My dear Miss Frances,
What a long time it has been since I heard from you last or I wrote. I hope (+ I think you must be I'm sure I would) you are having a nice time. I should think one would love to see all the old ruins + places of note. But I suppose their are a great great many that would not care to look at them. I suppose things look funny + people themselves. The cats are all well except Bridget. She may be all right, but it is my opinion she's not. Last night your mama was standing by the cage looking at them. I came over to where she was standing + she asked me if I knew Bridget was blind. (I did not) Today they think she is all right, but I think if Bridget would open her eyes the way she does at night they would see her eyes were about the color of this paper [referring to the color of the paper shown above] just the way they were last night. The lady that owns the little horse was up yesterday. I ride "Betty" horse-back (Cowboy fashion). Prince is nicely. He has been having a little trouble with his feet - but papa is curing him of that. I believe I wrote a letter to you + your mother thanking you for the very pretty rug you sent me. If not I wish to now. I think I will have an Indians of an pillow instead of a rug. Because if I use it as a mat I will soil it, and it is some thing everybody (East) can't have. Your mother said last night that she would write to you so now I am going up + see if she will enclose this also. Now have a good time + get rested. From your friend Lillian V. Bennett. (Write when you have time).
Although not much is known about Lillian Bennett of West Windham, the letter she wrote to Frances offers great insight into the life of a child in Windham at the turn of the century. Frances, who evidently is traveling in the American southwest, sent Lillian an Indian-made rug, a souvenir unlikely to be found in any other home in Windham. The transcription of what remains of the letter is as follows:
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As reported by William Samuel Harris for The Derry News An unusually large amount of wood and timber is being cut in this town during the present winter. Daniel Gage of Lowell has purchased a number of lots, which he is having cleared. On Tuesday, August 26, 1919, John H. Trenholm of West Windham, discovered that his early model Ford had been stolen, becoming the victim of what is likely the first case of auto theft involving a resident of Windham. That Tuesday evening, thieves, who were likely never identified, stole Trenholm's Ford car, an unknown model with license plate number 2646. Trenholm had likely motored from his home in West Windham to South Avenue in Derry to shop at one of city's numerous stores, or dine in a nearby restaurant. Fortunately, the auto thieves did not make it far with their newly acquired vehicle, as the car was found just an hour after it was stolen. Two of Derry's finest, Officer Wheeler and Officer Bennett, recovered the stolen automobile, which was found abandoned near a fire hydrant in front of the home of W. F. Neal.
The same year Trenholm's Ford was stolen, the Dyer Act, also known as the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, was enacted, which made the interstate transportation of stolen vehicles a federal crime. With the increase in the popularity of automobiles came increased auto theft, and local police were often hindered by their lack of jurisdiction across state lines. Had Trenholm's automobile been stolen a year earlier, the thieves could have easily motored across the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border, and would have then been outside of the jurisdiction of Windham's police department, as well as state and county law enforcement offices. While few details of the case remain, it is possible the thieves who stole Trenholm's Ford avoided crossing the state line due to the newly imposed Dyer Act. Unfortunately, there are no reliable records for how many cars were stolen in New Hampshire in the first quarter of the 20th century. While the first car was stolen in France in 1896, auto theft only became more commonplace around 1910. Even by 1915, there were only 401 reported cases of auto theft in New York City; 338 of the cars were recovered by Police. By 1922, the number of car thefts in New York City had risen to more than 7,100, a trend which occurred throughout America. Certainly car theft in the relatively small city of Derry, and the smaller community of Windham, paled in comparison with that of New York City. The story of Trenholm's stolen Ford likely spread quickly throughout the close-knit town of Windham. On October 7, 1881, William Samuel Harris reported on Windham's mourning of the late President James A. Garfield. In the election of 1880, the citizens of Windham voted overwhelmingly for James Garfield; Garfield received 126 votes, while his Democrat opponent, Winfield Hancock, received just 58. Windham's preference for the candidate was shared by the majority of the country, and Garfield was sworn-in as president in 1881. Unfortunately, his term was cut short at the hands of an assassin just months after he took office. President Garfield had fallen victim to an assassin's bullet on July 2, and ultimately passed away on Monday, September 19 after several months of unsuccessful medical treatment. Harris, reporting for The Derry News, indicated the news of the president's death did not reach Windham until the morning of Tuesday, October 1. When the news finally arrived in Windham, the bell of the Presbyterian church was rung, and the flags at the town center were "draped in mourning and suspended across the street." The following Sunday, the church was "appropriately trimmed with black and white." On Monday, September 23, Reverend Joseph F. Webster held a 2 o'clock service at the Presbyterian church, which was well attended. All of the town's schools were closed that Monday, which may have contributed to the attendance of the church service. A few of the school houses, included school house No. 1, were draped for mourning. In the October 7, 1881 issue of The Derry News, an interesting anecdote is related concerning a shopkeeper in Derry who was the victim of the theft of a cabinet photograph of the late President Garfield. Interestingly, the story was titled "A Case of Female Depravity." Last Friday afternoon, a young lady entered the office of the Derry National Bank, and asked to borrow two dollars to pay freight upon furniture, as her folks had just moved to Derry from Franklin, N.H., and lacked just this amount of having money enough to pay their freight bill. The cashier kindly referred her to parties at the Depot, who he thought, on seeing the furniture, would lend or give the money, and the girl went away. Saturday forenoon, however, the same female came to the law office of G. C. & G. K. Bartlett, asked for "lawyer Bartlett," and told a story about a rent bill, wishing to borrow two dollars. The editor of the DERRY NEWS overhearing the request, at once started out to note the further proceedings of this impecunious being. After leaving the law office, she went to Mr. Pettee's store, where instead of trying to borrow money, she asked him if he sold alcohol. He answered in the negative, and referred her to the drug store, which she visited. Her purchase here amounted to twenty cents, but she receiving her medicine, threw down ten cents in change, and hurridly[sic] left he store, so that Mr. Bell was obliged to run after her and call her back, to insist upon her paying the whole bill, which she finally did. She then started directly towards the Depot. We followed, and she went into Mrs. Hood's, where we supposed she might be begging. We walked on, past the house, and stood behind a large tree. Soon our maid came along, carrying a cabinet photograph of Garfield, at which she was looking intently, and did not notice us till close by. Being interested as to her errand at Mrs. Hood's, we called and learned that she had asked for a drink of water, and had asked how many lawyers there were in town, and after looking about sharply, departed, never saying a word about her lack of money. Chas. Bartlett's is the only store in town where pictures of the kind we saw her have, are sold. He has them lying loosely on his show case. Our suspicions being aroused, we asked Mr. Bartlett if he had sold any of his pictures of Garfield to a young lady. He certainly had not, but on looking over his stock, one was missing, which he could not account for, and when he told us that he had been busy in the printing office most of the morning, we felt no doubt but that the enterprising damsel had quietly entered and helped herself. In 1883, Clara Belle Horne purchased the "Red House" located a short distance from the shore of Cobbett's Pond; the property included waterfront property on the "big pond" near the flume. With the acquisition of the "Red House" property, the Horne family became the first people to purchase land along Cobbett's Pond for the purpose of spending summers on the pond, away from the busy and crowded conditions of the city. According to "Rural Oasis," the family did not immediately build a cottage near the shore of the pond, but instead opted to stay in a tent. While there is no extant account of why the family chose not to simply move into the "Red House" for the summer, it is possible the family wanted a more rustic summer experience, or Clara did not want a large family taking over her house for the summer. Several years after the family pitched their first tent along the shore, they decided to abandon the tent altogether and build a cottage. However, this was not the first summer cottage on Cobbett's Pond, as by the time the Horne family began construction on their cottage, Ayers had already completed his cottage, giving him a permanent spot in the history of Cobbett's Pond as the builder of the first cottage. The property on the pond was eventually acquired by a niece of Clara Bell Horne, Rachel Flint Wheat. Rachel was the daughter of Clara's sister Frances Horne Flint. Prior to becoming owner of the property in 1919, Rachel married Dr. Arthur Fitts Wheat of Manchester, NH; the wedding took place on Saturday, July 19, 1913. The couple had three children: Arthur, Parker, and Irene. Irene, the youngest child of Rachel and Arthur, was born around 1925, but there are few public records of her life. Parker Wheat became a doctor, like his father, and died at the age of 70 in 1988. The oldest child of the family, Arthur Jr., was born on August 15, 1915 and died on April 21, 1991. Although he never owned property in Windham, Arthur Jr. is best known in Windham for his collection of postcards, which were generously donated to the Nesmith Library following his death. The collection can be viewed at: http://nesmithlibrary.org/sites/nesmithlibrary.org/files/arthur/index.html. The Horne family spent many summers on Cobbett's Pond for several generations, until the original cottage burned on Labor Day in 1971. Although the property continued to remain the Horne family for a few years, it was eventually subdivided and sold as four lots. The "Red House" had been inherited by a niece of Clara Bell Horne in 1937; the home remained in the family for decades longer. A Brief Genealogy of the Horne/Flint/Wheat family
The postcard shown below (left) was sent by Edith Flint Burtt to her mother, Frances Horne Flint, in 1913; Flint was residing in Windham at the time. In her postcard, Edith asks for eggs to be brought to "Aunt Kit's Store." Refered to as "Aunt Kit," Kate Horne operated her store in West Windham on the property known as "Haverest Farm" (shown below at right). The Mrs. Smith mentioned in the postcard was likely a resident of Windham, although it is difficult to establish exactly who she was.
In 1946, Fred and Geneva Fairneny purchased a five-acre parcel of land, with buildings, located on Route 28 in Windham. It was at this location that the Fairnenys opened Fairneny's Barbecue, which served "food for many years to the traveler as well as local people." The building which housed the restaurant is depicted on the back cover of an advertising matchbook (shown above on the left). Another vintage matchbook advertises the "curbside service" offered at the "Bar-B-Q" restaurant, which featured a menu including "Syrian Salad" and "Lamb-On-The-Stick." In 1956, following the passing of Fred, the widowed Geneva sold the property.
"The Moderator of the Presbytery of Boston has, by request, called a special meeting of the Presbytery to be held at the church in this town on Wednesday the 21st instant, commencing at 10 A.M. The object is to consider the application of Rev. Joseph S. Cogswell to be admitted as a member of the Presbytery, and, if it shall be found expedient, to proceed to install him as pastor of the church here. The installation exercises will take place on Wednesaday afternoon, and Rev. C. E. Harrington, past of the South Congregational church in Concord will preach the sermon. Music will be furnished by the church choir."
"Dea. William Park of South Boston, who died Nov. 9th, aged 76 years and 9 months, was a native of this town and a brother of the late Dea. Joseph Park." "The Congregational church here on a recent Sunday morning numbered 109 and the Sabbath-school immediately following contained 98, or nine-tenths of the whole." "The school district in No. 6 is taught this winter by Miss Emma Anderson of Acworth." "Shaffer's Swiss Bell-ringers played in the town hall on the evening of Dec. 5th. A good audience attended and were all pleased with the entertainment." "The Philharmonic Union met for practice Thursday afternoon and evening of last week, at the town hall in this place." "The Sunday school has been voted to use, the coming year, Peloubet's series of question books, same kind that is used this year." The news for Windham was reported in the Derry News by William Samuel Harris. On November 26, 1835, 214 years after the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, Reverend Calvin Cutler delivered a Thanksgiving Day sermon entitled "Our Liberties in Danger" to the congregation at Windham's Presbyterian Church. Cutler began his sermon with an inquiry "into the meaning of liberty; and secondly to show by what means liberty is infringed and destroyed." He defines liberty as: "To do what we will, - to follow our own inclinations, irrespective of the will or inclinations of other men, is natural liberty. To do what we will consistently with the interests of the community to which we belong, is civil liberty. To follow the dictates of conscience and the light of revelation, as we understand our duty, in the worship of God, whether it be right or wrong, is religious liberty." The sermon then continued by expounding on the "evils growing out of the unrestrained indulgence of individual natural liberty." While "[e]very man no doubt would wish to be allowed to act in all respects, and in all circumstances, just as he pleased. But every other man wishes to do the same; and it is soon found that individual natural liberty cannot be enjoyed, because the inclinations of different men interfere with each other." Reverend Cutler defined several evils that endanger the liberty of the people. One being the "breaking down [of] the institution of marriage"; "when our cities are crowded almost with adulterers and effeminates, when a whole steam-boat can be loaded down at once with lewd women, to be transported from one section of country to another, followed by as many abandoned men; and, above all, when the nation uphold and defend a system of oppression by which more than two millions of the population are subjected to a state of adultery and concubinage [slaves could be legally married], are not our liberties in danger?" Another evil was "the existence of Slavery, by which one sixth of the nation are treated as nonentities - denied the privilege of reading the Bible - men turned into brutes - human souls made chattels, to be bought and sold, and used for the gratification of irresponsible masters; who, contrary to our Bill of Rights and the first principles of our free government, have seized and bound their fellow men in cruel bondage." Cutler, an ardent abolitionist, dedicated nearly a third of his sermon to describing the evils of slavery. The Thanksgiving Day sermon concluded with three important points. Firstly, "[t]hat we have infinite reason for gratitude that the Lord reigns, and that he will overrule all events for the glory of his kingdom." Secondly, "[t]he gospel will prevail to restore to all men their inalienable rights, and to protect them in the enjoyment of liberty." Lastly, "We will bless God for his infinite mercy and forbearance towards this nation." The sermon concluded with: "Let the wicked