Ahh, picnics. The idea of a picnic invokes thoughts of hot summer days, maybe a cool breeze. Some ice cold lemonade and slices of watermelon. Just what we need on a frigidly cold day like today. Social clubs were all the rage in the 19th century and early 20th. Clubs […]
I recently pulled a box of diaries from the archives at work. The diaries span from 1868 to 1890 and were written by Alonzo E. Smith of Cheshire. Smith, well known in his day was a carpenter by trade, but he also acted as an undertaker, was an Assessor, Probate Judge […]
A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of “old” Cheshire. My good friends Tom & Susan had their yearly picnic and as always “old” Cheshire was there. By “old” Cheshire I mean folks who were born and raised here, whose parents were born […]
In many ways, Prince Freeman was the first ancestor I heard call. I know, that sounds crazy right? Being called by an ancestor. But over the many years I have been researching the lives of African and African descended people in Cheshire, of telling their stories, I have realized how […]
I was born and raised in Cheshire, Connecticut as was my mother and grandmother. My family attended the First Congregational Church on the Green in Cheshire. I have always been a history geek – I was the kid at the family reunions inside with all my old aunts and uncles […]
Today was another one of those days that I found a little nugget in the course of my day job. I was working with an autograph book from 1861 from our General Assembly Portraits collection (PG540) and found a prominent Cheshire citizen, William T. Peters. Collecting autographs was a popular activity […]