies meanwhile occupied a relatively narrow coastal strip. Yet the French had no colonial population, preferring to trap for furs (which were exported to France) rather than colonize. As a result, British colonists outnumbered French soldiers and trappers by a huge margin (1.5 million to about 90,000).

There was little interference from the French in Indian ways or with Indian territory. And faced with the threat of Europeans who refused to leave, many Indians preferred the French to the English. The French also opposed further settlement by the land-hungry colonists, but their manpower was limited. So they enlisted the aid of powerful Indian tribes, who shared the same goal: driving the British out of the area.

Meanwhile, the British decided to force the French from their forts deep in Indian territory. They opened what became known as the French and Indian War on four fronts: against forts near lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, and against Quebec, the French capital of Canada. It was in the campaign against French positions on Lake Champlain and nearby Lake George, deep in the wilds of present-day northern New York, that Rogers would win fame.

Rogers contacted a British recruiting office and offered to recruit men from New Hampshire to fight alongside the British regulars (soldiers). The recruiting officer accepted the offer, and Rogers gathered a group of about fifty men, including untrained farmers. He was named to command the group, which was called "Company One," and given the temporary rank of captain. His friend John Stark was appointed as his lieutenant. They marched the men to Albany, on New York's Hudson River, where they joined the army of General William Johnson. From Albany, in August 1755, Johnson's army marched north up the Hudson River, establishing a log fort near the southern tip of Lake George.

Johnson badly needed to know the strength of French forces at Fort St. Frédéric, on the southern end of Lake Champlain, and at Fort Carillon, located along the stream linking the more southerly Lake George to Lake Champlain. Johnson asked his officers for men who might be good scouts. Rogers's commanding officer recommended him for the dangerous job, and on September 14, 1755, Rogers set out at night in a small boat with four men. They rowed to Lake George's western shore; then, leaving two men to guard the boat, Rogers set out on foot with the two others.

Two-and-one-half days later, after slogging through gnat- and mosquito-infested woods and camping without fires so as not to alert the enemy, the three reached Crown Point, the site of Fort St. Frédéric. They spent the afternoon noting the numbers of French soldiers and Indians, watching the nearby encampments without being detected. Too hungry and tired to spy on Fort Carillon on their way back, they reached Lake George only to find that the two men they had left behind as guards had taken the boats and fled in fright. On September 23, exhausted and hungry, Rogers and his two remaining scouts finally stumbled back into camp with their valuable information.

After resting for three days, Rogers led a similar scouting expedition to Fort Carillon with even greater success. This time he attacked a canoe with nine Indians and a Frenchman. Each time he went out, Rogers reported that the French and Indians made up a powerful force of several thousand men, many more than Johnson commanded. The British in Albany, eager to attack, refused to trust Rogers's reports, telling Johnson to send out other scouts. Yet the other scouts learned nothing. They went out a few miles, then simply returned and reported no sign of the enemy. Often the men refused to go farther, paralyzed by fear in the dark woods, where their imaginations put an Indian behind every tree. Johnson supported Rogers, saying, "His Bravery and Veracity stands very clear in my opinion" and calling him "the most active Man in our Army" (Cuneo, p. 26). Finally, in November, Rogers's information was confirmed, just in time to prevent a foolish British attack on the superior French and Indian forces.

During the winter of 1755-56, Rogers was given larger groups of men to command, leading aggressive raids as well as spying missions. On the raids he would not only try to attack the enemy but to take prisoners. They were a valuable source of much-needed information about enemy plans and strengths. His leadership captured public attention because the winter usually meant a pause in military activity. He gained a reputation as a cool and resourceful commander who inspired courage and confidence in his men.

In May 1756, recognizing his abilities, the British decided to give him command of a new kind of military force. As "Captain of an Independent Company of Rangers" (Cuneo, p. 33), Rogers would be assigned the task of gathering information on the enemy. His job was to locate and attack small groups of French soldiers or their Indian allies and to interrupt French communications and supplies along lakes George and Champlain. The Rangers were to be recruited from the source Rogers knew best: the frontiersmen of New Hampshire.

By the summer of 1756, "Rogers' Rangers" had carried out several daring and dangerous raids on French boats traveling on Lake Champlain between the southern forts and Montreal. He was the toast of the colonies; to the Indian allies of the French he was "the white devil" whom they could not kill. His fame even reached England, where the Earl of Loudoun had just been appointed as new commander of the British forces in North America.

In January 1757 the Rangers had their first serious defeat. Rogers himself was grazed in the head by a bullet. Ambushed on their way back to the fort, the party of seventy-four lost thirteen, with another nine wounded and seven taken prisoner. It was the first time Rogers had lost such a large number of men. The British did not criticize him, however; his superiors praised his handling of the ambush. By this time the force had grown to about 600 men in five companies of 120 each. Robert's brother Richard commanded one company; another brother also served. The missions continued throughout the year. During this time Rogers also wrote a book on his guerrilla warfare techniques, reportedly "the first written manual of warfare in the New World" (Cuneo, p. 55). Loudoun could use it, for he hoped to train British regulars to conduct similar missions.

Toward the end of the year, while Rogers was laid up recovering from wounds, a scouting trip ended in failure because the men refused to follow orders. The incident led to criticism by the regulars who had led the mission. Soon after that, two Rangers who stole rum were whipped, a common punishment for minor offenses. This time, however, after the whipping a group of Rangers gathered around the whipping post. Suddenly one seized an ax, and with a few sharp blows chopped it down. Colonel Haviland, in charge of Fort Edward, wanted to put the offenders on trial. Rogers left the hospital to defend his men against the colonel. His superiors supported Rogers, but he and the Rangers had made an enemy.

A few weeks later came an episode that illustrates Rogers's popularity with his rowdy men and why they would follow orders only when they came from him. He was waiting with a group of Rangers outside Fort Carillon, hoping for a chance to capture a French prisoner or two. When no one left the fort all afternoon, Rogers tried to lure a party out by letting them see a small group of Rangers. When that trick did not work, Rogers had his men kill some cattle the French kept outside the fort and, using some of their wood supply, had a barbecue. Rogers then left the French a receipt for the cattle before heading back. He was using both armies' attention to red tape-the endless filling out of forms and receipts-to play a joke on the French. Rogers's scorn for red tape, however, would prove troublesome for him in the future.

One of the Rangers' best-known battles came in February 1758. Haviland decided to send out one scouting party to Carillon under Israel Putnam (of Revolutionary War fame), followed by another one made up of Rangers led by Rogers, to St. Frédéric at Crown Point. Rogers knew that if a deserter or prisoner fell into French hands from Putnam's group, the French would be waiting for his own mission. In fact, that was exactly what happened. Putnam returned with the news that a prisoner had been taken. Rogers went out immediately with a few lightly armed men to recapture the prisoner but failed. There would be another attempt; 180 Rangers went out as dark fell the next evening.

The men wore special "ice creepers" so they could move on the frozen lake; the wind had cleared it of the deep snow that covered the land. On their backs, along with their packs, rifles, and blanket-rolls, the men carried homemade snowshoes fashioned of wood and rawhide thongs. They traveled at night and rested during the day. Still, Rogers was uneasy, so the following night he decided not to travel on the lake, where they could more easily be detected. Instead, they traveled through the woods on their snowshoes.

Late the next afternoon, as the men prepared to approach Fort St. Frédéric, they spied a group of about 100 Indians approaching. Rogers and his men attacked, but the group was only the advance guard of a much larger French expedition. In the battle that followed, the heavily outnumbered Rangers were severely defeated, and Rogers himself barely escaped. Of the original 180 men, only 54 returned, including the badly wounded Rogers, who earned the respect of his British commanders by searching for survivors after the long trek back, refusing to enter Fort William Henry until all possible surviving Rangers had returned.

The Rangers continued to prove their worth in campaigns throughout 1758 and 1759. In late summer of 1759 the Rangers helped in the capture of forts St. Frédéric and Carillon (which the British called by its Indian name, Ticonderoga). Soon after, Rogers's commanders agreed to a strike by the Rangers on the Indian village of St. Francis, northeast of Montreal. The Indians of St. Francis had carried out deadly raids on British settlements for years. (These were the same Indians who had raided New Hampshire when Rogers served in the militia there.)

In striking so far north, 150 miles past Crown Point, the Rangers went deeper into enemy territory than ever before. The trip was exhausting. At one point they walked for nine days through the cold, muddy water of a seemingly endless swamp. All their clothes and bedding were thoroughly soaked. To escape being sighted, no fires were allowed, so nothing could be dried. They accomplished their mission, wiping out the village in what is now viewed as their most controversial raid. Two- to three-hundred men, women, and children died in the nighttime attack. Pursued by enemy forces on the month-long return trip back through the wilderness, the Rangers split up. Nearly fifty died trying to make it home.

Rogers and his men participated in the taking of Montreal in 1760, after which the French forces officially surrendered. Rogers was sent west, his final duty as leader of the Rangers being to accept the surrender of France's forts at Detroit and Michilimackinac, in present-day Michigan. On this final assignment he proved as fine a leader as ever, guiding his men on the long, overland journey and conducting delicate business with both the French and the Indians. In 1763 Rogers was again sent west, where he participated in opposing Chief Pontiac's siege of Detroit.

In 1761 Rogers had married Elizabeth Browne, the pretty, twenty-year-old daughter of an acquaintance. He spent much of his time separated from her in the early years of their marriage, and there are many passionate letters to provide evidence of his love for her. In the difficult years to come, she offered him much support. However, Rogers's mounting personal problems proved overwhelming for Elizabeth, for, in 1778, she divorced him.

From the moment the Rangers were disbanded following the end of the war, Rogers was plagued by huge debts. He had created the debts in paying, clothing, and arming his men, but when it came time to make his claims to the British army, accountants stubbornly disputed them. He had not kept enough records-because of his hatred of red tape, perhaps-and was unable to persuade the army to cover the debts.

In 1766 Rogers was appointed to command Fort Michilimackinac, but he was relieved of the command when enemies in the British army brought charges of treason against him. They claimed that he had plotted to hand the fort over to the French. At the trial Rogers was found not guilty. This affair, however, combined with his continuing debts, left a cloud over his name. Remaining loyal to Britain, Rogers fought on the British side in the American Revolution, leading "the Queen's American Rangers." He was removed from this command as well, and he left for England in 1780. He died there quietly on May 18, 1795.

FURTHER READINGS:

Bird, Harrison, Battle for a Continent, Oxford University Press, 1965.

Cuneo, John R., Robert Rogers of the Rangers, Oxford University Press, 1959.

Source Citation

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A brilliant commando leader in the French and Indian war, Rogers led the 600-man force known as "Rogers' Rangers" that contributed to British success in the wilderness of present-day northern New York, Montreal, and Michigan. Robert Rogers was born on November 18, 1731, in the town of Methuen, on the northeastern frontier of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

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Dean Kamen is a leading American scientist and inventor whose products include the Segway human transporter (HT) and the iBOT battery-powered wheelchair. His numerous inventions include medical devices and futuristic gizmos that Kamen hopes will revolutionize the way we live and travel. Whenever Kamen introduces a new product, people take notice, and they eagerly anticipate the next one. His newest creation? A nonpolluting, low-power water-purifying system designed for use in underdeveloped countries. Time magazine called it one of the "coolest inventions of 2003."

Dean Kamen was born in 1951, in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. His father, Jack, was an illustrator for Weird Science and Mad comic books; his mother, Evelyn, was a teacher. Kamen began tinkering with gadgets when he was fairly young. He claims that when he was five years old he invented a way to make his bed without running from one side to the other.

However, despite the fact that he was obviously bright and very curious, Kamen did not do well in school. His grades in junior high and high school were only average, and Kamen often found himself at odds with his teachers. This is an experience that many creative people seem to go through. For example, Thomas Edison (1847-1931), who developed the electric light bulb and the phonograph, attended school for a grand total of three months. His teachers considered him to be a slow learner. Instead Edison was taught by his mother at home, where he thrived, reading every book he could get his hands on. Like Edison, Kamen was (and still is) an avid reader of science texts.

By the time he was a teenager, Kamen was being paid for his inventions, most of which he built in his parents' basement. He was hired by local rock bands and museums to design and install light and sound systems. He was even asked to work on automating the giant ball that is lowered in Times Square each year on New Year's Eve. Before he graduated from high school, Kamen was earning about $60,000 a year, which was more than the salaries of both his parents combined.

After high school Kamen attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, but again he was more interested in inventing than attending classes. It was during his early years at WPI that Kamen developed the first of his many medical breakthroughs. His older brother, Barton, who was in medical school, commented to him that patients who needed round-the-clock medication were forced to come into the hospital for treatment. Kamen decided to fix the problem. He came up with the AutoSyringe, a portable device that could be worn by patients and that administered doses of medication. As a result, patients were able to enjoy some freedom.

In 1976 Kamen left Worcester Polytechnic (without graduating) and founded his own company, called AutoSyringe, to sell his medication device. The medical community embraced the AutoSyringe, and among scientists Kamen soon gained a reputation as a maverick inventor. In 1982 Kamen sold AutoSyringe to Baxter International, an international health-care company. The sale made him a multimillionaire.

After selling AutoSyringe, Kamen moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he launched his new company, DEKA Research & Development. DEKA is a combination of the first two letters of Kamen's first and last names: DEan KAmen. The DEKA research facility is a vast network of nineteenth-century brick buildings that sprawl along the banks of the Merrimack River. Over two hundred researchers, engineers, and machinists work there and focus both on developing products for other companies and advancing Kamen's own projects. For example, in 1993 Kamen and company invented a portable kidney dialysis machine called HomeChoice. A kidney dialysis machine is used to purify the blood of someone whose kidneys do not function properly. Usually a patient must go to the hospital on a regular basis to be treated.

Kamen went on to impress the medical world by developing hundreds of inventions. In 1999, however, he wowed the rest of the world when he unveiled the Independence iBOT 3000 Mobility System, a stair-climbing wheelchair. "I just thought the existing wheelchair was a pretty inadequate solution," Kamen explained to Max Alexander in a Smithsonian interview. The iBOT is a motorized wheelchair that can take on almost any terrain, for example sand, gravel, or grass. It can also climb stairs and curbs, and it raises itself up, balancing on two wheels, so that a user can be level with a standing person. According to Kamen, the stair-climbing capability was great, but for years wheelchair-users had told him they longed to be able to carry on a conversation eye-to-eye.

In 2003 the iBOT was finally approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is a government agency that researches products to make sure they are safe for people to use. The iBOT went into production in late 2003 and was available at a cost of $29,000. People who bought an iBOT were required to go through special training on how to use the system.

If the iBOT caused a media flurry, then Kamen's next invention, the Segway, created a media blizzard. Kamen had been working on his mystery project for over ten years, and months before it was launched there was a buzz about what it could possibly be. In December 2001, Kamen finally introduced the world to what he called a self-balancing, electric-powered transportation machine. Some observers claimed it looked like a super scooter. In a 2001 interview with John Heilemann, however, Kamen claimed that the Segway would "be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy."

The Segway has no brakes, no engine (it is battery-powered, so it needs to be charged), and no steering wheel. It can carry a rider who weighs up to 250 pounds, and cargo up to 75 pounds. And it can travel at speeds up to 17 miles an hour. The amazing thing about the machine is that, like the iBOT, it is totally self-balancing, which means it cannot tip over when a person is riding it. Both inventions rely on a system of gyroscopes, computer chips, and electronic sensors that together pick up tiny shifts in the rider's movements. Basically, the Segway does what you want it to do. For example, if you step off, the Segway comes to a stop.

Kamen had high hopes for the Segway. He did not see the Segway as a toy scooter; he believed that it could help solve the problem of overpopulated cities. "Cities need cars like fish need bicycles," Kamen told Heilemann. The inventor envisioned people in cramped urban areas, like San Francisco, California, or Shanghai, China, scooting around on their Segways. As a result, pollution and congested city traffic would be eliminated. Kamen also predicted that the Segway would be used by postal workers, police officers, factory workers, and even soldiers on battlefields.

By 2004 the Segway was not quite as successful as Kamen predicted: only six thousand machines had been sold. Buyers were curious, but not curious enough to pay $4,950 to own one, and problems were cropping up everywhere. The company had to recall, or take back, models because riders were falling off their Segways when the machines' batteries went low. In addition, laws in several cities, including San Francisco, prevented people from riding Segways on city sidewalks. A major blow came in February of 2004 when Segways were banned from Disney-owned theme parks. It seemed that people were not quite ready for the ride of the future.

In 2003 Kamen was ready to tackle another serious problem: contaminated water. During the 1990s he had experimented with a way to power the iBOT and the Segway. He focused on the Stirling engine, which was developed in 1816 by Scottish inventor Robert Stirling (1790-1878), because it produced efficient power that was clean and quiet. It was also complicated and expensive to build. The Stirling engine was not right for his transportation machines, but Kamen believed he could use it to help make clean water. According to the United Nations, an organization of countries working together to keep peace and solve problems, approximately six thousand people die every day from drinking water that is not clean or safe.

After the media hype that surrounded the Segway, Kamen was cautious about predicting the success of his water purifier, nicknamed the Slingshot. It was still costly to produce, but it was small, weighing about one hundred pounds, and it could run on almost any fuel, including wood, grass, or cow dung. Plus, the purifier required little maintenance and would make ten gallons of drinking water an hour. In November of 2003, Kamen told Lev Grossman of Time magazine that he was not sure how to market the Slingshot or how to get it to the people of the world who needed it; what he did know was that it works. In 2004 a determined Kamen visited the African countries of Rwanda and Bangladesh to demonstrate his system. He planned to visit India and Pakistan later in the year.

The pied-piper of technology

Throughout his career Dean Kamen has received an amazing number of awards, including the Heinz Award (1998), "for a set of inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide," and the National Medal of Technology (2000). Kamen's National Medal acknowledges his inventions, but it also applauds him for "innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology."

Kamen's passion for science has created a need in him to ignite that spark in others, especially young people. According to Max Alexander, he is a "one-man band banging the cymbals of scientific innovation." In 1989 he founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The focus of FIRST is an annual competition where high school teams, with the help of corporate sponsors, build robots and face off in regional and national games. The goal of FIRST is to get young people excited about technology. As a result, they might even consider a career in math, science, or engineering to be an appealing option in a society that idolizes actors, rock bands, and sports stars. Kamen told Forbes's Glenn Rifkin, "We'll be successful when you can walk up to the average kid on the street and he'll be able to name a few heroes who ... don't dribble a basketball."

One of those heroes just might be Kamen. Since he unveiled the Segway on national television, Kamen has become something of a celebrity. He is an easily recognizable figure, with his shock of dark hair and his trademark uniform of jeans, denim shirt, and work boots. Kamen is also a savvy salesman who tirelessly crows about his inventions. Such salesmanship has made Kamen a very rich man. He lives in an enormous house in Manchester, Connecticut, that is powered by a giant wind turbine and has a fully equipped machine shop in the basement. Out back there is a lighted baseball diamond and a landing pad for his two helicopters, which Kamen helped design. He also owns an island off the coast of Connecticut.

And there is no sign that Kamen is slowing down. Unmarried and with no children, his work seems to be his life, but, as he comments on the Segway Web site, "You know, it's only work if you'd rather be doing something else."

If you start to do things you've never done before, you're probably going to fail at least some of the time. And I say that's OK.

Dean Kamen established FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 because he wanted kids to get excited about science. A science competition seemed like a good idea, but he did not have a run-of-the-mill science fair in mind. Instead, Kamen developed a robotics competition. The first robotics competition took place in a small New Hampshire high school gym and involved only twenty-eight teams. In 2004 there were more than eight hundred teams in the United States and around the world, competing in twenty-three regional events and a championship event held in Atlanta, Georgia. But, what is a robotics competition all about?

It is a lot like a high school athletic event where teams compete in games of skill, except in robotics, the game changes every year. In early January, FIRST releases the rules of the game, which include how the playing field will be set up and what tasks a robot will be expected to perform to win the most points. For example, in 2004 a robot had to collect balls and deliver them to a human player who shot the balls into a goal.

Teams are then given six weeks to design, build, and test their robots. Companies sponsor local high school teams, providing money to help with costs and technical support to help build the actual robot. The company engineers also serve as mentors to the students throughout the experience.

At regional competitions the atmosphere is charged. Teams wear colorful T-shirts and uniforms that they design with their logo; they also cheer and root for their favorite players. Music is played over loudspeakers, and announcers and referees broadcast during the matches. Teamwork is encouraged. As part of the game, teams are paired together during each match. In match thirteen, Team 182 may be partnered with Team 115; in Team 182's next match they be competing against Team 115.

Winners at the regional level move on to the national competition in Atlanta, where ultimately one winning alliance (composed of three teams) takes the title. On the FIRST Web site, however, Kamen explains that winning is not what matters: "Here, whether your robot wins or not, you come away ... with an understanding of what is possible in the world.

FURTHER READINGS:

For More Information

Periodicals

Alexander, Max. "'Wow, Isn't That Cool!'" Smithsonian (September 2003): p. 95.

Grossman, Lev. "Water Purifier: Thousands Die Every Day for Lack of Clean Water. Can the Man Who Invented the Segway Save Them?" Time (November 17, 2003): p. 72.

Heilemann, John. "Reinventing the Wheel: Here 'It' Is.' Time (December 10, 2001): pp. 70-76.

Levy, Steven. "Great Minds, Great Ideas." Newsweek (May 27, 2002): p. 56.

Rifkin, Glenn. "Geek Chic: Dean Kamen Hopes to Encourage Students to Study Sciences and Technology." Forbes (February 26, 1996): pp. S40-43.

Web Sites

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Web site. http://www.usfirst.org (accessed on May 29, 2004).

Science Enrichment Encounters (SEE) Science Center Web site. http://www.see-sciencecenter.org (accessed on May 30, 2004).

Segway Web site. http://www.segway.com (accessed on May 30, 2004).

Source Citation

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Dean Kamen is a leading American scientist and inventor whose products include the Segway human transporter (HT) and the iBOT battery-powered wheelchair. His numerous inventions include medical devices and futuristic gizmos that Kamen hopes will revolutionize the way we live and travel. Whenever Kamen introduces a new product, people take notice, and they eagerly anticipate the next one.

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The author of poetry, novels, plays, and cookbooks, as well as an important history of women, Hale is best known as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, the most popular magazine in the United States before the Civil War. As editor of this women's magazine, Hale encouraged and supported women writers, and she advocated improved opportunities for women's education and work.

Born October 24, 1788, on a farm outside Newport, New Hampshire, Sarah Josepha Buell was one of four children of Gordon and Martha Whittlesey Buell. Though opportunities for formal schooling for girls were limited at the time, Buell received a good education at home, and she credited her mother with inspiring her love of literature. Despite limited access to books, Buell read widely during her youth. By the time she was fifteen, for example, she had read all of William Shakespeare's works. Other favorites included the Bible, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678, 1684), and Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). Buell also benefited from tutoring by her brother Horatio, who attended Dartmouth College. During Horatio's summer vacations at home, the two studied Latin, Greek, philosophy, English grammar, rhetoric, geography, and literature. Hale drew on her strong education when, at age eighteen, she opened a private school for children. She continued to teach until 1813, when she married David Hale, a lawyer in Newport.

During her marriage, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale continued her education. As she later recalled, she and her husband spent two hours each evening reading current literature and studying topics ranging from composition and French to science. During this period, Hale also worked on her own writing, publishing a few poems in local magazines.

Hale's life changed considerably when, in 1822, shortly before the birth of their fifth child, Hale's husband died suddenly. Concerned with providing for her family, Hale turned first to the millinery business, but she soon focused on becoming an author. Her first volume of poetry, The Oblivion of Genius and Other Original Poems, appeared in 1823. After winning several literary prizes and becoming a regular contributor to magazines and gift annuals, Hale published her first novel, Northwood: A Tale of New England, in 1827. Though highlighting New England character traits, as the subtitle suggests, the novel focused on the contrasts between the North and South, including issues of race relations and slavery.

Soon after the publication of Northwood, Sarah Josepha Hale, at the age of thirty-nine, launched what to a great extent would become her life's work as a magazine editor. When a new periodical, the Ladies' Magazine, first appeared in January of 1828, Hale edited it from her home in Newport, but within a few months she moved to Boston, where the magazine was published. Though the Ladies' Magazine was not the first periodical intended for American women or edited by an American woman, it did differ considerably from earlier efforts, which often focused on fashion. Hale's Ladies' Magazine included fashion plates during part of its nine-year existence, but it was much more intellectual than previous women's magazines had been. Sketches of famous women were common features, and Hale's editorial columns often addressed issues of social reform, such as property rights for married women and the importance of women's education.

Publishing both poetry and fiction, the magazine also had a significant literary component, and Hale's support of American authors is particularly noteworthy. Whereas other magazine editors relied on anonymous material and reprinted British literature (generally without permission), Hale's magazine featured American authors, and she repeatedly encouraged her readers to recognize authorship as a legitimate profession. Therefore, she favored original submissions rather than reprints, encouraged attribution of authors, and supported the idea that authors should be paid for their work.

Throughout her editorship of the Ladies' Magazine, Hale continued her efforts as an author. Her own writings appeared frequently in the magazine, and some of them were published separately in book form. Her Sketches of American Character (1829) and Traits of American Life (1835) first appeared in the Ladies' Magazine. During this time, Hale also published two poetry collections, including Poems for Our Children (1830), which contained the poem "Mary's Lamb" (now famous as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" ).

Hale's career took an important turn in 1837, when after nine years of managing the Ladies' Magazine, Hale accepted a new position as editor of Louis Godey's Lady's Book, which Godey had founded in 1830 in Philadelphia. For the first several years, Hale edited the magazine from her home in Boston, but in 1841 she moved to Philadelphia. Even before the move, however, Hale carefully reformed the magazine, which initially lacked the intellectual and literary focus Hale had developed in the Ladies' Magazine. With Hale as editor, however, the Lady's Book (now often referred to by its later name, Godey's Lady's Book) became an important literary magazine for women. Though the magazine continued to publish the so-called "embellishments" for which Louis Godey had become famous (engravings, fashion plates, and so forth), Hale continued her earlier positions supporting American writers and improved opportunities for women's work and education. This combination of Godey's "embellishments" and Hale's literary and educational essays proved popular. By 1860, the magazine boasted 150,000 subscribers, making it the most popular U.S. magazine of its day.

With such a large audience, Hale was able to exert considerable influence on a number of social issues. Some of these, such as her efforts to preserve the Bunker Hill Monument and Mount Vernon, demonstrate her strong patriotic impulses. Many more of Hale's editorial campaigns were related to her belief in the power of what she and many of her contemporaries called "woman's sphere." Believing that women were innately more moral than men, Hale voiced strong support of women's charitable organizations, such as the Seaman's Aid Society, which tried to improve the lives of Boston's seamen and their families by founding schools, a library, a boarding house, and a clothing shop. Though Hale believed that the domestic space was part of women's sphere, she did not wish to confine women within the home. Quite the contrary, Hale encouraged women to extend their influence as widely as possible. Thus, for example, Hale voiced strong support for the founding of Vassar College (the first U.S. college for women), campaigned for women's medical colleges, and repeatedly called for women to take professional positions as teachers and with the post office. Hale also took a particular interest in issues of women's health, arguing, for example, for women's physical education and denouncing tight corsets as unhealthy (a charge that was later fully substantiated). Though the Lady's Book sometimes prided itself on avoiding political topics, many of Hale's editorial campaigns had significant political implications. Her long-standing efforts to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday, for example, were based on her belief during the antebellum period that if a nation shared a meal together once a year, it would be less likely to engage in civil war. Though Hale's ultimate goal of preventing civil war was, of course, unsuccessful, she did manage to convince President Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Throughout her editorship of the Lady's Book, Hale continued to publish her own work. In addition to contributing material to the Lady's Book, she published a number of poetry volumes and several short novels, and following the success of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, she issued a revised edition of Northwood. Hale also wrote a number of very popular cookbooks. Hale's efforts as a writer were well regarded by her peers, and she was featured in many of the gift annuals and literary anthologies published before the Civil War. One of Hale's most ambitious projects as a writer was her 1853 Woman's Record: Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women from "The Beginning" till A.D. 1850. This nine-hundred-page work presents biographical essays on more than two hundred women, with brief mentions of more than two thousand others.

After five decades as a magazine editor, Hale published her last column with the Lady's Book in December, 1877. She died on April 30, 1879, at the age of ninety and was buried in Philadelphia.

Though she was not the first woman magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale enjoyed a longer and more influential career than had any American woman before her. During her fifty-year editorial career, Hale made significant contributions to American literature and to women's issues. She published or reviewed the work of such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, James Fenimore Cooper, and Herman Melville. As editor of a popular women's magazine, Hale was able to support women writers, many of whom, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Lydia Sigourney, published their work in her magazines.

Through her editorial columns, Hale was also able to support other issues related to women. Although she did not advocate women's voting rights, she was a strong spokeswoman for property rights for married women, improved women's education, and increased opportunities for women's wage-earning work. Ultimately, one of Hale's most lasting contributions may have been in encouraging other women to pursue careers in publishing and periodicals. By proving that a women's literary magazine could be the nation's most popular periodical and by demonstrating that a woman could manage such a magazine, Hale undoubtedly helped to pave the way for later women editors, authors, and journalists.

FURTHER READINGS:

Entrikin, Isabelle Webb. Sarah Josepha Hale and "Godey's Lady's Book.". Lancaster Press, 1946.
A published dissertation, this work provides a good overview of Hale's editorial career and includes a bibliography of Hale's published works

Finley, Ruth E. The Lady of Godey's: Sarah Josepha Hale. J. B. Lippincott, 1931.
The first full-length biography of Hale, this work provides a good overview of Hale's life, including her work as an author and editor and her support of issues such as national union and women's education

Hoffman, Nicole Tonkovich. "Legacy Profile: Sarah Josepha Hale," Legacy: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers. 7, no. 2(fall 1990): 47-55.
This short sketch of Hale's life and career includes a selected bibliography as well as an excerpt from one of Hale's editorials

Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850. 1. D. Appleton, 1930.
Though subsequent studies show less bias against sentimental literature than evident here, this pivotal work includes a detailed sketch of Godey's Lady's Book and valuable information about the periodical industry

Okker, Patricia. Our Sister Editors: Sarah J. Hale and the Tradition of Nineteenth-Century American Women Editors. University of Georgia Press, 1995.
In addition to identifying more than six hundred women who edited periodicals in the nineteenth century, this work provides an in-depth analysis of Hale's editorial career, focusing specifically on her literary significance

Rogers, Sherbrooke. Sarah Josepha Hale: A New England Pioneer, 1788-1879. Tompson & Rutter, 1985.
Though it presents little new information, this biography is particularly suited to older adolescents

Source Citation

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The author of poetry, novels, plays, and cookbooks, as well as an important history of women, Hale is best known as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, the most popular magazine in the United States before the Civil War. As editor of this women's magazine, Hale encouraged and supported women writers, and she advocated improved opportunities for women's education and work.

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Representing New Hampshire at the Continental Congress

Birthplace:

Kittery, Maine

Education:

Common School. (Merchant, Soldier, Judge)

Work:

Elected to Provincial Congress, 1775, 76; Member of state Council, Committee of Safety, 1776; Elected to Continental Congress, 1776-79; Commissioned Brigadier General of the New Hampshire Militia, 1777- ca. 1781; Appointed Associate Judge to the Superior Court, 1782.

William Whipple was born at Kittery Maine, in 1730. He was educated at a common school until his early teens, when he went off to sea to find his fortune. He was an able seaman, earning the position of Ship's Master by the age of 21. He worked hard and amassed a great deal of money. In 1759 he landed in Portsmouth and, in partnership with his brother, established himself as a merchant. Calls to public duty began almost immediately. He was elected to several local offices and was involved in the Patriot movement.

In 1775 he was elected to represent his town at the provincial congress. The following year New Hampshire dissolved the Royal government and reorganized with a House of Representatives and an Executive Council. Whipple was made a Council member, a member of the Committee of Safety, and was promptly elected to the Continental Congress. He served there through 1779, though he took much leave for military affairs. In 1777 he was made Brigadier General of the New Hampshire Militia. General Whipple led men in the successful expedition against General Burgoyne at the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga.

After the war Whipple was appointed an associate justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. He suffered from a heart ailment for several years and he died, fainting from atop his horse while traveling his court circuit, in November of 1785.

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Representing New Hampshire at the Continental Congress Birthplace: Kittery, Maine Education: Common School. (Merchant, Soldier, Judge) Work: Elected to Provincial Congress, 1775, 76; Member of state Council, Committee of Safety, 1776; Elected to Continental Congress, 1776-79; Commissioned Brigadier General of the New Hampshire Militia, 1777- ca.

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is a Marine/Exotics Veterinarian and active U.S. Astronaut currently assigned to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He received his DVM from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985 and was later accepted to a 2 y joint internship in exotic animal medicine and comparative pathology at the Baltimore Zoo and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After completing his internship, Dr. Linnehan served as chief clinical veterinarian for the U.S. Navy's Marine Mammal Program, initiating research in cetacean and pinniped anesthesia, orthopedics, drug pharmacokinetics, and reproduction in direct support of U.S. Navy mobile marine mammal systems stationed in California, Florida, and Hawaii. Dr. Linnehan was selected for astronaut training by NASA in March 1992 and is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions, logging over 58 d in space, including six EVAs (spacewalks) totaling 42 h and 11 min. In 2009 he received his Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts and later completed a 2 y Interagency Personnel Agreement at the Texas A&M Office of Strategic Initiatives. Presently, Dr. Linnehan is working on advanced biomedical countermeasures for NASA's Human Research Program in preparation for future human deep-space exploration initiatives as well as ongoing support of current International Space Station life science research.

This entry was posted on by .

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is a Marine/Exotics Veterinarian and active U.S. Astronaut currently assigned to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He received his DVM from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985 and was later accepted to a 2 y jo

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(Photo: Courtesy NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Quick Facts

Name

Christa McAuliffe

Birth Date

September 2, 1948

Death Date

January 28, 1986

Education

Marian High School, Framingham State College, Bowie State College

Place of Birth

Boston, Massachusetts

Place of Death

Florida

AKA

Sharon Corrigan

Christa McAuliffe

S. Christa Corrigan

S. Christa McAuliffe

Originally

Sharon Christa Corrigan

High school teacher Christa McAuliffe was the first American civilian selected to go into space. She died in the explosion of the space shuttle 'Challenger' in 1986.

Synopsis

Christa McAuliffe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 2, 1948. A high school teacher, she made history when she became the first American civilian selected to go into space in 1985. On January 28, 1986, McAuliffe boarded the Challenger space shuttle in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle exploded shortly after lift-off, killing everyone on board.

Early Life

Born Sharon Christa Corrigan on September 2, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, Christa McAuliffe was the first of five children born to Edward and Grace Corrigan. When she was 5, she and her family moved to Framingham, Massachusetts. An adventurous child, McAuliffe grew up in a quiet, suburban neighborhood during the space age.

McAuliffe graduated from Marian High School in 1966 and enrolled at Framingham State College, where she studied American history and education. She received a bachelor's degree in 1970, and married Steven McAuliffe soon after. The couple had met and fallen in love during their high school days.

Around this time, McAuliffe began her career as an educator, teaching American history and English to junior high school students in Maryland. In 1976, she and Steven welcomed a son, Scott. After earning a master's degree in education from Bowie State College in 1978, McAuliffe and her family moved to New Hampshire. She landed a teaching job at a high school in Concord, and gave birth to a second child, Caroline.

In 1981, when the first space shuttle circled the earth, McAuliffe made sure her students took note. Three years later, President Ronald Reagan and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced a bold new program, the Teacher in Space Project.

Selected for Space Mission

McAuliffe was an extraordinary teacher with a dream of being a passenger on the space shuttle, so when NASA announced a contest to take a teacher into space, she jumped at the chance and applied. McAuliffe won the contest, beating out more than 11,000 other applicants. Vice President George H.W. Bush delivered the good news at a special ceremony at the White House, stating that McAuliffe was going to be the "first private citizen passenger in the history of space flight."

After NASA announced the selection of McAuliffe, her whole community rallied behind her, treating her as a hometown hero when she returned from the White House. As for McAuliffe, she saw the space mission as a chance to go on the ultimate field trip. She believed that by participating in the mission she could help students better understand space and how NASA works.

One of the more difficult aspects of the program was leaving her family for extensive training. She headed to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in September 1985, returning only for the holidays. More than any other year, 1986 was to be the year of the space shuttle, with 15 flights scheduled. McAuliff's mission, STS-51L, was to be the first to depart for space.

The shuttle was originally scheduled for lift-off on January 22, but there were multiple delays. The first one was a routine scheduling delay. The second was because of a dust storm at an emergency landing site. The third delay was because of inclement weather at the launch site. One final delay was due to a technical problem with a door latch mechanism.

'Challenger' Tragedy

On January 28, 1986, McAuliffe's friends and family, including her two children, anxiously watched and waited for the Challenger space shuttle to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Her students in Concord also tuned in with the rest of the country to watch the history-making space expedition. However, less than two minutes after lift-off, the shuttle exploded, and everyone aboard died.

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.' " - Ronald Reagan, January 28, 1986

A shocked nation mourned the passing of the seven crew members of the Challenger. President Ronald Reagan spoke of the crew as heroes shortly after the accident: "This America, which Abraham Lincoln called the last, best hope of man on Earth, was built on heroism and noble sacrifice," he stated. "It was built by men and women like our seven star voyagers, who answered a call beyond duty, who gave more than was expected or required and who gave it little thought of worldly reward."

NASA spent months analyzing the incident, later determining that problems with the right solid rocket booster had been the primary cause of the disaster. The findings revealed a gasket had failed on the rocket booster, the cold had affected the O-rings and a leak caused fuel to ignite.

Lasting Legacy

After her death, this courageous educator received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. As a tribute to her memory, a planetarium in Concord was named after her, as well as an asteroid and a crater on the moon. In addition, the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College was established to carry on her legacy and support advancement of educational practices throughout the region.

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Name Christa McAuliffe Birth Date September 2, 1948 Death Date January 28, 1986 Education Marian High School, Framingham State College, Bowie State College Place of Birth Boston, Massachusetts Place of Death Florida AKA Sharon Corrigan Christa McAuliffe S. Christa Corrigan S.

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Article on Olympic gold medal swimmer Jenny Thompson who, at 29, is in her second year at Columbia Medical School, has returned to competition and is member of Badger Swim Club in Larchmont, NY; photo (M)

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Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds.

Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competition swimmer and anesthesiologist. She is one of the most decorated Olympians in history: twelve medals, including eight gold medals, in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.

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Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds. Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competition swimmer and anesthesiologist. She is one of the most decorated Olympians in history: twelve medals, including eight gold medals, in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.

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Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, Portrait by Apeda, c. 1900

Amy Marcy Cheney was born in Henniker, New Hampshire on September 5, 1867. A child prodigy, she began composing music at age four and performing publicly at age seven. The home-tutored pianist first entered Boston's musical community at the age of eight. Because her parents could not afford to send her abroad, she received further musical training in Boston.

At the age of thirteen, she accompanied her piano teacher, Ernst Perabo, to the home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Shortly thereafter, Miss Cheney put the the words of Longfellow's poem, "The Rainy Day", to music. It was her first published song. (Read Longfellow's account of the visit.)

In 1883, at age sixteen, she made her professional debut as a pianist. Afterwards, she became a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. and Mrs. H. H. A. Beach

In 1885, the eighteen year-old pianist married Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, a prominent Boston physician, who was 25 years her senior. She changed her professional name to Mrs. H. H. A. Beach and, at the request of her husband, she shifted emphasis from performance to composition.

With the exception of an annual recital, presentations of her own works, and occasional solo performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Beach devoted the majority of her time and efforts to writing music. Most of Mrs. Beach's compositions were published and many were performed by leading artists and ensembles. (Read a letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes.)

In 1892, the Boston Handel and Hayden Society premiered her first major work, the Grand Mass, Opus 5. The subsequent acclaim her work received established her as a composer and led to her first commissions.

The 1896 Boston Symphony performance of her Gaelic Symphony in E Minor, Op. 32 (recognized as the first symphonic work by an American woman) helped confirmed Mrs. Beach as one of the country's leading composers. See a copy of Leopold Stokowski's assessment of the Gaelic Symphony.

Throughout her life, Beach wrote more than 150 numbered works, ranging from chamber and orchestral works to church music and songs. Her early works show the influences of Wagner and Brahms, but she added her characteristic intensity and passion. In her later years, she moved beyond the late-Romantic style, as her works became more chromatic and dissonant. Nevertheless, she retained an intense lyricism throughout her career as a composer.

Manuscript Score of "Hermit Thrush at Morn," Opus 92, No. 2, 1922

Following Dr. Beach's death in 1910, Mrs. Beach embarked on a three year tour of Europe. She resumed her career as a performer and changed her professional name to Amy Beach. However, upon returning to the United States, Beach once again assumed her married name. For the next thirty years she continued to compose and perform. Between tours, Beach resided in New York City and her cottage at Centerville on Cape Cod.

Between 1921 and 1941, Beach was an annual visitor at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. She wrote most of her later works while at the Colony, including her two famous piano pieces, "The Hermit Thrush at Eve" and "The Hermit Thrush at Morn." Her annual visits to the Colony enabled her to maintain contacts with family and friends in nearby Henniker and Hillsboro, New Hampshire.

Beach also developed friendships with other "Colonists," such as founder Marian MacDowell, Russian sculptor Bashka Paeff, and playwright Thornton Wilder. In 1928, Beach and Marion MacDowell received honorary Master of Arts degrees from the University of New Hampshire.

Portrait by Bachrach, taken at the McDowell Colony, 1934

Failing health hampered Beach's activities and travel during her final years. A worsening heart condition limited her concert-going and eventually confined her to her New York apartment. She died of heart failure on December 27, 1944 at the age of 77. In her will, she left the rights to her music to the MacDowell Colony, which continues to receive royalties from her many compositions.

Amy Marcy Cheney

American Composers' Day, 1915
Mrs. Beach on American Composers' Day at the Panama-Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco, 1915. Pictured from left to right: George W. Chadwick, William J. McCoy, Mabel W. Daniels, Beach, Carl Busch, Horatio W. Parker, and Ernest F. Kroger.
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach Papers. MC 51

This Morning Very Early, Opus 144
Draft from Beach's music notebook. June 7, 1935.
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach Papers. MC 51.

Hillsboro, New Hampshire Beach Club, late 1930s
Mrs. Beach with Hillsboro, New Hampshire Beach Club, late 1930s.
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach Papers. MC 51.

Beach's Centerville Home
Visitors at Beach's Centerville Home.
Left to right, Mabel Pierce, Harriet Oldfield, Mrs. Beach, and Lillian Buxbaum.
Bachrach Photograph, 1938.
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach Papers. MC 51.

Carl Tollefsen, 1940
Beach and Carl Tollefsen (with violin).
"A little souvenir of your visit to the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society...your friends Carl and Augusta Tollefsen." March 19, 1940.
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach Papers. MC 51.

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Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, New Hampshire Composer

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Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, Portrait by Apeda, c. 1900 Amy Marcy Cheney was born in Henniker, New Hampshire on September 5, 1867. A child prodigy, she began composing music at age four and performing publicly at age seven. The home-tutored pianist first entered Boston's musical community at the age of eight.

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article from NH public radio

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Eugenia Zukerman & the Shanghai String Quartet

Eugenia Zukerman is perhaps best known for her weekly role as arts correspondent on CBS TV's Sunday Morning. In addition to frequent recording and performance, she's also a published novelist and memoirist.

Since their widely acclaimed debut in 1987, the Shanghai String Quartet has been hailed as one of the leading quartets of our time. "For poetry, intelligence, and musical sympathy," notes the New York Times, "the Shanghai counts as among the finest young foursomes of the day."

Music Should Be My Life's Work: Amy Beach (1867-1944)
"How inevitable it was that music should be my life's work. Both in composition and piano playing, there seemed to be such a strong attraction ... that no other life than that of a musician could ever have been possible for me."
— Amy Beach

Born in 1867, at a time when middle-class women like herself had only just won the right to attend college and begun to take up jobs in the public sphere, it was not necessarily a foregone conclusion that a woman, no matter how talented, would be able to succeed in a sphere so dominated by men. But by the end of her life Amy Cheney Beach had, over the course of 70 creative years, composed more than 300 works and was honored as a leader in the American Romantic style.

The uniqueness of her work, however, does not stem solely from the fact that she was a woman. That she was to be a composer was evident even from a very young age. She had perfect pitch and at the age of one could sing more than 40 tunes. By the age of four she was composing little songs in her head and could play hymns by ear in perfect four-part harmony. And by the age of seven she had already begun to give public recitals, having been trained by her pianist mother in their home in Henniker, New Hampshire. Recognizing her talent, her parents arranged for her to begin private lessons in piano and composition after the family moved to Boston in 1875. Apart from a year of lessons in harmony and counterpoint, she taught herself orchestration and fugue, and by the age of 18 was appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and publishing her own first professional compositions.

It was at this time that she met the society doctor and amateur musician, Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, whom she married in 1885, and it was at his request that she gave up her concert appearances—at the time, performing in public was not altogether looked upon with favor as a respectable occupation for women. But he did encourage her composing career, and it was during her marriage (Henry died in 1910) that she made her reputation as a serious composer. Her major works of this period—works such as her Grand Mass in E-flat (only her 5th publication, hailed as a masterpiece), the Gaelic Symphony (one of the first large-scale works by a woman), and her Piano Concerto—were all performed by ensembles such as the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphony Society of New York. And she was only 26 when she was commissioned to compose a work for the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Following her husband's death, she resumed her concert tours—this time performing her own compositions. Her tour of Germany was a great success, and critics raved about her compositions as well as her skills at the piano—one called her a "virtuoso pianist with a musical nature tinged with genius" and rated her one of America's foremost composers. After her return to the United States just before World War I, she settled in New York and thereafter spent her winters on tour and her summers composing—most often as a fellow at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. She thrived on this dual career, and once commented, "I have literally lived the life of two people, one a pianist, and the other a writer. When I do one kind of work, I shut the other up in a closed room and lock the door, unless I happen to be composing for the piano, in which case there is a connecting link. But in this kind of life one never grows stale. There is always a continual interest and freshness from the change back and forth."

Amy Beach's musical style was also unique for her time—an eclectic voice that echoed Romantic composers such as Brahms and Wagner, layered with texture, complex harmonies, and colors. Although it was her large-scale works for orchestra which won her fame as a composer, she was a prolific composer of songs, which often drew on folk tunes and nature themes. At the MacDowell Colony she liked to sit outside her studio near the woods when she composed, and her affinity with the natural world is reflected in many of her songs which use tone painting to echo the sounds of the forest, such as in her songs "A Hermit Thrush at Eve," "A Peterborough Chipmunk," and "Young Birches."

Many of her songs, such as her setting of the Browning poem "The Year's at the Spring" and "Ah, Love, but a Day," were immensely popular in her day and favorites in the repertoire of leading singers. But although she was fêted during her lifetime as the foremost woman composer of her day—the first American woman to succeed as a composer of large-scale art music—her compositions lapsed into obscurity after she was no longer able to promote them herself from the concert platform. It is only in recent decades that her work once again appears on concert programs and is issued in new recordings, in part due to renewed interest both in women composers and Romantic music.

For further reading: Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach: Passionate Victorian (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

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Eugenia Zukerman & The Shanghai String Quartet

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Eugenia Zukerman & the Shanghai String Quartet Eugenia Zukerman is perhaps best known for her weekly role as arts correspondent on CBS TV's Sunday Morning. In addition to frequent recording and performance, she's also a published novelist and memoirist.

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Elizabeth Orton Jones

Elizabeth Orton Jones was born June 25, 1910, in Highland Park, Ill. Her great-grandfather, Joseph Russell Jones, was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and minister to Belgium under President Grant. Her grandmother, Annette L.R. Jones was a professional pianist; her father, George Roberts, a violinist; and her mother, Jessie Mae Orton Jones, "a fine pianist" and writer. (Elizabeth would eventually collaborate with her mother on four books). Elizabeth, the eldest of three, grew up in a household she describes as a place where people from various walks of life and people of various nationalities and races liked to visit. There was always music, reading aloud, laughter, and much to talk about and share with others. In addition, her parents carefully structured time for silence in which to read, write, look at pictures, draw, think and imagine.

After graduating from the House in the Pines in Norton, Mass., and winning the Silver Cup for English Composition, Jones entered the University of Chicago. There, she majored in art and also took a full course at the Art Institute of Chicago from which she graduated in her junior year. She received her Ph.B. on March 15, 1932, and later that same year acquired a Diplôme in painting at the École des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France. Jones then studied with artist Camille Liausu (1894 -1975) in Paris. One day, while working in Liausu's studio, Jones was feeling "fearfully tense and serious." Liausu instructed her to go out into the park, observe children playing there and then return to the studio and try to get some movement into her drawing. She spent more and more time watching children and drawing them. When Jones returned to the United States, she had a one-person exhibit of color etchings of children at the Smithsonian Institution. Finding that she missed the children of Paris more than the city itself, Jones created two French boys named Mich and Tobie. Each picture she drew was accompanied with text of their adventures. This became her first book for children: Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins, published by Oxford University Press in 1937. Jones claims that even before this book was finished she knew that making books for children was what she wanted to do above all else. She stated, "A very strong sense of responsibility to what children are as individuals in their own right became firmly established as an imperative in my life."

In the spring of 1940, after Jones had already established herself as a successful writer and illustrator of children's books, she left her studio, which was situated in the family house in Highland Park, to work on the illustrations for her new book Maminka's Children (published by the Macmillan Company in 1940) with Lillian and William Glaser in Long Island City, NY. The Glasers, printers who were considered the best in their field and in high demand particularly for children's books, used a special process of drawing on grained plate glass with a very hard pencil, which produced results comparable to printing from lithographic stones in the European tradition. This long and exacting process required Jones to draw on a large rectangle of glass fitted to a specially built table. After she finished, the glass was taken up, laid upon a sensitized aluminum plate and exposed like film. The drawing was transferred onto the metal plate by light passing through the transparent areas of the glass. The final result offered a direct feel of the artist's own hand. In a letter to her parents in the spring of 1940, Jones wrote, "I'm learning such a lot that I couldn't begin to tell you about, not even if I kept writing for a month, all about printing processes and the making of books. Oh, it's wonderful! I'm learning things that I've been longing to know for years . . . I'm really going to know how to make books after this!" Jones and the Glazers were perfectionists, which resulted in brilliantly illustrated books characterized by a vividness, delicacy and rich detail.

Jones illustrated a number of books by other people and in 1945, won the Caldecott Medal for her artwork in Rachel Field's Prayer for a Child. Upon winning this prestigious award given annually by the American Library Association for the best-illustrated children's book, Jones commented, "Drawing is very like a prayer. Drawing is a reaching for something away beyond you. As you sit down to work in the morning, you feel as if you were on top of a hill. And it is as if you were seeing for the first time. You take your pencil in hand. You'd like to draw what you see. And so you begin. You try ... . Every child in the world has a hill, with a top to it. Every child-black, white, rich, poor, handicapped, unhandicapped. And singing is what the top of each hill is for. Singing-drawing-thinking-dreaming-sitting in silence . . . saying a prayer. I should like every child in the world to know that he has a hill, that that hill is his no matter what happens, his and his only, forever."

An artist of many years standing in etching, printing, pastel, water color, gouache, graphite, ink and oil, Jones has won numerous awards and has had many distinguished exhibits. She is well known in New Hampshire for her murals at the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield as well as for her panel in the children's room of the University of New Hampshire library at Durham.

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Elizabeth Orton Jones was born June 25, 1910, in Highland Park, Ill. Her great-grandfather, Joseph Russell Jones, was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and minister to Belgium under President Grant. Her grandmother, Annette L.R. Jones was a professional pianist; her father, George Roberts, a violinist; and her mother, Jessie Mae Orton Jones, "a fine pianist" and writer.

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Video of Prayer for a Child, the book she won the Caldecott Medal in 1945

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Video of Prayer for a Child, the book she won the Caldecott Medal in 1945

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Dean Kamen

AKA Dean L. Kamen

Born: 5-Apr- 1951

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Inventor
Party Affiliation: Republican

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Segway pedestrian vehicle

In 1972, Dean Kamen invented a portable, programmable pump that automatically delivers accurate doses of medicine, such as insulin, over extended periods. It's small enough to allow people who'd previously been bedridden to be mobile enough to live normal lives. In 1981, he started DEKA Research & Development Corporation, which introduced a portable dialysis machine, and the HydroFlex Irrigation System -- a multi-purpose pump that replaced the expensive separate pumps that used to be required for arthroscopic (interior joint), endoscopic (colon, bladder, tummy, or other hollow interior organ), or gynecologic examinations. Kamen also invented a better stent (tube for supporting damaged arteries). All told, Kamen or his company hold more than 150 patents.

In 1999, Kamen came out with the IBOT, a computerized wheelchair (though Kamen insists it's not a wheelchair) with a built-in computerized gyroscope for balance. It can climb stairs or lift its sitter into a secure standing position. You can get one for about $25,000. And in 2001, amid great media fanfare, he introduced the Segway, a two-wheeled mobile device -- don't call it a scooter, he implores -- that whisks a rider along, standing, with impeccable gyroscopic balance. George W. Bush, trying one out, famously fell on his ass, but only because he forgot to turn the Segway on.

