How People Lived – Nelson History

Saying Goodbye to a House

In October of 2020, the house most recently known as the Seaver house was torn down. In the year 2000 my husband and I were young, and we looked at that house that was old and alone and thought we would go pretty well together. I’m going to do my best to tell you a story of that house, but you’re going to have to hear it in the style of Paul, the last man to own it. Per his tradition, you won’t get any answer here about why the house had to come down, or what will happen next. Answers have to be earned by understanding how a thing matters in the grander scheme.

Jodi Farwell2020-12-26T22:06:08+00:00F2, Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Jodi Farwell, NA, The Land and Its Settlement|

The Sawyer Family Provides for Old Age and Succession

Families moving to a frontier town like Packersfield employed a number of strategies to sustain themselves. They often came with others they knew from their hometowns and settled near one another in their new home. Often those clusters of new arrivals were related. In the second generation they often took steps to keep the farm in the family and provide for their old age. The Sawyer Family who settled in the northeast corner of Packersfield did all of these things.

Rick Church2020-12-16T16:12:22+00:001751 - 1800, 1801 - 1850, How People Lived, Life in Nelson, Rick Church|

Early Burial Practices in Nelson

Serviceberry in bloom above Spoonwood Pond Amelanchier arborea better known as shadbush or serviceberry, is among the first trees to bloom in Nelson each spring. Tradition has it the name “serviceberry” comes from its association with burial practices in the early days. The blooming of serviceberry is supposed to mark the time when [...]

Rick Church2021-01-07T16:16:25+00:00How People Lived, Life in Nelson, Rick Church|

Working from Home

by Alan Rumrill, reprinted with permission, from a recent Newsletter from the Historical Society of Cheshire County A load of chairs from the Colony Chair factory in Munsonville. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in substantial numbers of people working from home as a way to accomplish social distancing. This process has the potential [...]

Gordon Peery2022-05-17T21:47:51+00:001851 - 1900, Alan Rumrill, Celebrations, How People Lived|

“My Defiance to these Traitors …”

The misconduct of public officials is hot stuff these days. In the past, there were newsmen who searched out and wrote up scandals. They were “muckrakers.” And right here in Nelson, back in the thirties and forties, we had our very own muckraker––“Jack” ––William J. Sherrard.

Gordon Peery2020-11-29T17:58:49+00:00Floppy Tolman, Government, How People Lived, Life in Nelson|

Home Life in Nelson: The Table

The wooden table was long, narrow, and roughly-made often supported by saw-horses in the early days. The tablecloth, then known as the board-cloth was made of the most durable hand-woven linen. Napkins were not used until later.

Karen Tolman2020-03-19T19:34:42+00:00Bert Wingerson, Edwin Noah Hardy, How People Lived|

How Not to Run an Inn

This article by Newt Tolman, with illustrations by Mark Kelley, appeared in Yankee Magazine in August 1973. It is posted here with Yankee’s approval. Family photographs have been added by Karen Tolman.

Karen Tolman2020-12-28T22:16:07+00:001901 - 1950, 1951 - 2000, How People Lived, Newt Tolman, Profiles, Recreation, Stories, Summer Folks|

Spring Cleaning (or An Empty Barn Full)

While driving around town looking at old barns, and imagining those long lost to decay, we wonder the plight of our old New Hampshire barns. Here's the scoop on our own barn!

Karen Tolman2019-09-16T00:32:49+00:00Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Karen Tolman, Stories|

The Center School (reflections from this student)

There were as many as seven one-room schoolhouses, of which the current Nelson town office (known as the Brick Schoolhouse) served as one, in Nelson from 1838 through the spring of 1945. Ethan Tolman submitted this article in January, 2019, shortly before he died on February 20 of that year. At the end of the very cold day, the other children left to walk home. Miss Stewart and I waited, and waited, as she got more nervous. "Well, Ethan," she said, "let's call your house." So, we walked next door to the Quigley's (where the library is now) and found Mrs. Quigley on the phone to Gordon, who had called. Fortunately, the Quigleys had recently got a phone – I think by only a few months. (None were installed during the war, of course.) His information was that the car would not start, and he had been unable to contact anyone who was both home and whose car would start. So, Miss Stewart and I set out for home. By the time we got to Tolman Pond we were both cold, and Miss Stewart suggested we go in and get warm. So, we went in, Sadie (Barry Tolman’s grandmother) gave us a hot drink and a fresh off-the-stove doughnut, and we soon were ready to head home, where my mother did much the same. Finally, someone thought to look at the temperature: minus 36 degrees F. That's the coldest I have seen in Nelson.