rage and the people imagine a vain thing, but we will rejoice in the Lord, we will praise him for his long suffering and patience towards this our beloved country. 'Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.'" Cutler's sermon was well received by the townspeople, so much so that the manuscript was sent to Concord to be printed that same year. David Campbell, Jeremiah Morrison, and Stephen Fessenden wrote to Reverend Cutler in order to ask him to make the sermon available for publication. In their letter they noted "there was so much satisfaction manifested with your Sermon this day delivered, and it was thought so appropriate in the present crisis of our public affairs, that before leaving the house the undersigned [Campbell, Morrison, and Fessenden] were appointed a committee to request a copy for publication, with as little variation as you shall deem it expedient to make." Reverend Cutler replied that the "request was not in the least anticipated. I have no apology for the defects of the Sermon, except that it was prepared in a feeble state of health, in the ordinary course of ministerial labour; and your desire that it should appear with 'little variation' or correction. If in your opinion it is in the least adapted to preserve our free institutions from the encroachments of anarchy and licentiousness, it is at your disposal." THANKSGIVING DAY IN WINDHAM
When corn is in the garret stored, The magic lantern slide above depicts the "inverted pot-hole" underneath Butterfield's Boulder. Magic lantern shows became popular in Victorian era America. Slides, such as the one shown above, could be created from real photographs, popular prints, or even hand-painted by artisans. More detailed slides could include moving parts, or strips of similar images in a series meant to tell a story. Like a modern slide projector, a magic lantern would project the still images of the slides onto a wall or screen, often using the light of a kerosene lamp; later lanterns included options for electric light, and older lanterns could have been converted to use an electric light bulb. While most shows were for an audience of family and friends, professional magic lantern presenters made a business of putting on shows with more elaborate, and mechanical slides. It is unlikely such a presentation every took place in Windham, but it is certainly possible Windham residents of the last quarter of the nineteenth century ventured out of town to see such shows in larger towns such as Derry. Slides of scenes around Windham, including Butterfield's Boulder, may have been created by eager tourists looking to show their friends back home what they had seen, or by more serious naturalists looking to document natural curiosities. Below is a short video of magic lantern show performed in 2009. Joseph Wilson Dinsmoor was born on Monday, September 9, 1833 to parents John and Clarissa Wilson. Tragically, one-year-old Joseph was left fatherless following the death of John on November 2, 1834. On that Sunday morning, Captain John Dinsmoor, along with Reverend Jacob Abbot, and the Reverend's son, Ebenezer, had crossed Cobbett's Pond in a rowboat in order to attend church at the town center. Later on that afternoon, when they were making their return trip following the Sunday service, the old, leaky boat began to fill with water and sank. While Ebenezer, an able swimmer, was able to reach the shore, John Dinsmoor and Jacob Abbot both drowned. Joseph Dinsmoor grew up on the family farm, and later married Cordelia Bean. The couple had five children: Clara-Belle, Katie-Ardelle, John-Walter, Joseph-Wilson Jr., and John Lynford.
Joseph and Cordelia raised their children on the Dinsmoor farm on the Range, which Joseph built into a thriving fruit farm. Leonard A. Morrison recorded that in the 1850s, "his farm had little or no grafted fruit, nor a cultivated grape-vine." However, by the early 1880s, "thirteen acres [were] covered by orchards, including a grapery and small fruits. A portion of [which] yield[ed] double crops, such as strawberry, raspberry, currant, and blackberry, among his orchards and grapery. The grapery cover[ed] two acres, and produced eight tons of choice varieties in 1880. An apple orchard of four and a half acres produced five hundred barrels of apples the same year. Two acres are covered with peach trees, and the same area with pears." Morrison also noted that Dinsmoor devoted "his entire attention to fruit culture." In 1867, Joseph Wilson Dinsmoor served as the town tax collector, a position he would hold for two years. In 1869, Dinsmoor was appointed as one of the two constables in town; he would remain a constable until 1873. Cordelia Bean Dinsmoor passed away on July 13, 1879. Joseph Wilson Dinsmoor died circa 1895. |
AuthorDerek Saffie is an avid Windham historian who enjoys researching and sharing his collection with all those interested in the history of the New England town. Archives
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