Topsfield Fair foods

In my local newspaper today, in western Massachusetts, I was surprised to see an article about foods at the 2024 Topsfield Fair.  I remember that Fair!  I don't remember much about eating food at the fair, but I do remember some of the rides, events (mutt races!), and buildings full of agricultural animals and exhibits.  I recall my mother proudly bringing selections of her best tomatoes for display and competition. She did that every year, so going to the Fair with my parents was an annual habit during my childhood.

I recall one season when my father brought a "sailing kayak" that he had designed and was trying to promote. He and cousin Jed Derouin had tested the prototype at the Ferncroft pond in Danvers, sailing back and forth. They brought the kayak to the fair and displayed many photos of it in action (with sail, without sail; with, or without, an outrigger for stability, and so forth). They staffed that exhibit booth day after day, and enjoyed taking with visitors. They had fun with the idea, but never found sponsors to develop this product and bring it to market. 

What about the foods at the Fair? Why don't I recall what I ate there?  I'm guessing that my mother packed food for us and/or discouraged the buying of the sugary treats often sold at fairs.  (She was quite serious about preventing tooth decay, and strictly limited our intake of sweets.)

I've previously written of other memories of the Topfield Fair.  To find them, type "Topsfield Fair" in the Search field (at upper left).

Today's newspaper says the Topsfield Fair – "one of the oldest agricultural fairs in the United States" – is running through Monday Oct. 14.   If I lived closer, I'd be tempted to attend the fair and order the "Shepard's Pie Baked Potato" from the Stuffed Potato stand. 

Suprenand's

 

[Click to enlarge image]

I'm glad my mother typed a note to go with these old photos of us riding together. We often went to Mr. Suprenand's farm in the Ferncroft area and enjoyed their animals:

• goats
• ponies: "Mitzi" and "Peanuts"
• a horse for my mother to ride
• chickens 

I have many memories of our times there, but wouldn't have known how to spell the name of the owner. Don't recall ever seeing the name written (except on this label).

My mother, a horse-lover without a horse in those years, had some arrangement with Mr. Suprenand for frequent access to exercise a horse. Often she brought us along to ride his Shetland ponies. We'd go off into woods and fields of nearby properties, having various adventures as we learned to ride and to cope with the antics of the ponies.

I remember riding Mitzi in a large flat field somewhere, perhaps on Essex Aggie land. We were galloping along at a good clip. My braids were probably flying behind my head. Exciting fun! But when Mitzi shied sideways suddenly, I was left airborne without a pony! I recall flipping, head over heels, onto the ground, landing on my back with my braids in water. It all happened so very fast! I had not seen the wet patch ahead, but we think Mitzi was spooked by a flash of sun reflecting off that water. I was wearing a leather jacket, which made a resounding slap on the water surface as I landed. My sister laughed, especially when I stood up, dripping wet. My mother probably managed to catch Mitzi so I could climb on and finish the ride.

Mommy liked to make comments as we rode along, sometimes mentioning a bit of local history. One day she pointed to the remnants of an old foundation, barely visible in the woods. She said that's where someone in our Nichols family had lived. "Had HAD to live," she emphasized, "this far out from town because he had married a Quaker!"  (I was puzzled, thinking what's wrong with marrying a Quaker?  But I never really discussed this with my mother, nor do I know the names of those long-ago people or recall the location of their home.)

I wonder now about my mother's wording on the label: "Suprenand's (site of Nichols homestead, later Ferncroft Inn)." Did she think that the Suprenand property had once belonged to a Nichols relative?  Perhaps even the same one who had married the Quaker? (But many I'm confusing two different stories? As best I can recall, the old foundation fragments were somewhere else in the woods, not right near the Suprenand home.) 

Sometimes Mommy needed to discipline us (or teach us lessons to improve our riding) and sometime she disciplined a misbehaving pony. I definitely remember the day Mitzi needed discipline. We were returning from a ride in the woods and I was riding Mitzi, as usual. Suddenly Mitzi began running, and ran very fast all the way back to the barn. I couldn't stop her or even slow her down. I was terrified when she ran directly towards the barn doorway because I could see the metal chain across that opening. Would that stop her? No! She lowered her head under the chain and kept going. The chain hit me in the belly and scraped me right off onto the ground!  I wasn't really hurt, but my mother knew that Mitzi needed a lesson. She brought Mitzi out from the barn, climbed on her back, and rode Mitzi around and around in yard near the barn. My mother's adult legs almost reached the ground as that short pony labored under her load. Mitzi's head was held low, as if ashamed of her bad behavior.  We never again had trouble with Mitzi misbehaving.