Karen Tolman2023-01-31T21:22:43+00:001901 - 1950, Ethan Tolman, How People Lived, Schools|

The Story of Nehemiah Flint

Nelson’s population had peaked by the time Nehemiah Flint bought his farm in 1827. The sheep craze had resulted in 85 -90% of the land being cleared. It was the height of the family farm producing surpluses sold into other states. But farmers were beginning to move west for more fertile, stone-free soils.

Rick Church2020-12-13T00:02:15+00:001801 - 1850, Farms and Forests, Geography, How People Lived, Industry, Mills and Mining, Rick Church|

Lucy Nichols Barrett

This is the story of Lucy Nichols Barrett, a women deserted by her husband at age 32 with her six children and thrown on the mercy of the town and her neighbors. The scanty records that exist document the desertion and the support of her husband’s family and their neighbors. It also illustrates the town’s treatment of its poor. The story may even have had a happy ending.

Rick Church2020-12-16T21:17:21+00:001751 - 1800, 1801 - 1850, Biographies, Government, How People Lived, Rick Church|

Fight Over Incorporation

At the proprietor’s meeting in March 1773 the town voted to petition the royal governor for incorporation as a town. Breed Batchellor was appointed agent to present the petition on behalf of the Monadnock Number Six proprietors. Almost immediately Batchellor heard rumors that the Blanchard family would fight him.

Rick Church2021-01-07T16:31:07+00:001751 - 1800, Government, How People Lived, Rick Church|

Building a Town

Settlement in Monadnock Number Six came quickly once it got started. A list of settlers in the Masonian Papers in 1770 showed 5 settlers. In the three reports on settlement produced in 1773 and 1774 there were fifty-four different family names identified as moving into Monadnock Number Six. The final pre-incorporation survey of settlement detailed [...]

Rick Church2020-12-12T22:09:53+00:001751 - 1800, Farms and Forests, Government, How People Lived, Industry, Rick Church|

Nineteenth Century Capitalism, Nelson Style

It is difficult not to view life in Nelson in the mid-nineteenth century as a stereotype -- a bucolic farming community relatively untouched by the national issues like industrialization and immigration. Indeed Nelson was a bit on the sidelines.

Rick Church2022-05-17T13:26:51+00:001801 - 1850, 1851 - 1900, How People Lived, Industry, Mills and Mining, Rick Church|

Sledding on Tolman Hill

This was in the mid-sixties. It was a rather warmish, foggy night in January. I had come back to New Hampshire to go to the contra dance - in Dublin, as it happened. I ran into Barry (Tolman)..........

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T19:23:38+00:001951 - 2000, Bronson Shonk, How People Lived, Recreation, Stories|

Dick Upton Remembers Life in Nelson in the Early 1900s

In 1992, as Dick Upton was looking out the window at the leaves already turning, yellow, orange and red, he was wondering what the world will be like for his great grandchildren, and will they wonder what the world was like for him in the early 1900's. Thus, he wrote this story for the benefit of his grandchildren.

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T20:33:50+00:001901 - 1950, Dick Upton, How People Lived|

“Come to Nelson’s Birthday Party” (Written 50 Years Ago!)

As we continue to celebrate Nelson's 250th anniversary, we thought it'd be fun to go back 50 years to get a glimpse of Nelson's 200th birthday party as written by Lael Wertenbaker. A "witty and interesting article," although probably not 100% factual! Thanks to WKNE for giving us permission to print this.

Karen Tolman2020-12-16T18:58:51+00:001951 - 2000, How People Lived, Lael Wertenbaker|

The Power of Water: Munsonville, New Hampshire, from 1850 to 1950

The history of the small village of Munsonville is a familiar New Hampshire story as it has all the elements of the history of similar villages throughout southwestern NH during the 100 years from the 1850s to the 1950s.

Karen Tolman2022-11-08T18:26:35+00:001851 - 1900, 1901 - 1950, Alan Rumrill, Farms and Forests, Geography, How People Lived, Industry, Lakes and Streams, Mills and Mining, Recreation, Summer Folks|

Memories of Old Home Day

When I was a kid back in the 1930s, Old Home Day was held in Melville’s Grove – a stand of hardwood trees along Center Pond Road a few hundred yards from the center of Nelson.

Karen Tolman2021-01-12T21:58:43+00:00Bob Struthers, Cultural Organizations, How People Lived, Recreation|

Home Life in Nelson: Social Gatherings

Dried apples were staple articles of food. Families were large and pie was a necessity—apple pie set the standard. In the fall an apple-bee was a social event.

Karen Tolman2020-12-26T15:18:22+00:00Bert Wingerson, Edwin Noah Hardy, How People Lived|

The Tolman Mill

Especially in Nelson, because of the available lumber and water supply, the early farmer found that he could keep up with rising living costs by supplementing his income through a small mill or shop and by manufacturing within the home.

