William Holland, Longmeadow's First Stone Carver
When people ask what the oldest gravestone in the Longmeadow Cemetery is, the answer is the stone for Mary Drake Colton. She died in...
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Betsy McKee
- Oct 5
- 2 min
"Instantly Killed by a Bull" The Death of Young Gaius Bliss
Have you ever noticed this gravestone in the Longmeadow Cemetery? While not common, causes of death were sometimes included on...
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Beth Hoff
- Sep 14
- 4 min
The Wallace Children
Census records are wonderful tools that offer researchers all sorts of clues into a person's life within a household or community. But...
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Lenny Shaker
- Aug 31
- 2 min
William C. Pease
I found these photographs in the Emerson file on Digital Commonwealth and it stirred my curiosity to learn more about the subject. The...
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Betsy McKee
- Aug 17
- 4 min
Longmeadow Go West! Persis and John Burt
Faithful readers of this blog may recall an article written by Beth Hoff on March 25, 2021 titled "Westward Bound," about the adventurous...
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Lenny Shaker
- Jun 29
- 3 min
Gettysburg 1913: A 50th Anniversary Reunion
One hundred and sixty years ago, Union and Confederate armies fought The Battle of Gettysburg from July 1-3, 1863. The Union victory is...
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Beth Hoff
- Mar 9
- 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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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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