Around the barn yard we enjoyed watching other animals, especially very cute baby goats! 

The chickens I remember less fondly. That's probably because of my reckless running and sudden fall from a slippery ramp of a chicken hutch. Oops. That foolishness brought me, with injured nose, to a big hospital, where a nice nurse offered her hand, saying I could squeeze if the pain became too much. I didn't need to squeeze; my nose was quickly repaired.  I have a flat spot on my nose as a small souvenir.

One summer a different arrangement was made with Mr. Suprenand regarding Mitzi and Peanuts. My mother invited those ponies to come to our place (actually, to the large fenced pasture at Locust Lawn, across the street from our home).  I think it was because Mitzi was pregnant, so we weren't allowed to ride her, and the LL pasture could provide plenty of good grass for grazing. (The Suprenand farm was on a rather bare ridge, lacking topsoil.)  We enjoyed having the ponies nearby. Later I became very fond of the young foal, named Champion, and sometimes lay next to him in the grass. His hair was SO soft, and very warm in the sunshine.  Fond memories.

Young Sandy

 

I thank my cousin Stuart Brewster for sharing this early image of me.  He took the photo at Pine Knoll, perhaps at one of the summer picnics there.  He doesn't recall the date.  

This might have been taken on or about my 2nd birthday. That's my guess.  I was born in July 1943. 

Today I looked in a photo album of my father's photos of me from babyhood on.  I found 3 photos in which I look similar. The date was June 1945, just weeks before my 2nd birthday.  

[Click to enlarge]

You might wonder why this page of photos skips from June 1945 to a November snow scene of our home, without any photos of my 2nd birthday. It could be because my father usually took slides, not photographs. It is also possible that any photos taken might have been lost in the jumble of photo packages in the drawer where my parents tossed all processed photos.  Or maybe some photos never got into that drawer? My parents NEVER created albums, and rarely wrote dates or annotations on the photos.

The album page that you see above was created by me, years later, when I was pregnant and curious to see my own baby pictures. So, on my next visit to Danvers, I dug into that old drawer and spent hours trying to sort photos and determine dates. There were lots of baby photos, but which ones were of me and which of my sister?  Ultimately I turned the photos over and used the film processing numbers to group photos from each roll of film together. THAT really helped!  Usually in each roll of film there was enough context to help date the sequence.  After all that sorting, I selected some photos I liked and put them into a real album. My mother was tickled that I had created my own "baby album!"

More from MWN's diaries re 4th-of-July

My July 4th blog entry titled "Glorious Fourth" drew thank-you comments from family members who had also experienced July picnics in the grove at "Pine Knoll," the family home at 98 Preston Street, Danvers.  

I was delighted by email responses from cousin C. Stuart Brewster in California and cousin Janet Nichols Derouin in Maine. They are older than I am, and thus had participated in more of those traditional Fourth-of-July family picnics. None of us, however, were there in the years chronicled in the diaries of our great-great-aunt Mary Ward Nichols (MWN). 

I've decided to follow up with additional quotes from MWN's diaries.  My plan was simple: to open each small diary to the first week of July and see what, if anything, she had written about that annual family gathering, and to share her descriptions here.  I decided to start with 1900.

1900: "Passed a quiet fourth. Children enjoyed fire crackers. The older ones [? attending] a golf t...[?]. John and his Aunt Margaret drove from Tewksbury this afternoon. John looks better for his trip."

Click image to enlarge
 [Note: I am providing images of diary entries that were hard to read;
I hope my cousins will be able to decipher the words that stumped me.]

1901: "We had a very quiet restful fourth.  Enjoyed seeing the fireworks from all points this eve."

1902: "Cool. Passed a quiet Fourth at home. Went up on the hill to see the fireworks."

1903: "Fourth of July!    Girls went on a picnic."

1904: [no entry]

1905: "Girls went to Salem to see bonfire. Passed a quiet, pleasant fourth. Andrew and I walked up on the hill to see the fireworks."

1906: [no mention of Fourth, but entries about packing July 3 and traveling on July 7 to the Isles of Shoals for a week-long church conference.] 

1907: "Passed a quiet fourth at home.  Andrew and Charley Osgood had a few simple fireworks."