Karen Tolman2020-12-13T00:14:19+00:001851 - 1900, 1901 - 1950, How People Lived, Industry, Mills and Mining, Rodger Tolman|

Home Life in Nelson: The Table

Karen Tolman2019-11-22T12:22:41+00:00Bert Wingerson, Edwin Noah Hardy, How People Lived|

Home Life in Nelson: The Heating of the House

The leaves have fallen, the days are getting shorter, and the smell of wood smoke brings nostalgic thoughts of the past; but most of us just turn on the furnace when days really get cold. What was it like before this convenient way of heating?

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T19:57:05+00:00Bert Wingerson, Edwin Noah Hardy, How People Lived|

Sally Minot Melville: A Woman of High Respect

“Sometime prior to 1792, Josiah Melville, the first of the family in Cheshire county, came to Packersfield with his wife, Sarah (Minot) to whom he was married January 28, 1790.” This entry in the Struther’s History of Nelson is all we would have known of Sarah (called Sally) Melville if not for the survival of two insightful reflections written after her death in 1811.

Karen Tolman2020-11-29T17:45:05+00:001751 - 1800, 1801 - 1850, Bert Wingerson, How People Lived, Profiles|

Home Life in Nelson: The Old Kitchen

The old kitchen was the best loved and most used of all the rooms of the house. It served not only as kitchen, but as dining room, sitting room, parlor, and general living room for the whole household.

Karen Tolman2020-12-16T16:19:23+00:001851 - 1900, 1901 - 1950, Bert Wingerson, Edwin Noah Hardy, How People Lived|

Flying Loon Farm, 1934-45, Part 2

Here are a few more letters written to Meg Cline by Frances Upton from the Upton’s Flying Loon Farm at Lake Nubanusit in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. See Flying Loon Farm, 1934-45, Part 1, for more about Meg’s life on the Upton farm.

Karen Tolman2021-07-18T13:21:07+00:001901 - 1950, How People Lived, Meg Cline, Profiles|

Flying Loon Farm, 1935-45, Part 1

When I was fifteen I went to live with a farm family at the Nelson end of Lake Nubanusit in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. This became a second home to me all through my adolescence. I was a high school drop-out, intrigued with country living and eager to learn how to split wood, harvest ice as well as vegetables, milk cows and braid rugs.

Karen Tolman2021-07-18T13:22:43+00:001901 - 1950, How People Lived, Meg Cline, Profiles|

A Sense of Nelson/Munsonville with George Washington Holt

George Washington Holt wrote a journal which provides detailed, but brief, accounts of his daily activities. His life probably typified the lives of many who grew most of their own food raised in small gardens, kept a few animals, bartered time for time or for goods and worked for several individuals or one of several manufacturing operations of the time for wages.

Karen Tolman2020-12-12T21:29:48+00:001851 - 1900, Don Bennett, Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Mills and Mining, Profiles|

Nelson’s Civil War Hero

Simon Griffin was born in Nelson on August 9, 1824, the son of Nathan and Sally Wright Griffin. The Nathan Griffin family lived on Center Pond Road about a mile from the village. Simon Griffin's grandfather, Samuel, had fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill before coming to Nelson in about 1779 and settling at the top of Dixon Hill.

Karen Tolman2023-05-21T12:43:39+00:001851 - 1900, How People Lived, Military, Parke Struthers, Profiles|

The Dogs of Nelson

Among the many interesting items I discovered while organizing the Nelson town archives was a slim volume entitled “Registry of Dogs.” My original intent was to compare dog’s names of 100 years ago with contemporary ones. So, I kept a mental note of it, deciding then to take a closer look later when time afforded it.

Karen Tolman2020-12-12T19:52:08+00:00Bert Wingerson, How People Lived|

Postcards from Munsonville: Miscellaneous Buildings

Karen Tolman2020-12-16T19:07:41+00:001901 - 1950, How People Lived, Photos, Postcards|

Postcards from Munsonville: Camps Oahe, Winnenomack and others

Karen Tolman2020-12-16T19:46:32+00:001901 - 1950, How People Lived, Lakes and Streams, Photos, Postcards, Recreation|

Postcards from Nelson: Nelson Village

Karen Tolman2020-12-16T19:00:45+00:001901 - 1950, How People Lived, Photos, Postcards|

Fishing on Tolman Pond

When I was a boy I lived in a house on the edge of Tolman Pond where in the morning I could look out from my bedroom window and see the sun rise behind the black spruces of Thumb Mountain that turned the lake into a sparkling causeway of little suns dividing two blue fields of water.