Kamen commutes to work in one of his two helicopters. He's never been married. He owns an island off the coast of Connecticut called North Dumpling, which he jokingly fancies an independent nation. North Dumpling has a non-aggression pact with the U.S., signed by Kamen's long-time buddy, the first President Bush.

Father: Jack Kamen (comic book artist; Mad, Brenda Starr; b. 29-May-1920)
Mother: Evelyn Kamen
Brother: Barton Kamen (oncologist)
Brother: Mitch Kamen

University: Worcester Polytechnic Institute (dropped out)

Segway Founder
Member of the Board of Segway
FIRST Founder
Friends for Harry Reid
X-Prize Foundation Board of Trustees
National Medal of Technology and Innovation 2000
Lemelson-MIT Prize 2002
National Inventors Hall of Fame 2005
ASME Medal 2007

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The company founded by Dean Kamen, located in Manchester, NH

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DEKA Research & Development Corp. is a New Hampshire based company that brings expertise to the world of complex problem solving and improving lives.

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Biography

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Bob Montana was born in Stockton, California, but traveled extensively as a child due to his parents' occupations. He spent his school summers in Meredith, New Hampshire, where his father raised vegetables and operated a restaurant and it was there that Bob practiced his cartooning by drawing caricatures of the restaurant's customers. When Bob was 13, his father died of a heart attack, and his mother remarried.

When Bob was 16 years old, the family moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts and for the next two years, he kept diaries of local events and news stories, illustrating the diary pages with his cartoons. The students and faculty of Bob's high school, Haverhill High, would later inspire the leading characters in Bob's most famous creation, the Archie comics.

In his senior year of high school, Bob moved with his parents to Manchester, New Hampshire and graduated from Manchester High School Central in 1940.

Following graduation, Bob moved to New York and attended the Art Students League and the Phoenix Art Institute. He soon began freelancing and created an adventure strip about four teenage boys which he tried to sell without success. Bob started working for MLJ Comics and was eventually asked to work up a high school style comic strip story. At age 21, he created Archie. The success of the character in MLJ's Pep Comics December, 1941 led MLJ to assign Bob to draw the first issue of Archie In November, 1942.
Bob Montana and his famous creation, Archie!
Bob spent four years in the Army Signal Corps during World War II, drawing coded maps, and working on training films. In 1944, while stationed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, he met 19-year-old Army secretary, Helen (Peggy) Wherett, a native of Asbury Park, New Jersey. In 1946, the couple married and moved to Manhattan for a short while before returning to Meredith in 1948, where they bought an old New England-style farmhouse. In New Hampshire, they raised four children along with organic vegetables, assorted chickens, horses and sheep.

Bob continued to draw Archie for the rest of his life. After hours at his drawing table, it was his custom to relax by sailing his sloop, the White Eagle, on Lake Winnipesaukee, or skiing cross country near his home. He died of a heart attack on January 4, 1975, while cross-country skiing in Meredith. He was 55 years old.

From 1999 to 2003, his daughter, Lynn Montana, of Meredith, along with her sister, Paige Kuether, managed a website, ArchiePrints.com, to market prints of their father's artwork. The site featured pages from the diary-sketchbook kept by Montana about life in Haverhill High during the late 1930s.

After hours at the drawing table, Montana relaxed by sailing his Friendship sloop, the White Eagle, on Lake Winnipesaukee, and taking cross country ski jaunts through the back country near his home. He died of a heart attack on January 4, 1975, while cross-country skiing in Meredith.
Artwork for a 1964 strip of Archie.

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Bob Montana was born in Stockton, California, but traveled extensively as a child due to his parents' occupations. He spent his school summers in Meredith, New Hampshire, where his father raised vegetables and operated a restaurant and it was there that Bob practiced his cartooning by drawing caricatures of the restaurant's customers.

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-Harold Holzer, Lincoln scholar and author of biography of Daniel Chester French, Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019.

It is no wonder that Daniel Chester French sought respite from the noise and frenzy of New York City and created Chesterwood, his retreat in the Berkshires. French was rooted firmly in the traditions of New England, with ancestors who sailed from England in 1630, landing in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Nine generations later, on April 20, 1850, Daniel was born to Judge Henry Flagg French and Anne Richardson French in Exeter, New Hampshire. Christened Daniel, the boy later added the middle name of Chester in honor of the New Hampshire town where his grandfather lived.

At his father's urging, French entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1867. Science, however, was not his forte-he failed chemistry, algebra, and physics and was back at work on the family farm the following summer. French's career began in an almost offhand way with the help of May Alcott (1840-1879), the sister of Louisa May Alcott and the model for Amy in Little Women. French recounted:
I had been whittling and carving things from wood and gypsum, and even from turnips, as many boys do, and as usual, 'the family' thought the product remarkable. My father spoke about them to Miss Alcott, as the artist of the community, and she, with her ever ready enthusiasm, immediately offered to give me modeling clay and tools. I lost no time...in experimenting with the seductive material, although I didn't even know how to moisten it. [1]
The sculptor's early work consisted of portrait busts and reliefs of family and neighbors, as well as a series of immensely popular figurines that accrued some royalties to put toward the cost of French's art education. In 1870, French undertook a measure of formal study. He spent one month in New York City at the studio of sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910). In the winters of 1870-72, he studied anatomy in Boston with physician and sculptor William Rimmer (1816-1879).

In November 1873, the town of Concord, Massachusetts, commissioned the 23-year-old French to execute a statue commemorating the centennial of the Battle of Concord in the Revolutionary War. Unveiled in 1875, the bronze Minute Man was an immediate popular and critical success.

French, however, missed the festivities of the unveiling. Like many artists of his generation, he was interested in studying art abroad. He received an invitation from Preston Powers, son of the distinguished neoclassical sculptor Hiram Powers (1805-1873), to live in Italy. French lived in Florence, Italy from 1874 to 1876, and studied and worked in the studio of the expatriate American sculptor Thomas Ball (1819-1911).

Having planned for seven years to undertake further study to augment his limited formal training, French returned to Europe in 1886 and traveled to Paris. There, he studied drawing with Paul Leon Glaize and investigated the techniques of modeling. His other teachers at the atelier included such sculptors as Emmanuel Frémiet, Paul Dubois, Jean Falguière, August Bartholdi, and Marius Jean Antonin Mercié. This was his first real exposure to Beaux Arts, a genre of increasing importance in America due to the influence of French's friend and fellow sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907). The experience significantly shaped his later work.

1888 was a watershed year for French. He returned from France and married his first cousin Mary Adams French (1859-1939) in Washington, D.C. The young couple moved to New York City and the artist worked in a studio at the back of their brownstone townhouse. French's reputation as a sculptor continued to grow and French won a medal from the Societé National des Beaux-Arts, only the second in the history of the Societé to be awarded to an American. As preparations progressed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the advisor for sculpture at the Exposition, asked French to execute six works, a significant contribution to what would be a groundbreaking World's Fair in many ways.

At the peak of his career, in 1896, French purchased an old farmstead in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts where he established a summer studio, home and formal gardens, naming the property Chesterwood. For the next 35 years, the French family would reside in the Berkshires from May through October, where they enjoyed entertaining friends in his studio.

The first decade of the 20th century found French at work on three major commissions: the Alma Mater, the Continents, and the Melvin Memorial, all among the most ambitious and successful examples of American architectural sculpture ever executed. Several years later, in 1915, French executed Mourning Victory, the centerpiece of the Melvin Memorial, which was commissioned in marble.

French most likely became acquainted with architect Henry Bacon (1866-1924) in Chicago in 1893 where Bacon was working for the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White at the World's Columbian Exposition that year. In 1914, as part of a large rehabilitation of the Mall in Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial Commission selected French to create a statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Memorial that Henry Bacon had been commissioned to design. Dedicated in 1922, the monument would become their greatest joint effort-a project of eight years resulting in a significant national shrine with international meaning.

Daniel Chester French was recognized for his pre-eminence as a sculptor during his own lifetime. As one of the founding trustees of the American Academy in Rome and a trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, French was highly esteemed among the established artistic community of his day and received honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities. The Academy of St. Luke in Rome, the Fine Arts Class of the French Academy in Paris, and the National Academy of Design (in New York) all elected French to their membership. In addition, he was a director of the Corporation of Yaddo[2] the artist colony. Presidents Roosevelt and Taft both consulted with French regularly on matters relating to aesthetics and art.

At his artistic maturity, Daniel Chester French was an outstanding architectural and public sculptor in the United States. After Saint-Gaudens's death in 1907, he became the foremost sculptor in America working in the classical tradition-a position relinquished only at his death. On October 7, 1931, French suffered a heart attack and died at his beloved Chesterwood, a place of art and beauty, surrounded by the beautiful results of his lifetime of creative genius, created for his own inspiration as well as others.

[1] DCF, (June 14, 1926), Prelude to May Alcott: A Memoir by Caroline Ticknor (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1928), p. xx.

[2] Since 1926, Yaddo has been a colony for artists and writers in Saratoga Springs, New York. The estate was originally the home of New York stockbroker Spencer Trask. Daniel Chester French, along with Henry Bacon, created a memorial to Trask entitled Spirit of Life (1913-15; bronze), which is in Saratoga Springs.

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Harold Holzer, Lincoln scholar and author of biography of Daniel Chester French, Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019. It is no wonder that Daniel Chester French sought respite from the noise and frenzy of New York City and created Chesterwood, his retreat in the Berkshires.

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Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 - October 7, 1931), one of the most prolific and acclaimed American sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is best known for his design of the monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln (1920) in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC.

Parents: Mother, Anne Richardson (1811-1856), daughter of William Merchant Richardson (1774-1838), chief justice of New Hampshire. Father, Henry Flagg French (1813-1885) Siblings: Henriette Van Mater French Hollis (1839-1911), Sarah Flagg French Bartlett (1846-1883), and William M.R. French (1843-1914)

French was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, to Henry Flagg French (1813-1885), a lawyer, judge, Assistant US Treasury Secretary, and author of a book that described the French drain, and his wife Anne Richardson. In 1867, French moved with his family to Concord, Massachusetts, where he was a neighbor and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Alcott family. His decision to pursue sculpting was influenced by Louisa May Alcott's sister May Alcott.

French's early education included training in anatomy with William Rimmer and in drawing with William Morris Hunt. French spent a year studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and also several years in Florence, Italy studying in the studio of Thomas Ball. French first earned acclaim for The Minute Man, commissioned by the town of Concord, Massachusetts, which was unveiled April 19, 1875, on the centenary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. He soon established his own studio, first in Washington, DC, moving later to Boston and then to New York City. French's reputation grew with his Statue of the Republic for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago. Other memorable works by French include: the First Division Monument and the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain in Washington; John Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts; bronze doors for the Boston Public Library; and Four Continents at the US Custom House, New York (now the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House). In addition to the Lincoln Memorial, French collaborated with architect Henry Bacon on numerous memorials around the country and on the Dupont Circle fountain in Washington, DC.

In 1893, French was a founding member of the National Sculpture Society, and he was appointed a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913. French also became a member of the National Academy of Design (1901), the American Academy of Arts and Letters (which awarded him the Gold Medal for Sculpture in 1917), the Architectural League, and the Accademia di San Luca, of Rome. He was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and a co-founder of the American Academy in Rome. He was a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and was awarded a medal of honor from the Paris Exposition of 1900; he also was granted honorary degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, and Columbia universities. He was a founding member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, serving from 1910 to 1915, including as chairman from 1912 to 1915.

In 1917, French and a colleague, H. Augustus Lukeman, designed the Pulitzer Prize gold medal presented to laureates. French designed the side of the prize with Benjamin Franklin on it, while Lukeman created the iconic design of the printing press and the wording on the award: "For disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by an American newspaper during the year....". In collaboration with Edward Clark Potter he modeled the George Washington statue, commissioned by a group that called itself "The Association of American Women for the Erection of a Statue of Washington in Paris" and unveiled in the Place d'Iena in Paris, France, in 1900; the General Grant statue in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, commissioned by the Association for Public Art (formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association); and the equestrian statue of Joseph Hooker in Boston.

French was one of many sculptors who frequently employed Audrey Munson as a model. Together with Walter Leighton Clark and others, he was also one of the founders of the Berkshire Playhouse, which later became the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In 1917, Harvard's citation in conferring an honorary Master of Arts referred to his statue of Emerson[clarification needed ] when it called him "a sculptor, whose skillful hand, unlike that of the friend whom he portrayed, has not been stopped but spared to adorn our land by the creation of his art". French also taught; among his pupils was the sculptor Edith Howland.

French died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1931 at age 81 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts.

Bust of Major General William Francis Bartlett at Memorial Hall, Harvard University, (1881)

Statue of The Republic, the colossal centerpiece of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. His 24-foot gilt-bronze reduced version made in 1918 survives in Chicago.

Statue of Wendell Phillips, Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts

George Robert White Memorial, Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts

Statue of General James Oglethorpe located in Chippewa Square, Savannah, Georgia (1910)

Brooklyn and Manhattan, seated figures from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York, (1915)

Minuteman, Henry Bacon designer, Jno. Williams, Inc. (NY) founder, Danville, Illinois. (1915)

Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial (1914-22), executed by the Piccirilli Brothers.

Alfred Tredway White Memorial, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Henry Bacon architect (1921)

Gale Park War Memorial & Park, Exeter, New Hampshire (1922)

Bust of Washington Irving and reliefs of Boabdil and Rip Van Winkle for the Washington Irving Memorial, Irvington, New York, (1927)

Death and the Wounded Soldier aka Death and Youth, The Chapel of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire

James Woods, "Uncle Jimmy" Green, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. (1924)

American Youth, Westinghouse Memorial (1930), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Peace and Vigilance (alternatively America at War and Peace) US Customhouse & Post Office, St. Louis, Missouri, Alfred B. Mullett architect (1876-1882)

Pediment, New Hampshire Historic Society Building, Concord, New Hampshire, Guy Lowell, architect (1909-1911)

Bronze doors, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts, McKim, Mead & White architects, (1884-1904)

Jurisprudence and Commerce, Federal Building, Cleveland, Ohio, Arnold Brunner architect (1910)

John Hampden, and Edward I, two attic figures, Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland, Ohio, Lehman & Schmidt architects (1908, 1911)

Attic Figures, pediment, Brooklyn Museum, NYC, McKim, Mead & White architects (1912)

DeWitt Clinton; Alexander Hamilton; and John Jay. Three statues prepared in 1902 for the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry Building at 65 Liberty Street. The building was declared a landmark in 1977.

Greek Epic; Lyric Poetry, and Religion. Sculptures for the 1908 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences building on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York.

Power and Wisdom. Sculpture for the 1919 First World War Memorial. Since destroyed.

Angel of Peace - George Robert White, Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, (1898)

The Chicago Incendiary - edition of a small bisque statuette depicting the cow alleged to have started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871

Bust of John Brewster, who endowed Brewster Academy in 1887.

Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer, Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, 1995

Caffin, Charles H., American Masters of Sculpture, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York 1913

Caffin, in International Studio, volumes xx (1903), lx (1910), and lxvi (1912)

Carlock, Marty, A Guide to Public Art in Greater Boston from Newburyport to Plymouth, The Harvard Common Press, Boston Massachusetts, 1988

Chesterwood Archives, Geographical List of Works: DRAFT, unpublished manuscript, April 14, 1993

Coughlan, in Magazine of Art (1901)

Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968

Cresson, Margaret French, Journey into Fame: The Life of Daniel Chester French, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1947

Dearinger, David, Daniel Chester French: The Female Form Revealed, Boston Athenaeum, 2016

Hucke, Matt and Ursela Bielski, Graveyards of Chicago: the People, History, Art and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries, Lake Claremont Press, Chicago, 1999

Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America

Lanctot, Barbara, A Walk Through Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Architectural Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, 1988

Richman, Michael, Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor, The Preservation Press, Washington DC, 1976

Taft, Lorado, The History of American Sculpture, MacMillan Co., New York, NY 1925

Tolles, Thayer. "Daniel Chester French (1850-1931)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. (June 2010)

Wilson, Susan, Garden of Memorials: A Guide to Historic Forest Hills, Forest Hills Educational Trust

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Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 - October 7, 1931), one of the most prolific and acclaimed American sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is best known for his design of the monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln (1920) in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC.

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The U.S. author and illustrator Tomie dePaola is known for his many children's books. His stories cover a wide range of subjects, including events from his life. He wrote and illustrated more than 100 storybooks. In all he illustrated close to 250 books. One of the most popular characters he created is Strega Nona, whose name in Italian means "grandma witch."

Thomas Anthony dePaola was born on September 15, 1934, in Meriden, Connecticut. He grew up with a brother and two sisters. His mother read to him daily. By age 4 Tomie already knew that he wanted to create stories and pictures for books. He took art classes during his school years and then attended a number of colleges for art.

The first book dePaola illustrated was a science book called Sound (1965). He went on to work with many authors, including Nancy Willard ( Simple Pictures Are Best, 1977), Jane Yolen ( The Giants Go Camping, 1979), Patricia MacLachlan ( Moon, Stars, Frogs, and Friends, 1980), and Tony Johnston ( The Quilt Story, 1985).

The first book dePaola wrote and illustrated was The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin (1966). Another book he wrote and illustrated was Strega Nona (1975). It was so popular that he created many more books with the same character, including Strega Nona's Magic Lessons (1982), Strega Nona Meets Her Match (1993), and Strega Nona: Her Story (1996).

DePaola received many honors and awards for his illustrations and writing. In 2011 he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his great contribution to children's literature.

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Kids InfoBits - Document - dePaola, Tomie

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The U.S. author and illustrator Tomie dePaola is known for his many children's books. His stories cover a wide range of subjects, including events from his life. He wrote and illustrated more than 100 storybooks. In all he illustrated close to 250 books.

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Born in Bellows Falls, Vermont, on December 26, 1947, Carlton Fisk embodies traditional New England values like pride, ruggedness, and individuality. Those virtues were what the late Boston Red Sox public relations director Dick Bresciani was trying to capture in 1997 when he wrote that Fisk was a "native of Vermont" on his original plaque for the Red Sox Hall of Fame. But the greatest baseball player ever born in Vermont - and the man responsible for perhaps the most dramatic moment in New England sports history - doesn't consider himself a Vermonter. Fisk grew up on the other side of the Connecticut River in Charlestown, New Hampshire, a town of less than 1,000 inhabitants - it just so happened that the nearest hospital was in Bellows Falls. So in a display of traditional New England stubbornness, Fisk insisted that his plaque be recast (at a cost of $3,000 to the Red Sox) to delete the Vermont reference and reflect that he was raised in New Hampshire.

In his first at-bat for the Bellows Falls American League team in 1965, Fisk crushed a home run at Cooperstown's famous Doubleday Field, the site where according to myth baseball was supposedly invented. In ironic, storybook fashion, he returned to Cooperstown in 2000 for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Carlton Ernest Fisk inherited his extraordinary work ethic and athletic talent from his parents. Not only was his father, Cecil, an engineer in the tool and die industry in Springfield, Vermont, but Cecil's second vocation was working the Fisk family farm. Often he would dismount from the tractor, race to a local tennis match to soundly defeat an opponent, and then return to the farm to resume his chores. In addition to playing tennis, Cecil also was a superb basketball player. Carlton's mother, Leona, was famous in her own right as a champion candlepin bowler, and also excelled in softball and tennis. Certainly the gene for hand-eye coordination and the competitive drive ran deep in the Fisk family.

The Fisks of Charlestown represented an established athletic dynasty. Carlton's older brother, Calvin, his younger brothers, Conrad and Cedric, and his sisters, Janet and June, all exhibited unusual athletic prowess. In fact, the son who was destined for the Hall of Fame was not considered the most talented of the progeny. Carlton was chubby as a youngster, which is how he acquired his well-known nickname, Pudge, or Pudgie. "If you saw him as an eighth-grader, you would not believe he could accomplish the things he has," said Ralph Silva, his high-school coach. 1 But Carlton was strong, and Coach Silva honed that strength by implementing weight training long before it became commonplace.

Beginning in 1962, when Calvin and Carlton first played Charlestown High School sports together, and continuing through 1972, when June graduated from the newly regionalized Fall Mountain School District, the Fisk family contingent could be counted on to lead their respective teams in annual postseason playoffs. Along with Calvin, Conrad, and younger brother Cedric, Carlton was part of the nucleus of a dominant Charlestown presence in basketball; baseball; and, when later introduced as a scholastic sport, soccer. Early on, though, Pudge's greatest accomplishments came on the hardwood. Despite his 6-foot-2-inch frame, "Fisk could have made it in basketball," said Coach Silva. "He was that tough." 2

After developing his hoop talent in his grandfather's barn, Carlton went on to some legendary high-school performances. In a 1963 regional playoff game at the Boston Garden, Fisk made such an impression in a victory over the Winooski, Vermont, team that Walter Brown, owner of the Boston Celtics, leaned over to a local reporter and asked, "You have got to tell me - who is that kid?" 3 In 1965, playing against Hopkinton in the New Hampshire Class M semifinals, the 6-foor-2 Fisk scored 42 points and yanked down 38 rebounds against an opposition front line that included players who were 6'10", 6'8", and 6'3". When he fouled out with a minute left, Fisk received a standing ovation from the Portsmouth crowd, as Charlestown went on to lose by two points. 4 An oft-told story is that after his son's memorable performance, his dad Cecil's only comment was that Carlton had missed four free throws.

But Cecil wasn't being harsh or overbearing - he simply understood that to truly excel as an athlete, mental toughness was essential. Cecil's philosophy on child-rearing was simple: "I expected them to do as well as they could, whatever they did." Cecil and Leona Fisk sat behind the bench during basketball games but never said a word to Coach Silva, never criticized his strategy, and never let on if they disagreed with how their sons were coached. "No Hall of Famer ever had a better start than Fisk," said Bellows Falls American Legion coach Tim Ryan, "and it was because of his parents." 5

Pudge's baseball exploits began in the cornfields of his family's farm. Learning the game together, he and his talented brothers would play for hours as time and chores permitted. The long and cold Northern New England winters reduced Carlton's high-school baseball career, permitting no more than 17 organized games a season. In fact, the team's early-season practices often began with Carlton and his teammates shoveling snow off the Charlestown High School baseball field, which was shaded from direct sunlight. Sometimes the team simply moved practice to the nearby Fisk cornfield. "I'd let them practice for as long as they wanted, long after we would have otherwise gone home," said Coach Silva. "Of course, they don't do that anymore." 6

Carlton was an intense athlete, and demanded that practice be taken seriously to mimic game-like conditions; on one occasion he punched out a teammate for "goofing off." The competitive nature of those practices resulted in Carlton's first experience as a catcher. During batting practice, with Carlton manning third base and Calvin behind the plate, a foul pop drew the attention of both of them. With the entire team yelling, "Fisk! Fisk! Fisk!" both attempted to make the catch; the resulting collision rearranged Calvin's dental façade (only one of the two teeth retrieved could be saved). Because the catcher's mask no longer fit over Calvin's swollen jaw, the catching responsibilities fell to Carlton. (In typical Fisk fashion, Calvin played the next day, only in left field.)

Calvin, Carlton, and Conrad all pitched for the Charlestown team, which went 49-17 including playoff games during Carlton's high-school career. One of those losses came in the Class M state championship against a strong Woodsville, New Hampshire, team. Despite striking out 14, Carlton was a victim of his own aggressiveness. With one out and the winning run on third, the Woodsville batter laid down a perfect squeeze bunt that hugged the third-base line. Not hearing his teammates' cries of "Let it go foul!" Carlton leaped off the mound, picked up the ball, and threw across his body, making an amazing play to nail the batter at first as the winning run scored.

Because of the short high-school season, American Legion baseball takes on special importance in New England. Carlton played for Claremont in his first year of eligibility, but in 1965 he switched to Bellows Falls Post 5, coached by Tim Ryan, which had won the Vermont State Championship the previous year. In one game with Bellows Falls, so the story goes, Carlton was at the plate and behind in the count, fooled by two consecutive curveballs. When the catcher called for a fastball and was emphatically shaken off by the pitcher, the manager called time and approached the mound. "There's no way I'm throwing him a fastball," the hurler said. But the manager insisted that he throw what the catcher called for, and Fisk hit the next pitch (a fastball) on a line over the center-field fence. Another impressive home-run blast hit by Fisk in Bellows Falls cleared two outfield fences, and was for years marked by a simple white sign with an "X."

Though he played in fewer than 100 games as an amateur, Fisk gained the attention of professional scouts. One thought he had potential but told Coach Ryan that his bat wasn't quick enough - his power was mostly to right field. Ryan's response was typically self-effacing: "He'll get better coaches in the minors who can teach him to hit to left." 7 But despite his success in baseball (or, more accurately, his all-around athletic prowess, as he was named Charlestown High's most valuable player in soccer and basketball as well), Carlton accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of New Hampshire.

The decision to attend UNH was made easier by the presence in Durham of his older brother, Calvin, who was captain of the soccer team and an All-Yankee Conference sweeper. But soon Calvin was drafted by both the Baltimore Orioles and the military (whose offer held more sway). He was 25 by the time he returned from Vietnam, too old (according to the Baltimore front office) to embark on a career in professional baseball. Carlton's younger brother Conrad, considered the best pitcher of the Fisk clan, later signed with the Montreal Expos. Conrad was undefeated and threw a no-hitter in the playoffs during his senior year of high school, but an arm injury ended his career prematurely. Cedric, whose scholastic batting average was higher than that of any of his older brothers, didn't pursue athletics beyond high school.

During the winter of 1965-66, Carlton led the UNH freshman basketball team to an undefeated season. While at UNH he also met his future wife, Linda Foust, a native of Manchester, New Hampshire. Then, in January 1967, the Boston Red Sox drafted him in the first round. Fisk was at first suspicious, believing that he was the token New Englander the Red Sox had taken to pacify local fans. He ended up signing mainly because he realized, as he told D.W. Roberts in a 1987 interview, "I could never be a six-foot-two power forward and play for the Celtics." 8

Carlton Fisk's baseball career almost came to an end at Waterloo, Iowa, Boston's entry-level team in the Class-A Midwest League. Despite batting .338 with 12 home runs in 62 games in 1968, he was despondent. Pudge's letters home revealed that the source of most of his frustration was the team's losing record. The Waterloo Hawks finished 53-60, 14 games behind the league-leading Cedar Rapids Cardinals. For Pudge, competition was personal combat - winning was the source of individual inspiration and satisfaction; losing was utterly unacceptable, intolerable, and humiliating.

But Fisk persisted and in September 1969 the Red Sox called him up to Boston from Double-A Pittsfield. The 21-year-old Fisk made his major-league debut in the first game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles on September 18. His cup of coffee turned somewhat bitter - in two games he went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts - and Red Sox beat writer Bill Liston wrote in the Herald-Traveler, "The word on Fisk is that he needs a year of Triple-A ball, especially to enable him to handle breaking pitches with the bat." 9

That year of Triple-A ball became one year with Double-A Pawtucket in 1970 and another with Triple-A Louisville in 1971; still Fisk remained upbeat and continued to improve. At Louisville his manager was Darrell Johnson, whom Fisk credited for making him a major leaguer. More than anyone else, Johnson taught Pudge how to be a leader, a field general for the team. Playing with abandon and all-out aggressiveness was one thing, channeling energy intelligently was another. "Johnson taught me to think about all the important facets of the catcher's role, the things that help pitchers in various ways and those that let your teammates know you want to win," he told an interviewer in 1973. Johnson also helped Fisk improve his hitting. "When I put the equipment on, my job is defense: to get the other team out, help the pitchers get the batters, help the fielders - to run the game," Fisk said. "Once I take the equipment off, however, I stop thinking defense and start thinking offense." 10 That new concentration resulted in a .263 average at Louisville, 34 points higher than his average the previous season at Pawtucket.

Despite his excellent play (.313 with two home runs) in 14 games with Boston at the end of the 1971 season, Fisk was tagged as the third-string catcher for the Red Sox in 1972. The starter was Duane Josephson, who had batted .245 with 10 home runs in 1971 after coming to Boston in a trade with the White Sox; Bob Montgomery was the backup. But when Josephson was injured in the third game of the season Fisk was inserted into the Boston lineup as the starting catcher.

From the start, Carlton was a slugger. By June 13 the 24-year-old rookie had collected 32 hits, 20 for extra bases. His average was .278 and his slugging percentage was .574. His confidence rose with his slugging percentage, which stood at .629 by July 12, and he was beginning to attract attention. "Fisk is rapidly gaining the reputation of being the Johnny Bench of the American League," wrote Larry Claflin, 11 In July Orioles manager Earl Weaver selected him for the American League team in the All-Star Game. Fisk replaced Bill Freehan in the sixth inning, suddenly finding himself playing against Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, whose bubble-gum cards he'd collected back in Charlestown. For the 1972 season, Fisk caught 131 games and batted .293 with 22 home runs. His accomplishments earned him selection as the American League's Rookie of the Year, the first player ever to receive the honor by a unanimous vote. He also won the Gold Glove for AL catchers and finished fourth in balloting for the AL's Most Valuable Player. The Red Sox had fallen just a half-game short of the pennant. In a testament to the times, Pudge's salary reportedly rose from $18,000 to $30,000, which, according to Claflin, was "as big a pay raise as any player in the game." 12

The Red Sox had been searching for a quality receiver ever since the Birdie Tebbetts/Sammy White era of 1947-59, trying such notables as Bob Tillman, "The Immortal" Joe Azcue, Tom Satriano, Russ Gibson, Mike Ryan, and others. In Fisk they finally had a tough, productive, intelligent, and dependable backstop with an unmatched desire to win. In fact often Pudge would even yell at his own pitchers to motivate them. He encouraged them to throw inside to the opposing batters, increasing his hurlers' effectiveness, but it also served to escalate the intensity with the opposition. "If you play against him you hate him," said manager Eddie Kasko, "but if you play with him and want to win, you love him. He plays as if he were on the Crusades." 13

Fisk's tenacious aggressive style of play helped produced wins for the team, but created minor skirmishes with the opposition. Collisions and run-ins with Thurman Munson, Alan Gallagher of the Angels, Frank Robinson, and the prickly Graig Nettles helped create a reputation as an unpopular player in the league. Emotion on the diamond seemed to define Fisk, in contrast with his New York rival, Munson. In a much-recounted incident with Munson, the two adversaries came to blows at Fenway Park on August 1, 1973. In the top of the ninth, with the score tied 2-2, Gene Michael whiffed on a suicide squeeze. Fisk elbowed the loitering Michael out of the way, and then took on Munson, who was bulldozing his way toward the plate. Fisk held on to the ball, but Munson continued to lie on top of Fisk to allow Felipe Alou to advance to second base. As Fisk pushed Munson off, Michael grabbed Fisk, who threw the scrawny Stick to the ground. Said Yankee manager Ralph Houk, "Fisk had his left arm right across Stick's throat and wouldn't let up. Michael couldn't breathe. I had to crawl underneath the pile to try to pry Fisk's arm off his throat to keep him from killing Stick. All the while he had Michael pinned down, he was punching Munson underneath the pile. I had no idea Fisk was that strong, but he was scary." 14

At times, Fisk's on-field intensity would get him into trouble beyond the foul lines. At an autograph session in Springfield, Massachusetts, Fisk reportedly criticized teammates Carl Yastrzemski and Reggie Smith for not hustling and failing to show proper leadership. The outburst prompted a typical Red Sox intrasquad war of words, which Pudge eventually ended by explaining that he "never meant to say anything against them personally." Even early on, for Pudge, perceived lack of hustle was blasphemous and inexcusable, and his comments were not out of character for someone whose desire to win as great as his.

In the 1973 season, the dreaded sophomore jinx caught up to Carlton Fisk in the second semester. Batting .303 on June 23, he hit only .228 in July, .198 in August, and .186 in September. He again caught 131 games for the Red Sox, who lost out to a surging Baltimore team at year end. Part of Carlton's slide could be attributed to his desire to catch every game, which drains energy and reduces effectiveness. But the extended slump of 1973 was nothing compared to the challenges to come. At Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on June 28, 1974, the Red Sox and Indians were deadlocked at 1-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning when George Hendrick drove the ball to the base of the left-center-field wall. Cleveland's Leron Lee rounded third and crashed into the fully-extended Fisk, who was reaching for a high relay throw from Mario Guerrero. Pudge tore ligaments in his left knee. "My career was supposed to be over," he recalled. "I was supposed to walk with a limp and have chronic back problems the rest of my life." 15

Fisk returned in 1975, and the long, lonely hours spent in rehabilitation made a lasting impression on him. Though for years the knee injury hampered his ability to throw out baserunners, he felt that it might have been a blessing. "In some ways, hurting my knee was one of the best things ever to happen to my offseason psyche," Fisk said while still an active player. "Now, everything I do is programmed toward getting ready to play baseball. Before, winter was just a time to have fun hacking around the basketball court." 16 His obsession with conditioning was the secret to his 22-year career in the majors. Though injuries continued to plague him - in his career Fisk spent the equivalent of 5½-plus seasons on the disabled list - he always managed to return, allowing him to catch in 2,226 games, the most in major-league history until topped by Ivan Rodriguez in 2009. "More than the home runs, it's the longevity that stands out as his greatest achievement," said high school coach Silva. 17

Injuries also taught Fisk another facet of the game, as he came to admire players like Jerry Remy, Rick Burleson, and Mike Flanagan, who faced serious career-threatening injuries and battled back, though not always successfully. He also came to fully respect the players who were perhaps not overly blessed with talent, but who made themselves successful through pain and hard work. 18

Fisk's return from the 1974 knee surgery was further delayed in 1975 when he was hit by a pitched ball in a spring-training game, breaking his forearm. Returning to a standing ovation on June 23, 1975, Pudge hit .331 over the remainder of the season to lead the Red Sox to the AL East title. Fisk batted .417 against the Oakland A's in the League Championship Series, but his greatest heroics were yet to come.

Game Six of the 1975 World Series - a must-win game for the Boston Red Sox, down three games to two to the Cincinnati Reds - was a wild, seesaw affair. The Red Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Fred Lynn's three-run homer in the first inning, but the Reds came back and took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth, when Bernie Carbo's pinch-hit, three-run homer tied the game. In the ninth inning, the Red Sox failed to score despite loading the bases with no outs, and the game headed into extra innings with the score knotted, 6-6.

It was 12:33 A.M. by the time Carlton Fisk stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the 12th against Pat Darcy, the eighth Reds pitcher of the night. On Darcy's second pitch, Fisk lofted a high shot down the left-field line. Millions of television viewers watched Fisk wave wildly as he made his way down the first-base line, willing the ball to stay fair. When it glanced off the foul pole - a fair ball - John Kiley, the Fenway Park organist, launched into Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" as Fisk circled the bases in triumph. The home run touched off a celebration throughout New England. In the early-morning stillness of Charlestown, Dave Conant, a lifelong friend of Pudge's, rang the bell of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, the Fisk family church, to celebrate the accomplishment of Charlestown's native son.

Many consider Fisk's game-winning blast the exclamation point on the greatest baseball game ever played. In Game Seven, however, Bill Lee couldn't hold on to another 3-0 lead, and the Reds took the Series with a 4-3 victory. The Red Sox were once again denied their first World Series championship since the 1918 fall classic.

Fisk was named to the AL All-Star team seven times during his tenure in Boston. During one pennant race when his team was battling the Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver said, "The guy they'd hate to lose most, even more than Rice, is Fisk." 19 In determining Fisk's importance, consider that in 1980 the Red Sox were 68-44 when he was behind the plate and 15-33 when he was not. Yet by 1981 Fisk was questioning whether the Red Sox front office really wanted him. Contract negotiations proceeded slowly, when then-general manager Haywood Sullivan blundered by failing to mail his contract on time, rendering Fisk a free agent. Despite his stellar years, including hitting .289 in 131 games in 1980, Fisk began to sense that the Red Sox front office thought he was expendable.

For Fisk the soured contract talks seemed like more evidence that the Red Sox management's commitment to win had wavered. Boston had traded Burleson and Butch Hobson to California in December, followed by Fred Lynn in January, and the team was offering Fisk a contract renewal at less than market value. In Carlton's mind, the effort to win extended beyond the players on the diamond, commitment to excellence was a top-brass requisite as well. Regarding contract renewals, negotiations to Fisk were simple. He'd performed for the Red Sox and performed well. So why should contract renewals be a battle? He felt estranged from the Boston organization.

While the Red Sox offered the free agent Fisk a guaranteed $2 million plus incentives, the perennially noncontending but improving Chicago White Sox offered $3.5 million. For new owners Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf, Fisk's acquisition would create instant credibility. Fisk made the decision to sign with Chicago. Nevertheless, the decision to leave Boston was difficult.

In 1983 the White Sox made their first appearance in the postseason since 1959, and many credited Fisk's work with pitchers Britt Burns, LaMarr Hoyt, and Richard Dotson as the key. Pudge averaged 125 games for Chicago through 1985, when he hit 37 home runs with 107 RBIs. But that year his honeymoon with the White Sox front office ended with a bitter salary dispute, and subsequent re-signings in 1986, 1988, 1991, and 1993 were as smooth as Vermont dirt roads in mud season.

At an age when many former major-leaguer players are collecting well-earned pension benefits, and making appearances at card shows, fantasy camps, or old-timer's games, Fisk continued his quest for personal goals. In August 1990, at age 42, he hit his 328th home run as a catcher, setting a major-league record. His son Casey was there. "I had goosebumps when he hugged his boy at home plate," said White Sox manager Jeff Torborg. "That's a big emotional thing right there. It meant so much to those two and that family." 20

In 1993 Fisk caught his 2,226th game, surpassing Bob Boone as the all-time leader. Then, on June 28, the White Sox released him. The next day, Carlton and Linda Fisk sent a simple but heartfelt message to the Boston faithful. They hired a plane to tow a banner reading, "IT ALL STARTED HERE. THANKS BOSTON FANS. PUDGE FISK." They sent a similar message across the sky over Comiskey Park. 21

Years have come and gone since Fisk last took command of the baseball diamond in 1993, but many specific memories of his playing days will not easily fade. The crucial game in Toronto late in September 1978, when the Red Sox were in the midst of staging their own comeback, winning 12 of their final 14 to force a playoff, serves as an example. In extra innings of a tie game, and playing with broken ribs, Fisk leaped out of his crouch, dove headfirst on the turf to corral a sacrifice-bunt attempt, jumped back to his feet, and fired a bullet to first to nail the runner. The play was instrumental in the eventual Red Sox win. (Fisk received the cracked ribs weeks before while diving over a fence to grab a foul popup.)

Another memory that will endure is the infamous double tag on the same play at the plate in Yankee Stadium in August 1985. Fisk, taking a relay from Ozzie Guillen, tagged out the barreling Bobby Meacham, then spun and tagged and crashed into Dale Berra, as the collision sent them both sprawling to the dirt. It was literally a bang-bang double play, and preserved a seventh-inning-3-3 tie, a match later won by the White Sox in extra innings.

Frequently criticized for pedantic play, Fisk with his slow, deliberate style could sometimes make a federal income-tax refund check seem speedy by comparison. Fisk was known as the vendors' best friend. According to Dave Nightingale of The Sporting News, when he left Boston in the spring of 1981 the chief complainers were the Fenway concessionaires. "Several of them, you see, insisted that the Fiskless Red Sox were playing home games 20 minutes faster in 1981 and that the new brevity was costing them money at the concession stands." 22

And that Fisk home-run trot!! Hands held down, elbows stiff, head high as he rounded the bases in elegant, almost regal demeanor, the trot could be seen as arrogant to his opponents. "If you could only teach him to run differently, people wouldn't dislike him," said Milwaukee manager Del Crandall. 23 But his teammates knew differently and saw it simply as a manifestation of Fisk's own pride and respect for the game.

Said Roger Angell in his 1988 book, Season Ticket, "No catcher of our time looks more imperious than Carlton Fisk, and none, I think, has so impressed his style and mannerisms on our sporting consciousness: his cutoff, bib-sized chest protector above those elegant Doric legs; his ritual pause in the batter's box to inspect the label on his upright bat before he steps in for good; the tipped back mask balanced on top of his head as he stalks to the mound to consult his pitcher; the glove held akimbo on his left hip during a pause in the game. He is six-three, with a long back, and when he comes straight up out of the chute to make a throw to second base, you sometimes have the notion that you're watching an aluminum extension ladder stretching for the house eaves. ..." 24

Among the 13 Hall of Fame catchers for whom numbers are available (complete statistics don't exist for Negro Leaguers Josh Gibson, Biz Mackey, or Louis Santop), Carlton Fisk ranks first in total games caught, at-bats, hits, runs scored, and doubles; second in total home runs and putouts; and third in RBIs; and is tied for fourth in fielding percentage. Fisk's 128 stolen bases for modern Hall of Fame catchers are second only to Ray Schalk's 176. He was an 11-time All-Star. The White Sox retired his number 72 in 1997, the same year he was elected to the Red Sox Hall of Fame. Fisk's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame was almost a foregone conclusion, but it was made official in January 2000.

After some delay, Fisk provided the answer to a difficult question by announcing that he would wear a Red Sox cap into the Hall, even though he spent 13 years with the White Sox and only nine full seasons with the Red Sox. "I would like to say that this has always been my favorite hat, and I will be wearing this hat probably for the rest of my career," said the man who worked at the time as a special assistant to Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette. At that same press conference, Duquette told a surprised Fisk that the team had decided to retire his number 27. "I didn't think I met the criteria," said Fisk. "It gives me goosebumps to think about it. I didn't think it was at all possible." 25 In the past, the Red Sox had stated that they would retire a number only for a player who is in the Hall, spent at least 10 years with the team, and finished his career in Boston. Duquette, by hiring Fisk, ensured that he was finishing his career with the Red Sox. In formal ceremonies during 2005, the left-field foul pole was officially named the Fisk Pole.

Fisk is proud of attaining the success he enjoyed, and particularly so coming from a small town of under 1,000 people, with 43 in his graduating class, and playing less than 100 games as an amateur. And Fisk was never hesitant about showing his appreciation to the people he knew from the area. A favorite trick to get his attention before or after a game would be to yell, "Hey Charlestown!!" or "Hey, Pudgie!!" Carlton's inevitable response would be to find the source, since that meant there was a native in the midst. Both his high-school coach, Ralph Silva, and Legion coach, Tim Ryan, have recounted that if Fisk knew they were in the stands, he would invite them and their families into the locker room to chat and meet the other players.

After being hired by Duquette in 1999, Fisk remained a Red Sox employee, doing promotional and marketing work for the team. He is considered to be a terrific baseball ambassador by the club. But aside from his appearances for the Red Sox, Carlton's most important, enjoyable and rewarding role is being a grandfather. If fact if you were to ask Fisk about his proudest accomplishment, it would not involve baseball. To that question he once responded, "Probably to have a wife and kids who still call me 'Dad' and love me and kiss me when I'm going and kiss me when I'm coming." 26 Said Pam Kenn of the Red Sox, "He is the ultimate family man - he just adores his kids and grandkids." 27

Though Carlton Fisk will always be remembered for his dramatic home run in the 1975 Series, the incident that best defined how he played the game came on an otherwise unmemorable night in 1990 when Deion Sanders, then a rookie with the New York Yankees, failed to run out an infield popup. The next time "Neon Deion" came to the plate, the 42-year-old Fisk growled, "Listen to me, you piece of [recycled waste material]. Next time run it out." 28

Even though Sanders played for the opposition - and the hated Yankees at that - he'd violated the Fisk Code of Baseball Ethics. Thou shalt hustle. Thou shalt run it out. To Fisk, the proper way to play the game was always important - with passion, preparation, hard work, integrity, respect - and he constantly tried to inspire others to do the same. Traditional New England values, as taught him by his parents, were the source of Carlton Fisk's motivation and the basis for his longevity and exceptional accomplishments. He acquired those values on the family farm in Charlestown, and they propelled him to Cooperstown.
Last revised: January 25, 2015.
In addition to the sources cited, the author also drew on materials provided by the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.
Notes
1 Interview with Ralph Silva, Claremont, New Hampshire, May 1998.

3 Interview with Ken Campbell, April 1998.

5 Interview with Tim Ryan, April 1998.

14 Ken Rappaport, Associated Press, August 2, 1973.

19 Thomas Boswell, Washington Post, published in the Trenton Evening Times , July 2, 1978.

27 Interview with Pam Kenn, Boston Red Sox, October 30, 2014.

28 Thomas Boswell, Washington Post, reprinted in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 26, 1990.

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Born in Bellows Falls, Vermont, on December 26, 1947, Carlton Fisk embodies traditional New England values like pride, ruggedness, and individuality. Those virtues were what the late Boston Red Sox public relations director Dick Bresciani was trying to capture in 1997 when he wrote that Fisk was a "native of Vermont" on his original plaque for the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

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When I browsed the files of the Merrimack Historical Society a year ago, I found a yellowed newspaper clipping describing a remarkable woman whom I had never heard of. The people I write about on this blog are interesting in their own way, but mostly they come from a fairly conservative mold. Maggie broke hers. She is a lovely role model-a bold woman who has pursued her dreams.

She was born in Nashua, and grew up on the Parker homestead on Boston Post Road in South Merrimack, New Hampshire. She attended the local schools, then continued her education at Keene State College (Bachelor's Degree) and Boston University (Master of Education in School Administration).

She loved to both teach and to perform. From Grange shows in Merrimack to the Hudson Players she managed to find time for both. She taught in, and managed school in New Hampshire and on Cape Cod. Then she was hired by the Air Force to run schools in Japan and later Madrid, Spain and Mallorca. Her focus shifted to the needs of emotionally disturbed children and young adults.

She moved to California, taking a position as assistant professor of education at California State College, in Los Angeles-Summer Term. There she married and moved to Hawaii in 1964. While there she was able to land the role of May, a secretary to actor Jack Lord, in the then-popular Hawaii-Five-O television series.

She also performed in a variety of other television shows (I Dream of Jeannie ), movies (I Sailed to Tahiti with an All-Girl Crew, Hawaii, and Paradise Hawaiian Style ) and other television and radio appearances, commercials and roles in local theatrical productions. She didn't give up her educational career, being co-founder and partner in the Parker-Ames Center in Honolulu, which offered psychological and educational services to emotionally disturbed children and young adults.

For many years she has assisted the Hawaiian Royal family in a variety of roles. She was on the board of directors of Friends of Iolani Palace, working on the restoration of the palace. She was a member of the board of the Kawananakoa Foundation under Harriet Sylvester aka Lanihau Makekau when she was raising money for Iolani Palace. In 1970 she stopped in Merrimack, New Hampshire with Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kawananakoa on their way to England to locate heirlooms that had been previously auctioned off.

At the young age of 86 she has not yet retired. She continues to consult three days a week at the Abigail K. Kawananakoa Foundation in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Maggi is a 10 th generation descendant of Deacon Thomas & Amy Parker of Lynn and Wakefield, Massachusetts who immigrated in 1635 on the ship "Susan and Ellen." She is also a 7 th generation descendant of William & Elizabeth (Boyd) Patterson He came from the parish of Priestland, town of Glenlace, county of Antrim Ireland to Londonderry NH about the year 1724 and settled on Patterson's Hill. See her PARKER GENEALOGY below.

I had the great privilege to speak with her recently by telephone and to insure this article is accurate. She exudes energy, personality and class. Aloha.
--PARKER FAMILY GENEALOGY--
Deacon Thomas-1 Parker, son of John & Jane (Bates) Parker b. 31 March 1609 in England [either Little Norton, Derbyshire, or Brownsholme, Wiltshire; and d. 12 Aug 1683 in Reading, Middlesex Co. MA. He immigrated in 1635 on the ship "Susan and Ellen", Edward Payne, Master. He stopped first in Lynn MA; He was made a freeman 17 May 1637, and was one of the first settlers of Reading MA. He married Dec 1635 in Lynn, Essex Co MA to Amy -. She was born 1609 in England and d. 15 Jan 1689/90 in Reading MA. The Parker homestead of 23 acres upland, orchard and meadow was on a knoll a few rods northeast of the present Town Hall in Wakefield MA. At the time of his death he owned at least 228 acres, and was able to bequeath large farms to his sons. He was a deacon from the time the Reading church was organized until his death, a period of nearly 40 years. He was a selectman in 1661, 1665, 1665, 1667 and 1669. He was a commissioner with Deacons Cowdrey and Kendall to end small causes. His name appears in several petitions addressed to the General Court by leading citizens. His burial stone is the oldest in the cemetery of the First Parish, now Wakefield:

---------
Children of Dea. Thomas & Amy (?) Parker:
1. +Thomas Parker, b. 1636 in Lynn, Essex Co. MA
2. Hananiah Parker, b. 1638 Lynn MA; m. Elizabeth Brown, dau of Nicholas; m2) widow, Mrs Mary Bright.
3. John Parker, b. 1640 Lynn MA; m. Hannah Kendall
4. Joseph Parker, b. 1640, died young
5. Joseph Parker (2), b. 1645 Lynn MA, died young
6. Mary Parker, b. 12 Dec 1647 Lynn MA
7. Martha Parker, b. 14 March 1648/49 Lynn MA
8. Nathaniel Parker, b. 16 May 1651 Lynn MA; m. Bethiah Polly
9. Sarah Parker, b. 30 Sep 1653 Lynn MA, died young
10. Jonathan Parker, b. 18 May 1656 Lynn MA; d. 1680 in the service during King Phillip's Indian War
11. Sarah Parker (2), b. 23 May 1658 Lynn MA

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Thomas-2 Parker, son of Deacon Thomas & Amy (?) Parker, b. 1636 in Lynn MA; d. 9 June 1699 in Reading MA; m.13 Nov 1667 in Reading MA to Deborah Kibbe. She was born 7 Nov 1647 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents were Edward Kibbe and Mary Partridge.
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Children of Thomas & Deborah (Kibbe) Parker:
1. Thomas Parker, b. 9 Aug 1668 Reading, Middlesex Co. MA
2. Samuel Parker, b. 26 March 1670 Reading MA
3. Sarah Parker, b. 28 Feb 1672 Reading MA
4. Deborah Parker, b. 15 Aug 1674 Reading MA
5. Jonathan Parker, b. 4 Nov 1678 Reading MA
6. Elizabeth Parker, b. 25 June 1681 Reading MA
7. Abigail Parker, b. 11 Aug 1683 Reading MA
8. Ruth Parker, b. 22 Apr 1686 Reading MA
9. + Joseph Parker, b. 23 Nov 1688 Reading MA

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Joseph-3 Parker, son of Thomas & Deborah (Kibbe) Parker; b. 23 Nov 1688 in Reading, MA and d. 2 Feb 1752 in Reading MA; m. 6 April 1711 in Reading MA to Elizabeth Eaton, dau of Jonathan & Elizabeth (Burnap) Eaton of Reading MA. She b. 25 Feb 1687/68 and d. 27 Nov 1767 in her 80th year (gravestone record). Middlesex MA probate records, vol xiii, p. 124 show a document of Jonathan Eaton, brother to Elizabeth, and that her husband "John Pool and Joseph Parker, both of sd. Reading, who married the two sisters of the Dec,d...."
-----
Children of Joseph & Elizabeth (Eaton) Parker:
1. Sarah Parker, b. 5 Sep 1713 in Reading MA
2. + Joseph Parker, b. 10 Apr 1717 in Reading MA
3. Elizabeth Parker, b. 20 Oct 1719 in Reading MA
4. Jonathan Parker, b. 24 July 1724 in Reading MA
5. Ephraim Parker, b. 31 March 1728 in Reading MA; m1) 1749 Ruth Bancroft; m2) 1752 Rebecca Temple; 1785 to Sarah -.