1908: [Trip to Nantucket started July 2 via S. Station, Boston..."a hot dirty car ride to Wood's Hole; a delightful boat ride to Nantucket." July 3 "Hot weather here..." ] July 4: "Busy eve. Stores are open so we went shopping. This afternoon was too hot to be out. Fire works and Fire hollering kept up until after 10 o'clock. We went up in Belfry of Unitarian Church and had fine view of {...} Island."

July 2-4, 1908.  Click image to enlarge

1909: July 4: "Cool. Had a quiet restful day. At home all day." July 5: "Warmer. All my brother's family here but Oda; also Mr. & Mrs. Simonds, a Mr. & Mrs. Wetherbee, Chas. Johnson & Maud Kimball had a picnic dinner in grove. Salads, Sandwiches, Green peas, Ice Cream Cake & Watermelon. Will's family fr. N. Andover.  In grove all day; fireworks evening. All enjoyed it greatly. 30 in all."

1910: July 4: "Warm. Came home at noon as they had a family picnic here and also the Simonds' family. Will & Nell came."

1911: July 4. "Intensely hot. 105.  All the family but Oda were gathered here for a picnic in the grove it was unusually hot here. A classmate of A.3rd was here also. Mr & Mrs. Symonds & Mr. & Mrs. Wetherbee. All enjoyed it not withstanding the heat; had some fireworks in the eve. Had 28 in all."

1912: "Hot but not so hot as last year. Every one of the family were here & [fi..?] of the Symond's family beside Oda Cole & a friend of A.3d   Will & his family drove down & are to pass night. The fireworks were at the Symonds. 31 in all. "    

July 4, 1912

1913:  [See my previous post, "Glorious Fourth" with text and images.]

1914: [no entry]

1915: Sunday July 4th. "Did not go to church as I did not feel very well. T. Kendall came.  Will dined here after preaching in N. Andover on his way back to Marblehead; reported Edward as getting along finely." 

1915  [Edward is Will's son, born 1907.]

July 5, 1915: "Rainy. Our picnic dinner had to be in doors. 37 took dinner here. John brought from Tewksbury Oda & his Aunts N. & M,  A. [?] & Leonis [sp?] his chaffeur & Charles Preston, wife & 3 ch.; Josh, wife & 2 ch, Howard Ballou, a  {niece?}. Mr. Nat. Symonds & wife, G. Wetherbee, wife & son, Mr. Sanderson, wife & 2 ch. Edith Wilson & Marion Malbury [?sp], t. Kendall, Margaret [Sloane? Home?] .  (took his mother back alone. John, his wife & A.3d went [...?]   also Esther late [?].

1915, July 5-6  The family picnic often was on the 5th, instead of 4th.

[I do not have MWN's diaries for 1916 or 1917.] 

1918:   

July 3-4, 1918

1919:  

July 3-4, 1919

July 4:  "A very hot day! 95* Went up to my brothers's as the family gathering is to be in the grove. My brother & wife and daughters, May and Margaret, Nellie & her husband [...?] Ruth, & sons Charles & Stanley, Josh & wife, son John & dau. Florence. Will & his wife, and two sons. John & wife. Annie B. & Marion, their brother Andrew 3d., only absent one of the family. N. Stanley, M. Beckerman & myself. Mr & Mrs. N. T. Simonds, and their dau. Clara Wetherbee, her husband, son & daughter. I stayed over night."

1920:  

July 4-5, 1920

[1921: no diary found.] 

1922: 

July 3-4, 2022

July 4, 1922: "Rainy night and morn... About 10 o'clock Mr. Wetherbee & his two children with his father-in-law Mr. Simonds & Will's two boys came in a large auto [le?]. to take me to N.H. [?noon?]. There was all of Lizzie's children & grandch. except Annie & her family & Will's wife, the 2 Stanleys & myself, also Mr. Simonds, his daughter & her family of 3, & Dorothy Cutter [Culter?], Marion's friend. In was indoor affair except a base ball game & continuous fire works. I came back [of ...?]train."

1923: July 4 "Spent a quiet day in Salem with Robert.   No callers.   Very quiet today, after the bonfire last night when it was very rainy."

Mary Ward Nichols died later in 1923 at age 81.  Her last diary entry was on Aug 5, but I do not know the exact date of her death.  Coincidently, I just turned 81 on July 10. No idea of my death date, either!

Glorious Fourth

"The Glorious Fourth. 

