The Mile Away Restaurant, Milford, NH for Weathervane Wednesday

 The Mile Away Restaurant is located on Federal Hill Road, Milford, New Hampshire.

The Mile Away Restaurant is one mile away from the location of where the locals were going to build the village meetinghouse in Monson, New Hampshire.  Monson was incorporated as a town in 1746, the same year this farm house was built.  But the town of Monson was abandoned by the 1770s and the meetinghouse was never built.  The land for the town of Monson was divided up by the nearby towns of Milford, Hollis, and Brookline.  This area is now a historic site with signs on the cellar holes and stone walls.  Only one house survives, and is open some weekends and by chance as an educational center about the history of Monson.  

The Mile Away was turned in to a restaurant by two families from Switzerland in 1967.  The Murphy family bought the restaurant in 1996 and continues to operate a restaurant, with some of the original recipes from Switzerland like Swiss potatoes and Viener Schnitzel. The current executive chef lived in Switzerland for many years. 

The banner weathervane atop the roof of the main restaurant has the cut out numbers of 1746, honoring the year this farm house was built.  It is a very simple weathervane, appropriate for the humble beginnings of this property as a farm over 250 years ago. 

For the truly curious:

The Mile Away Restaurant and Tented Venue

603-673-3904     https://www.mileawayrestaurantnh.com/   

52 Federal Hill Road

Milford, New Hampshire

Click here to read two more blog posts about the ghost town of Monson, New Hampshire, which is "a mile away" from this restaurant.

2022 "A Walk Through Abandoned Monson, New Hampshire"    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-walk-through-abandoned-monson-new.html   

2012 "The Abandoned Town of Monson, New Hampshire"     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-abandoned-town-of-monson-new.html   

Click here to read over 500 more Weathervane Wednesday posts!   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Mile Away Restaurant, Milford, NH for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 29, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-mile-away-restaurant-milford-nh-for.html: accessed [access date]). 

Clarissa Goldsmith Wilson, d. 1874, Peabody, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday

 This tombstone was photographed at the Wilson Burial Ground in Peabody, Massachusetts.  This little cemetery is located behind Kappy's Liquor Store off Route 114, near the North Shore Mall.  All the land around the mall was the Wilson Farm in the 1700s and 1800s.  Route 114 was "The Andover Road".  

Clarissa Goldsmith, daughter of Jeremiah Goldsmith and Sarah Converse, was born 11 April 1797 in Andover, Massachusetts.  She married John Wilson, son of Robert Wilson and Sarah Felton (my 5th great grandparents) on 1 June 1831 in Andover.  John was born 18 January 1778 in Danvers and died 26 June 1863, leaving Clarissa a widow.  She died on 1 January 1874. 

When I photographed this cemetery about 10 years ago it was in the fall and there was not good sunlight.  Since the cemetery is located next to a highway cloverleaf, and behind a mall, it was in bad shape.  Clarissa's gravestone was precariously tipped to one side.  If you look up Clarissa's gravestone on Find A Grave you will see that it is now lying flat on the ground, and it is no longer standing.  

The Wilson Cemetery in Peabody, Massachusetts

John and Clarissa Wilson had two boys:

1.  John Wilson, Jr., born 13 October 1832 in Danvers, died 17 July 1867, and married Elizabeth Abbott Waldo in 1856.

2. Edward Hooker Wilson, born 14 March 1835 in Danvers. 

1870 Federal Census, Peabody, Essex County, Massachusetts
Post Office: Peabody Roll: M593_612 Page: 342 Image: 184
Wilson, Clarissa, age 73, keeping house, real estate $6500, personal $5000, b. Mass.
          Edmund H. age 33, farmer, real estate $4000, personal $2500, b. Mass.
          John B., age 10, attending school, b. Mass.
Peabody, Abigail, age 60, domestic servant, b. New Hampshire
McPherson, Jason, age 20, farm laborer, b. Nova Scotia

On the page for the 1870 census Clarissa Wilson, the widow, was living a few houses down from my 3x great grandfather Aaron Wilkinson, and only two houses away from Aaron's son William Prescott Wilkinson (my 3x great uncle) and many other Wilson families.   

For the truly curious:

Another blog post from 2009 about the Wilson Cemetery:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/buried-at-mall.html   

My WILSON Surname Saturday post:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/surname-saturday-wilson.html   

Clarissa Wilson's memorial at Find A Grave:   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141545305/clarissa-wilson    

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Clarissa Goldsmith Wilson, d. 1874, Peabody, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 21, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/05/clarissa-goldsmith-wilson-d-1874.html: accessed [access date]). 

