Heather Wilkinson Rojo's Blog Posts Tagged 'Londonderry' (17)

Born Fighting: How the Scots Irish Shaped America, is a new television documentary based on a book by Senator James Webb of Viriginia, who is a direct descendant of Ulster Scots who immigrated to America. However, this two part program was first broadcast in the United Kingdom yesterday on 1 February 2011 on STV. It is produced by Scottish and Ulster Television and the Smithsonian Channel.



Before the siege of Derry in 1689, Scots Presbyterians flooded Northern… Continue

Matthew Taylor and his wife Janet Wilson came from Northern Ireland in 1721 and settled in Nutfield, now Derry, New Hampshire.   Matthew was one of the original proprietors of the settlement.  He was born in 1690 and he died 26 January 1770 near Beaver Lake.  They had ten children and many descendants who lived in New Hampshire and Nova Scotia.  Matthew and his sons, Adam and Samuel Taylor, are buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry.

The descendants are planning a reunion for August…

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Red Sox outfielder, Dom DiMaggio (brother to the more famous Joe DiMaggio), and current San Francisco Giant closer Brian Wilson both resided in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Brian Wilson, “The Bearded One” is well known recently for his popularity…

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James Wilson was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire on March 15, 1765. His father was a farmer, and James was an apprentice to a blacksmith. He had little formal education. In 1796 he…

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James Wilson was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire on March 15, 1765. His father was a farmer, and James was an apprentice to a blacksmith. He had little formal education. In 1796 he removed to Bradford, Vermont and taught…

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A story for the Fourth of July!

Fifteen or twenty years ago, when my daughter was in elementary school, we visited Philadelphia Pennsylvania. We toured the city, saw the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin’s house, and ate some cheese steak sandwiches. Of course we didn’t miss Independence Hall, either. The tour was guided, and when we came to the room where the Continental Congress…

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My regular blog is Nutfield Genealogy at www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com where I blog about Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire local history and genealogy in general for our our part of New England. This was one of my most popular blogs last month, not just for local people,…

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Often I am asked about town meetings and other terms pertaining to New England town government by people researching their roots from outside of New England. They see the annual reports in the archives, and have questions about the terminology, and the form of government. If you have ever seen Norman Rockwell’s paintings of the “Four Freedoms,” I think the painting of the young farmer standing up to…

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It is well known that Nutfield was founded by a group of Ulster refugees, Scots Irish Presbyterians fleeing the violence of Northern Ireland for New England. They were not welcome to settle in Boston, so in 1719 a group came to settle in New Hampshire. They called their new home “Nutfield” after the abundance of nut bearing trees in the…

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On Wednesday 28 October 2009, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance announced the state’s annual “Seven to Save” campaign and the First Parish Church in East Derry earned a spot on the list. The First Parish congregation has been in Derry since the original Scots Irish settlers held a religious meeting of thanksgiving under a tree in…

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The Duchess of Alba, the grandest grandee in Spain, is said to be able to cross the country from north to south without leaving her estates, and to possess more titles than the Queen of England. She is one of the wealthiest women in the entire world. She has 44 noble titles and 150 hereditary…

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Last year Peter Zheutlin, the author of the nonfiction book “Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride,” came to the Leach Library, here in Londonderry, New Hampshire,

to give an interesting lecture about his ancestor. Annie Kopchovsky, was “Annie Londonderry,” the first woman to go around the world on a bicycle. She was actually paid $100 by Londonderry Lithia Water, a very popular drink of the era, to carry their logo on… Continue

My daughter lives in Back Bay, Boston. It’s a lovely neighborhood for walking, and my favorite section has always been the Commonwealth Mall. It’s a green oasis in the city, a long avenue divided by a green park dotted with statuary of famous Bostonians. I had never examined these statues up close until recently, when I noticed that all the statues seemed to be literary figures. One of my favorite statues is that of Samuel Eliot Morison.

Morison… Continue

Country Girls in the Big City



Years ago I took my Londonderry Girl Scout troop to Lowell National Park, to see how the mill girls lived and worked. The girls were about twelve years old, not much younger than some of the mill workers in the 1830s and 40s. We took a canal boat ride, and toured the noisy Boot Mill (a big hit for kids) and finally went into the boarding house. We earned a merit badge with some of our activities in… Continue

Pinkerton Tavern Ghosts



A Post for Halloween!



In October, thoughts of ghosts and witches come to mind. There were plenty of accused witches, even one who was found guilty in the 1600’s, and New Hampshire has its share of ghosts. When we first moved to Londonderry over 25 years ago, the first ghost we heard about was the one haunting the Pinkerton Tavern, in Derry. At the time, this building was an unfinished furniture store, and… Continue

Ocean Born Mary

The Myth:



A Ship of Ulster protestant passengers was on its way to Boston, Massachusetts when, on 28 July 1720, Elizabeth Wilson gave birth to a daughter. About this time a pirate ship attacked, and the captain intended to rob and murder the passengers. Just in the nick of time, the captain heard the newborn child’s cries. He said he would spare all the passengers if the child was named Mary in honor of his mother, and… Continue

The Boyd Farm in Londonderry, now Rolling Meadows Town Houses



A few years, ago two portraits were donated by a descendant to the Londonderry Leach Library, and their story was printed up in the Derry News. They were primitive style paintings of Robert W. Boyd and his wife, Mary Lund Towne painted by the itinerant portrait painter Horace Bundy in 1851. In the days before photography it was common to hire these roaming self taught artists to… Continue