The entire Family gathered in the grove ... 

After lunch they had a parade.  

Will's family drove down and back by carriage.  John & Oda returned by train. "

This entry in Mary Ward Nichols' 1913 diary caught my attention.  I smile to think of "Will's family" coming by carriage.  That would be William Stanley Nichols at age 31 and his young family coming from North Andover, MA. His family included his wife Nellie and two sons, Edward and Nathan. Nathan was only 18 months old.  

Context:  Nathan later became my father.  "Will" became known to me as "Granddaddy."  But in 1913 Will was Rev. William S. Nichols, minister in the North Parish Church of North Andover, where he served from 1909 to 1919.

Will had grown up in Danvers in that house at Pine Knoll, where his aunt Mary Ward Nichols was living and keeping a diary.  I happen to have a box of her diaries now in my home. 

It's interesting to catch this glimpse of an earlier 4th of July with my grandfather and his family.  I wish I had a picture of the carriage they used. 

In the 1950's we probably all WALKED to the Pine Knoll family gatherings. Granddaddy by then had retired and returned to Danvers to live. We lived next door to him, at 120 Nichols Street. Walks to PK to visit with the great aunts and cousins were frequent and routine. No carriages. I don't recall a parade, either.  I guess I was born a bit late for those.  I do recall various automobiles parked along the PK driveway.   

Here's another view MWN's 1913 diary entry:

Click on image to enlarge

Each page of this 1913 diary measures just 3" x 4.75".  

Her 1914 diary was even smaller (2" x 4"), with entries very hard to read. In 1914 she did not write anything on July 4, nor for several days following.

Dogwood

This weekend I planted a small dogwood tree in our backyard in western Massachusetts, and thought of my mother, who loved flowering dogwood trees.  She grew up with them in CT, and later (1940's) transplanted a few young dogwood trees to the home in Danvers where I grew up. Those trees grew too, beautifying our yard. 

My new dogwood is only 4 feet tall. I hope it survives the transplanting (from a native plants nursery) and grows well. (I know that my timing is late for a spring planting; I'll water it well and watch it closely.) I look forward to its white blossoms in future springs. 

I have many memories of early May trips with my mother to see again the towering dogwoods that shaded roads in her former hometown of Westport, CT.  Pink ones and white ones arched high over the roads, with alternating patches of pink and white.  Stunning!   My mother's birthday (May 5) coincided with the peak of the blooming season for those dogwoods, so we often made that trip on or around her birthday. 

Reading history

In contrast to my school days in Danvers, when I disliked history classes and considered the subject boring and irrelevant, I'm now a voracious reader of history. Here's a photo of two books I've read recently:

These books fascinated me.  I do recommend them.  Well-written; well-documented.  

I read first David Waldstreicher's historical biography of Phillis Wheatley, the young African girl who wrote and published poems while enslaved in Boston in the 1770's. I'd already known of her name and fame, but had never before read much about her poems nor understood how she managed to get them published. I was curious to learn more about her life.

Two years ago I had heard a talk by Cornelia H. Dayton about the later years of Phillis's life, after emancipation, marriage, and a move away from Boston. Scholars had long questioned where Phillis and her husband had gone. Dayton solved that puzzle, finding evidence in court records in Middleton, MA.  (See my February 2022 blog entry about this discovery in a locale so close to Danvers.) 

Reading this 2023 biography added much to my knowledge of Phillis and the circumstances of her life. For example:

1. She was very YOUNG (about 7 yrs old) and ill when she arrived by ship to Boston in 1761.
2. She had been captured in West Africa and later wrote of longing for "Gambia's shores" [I once spent a summer in the Gambia region, and clearly recall the Gambia River and the coast.]
3. The affluent Wheatley family in Boston bought her for domestic service, but also taught her to read and write.
4. She not only learned English, but also Latin and Greek. 
5. By age 11 she was writing couplets. By age 12, she read classical works in the original languages.
6. In the winter of 1771-72 she prepared a book proposal for a 200-page volume of her poems. 
7. In 1773, while still enslaved, she crossed the Atlantic again, this time to London with a member of the Wheatley family to promote her book. She spent more than five weeks on the ship, then six weeks in or near London.
8. In London she met Benjamin Franklin and had meetings with many abolitionists. 
9. Her book was published in London in late 1773.
10. By late 1773, Phillis was back in Boston, and was emancipated. Copies of her book were shipped to Boston in early 1774.  