Essex Junction, Vermont Fairgrounds for Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's weathervane was spotted at Essex Junction, Vermont.

This sweet steam engine weathervane is located on the cupola over the main gatehouse of the Champlain Valley Expoistion.  It is a two dimensional weathervane with lots of details including the wheels, smoke stack (with smoke!), bell, cow catcher, etc.  Since the gatehouse looks like a train station, this was a very appropriate choice for a weathervane. 

This location hosts over 100 events a year.  The most famous is the 10 day long agricultural fair every summer.  This year the fair runs from August 23 to September 1, 2024.  

For the truly curious:

The Champlain Valley Exposition website:    https://cvexpo.org/    

Champlain Valley Exposition, 105 Pearl Street, Essex Junction, VT

info@cvexpo.org

To see over 500 more "Weathervane Wednesday" posts, click here:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Essex Junction, Vermont Fairgrounds for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 15, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/05/essex-junction-vermont-fairgrounds-for.html: accessed [access date]). 

Peter Hoogerzeil Patents a Stove in 1891

 

Beverly Citizen, Saturday, November 28, 1891, page 2

"Ancient and Curious Stoves

Peter Hoogerzeil made application, last week, for his third patent on a rolling oven grate. His first patent was issued about two years ago and the second about one year later. The improved grate is automatic, and emerges and receds as the door, to which it is attached, is opened or closed.

     He also has a Franklin stove, a portable iron fireplace, with open front and swinging crane, which was named after Dr. Franklin, who invented it, and bears a bust of its inventor.

     Another curious possession is one of the old James stoves, the word "Salem", which appears on its face, indicating the place of its manufacture, though there is nothing that suggests its age. It is in an admirable state of preservation, stands about 28 inches from the floor, is of about the same width, and is not over 15 inches in depth. The fire is kindled at the bottom, and overhead is the oven, with a door opeing in front and one at the back.  The heat also passes through a funnel on either side of the oven, and an iron handle forms a part of the stove-covers. Mr. Hoogerzeil believes this to be the oldest stove in existence, and is desirous of obtaining information of the period when it was manufactured in Salem.  Particular interest attaches to it from the fact that a Detroit stove company has offered $100 in gold for the oldest stove to be placed on exhibition at the World's fair.  Mr. Hoogerzeil obtained the stove through James M. Woodbury, who purchased it from the estate of Miss Susan Forniss, by whom it was used until her decease." 

My great great grandfather Peter Hoogerzeil was a tinkerer and an inventor.  I have found at least a dozen patents he produced, including several for stoves, stove parts, and other cooking devices. He was born 24 June 1841 in Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of Peter Hoogerzeil (an immigrant from Holland) and Eunice Stone.  Peter married Mary Etta Healey on 14 March 1870 in Salem.  She was the daughter of Joseph Edwin Healy and Matilda Weston, natives of Nova Scotia.  

Peter had many occupations over the years.  In the 1860 census he was a fisherman.  In the 1870 census he was listed as a quartermaster and expressman (made deliveries).  He was listed as a teamster (truck or delivery driver) on his 1908 death certificate.  In 1867 he founded the Hoogerzeil Express Company, which he ran for many years and eventually passed it on this his brother-in-law, John E. Healey. He ran his express business from his home in Beverly, and had a large workshop behind the house.  The 1884 Beverly City Directory lists "Peter Hoogerzeil, Jr., job wagon, house 43 Bartlett St."   My mother remembers this house, where her aunt, Isabel Hoogerziel Sorenson, Peter's daughter, lived. 

Among Peter's US patents were the following that were all related to stoves or cooking:

        #403,938 Patented May 28, 1889 Stove Oven

#418,721 Patented January 7, 1890 Stove Oven

#467,292 Patented January 19, 1892 Stove Oven

#486,469 Patented November 22, 1892 Wheelbarrow

#512,615 Patented January 9, 1894 Steam or Baking Pan

For the truly curious:

My Surname Saturday post of my HOOGERZEIL lineage:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/surname-saturday-hoogerzeil-of-holland.html

Blog post "Peter Hoogerzeil's House in Beverly, Massachusetts":     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-so-wordless-wednesday-peter.html

Tombstone Tuesday - Peter Hoogerzeil's gravestone:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/tombstone-tuesday-peter-hoogerzeil.html 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Peter Hoogerzeil Patents a Stove in 1891", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 7, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/05/peter-hoogerzeil-patents-stove-in-1891.html: accessed [access date]). 