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Joseph-4 Parker, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Eaton) Parker, who was b. 10 Apr 1717 in Reading MA; m. 22 Sep 1743 in Reading, Middlesex Co MA to Mary Walton, daughter of John Walton.
---------
Children of Joseph & Mary (Walton) Parker:
1. +Joseph Parker, b. 3 July 1744 Reading MA
2. Mary Parker, b. 1745
3.+Isaac Parker, b. 16 March 1746 Reading MA
4. Elizabeth Parker, b. 1753
5. Catharine Parker, b. 1757

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Joseph-5 Parker, son of Joseph & Mary (Walton) Parker, b. 3 July 1744 Reading MA; m. 30 Nov 1769 to Jerusha Mcintier [sic McIntire], dau of John & Lois (Upton) McIntire, and sister to Eunice, who married Joseph's brother Isaac. She b. abt 1749.
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Children of Joseph & Jerusha (McIntire) Parker:
1. Joseph Parker, b. 28 Aug 1770 Reading MA
2. Jerusha Parker, b. 25 Oct 1771 Reading MA; m. 8 Dec 1785 in Reading MA to John Nichols. Had issue [NICHOLS]: John, Jerusha, Bethia, Clarissa, Luther and Nancy.
3. Lucretia Parker, b. 20 June 1773 Reading MA
4. Mary Parker, b. 25 Feb 1775 Reading MA
5. Lois Parker, b. 1 July 1780 Reading MA

Isaac-5 Parker, son of Joseph & Mary (Walton) Parker b. 16 March 1746 Reading MA; d. -; m. 19 June 1783 in Lynn MA to Eunice McIntire/Macentire, dau of John & Lois (Upton) McIntire [although another source says David & Eunice (Hayward) McIntire Jr.] She was the great grand-daughter of Philip McIntire of Scotland who d 1719 in Reading MA, a Scots prisoner sold into servitude in 1650, arriving on the ship "Unity." [A Eunice Macentire, dau of David & Eunice was bap 1752 in Reading MA.]
-------
Children of Isaac & Eunice (McIntire) Parker:
1. + Isaac Parker Jr., b. 4 Aug 1784 in Reading, Middlesex Co. MA
2. Eunice Parker, b. 6 June 1786
3. Amos Parker, b. 7 Oct 1788
4. Betsy Parker, b. 4 Feb 1791
5. Haven Parker, b. 12 May 1793
6. Ephraim Parker, b. 7 Sep 1795 in Amherst, Hillsborough Co. NH; d. 26 June 1886 Bedford NH; m. 16 July 1826 to Rebecca Dowse, dau of Benjamin & Rebecca (Marshall) Dowse. She b. 5 Apr 1796 in Billerica MA and d. 28 Nov 1851
7. Polly Parker, b. 2 Nov 1798, d. 4 Nov 1798 Bedford NH

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Isaac-6 Parker, Jr., son of Isaac & Eunice (McIntire) Parker, b. 4 Aug 1784 in Reading, Middlesex Co. MA, and died before 1850 probably in Amherst NH; m. 6 Feb 1816 in Merrimack NH to Nancy Dows/Dowse, dau of Benjamin & Abigail (Frost) Dows/Dowse Jr. She b. 6 Oct 1788 in Billerica, Middlesex Co. MA; bapt 12 Oct 1788 same place. She d. 6 May 1864 in Amherst, Hillsborough Co. NH. After her husband's death, Nancy lived with her son Isaac in Amherst NH, as shown in both 1850 and 1860 U.S. Census records.
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Children of Isaac Parker & Nancy (Dows) Parker, Jr.:
1. Jonathan Parker, b. 14 March 1818 in Amherst, Hillsborough Co. NH, d. 19 Oct 1850
2. Nancy Parker, b. abt 1820 Amherst NH, prob. died young
3. + Isaac Parker Jr. b. 10 June 1822 in Amherst NH
4. Nancy J. Parker, b. 11 Feb 1825 Amherst NH; d. Milford NH; m. 14 Nov 1850 to Rodney Howard, son of Henry & Polly (Odell) Howard; He b. 20 March 1817 in Amherst NH. Had children [HOWARD]: Charles Rodney, b. 1851 and Ada L. b 1864; res. Amherst NH
5. Joseph Parker, b. 14 June 1828 in Amherst NH; d. Nov 1833 in Amherst NH

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Isaac-7 Parker, son of Isaac and Nancy (Dows) Parker; b. 10 June 1822 in Amherst NH and d. 3 Aug 1882 in Amherst, Hillsborough Co. NH. He married 30 July 1857 in Amherst NH to Julia P. Hodgman, dau of George & Mary (Parker) Hodgman. She b. 30 June 1834 in Bedford, Hillsborough Co. NH. [census says b. Massachusetts] Resided in Amherst NH
--------
1850 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Amherst > 23
Isaac Parker 28 M Farmer 2000 NH
Jonathan Parker 34 M Laborer NH
Nancy Parker 62 F NH
Eunice Parker 66 F NH
Amos Parker 62 M no occupation NH
Nancy J. Parker 25 F. NH
--------
1860 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Amherst > 27
Isaac Parker 27 M Farmer 2500 1000 NH
Julia H. Parker 26 F wife Mass
George E. Parker 1 M NH
Amos Parker 72 M Laborer Mass
Eunice Parker 74 F Spinsters Mass
Nancy Parker 71 Widow Mass
--------
1870 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Amherst > 2
Parker, Isaac 45 M W Farmer 2500/1000 NH
Parker, Julia 36 F W Keeping House Massachusetts
Parker, George E. 11 M W at home NH
Parker, Fred H. 8 M W at home NH
--------
1880 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Amherst > District 104 > 6
Parker, Isaac W M 57 Farmer NH Mass Mass
Parker, Julia h. 44 F wife Keeping House Mass Mass NH
Parker, Fred H. W M 18 son farm laborer NH NH Mass
--------
Children of Isaac & Julia P. (Hodgman) Parker:
1. + George Edwin Parker, b. 6 Nov 1859 in Amherst NH
2. +Fred H. Parker, b. 4 July 1861 in Amherst NH; m. 14 Jan 1885 in Groton MA to Alice Fanny Holden, dau of Charles H. & Lorenza M. (Stevens) Holden. She b. 8 March 1861 in Groton, Middlesex Co. MA.

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

George Edwin-8 Parker, son of Isaac & Julia P. (Hodgman) Parker, was b. 6 Nov 1859 in Amherst NH. He married 27 Jan 1886 in Amherst NH to Mary Ann Atkinson, dau of Robert & Annie (Bethel) Atkinson. She b. 6 Feb 1866 in Philadelphia PA.
------------
Children of George E. & Mary A. (Atkinson) Parker:
1. George Atkinson Parker, b. 30 Oct 1886 in Amherst NH
2. +Charles Richards Parker, b. 18 Jan 1889 Amherst NH
3. Annie Julia Parker, b. 30/31 March 1890 Amherst NH; m. Ralph Claude Bills, he b. May 23, 1889, Amherst, New Hampshire; d. June 24, 1959, Amherst, New Hampshire
4. Forest Grover Parker, b. 31 May 1892 Amherst NH; m. 23 Oct 1915 in Somerville MA to Lillian Grace Rogers; resided 123 Brooks St., Medford MA, he was employed Chamberlain & Co. Inc. 24 S. Market St. Boston MA.
5. Elizabeth "Lizzie" M. Parker, b. 14 Apr 1894 Amherst NH
6. Willard Howard Parker, b. 5 Aug 1897 Amherst NH; On 8 Oct 1942 he registered for the WWII Draft indicating he was single without dependents, had two years of high school and worked in a hotel.
7. Leroy "Roy" Parker, b 27 Oct 1905 Amherst NH, d. April 1986 in West Palm Beach FL; m. 12 April 1925 in Merrimack NH to Edith F. Thibodeau, dau of Maurice & Julia (Lavoie) Thibodeau. She b abt 1906 ? Rumney NH. Ch: Edwin S. (b abt 1928) Beverly A (b abt 1930) and Elizabeth M. (b abt 1932). Resided in Amherst NH.

Fred H. Parker, son of Isaac & Julia P. (Hodgman) Parker b. 4 July 1861 in Amherst NH, and died before 1927 when his wife is shown a widow in the local directory; m. 14 Jan 1885 in Groton MA to Alice Fanny Holden, dau of Charles H. & Lorenza M. (Stevens) Holden. She b. 8 March 1861 in Groton, Middlesex Co. MA; resided Baboosic Road, Merrimack NH.
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Children of Fred H. & Alice F. (Holden) Parker:
1. Wilbert Fred Parker, b. 2 Sep 1890 Amherst NH; d. September 1978, Amherst NH. He was a member of the Souhegan Grange;
2. +Clyde Holden Parker, b. 19 July 1894, d. August 1971 in Manchester NH

=====NEXT GENERATION=====

Charles Richard-9 Parker, son of George Edwin & Mary Ann (Atkinson) Parker, was b. 18 Jan 1889 in Amherst, Hillsborough Co. NH, and died April 1986 in Claremont, Sullivan Co. NH He married by 1915 to Susanne/Susan "Susie" Belle Patterson. She b. April 1888 in Merrimack NH, dau of George E. & Anna M. (Foster) Patterson [He b June 1837. He m1) 24 Nov 1867 in Dorchester, Grafton Co. NH to Bertha P. (Youngman) Roberts; he m2) 15 May 1878 in Rumney, Grafton Co. NH to Anna M. Foster].and died October 1968 in Merrimack NH. In 1920 residing in South Merrimack NH. He was employed for many years at the Nashua Bleachery (Indian Head Mills), and was a member of the Souhegan Grange for 60 years, once master. He was caretaker for both the South Congregational Church and the parish house.
----------
1900 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Amherst > District 76 > 14
Parker, George E. W M Nov 1859 41 married 13 yrs NH NH MA Farmer
Parker, Mary A wife W F Feb 1866 34 married 13 yrs 6 ch 6 living PA Engl Engl
Parker, George A. son W M Oct 1886 13 single NH NH PA
Parker, Charles B. son W M Jan 1889 11 single NH NH PA
Parker, Annie J. dau W F March 1890 10 single NH NH PA
Parker, Forest A son W M May 1892 8 single NH NH PA
Parker, Lizzie M. dau W F Apr 1894 6 single NH NH PA
Parker, Willard H son W M Aug 1898 2 single NH NH PA
----------
1920 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Merrimack > District 80 > 16
Parker, Charles R. Head M W 30 M NH NH PA farmer, home farm
Parker, Susan wife F W 31 married NH [b abt 1889]
Parker, Richard P. son M W 5 single NH
Parker, Lois A dau F W 2-11/12 single NH
Parker, Forest E. son M W 1-4/12 single NH
Patterson, George E. father-in-law M W 83 widow NH Scotland Massachusetts
----------
1930 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Merrimack > District 79 > 2
Parker, Charles R. Head 3000 M W 40 married at age 23 NH NH NH Laborer
Parker, Susan B. wife F W 42 married at age 25 NH NH NH
Parker, Richard P. son M W 15 single NH NH NH
Parker, Lois A. dau F W 13 single NH NH NH
Parker, Forest E. son M W 11 single NH NH NH
Parker, Marjorie dau F W 3-1/2 single NH NH NH [b 1926-27]
-----------
Children of Charles R. & Susanne/Susan B. (Patterson) Parker:
1. Elizabeth M. Parker, b. and d. 1914, on stone in Reed's Cemetery, Merrimack NH]
2. Richard Patterson Parker, b. 1914 NH; d. 1940 [?twin]
3. Lois Ann Parker, b. 9 Feb 1917 in Merrimack, Hillsborough Co. NH, and d. 31 Aug 1997 in Claremont Sullivan Co. NH; housewife in Claremont NH; She m 14 June 1947 in Merrimack, Hillsborough Co. NH to Roscoe Wilson Brown, son of Wilson Grant & Arcada Zella (Foster) Brown. He was b.6 May 1908 in Woodsville NH and d. April 1977 in Claremont NH. They had one child, Richard Wilson Brown who resides in Bow NH.
4. Horace E. Parker, b. and d. 1918, [on stone in Reed's Cemetery, Merrimack NH.]
5. Forrest E. Parker, b. 18 Sep 1918 NH, d. 24 Nov 1993, age 75, in Norwalk, Fairfield Co. CT; he married Doris A. Heath, dau of Apthorp & Marion (Collins) Heath of Boston MA. She b. 23 Nov 1920 in MA and died Sep 1983 in Norwalk CT; He was asst. superintendent of (manual arts) teachers in Norwalk CT, completed 5 yrs of college; resided 19 Winnepauk Drive, Norwalk CT; 2 daughters, Wendy and Nancy.
6.+Marjorie "Maggi"-10 Parker, b. 1927 in Nashua NH. [ SEE ARTICLE ABOVE]

Clyde Holden Parker, son of Fred H. & Alice F. (Holden) Parker, b. 19 July 1894, d. August 1971 in Manchester NH. He married abt 1922 to Lucy Sanborn, daughter of Albert Fellows Sanborn. She b. abt 1897 in NH. Lived on Hall Street in Manchester NH. Was a clerk in a cotton mill, and later a bank clerk.
-------
1930 US Census > New Hampshire > Hillsborough > Manchester > District 28 > 6
Parker, Clyde H. Head 4500 M W 38 married at age 27 NH NH NH clerk office cotton mill
Parker, Lucy S. wife F W 33 married at age 25 NH NH NH
Parker, Robert S., son M W 5 single NH
Parker, Audrey L. dau F W 2 single NH
Sanborn, Albert S., father in law M W 68 widow m age 30 nh nh nh
-------
Children of Clyde H. & Lucy (Sanborn) Parker:
1. Robert S. Parker, b 17 Dec 1924 Manchester NH; d. 14 Feb 2008 Bradford, Penobscot Co. Maine.
2. Audrey L. Parker, b. abt 1928 Manchester NH

=====ADDITIONAL READING======

Biography: Maggi Parker on Merrimack Historical Society web site.

Maggi Parker: The Hawaii-Five-O Fan Club (a bit outdated but fun to read) http://www.hawaiifive0.org/jan01.shtml

Kingdom of Hawaii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hawaii

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Merrimack New Hampshire Educator and Actress: Marjorie "Maggi" Blanche Parker (1927-still living)

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When I browsed the files of the Merrimack Historical Society a year ago, I found a yellowed newspaper clipping describing a remarkable woman whom I had never heard of. The people I write about on this blog are interesting in their own way, but mostly they come from a fairly conservative mold.

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Tethered to a robot arm and hovering more than 350 miles above the Earth, Richard "Rick" Linnehan tried to whistle while he attached a new high-tech solar panel to the Hubble Space Telescope.

It was an impossible task: the low pressure of his NASA-issued spacesuit made it impossible for the adjunct assistant professor in NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine to get anything out of his helmet-hindered pucker.

So he spent more than seven hours in silence on March 4, 2002, working with fellow astronaut John Grunsfeld to attach fancy new fold-out solar panels that gave the Hubble 30% more power to see deep into the universe.

It was the first ever spacewalk for the veteran NASA veterinarian, who served as both a guinea pig, construction crew and designated spacewalker during his time as a NASA mission specialist. He eventually went on four shuttle missions, spent more than 59 days in space and set the NASA record with more than 42 hours in extravehicular activity (spacewalks). He made three shuttle trips on Columbia (1996, 1998 and 2002) and one on Endeavor (2008).

He once conducted a class for NC State CVM from the European Space Agency's Spacelab on Columbia and, on the last of his four shuttle missions, helped in the construction of the International Space Station where three-time NC State graduate Christina Hammock Koch is currently on a year-long mission.

How, you may ask, did a dolphin doc go to space? Linnehan has answered that question thousands of times.

"I was lucky," he says.

Linnehan spent more than 59 days in space - and more than 42 hours spacewalking.

In the 1990s, NASA was preparing to build the International Space Station with thoughts of having a number of animal experiments in space once it was completed. The space agency put out a call for its first veterinarian astronaut in 1992 and Linnehan, the chief clinical veterinarian for the U.S. Navy's Marine Mammal Program, was selected as part of NASA Astronaut Group 14.

"At the time, they were looking for pilots and for people with advance degrees in engineering and life sciences to be mission specialists," Linnehan said in a 2017 interview. "They were looking for people with backgrounds in geology, physics, astronomy, medicine and veterinary medicine.

"The pilots are always the cream of the crop from the Army, Navy and Marines, but I also had the life science background and military training."

Linnehan graduated from New Hampshire with a B.S. in animal sciences in 1980 and a doctor of veterinary medicine from Ohio State in 1985. He did a two-year internship in exotic animal medicine and comparative pathology at the Baltimore Zoo and Johns Hopkins until 1988. He was then commissioned as a U.S. Army officer, before going to San Diego to the Naval Ocean Systems Center.

He flew his first shuttle mission in 1996, just before he joined NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine as an adjunct assistant professor of aquatics, wildlife and zoo medicine. In 1998, he traveled on the space shuttle Columbia back into space as a payload commander, becoming the first astronaut connected to NC State in space.

By the early 2000s, NASA's plans with animals changed, but as a veteran traveler Linnehan continued his role as a mission specialist. On March 4, 2002, he made his first spacewalk, working with Grunsfeld on the Hubble.

In his final trip, on Endeavor, he participated in three EVAs with three different spacewalkers.

Linnehan is still an adjunct professor at NC State and has had a similar position at Texas A&M since 2010.

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Tethered to a robot arm and hovering more than 350 miles above the Earth, Richard "Rick" Linnehan tried to whistle while he attached a new high-tech solar panel to the Hubble Space Telescope.

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Astronaut Alan Shepard was the first American in space.

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Legends Award Category: Voice
Year Inducted: 2003

In 1948, as a favor for songwriter friends Mack David and Jerry Livingston, Ilene Woods recorded "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and "So This Is Love." She didn't know that Walt Disney would hear the demo recordings and hire her as the title voice of his upcoming animated feature Cinderella "I learned a very good lesson," she later recalled. "Never pass up doing a good deed for friends!"

Born May 5, 1929, Ilene had wanted to become a schoolteacher. Her mother, however, guided her toward a singing and radio career and by 11, she starred in her own show which aired in her hometown of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. By 1944, she had her own weekly radio show on the ABC Network in New York City.

During World War II, she toured with the United States Army Air Forces Orchestra and many Hollywood stars, promoting war bonds. Because of her appearances for the USO, as well as at army and navy hospitals, she was invited to sing for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his Hyde Park home Christmas party and for President Harry S. Truman at the White House the following year.

By the time she was 18, Ilene had worked with Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, and Paul Whiteman. She was a featured performer on Jack Carson's Sealtest Village Store, when selected from a field of nearly 400 hopefuls to voice Cinderella. During recording sessions, Walt would drop by to offer suggestions, including asking Ilene if she could harmonize with herself on "Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale."

She recalled, "It was such a beautiful sequence-Cinderella scrubbing the floor and each time a soap bubble would rise with another image of Cinderella, so would another voice. When we heard the finished product, Walt kidded, 'How about that? All of these years I've been paying three salaries for the Andrews Sisters, when I could have only paid one for you!'"

Walt once admitted to Ilene she was his favorite of the Disney heroines. She recalled, "Once I went into his office and he said to me, 'You're my favorite heroine, you know.' I said, 'You mean Cinderella?' 'Yes,' he said, 'there's something about that story I associate with.'

"I think it was the rags-to-riches tale," she says. "Of course, then I didn't know how many times Walt had risked it all to realize his dreams."

After Cinderella, Ilene moved into television, appearing on The Steve Allen Show, The Gary Moore Show, and Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. During The Gary Moore Show, Ilene met her husband-to-be, Ed Shaughnessy, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show drummer, and raised two sons with him.

"Those were the happiest years of my life," she would later say.

In 1985, Ilene launched a new career as a portrait artist; she especially loved painting children's portraits.

On February 12, 2001, she appeared at a Cinderella Ball celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the motion picture, held at Disneyland. On her birthday the following May, Ilene Woods united with the voice of Sleeping Beauty, fellow Legend Mary Costa, for a Cinderella Birthday Ball held in Knoxville, Tennessee, benefiting Childhelp U.S.A.

Ilene Woods passed away on July 1, 2010, in Canoga Park, California.

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Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2003 In 1948, as a favor for songwriter friends Mack David and Jerry Livingston, Ilene Woods recorded "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and "So This Is Love."

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Jeanne Shaheen, née Cynthia Jeanne Bowers, (born January 28, 1947, St. Charles, Missouri, U.S.), American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2008 and began representing New Hampshire the following year. She was the first woman to serve as governor of the state (1997-2003).

Shaheen grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, where her father managed a shoe factory and her mother worked as a church secretary. In 1969 she earned a bachelor's degree at Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University) in Pennsylvania. She then attended the University of Mississippi, and while a student there she taught high school. In 1972 she married Bill Shaheen, and the couple later had three children. After receiving a master's degree in 1973, she moved to New Hampshire, where she started a jewelry business with her husband and continued to teach.

Shaheen became active in politics, and in 1976 she worked on Democrat Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. Four years later she was Carter's campaign manager in the state. In 1990 she successfully ran for a seat in the state Senate, serving until 1996, when she was elected governor. When she took office in 1997, Shaheen became the first woman in New Hampshire history to hold that post. She was reelected in 1998 and 2000.

After leaving the governorship in 2003, Shaheen ran for the U.S. Senate but was defeated by John E. Sununu. She then served as national chair of John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. In 2005 she became director of the Institute of Politics in the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. Shaheen held the post until 2007, when she launched another bid for the Senate. In the 2008 general election she defeated Sununu, and she took office the following year. Shaheen successfully defended her seat in 2014 against former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown, who had moved to New Hampshire to challenge her.

Shaheen was widely considered a moderate Democrat who was pragmatic and willing to reevaluate her position on various issues. As governor, she twice ran on a promise not to raise taxes, but she abandoned that stance in her second reelection effort on the grounds that it would be fiscally imprudent; in her third term she supported the introduction of a statewide sales tax to improve the state's financial position and advocated increased spending on education. In a similar vein, she reversed her opposition to same-sex marriage after entering the Senate, where she championed rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. She also supported such key pieces of legislation as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In addition, Shaheen was involved in veterans affairs, and she sought to lessen the burden of college students holding federal loans.

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Jeanne Shaheen, American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2008 and began representing New Hampshire the following year. She was the first woman to serve as governor of the state (1997-2003). Shaheen grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, where her father

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Robert Frost is considered one of the foremost American poets of the twentieth century. Through his imagery of nature and life in rural New England, Frost explored fundamental questions about man's existence. He became America's favorite and most beloved poet, winning both popular and critical acclaim during his lifetime.

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Sperry spent about two years in that archipelago, learning and developing a profound appreciation for the language, legends, heroic sagas, and ancient chants. He was there when vanilla bean trade brought sudden prosperity and "civilization" to the island, and also when a hurricane wiped out much of it.

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Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy de-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had written and/or illustrated over 270 books, including Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. Nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold.

His newest books are Quiet, Wings, by Cheryl B. Klein, and I WILL TALK TO YOU, LITTLE ONE, by Phyllis E. Grann. FIGHT THE NIGHT, first published in 1968, was published in a new edition this spring as was GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS GOOD, by Sanna Anderson Baker, first published in 1987 (former title: WHO'S A FRIEND OF THE WATER-SPURTING WHALE?).

2015 marked Tomie dePaola's 60th year as a professional artist, and 50th year as an illustrator of children's books. 2015 was also the 40th anniversary of the publication of Strega Nona.

Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934, dePaola received his BFA from Pratt Insitute in Brooklyn, New York, and his MFA from the California College of Arts in Oakland, California. He received his doctoral equivalency in fine arts from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco.

In addition to writing and illustrating children's books, dePaola taught for several years in art and theater departments in colleges in California, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

DePaola had received many awards, including the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota, the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, a prestigious distinction in writing by a New Englander.

He was also the United States nominee in 1990 for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in illustration. The American Library Association named Strega Nona a Caldecott Honor Book, and 26 Fairmount Avenue a Newbery Honor Book. He was the 2011 Children's Literature Legacy Award recipient (called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award until June, 2018) for "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." He received the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

The University of Connecticut, Georgetown University, and Pratt Institute, among others, have granted him honorary doctoral degrees. Pratt Institute, in 2012, named him "one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time." In 1999, he was selected for the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Tomie dePaola lived in New Hampshire, and worked in a 200-year-old renovated barn. He died on March 30, 2020.

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Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy de-POW-la) was best known for his books for children. He had written and/or illustrated over 270 books, including Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. Nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold.

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Tomie dePaola (b. 1934) is acclaimed as an award-winning children's author and illustrator, with more than 200 books to his credit. In addition to illustrating all of these books, dePaola is also the author of more than a quarter of them. In his art, his stories, and his interviews, Tomie dePaola comes across as a man filled with a love of humanity and joie de vivre.

Fast Facts

Born: September 15, 1934

By the age of four, Tomie dePaola knew he wanted to be an artist. At the age of 31, dePaola illustrated his first picture book. Since 1965, he has published at least one book a year, and generally four to six books annually.

Much of what we know about Tomie dePaola's early life comes from the author's own books. In fact, his series of beginning chapter books are based on his childhood. Known as 26 Fairmount Avenue books, they include "26 Fairmount Avenue" (which received a 2000 Newbery Honor Award), "Here We All Are," and "On My Way."

Tomie came from a loving family of Irish and Italian backgrounds. He had an older brother and two younger sisters. His grandmothers were an important part of his life. Tomie's parents supported his desire to be an artist and to perform on stage.

Education and Training

When Tomie expressed an interest in taking dance lessons, he was immediately enrolled, even though it was unusual for a young boy to take dance lessons at that time. In his picture book " Oliver Button is a Sissy," dePaola uses the bullying that he experienced because of the lessons as the basis for the story. The emphasis in Tomie's family was on enjoying home, school, family, and friends, and embracing personal interests and talents.

DePaola received a BFA from Pratt Institute and an MFA from the California College of Arts & Crafts. Between college and graduate school, he spent a brief time in a Benedictine monastery. DePaola taught art and/or theater design at the college level from 1962 through 1978 before devoting himself full-time to children's literature.

Literary Awards and Accomplishments

Tomie dePaola's work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a 1976 Caldecott Honor Book Award for his picture book "Strega Nona." The title character, whose name means "Grandma Witch" is apparently very loosely based on Tomie's Italian grandmother. DePaola received the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award as the 1999 Living Treasure for the entire body of his work. A number of American colleges have awarded dePaola honorary degrees. He has also received several awards from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota, and awards from the Catholic Library Association and the Smithsonian Institution, among others. His books are frequently used in the classroom.

Writing Influences

DePaola's picture books cover a number of themes and topics. Some of these include his own life, Christmas, other holidays (religious and secular), folktales, Bible stories, Mother Goose rhymes, and books about Strega Nona. Tomie dePaola has also written a number of informational books like ​"Charlie Needs a Cloak," which is the story of the creation of a wool cloak from shearing a sheep to spinning the wool, weaving the cloth, and sewing the garment.

DePaola's collections include Mother Goose rhymes, scary stories, seasonal stories, and nursery tales. He is also the author of "Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland." His books are characterized by humor and light-hearted illustrations, many in a folk art style. DePaola creates his artwork in a combination of watercolor, tempera, and acrylic paints.

A Full and Accomplished Life

Today, Tomie dePaola lives in New Hampshire. His art studio is in a large barn. He travels to events and makes personal appearances regularly. DePaola continues to write books based on his own life and interests, as well as illustrating books for other authors. To learn more about this extraordinary man, read "Tomie dePaola: His Art and His Stories," written by Barbara Elleman.

"Books." Tomie DePaola, Whitebird Inc.

Elleman, Barbara. "Tomie dePaola: His Art and His Stories." Hardcover, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, October 25, 1999.

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Biography of Tomie dePaola, Children's Author

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Tomie dePaola (b. 1934) is acclaimed as an award-winning children's author and illustrator, with more than 200 books to his credit. In addition to illustrating all of these books, dePaola is also the author of more than a quarter of them.

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A video interview with Tomie dePaola | Reading Rockets

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Tomie dePaola (1934–2020), the author and illustrator of Strega Nona and many other beloved books, always knew he wanted to be an artist. In this exclusive video interview with Reading Rockets, Tomie dePaola tells comical childhood tales, reflects on his career, and suggests ways to encourage young…

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Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934, Tomie dePaola is best known for his children's books.

He received his BFA from Pratt Insitute in New York, and his MFA from the California College of Arts in Oakland, California. DePaola has received many awards, including the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota. He was the 2011 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award recipient for "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." He received the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, and he has also been given honorary doctoral degrees from The University of Connecticut, Georgetown University, and Pratt Institute.

At 84 years young, he has written and/or illustrated more than 260 books, including Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. His latest book, Quiet will be published in October.

We recently sat down with DePaola in his New Hampshire home, and discussed everything from his creative process to what gives him hope. Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.
NEA: If you had to write a job description for what you do, what would you say?
TOMIE DEPAOLA: Well, there would be two descriptions because being a writer is different from being an illustrator. The first thing for both of them would be, "Can you put your ego aside when you're creating for young people and think of them rather than yourself?" "Can you be honest and tell me a real story with real emotions and real feelings that's not driven by what the market is buying?" With regards to illustration, I would first and foremost ask if the person can draw! A lot of illustration today is done by computer programs. The harm in that is young people start to see these books that all look alike. Nothing makes then unique. So the core description for both writing and illustration would have to focus on creation for young audiences with an emphasis on uniqueness, honesty, and emotion.
NEA: What is your favorite children's book?
DEPAOLA: My favorite children's story is Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes. I love it because, in the end, it's a child that reveals the truth by stating "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" This is who I'm most concerned about when I'm writing my book-the youth. I can pull one over on an adult, but I can't pull one over on a child.
NEA: How do you define success?
DEPAOLA: Children knowing who I am. A second grader telling me that her class loves my books. That, to me, is success. I haven't made in my career what a movie star makes in one movie, but that's nobody's fault. I've done very well and my life is beautiful.
NEA: What genre do you feel Is missing from your work?
DEPAOLA: That's tough for me. I'm not so sure anything is missing. I've done informational books about real stuff. Illustrated and written The Popcorn Book and The Quicksand Book. I've done folktale and retold legend. I've done autobiographies. I've done original made up stories. I haven't done biography, but I'm not really interested in doing photographic portrayals of people. I haven't done any science fiction but that doesn't interest me either and it's being covered by the young people! I have to say that in 55 years of my profession, I feel like I've covered a lot of ground, but I never say never.
NEA: What give you hope for the future?
DEPAOLA: I'm a positive person and my audience is primarily very young children. I have so much hope for the future. We live in a pendulum that swings back and forth. Despite all this stuff that's going on, there's a huge rise in meditation and thoughtfulness and mindfulness. I just finished a book that's coming out in the fall, called Quiet and that's exactly what it is-a quiet, quiet book. Kids need to feel more focused and less stressed. I have faith in these little kids. I really do. And I've said this for years but I think the people that should be making the most money in this country are the elementary school teachers who have the responsibility of teaching the younger generation. I truly think books are on the rise again and a lot of that is due to the wonderful work our school teachers are doing.
For more from authors who write for children, check out our interviews with Erin Entrada Kelly and Kate DiCamillo.

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Five Questions with Children's Book Author and Illustrator Tomie dePaola

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Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934, Tomie dePaola is best known for his children's books. He received his BFA from Pratt Insitute in New York, and his MFA from the California College of Arts in Oakland, California. DePaola has received many awards, including the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota.

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Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894) was born in Portsmouth, NH, and when she was four her father became the lighthouse keeper on White Island, Isles of Shoals, NH. Eight years later he resigned his keepers job and built a large hotel on Appledore Island, ME. This would become one of the first resort hotels to be built on the New England coast, and a gathering place for the literary and artistic greats of New England in the latter half of the 19th century, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, and most significantly, Childe Hassam.

At age 16, Celia married Levi Thaxter, her father's early Appledore House Hotel business partner, and later her tutor. After ten years of marriage and three sons, Levi's poor health forced them to live most of their marriage apart. Celia returned to the islands to care for her mother and assume her hostess duties at the hotel. The considerable fame she received for her poetry and prose never did diminish her love of nature and her garden.

In the last year of her life, Celia published her most famous book An Island Garden. In it she describes her garden and its flowers in detail. She refers to it as a cutting garden of old fashioned flowers. Her arrangements, done in many small bottles and vases, filled her living room and decorated the hotel. The plants in her garden were not arranged in any color scheme at all, but merely by height. Because the garden is only open from the end of June through August, the spring flowers represented in Celia's 1893 plan are not represented in the garden today. Also, many of the vines that shaded her piazza cannot be grown for there is no porch to support them: Celia's cottage burned along with the Appledore House Hotel in 1914. As is the case for many Appledore's old cottages, Celia's cottage foundation remains. Visitors, however still enjoy the exuberant color that captivated hotel guests and American Impressionist artist, Childe Hassam, over a century ago.

The garden was reconstructed in 1977 by Dr. John M. Kingsbury, the founder and first director of the Shoals Marine Laboratory. The garden is just where it was during Celia's lifetime and the raised beds and flowers follow her plan. Some of her original plants are still in the garden: the snowdrops, the hops vine and day lilies. The other plants for the garden are raised annually in the greenhouses of the Thompson School of Applied Science at the University of New Hampshire.

Celia's book, An Island Garden has been reprinted by Dr. Kingsbury. This special reprint of the 1894 first edition contains all of Childe Hassam's original color lithographs, a description of the 1977 reconstruction project, and a valuable index. During the summer months this book is available for sale in the Shoals Marine Laboratory's book store in Kiggins Commons (see Bullbrier Press to purchase An Island Garden during spring, fall, winter months). Also look for Dr. Kingsbury's book, Here's How We'll Do it! An Informal History of the Construction of the Shoals Marine Laboratory, which contains additional information about the garden's reconstruction, as well as an overview of the teamwork that prevails, to this day, for the continued functioning of the Shoals Marine Laboratory. For further reading about Celia Thaxter's life, " The Role of Celia Thaxter in American Literary History: an Overview" contains an excellent biographical summary, as well as an analysis of the impact her life as a woman in the nineteenth century had on her writing.

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Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894) was born in Portsmouth, NH, and when she was four her father became the lighthouse keeper on White Island, Isles of Shoals, NH. Eight years later he resigned his keepers job and built a large hotel on Appledore Island, ME.

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COLLECTION OVERVIEW & BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Celia Laighton Thaxter, 1835-1894, was an American poet and prose writer. Born Celia Laighton in Portsmouth, N.H., she spent her childhood on White Island Lighthouse, part of Isles of Shoals, and Appledore Island. At 16 she married Levi Thaxter and had three sons, Karl, John, and Roland. The family spent winters on the mainland in Massachusetts, where Celia felt imprisoned by domestic duties in a city house.

Her first poem, "Land-locked," was published in 1860 and was an immediate success. Soon she became widely published, with poems appearing in Harper's, Scribner's, and the Atlantic. With the means to spend more time at her family's resort on Appledore Island, she enjoyed visits there from prominent artists, literary figures, and musicians. However, her preferred literary subjects continued to be drawn from the natural world. She is best known today for "An Island Garden" and "Among the Isles of Shoals."

The collection contains Thaxter's letters, poems, prose fragments, an unfinished novel, scrapbooks, and first appearances in print.

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COLLECTION OVERVIEW & BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Celia Laighton Thaxter, 1835-1894, was an American poet and prose writer. Born Celia Laighton in Portsmouth, N.H., she spent her childhood on White Island Lighthouse, part of Isles of Shoals, and Appledore Island. At 16 she married Levi Thaxter and had three sons, Karl, John, and Roland.

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Red Rolfe was born on Saturday, October 17, 1908, in Penacook, New Hampshire. Rolfe was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on June 29, 1931, with the New York Yankees. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Red Rolfe baseball stats page.

"(Red) Rolfe became the Yankees' regular third baseman in 1935, playing 149 games and hitting .300. Columnist Dan Daniel described him as 'well behaved, the parson of the outfit. Never raises his voice, always showing a smile, always working hard, the baseball ideal, always studying things out there, always asking questions of McCarthy. A ballplayer in a couple hundred.' Red's meticulous notes included which field a player was likely to hit to when served certain pitches. He'd communicate this information to teammates, who executed a 1930s version of the shift. The addition of rookie Joe DiMaggio to the Yankees lineup in 1936 helped catapult the club to a pennant and ultimately a World Series title, over the New York Giants. McCarthy preferred a left-handed hitter occupying the number two spot in the batting order. Red's bat control and ability to pull the ball made him ideal for that slot. He understood his job as a table-setter for the power hitters, while leading the league with 15 triples and hitting .319 overall." - Baseball Historian Cort Vitty (SABR Baseball Biography, Red Rolfe, Source)

Biographical Data

Birth Name:

Robert Abial Rolfe

Nickname:

Red or The Pride of Penacook

Born On:

10-17-1908 (Libra)

Born In:

Penacook, New Hampshire

Died On:

07-08-1969 ( 500 Oldest Living)

Died In:

Gilford, New Hampshire

Cemetery:

Woodlawn Cemetery, Penacook, New Hampshire

High School:

Penacook High School (Penacook, NH)

College:

Dartmouth College

Bats:

Left

Throws:

Right

Height:

5-11½

Weight:

170

First Game:

06-29-1931 (Age 22)

Last Game:

09-27-1942

Draft:

Not Applicable

Robert Abial Rolfe was a Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees (1931, 1934-1942). Red, his nickname, was the starting third baseman during the Bronx Bombers' 1930s dynasty, appearing in four consecutive All-Star Games ( 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940) and winning five World Series championships ( 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941).

In 1939, Red Rolfe collected two-hundred thirteen hits, and scored one-hundred thirty-nine runs - a rare hitting feat (200 hits /100 runs scored) matched previously by only three left-handed Bronx Bombers; Babe Ruth, Earle Combs and Lou Gehrig!

1939 was one-of-seven seasons where Red Rolfe scored at least one-hundred runs with the New York Yankees - eighth most in team history, behind; Earle Combs (8x), Joe DiMaggio (8x), Bernie Williams (8x), Mickey Mantle (9x), Babe Ruth (11x), Lou Gehrig (13x).

Red Rolfe | 1934 Goudey Baseball Card (#94) | Baseball Almanac Collection

Did you know that Red Rolfe was the second New York Yankee to lead the American League in doubles, joining hall of famer Lou Gehrig? Since them, only one Bronx Bomber has ever led the junior circuit - do you know who it was? [ Answer]

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red rolfe red rolfe stats stats baseball pitching hitting fielding baserunning career biography data lifetime yearly year by year team single season total

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Red Rolfe was born on Saturday, October 17, 1908, in Penacook, New Hampshire. Rolfe was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on June 29, 1931, with the New York Yankees.

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"Red" Rolfe signed with the New York Yankee's baseball team in 1931 ... and never looked back.

Red Rolfe was born 17 October 1908 in Penacook, New Hampshire. He started his baseball career at Penacook High school, followed by Phillips Exeter Academy, Dartmouth College and the major leagues.

After graduation from Dartmouth College he played for Albany in the Eastern league in 1931, moving up after two seasons of play as shortstop in the Newark Bears in the International league, and then joined the Yankees as their regular third baseman from 1934-1942, accumulating 1,394 hits while batting .289.

He led the American League in triples (15) in 1936 and in runs (139), hits (213) and doubles (46) in 1939.

Rolfe compiled a life time batting average of .297, hitting over .300 mark in 1935, 1936

and 1938. He played in four (one source says six) World Series from 1936 through 1939, striking out only 9 times in 116 times at bat.

Chronic colitis brought his major league career to an end in 1940. He served the Yankees as coach and then went to Yale where he handled baseball and basketball teams. From Sept 11 1942 to 1946 he was a member of the Yale coaching staff.

In the closing weeks of the 1946-47 basketball season, Rolfe coached the Toronto Huskies in the pre-NBA Basketball Association of America. He managed Detroit from 1949 through the first half of 1952. From 1954 until his retirement in 1967, he was athletic director of his alma mater, Dartmouth College.

The book, "New Hampshire Notables," provides more biographical information: "Director of Athletics, Dartmouth College; educated Darthmouth College, A.B. 1931; played professional baseball following college, short-stop and 3d baseman, New York Yankees, 1934-35, 3d baseman 1936-42, lifetime major league batting average of .293, played in 6 World Series; member various American League and major leauge all-start teams and of Yankees' all-time all-star team played in All-Star Games; coach of baseball, basketball, Yale University 1942-46, coach N.Y. Yankee 1947; scout, director minor league clubs, manager Detroit Tigers baseball club; Director of Athletics Dartmouth since 1953; member Phi Sigma Kappa; Sphinx. Resided 6 Conant Road in Hanover, New Hampshire."

In 1947 he was living in Hampden CT, with a vacation camp near Lake Winnepcoket in Webster NH.

See his family tree and more personal information below.

Janice

Further Reading:

Test your Knowledge - New Hampshire Baseball Quiz [Museum of New Hampshire History]

- Red Rolfe's Grave -

**** FAMILY TREE OF ROBERT ABIAL "RED" ROLFE ***

Henry Rolfe, son of Richard & Agnes Rolfe, b. 1585 Downton, Wiltshire England. He married 28 May 1621 in Whiteparish Wiltshire England to Honour Parke. She b. abt 1593. With his wife Honour Parke, and his brother John, with his wife Esther, were in Newbury MA before 1642, when he was a proprietor. He died early in 1643. No record is found of his being admitted a freeman, perhaps owing to his early death. His wife died at the house of Thomas Blanchard in Charlestown MA 19 Dec 1650.
Children of Henry & Honour Rolfe:
1. Hannah Rolfe, b. in England abt 1622; m. Richard Dole in 1647 [ these are my 8th great grand-parents]
2. Ann Rolfe, b. abt 1626 in England; m1) Thomas Blanchard, had two children; m2nd) Richard Gardner of Woburn MA and had 10 children.
3. John Rolfe, b. prob in England; m 1656 Mary Scullard, lived a short time in Newbury MA, removed to Nantucket MA and after that to Cambridge (now Arlington) MA.
4. + Benjamin Rolfe, b. 1638 in Newbury MA

Benjamin Rolfe, son of Henry Rolfe, b. 1638 in Newbury MA; m. 3 Nov 1659 in Newbury MA to Apphia Hale, only dau of Thomas Hale, an early settler of Newbury MA, and the ancestor of the Hales in New England and New York. She was b 1642 in Newbury MA. He was a weaver. They lived in Newbury MA where all their children were born, and where he died August 1710, and she d. 24 Dec 1708.
Children of Benjamin & Apphia (Hale) Rolfe:
1. John Rolfe, b. 12 Oct 1660; removed to Woodbridge NJ after 27 Apr 1685 and there m. Sarah Moores. [a 2nd source says he m. Dorothy Nelson 1689-90]
2. Benjamin Rolfe, b. 13 Sep 1662; graduated from Harvard College 1684, ordained a minister at Haverhill Jan 1694; chaplain to the colonial troops at Falmouth 1689; m. Mehitable Atwater 1693. Killed with his wife and two children by the Indians at Haverhill MA 29 Aug 1708. Only his daughter Elizabeth lived, and m. Rev. Samuel Checkley and had issue.
3. Hannah, b. 1664-65, m. John Whipple
4. Apphia Rolfe, b. 8 March 1667; m. John Jepson
5. Mary Rolfe, b. 16 Sep 1669, died young
6. Samuel Rolfe, b. 14 Jan 1672-3, m. Sarah Jepson
7. Mary Rolfe, b. 11 Nov 1674, died young
8.+Henry Rolfe, b. 12 Oct 1677; m. Hannah Tappan
9. Elizabeth Rolfe, b. 15 Dec 1679; m. Eleazer Putnam
10. Nathaniel Rolfe, b. 12 Nov 1681; m. Anna Tappan
11. Abigail Rolfe, b. 5 May 1684; m. Nathaniel Boardman
12. A daughter, b. - 1685

Henry Rolfe, son of Benjamin & Apphia (Hale) Rolfe, b. 12 Oct 1677; he was ancestor of the Rolfe family of Concord NH; m. 1705 to Hannah Tappan (1679-1758). She d. 2 Jan 1758 in Newbury MA in her 79th year. Had 6 or 7 children. Farmer. Member of Newbury MA House of Representatives 1723, 1725, 1727, 1730, 1734, 1736-40, 1743, 1744; selectman of Newbury MA 1719, 1727, 1730; moderator 1735, 1736, 1739, 1740, 1743-44, 1746-47; justice of the peace 1736; captain of militia 1721; Most of his years in the HR were full of committees. Voted for Explanatory Charter of 1725.
Children of Henry & Anna (Tappan) Rolfe:
1. Henry Rolfe, b. 21 Oct 1706 Newbury MA; m. 6 Dec 1738 to Elisabeth Toppan
2. Hannah Rolfe, b. 7 Nov 1708 Newbury MA; m. Col. Stephen Emery
3. Benjamin Rolfe, b. 8 July 1710 Newbury MA; m. Sarah Walker
4. Elizabeth Rolfe, b. 14 Jan 1712 Newbury MA
5. + Nathaniel Rolfe, b. 26 Jan 1713 at Newbury MA, d. at Concord NH 1808; m. Hannah Rolfe
6. Mary Rolfe, b betw 1715-1722 Newbury MA; m. James Judson

Nathaniel Rolfe, son of Henry-3 Rolfe, b. Newbury MA 1712, d. at Concord NH Dec 1808; m. 26 May 1742 in Newbury MA to Hannah Rolfe, dau of John & Judith (Dole) Rolfe. She b. 25 Dec 1720, and d. March 12 1794 [Deaths at Concord NH 1792-1836, NEGHS Register]. They had 9 children. They moved to Concord NH and settled on what was later the city farm in Ward 3.
Children of Nathaniel & Hannah (Rolfe) Rolfe:
1. Hannah Rolfe, b. 19 Apr 1743 in Newbury MA
2. + Nathaniel Rolfe, b. 29 Aug 1744 in Haverhill or Newbury MA
3. William Rolfe, b. 5 March 1748 Haverhill MA
4. Judith Rolfe, b. 25 Nov 1749 Haverhill MA
5. Benjamin Rolfe, d. 30 Oct 1749
6. Benjamin 2nd, b. 31 May 1752/53 Concord NH, m. Molly Sweat and removed to Rumford, Maine. d. 1 Oct 1828 Rumford ME. Had children including John, b. Concord NH 7 March 1785, d. 23 Apr 1854, m. Betsy Abbot. They had a son Dr. Enoch Carter Rolfe.
7. Mary Rolfe, b. 23 May 1753 Haverhill MA
8. Jane Rolfe, b. 28 Dec 1759 in Haverhill MA
9. Elizabeth Rolfe, b. 4 Feb 1762 in Haverhill MA
10. Henry Rolfe, b. 1765 in Haverhill MA

Nathaniel Rolfe, son of Nathaniel/Henry Rolfe, b. 29 Aug 1744 in Haverhill, Essex Co MA; d. 15 Nov 1829 in Concord NH; m. widow Judith (Walker) Chandler, dau of Timothy & Sarah (Burbeen) Walker, and widow of Capt. Abiel Chandler. She b. 24 Dec 1744 in Rumford [Concord], Merrimack Co NH, and d. Aug 27 1806 in Concord NH [NEGHS Register]. He settled in Concord near the mouth of the Contocook River.
Children of Nathaniel & Judith (Walker) Rolfe:
1. Abiel Rolfe, b. 6 Apr 1781 in Concord NH, d. 19 Feb 1840 in Concord NH; unmarried
2. Jane Rolfe, b. 21 Jan 1783 in Concord NH; m. 1805 Nathan Chandler; had issue
3. + Capt. Henry Rolfe, b. 31 Aug 1785 in Concord NH

Capt. Henry Rolfe, son of Nathaniel & Judith (Walker) Rolfe, b. 31 Aug 1785 in Concord NH; m. 13 Sep 1808 to Deborah Carter. She b. 18 Apr 1786 in Concord NH and d. 11 Jan 1849 in NH. He d. May 30 -, age 74.
Children of Henry & Deborah (Carter) Rolfe:
1. Judith Walker Rolfe, b. 30 Jan 1809 in Concord NH; m. 1838 Jacob Whidden; had issue
2. Jane Chandler Rolfe, b. 4 May 1810 in Concord NH
3. Rhoda Carter Rolfe, b. 20/26 May 1812 in Concord NH; m. 1834 David Farnum; had issue
4.+Nathaniel Rolfe, b. 1 Jan 1814 in Concord NH
5. Phebe Whittemore Rolfe, b. 17 June 1815 in Concord NH; m. 1840 Horatio N. Harvey; had issue
6. Timothy Carter Rolfe, b. 9 May 1817 in Concord NH; m. 1844 Eliza Ann Emery; had issue
7. Henry Rolfe, b. 26 Jan 1819 in Concord NH; m. 1843 Abiah P. Atkinson, had issue.
8. Deborah Rolfe, b. 8 Feb 1821 in Concord NH; m. John A. Holmes of Londonderry NH
9. Col. Abial Rolfe, b. 29 March 1823 in Concord NH; attended Concord NH school; owned a lumber mill; influential, was a Whig. In command of a militia company. He died age 70; He was engaged in the manufacture of doors, sashes and blinds; he represented the town in the state legislature, was appointed to Governor Goodwin's staff for two years (receiving his title of Colonel). In 1882 he was elected Ward Assessor. He was also a bank messenger in Penacook in addition to working in insurance; he married Sarah Elizabeth Call. They had one child Lydia, b. 18 May 1849.
10. Lydia Rolfe, b. 1 Apr 1825 in Concord NH, d. 28 July 1849
11. Martha Farnum Rolfe, b. 28 Jan 1828 in Concord NH; m. 15 Aug 1854 to Rev. Anson A. Baker. Had one child.

Nathaniel Rolfe, son of Henry & Deborah (Carter) Rolfe b. 1 Jan 1814 in Concord NH; m. 1 Jan 1839 to Mary Jane Moody, dau of Joseph & Hannah (Foster) Moody. She b. 21 Jan 1817 in Canterbury NH and d. 8 Aug 1876 in Canterbury NH. Farmer and lumberman in Concord NH. He carried on a large trade and furnished lumber for the frames of many of the great mills at Lawrence and Lowell MA.
Children of Nathaniel & Mary J. (Moody) Rolfe:
1. Charles Moody Rolfe, b. 18 Aug 1841 in Concord NH; a well-known manufacturer of Concord NH; m. Maria L. Morrison and had three sons-Harlow, Henry and Ben, and a dau, Mary, who was later a medical student in Boston MA.
2. Joseph Henry Rolfe, b. 1 March 1843 in Concord NH; a NH Sharpshooter during the Civil War. Later a resident of Minneapolis MN dealing in real estate and operating a plan for the manufacture of dredging machines.
3.+Abial/Abiel Walker Rolfe, b. 21 Jan 1844 in Concord NH
4. John Holmes Rolfe, b. 1 Oct 1847 in Concord NH
5. Mary Lancaster Rolfe, b. 3 Oct 1852 in Concord NH; died at age 9.
6. Arthur Foster Rolfe, b. 2 July 1858

Abial/Abiel Walker Rolfe, son of Nathaniel & Mary Jane (Moody) Rolfe, was b. 21 Jan 1844 in Concord NH, and d. 24 Feb 1926 in Concord NH; He married 17 Feb 1870 in Concord NH to Georgianna "Georgie" Judith Gage, dau of Isaac K. & Susan/Sarah Gage (Johnson) Gage. She b. 16 Jan 1848 in Fisherville [Concord] NH, and died 3 Apr 1944 in Concord NH. In business with his brother Charles, establishing in 1866 a door, sash and blind mill, employing about fifty men, in addition to general farming. His cause of death was epithelioma of the right side of his face.
---
1900 United States Federal Census > New Hampshire > Merrimack > Concord Ward 1 > District 147
Rolfe, Abial W. Head W M Jan 1844 56 married 30 yrs NH NH NH manufacturer
Rolfe, Georgianna J. wife W F Jan 1848 52 married 30 yrs 3 ch 3 living NH NH NH
Rolfe, Herbert W. son W M May 1875 25 single NH NH NH
Rolfe, Frederick J. son W M Nov 1879 20 single NH NH NH
-?- Elizabeth boarder W F Jan 1872 28 single NH NH NH
Wilson, Florence L. Boarder W F Jan 18- 23 single Ohio NH NH bookkeeper
Rolfe Joseph H. brothe4r W M March 1843 57 married 6 yrs NH NH NH
Rolfe, Eva P.E. sis-in-law/wife W F Dec 1867 32 married 6 yrs 0 ch 0 living NY NY NY
---
Children of Abial W. & Georgianna J. (Gage) Walker:
1. Harry Gage Rolfe, b. 5 July 1872 NH; m1) 15 Jun 1898 in Concord NH to Mary Florence Symonds, dau of Joseph & T.S. Ann (Little) Symonds of Concord NH. She b. 26 Feb 1876 in NH and d. 7 Apr 1904 in Concord, NH of "la grippe." They had son Richard b Oct 1899 NH who m. Marjorie E. Hill; Harry G. m2nd) 23 May 1916 in Concord NH to Alice Emery Bliss, dau of Jason Henry & Florence A. (Russell) Bliss. She was b. Jan 1878 in CT and d. 27 Feb 1942 in Concord NH; Resided Concord NH.
2. + Herbert Wilson Rolfe, b. 14 May 1875 NH
3. Frederick "Fred" Isaac Rolfe, b. 26 Nov 1879 NH, d. Dec 1967 in Concord NH; m. 21 February 1914 in Concord NH to Edna Gray, daughter of Guy W. & Nancy O. (Walker) Gray. She born - and d. 10 Mar 1941 in Concord NH. They had children (1) Bertha M., born 1 May 1914 and d. 3 March 1989 in NH and (2) Olive Walker Rolfe, b abt 1916 in NH; m. 15 Feb 1939 to Arthur Toof Henderson, son of Ross Linn & Vivian Ida (Toof) Henderson.

Herbert Wilson Rolfe, son of Abial Walker & Georgianna Judith (Gage) Rolfe, was b. 14 May 1875 in Concord NH and d. 4 Dec 1937 in Concord NH. He married 4 Jun 1901 in Penacook NH to Lucy E. Huff, daughter of Albert A. & Hannah H. (Glines) Huff. She was b 29 Apr 1877 in Concord NH. Occupations include glazier, foreman of a saw mill [census] and foreman of a box shop [WWI Draft Reg Card]. Resided at 11 Penacook Street, Penacook, NH.
--
1920 United States Federal Census > New Hampshire > Merrimack > Concord Ward 1 > 65 [Penacook St]
Rolfe, Herbert, Head M W 43 married NH NH NH Foreman, saw mill [b abt 1877]
Rolfe, Lucy E wife F W 42 married NH ME NH
Rolfe, Helen L. dau F W 16 single NH
Rolfe, Florence M. dau F W 14 single NH
Rolfe, Robert A. son M W 11 single NH
Rolfe, Elizabeth Y. dau F W 8 single NH
Rolfe, Marge E dau F W 4 single NH
-living next door-
Rolfe, Abial Head M W 76 married NH NH NH Buyer, Sash & Blind Co
Rolfe, Georgina J. Wife F W 72 married NH NH NH
Rolfe, Fred son M W 40 married NH book keeper, cotton mill
Rolfe, Edna dau-in-law F W 38 married NH ME NH
Rolfe, Bertha, granddau F W 5 single NH
Rolfe, Olive, granddau F W 4 single NH

--
Children of Herbert & Lucy E. (Huff) Rolfe:
1. Helen L. Rolfe, b. 11 September 1903 in Concord NH, died February 1989 [SEE photograph at left]
2. Florence Mary Rolfe, b. abt 1906 NH; m. 21 Aug 1933 in Concord NH to George William Randall, son of Donald A. & Mary (Worthen) Randall; had son Donald who had much of "Red" Rolfe's memorabilia in 1993 [see photograph at left].
3.+Robert Abial Rolfe, b. 17 Oct 1908 in Penacook NH, d. 8 July 1969 in Gilford NH [See photograph on left].
4. Edward N. Rolfe, b. 29 Oct 1910, d. 31 Oct 1910, age 2 days "of heart disease"
5. Elizabeth "Betty" Gage Rolfe, b. abt 1912 NH; m. 3 Sep 1937 in Concord NH to Maurice Bennett Foss, son of Charles Albert & Rosa Hill (Bennett) Foss.
6. Marjorie "Marge" E. Rolfe, b. 12 August 1915 in Concord, NH

Robert Abial "Red" Rolfe [this story is about him] was born 17 Oct 1908 in Penacook NH, and d. 8 July 1969 in NH of ulcerated colitis. SS#001-01-1856. His nickname was "Red, the Pride of Penacook." He was 5 ft 11-1/2 inches tall, and weighed 170 pounds (in his prime). His first game for the New York Yankees was played 29 June 1931, and his last game 27 Sep 1942. He batted left and threw right-handed. He married 1934 to Isabelle "Isabel" A. Africa, dau of Walter G. & Maude Africa of PA. She b. 8 Apr 1907 in NH, and d. 2 Dec 1998 in New Hampshire. In 1920 living in Manchester NH with her parents. In 1993 his wife Isabel was living in Penacook with Red's sister Marjorie. Rolfe Field in Dartmouth NH is named after him. He was a star on a team of superstars. Rolfe received Hall of Fame votes, but never really came close to being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rolfe met Robert Frost at a Dartmouth English Department dinner, in the poet's honor, where he was seated next to Frost. "All Frost wanted to do was talk baseball," Red's nephew, William Randall stated. Rolfe owned a automobile service station in Penacook during his time he played professional baseball, working in the station himself during the off season, pumping gas and repairing automobiles. This gas station later became Simoneau's Texaco Station.

[Editors Note: article and photographs updated January 2015]

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Penacook New Hampshire Sportsman and Coach: Robert Abial "Red" Rolfe (1908-1969)

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"Red" Rolfe signed with the New York Yankee's baseball team in 1931 ... and never looked back. Red Rolfe was born 17 October 1908 in Penacook, New Hampshire. He started his baseball career at Penacook High school, followed by Phillips Exeter Academy, Dartmouth College and the major leagues.

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Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born August 20, 1832 in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire. Intellectually curious and driven from a young age, Lowe had almost no formal education but demonstrated an appetite for learning which hinted at his future career as an inventor. At the age of 18 he attended a lecture on the subject of lighter-than-air gases and so impressed the professor, Reginald Dinkelhoff, with his enthusiasm that Dinkelhoff offered to take the young Lowe on the lecture circuit with him as an assistant. Over the course of the next decade, Lowe devoted himself to balloon aviation, and became a prominent builder of balloons and showman. In 1855, at one of his demonstrations, he met the Parisian actress Leontine Augustine Gaschon, and they were wed just one week later. The couple eventually had ten children. In the latter part of the decade he set about building bigger balloons, with an eye towards a transatlantic crossing, and began to garner a prominent scientific reputation. In April, 1861, Lowe intended to make a test run from Cincinnati, Ohio to Washington, D.C. He took off on April 19, just a week after the fall of Fort Sumter, but instead of heading due east towards Washington Lowe's balloon was blown way off course, eventually landing in Unionville, South Carolina. There, he was arrested on suspicion of being a Northern spy. When he finally convinced the Confederate authorities of his innocence he returned to Cincinnati, only to be immediately summoned to Washington. The government was in fact interested in his experimental balloons as a means of gathering intelligence.

In June of 1861, Lowe demonstrated for President Lincoln how useful his balloons could be when combined with new electric telegraph technology. On the 11th of that month, from a height of 500 feet above the National Mall in Washington D.C., Lowe transmitted to the President: "This point of observation commands an extent of country nearly 50 miles in diameter. The city with its girdle of encampments, presents a superb scene. I have pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station, and in acknowledging indebtedness for your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the military service of the country." Little more than a month later, Lowe and his balloon were in action during the First Battle of Bull Run, after which Lincoln approved the formation of the Union Army Balloon Corps, with Lowe as Chief Aeronaut (at a colonel's salary). Lowe's principal contribution to the militarization of balloon technology, and its use in the field, was the portable hydrogen gas generator, which allowed the balloons to accompany the army wherever they were needed. Made of a rugged material that could withstand the wear and tear of active campaigning, Lowe's balloons could also be inflated in a very short amount of time. They were a sensation in Washington, and many prominent military and political figures accompanied him on his ascensions. He eventually built a total of seven balloons and twelve generators for the war effort.

In the spring of 1862, Lowe and his balloons played a significant role in the Peninsula Campaign, observing the enemy's defensive dispositions and helping relay information during the slow but steady advance on Richmond. At the Battle of Seven Pines, Lowe's aerial reconnaissance helped identify the buildup of Confederate forces near the Fair Oaks train station prior to the start of the battle. In addition to providing valuable aerial reconnaissance information, Lowe, when supported with direct telegraphic links to commanders, was able to provide near real-time artillery spotting to Army of the Potomac artillery units. While operating from Dr. Gaines' farm on the future Gaines' Mill battlefield, Lowe was positioned close enough to Richmond that he could clearly see the movements of soldiers and individuals within the city. The sight of Lowe's balloons, ominously hanging over the Virginia landscape, certainly must have unsettled the Confederates, who knew their movements were being observed by the enemy. While several attempts were made to destroy the Union balloons via long range artillery fire, none of Lowe's balloons were ever damaged or destroyed in combat. Though Lowe and his balloons were able to avoid damaging enemy fire, Lowe himself contracted a serious bout of malaria from the mosquito infested waters near the Chickahominy River.

After the conclusion of the Peninsula Campaign, Lowe's Balloon Corps was utilized during the 1862 Fredericksburg and 1863 Chancellorsville campaigns. During this period, some Union commanders and leaders began to question Lowe's heavy expenditures and poor administrative skills. Placed under a more controlling military command structure, the frustrated and sick Lowe resigned from his balloon corps and the use of balloons within the Union armies ended shortly afterwards.

Lowe returned to the private sector following the war, and made a fortune developing ice-making machines before moving to Los Angeles, California in 1887. He died at his daughter's home in Pasadena in 1913, aged 80.

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Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born August 20, 1832 in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire. Intellectually curious and driven from a young age, Lowe had almost no formal education but demonstrated an appetite for learning which hinted at his future career as an inventor.

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Born: August 20, 1832 in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire, United States

Died: January 16, 1913 in Pasadena, California, United States

Other Names: Lowe, Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt; Lowe, Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine

Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born August 20, 1832, in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire. His mother, Alpha Lowe, named him Thaddeus after the hero from Thaddeus of Warsaw, a popular Gothic romance novel. The book chronicled the descendants of Polish King Jan Sobieski, so she added that name, as well as Constantine, also from the book. Lowe's father, Clovis Lowe, ran a general store and worked as a cobbler. As a child, Lowe attended the local grammar school, which did little to quench his thirst for knowledge so his teacher lent him books from his personal library. Lowe stayed up late each night reading by candlelight and enjoyed books about the Montgolfier brothers, who had carried passengers in balloons over their native France.

After school most days, Lowe helped at his father's store. As evening approached, the village men gathered there to discuss current events. Lowe looked forward to this time, eager to add his opinions to the conversation. On April 13, 1844, the discussion turned to an article in the New York Sun, which reported that European aeronaut Monck Mason had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a "steering balloon." The story--penned by a struggling writer named Edgar Allen Poe--turned out to be a hoax but inspired in Lowe a quest to become the first person to cross the Atlantic via balloon.

By 1847, 15-year-old Lowe was growing increasingly impatient about the future. He decided to join his brother, Joseph, in Boston, where Joseph was apprenticed as a boot-and-shoe cutter. Lowe's brother helped him secure an apprenticeship with William Otis Nash, a master cobbler in Hingham, Massachusetts. As Nash and Lowe got to know one another, Nash quickly realized his young apprentice was quite intelligent so he organized Lowe's work schedule to allow for him to continue his studies.

Lowe soon discovered that kite-flying was a local pastime because Hingham sat on a breezy bay. Lowe joined the other boys in kite-making but his passion soon turned from hobby to scientific investigation. Still intrigued by the idea of balloon flight, Lowe wondered how living creatures handled high altitudes so he built a multi-tiered kite and sent a cat into the air.

Traveled as "Scientific" Showman

In the spring of 1850, an extensive illness forced Lowe to return to New Hampshire. After several months of recuperation, he accompanied his little brother, Charles, to a "wonders of science" magic show given by Reginald B. Dincklehoff. When Dincklehoff asked for an audience assistant, Lowe quickly accepted. After the show, Dincklehoff asked the 18-year-old to accompany him on tour.

Lowe spent two years on the road with Dincklehoff, learning how to engage an audience and handle himself on stage. He also learned about chemistry. When Dincklehoff retired, Lowe bought his equipment and purchased a portable laboratory with which he could conduct experiments with gasses. Lowe dubbed himself the "Professor of Chemistry" and filled lecture halls across the United States. He began experimenting with hydrogen, which he hoped to use in a people-carrying balloon someday.

Through his experimentation, Lowe discovered that by adjusting the amount of hydrogen in a balloon and the amount of ballast it carried, he could regulate its altitude. He also discovered that the more varnish he applied to a balloon's exterior, the longer it held the hydrogen and stayed afloat. In addition, Lowe understood that the earth's wind currents went in different directions at different altitudes. He learned this from watching clouds as a child and observing that the highest clouds typically moved west to east while the lowest ones went east to west.

Taking these factors into account, Lowe added balloon launches to his outdoor shows and astounded audiences by making predictions about their flight paths. In one show, he might tell the audience that the red balloons would rise the highest and fly east, while the yellow ones would stay low and go west. Lowe's audiences--with little understanding of lighter-than-air gasses and wind currents--were always amazed. Lowe made a good living with his traveling show, putting money away for his balloon fund.

In February 1855, Lowe landed in New York City for an engagement at the Astor Hotel. During his lecture, Lowe became intrigued with a front-row guest named Leontine Augustine Gachon. Born in Paris, Gachon's father had served as a palace guard for King Louis Philippe, but the family had fled the country when the citizens revolted against his rule. Lowe spent a week courting Gachon, marrying her the day before he left town to embark on a tour of the South--a tour that became their honeymoon.

Lowe and his wife eventually settled in New York and began constructing a balloon. They turned to American balloon pioneer John Wise's book A System of Aeronautics. Lowe and his wife studied Wise's book, then drew a balloon pattern on wrapping paper. They used the pattern to cut the balloon from twilled muslin and Leontine Lowe taught her husband to sew the seams. Lowe assembled the balloon in a shed he rented in nearby Hoboken, New Jersey. He finished it in April 1857.

After several flights, Lowe realized he needed a bigger balloon to reach the higher air currents he wanted to travel through to cross the Atlantic. He decided to commercialize the balloon and made good money taking passengers into the air. Over the next few years, Lowe tweaked his balloon designs and experimented with different types of varnishes to seal the gas bag. He also developed numerous weather and flying instruments, including one he called the altimeter, which helped him measure his height above sea level. To make money, he started manufacturing his balloons for sale to the public.

In April 1861, Lowe departed from Cincinnati in one of his balloons. Lowe hoped to reach the Atlantic coast and land near Washington, D.C. Instead, he endured a harrowing flight, during which he had trouble controlling the craft due to ice crystals forming in the gas bag. He also suffered from severe light-headedness due to altitude sickness. Lowe missed his target flight path and instead landed near Unionville, South Carolina--part of the Confederate States of America. The Civil War had begun the week before. As a Yankee--who had arrived in the sky--Lowe was held as a Union spy. After several days, he persuaded the authorities he was a man of science and was released.

Launched Civil War Balloon Corps

Back home in the Northern states, Lowe considered how he might use his balloons to aid the war effort. On June 18, 1861, Lowe took the Enterprise on a flight path over the White House. He brought along a telegraph operator and 1,000 feet of telegraph wire, which reached the ground below. Lowe used a spyglass to survey the area and sent a message to the ground below. Addressed to President Lincoln, the telegram was reprinted in Stephen Poleskie's book The Balloonist. It read, "From this point of observation we command an extent of county nearly fifty miles in diameter. I have the pleasure of sending you this first telegram ever dispatched from an aerial station...." Lowe also sent a message to the War Department to demonstrate how his idea of balloon reconnaissance might work.

That evening, President Lincoln invited Lowe to stay at the White House and discuss plans for an air corps. Lowe received an appointment to become the Chief of the Corps of Aeronauts of the U.S. Army. Lowe received $10 a day, as well as funding to build more balloons and a crew of soldiers to help manage his gear. Soon, Lowe was gathering military intelligence from the air.

During one flight in the early days of his commission, Lowe was nearly shot down. On July 24, 1861, he embarked on a flight over Confederate positions west of the nation's capital. As he returned and began his descent, Union soldiers--unfamiliar with his work--opened fire, fearing he was a Confederate spy. Forced to retreat, Lowe flew back into enemy territory to land. Leontine Lowe, observing her husband's flight path by telescope, went to his rescue. Disguised as a farmer's wife, she crossed into Confederate territory with a horse and wagon. They hid the balloon under a load of hay and headed back home.

As Lowe made more flights, he found telegraph transmissions unreliable. He developed his own communications code using signal flags and signs, which were read by officers on the ground. For example, if Lowe held up a "2" followed by a "4" it meant the enemy was "marching toward" them. Through his telescope, Lowe could count tents up to six miles away to estimate the number of enemy troops at an encampment. Other times, he counted Confederate campfires, then multiplied by four to estimate the number of troops in the area.

To confuse Lowe, Rebel commanders ordered false campfires. Other times, they covered their installations with shrubbery or trees to hide them from aerial observation. One Rebel general established a special group of sharpshooters to force Lowe out of the air, sometimes shooting from trees. They never succeeded and instead wasted precious ammunition firing at the balloon, which hovered high out of artillery range. Despite the many successes, Lowe's balloon corps struggled. The primitive balloons were often unpredictable and supplies to keep them in the air were inadequate. In addition, Lowe got into trouble with the government for his lack of inventory control and horrible accounting practices. In 1863, he resigned.

Put Ingenuity to Good Use

In the late 1860s, Lowe moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania, rented a large building and opened the "Lowe Manufacturing Company." At this time, Lowe turned his attention to ice making. Lowe had been fascinated with the ice crystals that sometimes formed inside his balloon. Lowe invented an ice machine and was granted a patent for it in April 1867. He persuaded a group of investors to purchase his refrigeration system and install it aboard a steamship. The William Tabor became the first-ever refrigerated ship and made the long-distance shipment of perishable items possible. The public, however, remained skeptical of such foods, preferring the known safety of salted, dried and canned foods. The venture--ahead of its time--failed.

Lowe also experimented with ways to process water to make hydrogen gas for use with heating and lighting. At the time, most utility companies used coal gas to power residential communities. Lowe's method, however, was more efficient. Several companies bought into his process and his gas works thrived in several eastern cities. In addition, Lowe manufactured stoves, heaters and fireplaces, all operated with water gas. By 1879, there were 30 cities using his process to make water gas for light and heat.

In 1888, Lowe moved to Pasadena, California, taking only the four youngest of his ten children. Lowe's two eldest daughters were already married and the middle four stayed at their Norristown home in the care of nannies, giving Lowe time to see if he liked living out West. In Pasadena, Lowe settled in a mansion at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and once again turned his attention skyward. Intrigued by the mountain, he built a narrow-gauge cogwheel railway up the side to a scenic peak. There, he built a hotel, an amusement park, a tavern, a zoo, and a miniature golf course. During its heyday, the Mt. Lowe Railway carried as many as 1,500 passengers to the top each day. The railway operated from 1893 to 1936 and later became part of the Angeles National Forest.

Lowe died on January 16, 1913, at the age of 80. He was buried in Altadena, California, next to his wife who had died the year before. Lowe passed on his thirst for daring adventure in the skies to his granddaughter, Florence Leontine "Pancho Barnes" Lowe, a pioneer aviator and stunt pilot.

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Known as the "Father of the U.S. Air Force," American aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe (1832-1913) spent the first two years of the Civil War taking his observation balloons into the sky to spy on Confederate troops. Appointed Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Aeronautics by President Lincoln, the self-taught scientist and inventor established the United States' first airborne military unit--the U.S. Balloon Corps, which provided vital intelligence-gathering for the Union.

AWARDS:

Elliot Cresson Gold Medal, Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, 1885; Grand Medal of Honor for the Invention Held to Be the Most Useful to Mankind, Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, late 1880s.

FURTHER READINGS:

Hoehling, Mary, Thaddeus Lowe: America's One-Man Air Corps, Kingston House, 1958.

Poleskie, Stephen, The Balloonist, Frederic C. Beil, 2007.

Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2004.

Philadelphia Inquirer, November 17, 2002.

Washington Times, February 1, 1992.

Source Citation

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Born: August 20, 1832 in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire, United States Died: January 16, 1913 in Pasadena, California, United States Other Names: Lowe, Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt; Lowe, Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born August 20, 1832, in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire.

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An American writer who defies the art of conventional storytelling, Jodi Picoult is an acclaimed best-selling author of young adult fiction. She has established her name in the field of literature by examining topics important to young adult readers, including suicide, euthanasia, gun control laws, and teenage independence.

Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Picoult had a happy and uneventful childhood. At first, Picoult thought it was a disadvantage for a girl to want to become a writer, but she eventually realized that she could write about family and relationships. By the age of five, Picoult had already written her first short story entitled "The Lobster Which Misunderstood". She studied creative writing at Princeton University and had two short stories published in Seventeen Magazine. After graduation, Picoult was unable to support herself as an author. She worked as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an advertising agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an eighth grade English teacher. Picoult later attended Harvard University and earned a Master's degree in education. She married Tim Van Leer, whom she met while at Princeton and with whom she has three children. It was during her pregnancy with her first child that she wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale. Picoult has mentioned that her experiences as a parent have inspired her to become a better writer. The difficulties of balancing motherhood and her writing career became the basis of her second novel Harvesting the Heart. Picoult has also begun writing for DC Comics' Wonder Woman comic book series. Her five issues were published in March 2007.

Human emotions, family relationships, and social issues are the recurring themes in Picoult's works. Her style of writing often abstains from the traditional happy endings and her stories reflect everyday headlines. For example, Nineteen Minutes tells a tragic story about gun violence in an educational institution. Critics regard Nineteen Minutes as a stimulating page-turner that lets its reader uncover hidden social realities that negatively affect youth. Nineteen Minutes was Picoult's first book to appear on The New York Times Best Seller list.

My Sister's Keeper, a novel about a daughter who sues her parents for the right to make her own decisions regarding how her body is being used in a medical procedure, is also considered one of Picoult's most important works. My Sister's Keeper won the Margaret Alexander Edwards Award (the Alex Award) given by the American Library Association.

Picoult's works are widely recognized for their insightful analysis of topics important to young adults. The Midwest Book Review has described Picoult as "a gifted storyteller whose compelling works profoundly impact her audience." Additionally, the Dallas Morning News has noted "Ms. Picoult has carved her own niche with her novels-one part romance, one part courtroom thriller, two parts social commentary."

Picoult has received many literary awards, including the 2003 New England Bookseller Award for Fiction; the Book Browse Diamond Award for novel of the year; a lifetime achievement award for mainstream fiction from the Romance Writers of America; and Waterstone's Author of the Year in the United Kingdom.

Source Citation

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An American writer who defies the art of conventional storytelling, Jodi Picoult is an acclaimed best-selling author of young adult fiction. She has established her name in the field of literature by examining topics important to young adult readers, including suicide, euthanasia, gun control laws, and teenage independence.

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Title(s):
Professor of Medicine

Additional Titles/Positions/Affiliations:
Director, Space Medicine Innovations Laboratory at Dartmouth
Adjunct Professor, Thayer School of Engineering

Education:
Cornell University, BSEE 1977
Cornell University Medical College, MD 1981

Contact Information:

Professional Interests:

Central auditory processing as a marker of neurocognitive function
Space physiology and medicine
Hyperbaric medicine
Audiology, hearing assessment
Computer-based psychological training and treatment programs
Visual changes after spaceflight
Virtual reality applications

Grant Information:

The Space Medicine Innovations Laboratory is a multidisciplinary research lab with a global reach.

The lab's current areas of research are:
* Assessing brain function using the brain's auditory system in people with various conditions (HIV, Zika, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's).

* Developing new audiological tests for use both in the US and the developing world.

* Testing and developing self-directed, autonomous, interactive-media-based behavioral health tools and virtual reality for use in isolated and confined environments (e.g. Antarctic stations) and other settings.

* Use of hyperbaric oxygen for research and clinical applications.

* Other technology/science projects for NASA/Department of Defense - Previous areas of interest have included motion sickness, space-related bone loss, visual changes in astronauts, noise-induced hearing loss.

Biography:

Books:

Space Physiology from Oxford University Press
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/space-physiology-9780195137255?cc=us&lang=en&

The Neurolab Spacelab Mission: Neuroscience Research in Space
Results from the STS-90, Neurolab Spacelab Mission
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24323554_The_Neurolab_Spacelab_Mission_Neuroscience_Research_in_Space_Results_from_the_STS-90_Neurolab_Spacelab_Mission

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Title(s): Professor of Medicine Additional Titles/Positions/Affiliations: Director, Space Medicine Innovations Laboratory at DartmouthAdjunct Professor, Thayer School of Engineering Education: Cornell University, BSEE 1977Cornell University Medical College, MD 1981 Contact Information: Professional Interests: Central auditory processing as a marker of neurocognitive function Space physiology and medicine Hyperbaric medicine Audiology, hearing assessment Computer-based psychological training and treatment programs Visual changes after spaceflight Virtual reality applications Grant Information: The Space Medicine Innovations Laboratory is a multidisciplinary research lab with a global reach.

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Education

BSEE, Cornell University 1977

MD, Cornell University 1981

Research Interests

Bubble detection and sizing; smart medical systems; hearing assessment; aerospace medicine; undersea and hyperbaric medicine; technology and energy policy; motion sickness

Books

Selected Publications

Bollinger, B.R., Wilbur J.C., Donoghue T.G., Phillips S.D., Knaus D.A., Magari P.J., Alvarenga D.L., Buckey J.C. Dual-frequency ultrasound detection of stationary microbubbles in tissue. Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 36(2), 127-36, 2009.

Buckey J.C., Alvarenga D.L., MacKenzie T.A. Chlorpheniramine and ephedrine in combination for motion sickness. J. Vestib Res. 17(5-6): 301-11, 2007.

Carter, J.A., Buckey, J.C., Greenhalgh, L., Holland, A.W., Hegel, M.T. An interactive media program for managing psychosocial problems on long-duration spaceflights. Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine ( Medline Abstract)

Buckey, J.C., Knaus, D.A., Alvarenga, D.L., Kenton, M.A., Magari, P.J. Dual-frequency ultrasound for detecting and sizing bubbles. Acta Astronautica (Medline Abstract)

Buckey, J.C., Alvarenga, D.L., Cole, B., Rigas, J.R. Chlorpheniramine for motion sickness. Journal of Vestibular Research (Medline Abstract)

News

In Dartmouth Engineer Magazine

Video

Seminar: A Scientist in Politics: What I Learned from Running for Office

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Jay C. Buckey Jr. | Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth

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BSEE, Cornell University 1977 MD, Cornell University 1981 Bubble detection and sizing; smart medical systems; hearing assessment; aerospace medicine; undersea and hyperbaric medicine; technology and energy policy; motion sickness Bollinger, B.R., Wilbur J.C., Donoghue T.G., Phillips S.D., Knaus D.A., Magari P.J., Alvarenga D.L., Buckey J.C. Dual-frequency ultrasound detection of stationary microbubbles in tissue.

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This is a neat resource.  After you open the document, scroll down to page 5. The article is titled, " William E. Corbin, Supt of Cascade Mill, Elected Mayor of Berlin."

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Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe was America's first teacher in space candidate, chosen to fly aboard the shuttle and teach lessons to children on Earth. Unfortunately, her flight ended in tragedy when the Challenger orbiter was destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff. She left behind a legacy of education facilities called the Challenger Centers, with one located in her home state of New Hampshire. McAuliffe was born September 2, 1948 to Edward and Grace Corrigan, and grew up being very excited about the space program. Years later, on her Teacher In Space Program application, she wrote, "I watched the Space Age being born and I would like to participate."

Sharon Christa Corrigan was born on September 2, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Edward C. Corrigan and Grace Mary Corrigan. She was the oldest of five children and went by the name Christa her whole life. The Corrigans lived in Massachusetts, moving from Boston to Framingham when Christa was a small child. She attended Marian High school, graduating in 1966.

While attending Marian High School in Framingham, MA, Christa met and fell in love with Steve McAuliffe. After graduation, she attended Framingham State College, majored in history, and received her degree in 1970. That same year, she and Steve were married. They moved to the Washington, D.C. area, where Steve attended Georgetown Law School. Christa took a teaching job, specializing in American history and social studies until the birth of their son, Scott. She attended Bowie State University, earning a masters degree in school administration in 1978.

They next moved to Concord, NH, when Steve accepted a job as an assistant to the state attorney general. Christa had a daughter, Caroline and stayed home to raise her and Scott while looking for work. Eventually, she took a job with Bow Memorial School, then later with Concord High School.

Becoming the Teacher in Space

In 1984, when she learned about NASA's efforts to locate an educator to fly on the space shuttle, everyone who knew Christa told her to go for it. She mailed her completed application at the last minute and doubted her chances of success. Even after becoming a finalist, she did not expect to be chosen. Some of the other teachers were doctors, authors, scholars. She felt she was just an ordinary person. When her name was chosen, out of 11,500 applicants in the summer of 1984, she was shocked but ecstatic. She was going to make history as the first school teacher in space.

Christa headed to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to begin her training in September 1985. She feared the other astronauts would consider her an intruder, just "along for the ride," and vowed to work hard to prove herself. Instead, she discovered that the other crew members treated her as part of the team. She trained with them in preparation for a 1986 mission.

She said, "A lot of people thought it was over when we reached the Moon (on Apollo 11). They put space on the back burner. But people have a connection with teachers. Now that a teacher has been selected, they are starting to watch the launches again."

Lesson Plans for a Special Mission

Besides teaching a set of special science lessons from the shuttle, Christa was planning to keep a journal of her adventure. "That's our new frontier out there, and it's everybody's business to know about space," she noted.

Christa was scheduled to fly aboard the space shuttle Challenger for mission STS-51L. After several delays, it finally launched January 28, 1986 at 11:38:00 a.m. eastern standard time. Seventy-three seconds into the flight, the Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts aboard as their families watched from the Kennedy Space Center. It was not the first NASA space flight tragedy, but it was the first watched around the world.

The cause of the Challenger explosion was later determined to be the failure of an o-ring due to extreme cold temperatures. However, the real problems may have had more to do with politics than engineering.

Honors and Remembrance

While it has been many years since the incident, people have not forgotten McAuliffe and her teammates. Part of Christa McAuliffe's mission aboard the Challenge r was to have taught two lessons from space. One would have introduced the crew, explained their functions, describing much of the equipment aboard, and telling how life is lived aboard a space shuttle. The second lesson would have concentrated more on spaceflight itself, how it works, why it's done, etc.

She never got to teach those lessons. Astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold, who are part of the astronaut corps for the International Space Station, announced plans to use the lessons onboard the station during their mission. The plans covered experiments in liquids, effervescence, chromatography and Newton's laws.

Challenger Centers

After the tragedy, the families of the Challenger crew banded together to help form the Challenger Organization, which provides resources for students, teachers, and parents for educational purposes. Included in these resources are 42 Learning Centers in 26 states, Canada, and the UK which offer a two-room simulator, consisting of a space station, complete with communications, medical, life, and computer science equipment, and a mission control room patterned after NASA's Johnson Space Center and a space lab ready for exploration.

Also, there have been many schools and other facilities around the country named after these heroes, including the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, NH. Scholarships have been funded in her memory, and she is remembered each year on NASA's Day of Remembrance commemorating all astronauts lost in the line of duty.

Christa McAuliffe is buried in a Concord cemetery, on a hillside not far from the planetarium built in her honor.

Fast Facts: Christa McAuliffe

Born: September 2, 1948; died January 28, 1986.

Parents: Edward C. and Grace Mary Corrigan

Married: Steven J. McAuliffe in 1970.

Children: Scott and Caroline

Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in space. She was selected in 1984 for a 1986 mission.

McAuliffe had planned to teach several lessons from space to children around the world.

The Challenger mission was cut short by castastrophe 73 seconds after launch when the main tank exploded due to outgassing from the solid rocket boosters. It destroyed the shuttle and killed all seven astronauts.

"Christa McAuliffe Biography / Biography of Christa McAuliffe." Los Alamitos Unified School District / Overview, www.losal.org/domain/521.

"Christa's Lost Lessons." Challenger Center, www.challenger.org/challenger_lessons/christas-lost-lessons/.

Garcia, Mark. "Christa McAuliffe's Legacy Experiments." NASA, NASA, 23 Jan. 2018, www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-challenger-center-collaborate-to-perform-christa-mcauliffe-s-legacy-experiments.

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The Teacher Who Died on the Space Shuttle Challenger

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Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe was America's first teacher in space candidate, chosen to fly aboard the shuttle and teach lessons to children on Earth. Unfortunately, her flight ended in tragedy when the Challenger orbiter was destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff.

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Christa McAuliffe
A Biography

In 1986 Christa McAuliffe stepped from the classroom into history. As part of a radical new approach by NASA, she was to be the first civilian in space. While her mission on the shuttle ended tragically, her mission as a teacher continues.

By 1984, space shuttle flights had become ordinary occurrences to many Americans. NASA wanted to rekindle the excitement that had once surrounded the space program. They thought that if an ordinary citizen were involved, a good "talker" who could communicate the excitement of travel in space, the public might once again become enthusiastic. Taking this into consideration, President Reagan made the decision that the first ordinary American to travel on board a space shuttle would be "one of America's finest, a teacher." After all, good teachers have the ability to get people interested and excited.

NASA's media coordinator said, "We're not looking for Superman; we're looking for the person who can do the best job of describing his or her experiences on the shuttle to the most people on Earth." The search finally led to Christa McAuliffe, a Social Studies teacher from Concord High School in Concord, New Hampshire. Her students considered her an "inspirational human being, a marvelous teacher who made their lessons come alive." Often called The Field Trip Teacher, Christa believed it was the hands-on experience that made the most valuable teaching tool. In fact, she called her impending trip on the Challenger The Ultimate Field Trip.

Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the eldest of Edward and Grace Corrigan's five children, was born on September 2, 1948, in Framingham, Massachusetts. While in high school, Christa met Steve McAuliffe. Christa attended Framingham State College, majored in history, and received her degree in 1970. That year, she and Steve were married. Soon after, they moved to Washington, D.C., where Steve attended law school.

Christa taught school until the birth of her first child, Scott. She then attended Bowie State College and earned a masters degree in school administration in 1978. Shortly thereafter Steve, Christa and Scott moved to Concord, New Hampshire, and Christa's second child, Caroline, was born. The McAuliffes settled into an old, three-story house, Steve began his law practice, and Christa stayed home with the children.

Christa's love of teaching soon led her back to the classroom. First, Christa taught at Bow Memorial School, and then moved to Concord High School. Christa was also actively involved in the community - church, a tennis club, the local playhouse, the YMCA and Concord Hospital. In addition, she was a Girl Scout leader, a jogger and a swimmer.

When the opportunity came to apply to be the first Teacher in Space, everyone who knew Christa told her to "Go for it!" She completed the eleven page application, mailed it at the last minute and hoped for the best. After becoming a finalist, Christa did not think she would be chosen. Some of the other teachers were doctors, authors, scholars. . . she was just an ordinary person. However, she was chosen, out of 11,500 applicants. An ordinary person - to whom ordinary people could relate - doing the extraordinary.

Christa's presence in the space program helped boost public interest and curiosity, and through her participation she became an inspiration to the teaching profession as well. She felt her exposure as the Teacher in Space reflected well on all teachers. Regarding the space program, she said, "A lot of people thought it was over when we reached the Moon. They put space on the back burner. But people have a connection with teachers. Now that a teacher has been selected, they are starting to watch the launches again."

Christa began her training at NASA's facility in Houston in September of 1985. At first she was worried that the other astronauts might think she was just along for the ride. She wanted to prove she could work just as hard as they could. But when they met, the other members of the crew treated her as part of the team. Christa trained with them for 114 hours, and when launch time came, she was ready.

Just 73 seconds after lift-off, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

While aboard the shuttle, Christa was to have taught two lessons from space. In one she would have introduced each flight member, explained their roles, shown the cockpit with its 1,300 switches and dials and explained how crew members ate, slept and exercised in microgravity. Her second lesson would have explained how the shuttle flew, discussed why people explore space, and reported on technological advances created by the space program. Throughout her voyage she was to have kept a journal, inspired by the journals of the pioneer women who left their homes in search of a new frontier. Christa said "That's our new frontier out there, and it's everybody's business to know about space."

Grace Corrigan, Christa's mother, said in her book A Journal For Christa, "Christa lived. She never just sat back and existed. Christa always accomplished everything that she was capable of accomplishing. She extended her own limitations. She cared about her fellow human beings. She did the ordinary, but she did it well and unfailingly."

On January 28, 1986, her mission in space ended in tragedy. However, her message continues to speak to us today. Christa's motto was "I touch the future, I teach", and she is teaching us still.

Christa's mission continues here at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium which was erected in her memory. The idea for a planetarium was suggested by Louise Wiley, a teacher from Northwood, New Hampshire, and was chosen from among many other ideas because it combined Christa's dream of traveling through space with her dedication to teaching. In April, 1988, the New Hampshire Legislature appropriated funds to build the Planetarium, and ground breaking took place on October 26, 1988. Construction was completed in little more than a year. On June 21, 1990 the Planetarium began its mission to educate, incite and entertain learners of all ages in the sciences and humanities by actively engaging them in the exploration of astronomy and space science. Since then nearly 30,000 school children a year, and thousands of others, have passed through the doors to participate in The Ultimate Field Trip.

Sources:

Christa McAuliffe
Teacher In Space
Corrinne J. Naden and Rose Blue
The Millfield Press Brookfield, Connecticut

Christa McAuliffe
Reaching For The Stars
Patricia Stone Martin
Rourke Enterprises
Vero Beach, Florida

A Journal for Christa
Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space
Grace George Corrigan
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln and London

I Touch the Future
The Story of Christa McAuliffe
Robert T. Hohler
Random House
New York, New York

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Christa McAuliffe Biography / Biography of Christa McAuliffe

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Christa McAuliffe A Biography In 1986 Christa McAuliffe stepped from the classroom into history. As part of a radical new approach by NASA, she was to be the first civilian in space. While her mission on the shuttle ended tragically, her mission as a teacher continues.

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William E. Corbin was the inventor of Nibroc paper towels and was the mayor of the city of Berlin, New Hampshire (1931-1932).

William E. Corbin was born in 1869 in Charlestown, New Hampshire to Samuel and Mary Corbin. As a child, Corbin worked on a farm in Charleston, New Hampshire. For a short time Corbin worked at the Government Cheney mill in Manchester. He later moved to Berlin, New Hampshire, on May 27, 1892, where he was employed at the Riverside Mill of the Brown Company. In 1894, he became superintendent of this mill. In 1904, the Brown Company built the Cascade Mill on the border of Berlin and Gorham. Corbin became the first superintendent of this new mill. Along with being the superintendent of the Cascade Mill, Corbin became a director in the Berlin National Bank in 1906 and, in 1913, became the president of this bank. In 1931, Corbin became mayor of the city of Berlin, serving until 1932.

In 1919, Mr. Corbin, along with Harold Titus and Henry Chase, the Brown Company's first chemist, started to experiment at the Research and Development building to improve the problems of papermaking, to include the Nibroc Paper Towels. In 1922, Corbin had completed the first paper towels. Before this, there were only cloth towels but no official paper towel. This paper towel was called "Nibroc", which is Corbin spelled backwards.

On October 13, 1951, "the father of paper towels", William E. Corbin, died at his home. He was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in the town of his birth. Nibroc paper towels were produced by the Brown Company until the 1970s.

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William E. Corbin was the inventor of Nibroc paper towels and was the mayor of the city of Berlin, New Hampshire (1931-1932). William E. Corbin was born in 1869 in Charlestown, New Hampshire to Samuel and Mary Corbin. As a child, Corbin worked on a farm in Charleston, New Hampshire.

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Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born August 20, 1832 in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire and died January 16, 1913 in Pasadena, California. He was an American patriot, balloonist, and inventor.

While Lowe never completed his formal education, he is noted for building one of the largest balloons ever constructed to cross the Atlantic Ocean (1859-1860), held flight endurance records for distance and altitude, and invented the first altimeter used without a horizon.

Lowe is known as the grandfather of the United States Air Force after being appointed to the position of Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Serving under General George McClellan in this civilian post, Lowe constructed five balloons (for a total of seven) to be used to spy on the Confederate Army. Lowe not only was the first prisoner of the Civil War, but was considered "the most shot at man" as well, due to his high profile while aloft.

During this time he also invented a portable hydrogen gas generator to be used for balloon inflations in the field, a method to telegraph the ground while up in his balloons, and a system of signal flags for directing artillery from the air on targets unseen by ground troops. Lowe also converted a barge for use as a floating launching pad for his balloons, an early forerunner of the aircraft carrier.

Due to health issues and bureaucratic red tape, Lowe retired from military service in 1863 and later went on to develop a compressed ice machine for artificial refrigeration (1865), and outfitted the first ship with this apparatus for transport of refrigerated food (1868). He developed the Lowe-Gas method for manufacturing inexpensive heating and illuminating gas beginning in 1875, which research and improvements eventually won the Franklin Institute Silver and Gold medals in 1885 and 1886 respectively.

In 1888 Lowe retired from Pennsylvania to California, founded Citizen's Bank of Los Angeles, and opened a local gas and electric company and another ice manufacturing company. Moving to Pasadena in 1891, Lowe built arguably the largest home in the nation at that time, measuring just less than 24,000 square feet.

1892 brought the incorporation and construction of the first all-electric incline, the Mount Lowe Incline Railway, above Pasadena, California. Lowe later lost control (1897) and went on to hold more than 200 patents and as late as 1910 proposed a method of cargo transportation by dirigible.

Thaddeus Lowe was a loving husband and father of ten children and the grandfather of Florence "Pancho" Barnes, the world famous aviatrix.

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Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born August 20, 1832 in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire and died January 16, 1913 in Pasadena, California. He was an American patriot, balloonist, and inventor.

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Thaddeus S. C. Lowe studied by candlelight on his family's farm in Jefferson, N.H. with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. While work on the farm occupied his time - work that he had no love for - it was science that occupied his mind.

His father was a well-respected shoemaker and merchant. Thaddeus lived the life of a farm boy, which meant lots of chores with little time for studying. At the age of 11, Thaddeus declared his own independence and left the farm.

After setting off on his own first to Portland, Me. and then to Boston, where he worked with his older brother making shoes, Thaddeus returned to New Hampshire in 1850 to recuperate from an illness; his stepmother helped nurse him back to health.

It was Reginald B. Dincklehoff's Wonders of Science Show, a travelling exhibit that featured a demonstration of the properties of hydrogen that set Thaddeus off in a new direction.

He attended the show and volunteered from the audience to be an assistant. Dincklehoff, seeing Lowe's enthusiasm mixed in with a good dollop of natural showmanship, offered to take him on as an apprentice. For two years, Lowe worked as assistant in the show and then bought the entire operation when Dincklehoff decided to retire.

Lowe was a hit. His hard work, growing knowledge of science and flair for showmanship allowed him to earn a living that also supported his studies. He studied medicine and science and his travels took him to New York, where in 1857 he took his first ride in a hydrogen balloon that he built himself.

He began talking with anyone who would listen about the benefits of balloons and how they could be used in gathering atmospheric data. His ideas for a national weather service, using balloons to record weather observations, would not come to fruition. Others would make that idea a reality later on.

But he did soon find a use for his balloons. In 1861, the Civil War broke out with the surrender of Fort Sumter. In April, Lowe launched himself in one of his balloons from Cincinnati. His intended destination was New York, where he was planning for a trans-Atlantic balloon voyage.

His balloon carried him south, however, into South Carolina. There, the newly created Confederacy treated Lowe as a spy, convinced his flight was military in nature. He soon was identified as a showman/scientist and released. However, the incident put thoughts into Lowe's head. Balloons could, indeed, be useful sources of intelligence during wartime.

Lowe travelled to Washington and offered to demonstrate the balloon for President Lincoln. Lowe took his balloon, the Intrepid, to the First Battle of Bull Run. He ascended in the balloon and was able to report Confederate troop movements to the Union generals.

Unfortunately, his balloon came down behind enemy lines, and Lowe injured his ankle. It was ultimately his wife, Leontine, who disguised herself as an old woman in a wagon and drove Lowe back to safety.

News of his adventures had reached Lincoln, and he awarded Lowe the contract to start the Union Army Balloon Corps and made Lowe its Chief Aeronaut.

The Corps was never part of the military, which meant Lowe and its other members would be subject to execution as spies if they were ever captured. The added danger probably appealed to Lowe's sense of adventure.

Lowe set to work building balloons. President Lincoln attended one demonstration of the new balloons on October 4, 1861. The balloons proved their worth on more than one occasion. In 1862, for instance, he was able to spot the Confederate Army advancing on a smaller contingent of Union troops in time for the army to repair a bridge and give the Union troops the opportunity to escape what would have certainly been a defeat.

With the assignment of the balloon corps to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lowe was finished with the military. The leader of the Corps was dismissive of what the balloons could provide, and he decided to cut Lowe's pay. Lowe resigned and the balloon corps soon stopped functioning.

The move was not the end of Lowe's career, however, he would go on to California and invent a process used for building ice-making machines that would make him a millionaire. His fortune would be dissipated by a railroad investment, however, and the farmer's boy from Jefferson would die in 1913 with little more by way of wealth than he had as a child.

Still, this man for whom Mount Lowe in California is named, came a long way from the farm chores that he never enjoyed.

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Thaddeus S. C. Lowe - A New Hampshire Farm Boy Soars to New Heights - New England Historical Society

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Thaddeus S. C. Lowe studied by candlelight on his family's farm in Jefferson, N.H. with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. While work on the farm occupied his time - work that he had no love for - it was science that occupied his mind. His father was a well-respected shoemaker and merchant.

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Waving goodbye, the impeccably dressed young man with fiery red hair and ruddy complexion hurriedly boarded the Cleveland-bound train. In the span of nine short days, The Pride of Penacook had graduated from Dartmouth, signed a contract to play for the New York Yankees, and now was en route to join his new team. Place of birth made Robert Abial Rolfe a New Hampshire Yankee; his goal since childhood had been to don pinstripes and become a New York Yankee.

The Rolfe clan was an adventuresome lot, unafraid to leave their deep English/Scottish roots, to pursue opportunity in the newly settled Colonies. Rolfe commented to author Henry Edwards: "My folks just missed the Mayflower back some 300 years ago, but they caught the next steamer." 1

Herbert Rolfe was a skilled carpenter by trade when he married Lucy Huff in Penacook, New Hampshire, on June 4, 1901. Robert was the couple's fifth child, born in Penacook on October 17, 1908. The family consisted of five girls (four older than Robert) and a younger brother, surviving only days after his birth in 1910. Herbert successfully grew the business to later include ownership of a working lumber mill.

Bobby Rolfe earned a reputation as a good student - and an even better athlete. As a seventh-grader he played on the Penacook High School baseball team. It wasn't a matter of exceptional ability; the team simply didn't have enough players to fill a roster. By eighth grade, his play helped Coach Jim Steele's team win the 1922 Merrimack Valley Baseball League Championship. Playing for the Sunset Elks in 1925, Bobby won MVP honors, and was the youngest player in the league.

The left-handed hitter entered Penacook High School and distinguished himself at shortstop. By his senior year he was generally acknowledged to be the top player on the team. Planning for the future, career options included pursuing the fields of teaching or journalism, with Dartmouth becoming his school of choice. Bobby's cousin recommended a postgraduate year at prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, to gain large-school experience. Founded during the Revolutionary War, the school was a steppingstone for students seeking an Ivy League education. Bobby enrolled and flourished academically. Former big-league pitcher Simmy Murth coached the baseball team; it was here teammates first christened him "Red."

Rolfe was admitted to Dartmouth as an English major in 1927. The school had a formidable baseball team, coached by Jeff Tesreau, another ex-major-league pitcher. Rolfe settled in at shortstop and Tesreau quickly recognized both the offensive and defensive ability possessed by the youngster. New York Yankees business manager Ed Barrow had an unofficial working agreement with Tesreau; Jeff was to report talent to his office. Rolfe's obvious potential resulted in the coach's contacting Barrow, and recommending that he send a scout to New Hampshire.

Pseudo Yankees farm director Gene "White Tie" McCann was given the assignment. Arriving in New Hampshire, the unassuming McCann quietly assessed Rolfe from a distance. Later approaching the prospect, he struck up a conversation and subtly hinted at Rolfe's pursuing a major-league career, embellished by the suggestion of sharing the limelight with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. 2 Red was enamored, having followed the Yankees and idolizing both the Babe and Lou since his days in primary school.

Red decided to mull over McCann's proposal while relaxing at the family's Lake Winnepocket summer home, where his chores included filling the woodbox with kindling for cool summer nights. Older sister Florence was a college student, and regularly invited friends to the lake. During one trip in the summer of 1928, Florence introduced Red to Isabel Africa, a brown-eyed, dark-haired beauty studying to become a dietician at the University of New Hampshire. Red was smitten, and visited regularly to ensure that the woodbox remained filled.

By senior year, the campus was overrun with scouts eager to see Rolfe in action. Red's playing time was limited due to a chronically sore arm. Downtrodden, he figured chances of a major-league career were as dead as his arm. Coach Tesreau sent Red to the Cape Cod League, under the tutelage of former big-league pitcher Patsy Donovan. The veteran systematically worked with Rolfe as the wing slowly healed. By the spring of 1931, the soupbone was better than ever. Red wired McCann: "If the offer is still good, I would like to play with Babe and Lou." 3

Standing 5-feet-11 and weighing 170 pounds, Rolfe graduated from Dartmouth in 1931. Connie Mack invited the youngster to Philadelphia for a tryout, but follow-up discussions never led to a contract. Red's friends cautioned against signing with the Yankees, claiming that large contracts secured by Lyn Lary and Frank Crosetti would keep Red stuck in the minors. Rolfe responded: "Money does not make a ballplayer." 4 On June 25, 1931, Red signed with New York and attained his dream: "Ed Barrow outbid his rivals and landed Rolfe for a six thousand dollar signing bonus, a fairly hefty amateur bonus at the time." 5

Joe McCarthy was in his inaugural season as Yankees skipper in 1931, assuming the post after five successful years leading the Chicago Cubs. McCarthy liked giving rookies a brief taste of the big time - then shuttling them to the minors for seasoning; this was the plan when Red boarded the Cleveland train. Arriving at League Park, Rolfe shook hands with McCarthy, while marveling at the green grass and immaculate condition of the field. Introductions ensued, and Red shook hands with both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig; the magnitude of this moment was never lost on the impressionable young man.

Rolfe made his major-league debut on June 29, 1931, entering the game in the top of the eighth as a defensive replacement for shortstop Lyn Lary. Gehrig tossed a warm-up grounder to the awestruck rookie; both were college men and would eventually become not only very good friends, but also cribbage partners during long train rides to American League cities. Neither was a night owl; both enjoyed mystery novels and classic literature. Lou recalled Red's early days as a Yankee: "I never saw a kid with so much spirit and desire to learn as Rolfe has shown me." Lou continued: "When you start to discuss things, this Rolfe sticks his ear right into your tonsils. He wants to know everything. I think he's a natural." 6

The discerning Cleveland fans gave the rookie a major-league welcome, as a loud round of applause accompanied Red's slick backhand grab of Johnny Burnett's infield pop. After Red's day with the big club, Marse Joe shuttled him down to the Eastern League (Class A) Albany Senators, where he played shortstop, hitting .333 in 58 games. Earning a promotion to the International League Newark Bears in 1932, Red hit .330 in 147 games, good enough to warrant All-International League honors.

Returning as the Bears' shortstop in 1933, Red posted a .326 mark in 156 games. Late in the season, he felt his fielding was not up to par. Montreal Royals shortstop Jonah Goldman approached Red and offered a suggestion: Position your left foot behind your right, and face second base, almost perpendicular to the line. Red experimented and remarked, "I adapted Goldman's style and it helped me a lot." 7

Wrote Newark Star-Ledger sportswriter Tip Rosen, "It may be somewhat far-fetched to say that Red Rolfe is as much responsible for the lofty place the Bears now hold in the International League pennant race as any other member of the club, but it's just about the truth." 8 Red was named the 1933 International League MVP and got manager McCarthy seriously thinking about his infield woes.

Invited to spring training with the parent Yankees in 1934, Rolfe hustled afield, while leading the team in hitting. McCarthy planned to start the season with Rolfe at shortstop, replacing the light-hitting Frank Crosetti, but a painful case of hip boils scratched Red from the opener. Rolfe made matters worse by incorrectly assuming a heat-lamp treatment would improve his condition; it actually made the boils worse. Upon healing, Rolfe was inserted into the lineup at shortstop; former star second baseman Tony Lazzeri moved over to third, with young Don Heffner getting the starting nod at second base.

McCarthy quickly realized his infield problems were far from settled. Lazzeri did not adapt to third, Heffner was not an everyday-caliber player and McCarthy determined that Rolfe's arm (and difficulty going to his right) made him unsuited to playing shortstop in the major leagues. Crosetti returned to short, Lazzeri switched back to his natural second base, leaving Rolfe to assume the role of third-sacker. Despite his first hot-corner chance blackening his eye, the New York Times reported: "He took to his new position like a duck to water." 9 A wrenched knee limited Rolfe's playing time in 1934 to 89 games; he hit .287.

Red and Isabel were married on October 12, 1934. Originally from Pennsylvania, Isabel was the daughter of Walter G. and Isabel A. Africa, residents of Manchester while their daughter attended the University of New Hampshire. Isabel later studied to become a dietician at Johns Hopkins University. Since his youth, Red had suffered from inflammatory colitis, a stomach condition causing his immune system to attack his bowels. Isabel studied the disease and recommended dietary changes. Doctors warned Red about the stress of a baseball season, potentially aggravating his condition.

Among club wives, the new Mrs. Rolfe quickly became an ardent Yankee fan, learning to keep score and mathematically calculate her husband's batting average on the spot. Teammate Tommy Henrich recalled: "The Yankees wives were our biggest fans. Maybe the most faithful of all was Red Rolfe's wife Isabel. She was one classy lady. She came out to Yankee Stadium often and enjoyed the games like any other enthusiastic fan." 10

Skipper Joe McCarthy appreciated the quiet demeanor of his new third baseman, and especially admired Red's habit of writing down game-day observations. Red had an insatiable appetite for information and painstakingly recorded a multitude of facts and figures. McCarthy remarked: "He asks plenty of questions and writes down the answers. He also has a lot of other information in his little black book. For instance, he writes down just what every pitcher throws in the clutch so he can be set in the pinch." 11

In the offseason, Rolfe owned and operated a service station in New Hampshire, keeping him reasonably fit until spring; however it was his fondness for skiing and ice skating that really got him into shape. If the New England winter turned bitter, Red would move indoors to work out on the basketball court or hockey rink. He observed, "Many players would stand up better during the campaign if they did not spend too much time out in the sun." 12

Rolfe became the Yankees' regular third baseman in 1935, playing 149 games and hitting .300. Columnist Dan Daniel described him as "well behaved, the parson of the outfit. Never raises his voice, always showing a smile, always working hard, the baseball ideal, always studying things out there, always asking questions of McCarthy. A ballplayer in a couple hundred." 13 Red's meticulous notes included which field a player was likely to hit to when served certain pitches. He'd communicate this information to teammates, who executed a 1930s version of the shift.

The addition of rookie Joe DiMaggio to the Yankees lineup in 1936 helped catapult the club to a pennant and ultimately a World Series title, over the New York Giants. McCarthy preferred a left-handed hitter occupying the number two spot in the batting order. Red's bat control and ability to pull the ball made him ideal for that slot. He understood his job as a table-setter for the power hitters, while leading the league with 15 triples and hitting .319 overall.

In 1937, Rolfe played all 154 games and made his first All-Star Game appearance, despite suffering from a painful thighbone tumor. He diagnosed his own ailment, noticing he couldn't sit during long train rides. The Yankees won 102 games, finished 13 games ahead of the second-place Detroit Tigers, and defeated the Giants in five games in the World Series. The leg tumor was surgically removed after the season.

The McCarthy-men again won the pennant in 1938, this time by 9½ games over the Boston Red Sox. Rolfe hit .311, good enough to earn a second All-Star selection, and finished 24th in the MVP balloting. The mighty Yankees swept the Cubs in the fall classic.