Coincidently, I was reading this biography in March 2024 as I travelled to and from London. I read of her London meetings while I was in London, and happened to see her book displayed in the "Entangled Pasts" exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. On my flight home I read about her experiences as she returned to Massachusetts and was figuring out how to cope as a free woman. She faced many new challenges then, just as relations between the colonies and the British empire were under strain.  

Thus, I felt ready to tackle a serious book of history about the American Revolution – to help me understand in more detail the winds of change that were blowing just as Phillis was emerging as an independent woman. Professor Joseph Ellis's 2021 book, The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents 1773-1783, was exactly what I needed.  

I learned SO much from his book!  I especially paid attention to how issues of slavery and treatment of indigenous peoples played out in the various campaigns of that tumultuous decade. The concluding paragraph of Ellis's book is meaningful and timely.

There were, then, two enduring political legacies firmly embedded in the American founding at the very start: first, any robust expression of government power, especially at the federal level, was placed on the permanent defensive; second, conspiracy theories that might otherwise have been dismissed as preposterous shouts from the lunatic fringe enjoyed a supportive environment because of their hallowed associations with The Cause. Both legacies gave American political thought a decidedly oppositional edge, much surer about what it was against than what it was for, prepared to block any hostile takeover from above by any aspiring dictator or domestic version of British tyranny, but incapable of decisive action at the national level to face or resolve the two embedded tragedies of slavery and Native American genocide in slow motion.

May 1913 letter by MWN

[Click on image to enlarge]

Here is another letter written in 1913 by Mary Ward Nichols to Miss Margaret Turner Holyoke.

This is a followup to the March 1913 letter already posted. 

See transcript (below) prepared by Peter Houston, grand nephew of Miss Holyoke. He had found these letters among possessions of his late mother, Susanne Houston.

Peter also found an email that his mother had written to me in 2015 about family genealogy, so he emailed to inform me of her death, and to share these letters.

Hathorne, May 11th, 1913

My Dear Miss Margaret,

    I should have answered your note much earlier, but waited to find out from the Secretary of the Essex Institute whether there were any copies of the diaries to be had.  I was not able to see him until this last week and found that he had this printed circular , and copies of the book to sell, so I enclose it.  I want to tell you that I was most relieved to to find that your home was not among those that were destroyed by the tornado which caused such ruin.  I feared for your safety and I felt that I must wait to get a word from you.  It happened so soon after you wrote of your receipt of the book.  I thank you for sending me the pictures of your brother's children;  they are bright, healthy looking children;  the group of the three is very cunning.  I am glad to see such a sturdy-looking Edward A. Holyoke of this generation;  his little sister seem to me to have to have more of the Holyoke look.  Since writing you, I saw your aunt, Mrs. Davis, when she spoke in Salem at the North Church (which was the church the centenarian E.A. Holyoke attended, not the same building however, but the one your grandfather did).  She spoke at the union meeting of the three Salem Alliances.  I only had a chance to say a word that I had heard from you as there were so many wishing to speak to her;  she seemed well and had just returned from a southern trip.  I hope to hear her in Boston a week from tomorrow, May 19th, at a meeting.  I congratulate you on your fortunate escape which was wonderful, as it damaged your house and you were so near the heart of it.  I hope you received the photographs of your Aunt Bessie I sent you and the others of your great-grandmother.  I hope to hear from time to time from you and your family.

Cordially,

Mary Ward Nichols

----------

NOTE:

The name Edward A. Holyoke in this letter is well known in our families. When MWN refers to the "centenarian E. A. Holyoke" I know those initials refer to Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, a founder of the Massachusetts Medical Society and its first president. He lived from August 1, 1758 to March 31, 1859. He is the common link in our genealogies.

In 2015 Susanne Houston wrote to me, "I am delighted find a new cousin, especially one descended from Susanna, since the only direct descends from Edward Augustus I, the old doctor of Salem, Mass., are through his 2 married daughters, your Susanna and our Judith." 

I learned that her family line includes many others named Edward Augustus Holyoke, designated with Roman numerals to keep them straight:

(Dr.) Edward Augustus Holyoke (Turner) II. (1796-1855) In 1817 he dropped the family name 'Turner" at the request of his grandfather, the original Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke.
Edward Augustus Holyoke III  
Edward Augustus Holyoke IV

Edward Augustus Holyoke V    etc. 

