Early Sunday morning, December 26, 1802, a fire broke out in a back room of the New Hampshire Bank off Market Square (then called Court Street) resulting in the first of three disastrous downtown fires known as the Christmas fires. #onthisdate

"The whole beauty of the town is gone! is gone!!!" lamented the New Hampshire Gazette.

From the bank, the blaze quickly spread to surrounding buildings, and the winds carried the embers north to Market Square, Daniel Street and down both sides of Market toward Ceres and the waterfront. In total, 114 buildings were destroyed, and the damages were estimated at $200,000. No lives were reportedly lost.

The Gazette wrote, "This fair and beautiful part of the town, has in one short day, become a heap of ashes and rubbish; exhibiting such a scene of Devastation and ruin, as gives fresh pain at every new view."

With no state and federal disaster funds yet created, the local community was left to organize relief for the victims or "the number of inhabitants now exposed to sufferings and hardships beyond the relief tendered by their sympathizing neighbors—the aged and infirm, widows and orphans, unhoused in mid-winter."

Five local leaders were appointed as a committee to receive and distribute donations. From across the early Republic, donations came in totaling $45,000. Within the archives, the MS071 Portsmouth Fire Relief Papers, 1802-1803, include the letters that accompanied the donations, and the record book of the Committee. [We've added a few examples in this post.]

After the fire, the US Congress created its first law concerning domestic disaster aid and contributed to the Portsmouth merchants.

The history of our organization is entwined with the 1802 fire. Lost were the earlier buildings on the site of the present Athenaeum. Within two weeks of the blaze, the NH Fire and Marine Insurance Co. was incorporated, and by 1805, its new insurance building was constructed in Market Square. In 1823, the Athenaeum moved into the building, which it has since occupied for nearly 200 years.

#1802fire #Christmasfires #OTD #manuscripts #newspapers #maps #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #NH #Maine #Seacoast❤ ...

Happy Winter Solstice!❄

For this first day of winter, we share this engraving of children ice skating and sledding in a New England town.⛸🛷🥰

The image comes from an 1821 Reward of Merit found in the common place book of Charlotte Haven Ladd Coues (1813-1900).

At the age of 7, "Miss Charlotte H. Ladd" received "for her diligence and attention to her studies" the "merits [of] my approbation" from teacher Rebecca Hardy.

The Reward of Merit also included a quatrain from "Winter: A poem" from a much longer poem called "The Seasons" by Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-1748).🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

"A WINTER SCENE

On blithsome frolics bent, the youthful swains,
Fond o'er the river croud, in various sport,
And as they sweep, swift as the winds along,
The then gay land is maddened all to joy."

Charlotte was the daughter of Alexander Hamilton Ladd & Maria Tufton Mason of the @moffattladd house in Portsmouth. In the 1850s, she regularly contributed poems & articles to the local newspapers often under the pseudonym "J.S." She also reported on the lectures at the Portsmouth Lyceum.

Charlotte kept the newspaper clippings. Her son Elliott Ladd Coues (1842-1899), a well-known physician, naturalist, educator & historian, combined these clippings along with the pages of her common place book into a scrapbook.

Elliott wrote, "As my mother only used a few pages for her common place book of 1835, I have converted this into a scrap-book by inserting a number of papers, letters, miscellaneous scraps, hair and other mementoes, – the same having been found in a trunk belonging to her, at No. 1726. N. St., Washington, D.C., February 9, 1896."

This scrapbook, which includes this Reward of Merit, is part of the MS011 Coues Family Papers, 1789-1932.

👉Note: Charlotte's teacher was probably Rebecca B. Hardy (1791-1863), daughter of Stephen Hardy & Rebecca Muchmore who was a teacher and later dressmaker. Her obituary described her as "known to a large circle of Christian friends, as a cheerful companion, pleasant associate and kind neighbor."🍎

#happywinter #rewardsofmerit #laddfamily #couesfamily #manuscripts #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #Maine #Seacoast❤ ...

#throwbackthursday to this day in history.#OTD

On July 23, 1735, the Hon. David Dunbar, Surveyor General of His Majesty's Woods in North America ordered his deputy Cyprian Jeffrey (Jaffry) to go upriver from Portsmouth to supervise "a great parcell of loggs" that had been recently confiscated. Jeffrey was also ordered to take note of any individual that attempted to mill the logs.🌳🚣👀 [Dudley Stoddard Collection, MS107, B01, F39]

The timber was located on the "upper boom" of the Newichawannock River (now called the Salmon Falls River) between Maine and New Hampshire. The "upper boom" may be located near Rollinsford, NH, and South Berwick, Maine; however, the location reference is unknown and could be even further upriver at Milton Three Ponds.

Also in the Dudley Stoddard collection, there is a diary of Cyprian Jeffrey dated between 1737 and 1740 that documented his travels through Maine and New Hampshire checking on logging, lumber, and mill operations.👀 Jeffrey was believed to live on State Street in Portsmouth, and was also referred to as a brewer and a mariner. He was one of the signers of the peace treaty between the indigenous Abenaki people and the English settlers at a conference at Casco Bay, dated July 25, 1727.