The Yankees secured their fourth straight pennant in 1939, chalking up 106 wins, to best the second-place Red Sox by 17 games. Red led the league with 213 hits, 46 doubles, and 139 runs, hit.329, and finished 27th in the MVP voting. From August 9 to 25 he scored at least one run in 18 consecutive games. In the World Series, the Yankees swept the Cincinnati Reds in four straight. Red's 1939 World Series ring was the one he proudly wore the rest of his life.

The 1936-1939 Yankees completely dominated the American League, winning the pennant by at least 9½ games each season. Connie Mack remarked to sportswriter Red Smith regarding the Yankees and specifically Rolfe: "They talk about all the other fellas on that team, but I notice the man who hurts us when it counts is that third baseman. There is a real ballplayer." 14 Red led the entire decade of the 1930s in doubles.

The Yankees slumped in 1940, finishing third behind Detroit and Cleveland, albeit only 2 games out. Rolfe was named to the All-Star squad for the fourth consecutive year, despite hitting only .250 in 139 games. His subpar performance was attributed to tonsils poisoning his system, along with a case of eyestrain, accompanied by excessive tearing and redness. A tonsillectomy in January 1941 was expected to rectify these problems.

The 1941Yankees were back on top of the American League, winning 101 games, 17 games ahead of the Red Sox. Rolfe's play was seriously affected by a serious attack of intestinal colitis in September, causing his weight to dramatically drop from 170 to 159 pounds. Physically weakened, he hit only .264, but he produced at a .300 clip during the World Series, helping the Yankees rout the Brooklyn Dodgers in five games. Red ordered his 1941 World Series ring in the ladies version, presenting it to Isabel as a gift. Rolfe scored over 100 runs in seven consecutive seasons (1935-1941), averaging 121 runs a season.

Then came 1942, the first wartime season, with teams experiencing player shortages because of the military draft. At the time, Rolfe was 33, married and classified 3-A, making his chances of serving highly unlikely. Colitis struck again during spring training, causing another round of serious weight loss. McCarthy remained patient with his third baseman, knowing Red's health and on-field performance were not up to par. Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators actively sought to trade for Red, despite his ailments. Rolfe considered playing in a uniform other than pinstripes unthinkable and ended all speculation by announcing his retirement, effective with the end of the season.

In 1942 Rolfe played in only 69 games, hitting an uncharacteristic .219, for the pennant-winning Yankees. The St. Louis Cardinals won the National League flag and defeated the Yankees in five games in the World Series. Rolfe hit .353 (6-for-17) during the Series, but that performance did not alter the redhead's decision; he had already accepted a coaching position at Yale University.

Ed Barrow added a poignant comment regarding Rolfe's departure: "He was sick a long time, you know. He had that stomach trouble colitis and played in spite of it." 15 The Sporting News reported how Rolfe would be missed in many non-baseball ways: "Red was often sought out by teammates for help with income tax filings, advice on investments, counsel on their bridge game, and even their domestic difficulties." 16 During his career, Rolfe established a mark for third basemen by appearing in 28 World Series games.

Rolfe volunteered to travel overseas as part of an athletic troupe, visiting wartime service camps; his unit conducted sports clinics, as a morale builder for the troops. He coached at Yale from 1942 to 1946 before returning to the Yankees as a coach. McCarthy confided to his returning charge: "In about three years I'm quitting. You're cut out to be a team leader. You'll be the logical choice to succeed me." 17 Red's leadership was good enough to add professional basketball coach to his résumé; he led the Toronto Huskies of the Basketball Association of America in 1946; the league was a precursor to the NBA.

Red never got the job as Yankees skipper. A group led by Larry MacPhail purchased the club in 1945 and MacPhail signed Bucky Harris to manage in 1947, with Charlie Dressen and Red Corriden brought in as coaches. Rolfe became expendable, and left his beloved Yankees to join the Detroit Tigers on August 8, 1947, as chief scout in charge of rebuilding the farm system.

Detroit Tigers manager Steve O'Neill was fired on November 6, 1948, following a fifth-place finish. None of the club's upper management - owner Walter O. Briggs, his son Spike, and general manager Billy Evans - had a specific replacement in mind, stating they'd look within the organization to find a skipper.

Aspiring candidates came from nowhere, raising the number of applicants quickly from 12 to almost 50. Then Spike suggested a candidate who had not even applied for the job: "What about farm director Red Rolfe?" All three agreed and as The Sporting News reported: "Robert the Red knows the game thoroughly. He is a charming gentleman; but was an aggressive player. It was that aggressiveness, which was his chief recommendation for the Tiger managerial post." 18

Billy Evans came up with a clever way of breaking the news: Entering Red's farm-director office at Briggs Stadium, Evans asked: "How would you like to change your office for another one down the hall? The other one's a little bigger. You might like it better." "Well," answered Rolfe, "I'm perfectly satisfied with this office. It's big enough, but I suppose I might use a little more space. What office were you thinking of giving me?" Billy replied, "The one reserved for our new manager." 19 After the shock wore off, Red commented, "this club has its weaknesses, but it is not a bad ballclub. If we can strengthen two or three spots, we will be up there in the pennant fight." 20

During spring training 1949, Rolfe "flashed that contagious grin and murmured: It's great to be back in action again, I missed this terribly. You know it's been seven years since I quit playing. It seems like seventy." 21 The 1949 team essentially consisted of aging holdovers from the 1945 world championship club. George Kell commented in a 1969 Baseball Magazine article: "Red Rolfe showed me things at third base when I first became an All-Star." 22 Rolfe also shared with Kell a great deal of the baseball knowledge he had acquired under the tutelage of Joe McCarthy.

The Tigers started a torrid streak on August 20, 1949, winning 18 of 20 games. Rolfe deflected assertions that his managerial skill produced such impressive results. "We just caught on fire," he insisted. "Our pitchers are pitching, our hitters are hitting, and we're getting the breaks. All I do as manager is yell my head off when one of the boys hits one and slap a pitcher on the back after he wins another." 23 The club improved to fourth place, compiling an 87-67 record.

Rolfe won Manager of the Year honors in 1950, finishing 95-59, in second place three games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. The exultation was short-lived; the club slipped back to fifth in 1951, falling to a 73-81 record. The bottom fell out in 1952, when the team skidded to 50-104 and last place; Rolfe was fired with the club at 23-49. According to Arthur Daley of the New York Times, "Red was a perfectionist as a player, but that same quality proved his undoing as a manager when he took over the Detroit Tigers. He immediately became appalled by the complacency of his hired hands and they came to resent his drive for perfection." 24

The door was always open at Dartmouth; Red was welcomed back as athletic director in 1954. At an English Department dinner, he quickly realized he couldn't shake his baseball past; seated on the dais next to Robert Frost, Red looked forward to an evening of discussing literature with the renowned poet. To Red's dismay, all Frost wanted to talk about was baseball. Rolfe learned in 1967 that an intestinal disorder required surgery and he announced his retirement from Dartmouth.

Red and Isabel were set financially; his baseball salary was supplemented by postseason money, earned nearly every year during his professional career. They saved judiciously and invested wisely, developing a successful investment portfolio. The couple had no children, didn't buy a fancy car every year and never took extravagant vacations; their favorite getaway was the solitude of New Hampshire lake fishing, aboard their relatively modest boat.

The Yankees conducted a fan survey in 1969, to determine their "all-time" greatest team; Red Rolfe was voted the third baseman. On July 8, 1969, a little more than a month after Dartmouth's Memorial Field was renamed Rolfe Field, Red's kidneys failed and the Pride of Penacook died at the age of 60; he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Penacook.

Joe McCarthy, upon hearing of Rolfe's death, remarked, "Red was one of the greatest third basemen of all time." 25 Sportswriter Red Smith wrote, "He was always a quiet guy, and straightforward, a guy with a good healthy home life, a popular man on the team who never made any trouble and had a good deal of influence on the men around him." 26

Isabel lived in the Penacook area for the next 29 years. She aggressively helped support multiple philanthropic causes and was a generous donor to many local charities. She was residing with Red's younger sister, Marjorie, when she died on December 2, 1998, at the age of 90.

Rolfe's major-league career was relatively short, consisting of only nine full big-league seasons. During that brief period, his impressive résumé included six pennant winners, five world championships and four All-Star selections. His career numbers included 1,175 major-league games, with 257 doubles and 67 triples; his lifetime stats included a .289 batting average, a .360 OBP, a .773 OPS, and a WAR (wins above replacement) of 23.5.
Notes
1 AL Service Bureau, Henry Edwards, January 26, 1936, in Rolfe's Hall of Fame file.

4 Hall of Fame File.

5 Daniel Levitt, Ed Barrow, The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008): 258.

9 Unaccredited clipping in Rolfe's Hall of Fame file.

14 Red Smith, "Rolfe Rough on Connie's A's, unaccredited clipping in Rolfe's Hall of Fame file.

18 J.G. Taylor Spink, "A Job That Sought the Man," The Sporting News, November 24, 1948: 4.

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Waving goodbye, the impeccably dressed young man with fiery red hair and ruddy complexion hurriedly boarded the Cleveland-bound train. In the span of nine short days, The Pride of Penacook had graduated from Dartmouth, signed a contract to play for the New York Yankees, and now was en route to join his new team.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) was one of the most celebrated American composers of the 19th century. He was also a poet, a talented visual artist, avid photographer, and dabbled in architecture. His compositions won the approval of music critics, both in Europe and the United States, and his contemporaries, including composers such as Franz Liszt and Joachim Raff. While MacDowell's early romantic works reflected his training in Germany, he was one of the first to incorporate native materials into his works and is credited in helping establish an American idiom. He was among the first seven Americans honored with membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1904.

He studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire and after two years moved on to Germany to study composition with Raff in 1878. In 1882 Raff introduced MacDowell to Liszt, who arranged for him to play his Modern Suite No. 1 at Zürich. In 1884 he married pianist Marian Nevins (1857-1956) his former pupil, and the two lived in Germany until 1887. After returning to the U.S., MacDowell played the premiere of his Second Piano Concerto in D Minor, his most successful larger work, in New York in 1889. In part due to his growing reputation on both sides of The Atlantic, he was hired to establish a department of music at Columbia University in 1896. He aimed to help legitimize literature, sculpture, painting, architecture, and music as departments equal in importance to those of science and philosophy. But a change in direction in University administration led to a public airing of grievances and a debate over the role of fine arts in academia, and MacDowell resigned by 1904. Combined with a traffic accident shortly after, from which the composer never fully recovered, he sank into a deep depression.

The next summer, he and his wife retreated to their farm in Peterborough where MacDowell had always maintained he did his best work since his wife first bought the property in 1896. By the summer of 1905, however, Edward MacDowell's health had declined to the point where he could no longer compose. Instead, knowing he was gravely ill, MacDowell became obsessed with the fate of the property. It is said that he could only be consoled when Marian promised him she'd turn the property into an artists' colony dedicated to his vision of bringing together artists working in the various disciplines. As a result, MacDowell accepted its first artists in 1907, the year before Edward died.

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Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) was one of the most celebrated American composers of the 19th century. He was also a poet, a talented visual artist, avid photographer, and dabbled in architecture. His compositions won the approval of music critics, both in Europe and the United States, and his contemporaries, including composers such as Franz Liszt and Joachim Raff.

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Mrs. H. H. A. Beach. Halftone. Illustrated in American Composers by Rupert Hughes and Arthur Elson. Boston: The Page Company, 1914, facing page 426. Music Division, Library of Congress. LC call number: ML390.H89 1914 Copy 3

Amy Marcy Cheney was born on September 5, 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire, to a prominent New England family. Her mother, Clara Imogene (Marcy) Cheney, was a talented amateur singer and pianist. Young Amy was a true prodigy who memorized forty songs at the age of one and taught herself to read at age three. She played four-part hymns and composed simple waltzes at age four. By the age of six, she began studying piano with her mother and performed her first public recitals one year later, playing works by Handel, Beethoven, Chopin, and some of her own pieces. In 1875 the family moved to Boston, where Amy studied with the leading pianists. She made her Boston debut in 1883, and two years later played her first performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Wilhelm Gericke conducting Chopin's Concerto in F Minor.

In 1885, she married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach (1843-1910), a physician, Harvard University lecturer, and amateur singer. Her husband requested that she limit her public performances, so she focused her musical energies on composing. She had only one year of formal training in harmony and counterpoint with Junius W. Hill. Beyond that, she embarked on a course of independent study, analyzing the compositions of master composers as models and translating theoretical works such as Berlioz's treatise on orchestration.

In 1892, Beach achieved her first notable success as a composer with the performance of her Mass in E-flat by Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. She became the first American woman to achieve widespread recognition as a composer of large-scale works with orchestra. Beach's national reputation grew through her equally well-received Symphony, op. 32; Violin Sonata, op. 34; and Piano Concerto, op. 45.

Following the success of her Mass in E-flat, Beach received important commissions for vocal and choral works. In 1892, the Symphony Society of New York premiered her concert aria, Eilende Wolken, op. 18, the first composition by a woman played by that orchestra. For the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, she wrote the Festival Jubilate, op. 17. The 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha commissioned her Song of Welcome, op. 42.

Ater her husband's death in 1910, Beach sailed for Europe to establish her reputation there as both a performer and composer. She received enthusiastic reviews for recitals in Germany and for her symphony and concerto, which were performed in Leipzig and Berlin. She returned to the U.S. in 1914, where she concertized in the winters and composed in the summers. In 1921 she became a fellow at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where she composed most of her later works.

Beach assumed many leadership positions, often in advancing the cause of American women composers. She was associated with the Music Teachers National Association and the Music Educators National Conference. In 1925, she was a founding member and first president of the Society of American Women Composers. Following her death on December 27, 1944, Beach's royalties were given to the MacDowell Colony, as prescribed in her will.

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Biography. Biography. Amy Marcy Cheney was born on September 5, 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire, to a prominent New England family. Her mother, Clara Imogene (Marcy) Cheney, was a talented amateur singer and pianist. Young Amy was a true prodigy who memorized forty songs at the age of one and taught herself to read at age three.

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Edward Alexander MacDowell (1861-1908), pianist and composer, was among the first American musicians to win an international reputation. In the late 19th century he was considered the greatest composer of the United States.

Edward MacDowell was born on Dec. 18, 1861, into an upper-middle-class family in New York City. His father was Scottish; his mother was Irish. The boy early showed promise as a musician and received every encouragement from his family. At the age of eight he began piano lessons, and when he was 15 his mother took him to Paris for study. For a year he was a pupil of Antoine François Marmontel. In 1877 MacDowell won a scholarship to the Paris Conservatory. After two years he grew disenchanted with the conservatory and left for Germany.

For a brief time MacDowell was a student at the Stuttgart Conservatory and then went to the Frankfurt Conservatory, where he studied piano with Karl Heymann and composition with Joachim Raff. By 1880 MacDowell had decided to devote himself primarily to composition, although he continued private piano lessons and began taking pupils himself. His first published work was First Modern Suite, which had been written between lessons.

In 1882 MacDowell called on Franz Liszt at Weimar. Liszt not only encouraged the American to devote himself to composition but helped him secure publication of his early works. Two years later MacDowell married Marian Nevins, one of his pupils.

In 1888 MacDowell returned to the United States permanently, spending 8 years in Boston as a composer, teacher, and concert pianist. He made a number of concert tours, specializing in his own music, which by then was much in demand. In 1896 he was invited to head the new department of music at Columbia University. MacDowell was not temperamentally suited for either an administrative position or the routine aspects of academic life. He resigned in 1904 after a public disagreement with the faculty over the position of music and the fine arts in the university curriculum. He did some private teaching for a year, but by 1905 mental deterioration had become evident. He died in New York City on Jan. 23, 1908.

Although MacDowell's compositions are not as highly regarded today as they once were, they are still among the most frequently performed American works. In style MacDowell has much in common with the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, and his smaller piano pieces are generally superior to his larger orchestral works. MacDowell wrote two piano concertos (1884, 1890). The Second Concerto has maintained a consistent popularity, but neither shows the imaginative depth of his later works. He wrote four sonatas: the Tragica, the Eroica, the Norse, and the Keltic, but not until the Twelve Virtuoso Studies for piano (1894) did MacDowell demonstrate his maturity as a composer. Of his Woodland Sketches (1896) the most popular are To a Wild Rose and To a Water Lily, both quite excellent. The Sea Pieces (1898) reveal him at the height of his lyric and dramatic ability.

MacDowell's first purely orchestral work was the tone poem Hamlet and Ophelia (1885). Lancelot and Elaine (1888), the First Suite for Orchestra (1891), and the Second ( Indian) Suite (1896) conclude his orchestral writing. The Indian Suite ranks among his best compositions for orchestra, although MacDowell insisted that he was not intending to write American music simply by employing Indian themes. Besides his choruses, he published over 40 songs, some set to his own poems and all reflecting his remarkable gift for melody.

At heart MacDowell was a romantic, essentially in the German tradition. He was probably at his best when expressing the moods of nature. In these smaller, impressionistic pieces he caught much of the American spirit, blending romantic techniques with an intimate feeling for the American scene. "If a composer is sincerely American at heart," MacDowell said, "his music will be American."

FURTHER READINGS:

MacDowell's Critical and Historical Essays, edited by W. J. Baltzell (1912), is an interesting collection of lectures. The best biographies of MacDowell are Elizabeth Fry Page, Edward MacDowell: His Work and Ideals (1910), and John F. Porte, Edward MacDowell, a Great American Tone Poet: His Life and Music (1922). There is a comprehensive chapter on MacDowell in Gilbert Chase, America's Music from the Pilgrims to the Present (1955; 2d ed. 1966).

Porte, John Fielder, Edward MacDowell: a great American tone poet, his life and music, Boston: Longwood Press, 1978.

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Edward Alexander MacDowell (1861-1908), pianist and composer, was among the first American musicians to win an international reputation. In the late 19th century he was considered the greatest composer of the United States. Edward MacDowell was born on Dec. 18, 1861, into an upper-middle-class family in New York City.

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Born: September 05, 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire, United States

Died: December 27, 1944 in New York, New York, United States

Other Names: Beach, Amy; Cheney, Amy Marcy; Beach, H.H.A., Mrs.; Beach, Amy Cheney; Beach, H H A, Mrs.; Marcy Cheney, Amy; Beach, Amy Marcy Cheney; Beach, H.H.A.

The best known woman composer of her time period and the first in the United States, Amy Beach (1867-1944) did not just create small pieces, but large orchestral works, and other complex compositions were part of her repertoire. She was the first American woman to write a symphony, and this was especially important because she received all her training in the United States.

Born Amy Marcy Cheney on September 5, 1867, in Henniker, New Hampshire, Beach was the only child of Charles Abbor Cheney and Clara Imogene (Marcy) Cheney. Her father was a mathematician and businessman who worked in paper manufacturing business that his father owned, who later had his own paper importing business. Her mother was a musician, a singer, and pianist.

Beach exhibited talent from an early age. She began singing tunes on pitch and with accuracy when she was a year old and she had also taught herself to read by the time she was three. The Cheney family moved to the Boston, Massachusetts, area in 1871, and it was at this time that Beach began composing her own melodies, mainly waltzes.

When Beach was six years old, she started taking formal piano lessons with her mother as her first teacher. Within a year, Beach was playing Ludwig van Beethoven and Frederic Chopin; she gave her first recital by the time she was seven. Beach went on to have a number of good teachers as a young piano student. They included Carl Baermann (who was a student of Franz Liszt) and Ernst Perabo. Beach's innate sense of harmony and form helped her to achieve in her studies. Although her parents were advised that she would benefit from studying at a European conservatory--rather than in the United States--they chose to keep her home.

As with her musical training, Beach's academic education was also home-centered. Her mother taught her at home for six years. She then attended a private school run by W. L. Whittemore. Beach particularly enjoyed natural science and languages like French and German. While she was encouraged academically, it was within the limits of what was expected of young women in this time period.

Though Beach became known as a composer, she only took one class in music theory. When she was 15 years old, she took a harmony course taught by Junius Welch Hill. Also in this time period, she wrote her first published piece, a song to the poem of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "The Rainy Day."

In October 1883, Beach gave her first significant public recital at the Boston Music Hall. For the event, she played Ignaz Moschelese's G Minor Concerto with the orchestra and as a soloist. She also performed Chopin's Rondo in E-flat. Between 1883 and 1885, Beach gave several more recitals in Boston.

One of Beach's last public recitals was with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; she played Chopin's F Minor Concerto. In addition to her recitals, she appeared as a soloist with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. For all her public appearances, Beach generally received many positive reviews.

On December 2, 1885, Beach was married to Dr. Henry Beach, who was 24 years her elder and a widower. Dr. Beach was a surgeon and professor at Harvard. He had followed her career from the time she was a child in part because he was also a musician, albeit on an amateur level.

After the marriage, Beach did not perform in public except for charity functions. Any time she performed, her fees were donated to charity. She did this at the request of her husband, who wanted her to be a wife and not a concert pianist. Upon her marriage, Beach was known publicly as Mrs. H. H. A. Beach.

Dr. Beach did not want his wife to perform, but he did encourage her musical career. It was at his suggestion that she began composing. He did not encourage her to formally study the subject of composition believing that it might inhibit her originality. It was because of these restrictions that Beach became a virtually self-taught composer.

To begin her training, Beach studied music theory, counterpoint, musical form, and instrumentation on her own. She studied Bach's fugues by writing out her version of one of his works then comparing it to the original. Beach taught herself orchestration by writing notations of themes she heard at concerts, looking at the original score, and then putting the versions side by side.

Beach's first works were poems that she liked, set to her original music. While she would continue to do these kinds of pieces throughout her career, Beach would do much larger and more complex pieces including major orchestral works, as well as choral works, chamber works, church music, and cantatas.

First Major Work Performed

In 1892, after three years of labor, Beach's first major work was performed, Mass in E-flat major, numbered Opus 5. It was for chorus, vocal quartet, soloists, orchestra, and organ. The mass was performed by the Handel and Haydn Society with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This marked the first time a composition written by a woman was performed by these groups. It was received positively.

That same year, Beach had her second work performed, an aria entitled Eilende Wolken, for contralto and orchestra, based on Friedrich von Schiller's Mary Stuart. Beach was asked to write this for Mrs. Carl Alves, who had been the alto soloist for the premiere of Mass in E-flat major. The first performance of Eilende Wolken was given by the Symphony Society of New York. Again, this was the first work arranged by a woman to be performed by this group.

Women remained the focus of Beach's next major work. She was commissioned to write a piece for the dedication for the Women's Building at the World's Columbia Exposition in Chicago. Festival Jubilate (Opus 17) was written for chorus and orchestra and premiered in 1893.

In 1896, Beach wrote the Gaelic Symphony (also known as the Symphony in E-minor), which was the first symphony ever written by an American woman and the first symphony written by a woman and performed by an American orchestra. It was based on Gaelic themes. After its premiere at the Boston Symphony, it was performed throughout the United States. An article by David Wright in the New York Times quoted Boston composer George Whitefield Chadwick as writing that the symphony was: "full of fine things, melodically, harmonically, orchestrally, and mighty well built besides."

Beach wrote a number of other significant works in the late 1890s and first decade of the 1900s. In 1897, the Sonata in A-minor for violin and piano premiered. Beach herself played in the first performance with Franz Kneisel. At the 1900 premier of the Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor (opus 454), Beach also performed, this time with the Boston Symphony. Beach received worldwide fame with her 1899 composition to the Robert Browning poem "The Year's at the Spring" (opus 44, number 1). Another frequently performed work was her Quintet for Pianoforte and Strings (opus 67), an instrumental piece.

While Beach was becoming an established and respected composer, she was also concerned with struggling musicians. Before her husband's death, she had events in her home every Wednesday in which she encouraged and introduced young musicians to the elite of Boston's society: social, musical, and artistic.

Death of Husband Changed Career

After Dr. Beach's death in 1910, Beach spent a few years in Europe, from 1911 to 1914. There, she did much performing and composing, both to acclaim. Beach's goal in travelling to Europe was to become an established solo performer as well as composer. She found much praise, especially in Germany. In Leipzig and Berlin, her Gaelic Symphony was performed to much commendation.

When World War I broke out, Beach was forced to return to the United States in 1914. The year after she returned, she moved to New York City, which remained her home base for the rest of her life. After her return, she toured as a pianist and continued composing.

Beach's years played out with her touring in the winter and practicing and composing in the summer. She spent her summers at her cottage in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, until 1921, when she began spending her summers as a fellow in the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Many of her compositions in this time period were played at New York's St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, where she was essentially the composer in residence.

Beach still composed other types of works, however. In 1916, she wrote a work commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of San Francisco. This was called Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet (opus 80). In 1932, she wrote her first opera, Cabildo, a chamber opera in one act; Nan Bagby Stephens wrote the opera's libretto, and it premiered in February 1945 in Athens, Georgia. In 1938, she wrote Piano Trio (Opus 150), which was a arrangement for piano, violin, and piano.

All but three of Beach's numbered works were published--an amazing accomplishment for a composer of American origin. She composed approximately 300 total works, including 128 songs for poems. Many of her songs for poems were popular, especially the three by Browning which were set to music, "Ecstasy," "Ah, Love, but a Day," and "The Year's at the Spring." Stylistically, she was influenced by romanticism, especially early in her career, and such French composers as Brahms and Debussy. Beach was also among the first to be influenced by the idea of creating an American-style of music and using folk music as source material, including ideas from Native Americans, African Americans, and Alaskan Inuits.

During her lifetime, Beach received much acclaim in the United States as the country's foremost woman composer. However, some critics thought that she was too sentimental. She was also criticized for her reliance on chromatics. Others believed she had great technical skills and was very lyrical, she was also praised for her use of altered chords and enharmonic modulations.

Beach died of a heart ailment in New York City on December 27, 1944. She was a very generous person, even in death. In her will, she donated the royalties from her work to the MacDowell Colony. Although interest in the composer faded after her death, there was a revival of interest in her work in the late 1990s as feminists realized how innovative she was. As Michael Anthony in the Star Tribune wrote, "Late in her long, productive life as a pianist and composer, Amy Beach, who died in 1944, said that being a woman hadn't held her back as a musician."

AWARDS:

Honorary Master of Arts degree, University of New Hampshire, 1928.

FURTHER READINGS:

Adamson, Lynda G., Notable Women in American History: A Guide to Recommended Biographies and Autobiographies, Greenwood Press, 1999.

American Cultural Leaders, ABC-CLIO Interactive, 2001.

Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, Volume 2, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Stanley Sadie, eds., The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Volume 1, Macmillan, 1986.

James, Edward T., Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 1, The Belknap Press, 1971.

McHenry, Robert, ed., Her Heritage: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Famous American Women, Merriam-Webster, 1994.

Uglow, Jennifer, The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography, Macmillan, 1982.

Commercial Appeal, July 27, 2002.

New York Times, September 6, 1998; September 22, 1998; January 31, 1999.

Star Tribune, August 27, 2000.

Source Citation

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Born: September 05, 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire, United States Died: December 27, 1944 in New York, New York, United States Other Names: Beach, Amy; Cheney, Amy Marcy; Beach, H.H.A., Mrs.; Beach, Amy Cheney; Beach, H H A, Mrs.; Marcy Cheney, Amy; Beach, Amy Marcy Cheney; Beach, H.H.A.

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Amy Marcy Beach, née Amy Marcy Cheney, married name Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, (born Sept. 5, 1867, Henniker, N.H., U.S.-died Dec. 27, 1944, New York, N.Y.), American pianist and composer known for her Piano Concerto (1900) and her Gaelic Symphony (1894), the first symphony by an American woman composer.

Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons at age six, although she had been composing simple melodies on the keyboard since age four. In October 1883, at the age of 16, she gave her first public recital at Boston Music Hall. Several more successful recitals followed, and in March 1885 she played the Chopin Piano Concerto in F Minor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In December 1885 she married Henry H.A. Beach, an eminent surgeon, Harvard University professor, and devoted amateur musician. He encouraged his wife to concentrate on composition, and, curtailing her public performing, she undertook a rigorous course of self-instruction in musical theory and composition. Her first efforts were in smaller forms-musical settings of favourite poems and other pieces-but in February 1892 she heard the Boston Symphony and the Handel and Haydn Society perform her Mass in E-flat (written 1890), her first major work (numbered Opus 5) and the first by a woman to be performed by those organizations. Her subsequent important compositions include "Eilende Wolken" (1892), an aria based on text by Friedrich von Schiller; Festival Jubilate (1891) for the dedication of the Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; the Gaelic Symphony; Sonata in A Minor (1896); and Piano Concerto in C-sharp Minor (1899).

Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, as she was known, was by far the preeminent woman composer in the United States, and her more than 150 numbered works, nearly all of which were published, also included choral works, church music, chamber works, cantatas, and songs to words of Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and Robert Browning. After the death of her husband in 1910, she spent the years 1911-14 in Europe, where her performances and compositions were widely acclaimed.

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Amy Marcy Beach, American pianist and composer known for her Piano Concerto (1900) and her Gaelic Symphony (1894), the first symphony by an American woman composer. Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons

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Sculptor. Fame came early with The Minute Man (1875) at Concord, Mass., and he quickly moved to the forefront of American sculpture, creating allegorical figures in the Neoclassical style. He also created the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., dedicated in 1922.

Joan Stahl American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995)

French was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, and raised in Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts, the twin literary capitals of old New England. Home to such major writers as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Alcott family, the romantic tales spun in (and about) these historic communities held sway over French and the nation for the rest of the nineteenth century. French's later portrayals of strong, dignified, historical figures seem an ideal complement to such communities. The setting and characters of literary Concord had a very direct influence on the young sculptor. Abigail May Alcott was his first art teacher and French came to prominence with his statue of the Minute Man, a work commissioned by the town in 1873. Although President Grant, James Russell Lowell, Emerson, and Longfellow attended the dedication, the sculptor himself was absent, having left in 1874 to pursue his studies in Italy. French worked overseas in the studio of Thomas Ball for two years and returned to America where, until his death in 1931, he executed allegorical and historical figures for public spaces and portrait statues for private consumption. His work graces public buildings, parks, and gardens from Boston to Nebraska.

William H. Truettner and Roger B. Stein, editors, with contributions by Dona Brown, Thomas Andrew Denenberg, Judith K. Maxwell, Stephen Nissenbaum, Bruce Robertson, Roger B. Stein, and William H. Truettner Picturing Old New England: Image and Memory (Washington, D.C.; New Haven, Conn; and London: National Museum of American Art with Yale University Press, 1999)

Daniel Chester French is a name most people do not recognize, even though his Lincoln Memorial is known to many Americans. He was born into a prominent Boston family and showed artistic promise as a child, carving little animals out of wood and gypsum. He took art lessons as a teenager, then trained as a sculptor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His first success came at age twenty-three with the Minuteman Memorial for the village of Concord, Massachusetts. He traveled to Italy to sculpt and then to Paris, where he studied the modeling of the human form. He moved back to America in 1888 and continued to produce memorials, including the Samuel F. Dupont Memorial and the First Division and Lincoln memorials, all located in Washington. French spent his career creating images of America's history, and his efforts earned him the title "dean of American sculptors."

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Sculptor. Fame came early with The Minute Man (1875) at Concord, Mass., and he quickly moved to the forefront of American sculpture, creating allegorical figures in the Neoclassical style. He also created the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., dedicated in 1922.

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Daniel Chester French, (born April 20, 1850, Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S.-died October 7, 1931, Stockbridge, Massachusetts), sculptor of bronze and marble statues and monuments whose work is probably more familiar to a wider American audience than that of any other native sculptor.

In 1867 French's family moved to Concord, Massachusetts. Though he had two unsuccessful semesters at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1867-68), he found a natural ability for sculpture and studied clay modeling with artist and fellow Concord resident Abigail May Alcott (of the famous Alcott family). In 1870 French briefly became an apprentice to sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward in New York City, and he also studied drawing in Boston with William Morris Hunt and anatomy with William Rimmer (1871-72). From 1874 to 1876 French worked in Florence, in the studio of American sculptor Thomas Ball.

French, Daniel Chester: Lincoln Memorial Mark Pellegrini

It was from the town of Concord that French received his first important commission: the statue The Minute Man (dedicated in 1875), commemorating the Battle of Concord of 100 years earlier. It became the symbol for defense bonds, stamps, and posters of World War II. French's great and best-known marble, the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 1922. In the intervening 50 years he created a vast number of works on American subjects. Among those are the equestrian statues of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (dedicated 1899) in Philadelphia and Gen. George Washington (1900) in Paris; three pairs of bronze doors (1894-1904) for the Boston Public Library; the Standing Lincoln (1909-12), Lincoln, Nebraska; the statue of Ralph Waldo Emerson (dedicated 1914) in the Concord public library; the Alma Mater statue (1900-03) at Columbia University in New York City; and The Four Continents (1903-07) at the former United States Custom House in New York City.

French, Daniel Chester: The Minute Man National Park Service

In 1897 French bought a home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and named it Chesterwood. The estate, which included his home and studio, opened to the public as a museum in 1955 and became a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1968.

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Daniel Chester French | American sculptor

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Daniel Chester French, sculptor of bronze and marble statues and monuments whose work is probably more familiar to a wider American audience than that of any other native sculptor. In 1867 French's family moved to Concord, Massachusetts. Though he had two unsuccessful semesters at the Massachusetts

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In 1929, Yates helped her brother Robert write an account of a summer he spent in the Canadian wheatfields. The manuscript was accepted by Macmillan and was chosen by the Junior Literary Guild. Robert was so happy about it, and so pleased with his sister's help on the manuscript, that he gave her the advance check he had received from the publisher as a thank you.

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The three-quarters red Cape at 187 Valley Road in Mason doesn't seem different than any other classic home you'd see driving around the back roads of New England.

But the green historical marker that stands in the front yard quickly tells you that, indeed, there is something special about the home built in 1780.

It was the childhood home of Samuel Wilson, who was better known by the name of Uncle Sam.

As the story goes, Wilson's company supplied meat donations to the army troops during the War of 1812, and it was on these ration barrels - stamped U.S. - where the legend of Uncle Sam was reportedly born. Soldiers joked that the "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam," while, according to the story, it simply stood for United States.

Wilson's father, Edward, built the house in 1780 and Wilson lived there until 1789. He then went on to Troy, New York where he was a successful businessman. Since Wilson married Betsey Mann, who lived in the building the Mason town offices are housed in, and family still lived in the town, he would visit the area after leaving for New York.

Wilson was one of 13 children, and his younger brother Thomas lived and farmed the 100-acre property until his death in 1863. It remained in the Wilson family for 122 years until 1902 and has since changed hands on multiple occasions.

Currently, it is owned by Cecile Mouraux and is considered a private residence, although Mouraux lives in California and no one has lived in Wilson's childhood home for many years.

Mouraux purchased the property with her husband Jean-Pierre, who passed away a few years ago. Jean-Pierre claimed to have the biggest Uncle Sam memorabilia collection in the world. Much of the memorabilia still remains in the house as the couple planned to turn it into a museum of sorts for those looking to follow the life of Uncle Sam from his birthplace in Arlington, Massachusetts to Troy, where he spent much of his adult life and is buried.

"He wanted to connect the dots," said historical society member Sue Wolpert. "Jean-Pierre was just so excited that Uncle Sam actually lived in this area."

While the tour never materialized on a large scale, the Mouraux's were known to open up the house and give tours during town events.

"For years, they had annual open houses around his birthday," said historical society member Nancy Richards.

The house has gone into pretty bad disrepair at times, Mason Historical Society President Carol Iodice said, but the Mouraux's did their part in keeping it up, like previous owners Steve White and John and Penny Savard, while keeping aspects of its historical significance intact.

"It was vacant for a long time," Iodice said.

It still has the old beehive oven and original cooking fireplace, and the narrow set of stairs leading to the second level. Some things have been modernized and there have been additions over the years. In 1840, Wilson's nephew Brooks built the large white house that stands to the left.

"The front rooms have been kept in their original colonial look," Iodice said.

There used to be an orchard across the street and according to one of the books put together by the Mourauxs, a participant in the Boston Tea Party once stayed on the property.

The future of the home is unknown after Jean-Pierre passed away and with Cecile living in California. From the Mason Historical Society's point of view, they hope it some day finds its way into the town's hands through donation and can be used as another way to show off the long-standing history of the town.

"Anything that's historical is fascinating to us," Iodics said. "And it's not just Uncle Sam, we have so much history in this town."

As of now, the only way people can visit is by pulling off the side of the road and looking at the outside, which is in close proximity to the road, and the historical marker.

It allows the imagination to run wild thinking about what life was like when Wilson lived there as a boy and how it's changed over the years.

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The three-quarters red Cape at 187 Valley Road in Mason doesn't seem different than any other classic home you'd see driving around the back roads of New England.But the green historical marker that stands in the front yard quickly tells you that,...

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ELIZABETH ORTON JONES, 1910-2005

Illustrator and author Elizabeth Orton Jones was born in Illinois and received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago She studied in France at the Ecole des beaux Artes in Fountainbleau and then in Paris. It was after this time in her life she began writing and illustrating. In 1945 she won the Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in A Prayer for a Child by Rachael Field.

While visiting New Hampshire for business, she fell in love with a quaint little red cottage in Mason built in 1786, and moved to the town soon thereafter. She used her home as the model for the illustrations in Little Red Riding Hood, published by Little Golden Books in 1948. Orton became well-known in Mason as she worked to collect and preserve the history of her beloved town. Most residents came to know her as "Twig," a character in one of her books.

Founder of the Mason Historical Society, Twig did extensive research on Bode, a slave who tended cattle in what is now Mason's village center. Often she would visit the elementary school to share his story with the students there, wanting them to know of this young man from Africa who braved the wilderness for seven years to do his job.

Elizabeth Orton Jones died in 2005 after a brief illness. To honor Twig and her many contributions to the community she loved, a statue of Bode seated on a rock in the village center was erected. The Mason Public Library renamed the Junior Room the Twig Room in her honor.

Sources: Wikipedia

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Women's History Month: Elizabeth Orton Jones | Freedom's Way National Heritage Area

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ELIZABETH ORTON JONES, 1910-2005 Illustrator and author Elizabeth Orton Jones was born in Illinois and received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago She studied in France at the Ecole des beaux Artes in Fountainbleau and then in Paris. It was after this time in her life she began writing and illustrating.

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Elizabeth Orton Jones (June 25, 1910 - May 10, 2005) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. She won the 1945 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Prayer for a Child, after being a runner-up one year earlier.

She was born "half past Christmas" in Highland Park, Illinois, to George Roberts Jones, a violinist, and Jessie May Orton, a pianist and a writer. Elizabeth was followed by a brother and a sister. During her youth, two Bohemian girls served as cook and nurse in her home, providing an alternative set of cultural norms which surely served as an encouragement for Elizabeth to develop her artistic side.

During Elizabeth's youth, she and her siblings made many creative outlets for their imagination. Setting up "tasks" for herself, she taught lessons to her dolls and eventually read the entire Bible. A more collaborative project between her and her siblings was the creation of the "Beagle Language", named after one of their pets.

Jones' great-grandfather, Joseph Russell Jones, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, was minister to Belgium under President Ulysses S. Grant. Her grandmother was a professional pianist and her grandfather owned a bookstore.

Jones won the "Silver Cup for English Composition" at her high school, the House in the Pines. In 1932, Jones received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Afterward she spent time in France, studying at the École des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, receiving a diploma in the same year, then studying in Paris at the Académie Colarossi and under the artist Camille Liausu. Upon returning, she presented at the Smithsonian Institution a solo display of color etchings of French children which she called the "Four Seasons". She also spent time studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

After Paris, Jones began writing and illustrating her first book, Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins (1937), which was based on her experiences in France. Other books followed and evidenced her experiences as well: Maninka's Children was influenced by the Bohemian girls she knew growing up. Her home in Mason, New Hampshire served as the model for her illustrations of a publishing of Little Red Riding Hood by Little Golden Books from 1948 through 1979.[clarification needed ] Her book reflected her love of dolls.

Her work was very much influenced by the editions of Horn Book Magazine that she got. Her friend Bertha Mahony Miller, an editor of Horn Book, would frequently call from seventeen miles away with ideas for Elizabeth to write about.

One of her illustrated books, Small Rain: Verses from the Bible, was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1944 and another, Prayer for a Child (story by Rachel Field), won the Caldecott Medal in 1945, recognizing the year's "most distinguished picture book for children" published in the United States.

In her Caldecott acceptance speech, she said:[citation needed ]

Drawing is very like a prayer. Drawing is a reaching for something away beyond you. As you sit down to work in the morning, you feel as if you were on top of a hill. And it is as if you were seeing for the first time. You take your pencil in hand. You'd like to draw what you see. And so you begin. You try ... . Every child in the world has a hill, with a top to it. Every child-black, white, rich, poor, handicapped, unhandicapped. And singing is what the top of each hill is for. Singing-drawing-thinking-dreaming-sitting in silence ... saying a prayer. I should like every child in the world to know that he has a hill, that that hill is his no matter what happens, his and his only, forever.

In 1945 Elizabeth visited New Hampshire for a business trip. The picturesque landscape caught her imagination, and she moved to Mason soon afterward. Jones became a well-respected figure in Mason, as she served to collect and preserve the history of the town in Mason Bicentennial, 1768-1968 a book she edited. She was known there, not by her given name, but by the nickname " Twig", the title character from one of her books. Many Masonians do not know her as anything other than that.

She died on May 10, 2005 at the Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, New Hampshire, of a brief illness. On June 25, 2005, the Mason Public Library renamed its Junior Room the "Twig Room" in her honor; a scrapbook of Twig memorabilia is available there.

Perhaps one of "Twig's" greatest, most enduring accomplishments was her adamant support of a local summer children's theater, known as Andy's Summer Playhouse. Every year for the last 40 years of her life, she offered artistic advice and guidance to many of the children in the community who participated in the Playhouse.

Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins, Oxford University Press, 1937.

Minnie the Mermaid (with Thomas Orton Jones), Oxford University Press, 1939.

Maminka's Children, Macmillan, 1940, reissued, 1968.

Twig, Macmillan, 1942, reissued, 1966. Purple House Press, 2002.

Big Susan, Macmillan, 1947, reissued, 1967. Purple House Press, 2002.

Little Red Riding Hood (reteller), Simon & Schuster, 1948.

How Far Is It to Bethlehem?, Horn Book, 1955.

Children's books illustrated

Bible, David, Macmillan, 1937.

Adshead, Gladys L., Brownies-Hush!, Oxford University Press, 1938, reissued, Walck, 1966.

Meigs, Cornelia Lynde, Scarlet Oak, Macmillan, 1938.

Association for Childhood Education, Told under the Magic Umbrella: Modern Fanciful Stories for Young Children, Macmillan, 1939, reissued, 1967.

Hunt, Mabel Leigh, Peddler's Clock, Grosset, 1943.

Jones, Jessie Mae, editor, Small Rain: Verses from the Bible, Viking, 1943, reissued, 1974.

Field, Rachel, Prayers for a Child, Macmillan, 1944, reissued, 1973.

Adshead, Gladys L., What Miranda Knew, New York, Oxford University Press, 1944.

Farjeon, Eleanor, Prayer for Little Things, Houghton, 1945.

Jones, Jessie Orton, Secrets, New York, Viking, 1945.

Jones, Jessie Mae, Little Child-The Christmas Miracle Told in Bible Verses, New York, Viking, 1946.

Jones, Jessie Mae, editor, This Is the Way: Prayers and Precepts from World Religions, Viking, 1951.

St. Francis of Assisi, Song of the Sun, Macmillan, 1952.

Thurman, Howard, Deep River, Harper, 1955.

Bridgman, Elizabeth, Lullaby for Eggs, Macmillan, 1955.

Trent, Robbie, To Church We Go, Follett, 1956.

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Elizabeth Orton Jones (June 25, 1910 - May 10, 2005) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. She won the 1945 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Prayer for a Child , after being a runner-up one year earlier.

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Founded and edited the New York Tribune. As a prominent abolitionist he used his newspaper to help form public opinion prior to the war. Horace Greeley was born in February 1811, in New Hampshire. He loved reading books, and when he was 15 years old, he was apprenticed to a printer in Vermont. In 1841, he founded the New York Tribune and quickly gained a reputation as one of the best journalists in New York City. His paper reached over 1 million readers, giving Greeley the ability to influence public opinion throughout the nation. And he did so, expressing his opposition to slavery, the Wilmot Proviso and the War with Mexico. He opposed Lincoln for president in 1860 and in 1864, but supported him as President while in office, especially the Emancipation Proclamation. He supported and lobbied for the 13th and 14th Amendments and believed Andrew Johnson was not harsh enough on the South after the war. He received a tremendous amount of criticism and loss of readership for his paper when he contributed the bail bond of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In 1872, he ran at the head of the Democratic ticket for president, losing to incumbent Ulysses S. Grant without receiving a single electoral vote. He died the same year and is buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

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Founded and edited the New York Tribune. As a prominent abolitionist he used his newspaper to help form public opinion prior to the war. Horace Greeley was born in February 1811, in New Hampshire. He loved reading books, and when he was 15 years old, he was apprenticed to a printer in Vermont.

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Whipple, William, 1730-85, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Kittery, Maine. Whipple, who had been a sea captain, was a merchant of Portsmouth, N.H., before he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Hampshire (1776-79) and as commander in the Saratoga campaign (1777).

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Whipple, William, 1730-85, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Kittery, Maine. Whipple, who had been a sea captain, was a merchant of Portsmouth, N.H., before he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Hampshire (1776-79) and as commander in the Saratoga campaign (1777).

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Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 - November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune, among the great newspapers of its time. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressman from New York, and was the unsuccessful candidate of the new Liberal Republican party in the 1872 presidential election against incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant, who won by a landslide.

Greeley was born to a poor family in Amherst, New Hampshire. He was apprenticed to a printer in Vermont and went to New York City in 1831 to seek his fortune. He wrote for or edited several publications and involved himself in Whig Party politics, taking a significant part in William Henry Harrison's successful 1840 presidential campaign. The following year, he founded the Tribune, which became the highest-circulating newspaper in the country through weekly editions sent by mail. Among many other issues, he urged the settlement of the American West, which he saw as a land of opportunity for the young and the unemployed. He popularized the slogan " Go West, young man, and grow up with the country." He endlessly promoted utopian reforms such as socialism, vegetarianism, agrarianism, feminism, and temperance while hiring the best talent he could find.

Greeley's alliance with William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed led to him serving three months in the House of Representatives, where he angered many by investigating Congress in his newspaper. In 1854, he helped found and may have named the Republican Party. Republican newspapers across the nation regularly reprinted his editorials. During the Civil War, he mostly supported Lincoln, though he urged the president to commit to the end of slavery before he was willing to do so. After Lincoln's assassination, he supported the Radical Republicans in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. He broke with Republican President Ulysses Grant because of corruption and Greeley's sense that Reconstruction policies were no longer needed.

Greeley was the new Liberal Republican Party's presidential nominee in 1872. He lost in a landslide despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party. He was devastated by the death of his wife five days before the election and died himself one month later, before the Electoral College had met.

Horace Greeley was born on February 3, 1811, on a farm about five miles from Amherst, New Hampshire. He could not breathe for the first twenty minutes of his life. It is suggested that this deprivation may have caused him to develop Asperger's syndrome-some of his biographers, such as Mitchell Snay, maintain that this condition would account for his eccentric behaviors in later life. His father's family was of English descent, and his forebears included early settlers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, while his mother's family descended from Scots-Irish immigrants from the village of Garvagh in County Londonderry who had settled Londonderry, New Hampshire. Some of Greeley's maternal ancestors were present at the Siege of Derry during the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689.

Greeley was the son of poor farmers Zaccheus and Mary (Woodburn) Greeley. Zaccheus was not successful, and moved his family several times, as far west as Pennsylvania. Horace attended the local schools and was a brilliant student.

Seeing the boy's intelligence, some neighbors offered to pay Horace's way at Phillips Exeter Academy, but the Greeleys were too proud to accept charity. In 1820, Zaccheus's financial reverses caused him to flee New Hampshire with his family lest he be imprisoned for debt, and settle in Vermont. Even as his father struggled to make a living as a hired hand, Horace Greeley read everything he could-the Greeleys had a neighbor who let Horace use his library. In 1822, Horace ran away from home to become a printer's apprentice, but was told he was too young.

In 1826, at age 15, he was made a printer's apprentice to Amos Bliss, editor of the Northern Spectator, a newspaper in East Poultney, Vermont. There, he learned the mechanics of a printer's job, and acquired a reputation as the town encyclopedia, reading his way through the local library. When the paper closed in 1830, the young man went west to join his family, living near Erie, Pennsylvania. He remained there only briefly, going from town to town seeking newspaper employment, and was hired by the Erie Gazette. Although ambitious for greater things, he remained until 1831 to help support his father. While there, he became a Universalist, breaking from his Congregationalist upbringing.

In late 1831, Greeley went to New York City to seek his fortune. There were many young printers in New York who had likewise come to the metropolis, and he could only find short-term work. In 1832, Greeley worked as an employee of the publication Spirit of the Times. He built his resources and set up a print shop in that year. In 1833, he tried his hand with Horatio D. Sheppard at editing a daily newspaper, the New York Morning Post, which was not a success. Despite this failure and its attendant financial loss, Greeley published the thrice-weekly Constitutionalist, which mostly printed lottery results.

On March 22, 1834, he published the first issue of The New-Yorker in partnership with Jonas Winchester. It was less expensive than other literary magazines of the time and published both contemporary ditties and political commentary. Circulation reached 9,000, then a sizable number, yet it was ill-managed and eventually fell victim to the economic Panic of 1837. He also published the campaign newssheet of the new Whig Party in New York for the 1834 campaign, and came to believe in its positions, including free markets with government assistance in developing the nation.

Soon after his move to New York City, Greeley met Mary Young Cheney. Both were living at a boarding house run on the diet principles of Sylvester Graham, eschewing meat, alcohol, coffee, tea, and spices, as well as abstaining from the use of tobacco. Greeley was subscribing to Graham's principles at the time, and to the end of his life rarely ate meat. Mary Cheney, a schoolteacher, moved to North Carolina to take a teaching job in 1835. They were married in Warrenton, North Carolina on July 5, 1836, and an announcement duly appeared in The New-Yorker eleven days later. Greeley had stopped over in Washington, D.C. on his way south to observe Congress. He took no honeymoon with his new wife, returning to work while his wife took up a teaching job in New York City.

One of the positions taken by The New-Yorker was that the unemployed of the cities should seek lives in the developing American West (in the 1830s, the West encompassed today's Midwestern states). The harsh winter of 1836-1837 and the financial crisis that developed soon after made many New Yorkers homeless and destitute. In his journal, Greeley urged new immigrants to buy guide books on the West, and Congress to make public lands available for purchase at cheap rates to settlers. He told his readers, "Fly, scatter through the country, go to the Great West, anything rather than remain here ... the West is the true destination." In 1838, he advised "any young man" about to start in the world, "Go to the West: there your capabilities are sure to be appreciated and your energy and industry rewarded."

In 1838, Greeley met Albany editor Thurlow Weed. Weed spoke for a liberal faction of the Whigs in his newspaper the Albany Evening Journal. He hired Greeley as editor of the state Whig newspaper for the upcoming campaign. The newspaper, the Jeffersonian, premiered in February 1838 and helped elect the Whig candidate for governor, William H. Seward. In 1839, Greeley worked for several journals, and took a month-long break to go as far west as Detroit.

Greeley was deeply involved in the campaign of the Whig candidate for president in 1840, William Henry Harrison. He published the major Whig periodical the Log Cabin, and also wrote many of the pro-Harrison songs that marked the campaign. These songs were sung at mass meetings, many organized and led by Greeley. According to biographer Robert C. Williams, "Greeley's lyrics swept the country and roused Whig voters to action." Funds raised by Weed helped distribute the Log Cabin widely. Harrison and his running mate John Tyler were easily elected.

By the end of the 1840 campaign, the Log Cabin's circulation had risen to 80,000 and Greeley decided to establish a daily newspaper, the New-York Tribune. At the time, New York had many newspapers, dominated by James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald, which with a circulation of about 55,000 had more readers than its combined competition. As technology advanced, it became cheaper and easier to publish a newspaper, and the daily press came to dominate the weekly, which had once been the more common format for news periodicals. Greeley borrowed money from friends to get started, and published the first issue of the Tribune on April 10, 1841 - the day of a memorial parade in New York for President Harrison, who had died after a month in office and been replaced by Vice President Tyler.

In the first issue, Greeley promised that his newspaper would be a "new morning Journal of Politics, Literature, and General Intelligence". New Yorkers were not initially receptive; the first week's receipts were $92 and expenses $525. The paper was sold for a cent a copy by newsboys who purchased bundles of papers at a discount. The price of advertising was initially four cents a line but was quickly raised to six cents. Through the 1840s, the Tribune was four pages, that is, a single sheet folded. It initially had 600 subscribers and 5,000 copies were sold of the first issue.