 

My awareness of this side of the family tree really began in 2015, with a phone conversation with a woman in Ontario, Canada. She enjoyed reading this blog. In an email in 2015, she wrote, "Mom is going to help me figure out our family relationship... The way my genealogy goes back to the "old doctor" (as Mom calls him) is as follows:

Laura Porter Houston (now Weaver)

daughter of Susanne Elwood Houston (and Alexander Clayton Houston)

daughter of Pleasant Mariah Holyoke (and Samuel Harold Elwood)

daughter of Edward Augustus IV (and Emma Maryann Whitbread)

son of Edward Augustus Holyoke III (and Maria Bassett)

son of Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke Turner (and Mariah Osgood)

son of Judith Holyoke (and William Turner Jr.)

daughter of Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke and Mary Simpson Viall"

Laura is of course Peter's sister. The 'old doctor' is their 6th-great-grandfather, and he is my 5th-great-grandfather.  I think that makes us 5th-cousins-once-removed or is it 6th-cousins-once-removed?  A simpler way to state this:  Laura and Peter are 6th cousins to my daughter Tonya Holyoke Ward (now Singer) and my son Chris L. Ward. 

March 1913 letter

An intriguing letter has come into my hands this week. It was written 111 years ago by a woman in Danvers to a woman in Omaha, Nebraska. Both women were at that time (1913) in the process of learning about connections linking their families.  

Likewise, I and the man who recently discovered this letter are now communicating about our relations to these women and the common ancestry we share. He signed a recent email "Your Cousin, - Peter" and I am grateful to him for sharing the physical letter and his transcription of the handwriting.  

This letter is addressed to Peter's great aunt, Margaret Turner Holyoke in Omaha, Nebraska. (She was a young woman of 19 or 20 years old at the time, not yet an aunt). The letter-writer is Mary Nichols Ward, my grandfather's maiden aunt, age 71, who had moved from Salem to Danvers in 1880 to join her brother Andrew Nichols and his large family at "Pine Knoll" (98 Preston Street). 

Here's an image of the envelope and first page of the letter dated March 3, 1913:  

[Click on image to enlarge]

At first I struggled to read the handwriting, especially in places where the ink had smeared and/or bled through the paper.  The transcription (below) really helps.  Although the opening sentences are puzzling because we don't know the prior communications, the rest of the letter conveys interesting bits of family history.  I'm eager to share the letter here, to make it accessible to more members of the very extended Holyoke / Nichols family tree.

---   Transcription of letter from Miss Mary Ward Nichols to Miss Margaret Turner Holyoke   ---

Hathorne, March 3rd, 1913

My Dear Miss Margaret,

Your very interesting note reached me last week, when I was extremely busy, so have waited to answer it.  I will send the book I spoke of, today probably.  I knew your aunt, Mrs. Davis, as I met her occasionally at Unitarian meetings where she is such a worker, and it was from her that I learned your father's address.  Your name interests me, also your sister's, you all have the family names.  I knew your great-aunt Margaret Holyoke Turner, who was my mother's cousin, and who lived with my grandmother's (Mrs. Susan Ward's family), of which my mother and her two children formed a part the last eight years of her life.  I feel you will be interested in the "Holyoke Diaries", some of which got out of the family, by being loaned to a Mr. Stickney, who never returned them; but it's an "ill wind," etc., as they would never have been printed if the sale of them had not led up to the final printing of them.  Your Aunt Maria I remember so well as such a bright, wide-awake girl.   I never saw her after she went to Syracuse:  her daughter Mollie came to see us in Salem, with your Aunt Bessie, we all enjoyed that visit.  I have a photograph of your Aunt Bessie, taken at that time, and feel that you are the one to have it.  My mother and unmarried Aunt, Mehitable Ward, made their home together in Salem, (the latter died first, and my mother last, in 1880)  this home was the place where the out-of-town relatives stopped.  On the death of my mother, I came to live with my brother Andrew, in Danvers, and have been here 32 years; his family was large, seven living at home at the time; he celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary a year ago last September.  His oldest living son is Supt. of the State Infirmary at Tewksbury, and his youngest son is a Unitarian minister settled at North Andover...he has a son named Edward Holyoke nearly six years of age.  (A married niece, also nephew, live in houses very near).  Two unmarried daughters and myself live with his wife and him; it is also the home of two granddaughters and a grandson (orphans), tho' two are away, one at college and one, Andrew the 3rd, who is in the Harvard Medical School, having graduated from Har. Coll. two yrs ago next June.  The oldest, Annie, is a music teacher (& soloist) living here and going out to most of her pupils.  My oldest niece is a public-school teacher, but lives at home.  Neither father or mother are living of the three grandchildren mentioned.  I was much interested in the account you gave me of your brother's family, and also of your own.  I would like to see the pictures you speak of and see if I could trace a resemblance to the family; I well remember your grandfather's last visit to Salem, it was about 1862, I think.  I went with him to the Salem Normal School where he talked with pupils in a classroom.  Your aunt, Mrs. Davis, is to speak this spring in Salem, I believe, and hope to hear her; if I do, I will speak to her about hearing from you.  The town I live in is Danvers, but the section where my home is has the local name of Hathorne; the railroad station & the post office have the same name and are very near us, also the street cars from Salem.  The Danvers State Hospital for the Insane, of which I am one of the trustees, is also near.  Please thank your mother for her kind regards & extend the same to her & yourself.

