Tales of Discovery II: Obed and Mary (Newell) Montague
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Like I've said before, we love tales of discovery, and re-discovery. This is a tale of Mary Newell Montague and her husband Obed...
Betsy McKee
- Mar 30, 2023
- 2 min
Martha Chapin Goldthwait (1863-1934)
Faithful readers will be familiar with the name Goldthwait from previous History Notes, including a recent one about the return of a...
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Betsy McKee
- Mar 16, 2023
- 6 min
Stop Thief! The Mystery of the Missing Gun!
The exciting news in 2023 is the return of a firearm missing from the Longmeadow Historical Society Collections since 1970! The story...
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Beth Hoff
- Mar 9, 2023
- 7 min
“… poor & unprovided for…” – The Indentured Simonds Children
In the early days of the Commonwealth, children of parents who, for one reason or another, were unable to care for them became public...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
- Mar 2, 2023
- 2 min
Skating, Sleighing and Sliding
Barney & Berry Ice Skates Longmeadow Historical Society Collection Next week, local historian and friend of the Longmeadow Historical...
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Al McKee
- Feb 16, 2023
- 6 min
Charles Backus Storrs: Abolitionist
Charles Backus Storrs stood before his audience and gave his inauguration address on February 9th, 1831 in Hudson, Ohio. At age...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
- Feb 9, 2023
- 3 min
Emma's Essay: A Soldier Boy in the Army
In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, we thought we would look at an item in our collection from the era of his presidency: a child’s...
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Al McKee
- Jan 26, 2023
- 8 min
A Longmeadow Boy and the Gold Rush in 1851
Gold rush stories are great places to find drama and intrigue. The History Room at the Chicopee Library holds a series of letters that...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
- Dec 21, 2022
- 3 min
Sarah A. Coomes Colton's Paintings
Two charming folk art paintings in the collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society bear the hallmarks of the kind of work educated...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
- Dec 8, 2022
- 2 min
"Be a good boy and learn..."
Samuel C. Booth's Penmanship Book, 1820 From the Collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society Penmanship copybooks like this one used...
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Lenny Shaker
- Nov 22, 2022
- 3 min
The Chapel
The First Church of Christ of Longmeadow is a truly historic town landmark. At one time there was an associated structure that stood for...
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Beth Hoff
- Nov 22, 2022
- 5 min
The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal
Front Piece of a Seaman's Journal The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal Recently rediscovered in the archives of the Storrs House Museum is...
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Beth Hoff
- Nov 22, 2022
- 4 min
Dairy Farming in Longmeadow
Jarius R. Kibbe and oxen of Frank B. Allen. Image courtesy of Stephen Forbes. Until the turn of the century, most Longmeadow families...
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Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 6 min
"I am like a lost sheep in the world:": The Letters of Jeannette Cooley
Last week's History Note told the story behind the inscription on James Cooley's cenotaph in Longmeadow Cemetery. A cenotaph is a...
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Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 5 min
"What does that mean on that gravestone?"
Cooley family gravestone, Longmeadow Cemetery James Cooley Died at Lima while Charge d'affairs for U.S. to Peru. Feb. 24, 1828, AE 37....
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Beth Hoff
- Nov 21, 2022
- 6 min
James S. Dwight’s Voyage on the Kate Hastings
Last week's History Note shared the detective work that went into identifying the author and origins of a Seaman's Journal found in our...
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Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 2 min
"View of the Connecticut River from Pecousic Brook" Revisited
This painting of the Connecticut River looking north across present-day Forest Park has been a treasured item of the Longmeadow...
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Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 1 min
A Soldier's Letter Home: Thomas Francis Cordis, 1843-1915
Thomas (Tommy) Francis Cordis was born in Longmeadow in 1843 and enlisted in the 46th Mass. Volunteers in September of 1862, at the age...
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Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 3 min
Fire! Fire!
If you were one of the many people who voted at the Community House this week, then you were visiting the site of a significant mid-19th...
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Tim Casey
- Nov 20, 2022
- 4 min
Diggin' in The Meadows
The Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, colloquially known as “The Meadows,” is a stretch of meadows and wetlands that dominate the...
83 views0 comments
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