What do the Scotland-born naval hero of the American Revolution and needlework schools have to do with tracing your ancestral roots? You can go to the John Paul Jones House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and find out or read the abbreviated version here: While overseeing the construction of 2 vessels during the Revolution, Jones boarded at a house that has been preserved and is today known as the John Paul Jones House. It's eclectic holdings include local history artifacts, some Jones material, a room devoted to the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth (ending the Russo-Japanese War and earning Theodore Roosevelt the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.) It also has a room with an impressive display of needlepoint samplers crafted by female students at the academies that sprang up in Portsmouth after the Revolution and continued into the early 1800s. A Mary Ann Smith ran one such school and Rev. Timothy Alden (see the Alden-Mullins page) ran another. The samplers are large, very detailed, and contain the maker's full name, age, and sometimes the name of her school. Elizabeth F. Willey (see below) created one in 1834 listing her parents and siblings, with dates of birth and mother's maiden name.
Of greater significance for NH genealogical research overall, some schools kept records of their students and teachers that are still extant today. (The Portsmouth Athenaeum has some material and contemporary newspaper ads for such school can be found on Genealogybank.com.) If you cannot get to Portsmouth, get a copy of John F. LaBranche & Rita F. Conant, In Female Worth and Elegance: Sampler and Needlework Students and Teachers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1741-1840 (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1996.) Because it was published for a 2009 exhibition of samplers by the Portsmouth Historical Society it gives the creator's names and biographical data for 111 different samplers. Difficult as it is to find anything on females during that period, this is a must-read for New Hampshire genealogy.
Photos © Maura Mackowski, 2019
Of greater significance for NH genealogical research overall, some schools kept records of their students and teachers that are still extant today. (The Portsmouth Athenaeum has some material and contemporary newspaper ads for such school can be found on Genealogybank.com.) If you cannot get to Portsmouth, get a copy of John F. LaBranche & Rita F. Conant, In Female Worth and Elegance: Sampler and Needlework Students and Teachers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1741-1840 (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1996.) Because it was published for a 2009 exhibition of samplers by the Portsmouth Historical Society it gives the creator's names and biographical data for 111 different samplers. Difficult as it is to find anything on females during that period, this is a must-read for New Hampshire genealogy.
Photos © Maura Mackowski, 2019
 |  |
RSS Feed