The detail from the Map of the Pascataway River in New England, c.1670, shows the location of Quamphegan Falls (#Rollinsford / #SouthBerwick) and the Newichawannock Falls further upstream. The original map is © of the British Library in London, England. The cartographer is attributed to Col. John Scott of Long Island.

One possible translation for the word Newichawannock is "river with many falls." And finally, a staff member swears by the mnemonic "Do what you wanna" to always remember the river's historic name.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️

#onthisdate #Newichawannock #salmonfalls #kingswoods #cyprianjeffrey #manuscripts #dudleystoddard #portsmouthnh #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #nh #maine #seacoast♥️ ...

Today, Athenaeum Archivist Susan Kindestedt blogged about Wentworth Cheswill (Cheswell), a biracial Revolutionary War veteran born in Newmarket, NH.

A signer of the Association Test, Cheswill (1746-1817) was elected town messenger for the Committee of Safety, carrying news between Exeter and Newmarket. He went on to serve during the Revolutionary War under John Langdon at the Battle of Saratoga. After the Revolution, he helped start the Social Library of Newmarket in 1801, and he served as Newmarket’s schoolmaster.

While census records identified him as “white,” Cheswill’s father Hopestill Cheswill was biracial, the son of a free white woman and enslaved black man. After his death, political scholars have identified Cheswill as “biracial,” and according to George Mason University, his role as town constable in 1768 was the first time an African-American was elected to public office.

The Athenaeum has two legal documents signed by Wentworth Cheswill (or Cheswell). [S1332 and S1334]

Susan and her kids also went on a fun family excursion to the Cheswill (Cheswell) Cemetery off Route 152 in Newmarket to take photos of the historical marker and family graves. #nextgenhistorians♥️

To read Susan's blog, link in bio.

#wentworthcheswill #blackhistory #ushistory #newmarketnh #manuscripts #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #portsmouthnh #nh #maine #seacoast♥️ ...

Within the MS036 North Church Papers, 1640-1970 manuscript collection, there is a small notebook kept by Samuel Penhallow that contained the names of individuals receiving charitable aid from the church. Penhallow included the following individuals identified as being of African descent.⛪📖
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Image #1: Collections Account lists “Prince Whipple and family” in April 1811. Prince Whipple was enslaved by William Whipple of Portsmouth, one of New Hampshire’s delegates to the Continental Congress. Prince was regarded as a leader in Portsmouth’s Black community.
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Image #2: Collections Account Book lists “Cuff Whipple” in May 1803. Cuff, who also went by Cuffee, was a talented musician who started his life in Portsmouth as a slave in the household of Joseph Whipple.
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Image #3: Collections Account lists “Dinah Whipple” and “Cuffee Whipple’s Widow” Rebecca in December 1819. Prince had married Dinah Chase who was freed on the day of their marriage, February 22, 1781, having been enslaved in the household of Rev. Chase of New Castle.
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Also included in the manuscript collection is Image #4. Dinah Whipple signed her name to the receipt that “Deacon [Amos] Tappan is please to let me have one dollar for to get some wood” in February 1820/21.
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For more information, check out Athenaeum Archivist Susan Kindstedt's latest blog. Susan explores the North Church collection and its records related to Portsmouth's Black history. Susan describes the collection as providing the most names of individuals of African descent living in Portsmouth than any other collection. #linkinbio
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#blackportsmouth #northchurch #blackhistory #nhhistory #ushistory #manuscripts #research #portsmouthathenaeum #collectpreserveshare #localhistory #portsmouthnh #nh #maine #seacoast♥️ ...

#manuscriptmonday and we are setting sail in the archives aboard the Emily Farnum mastered by Capt. Nathan Parker Simes in 1862. ⛵⚓
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Athenaeum Archivist Susan Stowe-Kindstedt recently processed the logbooks of Capt. Nathan Parker Simes detailing his voyages from 1853 to 1871. The Athenaeum had received this generous donation of nine logbooks from a descendant. [MS142 Captain Nathan Parker Simes Logbooks.]
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Born in Portsmouth in 1833, Capt. Simes recorded dozens of voyages to locales in Europe, South America and Australia; however, one voyage stood out among the rest. In 1862, mastering the Emily Farnum out of New York, Capt. Simes embarked for Liverpool when he encountered Capt. Semmes and the Alabama. During the Civil War, Capt. Semmes and the Alabama were much feared by Union forces. Capt. Simes even referred to Semmes as a pirate.🦜🏴‍☠️
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You can read more about the Simes and Semmes interaction in Susan's latest blog on our website. You can also find the finding aid for the collection. Click the link in bio.
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#nathanparkersimes #captsimes #seacaptains #emilyfarnum #maritimehistory #archives #manuscripts #portsmouthathenaeum #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #MarketSquare #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤️ ...