Monthly Archives: October 2016

Voting history lesson 1864

We have all uttered the words, “I can’t wait for election season to be over.” “I can’t stand the choices so I am not going to vote.” “My vote doesn’t count.” I can’t wait for the election season to be over either and I am not pleased with the candidate options but not voting; is not an option for me. I cannot be everywhere, at every meeting, in every room with every decision maker that is making a decision that may affect my life or my loved ones’ lives in some way, shape or form. So I vote and participate in my community how and where I can and hope you will too.

The huge numbers of soldiers away from home during the Civil War [April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865.] created the first need for absentee voting. Some states appointed election officials in various camps and held elections on designated days. Other states had soldiers mark ballots and mail them home, a lot like the absentee ballots of today. But after the war, the states allowed the voting laws to expire until World War II. Then for the first time, the United States Congress got involved and passed laws that encouraged states to permit service personnel to request ballots and to vote while stationed overseas.
But it took until 1986 for Congress to pass the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) to clarify the rules and until 2009 for the Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment (MOVE) Act that required States to change their election laws to ensure that overseas military personnel could register to vote and request ballots electronically. Additionally, states were required to have ballots ready to mail at least 45 days before an election to ensure enough time to return the ballot to be counted.
It took a while but now it is much easier for Americans away from home, and in combat zones, to vote and for those votes to be counted.

In 1864 times were a little different and in the Norwich Bulletin on August 15, 1864 was this article titled “Vote for the Soldier” “We again urge Union men to see to it that they deposit their votes today for the constitutional Amendment allowing the soldier in the field to vote. No excuse for omitting this duty, derived from the pressure of business, can stand as valid. Let no man attempt to foist upon others the responsibilities of action in this matter. The duty is personal to everyone, and cannot be honorably evaded or shirked. And unless there is a disposition to shake off apathy and go to the polls the amendment will be lost and the soldier will be deprived of his rights. Let the vote be emphatic.”

Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com
View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

Mrs. Wordsworth

Most of us recognize the name William Wordsworth as a poet and the author of inspirational sentences such as
“The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.”
“Come grow old with me. The best is yet to be.” Or
“The music in my heart I bore long after it was heard no more.”

but did you know he was married? I came across this notice of death in the March 2, 1859 edition of the Norwich, CT newspaper. “ DEATH OF MRS. WORDSWORTH. – The widow of the poet Wordsworth died at Rydal Mount, near Ambleside, on Monday night last, the 17th. She had reached beyond the age of fourscore years and passed away after a short illness. She was of so great assistance to her husband in all the works he gave to the public, that she was not an unimportant member of the literary world, though a silent one. Her life was long, and it was as pure, beautiful and useful as the most ardent admirer of English domestic character could imagine. The poet could not have been blessed with a household companion more meet for him; and better still, the poet knew and felt the blessing he possessed in such a companion:
“A perfect woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a spirit still, and bright,
With something of angelic light.”
For some years past, Mrs. Wordsworth’s powers of sight had entirely failed her, but she still continued cheerful and “bright,” and full of conversational power as in former days. Quiet as her life was, there were few persons of literary note to whom she was not known, and very general will be the regret for the loss of so excellent a woman. ”
But what was her name? Her singular identity. Not a mention. Not a clue was given in the article.
Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com
View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

About Mittens

I know that the cold weather is coming. I can feel it in my bones. I see it in the stores with foods for the holidays and clothing that calls out to be layered. I hear people talking about yarn and patterns for crocheting and knitting. I only know one stitch of each so I can’t really join in the conversation. But I knew I had to share when I read an article in the Norwich Bulletin from 1863 with specific directions for what the Civil War soldiers wanted in their fingered mitten.
The soldiers wanted a mitten to keep their hands warm but they needed a finger free in case they needed to fire their gun. The same pattern is used today so that the index finger is free to press the keys on our cellphones. This is above my skill grade but I would love to see a finished product. So, without further ado I present to you the short article titled “About Mittens. – Directions for a Knit Mitten with a finger. –
Cast on sixty stitches for the wrist seam two and knit two for two and a half inches; knit twice plain.
To form the thumb seam two stitches, widening one between them; knit three inches, widening within the seams every third time till there are sixteen stitches between the seams, then every fourth time till there are twenty-four or twenty-six between the seams.
Take off these stitches and the seam stitches on a thread and cast on twelve stitches for the hand: knit on ten for the hand; knit two inches before narrowing off.
Take up the stitches for the finger, and knit it a little shorter than the hand.
Take up the stitches for the thumb, narrow and stop and bind off four stitches, and knit about two inches before narrowing off. “
Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com
View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