Abijah Hitchings' Cow in 1799 - But which Abijah Hitching was it?

 

The Salem Gazette, Tuesday, 16 July 1799; Salem, Massachusetts; Volume XIII; Issue 829; page 4

This notice of a lost cow (above) appeared in the Salem newspaper in 1799.  I knew immediately that it was one of my ancestors because of the unusual name of Abijah Hitchings.  But which Abijah?  Can you believe that there are five Abijah Hitchings in my family tree, all living in Salem, Massachusetts between 1753 and 1910?  There may have been more that I don't know about, too! 

The first clue is Salem.  The advertisement is from the Salem newspaper, and it includes the wording "Salem, July 5".  Unfortunately, all my Abijah Hitchings lived in Salem, so that was not very helpful.

Next is the date of 1799.  I used the date to eliminate some of the Abijah's in my tree. 

My 5th great grandfather, Abijah Hitchings, lived between 1753 and 1826 

My 4th great grandfather, Abijah Hitchings, lived between 1775 and 1868

My 3rd great grandfather, Abijah Hitchings, lived between 1809 and 1864

My 2nd great grandfather, Abijah Franklin Hitchings, lived between 1841 and 1910. 

From these dates, I can guess that it was either of the two first Abijah Hitchings who lost the cow, since the rest were not born by 1799.  And my 4th great grandfather, Abijah Hitchings was just 24 years old in 1799, and had been married just three years, with one young child living at home (you guessed it - that child was Abijah Hitchings (1798 - 1803)).  His father, my 5th great grandfather, was 46 years old, married since 1775, with four children by two different wives still living at home.  Either one of these could have owned the lost cow.

I know from The Diary of William Bentley, Volume 2, page 468, that Rev. Bentley visited the elder Abijah Hitchings (my 5th great grandfather) often, and in March 1799 he mentioned the "small house on the Hitchens lot on Beckett Street".  This Abijah was veteran of the Revolutionary War, and a housewright in Salem. 

But, just two doors down (according to the 1810 census) Abijah, Jr. lived with his family.  He was a carpenter and a shipwright, and only married once. His first child was named Abijah Hitchings III, but he died young and they named their seventh child (out of eleven!) Abijah Hitchings in 1809 (my 3rd great grandfather).  Rev. Bentley also visited this family very often, and mentioned the visits in his diaries. When he died in 1868 he was the oldest man in Salem. 

Any guesses on who owned the lost cow?

For the truly curious:

Surname Saturday - My HITCHINGS lineage:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/10/surname-saturday-hitchings-of-lynn.html   

A blog post about Rev. Bentley's diary and the Hitchings family in Salem:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/amanuensis-monday-excepts-from-rev.html  

Click here to read all my blog posts that mention COWS!  LOL!    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/cows

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Abijah Hitchings' Cow in 1799 - But which Abijah Hitching was it?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 23, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/04/abijah-hitchings-cow-in-1799-but-which.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Odiorne Family, from the Odiorne Burial Ground, Rye, New Hampshire

 These tombstones were photographed at the Wallis-Odiorne Burial Ground on Bracket Road in Rye, New Hampshire.  Most of the inscriptions are legible, but unfortunately the smaller poetry epitaphs are mostly illegible. 

WILLIAM S. ODIORNE

DIED

Nov. 4, 1869

Aged 72 yrs, 1 mo. &

8 days.

???? [illegible]

MARY T.

wife of Wm S. Odiorne,

DIED

April 7, 1867,

Aged 66 yrs, 3 mos.

-------------

Dearest Mother thou hast left us

and thy loss we deeply feel;

But 'tis God that has bereft us,

He can all our sorrows heal.

She sleeps in Jesus and is blest,

???? her slumber may

??? suffering and from sin released

And freed from every ???

TRUMAN S. ODIORNE

DIED

Dec. 3, 1831,

Aged 57 yrs, 2 mos.

-------------

???[illegible]

MOTHER

MARY O.

wife of

Trueman S. Odiorne

DIED

Aug. 16, 1894

AEt. 56 yrs,11 mos

12 days

?????[illegible]

William Seavey Odiorne was born 26 September 1797 in Rye, New Hampshire, the son of Ebenezer Odiorne and Mary Seavey.  He married Mary T. Amazeen on 9 July 1823. She was the daughter of Ephraim Amazeen and Hannah Tarleton.  The Amazeen family goes back in time to the immigrant John Amazeen, who was described as "John Amazeen, an Italian" by Charles Brewer, a Portsmouth historian. William and Mary Odiorne had nine children, and some are buried here in this burial ground.

