Strafford News

Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on September 15.

he 2020 Woodman Museum 2021Fall Speaker series kicks off Wednesday October 6, 2021, featuring 5 amazing speakers, each Wednesday evening at 7PM through November 3, 2021, at the Woodman Museum 182 Central Ave. Dover.

Olga Morrill Wednesday October 6, 2021

On October 6 at 7:00pm NH author Olga Morrill kicks off the Fall speaker series at the Woodman Museum with an open discussion about colonial Dover in the early 17th century. Questions are encouraged throughout the program. Olga is currently working on an historical fiction series called The Vagabond Trilogy which is firmly based in fact and involves real people and events that occurred in the Piscataqua Region at that time. Two of the three books are now published.

Book 1 Vagabond Quakers: Northern Colonies (Morrill Fiction 2017) begins on Dover Point in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now New Hampshire). The early history of the settlement is revealed through the eyes of Puritan magistrate Richard Walderne who immigrated in 1635. Chapters alternate between Richard and two female missionaries for the Society of Friends, Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose, who clash with Walderne in December of 1662. The little-known history of Puritan persecution against the Society of Friends is revealed by the shocking violence these women endured.

Book 2 Vagabond Quakers: Southern Colonies (Morrill Fiction, May 2021) follows the travels of Mary and Alice as they journey south from New England to Virginia, encountering new adventures and more persecution. Copies are available to purchase in paperback and Kindle formats through Amazon or borrow the books from your local library. 

After 24 years of service Olga Morrill retired from the Conway Public Library in November of 2014 to devote all her time and energy to writing Vagabond Quakers: Northern Colonies then two years in the making. The first book was published in 2017, and book 2 Vagabond Quakers: Southern Colonies was recently published in May 2021. She is currently working on book 3 Vagabond Apothecary about David Thomson, first European settler to bring his family to live on seacoast New Hampshire. 

Olga lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with her husband Steve

Terry Nelson Wednesday October 13, 2021

The New Hampshire Seacoast has a wealth of overlooked History. Some remnants are hidden in plain sight, and others are just plain hidden. In his book Hidden History of New Hampshire Seacoast author Terry Nelson reveals many of these fascinating stories. Meet the Minister and early religious founder who was involved in an armed confrontation in Dover with another preacher in 1640. Find out about the one-time Rochester assistant principal who became a world-famous business leader and ended up meeting President Grover Cleveland. Learn about the Atkinson Academy, the second co-educational school in America and likely it’s oldest continuously operating schoolhouse, as well as the “pile of Rocks” that halted a multi-million-dollar high school building project in Windham. Join Terry to hear of these, and many other, hidden stories.

Terry Nelson is a retired educator his, final position being that of Assistant Principal at Southside Middle School in Manchester. He lives in Dover, NH with his wife Barbara also a retired educator, and their rescue dog. Ellie.

Michael Bruno October 20, 2021

Join Michael Bruno Author of Crusing New Hampshire History: A guide to New Hampshire’s Historical Markers, for a fascinating lecture about some of the 255 New Hampshire state roadside highway markers, featured in his book. Michael will take a deeper dive into stories and history behind select markers, and the background of the famous people, places, and events in New Hampshire History that they represent.

Michael Bruno was born in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. He traveled throughout the state with his father when he was young and took an interest in New Hampshire History. As a young adult Michael stopped at the historical markers that dotted the highways while riding his motorcycle. He found each of the markers intriguing with their unique story. Now more than thirty years later Michael has embarked on a project to visit and provide expanded information regarding each of the 255 New Hampshire historical markers that are currently exhibited along the highways in the Granite State.

Noreen Biehl October 27, 2021

A Place of Healing: A History of Wentworth-Douglass Hospital weaves through eleven decades of Dover’s annual reports, newspaper stories, hospital publications, remembrances, and interviews. It begins with the opening ceremony on August 30, 1906, when hundreds had gathered on the hospital’s front lawn to hear Col. Daniel Hall praise Arioch Wentworth for his gift of $100,000 to the City of Dover to build a hospital named Wentworth. His 5,000-word tribute extolled the multiple virtues of this fine institution noting, “the sciences of medicine and surgery, and public charity, are all in the making and still in the gristle, and he who lives 50 years, as some of you will, will see this institution a much larger one than we launch or contemplate today.” While the history ends 110 years later, the amazing story of the Seacoast’s Leading Medical Center continues today. 

Noreen A. Biehl received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English/non-fiction writing from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Science degree in communications management from Simmons College, Boston, MA.  She worked as a reporter for Foster’s Daily Democrat before beginning a 30-year career at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, retiring as Vice President of Community Relations in 2014. Noreen lives in Dover, NH, where she continues to write, travel, garden and enjoy her family. 

Paul Timmerman November 3, 2021

New Hampshire's Civil War - General Simon Griffin

Learn the story of Simon Griffin as he rises in rank from Captain to Colonel to Brigadier General as a member of the 9th Corps, Union Army.

See him participate in the major battle campaigns of both the Eastern and Western theaters of conflict.  His fights begin at 1st Bull Run in July of 1861, includes the Vicksburg campaign in 1863, and finishes at the Appomattox campaign in 1865.

Learn about his leadership and aggressive command tactics.  Marvel at how he survives his many fights of this dangerous conflict and returns to Keene, NH after the war.

Paul Timmerman is retired, and an avid Civil War historian, Dover resident, and member of the 1st NH Light Artillery re-enactment group. He is currently a docent at the Woodman Museum and president of its Board of Directors.

Original source can be found here.