Huntington Poetry Duel

I went on a tour with a wonderful guide who kept us interested and entertained with poems and ditties about the local folks past and present. The guide swore that all his stories had at least a grain of truth. So when I ran across these poems I thought how wonderful they would be to be recited on the walking tours that include the Huntington Home.
The illustrated poem “Huntington Home” by Edmund Clarence Stedman, was published in the Century Magazine, June 1894.
HUNTINGTON HOME

LADIES, Ladies Huntington your father served, we know,
As aide-de-camp to Washington you often told us so,
And when you sat you side by side in that ancestral pew,
We knew his ghost sat next door, and very proud of you.

Ladies, Ladies Huntington, like you there are no more:
Nancy, Sarah, Emily, Louise, proud maidens four;
Nancy tall and angular, Louise a rosy dear,
And Emily as fine as lace but just a little sere.

What was it, pray, your life within the mansion grand and old,
Four dormers in its gambrel-roof, their shingles grim with mould?
How dwelt you in your spinsterhood, ye ancient virgins lone,
From infancy to bag-and-muff so resolutely grown?

Each Sunday morning out you drove to Parson Arms’s church,
As straight as if Time had not left you somehow in the Lurch;
And so lived where your grandfather and father lived and died,
Until you sought them one by one and last of all stayed pride.

You knew that with them you would lie in that old burial ground
Where through the name of Huntington on vault and stone is found,
Where Norwichtown’s first infant male, in sixteen-sixty born,
Grave Christopher, still rests beneath his cherub carved forlorn.

There sleep your warlike ancestors, their feet toward the east,
And thus shall face the Judgment Throne when Gabriel’s blast hath ceased.
The frost of years may heave the tomb whereto you were consigned,
And school-boys peer atween the cracks, but you will never mind.

A nearby neighbor of the “Ladies Huntington,” Marian Fitch Loomis wrote a reply published by the Bulletin on February 27, 1895.
Edmund Clarence Stedman! ‘tis not quite kind of you,
To mock the ladies Huntington, your friends and kinsfolk, too.
Is’t for revenge, because when young they took you so to task
For boyish prank and caper wild, or deed you fain would mask?

I trow, Miss Nancy “angular” you hardly then did call,
Or Miss Louise, “a rosy dear,” Miss Sarah “large” or “small.”
Or ever dared to speak to them as “spinsters,” “virgins lone,”
With scoff of “Gabriel’s trumpet” or “the old frost-cracked tombstone.”

What was their life, you ask, within that mansion grand and old?
‘Twas nobler far than most of ours, if but the truth were told,
You quite forget to mention their dignity and worth.
Their many acts of charity, their gentle pride of birth.

Do you forget the sunny smile of Miss Louisa’s face?
Her silvery curls, her quiet mien and fine old fashioned grace?
Have you no fear lest some near day a younger boy than you
May sketch your picture quite a ill as you Miss Emily’s do?

Edmund Clarence Stedman! Forbear and write no more,
Lest the same ghost you place by them should enter at your door,
And, stalking grimly by your side till in despair you die,
Avenge his daughter’s memory, whose fame you dare decry.

Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com
View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

Norwich, CT Liberty Pole

A Liberty Pole is a tall wooden pole planted in the ground, sometimes used as a flagpole and may be capped with a Phrygian cap, liberty cap, flag or ensign.

The Phrygian cap is a soft, red, conical cap with the top pulled forward. In
Paintings and caricatures it represents freedom and the pursuit of liberty.

