September Comes As Normal In 1902 – Goings On Around The Area
PHOTO: Laconia Fair Ad from September 6, 1902 issue of Ashland Citizen.
by Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr.
Weirs Times Contributing Writer
Here in the year 2020 people are talking about the “new normal” brought about by the onslaught of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Actually what is considered the norm around us changes quite frequently. Much that was considered the normal way of living is not the same as it was in my boyhood, and things have changed heaps since the September 6, 1902 Ashland Citizen I have been reading was printed.
When was the last time you saw a surry with a canopy top and cloth upholstery for sale, cheap, or for trade for a good cow? Or bought some Devoe lead and zinc paint, guaranteed to last longer than the lead and oil type? Or seen a rattlesnake on Pike Hill in the west part of Plymouth?
If today’s newspapers followed the example of the 1902 newspapermen and used smaller print they could print a lot more news, offer much more knowledge for each tree made into paper, and probably increase readership by including more names of local people in each issue of the paper. They could tell you who was visiting who, who in town was sick, and the date of the arrival of each new baby in town.
In 1902 everyone was informed that Mrs. Lucinda H. Ellison of Plymouth had been granted a pension of $12 a month.
I didn’t know about the longevity of poultry until I read this in the newspaper: “Cash paid for four new milch cows and three hundred year old hens at the George Caldon place, Plymouth.” To avoid any confusion the sentence could be meant to refer to an undisclosed number of hens that were 300 years old, three hens that were a hundred years old each, or, the obvious, 300 hens that were a year old.
Speaking of Plymouth, news about the upcoming Plymouth Fair, which had been running for over 50 years, was one of the important features of the September 6th paper. The current management was operating the Fair for the last time and were exerting themselves to make the 1902 event scheduled for September 16, 17, and 18, one of the best ever. “The field of horses” was predicted to be “unusually large and the show of live stock better than ever.” Readers were told “The vaudeville show to be given on the stage in front of the grandstand will be worth the price of admission and is a show complete in itself, while the ‘Fans’ will find plenty to please them in a game of ball each day by crack clubs.”
Another feature was a “ ‘Special Ticket’ good only to the party named on same to any part of the grounds and grand stand during the fair and allowing them to pass out and in at pleasure.” The cost for the special ticket was $1.00 while the regular admission fee was 35 cents for adults, 20 cents for children, and 25 cents for teams.
Unlike this year of 2020 in 1902 the Fairs seemed to be plenteous. The Laconia Fair was held on September 9th, 10th, and 11th and was advertised as being the greatest fair of 1902. It claimed to have the best vaudeville show, the best horse show, the best ball games, and the largest number of distinguished men, including the Governor. Laconia’s fair also featured a balloon ascension, cannon parachute jump, and fireworks. Many people from Haverhill attended fairs at Bradford and Concord. And added to the Fair Month of September was the twenty-seventh annual Rochester Fair which was held on September 23, 24, 25, and 26. The newspaper said,“Among the attractions is Oliver W., the marvelous trotting ostrich- the only feature of its kind in the world…”
As September made its 1902 appearance on Beech Hill “Henry Wilson is helping S.T. Page get his oats,” and Will and Charles Coffin are getting ready to go out threshing and cutting ensilage.”
Farmers were finding grass in various places. In Meredith Center J.F. Smith had the “Oakland Cemetery” grass and Alma Williams had the grass on the F.P. Smith lot. Edwin Burbank and his wife moved to Groton Hollow where he was going to cut some grass for C.A. Holden.
Back in 1902 the town of Plymouth had a tree warden by the name of E. Harvey Edmonds. What does a tree warden do? Well, tree warden Edmonds marked 700 shade trees as belonging to the town by attaching a state tag to each tree. The tag was said to have looked like a nail with “NH” on the seven-eighth inch head. One was driven into each tree a few feet from the ground. All of the 700 trees were outside of the village limits but belonged to the town. I wonder if any of the marked trees still stand today.
Two September happenings that were normal in 1902 and are still considered normal, though the logistics have greatly changed, were the departure from New Hampshire of “summer people” and the commencement of schools. Schools begin the year by commencing and end the year with commencement exercises for those who graduate to begin a new phase of their lives. So one item of news was that “owing to the exodus of summer travel from the mountain region Monday, the Pemigewasset House restaurant cared for more people that day than ever was cared for before since the history of the hotel. The south bound White Mountain Express consisted of sixteen cars and was drawn by two locomotives.” Another sign of the summer folk leaving was that “The Pemigewasset House orchestra has closed its summer engagement and returned to Boston.”
Concerning schools and their teachers in the September of 1902, Miss Lena Drury was teaching at the Mad River school in Thornton, Miss Mattie Brown at District No. 10 in Campton, and Miss Emily Wallace in District No. 8. Mrs. Mertie Coffin was teaching in East Rumney and in North Ashland Miss P. Warren was the teacher.
The State Fish Commissioner was proposing closing all of the fish hatcheries in the state except two, with the desire to make those two bigger and better to provide fish for stocking. The goal was to grow young fry into fingerlings with the feeling that in stocking lakes and streams “a hundred fingerlings will probably bring better results than a thousand small fry.” Did you ever wonder where the expression “small fry” came from? Laconia and Plymouth were both hoping to have one of the hatcheries with Colebrook probably having the other one.
So that is just some of the news from The Ashland Citizen from Saturday, September 6, 1902.
I haven’t until now mentioned the account of the visit to the state of President Theodore Roosevelt and all the local people who went to the Weirs to see him, or other national and international news and much more local stuff in the eight page newspaper.
Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr., welcomes your comments at danahillsmiths@yahoo.com