Cordially,

Mary Ward Nichols

-----------------------

Here are two more images of the original letter (all on a single sheet of paper that folded to fit in the small envelope):

[Click on image to enlarge]

[Click on image to enlarge]

Stay tuned...  I will share a second letter, dated May 1913, after I have a chance to investigate a question or two.  I'm hopeful that Mary Nichols Ward's diaries -- which have been stored in my home for over a decade -- will provide some clues. This week I've confirmed that I do have her 1913 diary. I haven't yet read it.  To be continued...

Annalee Dolls

 

This image of skiers on a chairlift triggers many memories!  Not only memories of chairlift rides, but also memories of Annalee dolls and their happy faces.

I wish I had visited the New England Ski Museum in time to see this winter's exhibition, "New Hampshire Ski History with Annalee Dolls."  It closes tomorrow, so I know I won't get there.

In Danvers years ago I became familiar with Annalee dolls because my cousin Janet Nichols Derouin, who lived next door, admired them greatly and helped distribute them. Janet and her good friend Pat Poirier knew the woman who made the dolls. Many examples of the dolls, with different expressions and costumes, were at times in Janet's home as she fulfilled orders. It was fun to see them. 

The image above comes from the Winter 2024 issue of the Newsletter of the New Hampshire Historical Society.  I joined that society last fall after two very pleasant days using their library archives in Concord, N.H.  I had no idea, then, that the society owned several Annalee dolls and would be lending them to the Ski Museum. 

For more about Annalee Dolls, visit https://annalee.com/.  

Stories from the Slopes

Tonight while browsing through possible PBS shows to watch, I selected the category Documentaries and noticed a WGBH Special titled, "Stories from the Slopes: Western New England Skiing History."

That peaked my interest, especially today. My father was born January 8th and became an avid skier. He ran ski-tows in eastern Massachusetts for decades (especially the Locust Lawn Ski Club in Danvers in the 1940s-1960s). I loved skiing with him, and hearing my parents' stories of early ski history. But none of those stories involved WESTERN Massachusetts, where I have lived now for over 30 years.

This documentary taught me much about the downhill ski areas here, past and present. I'm astonished by the very early dates (1930's) when many of the ski slopes were first developed.  I wonder if my father knew of these places. He was a college student at "Mass Aggie" (Mass State College) in Amherst 1930-34, so perhaps he did. 

I really enjoyed watching the scenes in this 38-minute program.  Although I didn't know the specific hills or operators, I certainly recognized the fun of the sport – just as I had grown up with it. Everything was SO familiar!  The way we skied, the way rope-tows worked, the ski styles and technologies... Such memories!  

Although I haven't been a customer at a downhill ski area in decades, I did ski today, on my x-c skis. The day was beautiful, bright and sunny with deep fresh snow from this weekend's storm.  At one point I did aim my skis down a hill, and let myself go fast -- almost as if I were on downhill skis again. Fun!

If you'd like to watch the documentary (which first aired 12/06/17), visit this link:

 https://video.wgbh.org/video/stories-from-the-slopes-western-new-england-skiing-history-vz1oru/

Description: "Western New England was once a skiing mecca, with nearly 80 ski areas across four counties. Today, there are fewer than a dozen. Using archival film, historical images, and interviews, this locally produced film explores our ski history, revisits past ski-centric social norms, pays tribute to some of the major resorts no longer in operation, and celebrates the region’s still-active ski areas."