In the early days, Greeley's chief assistant was Henry J. Raymond, who a decade later founded The New York Times. To place the Tribune on a sound financial footing, Greeley sold a half-interest in it to attorney Thomas McElrath (1807-1888), who became publisher of the Tribune (Greeley was editor) and ran the business side. Politically, the Tribune backed Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, who had unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination that fell to Harrison, and supported Clay's American System for development of the country. Greeley was one of the first newspaper editors to have a full-time correspondent in Washington, an innovation quickly followed by his rivals. Part of Greeley's strategy was to make the Tribune a newspaper of national scope, not merely local. One factor in establishing the paper nationally was the Weekly Tribune, created in September 1841 when the Log Cabin and The New-Yorker were merged. With an initial subscription price of $2 a year, this was sent to many across the United States by mail and was especially popular in the Midwest. In December 1841, Greeley was offered the editorship of the national Whig newspaper, the Madisonian. He demanded full control, and declined when not given it.

Greeley, in his paper, initially supported the Whig program. As divisions between Clay and President Tyler became apparent, he supported the Kentucky senator and looked to a Clay nomination for president in 1844. However, when Clay was nominated by the Whigs, he was defeated by the Democrat, former Tennessee governor James K. Polk, though Greeley worked hard on Clay's behalf. Greeley had taken positions in opposition to slavery as editor of The New-Yorker in the late 1830s, opposing the annexation of the slaveholding Republic of Texas to the United States. In the 1840s, Greeley became an increasingly vocal opponent of the expansion of slavery.

Greeley hired Margaret Fuller in 1844 as first literary editor of the Tribune, for which she wrote over 200 articles. She lived with the Greeley family for several years, and when she moved to Italy, he made her a foreign correspondent. He promoted the work of Henry David Thoreau, serving as literary agent and seeing to it that Thoreau's work was published. Ralph Waldo Emerson also benefited from Greeley's promotion. Historian Allan Nevins explained:

The Tribune set a new standard in American journalism by its combination of energy in newsgathering with good taste, high moral standards, and intellectual appeal. Police reports, scandals, dubious medical advertisements, and flippant personalities were barred from its pages; the editorials were vigorous but usually temperate; the political news was the most exact in the city; book reviews and book-extracts were numerous; and as an inveterate lecturer Greeley gave generous space to lectures. The paper appealed to substantial and thoughtful people.

Greeley, who had met his wife at a Graham boarding house, became enthusiastic about other social movements that did not last and promoted them in his paper. He subscribed to the views of Charles Fourier, a French social thinker, then recently deceased, who proposed the establishment of settlements called "phalanxes" with a given number of people from various walks of life, who would function as a corporation and among whose members profits would be shared. Greeley, in addition to promoting Fourierism in the Tribune, was associated with two such settlements, both of which eventually failed, though the town that eventually developed on the site of the one in Pennsylvania was after his death renamed Greeley.

In November 1848, Congressman David S. Jackson, a Democrat, of New York's 6th district was unseated for election fraud. Jackson's term was to expire in March 1849 but, during the 19th century, Congress convened annually in December, making it important to fill the seat. Under the laws then in force, the Whig committee from the Sixth District chose Greeley to run in the special election for the remainder of the term, though they did not select him as their candidate for the seat in the following Congress. The Sixth District, or Sixth Ward as it was commonly called, was mostly Irish-American, and Greeley proclaimed his support for Irish efforts towards independence from Great Britain. He easily won the November election and took his seat when Congress convened in December 1848. Greeley's selection was procured by the influence of his ally, Thurlow Weed.

As a congressman for three months, Greeley introduced legislation for a homestead act that would allow settlers who improved land to purchase it at low rates-a fourth of what speculators would pay. He was quickly noticed because he launched a series of attacks on legislative privileges, taking note of which congressmen were missing votes, and questioning the office of House Chaplain. This was enough to make him unpopular. But he outraged his colleagues when on December 22, 1848, the Tribune published evidence that many congressmen had been paid excessive sums as travel allowance. In January 1849, Greeley supported a bill that would have corrected the issue, but it was defeated. He was so disliked, he wrote a friend, that he had "divided the House into two parties-one that would like to see me extinguished and the other that wouldn't be satisfied without a hand in doing it."

Other legislation introduced by Greeley, all of which failed, included attempts to end flogging in the Navy and to ban alcohol from its ships. He tried to change the name of the United States to "Columbia", abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and increase tariffs. One lasting effect of the term of Congressman Greeley was his friendship with a fellow Whig, serving his only term in the House, Illinois's Abraham Lincoln. Greeley's term ended after March 3, 1849, and he returned to New York and the Tribune, having, according to Williams, "failed to achieve much except notoriety".

By the end of the 1840s, Greeley's Tribune was not only solidly established in New York as a daily paper, it was highly influential nationally through its weekly edition, which circulated in rural areas and small towns. Journalist Bayard Taylor deemed its influence in the Midwest second only to that of the Bible. According to Williams, the Tribune could mold public opinion through Greeley's editorials more effectively than could the president. Greeley sharpened those skills over time, laying down what future Secretary of State John Hay, who worked for the Tribune in the 1870s, deemed the "Gospel according to St. Horace".

The Tribune remained a Whig paper, but Greeley took an independent course. In 1848, he had been slow to endorse the Whig presidential nominee, General Zachary Taylor, a Louisianan and hero of the Mexican-American War. Greeley opposed both the war and the expansion of slavery into the new territories seized from Mexico and feared Taylor would support expansion as president. Greeley considered endorsing former President Martin Van Buren, candidate of the Free Soil Party, but finally endorsed Taylor, who was elected; the editor was rewarded for his loyalty with the congressional term. Greeley vacillated on support for the Compromise of 1850, which gave victories to both sides of the slavery issue, before finally opposing it. In the 1852 presidential campaign, he supported the Whig candidate, General Winfield Scott, but savaged the Whig platform for its support of the Compromise. "We defy it, execrate it, spit upon it." Such party divisions contributed to Scott's defeat by former New Hampshire senator Franklin Pierce.

In 1853, with the party increasingly divided over the slavery issue, Greeley printed an editorial disclaiming the paper's identity as Whig and declaring it to be nonpartisan. He was confident that the paper would not suffer financially, trusting in reader loyalty. Some in the party were not sorry to see him go: the Republic, a Whig organ, mocked Greeley and his beliefs: "If a party is to be built up and maintained on Fourierism, Mesmerism, Maine Liquor laws, Spiritual Rappings, Kossuthism, Socialism, Abolitionism, and forty other isms, we have no disposition to mix with any such companions." When, in 1854, Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas introduced his Kansas-Nebraska Bill, allowing residents of each territory to decide whether it would be slave or free, Greeley strongly fought the legislation in his newspaper. After it passed, and the Border War broke out in Kansas Territory, Greeley was part of efforts to send free-state settlers there, and to arm them. In return, proponents of slavery recognized Greeley and the Tribune as adversaries, stopping shipments of the paper to the South and harassing local agents. Nevertheless, by 1858, the Tribune reached 300,000 subscribers through the weekly edition, and it would continue as the foremost American newspaper through the years of the Civil War.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act helped destroy the Whig Party, but a new party with opposition to the spread of slavery at its heart had been under discussion for some years. Beginning in 1853, Greeley participated in the discussions that led to the founding of the Republican Party and may have coined its name. Greeley attended the first New York state Republican Convention in 1854 and was disappointed not to be nominated either for governor or lieutenant governor. The switch in parties coincided with the end of two of his longtime political alliances: in December 1854, Greeley wrote that the political partnership between Weed, William Seward (who was by then senator after serving as governor) and himself was ended "by the withdrawal of the junior partner". Greeley was angered over patronage disputes and felt that Seward was courting the rival The New York Times for support.

In 1853, Greeley purchased a farm in rural Chappaqua, New York, where he experimented with farming techniques. In 1856, he designed and built Rehoboth, one of the first concrete structures in the United States.

The Tribune continued to print a wide variety of material. In 1851, its managing editor, Charles Dana, recruited Karl Marx as a foreign correspondent in London. Marx collaborated with Friedrich Engels on his work for the Tribune, which continued for over a decade, covering 500 articles. Greeley felt compelled to print, "Mr. Marx has very decided opinions of his own, with some of which we are far from agreeing, but those who do not read his letters are neglecting one of the most instructive sources of information on the great questions of current European politics."

Greeley sponsored a host of reforms, including pacifism and feminism and especially the ideal of the hard-working free laborer. Greeley demanded reforms to make all citizens free and equal. He envisioned virtuous citizens who would eradicate corruption. He talked endlessly about progress, improvement, and freedom, while calling for harmony between labor and capital. Greeley's editorials promoted social democratic reforms and were widely reprinted. They influenced the free-labor ideology of the Whigs and the radical wing of the Republican Party, especially in promoting the free-labor ideology. Before 1848 he sponsored an American version of Fourierist socialist reform. but backed away after the failed revolutions of 1848 in Europe. To promote multiple reforms Greeley hired a roster of writers who later became famous in their own right, including Margaret Fuller, Charles Anderson Dana, George William Curtis, William Henry Fry, Bayard Taylor, Julius Chambers and Henry Jarvis Raymond, who later co-founded The New York Times. For many years George Ripley was the staff literary critic. Jane Swisshelm was one of the first women hired by a major newspaper.

In 1859, Greeley traveled across the continent to see the West for himself, to write about it for the Tribune, and to publicize the need for a transcontinental railroad. He also planned to give speeches to promote the Republican Party. In May 1859, he went to Chicago, and then to Lawrence in Kansas Territory, and was unimpressed by the local people. Nevertheless, after speaking before the first ever Kansas Republican Party Convention at Osawatomie, Kansas, Greeley took one of the first stagecoaches to Denver, seeing the town then in course of formation as a mining camp of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Sending dispatches back to the Tribune, Greeley took the Overland Trail, reaching Salt Lake City, where he conducted a two-hour interview with the Mormon leader Brigham Young - the first newspaper interview Young had given. Greeley encountered Native Americans and was sympathetic but, like many of his time, deemed Indian culture inferior. In California, he toured widely and gave many addresses.

Although he remained on cordial terms with Senator Seward, Greeley never seriously considered supporting him in his bid for the Republican nomination for president. Instead, during the run-up to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, he pressed the candidacy of former Missouri representative Edward Bates, an opponent of the spread of slavery who had freed his own slaves. In his newspaper, in speeches, and in conversation, Greeley pushed Bates as a man who could win the North and even make inroads in the South. Nevertheless, when one of the dark horse candidates for the Republican nomination, Abraham Lincoln, came to New York to give an address at Cooper Union, Greeley urged his readers to go hear Lincoln, and was among those who accompanied him to the platform. Greeley thought of Lincoln as a possible nominee for vice president.

Greeley attended the convention as a substitute for a delegate from Oregon who was unable to attend. In Chicago, he promoted Bates but deemed his cause hopeless and felt that Seward would be nominated. In conversations with other delegates, he predicted that, if nominated, Seward could not carry crucial battleground states such as Pennsylvania. Greeley's estrangement from Seward was not widely known, giving the editor more credibility. Greeley (and Seward) biographer Glyndon G. Van Deusen noted that it is uncertain how great a part Greeley played in Seward's defeat by Lincoln-he had little success gaining delegates for Bates. On the first two ballots, Seward led Lincoln, but on the second only by a small margin. After the third ballot, on which Lincoln was nominated, Greeley was seen among the Oregon delegation, a broad smile on his face. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, "it is hard to imagine Lincoln letting Greeley's resentment smolder for years as Seward did".

Seward's forces made Greeley a target of their anger at the senator's defeat. One subscriber cancelled, regretting the three-cent stamp he had to use on the letter; Greeley supplied a replacement. When he was attacked in print, Greeley responded in kind. He launched a campaign against corruption in the New York Legislature, hoping voters would defeat incumbents and the new legislators would elect him to the Senate when Seward's term expired in 1861 (senators were until 1913 elected by state legislatures). But his main activity during the campaign of 1860 was boosting Lincoln and denigrating the other presidential candidates. He made it clear that a Republican administration would not interfere with slavery where it already was and denied that Lincoln was in favor of voting rights for African Americans. He kept up the pressure until Lincoln was elected in November.

Lincoln soon let it be known that Seward would be Secretary of State, meaning he would not be a candidate for re-election to the Senate. Weed wanted William M. Evarts elected in his place, while the anti-Seward forces in New York gathered around Greeley. The crucial battleground was the Republican caucus, as the party held the majority in the legislature. Greeley's forces did not have enough votes to send him to the Senate, but they had enough strength to block Evarts's candidacy. Weed threw his support to Ira Harris, who had already received several votes, and who was chosen by the caucus and elected by the legislature in February 1861. Weed was content to have blocked the editor, and stated that he had "paid the first installment on a large debt to Mr. Greeley".

War breaks out

After Lincoln's election, there was talk of secession in the South. The Tribune was initially in favor of peaceful separation, with the South becoming a separate nation. According to an editorial on November 9:

If the Cotton States shall become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it exists nevertheless ... And whenever a considerable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures designed to keep it in. We hope never to live in a republic whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets.

Similar editorials appeared through January 1861, after which Tribune editorials took a hard line on the South, opposing concessions. Williams concludes that "for a brief moment, Horace Greeley had believed that peaceful secession might be a form of freedom preferable to civil war". This brief flirtation with disunion would have consequences for Greeley-it was used against him by his opponents when he ran for president in 1872.

In the days leading up to Lincoln's inauguration, the Tribune headed its editorial columns each day, in large capital letters: "No compromise!/No concession to traitors!/The Constitution as it is!" Greeley attended the inauguration, sitting close to Senator Douglas, as the Tribune hailed the beginning of Lincoln's presidency. When southern forces attacked Fort Sumter, the Tribune regretted the loss of the fort, but applauded the fact that war to subdue the rebels, who formed the Confederate States of America, would now take place. The paper criticized Lincoln for not being quick to use force.

Through the spring and early summer of 1861, Greeley and the Tribune beat the drum for a Union attack. "On to Richmond", a phrase coined by a Tribune stringer, became the watchword of the newspaper as Greeley urged the occupation of the rebel capital of Richmond before the Confederate Congress could meet on July 20. In part because of the public pressure, Lincoln sent the half-trained Union Army into the field at the First Battle of Manassas in mid-July where it was soundly beaten. The defeat threw Greeley into despair, and he may have suffered a nervous breakdown.

"Prayer of Twenty Millions"

Restored to health by two weeks at the farm he had purchased in Chappaqua, Greeley returned to the Tribune and a policy of general backing of the Lincoln administration, even having kind words to say about Secretary Seward, his old foe. He was supportive even during the military defeats of the first year of the war. Late in 1861, he proposed to Lincoln through an intermediary that the president provide him with advance information as to its policies, in exchange for friendly coverage in the Tribune. Lincoln eagerly accepted, "having him firmly behind me will be as helpful to me as an army of one hundred thousand men."

By early 1862, however, Greeley was again sometimes critical of the administration, frustrated by the failure to win decisive military victories, and perturbed at the president's slowness to commit to the emancipation of the slaves once the Confederacy was defeated, something the Tribune was urging in its editorials. This was a change in Greeley's thinking which began after First Manassas, a shift from preservation of the Union being the primary war purpose to wanting the war to end slavery. By March, the only action against slavery that Lincoln had backed was a proposal for compensated emancipation in the border states that had remained loyal to the Union, though he signed legislation abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. Lincoln supposedly asked a Tribune correspondent, "What in the world is the matter with Uncle Horace? Why can't he restrain himself and wait a little while?"

Greeley's prodding of Lincoln culminated in a letter to him on August 19, 1862, reprinted on the following day in the Tribune as the "Prayer of Twenty Millions". By this time, Lincoln had informed his Cabinet of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation he had composed, and Greeley was told of it the same day the prayer was printed. In his letter, Greeley demanded action on emancipation and strict enforcement of the Confiscation Acts. Lincoln must "fight slavery with liberty", and not fight "wolves with the devices of a sheep".

Lincoln's reply would become famous, much more so than the prayer that provoked it. "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union." Lincoln's statement angered abolitionists; William Seward's wife Frances complained to her husband that Lincoln had made it seem "that the mere keeping together a number of states is more important than human freedom." Greeley felt Lincoln had not truly answered him, "but I'll forgive him everything if he'll issue the proclamation". When Lincoln did, on September 22, Greeley hailed the Emancipation Proclamation as a "great boon of freedom". According to Williams, "Lincoln's war for Union was now also Greeley's war for emancipation."

Draft riots and peace efforts

After the Union victory at Gettysburg in early July 1863, the Tribune wrote that the rebellion would be quickly "stamped out". A week after the battle, the New York City draft riots erupted. Greeley and the Tribune were generally supportive of conscription, though feeling that the rich should not be allowed to evade it by hiring substitutes. Support for the draft made them targets of the mob, and the Tribune Building was surrounded, and at least once invaded. Greeley secured arms from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and 150 soldiers kept the building secure. Mary Greeley and her children were at the farm in Chappaqua; a mob threatened them, but dispersed without doing harm.

In August 1863, Greeley was requested by a firm of Hartford publishers to write a history of the war. Greeley agreed, and over the next eight months penned a 600-page volume, which would be the first of two, entitled The American Conflict. The books were very successful, selling a total of 225,000 copies by 1870, a large sale for the time.

Throughout the war, Greeley played with ideas as to how to settle it. In 1862, Greeley had approached the French minister to Washington, Henri Mercier, to discuss a mediated settlement. However, Seward rejected such talks and the prospect of European intervention receded after the bloody Union victory at Antietam in September 1862. In July 1864, Greeley received word that there were Confederate commissioners in Canada, empowered to offer peace. In fact, the men were in Niagara Falls, Canada to aid Peace Democrats and otherwise undermine the Union war effort. but they played along when Greeley journeyed to Niagara Falls, at Lincoln's request: the president was willing to consider any deal that included reunion and emancipation. The Confederates had no credentials and were unwilling to accompany Greeley to Washington under safe conduct. Greeley returned to New York, and the episode, when it became public, embarrassed the administration. Lincoln said nothing publicly concerning Greeley's credulous conduct, but privately indicated that he had no confidence in him anymore.

Greeley did not initially support Lincoln for nomination in 1864, casting about for other candidates. In February, he wrote in the Tribune that Lincoln could not be elected to a second term. Nevertheless, no candidate made a serious challenge to Lincoln, who was nominated in June, which the Tribune applauded slightly. In August, fearing a Democratic victory and acceptance of the Confederacy, Greeley engaged in a plot to get a new convention to nominate another candidate, with Lincoln withdrawing. The plot came to nothing. Once Atlanta was taken by Union forces on September 3, Greeley became a fervent supporter of Lincoln. Greeley was gratified both by Lincoln's re-election and continued Union victories.

As the war drew to a close in April 1865, Greeley and the Tribune urged magnanimity towards the defeated Confederates, arguing that making martyrs of Confederate leaders would only inspire future rebels. This talk of moderation ceased when Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Many concluded that Lincoln had fallen as the result of a final rebel plot, and the new president, Andrew Johnson, offered $100,000 for the capture of fugitive Confederate president Jefferson Davis. After the rebel leader was caught, Greeley initially advocated that "punishment be meted out in accord with a just verdict".

Through 1866, Greeley editorialized that Davis, who was being held at Fortress Monroe, should either be set free or put on trial. Davis's wife Varina urged Greeley to use his influence to gain her husband's release. In May 1867, a Richmond judge set bail for the former Confederate president at $100,000. Greeley was among those who signed the bail bond, and the two men met briefly at the courthouse. This act resulted in public anger against Greeley in the North. Sales of the second volume of his history (published in 1866) declined sharply. Subscriptions to the Tribune (especially the Weekly Tribune) also dropped off, though they recovered during the 1868 election.

Initially supportive of Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policies, Greeley soon became disillusioned, as the president's plan allowed the quick formation of state governments without securing suffrage for the freedman. When Congress convened in December 1865, and gradually took control of Reconstruction, he was generally supportive, as Radical Republicans pushed hard for universal male suffrage and civil rights for freedmen. Greeley ran for Congress in 1866 but lost badly, and for Senate in the legislative election held in early 1867, losing to Roscoe Conkling.

As president and Congress battled, Greeley remained firmly opposed to the president, and when Johnson was impeached in March 1868, Greeley and the Tribune strongly supported his removal, attacking Johnson as "an aching tooth in the national jaw, a screeching infant in a crowded lecture room," and declaring, "There can be no peace or comfort till he is out." Nevertheless, the president was acquitted by the Senate, much to Greeley's disappointment. Also in 1868, Greeley sought the Republican nomination for governor but was frustrated by the Conkling forces. Greeley supported the successful Republican presidential nominee, General Ulysses S. Grant in the 1868 election.

In 1868, Whitelaw Reid joined the Tribune 's staff as managing editor. In Reid, Greeley found a reliable second-in-command. Also on the Tribune's staff in the late 1860s was Mark Twain; Henry George sometimes contributed pieces, as did Bret Harte. In 1870, John Hay joined the staff as an editorial writer. Greeley soon pronounced Hay the most brilliant at that craft ever to write for the Tribune.

Greeley maintained his interest in associationism. Beginning in 1869, he was heavily involved in an attempt to found a utopia, called the Union Colony of Colorado, on the prairie in a scheme led by Nathan Meeker. The new town of Greeley, Colorado Territory was named after him. He served as treasurer and lent Meeker money to keep the colony afloat. In 1871, Greeley published a book What I Know About Farming, based on his childhood experience and that from his country home in Chappaqua.

Greeley continued to seek political office, running for state comptroller in 1869 and the House of Representatives in 1870, losing both times. In 1870, President Grant offered Greeley the post of minister to Santo Domingo (today, the Dominican Republic), which he declined.

As had been the case for much of the 19th century, political parties continued to be formed and to vanish after the Civil War. In September 1871, Missouri Senator Carl Schurz formed the Liberal Republican Party, founded on opposition to President Grant, opposition to corruption, and support of civil service reform, lower taxes, and land reform. He gathered around him an eclectic group of supporters whose only real link was their opposition to Grant, whose administration had proved increasingly corrupt. The party needed a candidate, with a presidential election upcoming. Greeley was one of the best-known Americans, as well as being a perennial candidate for office. He was more minded to consider a run for the Republican nomination, fearing the effect on the Tribune should he bolt the party. Nevertheless, he wanted to be president, as a Republican if possible, if not, as a Liberal Republican.

The Liberal Republican national convention met in Cincinnati in May 1872. Greeley was spoken of as a possible candidate, as was Missouri Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown. Schurz was ineligible as foreign-born. On the first ballot, Supreme Court Justice David Davis led, but Greeley took a narrow lead on the second ballot. Former minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams took the lead, but on the sixth ballot, after a "spontaneous" demonstration staged by Reid, Greeley gained the nomination, with Brown as vice presidential candidate.

The Democrats, when they met in Baltimore in July, faced a stark choice: nominate Greeley, long a thorn in their side, or split the anti-Grant vote and go on to certain defeat. They chose the former, and even adopted the Liberal Republican platform, which called for equal rights for African Americans. This was the first time one man had been nominated for president by two political parties. Greeley resigned as editor of the Tribune for the campaign, and, unusually for the time, embarked on a speaking tour to bring his message to the people. As it was more usual for candidates for major office to not actively campaign, he was attacked as a seeker after office. Nevertheless, in late July, Greeley (and others, such as former Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes) thought he would very likely be elected. Greeley campaigned on a platform of intersectional reconciliation, arguing that the war was over and the issue of slavery was resolved. It was time to restore normality and end the continuing military occupation of the South.

The Republican counterattack was well-financed, accusing Greeley of support for everything from treason to the Ku Klux Klan. The anti-Greeley campaign was famously and effectively summed up in the cartoons of Thomas Nast, whom Grant later credited with a major role in his re-election. Nast's cartoons showed Greeley giving bail money for Jefferson Davis, throwing mud on Grant, and shaking hands with John Wilkes Booth across Lincoln's grave. The Crédit Mobilier scandal-corruption in the financing of the Union Pacific Railroad -broke in September, but Greeley was unable to take advantage of the Grant administration's ties to the scandal as he had stock in the railroad himself, and some alleged it had been given to him in exchange for favorable coverage.

Greeley's wife Mary had returned ill from a trip to Europe in late June. Her condition worsened in October, and he effectively broke off campaigning after October 12 to be with her. She died on October 30, plunging him into despair a week before the election. Poor results for the Democrats in those states that had elections for other offices in September and October presaged defeat for Greeley, and so it proved. He received 2,834,125 votes to 3,597,132 for Grant, who secured 286 electors to 66 chosen for Greeley. The editor-turned-candidate won only six states (out of 37): Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

Greeley resumed the editorship of the Tribune, but quickly learned there was a movement underway to unseat him. He found himself unable to sleep, and after a final visit to the Tribune on November 13 (a week after the election) remained under medical care. At the recommendation of a family physician, Greeley was sent to Choate House, the asylum of Dr. George Choate at Pleasantville, New York. There, he continued to worsen, and died on November 29, with his two surviving daughters and Whitelaw Reid at his side.

His death came before the Electoral College balloted. His 66 electoral votes were divided among four others, principally Indiana governor-elect Thomas A. Hendricks and Greeley's vice presidential running mate, Benjamin Gratz Brown.

Although Greeley had requested a simple funeral, his daughters ignored his wishes and arranged a grand affair at the Church of the Divine Paternity, later the Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, where Greeley was a member. He is buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Among the mourners were old friends, Tribune employees including Reid and Hay, his journalistic rivals, and a broad array of politicians, led by President Grant.

Despite the venom that had been spewed over him in the presidential campaign, Greeley's death was widely mourned. Harper's Weekly, which had printed Nast's cartoons, wrote, "Since the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the death of no American has been so sincerely deplored as that of Horace Greeley; and its tragical circumstances have given a peculiarly affectionate pathos to all that has been said of him." Henry Ward Beecher wrote in the Christian Union, "when Horace Greeley died, unjust and hard judgment of him died also". Harriett Beecher Stowe noted Greeley's eccentric dress, "That poor white hat! If, alas, it covered many weaknesses, it covered also much strength, much real kindness and benevolence, and much that the world will be better for".

Greeley supported liberal policies towards the fast-growing western regions; he memorably advised the ambitious to "Go West, young man." A champion of the working man, he flirted with European socialism. he hired Karl Marx because of his interest in coverage of working-class society and politics he attacked monopolies of all sorts and rejected land grants to railroads. Industry would make everyone rich, he insisted, as he promoted high tariffs. He supported vegetarianism, opposed liquor and paid serious attention to any ism anyone proposed.

Historian Iver Bernstein says:

Greeley was an eclectic and unsystematic thinker, a one-man switch-board for the international cause of "Reform." He committed himself, all at once, to utopian and artisan socialism, to land, sexual, and dietary reform, and, of course, to anti-slavery. Indeed Greeley's great significance in the culture and politics of Civil War-era America stemmed from his attempt to accommodate intellectually the contradictions inherent in the many diverse reform movements of the time.

Greeley's view of freedom was based in the desire that all should have the opportunity to better themselves. According to his biographer, Erik S. Lunde, "a dedicated social reformer deeply sympathetic to the treatment of poor white males, slaves, free blacks, and white women, he still espoused the virtues of self-help and free enterprise". Van Deusen stated: "His genuine human sympathies, his moral fervor, even the exhibitionism that was a part of his makeup, made it inevitable that he should crusade for a better world. He did so with apostolic zeal."

Nevertheless, Greeley's effectiveness as a reformer was undermined by his idiosyncrasies: according to Williams, he "must have looked like an apparition, a man of eccentric habits dressed in an old linen coat that made him look like a farmer who came into town for supplies". Van Deusen wrote, "Greeley's effectiveness as a crusader was limited by some of his traits and characteristics. Culturally deficient, he was to the end ignorant of his own limitations, and this ignorance was a great handicap."

The Tribune remained under that name until 1924, when it merged with the New York Herald to become the New York Herald-Tribune, which was published until 1966. The name survived until 2013, when the International Herald-Tribune became the International New York Times.

There is a statue of Greeley in City Hall Park in New York, donated by the Tribune Association. Cast in 1890, it was not dedicated until 1916. A second statue of Greeley is located in Greeley Square in Midtown Manhattan. Greeley Square, at Broadway and 33rd Street, was named by the New York City Common Council in a vote after Greeley's death. Van Deusen concluded his biography of Greeley:

More significant still was the service that Greeley performed as a result of his faith in his country and his countrymen, his belief in infinite American progress. For all his faults and shortcomings, Greeley symbolized an America that, though often shortsighted and misled, was never suffocated by the wealth pouring from its farms and furnaces ... For through his faith in the American future, a faith expressed in his ceaseless efforts to make real the promise of America, he inspired others with hope and confidence, making them feel that their dreams also had the substance of realty. It is his faith, and theirs that has given him his place in American history. In that faith he still marches among us, scolding and benevolent, exhorting us to confidence and to victory in the great struggles of our own day.

Bonner, Thomas N. (December 1951). "Horace Greeley and the Secession Movement, 1860-1861". Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 38 (3): 425-444. doi:10.2307/1889030. JSTOR 1889030.(subscription required)

Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2005). Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-82490-1.

Hale, William Harlan (1950). Horace Greeley: Voice of the People. Harper & Brothers. OCLC 336934.

Lunde, Erik S. (February 2000). "Greeley, Horace". American National Biography Online.

Lunde, Erik S. (1981). Horace Greeley. Twayne's United States Authors Series. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7343-6.

Nevins, Allan (1931). "Horace Greeley". Dictionary of American Biography. 7. Scribner's. pp. 528-34. OCLC 4171403.

Seitz, Don Carlos (1926). Horace Greeley: Founder of The New York Tribune. online edition

Snay, Mitchell (2011). Horace Greeley and the Politics of Reform in Nineteenth-Century America. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.

Stoddard, Henry Luther (1946). Horace Greeley: Printer, Editor, Crusader. G. P. Putnam's Sons. OCLC 1372308.

Taliaferro, John (2013). All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt (Kindle ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-9741-4.

Tuchinsky, Adam (2009). Horace Greeley's New-York Tribune: Civil War-Era Socialism and the Crisis of Free Labor. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4667-2. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt7zfzw.

Van Deusen, Glyndon G. (1953). Horace Greeley: Nineteenth-Century Reformer. University of Pennsylvania Press. online edition

Williams, Robert C. (2006). Horace Greeley: Champion of American Freedom. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9402-9., scholarly biography

Borchard, Gregory A. Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley. Southern Illinois University Press; 2011.

Cross, Coy F., II. Go West Young Man! Horace Greeley's Vision for America. U. of Mexico Press, 1995.

Downey, Matthew T. "Horace Greeley and the Politicians: The Liberal Republican Convention in 1872," The Journal of American History, Vol. 53, No. 4. (March 1967), pp. 727-750. in JSTOR

Durante, Dianne, Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide. (New York University Press, 2007): discussion of Greeley and the 2 memorials to him in New York

Fahrney, Ralph Ray, Horace Greeley and the Tribune in the Civil War (1936) online

Isely, Jeter A. Horace Greeley and the Republican Party, 1853-1861: A study of the New York Tribune (1947)

Lundberg, James M. Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (2019), popular history excerpt

Lunde, Erik S. "The Ambiguity of the National Idea: the Presidential Campaign of 1872" Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism 1978 5(1): 1-23.

Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism: A History, 1690-1960 (1962) passim.

Parrington, Vernon L. Main Currents in American Thought (1927), II, pp. 247-57. online edition

Parton, James. The Life of Horace Greeley (1889) online.

Potter, David M. "Horace Greeley and Peaceable Secession." Journal of Southern History (1941) 7#2 pp: 145-159. in JSTOR

Reid, Whitelaw. Horace Greeley (Scribner's sons, 1879) online.

Robbins, Roy M., "Horace Greeley: Land Reform and Unemployment, 1837-1862," Agricultural History, VII, 18 (January 1933).

Rourke, Constance Mayfield ; Trumpets of Jubilee: Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lyman Beecher, Horace Greeley, P.T. Barnum (1927). online edition

Schulze, Suzanne. Horace Greeley: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood, 1992. 240 pp.

Slap, Andrew. The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era (2010). online

Taylor, Sally. "Marx and Greeley on Slavery and Labor." Journalism History 6#4 (1979): 103-7

Weisberger, Bernard A. "Horace Greeley: Reformer as Republican" . Civil War History 1977 23(1): 5-25. online

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Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 - November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune , among the great newspapers of its time.

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Born: November 23, 1804 in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States

Died: October 08, 1869 in Concord, New Hampshire, United States

Franklin Pierce, whose father served in the American Revolution (1775-83), inherited a devotion to Jeffersonian principles of the sovereign power of the individual states. In his early career as both an attorney and a politician, Pierce remained loyal to these foundations of the Democratic Party, as popularized by President Andrew Jackson. His loyalty included a commitment to the constitutionality of slavery, and his support for that institution during his presidency led to a deterioration of the relationship between the North and South.

Franklin Pierce was born in a log home on November 23, 1804, among the hills of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Franklin's father, General Benjamin Pierce, was a veteran of the American Revolution (1775-83) who was active in local politics. Anna Kendrick Pierce, Franklin's mother and Benjamin's second wife, was known as a lively and tender soul. The seventh of his father's nine children, Franklin enjoyed a rural boyhood fishing and swimming in the ponds and creeks of backwoods New Hampshire.

As a boy Pierce studied at Hancock Academy and Francestown Academy, both in New Hampshire. At the age of 16 he entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. When after two years Pierce learned he was ranked at the bottom of his class, he resolved to study each day between midnight and four A.M., thereby graduating fifth in a class of 13 students.

In 1834 Franklin Pierce married Jane Means Appleton, the daughter of a Congregational minister and former Bowdoin College president. Although Jane Pierce gave her husband strong social connections, her Calvinist, Federalist upbringing made her disdain Pierce's Democratic politics. Her poor health added to the family's difficulties, but Jane and Franklin loved each other deeply and got along very well.

Tragedy haunted the Pierces as they lost each of their three children. Their first born, Franklin, died at just three days old and Frank Robert at age four. Benjamin, their last child whom Jane Pierce doted upon, was crushed to death before his parents' eyes at age 11 in a train wreck, only a few months before Pierce's inauguration in 1853. Jane and Franklin were physically unharmed, but the loss of their only remaining son destroyed what was left of Jane's mental and physical health and may have crippled Franklin's confidence.

After graduating from Bowdoin College, Pierce studied law under Levi Woodbury, who was secretary of the Treasury under presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, and practiced law for a few years. Pierce then joined the Democratic Party and served in the New Hampshire legislature from 1829 to 1833, the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837, and the U.S. Senate from 1837 to 1842. Pierce, who was an alcoholic, resigned as senator in 1842 for the sake of his wife Jane, who hated politics, and also to avoid the social pressures to drink.

In 1842 the Pierces returned to New Hampshire, where Franklin opened a law practice in Concord and became involved in local politics. After declining President James Polk's invitation to serve as U.S. attorney general, Pierce served from 1846 to 1848 as brigadier general in the Mexican War (1846-48).

In recognition of his loyalty to the Democratic Party and in the absence of a strong candidate with widespread appeal, Pierce won the Democratic nomination for president and the election in 1852. Racked with self-doubt from the recent death of his son Benjamin, Pierce delegated most tasks to his cabinet and was an ineffective leader. President Pierce supported slavery as a property right protected by the U.S. Constitution. His administration is remembered for civil unrest in the territory of Kansas, where pro- and antislavery forces clashed over whether to extend the so-called "peculiar institution" of slavery in the United States.

The first elected president to fail to be renominated by his party, Pierce retired to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1857 to care for his ailing wife. He continued to follow politics, denounced the abolitionists (those who lobbied for the abolition of slavery), and became depressed at the election of President Abraham Lincoln and the start of the American Civil War (1861-65). Jane Pierce died in December 1863, and Franklin Pierce passed away, largely to be forgotten by history, on October 8, 1869.

Congressman; Politician (1813-61) Whatever Stephen A. Douglas lacked in stature, he made up for in aggressiveness, audacity, and in a consuming political ambition. Douglas taught himself with borrowed books and, at age 27, was the youngest judge ever to sit on the Illinois Supreme Court. Beginning in his early thirties, Douglas occupied a seat first in the U.S. House of Representatives and later in the Senate. It was as a senator, during President Franklin Pierce's administration, that Douglas drafted the legislation that would both mark and upset his career. Modern historian Allan Nevins called Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act, rescinding the Missouri Compromise of 1820, "the worst Pandora's box in our history." When President Pierce, with his signature, put the act into law, he sparked a small, but bloody, civil war in the territory of Kansas. Overnight, Americans were referring to the new territory as Bleeding Kansas. Douglas returned home to campaign for his job, this time against a rising star. The campaign debates between the opposed Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas are famous today. Douglas was ardently opposed to the rights of African Americans to citizenship and attacked as "monstrous heresy" Lincoln's insistence that, "the Negro and the white man are made equal by the Declaration of Independence and by Divine Providence." Douglas won reelection to the Senate, but soon found himself running against Lincoln again, this time for the presidency. Despite their differences, Douglas said to Republicans who had nominated Lincoln for the 1860 presidential ticket, "Gentlemen, you have nominated a very able and a very honest man." This time, it was Lincoln who was victorious. Although Douglas first sought to effect a compromise between the Southern and Northern states, after the Confederacy attacked the Union's Fort Sumter in 1861, Douglas publicly supported Lincoln's efforts to restore the United States through force.

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Spouse: Jane Means Appleton (m. 1834) Children: Franklin; Frank Robert; Benjamin Education: Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1824 Politics: Democratic Party Religion: Episcopalian.

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Born: November 23, 1804 in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States Died: October 08, 1869 in Concord, New Hampshire, United States Franklin Pierce, whose father served in the American Revolution (1775-83), inherited a devotion to Jeffersonian principles of the sovereign power of the individual states.

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Jodi Picoult is a bestselling author of literary fiction, although many have called her books women's fiction. She's an unusually prolific author, having written over twenty novels. Jodi Picoult's books are quick paced and controversial. Is the woman behind the books as provocative?

May 19, 1966, in Nesconset on Long Island in New York.

Picoult's family moved to New Hampshire when she was 13. Although she left New Hampshire for college and her early jobs, she settled there again as a married woman. She currently lives in Hanover, New Hampshire with her husband, Tim Van Leer, and their three children, Sammy, Kyle and Jake. She was raised in a non-practacing Jewish household.

Picoult studied writing at Princeton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She also earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University.

Picoult wrote her first story, "The Lobster which Misunderstood," when she was five. While at Princeton, she published two stories in Seventeen magazine. She wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale, while she was pregnant with her first child, and published it in 1992.

Picoult's novels usually deal with ethical issues and are told from a variety of viewpoints, with each chapter written in a different character's voice. Picoult uses this technique to show multiple sides of a situation and underscore areas of moral ambiguity. She has several reoccurring characters, who have appeared in multiple books. While characters may make cameo appearances the books are not part of a series. All of her novels are stand alone titles.

She is known for her incredibly researched plots, many of which involve some kind of courtroom drama. As she usually writes roughly a book a year, Picoult is always researching one book while completing work on a previous title.

Picoult writes stories that are heart-wrenching and full of family drama. It should be no surprise, then, that several of her books have been adapted into films for Lifetime, a TV network for women. Her first feature film, My Sister's Keeper, was released in theaters in 2009. It starred Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin.

Picoult's family has two Springer spaniels, two donkeys, two geese, three ducks and six chickens.

When her oldest son finished reading My Sister's Keeper, he broke into tears and wouldn't speak to his mother for a while because he was so mad about the ending.

Picoult has had personal experience with the sort of medical drama she writes about. When her middle son, Jake, was six he was diagnosed with cholesteatoma in his ear -- a benign tumor that can grow into your brain and kill you. He had 10 surgeries in three years and was partially deaf until recently.

Picoult likes to read Alice Hoffman.

Picoult has also written one book titled Off the Page with her daughter. Sammy chose to write under the name Samantha van Leer. It is considered a young adult novel.

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Jodi Picoult is a bestselling author of literary fiction, although many have called her books women's fiction. She's an unusually prolific author, having written over twenty novels. Jodi Picoult's books are quick paced and controversial. Is the woman behind the books as provocative? May 19, 1966, in Nesconset on Long Island in New York.

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Born on November 23, 1804, Franklin Pierce, though by no means wealthy, had more advantages than most young boys in rural New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin Pierce, had led the local militia to victories in the American Revolution, and as a result, he enjoyed a status in the area of Hillsborough that gave him influence in local politics. Both he and his wife Anna Kendrick's families had been in America since the early Puritan settlements of the 1620s. Like other ambitious parents, Benjamin and Anna wanted their eight children to have a better education than their own.

Franklin attended local schools until age twelve when he was sent to private academies. At fifteen, he entered Bowdoin College in Maine where he made many friends, including a budding young writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne. At first, young Franklin enjoyed the social life at Bowdoin so much that his schoolwork took second priority. Soon he was last in his class. He gradually began to apply himself to his studies and by graduation in 1824, he ranked fifth in his class.

Rapid Rise to National Politics

While at Bowdoin, Pierce had honed his public speaking, which made him a natural for the legal profession. In 1829, he was elected to the state legislature, two years after his father won election to the governorship. Attractive and well-connected, the popular Pierce was chosen Speaker of the House in 1831. Both Franklin Pierce and his father were fervent supporters of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, whose modest origins and country manners inspired great affection from farmers and the working class. Both men rejoiced when "Old Hickory" was elected President in 1828. Jacksonian Democrats were the rising party and in 1832, in the same election that gave Old Hickory his second term, Franklin Pierce-still not thirty years old-was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he voted the Democratic Party line on nearly all issues.

Life in Washington took its toll on Pierce. The city in the 1830s was an unpleasant place with ill-smelling swamps and political intrigue. Politicians serving there lived mostly in shabby boardinghouses. Bored and homesick, many found comfort in alcohol. Drinking quickly became a problem for Pierce. Before long, stories of his partying and drunken escapades were a staple of the capital's grapevine.

In 1834, the congressman married Jane Means Appleton, the daughter of Jesse Appleton, who had been president of Bowdoin College, Pierce's alma mater. Franklin and Jane Pierce seemingly had little in common, and the marriage would sometimes be a troubled one. The bride's family members were staunch Whigs, a party largely formed to oppose Andrew Jackson, whom Pierce revered. Socially, Jane Pierce was reserved and shy, the polar opposite of her new husband. Above all, she was a committed devotee of the temperance movement. She detested Washington and usually refused to live there, even after Franklin Pierce became a U.S. senator in 1837. Jane Appleton and Franklin Pierce had three children, only one of whom survived early childhood.

As a senator, Pierce's legislative record was no more distinguished than it had been when he was a U.S. representative. No important bills bore his name, and his personal convictions followed the Jacksonian positions-the use of hard money, opposition to the United States Bank, and suspicion of internal improvements. Only one cause seemed to inspire any real passion in him: opposition to the abolitionist movement. Many of Pierce's best friends on the Washington party circuit were southerners, and he came to sympathize with their proslavery views. One of these, future Confederate president Jefferson Davis, became his closest political ally. By 1841, Pierce and his wife had had enough of Washington, and he resigned from the Senate, moving his family back to New Hampshire.

Skilled Attorney and Politico

In his thirties, Pierce stopped drinking and joined the temperance movement. He then led a successful drive to outlaw liquor in his new hometown of Concord. He opened a law practice there as well, and with his skill as a public speaker and his local fame, he was an immediate success as a trial lawyer. Courts of law were a prime form of entertainment, and Franklin Pierce was a star in this setting during the 1840s. Citizens from all over New Hampshire fought for a place in his courtrooms, and he seldom disappointed them. Pierce had little interest in the drab bookwork of the law, but he was a master at assessing a jury and then appealing to its emotions. He took high-profile cases and consequently his fame spread. He also remained involved with politics, managing Democrat James K. Polk's successful bid for the White House in New Hampshire. The grateful new President offered several patronage positions that Pierce refused.

Mexican War Military Service

Aware of the positive effect of military service on his father's political success, Franklin Pierce saw an opportunity in the Mexican-American War. He helped enlist men into the New Hampshire Volunteers and was himself a private. Using his connections, he appealed to President James Polk for a commission. The President repaid Pierce's old campaign favors. By the time the force sailed for the Mexican shores of Veracruz in mid-1847, Pierce was a brigadier general commanding over two thousand men, though he had no military experience whatsoever.

The American commander for this invasion force was General Winfield Scott, seemingly larger than life (six and a half feet tall and three hundred pounds), who insisted on by-the-book discipline and protocol that inspired the nickname "Old Fuss and Feathers." Despite decisive victories in northern Mexico by General Zachary Taylor, the Mexican government refused to agree to American demands, and as a result, Pierce's forces joined with Scott's at the city of Puebla in May 1847, after a 150-mile march from Veracruz during which they were frequently harassed by Mexican guerrillas. The combined force then set out for Mexico City.

In August, the army won two battles against Mexican forces southwest of Mexico City. Unfortunately, the war soon proved less than kind to the inexperienced Brigadier General Pierce. At the Battle of Contreras on August 19, his horse stumbled. Pierce was thrown onto the pommel of his saddle and fell off his horse, crushing his leg. He passed out from the pain and some of the men under his command began to break ranks and flee. The injured Pierce was able to ride again within a month but he arrived too late to participate in decisive victory at the Battle of Chapultepec in September 1847. Some soldiers, perhaps resentful of a political general like Pierce, began referring to him behind his back as "Fainting Frank." The unfair allegations later followed him into presidential politics. Pierce returned home to New Hampshire at war's end. His résumé now included a war record and the title "Brigadier General Franklin Pierce."

Building a Political Career

After his return, Pierce, already a well-known lawyer, was active in New Hampshire's Democratic Party and became its undisputed leader.

By the election year of 1852, the issue of slavery in the territories divided the nation, with Southerners insisting that they should be allowed to take their slaves into any new territories, and a growing group of Northerners committed to free soil without the competition of slaves. Both Democrats and Whigs found it more and more difficult to appeal across the sectional divide. In order to protect the South, the Democratic Nominating Convention required a two-thirds majority of votes for President. But a proslavery Northerner might attract both sides.

Franklin Pierce was that man. Nominated in 1852, after the convention deadlocked for 48 ballots, Pierce ran againt the Whig General Winfield Scott, his commander in the Mexican War. Historians agree that "Fainting Frank" did not so much win the election; rather, "Old Fuss and Feathers" bungled the campaign with long, uninspiring speeches. More importantly, the Whig party was losing popularity, and Scott was its last presidential candidate.

Like most Americans, Pierce remained firmly opposed to the abolition of slavery in the states where it already existed. He also upheld the right of Americans to own property, even human property. And he took Southern positions on the right of Southerners to take slaves into new territories, particularly Kansas. He firmly supported the Compromise of 1850, which included the Fugitive Slave Act, the end of the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and the admission of California as a free state.

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Franklin Pierce: Life Before the Presidency | Miller Center

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Born on November 23, 1804, Franklin Pierce, though by no means wealthy, had more advantages than most young boys in rural New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin Pierce, had led the local militia to victories in the American Revolution, and as a result, he enjoyed a status in the area of Hillsborough that gave him influence in local politics.

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Newsela | About Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

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Taking a deeper look at Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

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Who Was Robert Frost?

Robert Frost was an American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes. Famous works include "Fire and Ice," "Mending Wall," "Birches," "Out Out," "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "Home Burial." His 1916 poem, "The Road Not Taken," is often read at graduation ceremonies across the United States. As a special guest at President John F. Kennedy 's inauguration, Frost became a poetic force and the unofficial "poet laureate" of the United States.

Frost spent his first 40 years as an unknown. He exploded on the scene after returning from England at the beginning of World War I. He died of complications from prostate surgery on January 29, 1963.

Early Years

Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. He spent the first 11 years of his life there, until his journalist father, William Prescott Frost Jr., died of tuberculosis.

Following his father's passing, Frost moved with his mother and sister, Jeanie, to the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. They moved in with his grandparents, and Frost attended Lawrence High School.

After high school, Frost attended Dartmouth College for several months, returning home to work a slew of unfulfilling jobs.

Beginning in 1897, Frost attended Harvard University but had to drop out after two years due to health concerns. He returned to Lawrence to join his wife.

In 1900, Frost moved with his wife and children to a farm in New Hampshire - property that Frost's grandfather had purchased for them-and they attempted to make a life on it for the next 12 years. Though it was a fruitful time for Frost's writing, it was a difficult period in his personal life and followed the deaths of two of his young children.

During that time, Frost and Elinor attempted several endeavors, including poultry farming, all of which were fairly unsuccessful.

Despite such challenges, it was during this time that Frost acclimated himself to rural life. In fact, he grew to depict it quite well, and began setting many of his poems in the countryside.

Wife

Frost met his future love and wife, Elinor White, when they were both attending Lawrence High School. She was his co-valedictorian when they graduated in 1892.

In 1894, Frost proposed to White, who was attending St. Lawrence University, but she turned him down because she first wanted to finish school. Frost then decided to leave on a trip to Virginia, and when he returned, he proposed again. By then, White had graduated from college, and she accepted. They married on December 19, 1895.

White died in 1938. Diagnosed with cancer in 1937 and having undergone surgery, she also had had a long history of heart trouble, to which she ultimately succumbed.

Children

Frost and White had six children together. Their first child, Elliot, was born in 1896. Daughter Lesley was born in 1899.

Elliot died of cholera in 1900. After his death, Elinor gave birth to four more children: son Carol (1902), who would commit suicide in 1940; Irma (1903), who later developed mental illness; Marjorie (1905), who died in her late 20s after giving birth; and Elinor (1907), who died just weeks after she was born.

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S ROBERT FROST FACT CARD

Early Poetry

In 1894, Frost had his first poem, "My Butterfly: an Elegy," published in The Independent, a weekly literary journal based in New York City.

Two poems, "The Tuft of Flowers" and "The Trial by Existence," were published in 1906. He could not find any publishers who were willing to underwrite his other poems.

In 1912, Frost and Elinor decided to sell the farm in New Hampshire and move the family to England, where they hoped there would be more publishers willing to take a chance on new poets.

Within just a few months, Frost, now 38, found a publisher who would print his first book of poems, A Boy's Will, followed by North of Boston a year later.

It was at this time that Frost met fellow poets Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, two men who would affect his life in significant ways. Pound and Thomas were the first to review his work in a favorable light, as well as provide significant encouragement. Frost credited Thomas's long walks over the English landscape as the inspiration for one of his most famous poems, "The Road Not Taken."

Apparently, Thomas's indecision and regret regarding what paths to take inspired Frost's work. The time Frost spent in England was one of the most significant periods in his life, but it was short-lived. Shortly after World War I broke out in August 1914, Frost and Elinor were forced to return to America.

Public Recognition for Frost's Poetry

When Frost arrived back in America, his reputation had preceded him, and he was well-received by the literary world. His new publisher, Henry Holt, who would remain with him for the rest of his life, had purchased all of the copies of North of Boston. In 1916, he published Frost's Mountain Interval, a collection of other works that he created while in England, including a tribute to Thomas.

Journals such as the Atlantic Monthly, who had turned Frost down when he submitted work earlier, now came calling. Frost famously sent the Atlantic the same poems that they had rejected before his stay in England.

In 1915, Frost and Elinor settled down on a farm that they purchased in Franconia, New Hampshire. There, Frost began a long career as a teacher at several colleges, reciting poetry to eager crowds and writing all the while.

He taught at Dartmouth and the University of Michigan at various times, but his most significant association was with Amherst College, where he taught steadily during the period from 1916 until his wife's death in 1938. The main library is now named in his honor.

For a period of more than 40 years beginning in 1921, Frost also spent almost every summer and fall at Middlebury College, teaching English on its campus in Ripton, Vermont.

In the late 1950s, Frost, along with Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot, championed the release of his old acquaintance Ezra Pound, who was being held in a federal mental hospital for treason due to his involvement with fascists in Italy during World War II. Pound was released in 1958, after the indictments were dropped.

Famous Poems

Some of Frost's most well-known poems include:

"The Road Not Taken"

"Birches"

"Fire and Ice"

"Mending Wall"

"Home Burial"

"The Death of the Hired Man"

"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening"

"Acquainted with the Night"

"Out, Out"

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Pulitzer Prizes and Awards

During his lifetime, Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees.

In 1924, Frost was awarded his first of four Pulitzer Prizes, for his book New Hampshire. He would subsequently win Pulitzers for Collected Poems (1931), A Further Range (1937) and A Witness Tree (1943).

In 1960, Congress awarded Frost the Congressional Gold Medal.

Photo: George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images

President John F. Kennedy's Inauguration

At the age of 86, Frost was honored when asked to write and recite a poem for President John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. His sight now failing, he was not able to see the words in the sunlight and substituted the reading of one of his poems, "The Gift Outright," which he had committed to memory.

Soviet Union Tour

In 1962, Frost visited the Soviet Union on a goodwill tour. However, when he accidentally misrepresented a statement made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev following their meeting, he unwittingly undid much of the good intended by his visit.

Death

On January 29, 1963, Frost died from complications related to prostate surgery. He was survived by two of his daughters, Lesley and Irma. His ashes are interred in a family plot in Bennington, Vermont.

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Robert Frost was an American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes. Famous works include "Fire and Ice," "Mending Wall," "Birches," "Out Out," "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "Home Burial." His 1916 poem, "The Road Not Taken," is often read at graduation ceremonies across the United States.

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(1897-1976). American children's author and illustrator Armstrong Sperry was best known for his book Call It Courage, a coming-of-age story about a Polynesian boy who confronts his fear of the sea in order to prove himself to his father and the community. He won a Newbery Medal in 1941 for that book.

Sperry was born on November 7, 1897, in New Haven, Connecticut. He served in the U.S. Navy in 1917 and studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts in Connecticut, the Art Students League in New York, and Colorassi's Academy in Paris, France, between 1918 and 1922. Intrigued since childhood by the stories that his great-grandfather had told about being a sailor in the South Pacific, Sperry left his job at an advertising agency in 1925 to become an assistant ethnologist on a two-year expedition sponsored by a Hawaiian museum. The experience had a profound effect on his writing, serving as inspiration for Call It Courage.