The Liberty Poles became known as a symbol of dissent against Great Britain. They were often raised during the American Revolution by the Sons of Liberty and then regularly destroyed by the British authorities from the repeal of the Stamp Act (1766) until after the Battle of Long Island (1776). When a red flag or ensign was raised on the pole it meant there was going to be a meeting of the Sons of Liberty or a town meeting to discuss issues with British rule.

One hundred years later, Norwich, CT honored the past by installing another Liberty Pole and the following is how it was reported in the paper of the time.

November 18, 1861 That Flagstaff. – For 3 or 4 days past a hole has been in progress of erection on Franklin Square for the reception of that long talked about Liberty Pole and flagstaff. John Brown began it with an attack upon an old tree that stood there aforetime. He followed it up with an incursion upon an obsolete and forgotten well, and pursued it until away down ten feet to “step the pole. There he had a stone laid for a foundation. Then Jem Ritchie boxed up the hole. Then people gathered around at all hours of the day, and looked wisely into the hole and wondered what it was put there for. Then the first half (from the top) of the pole was brought round and more people got together and looked at the pole. And there is where it is now. It is currently reported that the pole will be raised Tuesday.

November 23, 1861 That Liberty Pole, for the purchase of which a subscription paper has been industriously and energetically circulated among our citizens, is in process of manufacture at the yard of Messrs. J.& W. Batty, in Mystic, and will be raised on Franklin Square this week. It will be a handsome ornament to the square and will probably serve for a week or two, as a convenient place for small boys to break their necks. The Mystic Pioneer gives the following elaborate description of the pole:

“The main stick is 85 feet long and 25 inches thick in the partners. The topmast is 75 feet long and 14 inches in the cap. The pole will be placed in a deck which will be sunk in the ground. The topmast will be supported by wire rigging. The pole is made of Canada Pine, and is a beautiful piece of timber. A splendid Liberty Cap will be placed on the top, which was made by Campbell & Colby.”

November 28, 1861 Well omened. – On Wednesday morning just as the top most of the new liberty pole was started on its ascent, after the liberty cap had been set in its place, three large bald eagles were seen soaring majestically over the square. A large crowd of citizens who had gathered to witness the raising, observed the birds, and congratulated themselves on the Omen.

Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com
View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

Balloon Ascension 1855

Sometimes events do not work out as planned and that is just a part of life. In the August 8, 1855 edition of the Norwich Courier there was great excitement about the Balloon Ascension which was soon to take place and “certain sure” to put everyone “on the tiptoe of expectation.” “It is understood that the event is to come off or going up next week. The ascension will be made from the Parade, in front of General Williams, from which no better spot can be desired. The balloon will be inflated with gas from the Joint Stock Company’s pipes which will be opened for the purpose at the point indicated. The aeronaut is expected to reach this city from Philadelphia today or tomorrow, and we will probably be furnished with more full and definite information in time for our next issue.”

But in the August 15, 1855 edition of the same newspaper ran the following; – THE BALLOON ASCENSION. – We were shown yesterday a letter, just received, from the gentleman who is to make the Balloon Ascension from this city, from which we learn the cause of his delay in reaching Norwich has been an unexpected ascension of his balloon on its own hook.- He was to make an ascension from Waterbury on Friday last. Having inflated his balloon, he left it in charge, for a few moments, of a  ”land lubber,” from whom it made its escape straight away mounting sky high it hovered for a time over the city, then sailed gracefully off toward Long Island Sound where it made its descent, and was captured by some wandering sail. The owner at the date of his letter, was in pursuit if the flyaway; and as soon as he could over haul it and repair the damages, he proposed to come and execute his plan for an ascension from Norwich.”

I guess the aeronaut never caught up with his balloon as I have not found another reference for a Balloon Ascension in Norwich, CT in that time period. Or maybe I am just full of hot air!

Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs01?taxid=1172 and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

Spooky Cemetery Tour

Norwich CT historians have discovered cemeteries for great places to give tours in Halloween Season. Goodness knows we have enough of them. But if it were up to me the tour of the season would not be in the Old Town cemetery or the Yantic Cemetery. I want a bit of history, a taste of fear, but most of all I want a great story.

