ASK, RANT OR PRAISE, BUT NEVER IGNORE

This is the heart of our web site, the place where readers reign. So many of the best ideas come from you. That's how we measure our success and draw in our advertisers who pay for this all to happen -- in our NINTH year. 

JUMP to last month;'s mail

January 22
MORE NON-DESCENDANTS
I’ve read through most of the stuff you have on JPJ, but I don’t read anything about a wife or children.  Is there any info about him having a family?  I was told that he may be from my family tree.  Can you help me?
D. Jones

EDITOR’S REPLY:  Sorry to inform you that John Paul Jones was never ever married. There are rumors that he an illegitimate child, but no confirmation, and it was quite certainly not in America during his few short years here. Most of his life was spent in Scotland, France, Russia and at sea.  But worse, his name was not Jones.  It was John Paul and he is descended from the Paul family of Arbingland Scotland. he changed his name on arriving in America. He was never an American citizen and, despite a number of false stories in the late 19th century, only lodged here while awaiting the arrival of ships to take to battle. A number of bogus biographies have been written, particularly the Buell biography in 1900, and false stories were often circulated about his lie and whereabouts but modern scholars have solved most of those mysteries. At his death he was survived by two sisters who later sued the US govt for his unpaid fees (and failed).  Although thousands of families named Jones have claimed relationships, Jones was never related to anyone named Jones.  Hope that helps. -- SeacoastNH.com

January 20
GEN JOHN START MEMORIAL MEDAL
I hope You can explain this to me. I have two of them. On the Front: picture of General  John Stark. Over his head it said GENERAL JOHN STARK
under him it said " LIVE FREE OR DIE". On the back: inside of the handle of the horn it says AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICENTENNIAL written in the horn NEW HAMSPHIRE 1776.
 Cheryl Kubicko

EDITOR’S REPLY: That pretty much says it all. This is a a Bicentennial medal struck in 1976 to honor the American Revolution in 1776.  John Stark was one of the major Generals under G. Washington in the war and happened to be from New Hampshire. Stark reportedly created the slogan "Live free or die!" which is the motto of the state of New Hampshire. It's probably worth $10 these days if you can find a collector of not-very-old commemorative medals. See more here.

January 16
MATTHEW THORNTON ON EVIL
Matthew Thorbnton wrote a treatise,"Paradise Lost; or, the Origin of the Evil called Sin, examined; or how it ever did, or ever can come to pass, that a creature should or could do any thing unfit or improper for that creature to do," &c. This work was never published; but I am eager to see a copy.  If you have any ingformtion, please advise.
Thank you,
Norm Shealy

EDITOR’S REPLY:  I did not know that, and the fact that it is unpublished makes it hard to find a copy. Nothing I could see either in a quick look on the web, except the single reference to the manuscript from an 1856 book on the signers of the Declaration. The question then – where are Matthew Thornton’s papers? Best to start with Dartmouth, UNH Special Collections and the NH Historical Society in the Tuck Library.  I continue to kick myself for not knowing more about Doc Thornton who seems to be largely lacking a biography of his own.

January 14
CELIA ON BUTTERFLIES
i am researching c. thaxter's poems for monarch butterfly imagry. if you have any info please write gayle sweeney po1582 hampton, nh 03843. i belong to the hampton beach garden club. we hope to plant butterfly gardens at the state park at the beach. The beach experiences a major monarch butterfly occurance in the fall especially at the state park, where there are goldenrod at the dunes, at the harbor and by the spring marsh where i have a cottage. this year light blue wild asters lined the salt marsh river by the spring marsh and that drew in part the monarchs. you can register a butterfly site for monarchs throught www.monarchwatch.org. signs can also be purchased through them if you wish. this is educational and fun and can highlight for tourism and the town's natural heritage key monarch migration spots. any sightings in seabrook? trying to collect stories about monarchs at the seacoast. thank you
gayle sweeney

EDITOR’S RELY:  I’m not sure Celia knew much more about monarchs than the rest of us, certainly less than any  modern mondarch club. Her painted ceramics (some with butterfly handles) were made from blanks cut on the mainland which she painted and then sent back to be fired and glazed. So I don’t see much there other than a cookie-cutter type painting she did to make extra money from tourists. We saw about 100 monarchs on Monhegan late last September, clustered near the Monhegan library, which has web access, so you might contact them. Other readers who have info can send it along here.

January 12
SAVES EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
I save my newsletters and I'm so glad to see you have gone back
to including the actual URLs for the links. Thanks!
Pat Mullaney 

January 10
TUCKE MONUMENT DEDICATION BOOK
After seeing the Tucke Memorial (obelisk) on Star Island, I was very interested to discover a copy of the dedication book for the memorial, published in 1914. It is 68 pages of speeches and statements.