Truman Seavey Odiorne is the oldest child of William and Mary.  He was born in 1822 in Rye, and married Mary Olive Moulton, the daughter of Joseph Moulton and Lydia Marston on 23 April 1864 in Rye.  She was born in 1837 and died 16 august 1894 in Rye. They had five children: William Wallace b. 11 Sept. 1864; Jonathan Everett b. 18 July 1866; Lydia Ann b. 13 Aug. 1869; Charlotte Seavey b. 3 August 1872; and Mary Amazeen b. 12 Dec. 1873. 

I am an Odiorne descendant, and William Seavey Odiorne is my 4th cousin, 5 generations removed.   Our common ancestor is the immigrant John Odiorne, born about 1625 in Shevlock, Cornwall, England and died 1707 in New Castle, New Hampshire. John Odiorne's parents and siblings first lived on the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth, and were later granted land at Great Island, now known as New Castle.  John later purchased the land that is now Odiorne State Park in Rye.  

For the truly curious:

"Surname Saturday - Odiorne" a blog post from 5 November 2011

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surname-saturday-odiorne.html  

Find A Grave, Truman Seavey Odiorne:   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182148226/truman_seavey_odiorne   

Portsmouth Athenaeum, Truman Seavey Odiorne:     https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182148226/truman_seavey_odiorne 

Also, a sketch on John Amazeen "an Italian?"   http://kristinhall.org/fambly/Amazeen/JohnAmazeen.html 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Odiorne Family, from the Odiorne Burial Ground, Rye, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 16, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-odiorne-family-from-odiorne-burial.html: accessed [access date]). 

Reverend Ebenezer Coffin, died 1816 Newbury, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday

 This tombstone was photographed at the First Parish Burial Ground in Newbury, Massachusetts.

In memory of

EBENEZER COFFIN, A.M.

aged 45

Faith, hope and Charity

His soul possesses the three.

Erected by his son

Robert Stevenson Coffin

1826

Ebenezer Coffin was born 15 February 1769 in Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Reverend Joshua Coffin and Sarah Bartlett. He went to Harvard College, and graduated in 1789. He was ordained as a Congregational pastor at the church in Brunswick, Maine in 1792.   Ebenezer married Mary Newhall on 25 September 1793 in Brunswick. She was the daughter of Samuel Newhall and Elizabeth Sprague of Newburyport. They had five children born in Brunswick and removed back to Newbury in 1802 where he was the school teacher.  Ebenezer died on 26 January 1816.  

Robert Stevenson Coffin was the second child of Rev. Ebenezer Coffin.  He was born in Brunswick and when the family relocated to Newbury he was apprenticed to a printer. During the War of 1812 he was a sailor aboard a ship that was captured by the British and the entire crew was imprisoned, and later released. He worked at a printer in Boston and in Philadelphia. He was a poet known as the "Boston Bard", but later became "intemperate" and died in Rowley, Massachusetts in 1827.  Robert Stevenson Coffin never married. 

Ebenezer Coffin's other children were Newhall, Eloisa, Horace, and Cazneau Bayley, who died in September 1826 when struck by lightning on the ship Hogart off the coast of Texas.   

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Reverend Ebenezer Coffin, died 1816 Newbury, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 9, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/04/reverend-ebenezer-coffin-died-1816.html: accessed [access date]). 

Margaret Muzzey, died 1787 in Newbury, Massachusetts

 

THIS

Mournfull Stone is

Erected to ye Memory of

Miss Margaret Muzzey

the only Child of Mr. Joseph

and Mrs Lydia Muzzey

who after a long & painfull

sickness which she bore with

Unexampled patience

Exchanged this Mortal for an

immortal state Decr. ye 8th

1787 In the 23rd year of

her age.

What tho this body turns to dust

It can't disturb my rest

May I but dwell with Christ above

To be for ever blest. 

Margaret Muzzy, born 12 January 1765 in Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, and died 18 December 1787 in Newbury, was buried at the First Parish Burial Ground in Newbury.  She was the daughter of Joseph Muzzey (1731 - 1801) and Lydia Stickney (1733 - 1799) married on 26 May 1756 in Newbury.  

We often think that the Puritans, who lost so many babies to childhood diseases, were cold hearted and stoic.  This tombstone shows two parents mourning the loss of an only child.  It is an example of how our assumptions are wrong, and the parents of the eighteenth century were just like us today. 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Margaret Muzzey, died 1787 in Newbury, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 2, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/04/margaret-muzzey-died-1787-in-newbury.html: accessed [access date]).