The best spooky story for me can be found in a small cemetery that has little care and few visitors. It’s not located where people see it so it is overgrown with weeds and mostly forgotten. It’s the Alms House Cemetery located just behind the Norwich, CT Dog Park. If you don’t know where to go you won’t find it. You have to drive past the city garage and 245 Asylum St home of Mini Melts USA where Allen Shedroff’s Norwich Meat Packing (NORPACO) was for many, many years.

Before, before, before this isolated patch was home to the Alm’s House. It was located on purpose away from the general population. Much has been written about the fire and the poor souls that died because they were locked in their rooms. Their final screams echoing in the wind when the firemen finally arrived. Few friends, loved ones or people cared and they were laid to rest in a corner of the lawn. But did you know the fire was only another instance in a series of not wholly unusual occurrences in the history of the Alms House?

That is the place I want to be to hear aloud the history of the area. I will be able to see in my minds eye a building of wood and brick. I will be able to hear the screams for help as the wind caresses my skin and whistles in my ears. The unkept grass will tug at my feet and ankles as I imagine it to be a resident not understanding  he or she is dead and trying to get my attention to tell a family member of their love.  Oh yes the story of this tiny cemetery is my choice for spooky, scary tales of the season. Look for two of the stories of the Alms House in past blogs.   

 

Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs01?taxid=1172 and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.

 

  
   

 

Charles F. Chapman

In my head while standing in Brown Park, I picture a statue of a man looking out over the turning basin looking down the Thames Estuary.  I like to think that it is a statue of Charles F. Chapman (January 4,1881 – March 21, 1976), or “Chappie.” “Chappie” grew up and was educated in Norwich, CT and developed his avid love of water, boats and motors on the local waters. Like so many others, he left Norwich soon after graduating from Norwich Free Academy and earned a degree in marine engineering from Cornell University (class of 1905). Then he became a writer and editor of the Hearst Publication Motor Boating Magazine (1912 – 1968).

In 1914, Chapman and nine others founded the United States Power Squadron. There he regularly served as an officer and Commander. He even designed the symbol or ensign of the organization used on its flag.  

In 1916, when the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt (later 32nd President of the United States) looked for someone to write  an instruction manual to teach small-boat operation, including landing craft, gigs, and patrol craft to members of the Navy Reserve, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines he looked to Chapman.  In three days, Chapman assembled Practical Motor Boat Handling, Seamanship, and Piloting from many of the articles that had appeared in Motor Boating magazine.

Practical Motor Boat Handling, Seamanship, and Piloting has been constantly revised and updated since its first printing in 1917 and even the name has been changed to Piloting, Seamanship & Small Boat Handling but the basic text has remained the same and on September 3, 2013 celebrated its 67th printing. It is the official text book and reference for anyone seeking their boating license in the United States.

Chapman settled in Manhattan and joined the New York Motor Boat Club serving as its Commodore and for 25 years was secretary of the American Power Boat Association and chairman of the association’s racing commission.

While living on Long Island, he was the Commodore of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club.    

But always looking for a new challenge, in 1971, “Chappie” and Glen D. Castle, founded the Chapman School of Seamanship, 4343 S.E. St Lucie Blvd, Stuart, Florida 34997 with a former Coast Guard cutter gifted by Canadian monks. It’s currently an 8 acre campus with a training fleet of 30 vessels minutes from the Intracoastal Waterway, the Atlantic Ocean and less than 90 nautical miles from the Bahamas.

Chapman died at 95 years of age in Essex, Connecticut on March 21, 1976.

His spirit, interests and basic education were developed and honed here in Norwich so that as an adult he could accomplish great things in other places. I look around at the youth in the park today and wonder which of them will use the education they receive here to do great things somewhere in the world tomorrow.  

Thank you for sharing my blog with your friends. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs01?taxid=1172 and please read the daily 225th Bulletin Anniversary Nuggets in the newspaper daily.