Thank heavens for the newspapers in other states that are sharing their back issues on the worldwide web. I learn so much Norwich history by accident as I learn how to do a search in their particular system. Norwich may think that keeping their copies on microfilm and microfiche is preservation but it truly is not. Keeping the issues unavailable to the rest of the world is just plain selfish.

From the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections and the Illinois State Journal I submit these gems for your interest and amusement.

From March 13 1832 “The Rev. Ephraim Judson, a clergy man, settled in Norwich, Ct., in 1771, was an exceedingly quaint and original preacher. Remarking in one of his sermons, upon the excuses made by the guests invited to the wedding feast, he observed that one who had bought five yoke of oxen simply entreated to be excused, while the one who had married a wife absolutely declared that he could not come. ‘Hence, learn,’ said the preacher, ‘that one woman can pull harder than five yoke of oxen.’”

From February 13, 1838 “A Mrs. Randall, of Norwich, Conn., died of hydrophobia, a day or two since. The malady was contracted by putting her hand, with a slight abrasion of the skin of one finger, into a pail of water she had offered to a cow that had been bitten by a mad dog. The froth from the cow’s mouth had become mixed with the water. “

From June 1, 1905 “Alice A. Wetmore, Box 67, Norwich, Conn., says if any sufferer from Heart Disease will write her, she will, without charge, direct them to the perfect cure she used.”

From September 28, 1933 “When President Jackson was at Norwich, Ct. the eccentric Lorenzo Dow presented him with a pole, on the lower end of which was a piece of Clay, on the middle some Mother-Wort, and on the top a Hickory sprig. “Here,” says he, “is Clay at the bottom, Wirt in the middle, and Old Hickory triumphant over both”

I hope you are enjoying these little tidbits as much as I did as I stumbled on them.

Email your comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

As more information becomes available more history changes. Its always a matter of where you are standing when you are looking at it though and sometimes that can change too.

When a facebook friend posted a paragraph from the Mary E Perkins book “Old Houses of Norwich” page 24 with the account of “ Josiah Rockwell and John Reynolls, Jun, were found dead, and throwndown ye River bank, their scalps cut off.”  I felt I needed to look a little further.

Mary E. Perkins took her information from a letter from Edward Palmes to William Leete dated January 29, 1676.

The account states “This morning Early Came post from Norwich with the sad Intelligence of two men & a boy being taken & killed who went over Showtuckett River to spread flax vizt Jos: Rockwell & his boy of 15 or 16 years ould & John Renolls

Junr of Norwich, the said Jos: Rockwell & Renolls ware found Dead, & thrown  Down ye river banke there scalpes Cutt of, the boy Is not yeat found supposed to bee Caryed away alive. The two Indyans Came In to ye Pequitts, saying they ware almost starved. They formerly Did belong to them.”

Miss Perkins added that the “son of Josiah Rockwell (Joseph) was about thirteen years of age when he was carried off by the  Indians but, was soon restored to his friends.”

 Everything appears straight forward until you look at the date of the letter. Late January 1676. Even it were the January thaw that is awfully early in the year or the growing season to be planting a crop that is usually not sown until after the last frost. That’s risking a tremendous crop loss if there are bad weather conditions before harvesting.

 Perhaps there was a delay in receiving the information and perhaps the murder took place in the fall? King Philips War began in  June 1675 .  Maybe they felt safe with a party of three.

What happened to the two Indians mentioned? Joseph grew up and married and became a successful shop and Innkeeper.

If you have more pieces to this puzzle please don’t hesitate to email me at berylfishbone@yahoo.com

You never know what odd little hobby that started out as something to do will turn into. For example, in the 1880’s Vermont farmer Wilson Alwyn Bentley began taking thousands of photographs of snowflakes on black velvet. He believed no two snowflakes were alike. Today scientists say that no two complex snowflakes are alike but simple combinations of snow crystals may be alike. I did not find a comment on how global warming and pollution are figured into the equation.

Bentley died in 1933 of pneumonia developed after  he walked home in a blizzard.  

From the State of CT page on interesting weather facts I learned the Average winter snowfall in the Northwest Hills is 50 inches while the Average winter snowfall along the coast is 30-35 inches.

In January Connecticut averages 3.5 inches of liquid precipitation or 12.3 inches of snowfall and January 20-25 is the traditional January thaw. Bring it on! I am ready!

The hard gray slippery ice/snow combination that forms on unshoveled sidewalks from people walking across it is called “panked snow” in the northern fringes of the country.

Snow is not necessarily white. Glacier snow can appear blue. Algae that can grow on fallen snow can appear red or green. Hikers call it “watermelon snow.” Sandstorms and volcanic eruptions can also change the color of snow miles away.

Yes it is possible for it to snow when its 40 – 50 degrees  and there is such a thing as snow thunder.

And because you did not ask, the reason I do not live in Chicago – In 2013-2014 they had 82.0 inches of snow while in Connecticut we averaged around 50.0 inches.

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Being a short chubby person I do my very best to stay away from or at least be judicious about what I choose to snack on. A crunchy mix of sweet and salty popcorn is tempting but if there is chocolate available I am lost. But on January 13^th at the Norwich Agway Droll Yankees Movie Night Extravaganza (It was a fifteen minute movie on feed, feeders and houses available for local bird populations) they served a most wonderful treat! A treat that was for humans and not the birds! They served my first taste of Keifer’s Kettle Korn made in nearby Griswold, CT.

