“… 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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Al McKee
- Feb 16
- 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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Al McKee
- Jan 26
- 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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Lenny Shaker
- Jan 19
- 2 min
A Funeral, 1909
Longmeadow Historical Society's Emerson Photographic Collection is a treasure trove of photographs documenting Longmeadow in the early...
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Beth Hoff
- Jan 12
- 5 min
Berkeley Taylor and the Barn Fire
This week the Longmeadow Historical Society recognizes Longmeadow Dental Care for their support of History Notes. On June 9, 1933,...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
- Jan 5
- 6 min
"Prepare- for follow me you must"
A simple gravestone in Longmeadow Cemetery from 1720, with a classic inscription, warns passersby to consider their own fates. It marks...
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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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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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Lenny Shaker
- Nov 21, 2022
- 3 min
Kenneth B. Page's WWI Service Medals
Service Medals awarded to Pvt. Kenneth Page of Longmeadow during WWI Kenneth Bausman Page was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on June...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
- Nov 21, 2022
- 2 min
Rachel Lawton: Suffragist
Much is written of famous early pioneers of the movement like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Without question, their role...
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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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Lenny Shaker
- Nov 21, 2022
- 3 min
Longmeadow’s Governor: Foster Furcolo
John Foster Furcolo was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 29, 1911. He dropped the use of his first name in the late 1940s. Before...
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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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Lenny Shaker
- Nov 21, 2022
- 2 min
Longmeadow’s Physician From Kyiv
Jacob Zuslofsky, who became Dr. James Z. Naurison, was an immigrant from Kyiv, Ukraine living much of his life in Longmeadow. He led an...
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Lenny Shaker
- Nov 20, 2022
- 3 min
Longmeadow’s Medal of Honor Recipient: Cpl. Edward G. Wilkin
Col. Wilkin’s Medal of Honor Collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society As we close out a week that began for many with Memorial Day...
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Betsy McKee
- Nov 19, 2022
- 2 min
Memorial Day
This coming Monday, May 30th, is Memorial Day. Although the exact origin of the holiday is unclear, it was widely celebrated beginning...
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