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T13:51:56+00:001901 - 1950, How People Lived, Recreation, Renn Tolman|

Live from the Tolman Pond Archives

Live from the Tolman Pond Archives is an iMovie, turned youtube. Karen Tolman merged the audio from her 2013 Library Forum presentation with photographs to help tell the story of an unlikely resort at Tolman Pond, a small neighborhood, in the small town of Nelson, in the small state of New Hampshire.

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T11:44:37+00:00How People Lived, Karen Tolman, Nelson Town Hall Programs, Photos, Stories, Video|

Making Cider

I had a great uncle named Bill French, a tall, raw-boned old Yankee, who worked around my grandfather’s farm. Generosity was his virtue and his pleasure, and nothing so delighted him as going to country auctions from which he would return with a truck load of booty to bestow upon his friends or to donate to the farm.

Karen Tolman2020-12-26T15:12:49+00:001901 - 1950, Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Renn Tolman, Stories|

Excerpts from “Family Notes by Beth Barrell”

Beth, Newt Tolman's first wife, helped with the family business at Tolman Pond: running the boarding house, the summer camps and entertaining the many guests. The following, excerpted from her family notes, gives a delightful accounting of what life was like at Tolman Pond during the 1930s:

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T19:34:47+00:001901 - 1950, Beth Barrell, How People Lived, Recreation, Stories, Summer Folks|

On the Ski Hill at Tolman Pond

I’ve just lugged a couple of green plastic chairs up to the top of the Jack Rabbit, a hill overlooking Tolman Pond and the 1790's vintage Farmhouse, which was cleared for skiing in the 1920’s - we're told one of the first such hills in New England.

Karen Tolman2021-11-15T13:21:26+00:001901 - 1950, 1951 - 2000, How People Lived, Karen Tolman, Photos, Recreation, Stories|

Haying at Tolman Pond

When I was a boy, my grandfather kept three or four cows. He had just enough hay fields to provide enough hay to last them through the winter, although if the hay crop were particularly poor, perhaps he might have to buy an extra ton or two to tide them through until the cows could be put out to pasture in the spring.

Karen Tolman2020-12-19T11:34:25+00:001901 - 1950, Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Renn Tolman, Stories|

A Bicentennial Profile of an Old Farmhouse

Of the several houses in these parts as old or older than the Tolman Pond farmhouse, it’s the only one that looks its age - grey, wrinkled, gnarled like bark that woodpeckers have worked over. Then at the turn of the century, it was jerked to its feet and during the next hundred years given a series of transplants and internal transfusions that wrought wonders.

Karen Tolman2020-12-12T17:13:14+00:001951 - 2000, Farms and Forests, Floppy Tolman, How People Lived, Stories, Summer Folks|

Ma Tolman’s Diaries

In the 50 years since her death, my great-grandmother’s diaries have resided under a built-in bench in a sunny spot on the south side of the farmhouse that looks out on Tolman Pond, in Nelson.

Karen Tolman2020-12-06T22:56:30+00:001951 - 2000, How People Lived, Profiles, Stacia Tolman, Stories|

Frank’s Kitchen

Frank Upton was the consummate Nelson story teller. Perhaps it was yesterday’s social media, but news got passed along around Frank’s table – the good with the bad. Stories that now make up a large part of our local lore were told. This was a true gathering of community vitality where things were shared and ideas were born. Frank’s kitchen was a “happening” place, where a kind of grassroots democracy thrived.

Karen Tolman2021-05-04T19:48:53+00:002000 - present, How People Lived, Karen Tolman, Profiles, Stories|

Party Lines

When Barry and I first moved into the Farmhouse at Tolman Pond in 1969, our only available telephone service was a six-party line. Of course we knew all the neighbors who shared the line, and after conquering the established art of discreet eavesdropping, we also knew most of their business. As they surely knew most of ours!

Karen Tolman2020-12-18T13:52:17+00:001951 - 2000, How People Lived, Karen Tolman, Stories|

Maintenance Contracts: A Reflection of Farm life in Early Nelson

The Sawyer Family’s contract transferring the family place from father to son in return for lifetime of support was a common arrangement many families found useful. Historians call these “maintenance agreements.”

Rick Church2021-01-07T16:26:29+00:001801 - 1850, Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Rick Church|

Social Contracts of the Early Settlers

The issue of social security is prevalent in our lives today. But this has always been a concern. In exploring our town’s archives, Rich Church has come across information about how people met the needs of being cared for in their later years.

Rick Church2021-01-07T16:26:40+00:001751 - 1800, 1801 - 1850, Farms and Forests, How People Lived, Rick Church|