My main reaction is that seldom has such an elaborate memorial been installed for someone about whom so little is known! The essence of what is known about Rev. John Tucke is inscribed on the obelisk itself, there is little more in the Dedication book.

I also wondered about this relation, Edward Tuck, who paid what must have been a very large amount of money at the time to have the memorial erected. Yet he was not among the 200+ at the dedication. And his specific relationship to Rev. Tucke is not spelled out, except to say he is 5th generation.

Later, reading the online Wikipedia entry on Edward Tuck provided indirect answers to this puzzle. Evidently Edward Tuck made a ton of money fairly early in life, then went to Europe and never came back! The Tuck business school at Dartmouth was one of his funding projects.

I found myself wondering how the project of an obelisk for Rev. Tucke came about and who managed it for him. Why did it get on Edward Tuck's agenda at all? And why such a large obelisk, so out of scale and such different design than other structures on Star Island? If answers exist, they are not part of the Dedication book! 
Emily Chapmann

EDITOR’S REPLY: We don't have the dedication book yet, so you know more than we. I think there is more known about both Tucks, but it takes some digging. I believe John Scribner Jenness writes about him in his history of the Isles of Shoals (1873), although that may be where the Tuck memorial got most of its info. The Society for the Preservation of the Gospel Among the Indians and Others -- a real organization that still exists -- must have records of many ministers from the Shoals who may have commented on Rev. Tuck. The Portsmouth Athenaeum has all the documents and photos (lots of photos of the monument being built -- but you may have them in the book). And you should certainly find more about the donors since they also paid for the Tuck Library at the NH Historical Society in Concord, NH. It's a prize worth digging for.

January 8
MARITIME TYPO 
Good story on the flags, history. John Paul Jones was a scot not a [scott] From a scot on a story about a famous scot -- i am,
stephen buchanan

January 6
GEORGE FISHLEY GOES NATIONAL
I am a ranger at Saratoga National Historical Park here in Stillwater, NY. Each April, the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield sponsor a March For Parks.This program is a method of highlighting our shared natural and cultural heritage. Additionally, the March is a walk-a-thon whose proceeds are utilized by the Friends to support park programs and events.

SEE Goerge Fishley article 

This year, the theme of the March for Parks will center around American veterans, and I was asked to find out from your organization about the possible use of the image of George Fishley. Planning is far from complete, but it may be that the image of Captain Fishley would be utilized in the t-shirt design. (Frankly, it's my favorite of all the daguerreotypes of Revolutionary War veterans.)
Joe Craig, Park Ranger

January 6
ICE, ICE BABY
Your essay on ice hit the spot. Very well-written. 
Michael Power

January 4
OLSEN TWINS AT PHILLPS EXETER?
I just entered the December contest and was reminded of an urban myth surrounding PEA and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. It has been rumored that they attended PEA in 2002/03 and lived in the big yellow house on the banks of the Swampscott River near the approach to the Swazey Parkway in Exeter. The Tax collectors office in Exeter says it's just a myth because the house has been owned for years by an elderly widow but they also admit that Phillips Exeter will neither confirm or deny the claim.

The manager of a plumbing company in E. Hampstead NH who services my water conditioner told me three years ago that while servicing the aforementioned house in Exeter, one of his plumbers met one of the stars in the home and learned that they were attending PEA. Apparently they were only renting the house at the time.

They only attended PEA for one year 2002-03 and transferred to Campbell Hall, a prep school in N. Holywood, CA, where they both graduated in 2004. I enjoyed reading you exploits as a pizza delivery boy and your trip to NY.
Jack Goterch

January 2
APPEARS IN MARCH OF TIME
I appeared in a snippet of "March of Time: Germany Today", when I was a serviceman. With all that's availablr today on "film", I thought it might be feasible to get a copy of the issue where I can be seen going across the screen. I was with a date at the theater running the March of Time between showings of the feature. I practically stood up on my seat yelling, "That's me!" I remembered the title. Now I find out that the MofT project director was Louis de Rochemont, right? So I followed his filmography to you. Is such a film available? May I get a copy?
John Deethardt

EDITOR’S REPLY: The short answer is NO, but you’ve still got two choices. (1) Contact Time/Life or whomever owns them these days and see if there is anything available to the public from their March of Life library. (2) Watch on eBay under "March of Life" for the video edition of dozens of March of Time episodes. Many of the monthly 20-minute news programs from that era were transferred to video in the 1980s and you can often find old copies of those tapes in boxed sets still for sale. It takes patience, but you might see yourself again.