Sperry's book All Sail Set was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1936. The piece of historical fiction focuses on the Flying Cloud, a real 1840s clipper ship. Some of Sperry's other books included Wagons Westward (1936), Little Eagle, A Navajo Boy (1938), Lost Lagoon (1939), Storm Canvas (1944), Danger to Windward (1947), The Rain Forest (1947), Black Falcon (1949), Thunder Country (1952), and South of Cape Horn (1958). Sperry also wrote some nonfiction books, including Pacific Islands Speaking (1955) and All About the Jungle (1959).

In addition to illustrating his own books, Sperry contributed to the works of Helen Follett, Clara Ingram Judson, Howard Pease, and other writers. Agnes Hewes's 1937 Newbery Honor Book The Codfish Musket also contains illustrations by Sperry. Sperry died on April 26, 1976, in Hanover, New Hampshire.

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(1897-1976). American children's author and illustrator Armstrong Sperry was best known for his book Call It Courage, a coming-of-age story about a Polynesian boy who confronts his fear of the sea in order to prove himself to his father and the community. He won a Newbery Medal in 1941 for that book.

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Celia Laighton Thaxter, née Celia Laighton, (born June 29, 1835, Portsmouth, N.H., U.S.-died Aug. 26, 1894, Appledore Island, N.H.), American poet whose work centred thematically on the islands and ocean of her youth.

Celia Laighton grew up among the Isles of Shoals off the New Hampshire coast. On Appledore Island her father operated a successful resort hotel that included among its guests Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry David Thoreau, William Morris Hunt, Childe Hassam, Lucy Larcom, and Sarah Orne Jewett. In 1851 she married Levi L. Thaxter, who had been her father's business partner. They settled in Newtonville, Massachusetts, in 1856.

Celia Thaxter's homesickness for the sea and the Isles of Shoals found expression in verse, and one of her poems was printed without her knowledge in the Atlantic Monthly in March 1861; editor James Russell Lowell supplied the title, "Land-Locked." Thereafter her poetry appeared frequently in the Atlantic, Scribner's, Harper's, Century, St. Nicholas, Our Young Folks, New England Magazine, and other periodicals. Her first book, Poems, was published in 1872 and in an expanded edition in 1874. In 1873 she published Among the Isles of Shoals, a collection of prose sketches. Her Newtonville home became something of a literary salon, and she was an accepted member of Boston literary society. From the late 1860s she and her husband were much apart, as he developed a distaste for the islands she loved.

Thaxter's later books include Drift Weed (1879), Poems for Children (1884), Idylls and Pastorals (1886), The Cruise of the Mystery (1886), and An Island Garden (1894), illustrated by Childe Hassam. Her formally and morally conventional poems were distinguished mainly by the genuine emotion of their descriptions of their author's beloved picturesque Isles of Shoals.

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Celia Laighton Thaxter, American poet whose work centred thematically on the islands and ocean of her youth. Celia Laighton grew up among the Isles of Shoals off the New Hampshire coast. On Appledore Island her father operated a successful resort hotel that included among its guests Ralph Waldo

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The daughters of Jacob Burnap, Merrimack's first settled minister, were the town's first business women. Elizabeth (who later married Hon. Joseph Read, Ruth, Hannah (who married Samuel Buel), Rebecca, Abigail, Susan, and Lucy (who married Hon. Joseph Read) discovered a special kind of grass they called "Dunstable Straw" and wove it to create beautiful "Leghorn hats." Frank French, son of Hiram & Lydia Wolcot (Batchelder) French, was born 22 May 1850 in the Pittsfield/Loudon area of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, and died 20 Feb 1933 in the Reeds Ferry section of Merrimack, New Hampshire. He married about 1875 to Alice Hendricks. They had two children: Frank Allison French and Mabel Edna French. By 1880 French was working on a regular basis for Harper's New Monthly Magazine, mostly producing the engraved reproductions of paintings for which he was highly regarded. His major work, the book 'Mr. Arthur Gilbert Gordon, son of Francis A. & Martha D. (McGaw) Gordon, was born 27 January 1876 in Merrimack, Hillsborough Co. NH, and died 27 July 1958. His family before him had been active in town affairs. Mr. Gordon had served as a member of the Board of Selectmen and as representative to the Legislature and had devoted much of his time to the growth and development of our committee. He was instrumental in organizing Merrimack's first volunteer fire department in 1924. At the organizational meeting of the department Josiah N. Henderson was elected Chief and Arthur G. Gordon its Deputy Chief which office he held until his retirement in 1949. He served the town as its forest fire warden for many years. His interest in the growth and development of Merrimack were not confined to the Fire Department alone. He devoted much of his time to the Last Rest Cemetery Association, Wheeler Chapel, to the industrial aspects of the Town's growth, and was, at the time of his death, Senior Deacon of the Merrimack Congregational Church. The Town's new fire station will long serve as a memorial to his many civic efforts. Marguerite Miller (Bushee) Henderson, dau of son of Charles M. & Ida May (Litchfield) Mower was born on February 16, 1907 in Portland Maine, and died 16 October 1973 at the age of 67 in Manchester NH (hospital). He married 12 April 1934 at Exeter, NH to Edna M. Esty.[Giacamo Mastrocola aka

The Burnap Sisters:
Elizabeth, Ruth, Rebecca, Abigail, Susan and Lucy

Although Merrimack claimed the first bonnet of this type, a Sophia Woodhouse of Wethersfield Connecticut, who had a similar business, patented her design in 1821.

SEE the Burnap Genealogy
According to a history written in 1946 by Mattie (Kilborn) Webster: "Some of these bonnets were of black leghorn straw trimmed with peach colored crepe, and crowned with a beautiful bouquet of half-blown roses, lilacs and field flowers. They were often ornamented with a bow of ribbon, long ends or streamers on one side. A bouquet of wild poppies was sometimes placed in front surmounted by a plume of marabout feathers. The ribbon was either straw colored or striped. A little later the style changed. Pieces of brim was cut away at the back and drawn up at the crown with a large bow. Strings and rosettes were over the right ear. Some were sold in Boston for as much as $50. John Stark bought one for his wife Molly. They not only made bonnets but other things from grass or plated straw."

Norfolk County Advertiser, August 1821. Reprinted in Boston Commercial Gazette (Boston MA), 2 August 1821, Volume 58, Issue 10, page 1.

This noted artist is considered the "dean of American woodcarvers." "On Monday last was sold at auction at Merchant's Hall the elegant Bonnet which has been for several days exhibited at the store of Messrs. Hall J. Howe & Co., made by Misses Bernaps of Merrimack, N.H., of a wild grass discovered by them in that town. It was knocked off to Josiah Bradlee for Fifty Dollars. The execution of the Bonnet was very superior to the one lately sent to England from Connecticut. We understand that one of the above mentioned young ladies is now visiting at Medford and that the money was presented to her yesterday afternoon. Thus shall the skill and industry of our countrywomen ever be rewarded."
Home Fairies and Heart Flowers: Twenty Studies of Children's Heads,' was published in 1887 by Harper and Brothers; the models for some of the heads were his own children.

Emma Cross

Photograph of Emma Cross
courtesy of the Merrimack (NH) Public Library

Emma Augusta Cross, daughter of Joseph & Deborah P. (Wilder) Cross was b. 6 June 1850 in Manchester NH, and died 7 November 1933 in Merrimack NH. She was a direct descendant of Nathan Cross, of Old Dunstable, who was attacked while making turpentine in the woods, and taken captive by the Indians.

She graduated from the Manchester High School in1868. She was elected to serve as an assistant teacher for the intermediate school the following year. In 1870, after attending training institutes, the Manchester School Committee awarded her a teaching certificate for the intermediate school, entitling her to a position as a full teacher. She remained in that position until 1875, when she gave up her job to help her parents set up a farm in Merrimack, NH.

In 1884, she removed to Boston, where she was employed as a photo-retoucher. Also while in Boston, she attended Boston's Evening Drawing Classes, which she successfully completed and was presented with a diploma in May 1886.

Around 1895, she returned to Merrimack, where she made the farmhouse the temporary home for her two nephews and her often-traveling artist brothers. She provided room for Merrimack's Public Library in the front room of her house on Loop Road, and was appointed library director when the library was moved to a more public building (In 1907 the library and its 3,000 volumes were moved to rented quarters in Ayers' Store).

Merrimack's fire station was given to the Town of Merrimack by Bertha Lowell Gordon in memory of her husband, Arthur G. Gordon, February 21, 1960.

Sources: Annual Report of the Town of Merrimack NH for the year ending June 30, 1959, and independent research.SEE the Gordon Family Genealogy.
Capt. Andrew T. & Alice (Miller) Bushee was born about 1875 in Donaldsonville, Louisianna and died June 1970 in Hampton NH at the age of 94. She married 14 April 1900 in NH to Josiah N. Henderson, son of William & Annah E. (Mitchell) Henderson. In 1927 he was foreman at D.P. Jones.

She lived in Merrimack, New Hampshire for 76 years, and at the time of her death was the town's second oldest citizen. She had resided in Rye, NH with her daughter for four years. A graduate of Plymouth Normal School before the turn of the century, she taught in New Boston and Merrimack Schools. She was the librarian of Lowell Memorial Library in Merrimack for 35 years. She was a member of the First Congregational Church, Puritan Rebekah Lodge and the Thornton Grange. She was a charter member and first president of the Merrimack Community Club. She was survived by her son, Lawrence W. Henderson; two daughters Mrs. Ruth Rarer and Mrs. Lorraine Cameron.

The Town Report of Merrimack NH duly notes: "Mrs. Marguerite Henderson, former librarian, for approximately 37 years has resigned. She had been associated with the library about 50 years, serving as an assistant to Miss Emma Cross, then librarian. Mrs. Henderson was a conscientious and untiring worker, giving much time and thought to the library in all its aspects for the good of the people and the town."

Emma Cross also served on Merrimack's school board. She is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, Manchester NH. A collection of some of her and her sibling's artistic creations may be found in a collection at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA. A framed photograph of her is located in the Merrimack Public Library.

Frank French

1923 Self Portrait of Frank French

French also did commendable work as a painter. While serving as the art director for the Manchester "Mirror and Farmer" under John B. Clarke, he held an exhibition of paintings by Boston artists to stimulate art interest in Manchester, New Hampshire. This was the first fine art exhibit in the city, and soon after, he helped organize the Manchester Art Association.
Martha "Mattie" Frances (Marsh) Jones was a teacher, author and poet. For many years using the pen name, "Nettie Vernon" her writings were published in many of the leading magazines and literary papers of the time, includingArthur's Home Magazine. Her official biography, published in Granite State Magazine of June 1906 states, "She was an estimable woman." [Read two of her poems].

Mattie (Kilborn) Webster, daughter of Charles Albert & Minnie Almira (Long) Kilborn was born 17 April 1885 in Webster, Merrimack Co., NH. Following her mother's death when she was 5 years old, her father remarried to Emma Jane Fretts of Merrimack, and the family moved here. In 1911 she married Clarence L. Webster in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He was the station agent and telegraph operator for the B&M Railroad at the Reeds Ferry Station. They lived in a house at the corner of Depot and Pleasant Streets.

In 1893, he was awarded a medal at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and his engraving of Deschamps' "Beggar Girl" won the gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. Many of his works are part of the Currier Art Gallery's permanent collection in Manchester. N.H.

Directly below are links to some of Frank French's work:

- MONOGRAPHS ON AMERICAN WOOD ENGRAVERS: FRANK FRENCH, by George Howes Whittle, from "Printing Art," Volume XXXI, March-August 1918 ( PDF file format)

Wood Engravers in Camp, by Frank French, from The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, May to October 1889 ( PDF File Format)

- Online e-book 'Home Fairies and Heart Flowers: Twenty Studies of Children's Heads,

Mrs. Bertha (Lowell) Gordon was born 7 Apr 1874 in Reeds Ferry (Merrimack) NH, daughter of Levi F. & Hannah B. (Hutchinson) Lowell and d. April 4, 1960, age 85.In the library report for 1960 it is fitting that the town made note of her passing. She, along with her sister, Mrs. Mabel Haseltine, in 1924 gave to the town of Merrimack, the library in memory of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Lowell. She married Albert Gilbert Gordon (biography and photograph above) in whose memory she donated money to build the Merrimack Fire Station and the Congregational Church parsonage. ALSO SEE the
--- Obituary, Nashua Telegraph, Monday April 4, 1960---
Merrimack, April 4 -- Mrs. Bertha (Lowell) Gordon, life-long resident and widow of Arthur G. Gordon, died at her home Daniel Webster Highway Reeds Ferry, yesterday morning after a long illness. Mrs. Gordon and her late husband had been town benefactors for many years. In 1924 Mrs. Gordon and her sister the late Mrs. Mabel L. Haseltine, gave the Lowell Memorial Library to the town. More recently Mrs. Gordon gave the Arthur G. Gordon Memorial Fire Station in memory of her husband, and it was also through her interest and help that a new Merrimack Congregational church parsonage is in the process of being completed. She was a member of the Merrimack Congregational Church and of its Ladies Aid Society; member of Puritan Lodge of Rebekahs and a charter member of the Reeds Ferry Women's club. She was a graduate of the Tilton school in Tilton and when it was a seminary, and attended Mount Holyoke college, South Hadley, Mass. Lowell family genealogy.
[photo from annual report of the town of Merrimack NH 1960]

Abbie M. Griffin
(photograph provided by Robert Winer, via Ruth Liberty)

click on the photo to see larger

Abbie May Griffin was the daughter of George Byron & Sarah Frances (Spalding) Griffin of Merrimack NH. She was born on May 4, 1874 in Merrimack, New Hampshire and died February 3, 1968 at Memorial Hospital in Nashua NH. Her father was a local grocer, and she was one of three daughters born into this family. They lived on a farm located on the Daniel Webster Highway (in the location of the current Residence and Comfort Inns). She is buried in Reeds Cemetery on Camp Sargent Road.

She lived her entire life in the town of Merrimack, very much interested in the welfare of her neighbors. At one point she learned that the local school band did not have enough funds to attend a national competition, and she provided them. Upon her death it was learned she had established trust funds through her will to assist the town, Merrimack residents who could not afford health care, offer scholarships to local young people for college, and funds for the police and fire departments. Those funds continue to benefit Merrimack residents today.

On September 12, 1996, on Merrimack's 250th anniversary, the Board of Selectmen named the bandstand area, near the town hall, the "Abbie Griffin Park" in her honor. (The bandstand area was made possible by the generous financial donations of local residents, business owners and volunteers). This park is a gathering place for Merrimack's musical and social events.

A 17-page booklet about Abbie Griffin, with photographs, was recently written by Ruth Liberty. A copy is available for $5.00 at the Merrimack Historical Society.

Marguerite (Bushee) Henderson
1875-1970

Brigadier General
Edward J. Haseltine
(Photograph from collection of Merrimack Historical Society)

click on the photo to see larger

Brigadier General Edward J. Haseltine, U.S. Air Force, retired, was born in Merrimack NH, 23 January 1909, the son of John and Mabel (Lowell) Haseltine. He graduated from Merrimack High School class of 1927, and the University of New Hampshire in 1931 (Bachelor of Science in Economics). At that time he received an ROTC commission as a second lieutenant in the Army Infantry, and was assigned to the Army Air Corps in 1942. [ See more information about his military service here].

After an extensive career with the U.S. Air Force, General Haseltine hae been active in many civic groups and state legislative committees dealing with labor issues, flood control and community developments.

He worked for the N.H. Bureau of Labor Unemployment Compensation from 1936-42. In 1981 he was serving as Chairman of the Public Employee Labor Relations Board for NH. He was appointed a member of the Administrative Committee on Municipal Courts by the New Hampshire Supreme Court and had served as a Merrimack Municipal Court Judge. During his tensure, he devoted much of the court's time to study juvenile problems in the community.

General Haseltine served as the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and director of the Merrimack Medical Center. He also served as a State Representative. In Sept of 1965 he was master of ceremonies at the dedication of the (then) new Merrimack Post Office. He was dubbed "Mr. Merrimack" and was honored at a testimonial banquet attended by about 350 guests, in recognition of his 23 years of devoted service to the town of Merrimack.

He was also a local businessman, and treasurer of a family-owned business,Haseltine Brothers, a lumber manufacturing firm in Merrimack NH. His many contributions to this community will not be forgotten. General Haseltine died on November 11, 1998 in New London, New Hampshire, and is buried at Last Rest Cemetery in Merrimack NH.

Martha F. (Marsh) Jones

Additional articles about Walter Kittredge:

"Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," and Its Composer, by Gordon Hall Gerould, New England Monthly, Vol 20, March-August 1899, page 723-731. (PDF file format) Mabel Lucretia (Lowell) Haseltine, dau of Levi & Hannah B. (Hutchinson) Lowell, was born 15 Nov 1870 in Brookline, NH, and d. 20 Jan 1937 in Merrimack, New Hampshire. She married 22 Nov 1892 in Reeds Ferry NH to John Edward Haseltine, son of James G. & Mary J. Haseltine of Amherst NH. From the 1890's through the 1930s this family was residing in Merrimack NH, and actively supporting the town through personal philanthropy. She, along with her sister, Mrs. Bertha Gordon, in 1924 gave to the town of Merrimack, the library in memory of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Lowell.

An additional biography of her son, Edward Haseltine can be found on this page. [[photo from annual report of the town of Merrimack NH 1960] see genealogy of the Lowell family].

Martha Frances Marsh, the daughter of Deacon Enoch S. Marsh of Hudson NH was b. 20 April 1836 at Hudson NH. She married 3 May 1864 in Hudson, NH to James Thornton Jones, the son of David & Dorothy (Tewksbury) Jones. She was educated at the Nashua Literary Institution and at Appleton Academy in Mont Vernon NH, preparing her to teach school. As a married couple James & Mattie Jones at first removed to California where he had been employed as a teacher, and where two of their children were born. They returned to New Hampshire in 1875, and resided in Merrimack NH. She d. 5 Feb 1906 in Merrimack NH. She and her husband are buried in Last Rest Cemetery. They had 2 sons, James E. and Leslie E., and two daughters, Grace M. (who married Louis Hoffman) and Idella M.

Claude Mahlon Maker, son of Elwin C. & Margaret A. (Wilson) Maker was b. 24 January 1894, and d. 24 March 1973 in Nashua NH, at the age of 79. He married 1 Aug 1917 at Pembroke, NH to Flora E. Cushing, daughter of Charles E. & Rosie M. (Clark) Cushing.

He was a resident of Merrimack for over 60 years and served 30 years as a member of the School Board. For fifteen years he was the Town Tax Collector and for 24 years the Town Clerk. He also served as a representative in the State Legislature. He was a member of the New Hampshire Town Clerks Association, a member of the First Congregational Church, and was active in the Souhegan Lodge, I.O.O.F and the Puritan Rebekah Lodge of Merrimack, and the Ancient York Lodge, F. and A.M. of Nashua. He was also a Justice of the Peace.

SEE Mower Genealogy]
Mr. Mower served the Town of Merrimack twenty-five years as trustee and treasurer of the Lowell Memorial Library. A resident of the Town for thirty-five years, he also served as treasurer of the Merrimack Historical Society. A retired navy lieutenant commander with World War II service in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, Mower was a charter member and first commander of the Merrimack Post of the VFW, and a post commander of the local post of the American Legion. He was a member of the First Congregational Church.
[SEE the MAKER FAMILY GENEALOGY]
See the Jones Family Genealogy
James Mastricola was born 27 March 1878 in Casacalenda, Italy. He immigrated to Montreal, Canada when he was 17 years old, working on the railroad. Afterwards moving to Nashua NH, he sold fruit from a pushcart with his brother, Peter. (Peter was killed in an accident in 1925, aged 53).

Mattie (Kilborn) Webster

Mattie attended the Merrimack schools. Upon graduating from McGaw Institute in 1903 she taught in Bennington NH schools, and soon was teaching school in Merrimack. She also taught English to newly arrived immigrants at the Institute of Arts and Sciences in Manchester, NH.

In addition to raising her son and three daughters, Mattie found time to be the first president and one of the founders of the Reeds Ferry Women's Club, a member of the Missionary Society, and of the Ladies Aid Society of the Merrimack Congregational Church. She was a member of the Puritan Rebekah Lodge, and the Narragansett Grange of Bedford. She was a prize winner in rug hooking.

She was one of Merrimack's first historians, compiling and narrating the the history of the town during the Bicentennial celebration in 1946. She died in Merrimack on 18 April 1964, and is buried in Last Rest Cemetery in Merrimack. She had four children, Berwin H. Webster, Anna (Webster) Watkins, Ruth (Webster) Beard, and Margaret Webster.

Walter Kittredge, ' The Minstrel of Merrimack' was born on Bedford Road in the northern part of Merrimack known as Reed's Ferry on October 8, 1834. He was the tenth of eleven children of Eri and Lucretia (Woods) Kittredge.
Walter Kittredge was a self taught musician, playing the violin, seraphine, and the meloden. He made many of his instruments from things he found growing in the fields near his home. His first instrument was made from the stock of a seed onion. He traveled as a minstrel both alone and with the famous Hutchinson family of singers of Milford NH. Many of their engagements were held at the Merrimack Hotel, also known as the McConihe Tavern. The hotel was located where the Library is today. It was moved across the street when the library was built and became a private residence.

In 1860, he married Annie Fairfield of New Boston, NH and built his unusual home on Bedford Road only a mile from where he grew up. It was here that he farmed between musical engagements. Walter and Annie had three children, Clara S., Walter E., and Annie.

It was about this time that he was struck with rheumatic fever, the results of this illness kept him from military service during the Civil War. However he served through his music, writing over five hundred songs and ballads. Many of the songs including "The War Will Soon Be Over", "When They Come Marching Home", and the world famous "Tenting Tonight On The Old Camp Ground" were sung by both the North and the South during the war.

In addition to his music, Walter Kittredge was a known temperance and abolitionist speaker famous for his precise diction and clarity of words.

At home in Reed's Ferry, he held several public offices, was an active member of the First Congregational Church and a charter member of the Thornton Grange of Merrimack. It was at the 30th anniversary meeting of the Grange that he sang his last song.

Walter Kittredge died at his home on Bedford Road, July 8, 1905. He was seventy years of age. He is buried in Last Rest Cemetery on Baboosic Lake Road in Merrimack. A bronze marker graces the lobby of the State House in Concord in his memory.

We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground, TENTING TONIGHT ON THE OLD CAMP GROUND (LYRICS)

Give us a song to cheer
Our weary hearts, a song of home,
And friend we love so dear.

(Chorus)
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts that are looking for the right
To see the dawn of peace.
Tenting tonight, tenting tonight,
Tenting on the old camp ground

We've been tenting tonight on the old camp ground,
Thinking of days gone by,
Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand
And the tear that said "Goodbye!"
(Chorus)

We are tired of war on the old camp ground,
Many are dead and gone,
Of the brave and true who've left their homes,
Others been wounded long.
(Chorus)

We've been fighting today on the old camp ground,
Many are lying near;
Some are dead and some are dying,
Many are in tears.

Many are the heart who are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts that are looking for the right
To see the dawn of peace
Dying tonight, dying tonight,
Dying on the old camp ground.

Mabel Lucretia (Lowell) Haseltine
1870-1937

Claude Mahlon Maker
1894-1973

Irving F. Mower
1907-1973

Irving F. Mower,

After many years of hard work, James Mastricola was able to buy a farm in Merrimack, New Hampshire where he then lived for over 50 years. When he died at age 80 on 6 March 1958 it was learned that he had invested well, accumulating the small fortune of $143,000.

Never having had formal schooling, he valued education, and in his will he left his estate to the town of Merrimack to build a school. First used as a high school, the James Mastricola School became Merrimack's junior high school in 1966. In 1973 after more construction was completed, the school was renamed the James Mastricola Middle School in his honor. Today there are two schools named after Mr. Mastricola: James Mastricola Elementary School 7 School Street, and James Mastricola Upper Elementary School, 26 Baboosic Lake Road, both in Merrimack NH.

A portrait of James Mastricola hangs in the school today, inspiring all who look at it, of a man who had great faith in his adopted country. The Nashua Corporation is now located on the property of the Mastricola farm.

Maggi Parker was born in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1927, the daughter of Charles R. & Susan B. (Patterson) Parker. She was raised in her parent's home on Boston Post Road in South Merrimack, New Hampshire. It appears that at an early age she was an individualist, plotting a unique path. In a 1969 TV Guide article She related: "Nobody smokes and drinks in my family but me." In her younger days at home, whenever she came in late, her mother took a branch off a lilac bush and hit her with it. "After age 12, there wasn't much left of that lilac bush," Maggi said. In a later article her father Charles says that the line about the lilac bush was a "wee bit exaggerated," but agreed that she and her brother were raised in a strict household.

Her work as an educator is impressive. In addition to teaching school in New England, she traveled and was principal on an airbase in Japan. Then she traveled to Madrid, Spain, where she taught school. From there she became a principal of a school of the American School for Air Force Dependant Children on the Island of Mallorca. Her focus and expertise turned to education for emotionally disturbed children and young adults.

In 1969 Maggie attributed her success as a teacher to her interest in acting. Although she majored in education at Keene State College in her native New Hampshire and at Boston University, she also studied drama, and she says, "Love of the theater made me a good teacher. Can you imagine Bob Hope as a teacher? Kids would flock to his classes - it's the stimulation."

She moved to Los Angeles to work on her doctorate at the University of Southern California. . There she was U.S. Assistant Professor of Education at California State University, Los Angeles session-Summer Session. She was there to study school administration, but instead married in 1963 and the following year moved to a location she fell in love with-Hawaii. Although she has continued to live in that island paradise for 49 years, she has visited New Hampshire several times to attend alumni celebrations for Keene State College (as recently at 2008), and also to travel in Europe (including Ireland; a river ship--The Bizet, in Vienna, sailing up the Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers for 14 days to Amsterdam).

Although she has continued to live in Hawaii for 49 years, she has visited New Hampshire several times to attend alumni celebrations for Keene State College (as recently at 2008), and also to travel in Europe (including Ireland; a river ship--The Bizet, in Vienna, sailing up the Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers for 14 days to Amsterdam).

1970 Photograph from the Nashua Telegraph picturing left to right:
Princess Abigail Kawananakoa, Charles R. Parker (Maggi's father),
and Maggi Parker, at the Parker home in South Merrimack NH.

She was on the board of directors of Friends of Iolani Palace, working on the restoration of the palace. She assisted Harriet Lanihau Makekau, one of the Hawaiian royal family, to raise money for the Iolani Palace, and was on the board of the Kawananakoa Foundation until 1998. In September 1970 she escorted Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kawanakoa, a member of America's only royal family, who visited New Hampshire and stopped with Maggi at the Parker homestead in South Merrimack, on their way to Europe. During this trip they hoped to locate heirlooms of the Hawaiian Royal family. At the young age of 86 she has not retired. She continues to consult three days a week at the Abigail K. Kawananakoa Foundation in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Maggi is a 10th generation descendant of Deacon Thomas & Amy Parker of Lynn and Wakefield, Massachusetts who immigrated in 1635 on the ship "Susan and Ellen." She is also a 7th generation descendant of William & Elizabeth (Boyd) Patterson He came from the parish of Priestland, town of Glenluce, county of Antrim Ireland to Londonderry NH about the year 1724 and settled on Patterson's Hill.

--Recap of Maggie Parker's Accomplishments and Interests--

Hobbies and Talents: Schooling: Professional Work: Acting:
- performed in Grange shows in Merrimack NH as a youngster
- performed with the Hudson Players, an amateur theater group in Hudson, NH
- Best Known For: starred in eleven episodes of the US crime drama Hawaii Five-O during the years 1968 and 1969, playing the secretary, May, a co-star to her TV-boss, Jack Lord.
- Television: I Dream of Jeannie, which did some shooting in Hawaii
- Movies: I Sailed to Tahiti with an All-Girl Crew, Hawaii, and Paradise Hawaiian Style
- plus many television and radio appearances, commercials, and roles in local theatrical productions.
- Educator, Nashua, NH and Cape Code, MA
- Principal of the Kimball-Webster School in Hudson, NH.
- Principal of an elementary school on an airbase in Japan.
- Educator at a school in Madrid, Spain
- Principal of a school of the American School for Air Force Dependant Children on the Island of Mallorca.
- U.S. Assistant Professor of Education at California State University, Los Angeles session-Summer Session
- Co-founder and partner in the Parker-Ames Center in Honolulu, Hawaii which offered psychological and educational services to emotionally disturbed children and young adults

- attended grammar school in South Merrimack, and Merrimack NH
- 1944, diploma, Nashua High School, Nashua NH
- 1948, Bachelors of Arts, Education - Keene State College, Keene, NH
- Master of Education in School Administration, Boston University

- active in the Nashua High School band, playing the trumpet
- speaks fluent Japanese

(Perhaps our most well-know notable was the great Indian sachem, Passaconaway ("child of the bear"), leader of all the native Americans inhabiting the Merrimack Valley.

In a treaty with the General Court of Massachusetts on April 9, 1662, Passaconaway formally made peace with the "white man" and was granted a tract of land in Merrimack 3 miles long and 1 and a half miles wide north of the Souhegan River. This tract included the two river island of Minnehaha and Minnewawa. The formal request made to Governor Endicott of Massachusetts was granted for 25 English pounds. The request is in the Massachusetts Archives. A few years later this same piece of land was granted to an Englishman.

It was rumored that Passaconaway lived well past the age of 100 and possessed magical powers. He was reported to have made water burn and sticks turn into snakes. His treaty with the whites was prompted by a vision with the "Great Spirit" who foretold their great numbers.

Passaconaway was believed to have fathered seven children. His second son but third child, Wonalancet was his successor as leader of his tribe. One of his daughters, Weetamo also had important positions of leadership within the tribe.

On his death the legend has it that he was carried off to heaven from the top of a white mountain on a sled drawn by wolves.

Betty (Mason) Raymond

Merrimack's First Female Police Officer

She was born Betty Mae Mason in Damariscotta, ME on May 26, 1934, a daughter of Carleton K. & Myrtle L. (Clifford) Mason. She moved to Merrimack, NH with her family in 1946 and graduated from Merrimack High School in 1952. She married Ernest "Ernie". Raymond a life-long resident of Merrimack and remained in our town to raise her family.

In the 1960's female police officers were uncommon. She was the first woman to become a Merrimack Police Officer, serving from 1964 to 1986. She was also an original signer of the Merrimack Fire Department Auxiliary charter, and one of its former presidents (her husband Ernie was a call Captain for the Fire Department). She was also active in the American Legion Auxiliary.

In addition to working as a police officer, she was a book keeper for 52 years before she died 16 November 2007.

Her Mason family tree can be traced back to the 1700s in Carroll County, New Hampshire.

Forrest Percival Sherman, Rear Admiral

This native of Merrimack was born October 30, 1896 on Depot Street, son of one of the headmasters of the McGaw Institute.

He was a member of the Naval Academy class of 1917. A naval aviator from 1922, his peacetime service included aviation, surface, and staff assignments.

He was captain of the aircraft carrier "Wasp" (CV-7) when it was sunk by three Japanese torpedo hits in the Solomon Islands September 25, 1942. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism in command of the carrier. He later served as Chief of Naval Operations, and the destroyer, "USS Forrest Sherman" (DD-931) was named in his honor and launched February 5, 1955.

He died July 22, 1951 in Naples, Italy. Admiral Sherman's framed photograph hangs in the original lobby of the present Middle School, formerly the high school.

His Sherman ancestry hails back to the 1600s in Massachusetts, Philip & Sarah (Odding) Shearman.

Louis Sperry was presented with the Boston Post Cane on April 4th, 2002 at a ceremony held at the Merrimack Town Hall.

Louis Sperry was born in Lincoln County, Kansas on March 16, 1908. He was the second of eight children (five boys, three girls). Sperry attended Sylvan Grove High School in Kansas, where he participated in football, basketball, and track. He would have liked to play baseball, but the school did not have a team. His first year of high school, his father would not permit him to play football because he was too small and worried he would get hurt. During his second year of high school, the football coach sat down with his father and convinced him Louis could play. The football team had a shortage of pads, so he had to use the pads of the players sitting on the bench. In some cases he used pads from some of the larger guys on the team, which made the pads stick out past his body on each side. He graduated from Sylvan Grove in 1927.

He married his first wife Pauline, with whom he later had one child who died at birth.

His first paying job was working for his uncle Lynn driving horses. For 10 days worth of work he received 3 stacks worth of quarters, with each one totaling $2.00 at his best guess. His first impression was the great amount of money it represented.

Louis took a job on a three-square cattle farm in Kansas, which equates to three square miles of territory he had to cover. He worked through the dust bowl. Mr. Sperry recalls dust storms so severe, someone lighting a cigarette 3 feet away looked like a flicker of light miles in the distance. Mr. Sperry also worked odd jobs for the railroad, which included track repair and worked in a rock quarry. He then moved to Washington State, where he took a job shucking oysters.

During the depression Louis would often catch animals to sell their furs for extra money. When he'd catch skunks he would keep them in a pit until mid december when their pelts would be at their thickest before claiming their hides.

In 1939, Mr. Sperry moved to New York City, where he sold pharmaceutical supplies to treat asthma. He then took a job in construction on Long Island, NY. He also worked at this time in restaurants as a cook.

In 1942, Louis Sperry enrolled in the Marines to serve his country. His troop was being prepared to be the fifth wave to invade Tokyo. However, the bombing of Japan by U.S. forces cancelled this mission. During his time in the Marines, he also served as a cook.

After World War II, Mr. Sperry moved to New Hampshire while he courted his second wife Bessie. When he first settled into Merrimack, he lived in a rooming house later known as Hannah Jack's Tavern. At this time he worked for Bessie's family selling pharmaceuticals. He and Bessie married and had four children together. Around 1949, Louis, his brother-in-law Bob Snapp, and family friend Lenny Berry built the home he still lives in today on D.W. Highway.

After selling pharmaceuticals, Louis took a position with Hood manufacturing ice cream in their plant in Manchester,NH. When Hood closed the plant, Hood reassigned all of its workers. When asked what position he wanted to transfer into, Sperry decided he wanted to take a position repairing refrigeration units. Hood asked, "Do you know how?" and Sperry responded "No, but do any of your employees come through the door with refrigeration repair skills?" Hood replied "No, so you can have the job." The new job took Louis to Boston, where he commuted for a number of years from Merrimack daily. One day, he was called in and transferred back to Manchester, where he completed his career with Hood until age 65, when he was forced to retire.

He continued to work in refrigeration repair through agencies for several more years. He then went on to work as a cook in a restaurant in Pembroke. He finally retired in 1995 after working at Alexandria's supermarkets (now Hannaford) collecting shopping carts.

When asked what Merrimack has become in his time here, he recalls watching D.W. Highway grow up around him. When asked what is the one thing he wants Merrimack to know from him, he replied "Merrimack is full of really nice people."

For all of Louis Sperry's hard work and loving life, he had much to show for it. He enjoyed his gardens and made wind chimes. Also In addition to his four children with Bessie, he left behind eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Louis passed away November 10th 2004. (Originally written by the Merrimack Historical Society, June 6, 2004)

Captain James Sheppard Thornton

James S. Thornton was born in Thornton's Ferry (Merrimack), NH on February 25, 1827. He was the great-grandson of Matthew Thornton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. His father James B. Thornton died in 1838, while ambassador to Peru. His upbringing was taken over by future US president Franklin Pierce and Senator Atherton.

On January 15, 1841, at the age of 14, James was appointed a midshipman in the United States Navy by Senator Atherton. He served on the frigate Columbia and John Adams, a sloop converted to a man-of-war. In 1846 hew was sent to the Naval Academy and in 1847 to sea during the war with Mexico.

In 1850 James Thornton was engaged in coast survey work in the Pacific and after a dispute with his superior resigned from the Navy. He spent the next three years surveying the gold fields of California and in what is now Utah.

In February 1854 he was restored to his naval rank and went to sea aboard the store-ship Relief serving in the waters around South America. While on this duty he was wounded fighting a duel.

In 1857, James Thornton returned to Merrimack and married his cousin, Ellen Thornton Wood. The couple would have no children.

At the outbreak of the Civil War Thornton, who was serving on the brig Bainbridge, was transferred to Admiral David Farragut's flagship Hartford as executive officer. He was aboard the Hartford during the capture of New Orleans and served on this ship in subsequent campaigns on the Mississippi River, including Vicksburg. It was while aboard the Hartford that Thornton devised the scheme to cover the sides of the ship with chains to repel cannon balls. He received high praise from Farragut for the idea.

In August 1862 Thornton became commander of gunboat Winona which was stationed off Mobile, Alabama. In December 1862 he was assigned as executive officer the Kearsarge at the start of her cruise in search of the Confederate raider. The battle between the Kearsarge and the Alabama is one of the famous naval battles in American history. The engagement took place in June, 1864 off the coast of France. The commanding officer of the Kearsarge, Captain John Winslow, in a report to Gideon Wells, the Secretary of War, singled out Thornton's performance:

"It would seem almost invidious to particularize the conduct of any one man or officer in which all had done their duty with a fortitude and coolness which can not be too highly praised, but I feel it due to my executive officer, Lieutenant. Commander Thornton, who superintended the working of the battery, to particularly mention him for an example of coolness and encouragement of the men while fighting, which contributed much toward the success of the action."

Many of the crew also credited Thornton with playing a major role in the battle. The sinking of the Alabama was a major defeat for the Confederate States and a major victory for the United States. Thornton's naval career was undoubtedly helped by his participation in the fight. For distinguished service in action, James Thornton received a Congressional vote of thanks and was advanced over others in his grade and given command of the Kearsarge.

After the war, he was stationed at the Portsmouth Navy Yard from 1865 to 1873 where he was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1872.

In 1873 Captain Thornton was given command of the USS Monongahela for a scientific expedition to Kerguelen's Land. The voyage was undertaken with only the original charts made by Captain Cook. His mission was a success but on the return voyage he was thrown down by a sudden lurch of the ship and received a serious injury to his spine. At Cape Town South Africa, he was sent home by way of England. After being transported to Philadelphia, Captain Thornton died at Germantown, PA on May 14, 1875 at the age of 48. His body was returned to Merrimack and he was buried in Last Rest Cemetery. The US Navy recognized his distinguished service by naming the torpedo boat, "The Thornton" in his honor.

James S. Thornton was the last descendent of Matthew Thornton to carry the Thornton name.1) James S. Thornton Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1874

Photographs above:
2) James Thornton aboard the Kearsarge in 1864. Thornton is in the center with beard.

Matthew Thornton

Click on the link to see larger likeness

Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland about 1714. In his lifetime, Matthew Thornton was president of the Provincial Convention in 1775, was the 1776 New Hampshire delegate to Congress, was judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire (he was a self-taught lawyer), and successfully ran Thornton's Ferry after retiring from public life.

He was distinguished as a physician, judge, statesman, patriot of the Revolutionary War, and as one of New Hampshire's delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was in his 60's when he served as a surgeon during the Revolutionary War.

At the age of 48 Matthew Thornton married Hannah Jack of Chester, NH who was 18 at the time. Over the course of the next seven years they had five children together, many of whom became prominent in their own right.

In 1784, after he signed the Declaration of Independence, he retired from politics and in 1789, at the age of 75, moved with his family to Merrimack. He settled on the farm formerly owned by Edward Lutwyche and operated the ferry. From this time on the ferry was called Thornton's Ferry, and that section of town is still referred to as Thornton's Ferry. Matthew Thornton's home was a large three story house with peaked roof. It stood on the bank of the Merrimack River near the railroad tracks. It was torn down about 1840 when the railroad depot was built.

He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts June 24, 1803 at the age of 89 and is buried in Thornton Cemetery in Merrimack. A simple stone inscribed "An Honest Man" marks his grave. In 1892 a monument was erected near the cemetery on route 3 in his honor.

Marilyn N. Warren, daughter of Oscar G. & Ida (Proctor) Warren, was born 15 January 1915 in Hudson NH and died 12 June 1998. She resided for many years at 57 Meetinghouse Road in Merrimack, NH. She married 9 October 1948 in Merrimack NH to Adelbert Nelson Woods, son of Sever Robertson & Tina (Blanchard) Woods.

She was a paraplegic due to polio as a baby, and was a resident of a Protestant orphanage in Nashua during middle and later childhood years. She became an activist for the handicapped.

She was a graduate of Nashua High School and Nashua Business College, and later worked as a counselor for the State of New Hampshire and also for Nashua High School. She was instrumental in founding the Leticia Pratt Home for the Handicapped in Nashua NH.

She served in many leadership positions, advocating on behalf of the disabled. She was a charter member and past president of the National Association of the Physically Handicapped (NAPH), charter member and past president of the Queen City Chapter of NAPH, member and past president of President Eisenhower's United States Advisory Council for the Handicapped, and member of former Governor John Sununu's New Hampshire Advisory Council for the Handicapped.

She was instrumental in arranging State of NH plates for the handicapped and was awarded lifetime handicapped license plate #1 by Governor John Sununu. She was the founder of New England Wheelchair Games at Crotched Mountain Center.

In 1967 she won five medals in wheelchair games during Pan American Paraplegic games in Canada. Later she took part in the International Wheelchair Games in Israel in 1968 and won gold medals in archery, shotput and javelin. She beat CBS's Charles Kuralt in handicapped ping pong. Also in 1968 she attended the 20th Annual baseball dinner sponsored by the Manchester Union Leader Fund, Inc. where she was chosen the female athlete of the year.

She was a Mayflower descendant. For additional information, and her Warren Family Tree, see the article about her on Cow Hampshire: New Hampshire's History Blog.

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PEOPLE OF NOTE - Merrimack Historical Society

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The daughters of Jacob Burnap, Merrimack's first settled minister, were the town's first business women. Elizabeth (who later married Hon. Joseph Read, Ruth, Hannah (who married Samuel Buel), Rebecca, Abigail, Susan, and Lucy (who married Hon. Joseph Read) discovered a special kind of grass they called "Dunstable Straw" and wove it to create beautiful "Leghorn hats."

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Carlton Fisk, professional baseball player who played for 24 seasons in the American major leagues between 1969 and 1993. Fisk was one of the most durable catchers in the history of the game.

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Carlton Fisk was born in Bellows Falls, Vermont on December 26, 1947 and grew up in the small town of Charlestown, New Hampshire.

From an early age, Carlton was given the nickname "Pudge". Growing up in New Hampshire, Pudge's childhood dream was to become a professional basketball star with the Boston Celtics! A natural athlete, he excelled in all of the sports on a high school level (Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, etc.).

( Check out this story about his high school basketball championship.)

In 1967, Carlton was drafted by the Boston Red Sox during the first round. He began his professional baseball career in the Red Sox minor league system-first with the Waterloo Hawks in 1968 and then the Pittsfield Red Sox in 1969.

At the end of that year, Pudge was called up to the big leagues and made his major league debut at Fenway Park on September 18, 1969. He played the 1970 year with the Pawtucket Red Sox and finished his minor league playing days with the Louisville Colonels in 1971. Pudge was once again called up from the minors at the end of 1971 and earned himself a place on the 1972 Red Sox Spring Training Roster. As history would have it, Fisk broke into the major leagues (to stay) early in 1972.

Carlton went on to become the first individual to be unanimously named Rookie of the Year in 1972, along with winning a Golden Glove award, and also leading the league in triples. This first full season marked the beginning of one of the most successful careers in baseball history.

Most commonly remembered for the 1975 World Series (Boston Red Sox vs. Cincinnati Reds), Fisk left an image on all baseball fans with his dramatic 12th inning homerun to win the Sixth Game of the World Series and extend the series to seven games.

Carlton played with the Red Sox through the 1980 season and then "changed" his sox and finished his illustrious career with the Chicago White Sox, playing all the way into the 1993 season. When Pudge retired, he held many records, including Most Homeruns for a Catcher (351) and Most Games Caught (2,226).

Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 2000, Fisk is one of the greatest catchers to ever play the game of baseball.

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CarltonFisk.com | Biography of Carlton Fisk

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Carlton Fisk was born in Bellows Falls, Vermont on December 26, 1947 and grew up in the small town of Charlestown, New Hampshire. From an early age, Carlton was given the nickname "Pudge". Growing up in New Hampshire, Pudge's childhood dream was to become a professional basketball star with the Boston Celtics!

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Carlton Fisk will forever be remembered for one game-winning home run.

But it was durability over the long run that built the Hall of Fame career for a man who retired as the player who spent more games in catcher's gear than any other in history.

Fisk hit a dramatic game-winning home run off the left field foul pole at Fenway Park in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. The at-bat is still showed on highlight reels of the best moments in baseball.

"And then after that, running around the bases, it was just one of those things. You couldn't believe what happened to you," said Fisk. "And I look back on it, it's almost like it happened to somebody else."

The 11-time All-Star, known for his work ethic and ability to handle pitchers, spent 24 years in the big leagues and 2,226 games behind the plate. That hard work earned him the respect of fans, competitors and teammates.

"He played the game the right way," said Hall of Fame teammate Carl Yastrzemski. "Both behind the plate and at the plate."

Born in Bellows Falls, Vt. on Dec. 26, 1947, Fisk attended the University of New Hampshire on a basketball scholarship, but switched games when he was drafted in the first round of the 1967 amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox.

Fisk won the Rookie of the Year Award with Boston in 1972 after leading the league in triples and hitting .293 with 61 RBI and 22 home runs.

Fisk had two home runs and three intentional walks in that 1975 World Series and provided the defining moment despite the fact that the Red Sox lost in seven games. In 1980, Fisk signed with the Chicago White Sox after a procedural error made him a free agent .

In 1985, Fisk hit a career-high 37 home runs and set a single-season record for American League catchers. He also recorded a career-high 107 RBI that season. Fisk set the record for most home runs by a catcher with 351 as well as AL records for most seasons, putouts and chances. He finished his career with 2,356 hits, 376 home runs, 1,330 RBI and a .269 batting average - along with three Silver Slugger Awards and one Gold Glove Award.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.

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Carlton Fisk will forever be remembered for one game-winning home run. But it was durability over the long run that built the Hall of Fame career for a man who retired as the player who spent more games in catcher's gear than any other in history.

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Edward MacDowell was one of the most celebrated American composers in the nineteenth century. His compositions won the approval of music critics, both in Europe and the United States, as well as of his contemporaries, including composers such as Franz Liszt and Joachim Raff. MacDowell's early works bear the influence of his training in Germany, reflecting European styles and cultures. Nearly all of his compositions feature descriptive titles, a trend representative of Romantic music. He was among the first seven Americans honored by membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1904).

While there has been controversy in determining his birth year, recent evidence suggests that MacDowell was born in New York City on 18 December 1860. The son of Thomas MacDowell and Frances "Fanny" Knapp MacDowell, the youth grew up in a Quaker household on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Frances MacDowell firmly believed that Edward should have music lessons, so she arranged for her eight-year old son to take piano lessons from Colombian violinist Juan Buitrago. MacDowell soon surpassed Buitrago's abilities and began studying piano with Cuban pianist Pablo Desverine. Desverine's lessons were supplemented by sessions with Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño, who later championed MacDowell's works.

In 1876, at the age of fifteen, MacDowell, accompanied by his mother, traveled to France to enroll in the Paris Conservatoire. He earned one of the conservatoire's scholarships awarded to foreign students and gained admission to Antoine François Marmontel's studio. Marmontel was one of the most sought-after piano teachers of the time, and he accepted only thirteen students, including MacDowell, out of 230 applicants. After only two years, MacDowell grew dissatisfied with the instruction at the conservatoire and moved to Germany to continue his education.

In the fall of 1879, MacDowell entered the Frankfurt Conservatory, where he studied piano with Carl Heymann and composition with Joachim Raff. It was during this time that MacDowell became acquainted with Franz Liszt. Upon visiting Raff's class in early 1880, Liszt heard MacDowell play the piano part of Robert Schumann's Quintet, op. 44 (Schumann's widow, Clara, was also present at that performance). The following year, MacDowell visited Liszt in Weimar and played his own Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 15, for the maestro. On Liszt's recommendation, MacDowell's First Modern Suite, op. 10, was performed on 11 July 1882 at the Allgemeine deutsche Musikverein; Liszt also encouraged the prestigious Leipzig firm of Breitkopf & Härtel to publish the work.

After Heymann's retirement in 1881, MacDowell began his professional career as a teacher at the Darmstadt Conservatory. He resigned a year later, but continued to teach privately. He fell in love with one of his students, Marian Nevins, whom he secretly married on 11 July 1884 (a public ceremony followed on 21 July). The couple lived in Germany for several years, during which time MacDowell dedicated himself solely to composition. He achieved fame with his Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 15, which was championed by Carreño, and his Fantasy Pieces, op. 17.

Financial difficulties forced the MacDowells to return to America in 1888, and for nearly ten years they resided in Boston. Among the compositions penned by MacDowell during this period was his Indian Suite, op. 48 (1896), for orchestra, one of his most famous works. In 1896 the MacDowells purchased land in New Hampshire, and in a cabin built on this property, Edward composed his Woodland Sketches, op. 51 (1896), for piano. The natural surroundings of this New Hampshire retreat would ultimately inspire generations of composers, for it was in this location in 1907 that the MacDowell Colony was established. The colony, a sanctuary for composers, painters, authors, and sculptors, continues to sponsor and support artists to this day.

MacDowell joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1896. As the sole music professor at the university for nearly two years, MacDowell also served as the department's administrator. In addition to teaching, he directed the Mendelssohn Glee Club (New York). He also started an all-male chorus at Columbia University in order to raise artistic standards of college glee clubs and music societies.

MacDowell's compositions include two piano concertos, two orchestral suites, four symphonic poems, four piano sonatas, piano suites, forty-two songs, and choral music, most of which is for male voices. He also published dozens of piano transcriptions of eighteenth-century pre-piano keyboard pieces.

MacDowell wrote a great deal of solo song repertoire between 1880 and 1901. Early songs were on German texts by Heine, Klopstock, and Goethe; later he set texts by Shakespeare, Burns, Gardner, and Howells, as well as his own poetry. For the Mendelssohn Glee Club, he wrote nine arrangements for male voices of works by Borodin, Sokolov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others, which the Club premiered. He also arranged and composed college songs for Columbia University's men's glee club.

From 1896 to 1898, MacDowell published four part songs for the Mendelssohn Glee Club under the pseudonym of Edgar Thorn. Since MacDowell conducted the group, he feared members would feel obligated to accept his compositions if he revealed he had written them. MacDowell also wrote nine other works under his own name. Eight of his works were premiered by the Mendelssohn Glee Club under his direction between 1897 and 1898.

In 1904, after serious disputes with Murray Butler (the new president of Columbia) regarding the role of the university's music program, MacDowell resigned from the post. As a result of the trauma associated with the much-publicized event at Columbia, an accident with a hansom cab, and his depression and general declining health, MacDowell's condition rapidly deteriorated, and he died on 23 January 1908. Marian MacDowell, however, survived her husband by nearly five decades, spending the majority of her remaining years tending to the MacDowell Colony's operations. After Marian's death in 1956, her estate sold MacDowell's materials to the Library of Congress in 1972, allowing researchers and scholars access to the holograph manuscripts, correspondence, and personal papers of one of America's most prominent composers.
Further Reading
Levy, Alan H. Edward MacDowell: An American Master. Lanham, Maryland, and London: Scarecrow Press, 1998.

MacDowell, Marian. Random Notes on Edward MacDowell and his Music. Boston: Arthur P. Schmidt and Co., 1950.

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Biography. Edward MacDowell was one of the most celebrated American composers in the nineteenth century. His compositions won the approval of music critics, both in Europe and the United States, as well as of his contemporaries, including composers such as Franz Liszt and Joachim Raff.

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Since becoming the 80th Governor of New Hampshire in 2005, Governor John Lynch has focused on working across party lines to make New Hampshire a place of opportunity for all of its citizens.

Re-elected in 2010 to a historic fourth term, Governor Lynch has been a strong, effective leader in working to make real progress on the issues that matter most to New Hampshire families and businesses - improving the quality of education, promoting job creation and economic development, reducing health care costs, ensuring public safety and protecting New Hampshire's environment and natural resources.

Under Governor Lynch, New Hampshire was named the "Most Livable State" in the nation, as well as the "Safest State" for three years in a row. New Hampshire has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, the lowest states taxes, and fourth lowest government spending per capita. Under Governor Lynch it has been named one of the most business-friendly and best-managed states in the nation.

Governor Lynch has worked with Democrats and Republicans to make kindergarten available to every child, to cut New Hampshire's high school dropout rate in half, pass the toughest laws in the nation to protect children from sexual predators, to reduce spending by making government more efficient and build the economy by making it easier for companies to retain and hire new workers, increasing job training and providing tax credits for research and development.

A commitment to putting the interests of people first is an extension of Governor Lynch's work as a business and community leader.

As the President and CEO of Knoll, Inc., a national furniture manufacturer, he transformed a company losing $50 million a year into one making a profit of nearly $240 million. Under his leadership, Knoll created new jobs, gave factory workers annual bonuses, established a scholarship program for the children of employees, created retirement plans for employees, and gave workers stock in the company.

Governor Lynch has also served as chair of the University System Board of Trustees, where he worked to keep tuition increases to a minimum; as director of Admissions at the Harvard Business School, where he made ethics one of the criteria for admissions; and as president of the Lynch Group, a business-consulting firm in Manchester.