Of course Keifer’s Kettle Korn does not have a local distributor in Norwich but it is available in an impressive assortment of other southeastern CT towns and at every successful farmers market too except for Norwich (of course).But I am hoping that Agway will be the first of many.  PLEASE try this corn and demand that it be available in Norwich. It comes in bags and containers with the well deserved warning that it is a highly addictive substance.

I had one small seed in the bottom of my bag. That was it. I never have just one seed left when I pop my own corn and sadly my own does not have the fresh crunchy quality I experienced with the popcorn in my bag of Keifer’s. It had a light mix of sugar and salt. My fingers remained clean while my tongue greedily licked any crumbs from my lips. It is difficult to describe the perfection of the mix.

Retail Norwich I am begging you to go out of your way to support Connecticut manufacturing and production. When you see something successfully being sold in other towns do not be afraid to bring it to Norwich. There are people here who will love it, like it and support it and you as well.

Somewhere out there is a whole new world that Norwich can be a part of. A world of new products and experiences and joy and wonder but Norwich must be the one to take the step out. Retail Norwich must be the ones to extend their hands, their hearts, their wallets and their support.  

To learn the story of Keifer’s Kettle Korn visit www.keiferskettlekorn.com or call 860.376.5756 or visit Norwich Agway for your first bag. I promise you it won’t be your last.

Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

Back in 1993 or 1995 I read a Dear Abby that stuck in my brain. It was a request by a Grandma Somebody and was asking Abby to republish her definition of maturity. I thought it was an excellent definition and I would like to ask the members of the Norwich City Council to make this a part of their New Year’s Resolutions. Probably wouldn’t hurt if we all did the same. My apologies to Dear Abby if I have messed them up in any way.

Maturity is:

The ability to stick with a job until it is finished. (Even when it is not a job you like.)

The ability to do a job without being supervised. (To do the job properly and thoroughly even though there are short cuts and an easy way out.)

The ability to carry money without spending it. (To save and prepare for that bigger project or the rainy day or the unexpected raise in the cost of living .)

And the ability to bear an injustice without wanting to get even. (Grown-ups accept that people make mistakes. When you goof-up, admit it. When you are the one hurt, allow the wound to heal and move on.)

Enjoy a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

Email your comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

Norwich has long had a connection to space, the moon and Norwich has long had a connection to space, the moon and yes even the stars. Be nice! The reason is not just because we have a lot of space cadets in this city.

William Tyler Olcott was born January 11, 1873 and chose to live in Norwich, CT as a lawyer and amateur astronomer. His home was Glebe House, at 62 Church Street. The building is a two-and-a-half story dwelling, plain except for an elaborate wide cornice with very heavy dentils. A wooden observatory, was added by Olcott, with a revolving hexagonal tower was perched behind the roof.  The observatory was removed by the Otis Library when they used the house as a children’s library. 

 In 1909, after attending a lecture by Edward Pickering, Olcott developed an interest in observing variable stars. In 1911, he and professor Pickering founded the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). Olcott also published several books to popularize the field of amateur astronomy. Including one for children so they could share in the dreams of the universe.

NASA named a crater on the moon in his honor for his dedication to space observation. I don’t pretend to understand the information on the craters location but for those of you that do from a Moon information site I borrow the following for you.

Olcott is a relatively fresh crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the south-southeast of the craters Seyfert and Polzunov, and to the north of Kostinskiy.

This crater lacks any significant appearance of erosion from subsequent impacts, and its features are relatively well-defined. The rim edge is generally circular, with a slight outward bulge to the northeast and a larger bulge to the south. It has an outer rampart and some terraces and slumped edges along the inner wall. Several low ridges lie near the interior mid-point, with the western pair near the center and the eastern peaks offset towards the eastern rim.

The satellite craters Olcott M and Olcott L form an overlapping pair along the southern outer rampart of Olcott, with the smaller member of the pair Olcott L overlapping Olcott M. The satellite crater Olcott E is partly overlain by the eastern rim of Olcott.

William Tyler Olcott died July 6, 1936.

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When you are searching for the past it is easy to hit a wall you can’t get past and have no one to tell you why you can’t get find what you want. For some it is the 1890 census. Well here is what happened.

The  original copies of the 1890 Census were lost in a Washington DC fire in 1921. So if you are looking to document your ancestors remember to breathe because there are some alternatives available to you. Many cities, including Norwich,  are lucky enough to have City Directories covering that year and many other individual years as well. Otis library has directories of the Norwich area and the directories are also available on-line.  Ancestry.com has a searchable index.

Some states had their own census as well and those are freely available. Check with the individual state historical society.

Church records are a hit or miss. Some have been stored and are sitting in boxes at the back of attics or in basements. Some were sent to designated storage facilities nearby, in other states, or in some cases other countries. Some are on line. Some are in the process of being made public and some are lost forever. The Church of Latter Day Saints collection is mostly searchable but not infallible.

The Veteran’s Census will tell you if your Union veteran ancestor was living in 1890, as well as some basic information about his war service, along with his current age and occupation. 

This is some of the information that was becoming available in the census and is what allows researchers to develop as accurate a picture as possible of what America was like.

• The names of everyone in the household, including servants
• Their ages
• How they were related to the head of the household
• Where their parents were born
• What language they and their parents spoke
• Their year of immigration (if immigrants)
• Whether they could read or write
• Whether they had gone to school in the past year
• Whether the head of household owned or rented their home
• Whether their house was a farm or some other type of home

So many questions and never enough  time.

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