Long a community leader, John Lynch served on the board of Catholic Medical Center in Manchester and on the board of the Capitol Center for the Arts. He is the past president of the UNH alumni association, and a longtime coach of youth soccer, hockey, softball and baseball.

Governor Lynch was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on November 25, 1952, the fifth of William and Margaret Lynch's six children and attended the local public schools. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father ran a local Boys' Club.

Working his way through college, Governor Lynch earned his undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1974. He also holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

He and his wife of over 30 years, Susan, live in Hopkinton, and have three children, Jacqueline, Julia and Hayden.

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About Governor Lynch | New Hampshire Governor John Lynch

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Since becoming the 80th Governor of New Hampshire in 2005, Governor John Lynch has focused on working across party lines to make New Hampshire a place of opportunity for all of its citizens.

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CONCORD, N.H. -- Democratic Gov. John Lynch has overcome an anti- incumbent groundswell and defeated Republican John Stephen to win a historic fourth consecutive two-year term as New Hampshire's governor.

The 57-year-old Lynch faced one of his toughest re-election battles against Stephen, a former health and human services commissioner. Stephen tried to tap voter unrest by promising to cut state spending without raising taxes. He said Lynch's mismanagement would leave a huge budget deficit for the next governor to fix.

Lynch said he could produce a balanced budget with spending cuts and a moderate growth in state revenues.

Advocacy groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on television ads attacking Lynch for signing a law last year legalizing gay marriage.

Libertarian John Babiarz (BAB'-ee-arz) also was on the ballot.

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Lynch wins historic 4th consecutive term as NH gov

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CONCORD, N.H. -- Democratic Gov. John Lynch has overcome an anti- incumbent groundswell and defeated Republican John Stephen to win a historic fourth consecutive two-year term as New Hampshire's governor. The 57-year-old Lynch faced one of his toughest re-election battles against Stephen, a former health and human services commissioner.

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John Harry Lynch (born November 25, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 80th Governor of New Hampshire from 2005 to 2013. Lynch was first elected governor in 2004, defeating first-term Republican incumbent Craig Benson - the first time a first-term incumbent New Hampshire governor was defeated for re-election in 78 years. Lynch won re-election in landslide victories in 2006 and 2008, and comfortably won a fourth term in 2010.

Lynch is the most popular governor in New Hampshire history and, while in office, consistently ranked among the nation's most popular governors.

Since 2013, Lynch has served as a Senior Lecturer in the MBA program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Early life, education and career

Lynch was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, the fifth of William and Margaret Lynch's six children. Lynch earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1974, a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.

During his business career, Lynch served as Director of Admissions at Harvard Business School and President of The Lynch Group, a business consulting firm in Manchester, New Hampshire. Lynch served as CEO of Knoll Inc., a national furniture manufacturer, where he transformed the company previously losing $50 million a year, to making a profits of nearly $240 million yearly. Under his leadership, Knoll created new jobs, gave factory workers annual bonuses, established a scholarship program for the children of employees, created retirement plans for employees who didn't have any, and gave workers stock in the company. Before announcing his run for governor, Lynch was serving as chairman of the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees.

In June 2004, Lynch launched his campaign for Governor of New Hampshire.

Lynch spent the five months preceding the election relentlessly attacking Governor Craig Benson, the first-term Republican incumbent, for what Lynch claimed was a lack of integrity following a long series of scandals during Benson's tenure. Lynch accused Benson of creating a "culture of corruption" and cronyism at the State House.

On September 15, Lynch won the Democratic primary and on November 2, Lynch defeated Benson 51% to 49%.

Lynch was the first challenger to defeat a first-term incumbent in New Hampshire since 1926. On January 6, 2005, Lynch was inaugurated as the 80th Governor of New Hampshire. On November 7, 2006, Lynch was re-elected governor in a 74% to 26% landslide victory over Republican challenger Jim Coburn. Lynch's 74% of the vote was the largest margin of victory ever in a New Hampshire gubernatorial race.

Lynch's coattails carried his party to control of both chambers of the State Legislature and both of New Hampshire's two U.S. House seats.

On November 4, 2008, he was elected to a third term in another landslide victory. Lynch defeated Republican challenger Joseph Kenney, a New Hampshire state senator and U.S. Marine, 70% to 28%, with 2% of the vote won by the Libertarian candidate. Democrats maintained control of the state legislature and held both U.S. House seats, and gained a U.S. Senate seat.

On November 2, 2010, Lynch was elected to a historic fourth term as Governor of New Hampshire, in a victory over former State Health and Human Service's Commissioner John Stephen, 53% to 45%. Lynch was the only Democrat elected to statewide office. As had happened in many states throughout the U.S. during the 2010 midterm elections, Democrats suffered heavy losses. Democrats lost control of both chambers of the State Legislature, control of the Executive Council and both of the U.S. House seats.

According to the Concord Monitor, when Lynch was inaugurated on January 6, 2011, he became "the state's longest-serving governor in nearly two centuries. John Taylor Gilman was the last governor to serve longer than six years, serving 14 one-year terms as governor between 1794 and 1816. (The state switched to two-year terms in 1877)" New Hampshire and neighboring Vermont are the only two States in the U.S. that use two-year terms.

On September 15, 2011, Lynch announced he would not seek a historic fifth term as governor.

During the announcement Lynch said "I feel like I have the passion and the energy to keep doing this work for a long, long time, but democracy demands periodic change. To refresh and revive itself, democracy needs new leaders and new ideas."

On January 3, 2013, Lynch was succeeded by fellow Democrat Maggie Hassan, marking the first time a Democrat succeeded a Democrat as the state's governor since the 19th century.

As a candidate for governor, Lynch took " The Pledge" not to enact any broad-based taxes, especially a sales or income tax. As governor, Lynch kept his promise. Lynch does not support an amendment to the State Constitution banning an income tax.

In 2007, Lynch signed into law the Research and Development Tax credit, which for the following five years appropriated $1,000,000 for companies to write off qualifying "manufacturing research and development" expenditures. In 2012, during his final State of the State address, Lynch proposed doubling the tax credit, citing its success in creating jobs, and slammed lawmakers for slashing funding to the state's community college system to fund a 10-cent reduction in the tobacco tax.

In June 2010, Lynch signed a budget-balancing measure that repealed the state's LLC tax.

Lynch worked with the state Attorney General, police chiefs, and lawmakers to pass sex offender laws; increase the state police force; and increase the number of state prosecutors. New Hampshire was rated the "Safest State" in the Nation in 2008 and 2009. New Hampshire again boasts the nation's lowest murder rate and the second-lowest rates for aggravated assault, according to CQ Press. Lynch issued the following statement after the announcement of the award in 2009:

I am proud that working together we continue to keep New Hampshire the 'Safest State' in the nation. Our low crime rate has long been a part of what makes this such a great place to live and work, and it is important that we work to maintain our high quality of life. With this recognition, we should take time to thank the hard-working men and women of New Hampshire law enforcement who work every day to help keep us all safe.

Lynch upheld the death penalty while in office, stating "there are crimes so heinous that the death penalty is warranted." The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed legislation in March 2009 to abolish the death penalty, which Lynch threatened to veto. Due to the veto threat, the Senate tabled the legislation in April of that year. In June, Lynch compromised with legislators and signed legislation to form the New Hampshire Commission to Study the Death Penalty.

In December 2010, the Commission recommended, by a 12 to 10 vote, to retain the death penalty. However, the panel unanimously recommended against expanding it. In 2011, Lynch signed legislation to expand the death penalty to include home invasions.

In April 2006, Lynch was awarded the "National Chairman of Volunteers" Award for Volunteer Excellence by the American Red Cross, due to his leadership during the 2005 floods.

On June 3, 2009, Lynch signed a same-sex marriage bill into law, despite being personally opposed to gay marriages, making New Hampshire the fifth state in the United States to allow such unions.

Throughout his eight year tenure, Lynch enjoyed very high approval ratings, often being ranked among the most popular of U.S. governors. According to the WMUR/Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire, just three months after taking office in January 2005, Lynch's approval rating surpassed 50% and stayed upwards of 55% throughout his tenure. Likewise, between February 2006 and February 2009 his approval rating was above 70%. In April 2012, Lynch's approval rating was again above 70% making him the second most popular governor in the United States, behind New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Lynch enjoyed bipartisan support and is the most popular governor in the state's history.

During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Lynch was one of eight superdelegates from New Hampshire. Lynch remained neutral during the New Hampshire primary because as governor he needed to "focus on being a good host to the primary", according to a statement by spokesman Colin Manning. At an event on June 27, 2008 in Unity, New Hampshire, Lynch formally endorsed Barack Obama for president.

Lynch endorsed President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.

Lynch endorsed former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Lynch endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Lynch and his wife, Dr. Susan Lynch, a pediatrician and childhood obesity activist, reside in an 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m ²) home atop Gould Hill in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. The multi-million dollar home offers a tennis court, cabana, and swimming pool among other amenities, and views extending to Mount Washington. The Lynches have three children.

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John Harry Lynch (born November 25, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 80th Governor of New Hampshire from 2005 to 2013. Lynch was first elected governor in 2004, defeating first-term Republican incumbent Craig Benson - the first time a first-term incumbent New Hampshire governor was defeated for re-election in 78 years.

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Biographical Sketches

WILLIAM WHIPPLE
New Hampshire

William Whipple

Whipple, the eldest of five children, was born in 1730, at Kittery, in present Maine. He attended local schools and went to sea while still a boy. In his early twenties he became a shipmaster, and later probably sometimes engaged in the slave trade. About 1760 he gave up the sea and founded a mercantile firm at Portsmouth, N.H., with his brother Joseph. In 1767 he married the daughter of a wealthy merchant-sea captain; their only child died in infancy.

By the outbreak of the Revolution, Whipple had become one of the leading citizens of Portsmouth. In 1775, his fortune well established, he left business to devote his time to public affairs. That year, he represented Portsmouth in the provincial assembly at Exeter, and served on the New Hampshire council of safety. The following year, he won seats in the upper house of the State legislature and in the Continental Congress. His congressional tour, interrupted intermittently by militia duty, lasted until 1779. He concerned himself mainly with military, marine, and financial matters. A tough-minded, independent individual, he recommended military aggressiveness in the war instead of diplomacy and favored severe punishment of Loyalists and speculators.

In the fall of 1777 Whipple, a brigadier general in the New Hampshire militia, led four regiments to upper New York State and helped encircle and besiege the British army at Saratoga. He was present on October 17 at the surrender of Gen. John Burgoyne; signed the Convention of Saratoga, ending the New York campaign; and helped escort the British troops to a winter encampment near Boston to await embarkation for England. In 1778 he led another contingent of New Hampshire militia into Rhode Island on a campaign that sought but failed to recapture Newport from the British.

During his last years, Whipple held the offices of State legislator (1780-84), associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court (1782-85), receiver of finances for Congress in New Hampshire (1782-84), and in 1782 president of a commission that arbitrated the Wyoming Valley land dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Ill the remaining few years of his life, he passed away in 1785 at the age of 55 at Portsmouth, where he was buried in Union Cemetery. His wife survived him.

Drawing: Oil, 1888, by Ulysses D. Tenney, after John Trumbull, hangs in the Moffatt-Ladd House, Portsmouth, N.H. Photographer, Douglas Armsden, Kittery Point, Maine.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/declaration/bio51.htm

Last Updated: 04-Jul-2004

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National Park Service - Signers of the Declaration (William Whipple)

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Biographical Sketches WILLIAM WHIPPLE New Hampshire William Whipple Whipple, the eldest of five children, was born in 1730, at Kittery, in present Maine. He attended local schools and went to sea while still a boy. In his early twenties he became a shipmaster, and later probably sometimes engaged in the slave trade.

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William Whipple

FRAMERS OF FREEDOM

He is best known as one of New Hampshire's "signers" of the Declaration. But William Whipple earned his way to the top. As a judge, a general and even acting as the unpopular tax collector, he gave his all to the cause and, eventually, it killed him. HIs house still stands on Market Street overlooking the river where he plied his trade.
SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION FROM NH
WILLIAM WHIPPLE was considered to have "a discerning mind, a sound judgement, and integrity." History might have cast him in a bigger role had he been ambitious, but with Whipple the country came first. He was content to play one of history's difficult supporting roles and he never sought the center of the stage.
Wood, Rum, Slaves
Born in Kittery, Maine, on January 14, 1730, Whipple attended the local grammar school and then went to sea on a merchantman. By the time he was 21 he was a sea captain, plying the Atlantic carrying wood to the West Indies, rum to Africa, and slaves to Portsmouth. In 1759 he left the sea and established himself as a merchant in Portsmouth in partnership with his brother, Joseph. As a merchant, he became an early victim of the British trade restrictions of the 1760s and because of this, an early adherent to the rebel cause in Portsmouth.
Declaration Of Independance
In 1775 he was elected to the Committees of Safety for Portsmouth and for New Hampshire. The next year he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In Philadelphia he voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. Whipple served in the Congress until 1779, devoting all his abilities to the politics of waging a revolution. Twice he took leave from Congress to lead the New Hampshire militia against the British. Appointed a brigadier general by the New Hampshire legislature in 1777, he led the state's militia in the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga. After these monumental American victories, Whipple was one of the officers chosen to negotiate the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne and his army. In the summer of 1778 Whipple led New Hampshire's militia south to back Gen. John Sullivan in an attempt to capture Rhode Island. The plan never matured and Whipple saw no action.
Taxes & Supreme Court
In 1780 Whipple was elected to the first of several terms in the New Hampshire legislature. In May of 1782, Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris appointed Whipple tax collector for the state of New Hampshire. Whipple accepted the difficult and unpopular job because someone had to. His duties were to receive and transmit the state's taxes, to expedite the collection of these taxes by all proper means and to urge the local authorities to comply with the requisitions of Congress. Times were hard in New Hampshire, and the state was very slow in paying its share to the national capital. In August of 1783 Whipple tried to resign, but Morris would not let him. In January of 1784 Whipple paid $3000 to the treasury, his first remittance. A few months later a serious heart ailment gave him grounds enough to resign.

While serving as tax collector and state legislator, Whipple also served as a judge of the Superior Court. He continued to hold this office and ride the circuit with the court until the fall of 1785, even though he often fainted and fell off his horse due to illness. In the late fall his health forced his retirement and he returned home to Portsmouth. He died on November 28, l785 and was buried in Portsmouth's North Burying Ground. One of the Revolution's great champions, Whipple gave everything to the cause and died just before his dream of a strong central government was realized.

By Steve Adams Originally published in "NH: Years of Revolution," Profiles Publications and the NH Bicentennial Commission, 1976. Originally reeprinted here in 1997 by permission of the author.

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William Whipple FRAMERS OF FREEDOM He is best known as one of New Hampshire's "signers" of the Declaration. But William Whipple earned his way to the top. As a judge, a general and even acting as the unpopular tax collector, he gave his all to the cause and, eventually, it killed him.

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New Hampshire's Most Famous Revolutionary War Hero

Born on August 28, 1728, Stark was the second son of Scottish immigrant parents in Londonderry, New Hampshire, but lived from the age of eight in Manchester (then called Derryfield). In 1752 he was captured by the Abenaki when hunting and trapping along the Pemigewasset River. He was taken to Canada where he remained captive until a ransom was paid.

General Stark was first commissioned as a second Lieutenant in Rogers' Rangers at the outbreak of the French and Indian Wars, and gained valuable experience that later led to his leadership in the Revolutionary War.

Between the French and Indian Wars and the Revolutionary War, General Stark spent a considerable amount of time at the Page homestead in Dunbarton, and married Elizabeth "Molly" Page on August 20, 1758.

General Stark became colonel in the New Hampshire Militia four days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and was given command of the First New Hampshire Regiment. He was instrumental in leading the fight at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 and the Battle of Bennington in 1777.

Stark was Major General in command of the Northern Department of the Continental Army during the latter years of the war. His participation ended for a while after Bennington and Saratoga, but he was called back to take command of the whole Northern Department.

In 1783, Stark was ordered to headquarters by George Washington, and given the personal thanks of the Commander-in-Chief, as well as the rank of Major General by brevet.

After the war, Stark retired to his home in Derryfield. He and Molly had 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls, one of whom died in infancy. He died on May 8, 1822 at the age of 93 and was buried in Manchester; it was said that he was the last surviving Continental general of the Revolution.

What About Molly?

General Stark's wife, Elizabeth "Molly" Page, was born February 16, 1737. Molly's childhood home was built by her father, Capt. Caleb Page, the first postmaster of New Hampshire. Her brother, Jeremiah Page, became a Supreme Court justice and delegate to the first Constitutional Convention in 1778.

The Stark's eldest child, Caleb, who was born at her childhood home, was reportedly the youngest survivor of the Battle of Bunker Hill. A statue of Caleb stands in Dunbarton.

Molly served as a nurse to her husband's troops during a smallpox epidemic and opened their home as a hospital during the war.

She became famous in part for her husband's battle cry before the Battle of Bennington: "There are the Red Coats, and they are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!"

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General John Stark Scenic Byway in New Hampshire - Who was John Stark?

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Born on August 28, 1728, Stark was the second son of Scottish immigrant parents in Londonderry, New Hampshire, but lived from the age of eight in Manchester (then called Derryfield). In 1752 he was captured by the Abenaki when hunting and trapping along the Pemigewasset River.

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Born August 28th, 1728, in Nutfield, New Hampshire, Maj. Gen. John Stark would grow to be a man that fully embodied the words, "Live free or die; death is not the worst of evils." The "Hero of Bennington" not only lived by these words, he wrote them 136 years before it became New Hampshire's official state motto.

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Kelly Ann Ayotte (; born June 27, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from 2011 to 2017 and Attorney General for New Hampshire from 2004 to 2009. She is a Republican.

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Newsela | Presidential Profile: Franklin Pierce

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President Franklin Pierce; 14th U.S. president from 1853-1857.

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Quick Facts
"I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in different States of this Confederacy, is recognized by the Constitution.""The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded.""With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are entwined."

Name

Franklin Pierce

Birth Date

November 23, 1804

Death Date

October 8, 1869

Education

Bowdoin College

Place of Birth

Hillsboro, New Hampshire

Place of Death

Concord, New Hampshire

Nickname

"Young Hickory of the Granite Hills"

"Fainting Frank"

Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, prompting a bloody conflict over Kansas' slavery status.

Who Was Franklin Pierce?

Franklin Pierce was elected to the United States Senate in 1837. After resigning in 1842, Pierce joined the temperance movement and worked as an attorney, before going off to fight under General Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War. In 1852, Pierce was elected president for one term. As president, he signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, prompting a bloody conflict over Kansas' slavery status.

Early Life and Political Career

Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President, was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin, was an American Revolutionary War hero who held some political prowess in the family's rural town. His mother, Anna Kendrick Pierce, had eight children, whose education she made her top priority.

At the age of 12, Pierce left the public school system to attend private academies. When he turned 15, he enrolled at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he excelled at public speaking. In 1824, Pierce graduated fifth in his class.

In 1829, when Pierce was 24 years old, he was elected to the New Hampshire State Legislature. Within two years, he was selected as its Speaker of the House, with the aid of his father, who had by then been elected governor.

In the 1830s, Pierce was sent to Washington, D.C. as a state representative. Despite his rapid ascent in the world of politics, Pierce soon found his life in Washington both tedious and lonesome. After developing a dependency on alcohol, he decided it was time to settle down. In 1834, he married a shy religious woman named Jane Means Appleton, who supported the temperance movement. Jane disliked the Washington lifestyle even more than her husband did. Nevertheless, a year after the couple's first of three sons were born, Pierce accepted his election to the U.S. Senate.

In 1841, under his wife's persistent urging, Pierce finally agreed to resign from the Senate. Afterward, he joined the temperance movement and started working as an attorney.

Military Service

When the Mexican-American War began, Pierce became a private, helping to recruit men for the New Hampshire Volunteers. In 1847, Pierce, by then a brigadier general, led an expedition to invade the Mexican shores of Veracruz under General Winfield Scott.

When the Mexican government was still unwilling to give in to America's demands, Pierce and Scott headed to Mexico City. Although they scored two victories there, Pierce injured his leg when he was thrown from his horse. While still recovering, he missed the Army's final victory at the Battle of Chapultepec, in 1847. After the war, Pierce went home to his family in New Hampshire.

U.S. Presidency

Back in New Hampshire, Pierce became the leader of the state's Democratic Party. As the presidential election of 1852 approached, the Democratic Party sought a candidate who was a pro-slavery Northerner-to attract voters on both sides of the slavery issue. Based on that agenda, Pierce made the ideal candidate, even if it meant that he had to run against his former commander, General Scott of the Whig Party. After a deadlock, Pierce was elected president, but the joy of his victory was soon eclipsed by the death of one of his sons, caused by a train accident.

Once in office, Pierce faced the question of Kansas' and Nebraska's slavery status. When he agreed to sign the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, it turned Kansas into a battleground for the country's conflict over slavery. Pierce's handling of the affair caused his democratic supporters to abandon him during the 1856 presidential election, in favor of his successor, James Buchanan.

Later Life and Death

Following his term as president, Pierce retired to Concord, New Hampshire. During the Civil War, he was once again vocal about his point-of-view as a Northerner, with a more typically Southern view of slavery. He was also outspoken in his opposition to the nation's new president, Abraham Lincoln. Pierce's unpopular view garnered him several enemies among his fellow Northerners.

Nearing the end of his life and fading quickly into obscurity, Pierce took up drinking again. He died on October 8, 1869, in Concord, New Hampshire. He was buried there, in the Old North Cemetery.

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"I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in different States of this Confederacy, is recognized by the Constitution." "The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded." "With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are entwined."

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Franklin Pierce became 14th President of the United States at a time of apparent tranquility (1853-1857). By pursuing the recommendations of southern advisers, Pierce - a New Englander - hoped to ease the divisions that led eventually to Civil War.

Franklin Pierce became President at a time of apparent tranquility. The United States, by virtue of the Compromise of 1850, seemed to have weathered its sectional storm. By pursuing the recommendations of southern advisers, Pierce-a New Englander-hoped to prevent still another outbreak of that storm. But his policies, far from preserving calm, hastened the disruption of the Union.

Born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, in 1804, Pierce attended Bowdoin College. After graduation he studied law, then entered politics. At 24 he was elected to the New Hampshire legislature; two years later he became its Speaker. During the 1830's he went to Washington, first as a Representative, then as a Senator.

Pierce, after serving in the Mexican War, was proposed by New Hampshire friends for the Presidential nomination in 1852. At the Democratic Convention, the delegates agreed easily enough upon a platform pledging undeviating support of the Compromise of 1850 and hostility to any efforts to agitate the slavery question. But they balloted 48 times and eliminated all the well-known candidates before nominating Pierce, a true "dark horse."

Probably because the Democrats stood more firmly for the Compromise than the Whigs, and because Whig candidate Gen. Winfield Scott was suspect in the South, Pierce won with a narrow margin of popular votes.

Two months before he took office, he and his wife saw their eleven-year-old son killed when their train was wrecked. Grief-stricken, Pierce entered the Presidency nervously exhausted.

In his Inaugural he proclaimed an era of peace and prosperity at home, and vigor in relations with other nations. The United States might have to acquire additional possessions for the sake of its own security, he pointed out, and would not be deterred by "any timid forebodings of evil."

Pierce had only to make gestures toward expansion to excite the wrath of northerners, who accused him of acting as a cat's-paw of Southerners eager to extend slavery into other areas. Therefore he aroused apprehension when he pressured Great Britain to relinquish its special interests along part of the Central American coast, and even more when he tried to persuade Spain to sell Cuba.

But the most violent renewal of the storm stemmed from the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the question of slavery in the West. This measure, the handiwork of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, grew in part out of his desire to promote a railroad from Chicago to California through Nebraska. Already Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, advocate of a southern transcontinental route, had persuaded Pierce to send James Gadsden to Mexico to buy land for a southern railroad. He purchased the area now comprising southern Arizona and part of southern New Mexico for $10,000,000.

Douglas's proposal, to organize western territories through which a railroad might run, caused extreme trouble. Douglas provided in his bills that the residents of the new territories could decide the slavery question for themselves. The result was a rush into Kansas, as southerners and northerners vied for control of the territory. Shooting broke out, and "bleeding Kansas" became a prelude to the Civil War.

By the end of his administration, Pierce could claim "a peaceful condition of things in Kansas." But, to his disappointment, the Democrats refused to renominate him, turning to the less controversial Buchanan. Pierce returned to New Hampshire, leaving his successor to face the rising fury of the sectional whirlwind. He died in 1869.
The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from "The Presidents of the United States of America," by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association.
Learn more about Franklin Pierce's spouse, Jane Means Appleton Pierce.

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Franklin Pierce became 14th President of the United States at a time of apparent tranquility (1853-1857). By pursuing the recommendations of southern advisers, Pierce - a New Englander - hoped to ease the divisions that led eventually to Civil War.

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Tara Mounsey is feeling nostalgic these days, and who can blame her?

First, the Concord High graduate is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Olympic gold medal she helped the U.S. Women's Hockey Team win in Nagano, Japan. We haven't won gold since.

And second, she's gearing up for another run, this time as a fan at her home in Milton, Mass.

The U.S. opens the tournament Sunday against Finland, the third-ranked team in the world, and Mounsey, reached at her home by phone last week, said beware.

"Finland can surprise people," Mounsey said.

Mounsey also competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and added a silver medal, suffering a heartbreaking defeat to Canada, America's bitter rival to this day.

She's a nurse practitioner at New England Baptist Hospital and an Ivy League graduate who took her studies as seriously as her hockey. She's got a family that includes two young boys, both of whom play hockey in the Milton Youth Hockey League. She coaches her sons and serves on the league's board of directors.

And while some of that stuff may not surprise you, buckle your seatbelt if you remember Mounsey's high-flying skating at Concord High and two Olympics.

She turns 40 in March.

"I can't believe it's been 20 years actually," Mounsey said. "You think back on it and as the years go by, I realize how special that team was and that time in my life and that opportunity."

Fueled by a father who bore down on her with jackhammer-like passion, Mounsey dazzled her hometown fans in several sports.

She played Little League with the boys and batted cleanup, then hit the ball a mile on the Concord High softball team. She joined the high school field hockey team - an unfamiliar sport to her - and broke records.

And, under Coach Dunc Walsh, she led the Concord High boys' hockey team to the state title in 1996, the year in which she was named the best player in the state in the boys' division.

A girl hasn't won since.

She took a year off from Brown University to chase an Olympic medal, and her family made the ultimate commitment, traveling and spending to make sure she could do it.

"As a parent I realize everything my parents did for me and my brother," Mounsey said, referring to Mick Mounsey of Concord, who played for the University of New Hampshire.

"I am still thankful."

She made the National Team and became a focal part of the U.S.-Canada rivalry, a two-decades-old feud that continues today, in which the two teams are forever eying each other across the border, with no other teams factoring into the championship formula.

The gap has narrowed recently, but these two teams have an extraordinary history against one another.

In World Championship play dating back to 1990, Canada has won 10 gold medals, the U.S. eight, the rest of the world none.

The Olympics introduced women's hockey in 1998, when the U.S. struck gold after a nail-chomping 3-1 win over top-seeded Canada in the final.

Twenty years ago.

"It was just the fact that we wanted to beat them so badly, and we'd do anything we had to do within legal limits to beat them," Mounsey said. "You did everything you learned since you were 5 years old. Those games were fun. It was not fun winning a game, 9-0."

Mounsey was penalized late in the game, with the U.S. leading by two goals. "Not great timing," she told me. "It was a body check that Dunc Walsh would have been proud of. It was a little bit dramatized by the opponent, in the heat of the game. I went to the (penalty) box a little bit nervous, but I had faith in my team's penalty kill."

That was a special team, Mounsey said. She remains close with her teammates, texting and emailing and calling. Team USA, she said, had that unseen bond, or chemistry, or whatever you want to call it.

"Everyone was gritty," Mounsey said. "There were no prima donnas on our team. No one was expecting someone else to do the work, which is hard to accomplish. No one cared who got points, as long as we got the points."

Mounsey cited captains Cammi Granato and Karyn Bye, saying they were great leaders.

Since then, however, Canada has won the last four gold medals, beating the U.S. three times in the gold medal game. Mounsey grabbed silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

And while that sounds nice, it illustrates how hot this rivalry is, because when it comes to these two teams, silver is nearly the equivalent of aluminum.

Many American players cried after the gold medal game against Canada. Mounsey said she didn't, mindful that her team simply didn't deserve to win, which she said made it easier to accept.

She was honest with me about what went wrong, hinting that team play, work ethic and fire were missing.

"We were favorites, hands down" Mounsey said. "We didn't have the same chemistry. It was a different team. We knew it. We had some younger players that just ... "

Mounsey paused, then reloaded.

"It was different than the younger players we had in '98. It did not fully click. It was more individual effort than team effort looking back."

And here we are again. The U.S. is seeded first, Canada second.

What else?

Mounsey, who scored 13 points in 11 Olympic games, knows the women's hockey schedule. Of course she does. Twenty years have hardly dulled her passion for the sport or the team.

The gold medal game is Feb. 22. A win by the U.S. over Canada would be a lovely anniversary present.

"I've already marked that game," Mounsey said, "to make sure that I'm home."

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Twenty years ago, Concord's Tara Mounsey had a golden moment

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Tara Mounsey is feeling nostalgic these days, and who can blame her? First, the Concord High graduate is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Olympic gold medal she helped the U.S. Women's Hockey Team win in Nagano, Japan. We haven't won gold...

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Tara Lynn Mounsey (born March 12, 1978) is an American hockey defenseman who played for the United States Women's Olympic Hockey Team, winning a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mounsey played high school hockey at Concord High School in Concord, New Hampshire. Playing on the "boys" team, she became the first female player to win the New Hampshire (Class L) Player of the Year award, after leading Concord to the 1996 state championship. Today Mounsey, a graduate of Brown University with a graduate degree from Boston College, is a Nurse practitioner at New England Baptist Hospital and is an assistant coach at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The 1998 women's hockey team is one of five finalists for the team to be inducted in 2008 into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.

Tara Mounsey, Patty Kazmaier Award Finalist, 1999, 2000

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Tara Lynn Mounsey (born March 12, 1978) is an American hockey defenseman who played for the United States Women's Olympic Hockey Team, winning a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Introduction

Webster was appointed Secretary of State by President William Henry Harrison on . He entered duty the next day and completed his tenure on May 8, 1843, during the administration of President John Tyler.

Webster returned to the position when he was appointed by President Millard Fillmore on July 22, 1850. Webster officially entered duty as Secretary of State for his second tenure on July 23, 1850, and left the position on October 24, 1852.

During his two tenures as Secretary of State, Webster focused his considerable legal talents on strengthening the U.S. Government and expanding foreign trade.

Rise to Prominence

Webster was born into a family of frontier farmers in Salisbury, New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801, began teaching school and studying law, and joined the Massachusetts bar in 1805.

Webster practiced law for several years in New Hampshire before winning political office in 1813. He served as a Representative from New Hampshire until 1817. Webster's gift for law and oratory made him an influential attorney, and he became involved in a number of landmark Supreme Court cases.

After relocating to Boston, Massachusetts, he became a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts in 1823 and served until 1827. That year he became a U.S. Senator and served until 1841. Webster became nationally famous for his defense of the Union during the states' rights Nullification Crisis. He returned to the U.S. Senate from 1845 to 1850.

Influence on American Diplomacy

Webster's major task during his first appointment as Secretary of State was to negotiate a number of longstanding disputes with Great Britain. He helped achieve the landmark Anglo-American Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. The treaty settled the Maine boundary, increased U.S. involvement in suppressing the African slave trade, and included an extradition clause that would become a model for future treaties. The agreement also ushered in an era of rapprochement between the two nations, allowing the U.S. Government to focus on westward expansion.

Webster extended diplomatic protection to U.S. missionaries abroad, and he arrogated the Monroe Doctrine to the Hawaiian Islands.

He resigned from the Secretaryship in 1843 due to financial difficulties and a disagreement with President Tyler over the annexation of Texas, a move stridently opposed by Webster.

After President Fillmore brought Webster back as Secretary of State in 1850, Webster dedicated significant attention to domestic affairs such as the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law.

Undiplomatically, he created a rift with the Austrian Empire with his so-called Hülseman note (named for J.G. Hülseman the Austrian Chargé to the United States). Webster intended to explain U.S. support for Hungarian independence, but his note starkly criticized European monarchism.

In somewhat of a contrast, he later defended the Spanish Crown's right to protect its Cuban colony against U.S. filibustering expeditions.

Webster continued to take steps toward improving Anglo-American relations. He successfully advised the British Government to cede its protectorates and some geographical claims in Central America. However, he found no success with the Mexican Government, which blocked the U.S.-backed construction of a railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Webster died while serving as Secretary of State and working on a number of prescient matters, including the drive to expand U.S. trade in Asia.

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Daniel Webster - People - Department History - Office of the Historian

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Webster was appointed Secretary of State by President William Henry Harrison on . He entered duty the next day and completed his tenure on May 8, 1843, during the administration of President John Tyler. Webster returned to the position when he was appointed by President Millard Fillmore on July 22, 1850.

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About

DANIEL WEBSTER JONES, Arkansas's 19th governor, was born in Bowie County, Texas, on December 15, 1839. In 1840 his family moved to Washington, Arkansas, where Jones attended Washington Academy and later studied law. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Jones enlisted in the Arkansas Confederate Infantry, was wounded in battle, became a prisoner of war, and later rose to the rank of colonel. Jones was elected prosecuting attorney of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in 1874, and served as a presidential elector in 1876 and again in 1880. He was elected attorney general in 1884 and 1886, and he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1890. On September 7, 1896, Jones was elected Governor of Arkansas, and on January 18, 1897, he was sworn into office. He was reelected to a second term in 1898. During his tenure, money was appropriated for a new state capitol, and a law was enacted that rendered a system of uniform textbooks in public schools. After leaving office, Jones resumed his law practice, and he was elected in 1914 to the Arkansas House of Representatives. Governor Daniel Jones died on Christmas day, 1918, and he is buried at the Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Source

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Donovan, Timothy P., and Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., The Governors of Arkansas, Essays in Political Biography, Fayetteville; The University of Arkansas Press, 1981

Herndon, Dallas T., Centennial History of Arkansas, Vol. 1, Chicago, Little Rock; The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922. 3 vols.

Old State House Museum

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Daniel Webster Jones - National Governors Association

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DANIEL WEBSTER JONES, Arkansas's 19th governor, was born in Bowie County, Texas, on December 15, 1839. In 1840 his family moved to Washington, Arkansas, where Jones attended Washington Academy and later studied law. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Jones enlisted in the Arkansas Confederate Infantry, was wounded in battle, became a prisoner of ...

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Daniel Webster, (born January 18, 1782, Salisbury, New Hampshire, U.S.-died October 24, 1852, Marshfield, Massachusetts), American orator and politician who practiced prominently as a lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court and served as a U.S. congressman (1813-17, 1823-27), a U.S. senator (1827-41, 1845-50), and U.S. secretary of state (1841-43, 1850-52). He is best known as an enthusiastic nationalist and as an advocate of business interests during the period of the Jacksonian agrarianism.

Youth and early career

Born on the New Hampshire frontier in the town of Salisbury, Daniel was the ninth of 10 children of Ebenezer Webster, a veteran of the American Revolution, farmer and tavern-keeper, and leading townsman. Dark-complexioned "little Black Dan," a rather frail boy, became the pet of his parents and older brothers and sisters, some of whom taught him to read at an early age. He often entertained the family and the tavern guests with readings and recitations. As he grew older he attended classes at the various houses where the schoolmaster boarded in succession around the township. At 14 he spent part of a year at Phillips Exeter Academy, and at 15 he entered Dartmouth College, where he excelled at public speaking. After graduation he taught school and read law, going to Boston and studying in the office of a prominent lawyer. He began his own practice near home but moved to Portsmouth in 1807, married Grace Fletcher, a clergyman's daughter, and soon became a prominent member of the thriving seaport's distinguished bar.

Webster identified his own interests with those of the Portsmouth shipowners and merchants, who had been prospering through trade with Great Britain and France, despite the occasional seizures of American ships by both warring powers. The Portsmouth businessmen objected to the federal government's effort to retaliate by limiting and even stopping overseas commerce, and, as their spokesman, Webster denounced the Jefferson administration's embargo as unconstitutional; he also opposed the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812. That same year he was elected to the national House of Representatives as a member of the conservative pro-British Federalist Party, which favoured a strong, centralized government and encouragement of commerce. He was twice reelected (1814, 1816). In Congress he resisted the passage of practically all war measures, including a conscription bill, which was voted down. Against conscription he took an extreme states-rights position, even hinting at nullification of federal laws when he said the state governments had a solemn duty to "interpose between their citizens and arbitrary power."

Rising lawyer and orator

In 1816 Webster moved with his wife and two children to the more promising metropolis of Boston. Thereafter, he represented the city's leading businessmen in the law courts and, from 1823 to 1827, again in the national House of Representatives. He became one of the most highly paid lawyers in the entire country.

Arguing a series of important cases before the Supreme Court, he influenced a number of Chief Justice John Marshall's opinions and, through them, the development of constitutional law. In Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) he maintained that a state's grant of a charter to do business was a contract that the state could not impair. In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) he contended that a state could not tax a federal agency (a branch of the Bank of the United States), for the power to tax was a "power to destroy." In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) he argued that a state could not encroach upon the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. In arguing these and other cases-which had the effect of enlarging the authority of the federal government while encouraging corporate enterprise-Webster appears to have forgotten his recent states-rights arguments in opposition to the War of 1812.

Defense of the Constitution

Webster nevertheless remained a strict constructionist of the Constitution on the tariff question, opposing the protective tariffs of 1816 and 1824, which were harmful to the dominant commercial interests of New England. He reasoned that such a stimulus to manufacturers was both unconstitutional and inexpedient, for Congress had been given the power to levy duties only for raising revenue, and the growth of factories would create a propertyless working class that would threaten society. Inspired by political theorists, ancient and modern, he declared that "power naturally and necessarily follows property," adding that property must remain diffused if widespread suffrage is to be safely maintained. These ideas Webster expressed on various occasions, including, in 1820, the bicentennial celebration of the landing at Plymouth of the Mayflower carrying the first permanent settlers in North America, where he gave the first of several occasional addresses that were to bring him fame as America's peerless orator.

In 1827, now a senator from Massachusetts, Webster started for Washington with his wife, but she died on the way. Rather shy and plain, she had usually remained at home to look after her five children, only three of whom survived her (and only one of whom was to survive Webster himself). After two years, at 47, he married Caroline Le Roy, 31, the pretty and vivacious daughter of a New York merchant. His second wife was less inclined than the first to restrain her husband's propensities for high living and careless spending.

With the rise of textile mills, Massachusetts had acquired a large and powerful manufacturing interest, and Webster voted for the Tariff of 1828. Then and thereafter, as a leading protectionist, he refuted his former arguments against the tariff. He now found a constitutional sanction for it in the congressional power to regulate commerce and a social justification for it in the claim that it would diffuse property by stimulating a general prosperity. But South Carolinians blamed the tariff for their economic difficulties, and in 1830 a South Carolina senator, Robert Y. Hayne, presented the theory postulated by Vice President John C. Calhoun that a state could nullify such an obnoxious and unconstitutional law and, as a last resort, could secede from the Union. In his second reply to Hayne, Webster eloquently defended the powers of the federal government as opposed to the alleged rights of the states. He concluded with the appeal: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" The speech made him a hero of nationalists throughout the North. In 1832-33, when South Carolina, under the leadership of the nullification theory's author, John C. Calhoun, now a senator from South Carolina, undertook to put the theory into practice, Webster, though an opponent of President Andrew Jackson, supported him in resisting the attempt.

born

January 18, 1782
Salisbury, New Hampshire

died

October 24, 1852 (aged 70)
Marshfield, Massachusetts

title / office

political affiliation

role in

awards and honors

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Daniel Webster, American orator and politician who practiced prominently as a lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court and served as a U.S. congressman (1813-17, 1823-27), a U.S. senator (1827-41, 1845-50), and U.S. secretary of state (1841-43, 1850-52). He is best known as an enthusiastic nationalist

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SUNUNU, JOHN E., a Representative and a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Boston, Suffolk County, Mass., September 10, 1964; graduated from Salem High School, Salem, N.H. 1982; B.S., M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1987; M.B.A., Harvard Graduate School of Business 1991; elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives for the One Hundred Fifth and the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997-January 3, 2003); was not a candidate for reelection in 2002; elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2002, and served from January 3, 2003, to January 3, 2009; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 2008.

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Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details

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SUNUNU, JOHN E., a Representative and a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Boston, Suffolk County, Mass., September 10, 1964; graduated from Salem High School, Salem, N.H.

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John Edward Sununu (born September 10, 1964) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from New Hampshire. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six-year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor and former White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. On November 4, 2008, Sununu lost his re-election bid to former governor Jeanne Shaheen. His younger brother, Chris Sununu, is Governor of New Hampshire, having been elected in November 2016 and re-elected in November 2018.

Early life, education, and business career

Sununu, one of eight siblings, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Nancy (née Hayes) and former Governor of New Hampshire and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. His father's paternal ancestors came to the United States from the Middle East around the start of the 20th century, while his paternal grandmother was born in El Salvador to a family of Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians that had settled in Central America at the turn of the century. His father's paternal ancestry is Lebanese and Palestinian from the Greek Orthodox community in Jerusalem. Despite the family's emigration from Jerusalem, some members of the family were from Beirut, in what is today Lebanon. His father, John, was born in Havana, Cuba. His paternal grandfather, also named John, was born in the United States, and most of the last two generations of Sununus were also born in the United States. His mother's ancestors include immigrants from Ireland, as well as Scotland and England.

Sununu earned both B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986 and 1987, respectively. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University in 1991. After graduating, he worked in the high-tech industry, at one time for the company of Dean Kamen and as a management consultant for PRTM.

In 1996, incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Bill Zeliff decided to run for Governor of New Hampshire. Sununu narrowly defeated Democrat Joe Keefe. In 1998, he won re-election with 67% of the vote beating Democrat Peter Flood. In 2000, he won re-election defeating Democrat Martha Fuller Clark with 53% of the vote.[citation needed ]

In 1999, New Hampshire's Christian Coalition gave "pro-family" awards to both New Hampshire Representatives, Sununu and Charles Bass, honoring the vote by both men to impeach President Bill Clinton.

On November 8, 2000, the Boston Globe noted Sununu's defeat of Democratic newcomer Martha Fuller Clark, noting that Sununu had "one of the House's most conservative voting records"-opposing abortion and increased minimum wages while favoring school vouchers and the death penalty. He earned a 100% rating from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste. He has also been presented the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the "Guardian of Small Business Award" by the National Federation of Independent Business, and the "Friend of the Taxpayer Award" by the Americans for Tax Reform.

He served on the House Appropriations and Budget Committees. He held subcommittee seats on the Veterans Administration-Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, the Treasury Postal Subcommittee, and the District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittee, and also served as a member of the Republican Policy Committee.

In 2002, Sununu ran for a United States Senate seat from New Hampshire. In the Republican primary, he defeated the Republican incumbent Bob Smith 54%-45%. In the November election, he subsequently defeated Democratic Governor Jeanne Shaheen 51%-46%. The election was marred by members of the Republican Party who organized the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal which disrupted Democratic efforts.

In a rematch, Shaheen defeated Sununu 52% to 45%. She won every county but Carroll, Belknap, and Rockingham counties. Sununu slightly outperformed Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the 2008 national election, as McCain got about 45% of the vote but didn't win any counties.

According to a Washington Post study, Sununu voted with the Republican Party's position 84% of the time. However, he broke with his party on prominent issues, joining Democrats in filibusters of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Bush Administration's 2003 energy bill. Sununu strongly supported greater access to firearms, voting against the proposed renewal of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 2004. In 2006, he voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. He strongly opposed amnesty for illegal aliens, voting against the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill in July 2007. Sununu called for a tougher federal regulator for government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and with Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), he filed a dramatic overhaul of regulation of the insurance industry. A long proponent of technology, in January 2007, Sununu called for a permanent ban on taxes of Internet connections and online sales.

The non-partisan National Journal gave Sununu a composite rating of 65.8% conservative and 34% liberal in 2008. Sununu was one of only three senators whose voting record received a score of 100% from the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, in both 2005 and 2006, tying for 1st place. However, his rating fell to 23rd place in 2007, and to 34th place in 2008. The Club for Growth endorsed Sununu's unsuccessful bid for re-election in February 2007 against Jeanne Shaheen (she subsequently during 2009-2012 earned Club for Growth ratings of 64th place to 100th place).

In 2007, Sununu was the lead Republican co-sponsor of the Clean Air Planning Act of 2007 which sought to address air quality and climate change by establishing a schedule to reduce harmful emissions from power plants-in particular, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides-as well as decrease carbon dioxide emissions through a cap and trade system. The legislation, which was never enacted, also addressed mercury pollution, calling for a 90% reduction in emissions of the chemical by 2015. He also supported the bipartisan Clean Energy Stimulus Act of 2008 that provides tax incentives for the development of clean and renewable energy sources. In 2006 Sununu sponsored the bipartisan New England Wilderness Act which added tens of thousand of acres of land to federally protected forests. Sununu opposed the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003, which would have also created a cap-and-trade program. His vote was criticized by the New Hampshire Democratic Party which claimed that he had acted "against reducing greenhouse gases". The New Hampshire Union Leader praised his decision, citing the Energy Information Agency's estimation that the legislation would cost the American economy $507 billion over 22 years.

Sununu took a few positions contrary to the Bush administration and the Republican leadership. Though he voted for the flag-burning amendment, he voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment and he opposed restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba, and was one of only two Republicans to vote in favor of terminating funds for TV Martí, which broadcasts anti-Castro programming in Cuba. He was one of a small group of Republicans to vote in favor of banning loans to China for any nuclear projects, and in September 2005 he voted to disapprove a new rule set in place by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delisting coal and other energy sources from the Clean Air Act.

He also became well known as one of the five Republican Senators who joined Democrats in a filibuster of the USA PATRIOT Act renewal conference report, concerned about possible negative impacts the bill had on civil liberties. This caused the Republican leadership to extend the original legislation until a compromise bill was forged.

In January 2006, at a hearing in front of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on the Broadcast Flag, Sununu was one of the very few present to criticize the legislation, saying "In all cases [of previous technological advancements in the US], we didn't need to step in with a significant statutory government-regulated mandate on technology that consumers use to enjoy this material".

In October 2006, Sununu voted against a portion of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that would suspend the right of habeas corpus for non-citizen detainees. After voting in favor of the final bill, he defended his vote by telling reporters " The Constitution is not a suicide pact".

On March 14, 2007, Sununu became the first Republican senator to call for the firing of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after a controversy over U.S. Attorney firings. Sununu cited his anger with the mismanagement by Gonzales and the lack of trustworthiness by GOP Senators towards Gonzales.

In July 2005, Sununu shaved his head to show solidarity with Senator Arlen Specter, who had lost his hair due to chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease.

In September 2008, Sununu became one of twenty senators (ten Democrats and ten Republicans) co-sponsoring a bipartisan energy bill, the New Energy Reform Act of 2008. The bill was offered as an alternative to the Democrats' energy bill, sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Both bills proposed to increase offshore drilling, while promoting conservation and alternative energy. The "Gang of Twenty" bill also lets coastal states participate in decisions and in revenue about drilling in the fifty-to-one-hundred-mile range off their coasts. It also differs from the Democrats' bill in allowing drilling off Florida's west coast, a proposal both Florida's senators have protested. To quote the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Nearly every potentially vulnerable Senate Republican, from Norm Coleman [of Minnesota] to Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and John Sununu of New Hampshire, has signed on to the legislation."

Committee on Finance

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security

Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism

Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard

Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation

Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics, and Related Agencies

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration (Ranking Member)

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security

Joint Economic Committee

Sununu currently sits on the Board of Managers of ConvergEx Holdings, a holding company for BNY ConvergEx Group, an affiliate of Bank of New York Mellon, which holds a 33.8% stake in BNY ConvergEx Group.

On July 7, 2010, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP announced that Sununu was joining the firm as an adjunct senior policy advisor. Akin Gump is one of the largest law firms and lobbying firms in Washington, D.C.

Sununu was appointed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to serve on the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) for the Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, whose purpose is to assess how the TARP program is working, in order to help Congress determine whether to continue injecting capital into the financial sector.

Sununu is a regular op-ed contributor to the Boston Globe.

Prior to the 2014 Election Cycle, speculation had abounded that he would pursue a rematch against Shaheen, but in April 2013, he said that he would not run for his old seat.

On January 30, 2019, Lloyd's of London announced Sununu had been appointed to its governing council.

Sununu married Catherine (Kitty) Halloran on July 9, 1988. They have three children: John, (Catherine) Grace, and Charlotte.

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, write-ins received 197 votes.

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John Edward Sununu (born September 10, 1964) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from New Hampshire. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six-year term.

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The first couple of pages have a biography.

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Newsela | Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam: two iconic symbols of American patriotism

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Uncle Sam and Rosie the Riveter inspired Americans to do their patriotic duty during wartime

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Uncle Sam, popular symbol for the United States, usually associated with a cartoon figure having long white hair and chin whiskers and dressed in a swallow-tailed coat, vest, tall hat, and striped trousers. His appearance is derived from two earlier symbolic figures in American folklore: Yankee Doodle, a British-inspired nickname for American colonials during the American Revolution, and Brother Jonathan, a rural American wit who, by surprising displays of native intelligence, always triumphed over his adversaries in plays, stories, cartoons, and verse.

The origin of the term Uncle Sam, though disputed, is usually associated with a businessman from Troy, New York, Samuel Wilson, known affectionately as "Uncle Sam" Wilson. The barrels of beef that he supplied the army during the War of 1812 were stamped "U.S." to indicate government property. That identification is said to have led to the widespread use of the nickname Uncle Sam for the United States, and a resolution passed by Congress in 1961 recognized Wilson as the namesake of the national symbol.

Uncle Sam and his predecessor Brother Jonathan were used interchangeably to represent the United States by American cartoonists from the early 1830s to 1861. Cartoonists such as Sir John Tenniel and John Leech of the British humour magazine helped evolve the modern figure by drawing both Brother Jonathan and Uncle Sam as lean, whiskered gentlemen wearing top hats and striped pants. Probably the first U.S. political cartoonist to crystallize the figure of Uncle Sam was Thomas Nast, beginning in the early 1870s. By 1900, through the efforts of Nast, Joseph Keppler, and others, Uncle Sam was firmly entrenched as the symbol for the United States. One of the most familiar treatments in the 20th century was shown in James Montgomery Flagg's World War I recruiting poster, also used in World War II, for which the caption read, "I Want You."

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Uncle Sam | History, Artist, Drawing, Propaganda, & Facts

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Uncle Sam, popular symbol for the United States, usually associated with a cartoon figure having long white hair and chin whiskers and dressed in a swallow-tailed coast, vest, tall hat, and striped trousers. His image is derived from two earlier symbolic figures in American folklore: Yankee Doodle and Brother Jonathan.

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Elizabeth Yates, 95, Author Of Noted Children's Books

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Elizabeth Yates, author of more than 50 books, many of them for children, dies at age of 95; photo (M)

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Poet, Sarah Josepha Hale is best known for creating the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb." However, her work extends far beyond her writing. Her influence can be seen in historic sites and a famous national holiday still widely celebrated today.

Sarah Josepha Hale was born on October 24 th, 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire. Her parents were strong advocates for education of both sexes. Therefore, Hale was taught well beyond the normal age for a woman. Later, she married a lawyer David Hale, who supported her in all scholarly endeavors. Sadly, her husband died after only nine years of marriage, leaving Hale a widow with five children. She turned to poetry as a form of income. Her most famous book, titled Poems for Our Children included a beloved story from her childhood. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was instantly a popular nursey rhyme.

In 1837, she became the editor of the Godey's Lady's Book. Her work with the magazine made her one of the most influential voices in the 19 th century. Her columns covered everything from women's education to child rearing. Hale also used her platform to support other causes, including abolishing slavery and, later, colonization (freeing African Americans and sending them to Africa). While working as editor, she raised money for various historic sites. Hale helped to preserve George Washington's home and financially supported the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument. Her work in historic preservation has stood the test of time, as both sites are still open to public.

Hale has been criticized heavily for her support of gender roles. As an editor, she encouraged women to focus their efforts in the domestic realm. A proper woman, to Hale not only managed the home but she also imparted religion to her children. Godey's Lady's Book was widely known for its conservative views for much of the 19 th century. Additionally, Hale did not support the women's suffrage movement because she believed that women's participation in politics would limit their influence in the home. However, Hale did use the magazine to advocate for the education of women and the rights of women as property owners.

Hale used her persuasive writings to support the creation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Beginning in 1846, she charged the president and other leading politicians to push for the national celebration of Thanksgiving, which was then only celebrated in the Northeast. Her requests for recognition were largely ignored by politicians until 1863. While the nation was in the middle of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed into action "A National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise." Hale's letter to Lincoln is often cited as the main factor in his decision. Hale retired as editor in 1877 and died two years later at the age of 92.

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Poet, Sarah Josepha Hale is best known for creating the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb." However, her work extends far beyond her writing. Her influence can be seen in historic sites and a famous national holiday still widely celebrated today.