Nov. 26, 2000: More than three-fifths of the state’s voting-age population cast ballots in this year’s election, Newsweek reports. Only four states did better: Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin and Vermont.
Nov. 26, 1845: Five hundred twenty-five turkeys mysteriously pass through the streets of Concord, one day before Thanksgiving.
Nov. 26, 1900: “Uncle Ben” Davis dies. He was one of Concord’s most popular citizens during the 19th century and, according to one eulogist, “the greatest music teacher that New England ever produced.”
Nov. 26, 1898: A giant snowstorm hits New Hampshire. Concord records 18 inches, Manchester two feet. “Along the coast the loss of life was appalling. More than 200 lives were lost and 200 vessels destroyed,” one local history reports.
Nov. 27, 2001: In Franklin, Brenda Elias, former mayor and the mother of the city’s popular tax cap, fails a political comeback, losing a city council seat to David Palfrey, 291-194.
Nov. 27, 2000: About 300 people attend a Concord memorial service for longtime basketball coach Frank Monahan. “I personally feel I’ve lost a second father,” says Steve McMahon, a former player, “and I’m sure others that played for him feel much the same way.”
Nov. 27, 1817: Between 20 and 30 pet dogs throughout Concord are bitten by a dog with rabies. The rabid dog will be killed the next day.
Nov. 27, 1884: It is Thanksgiving, but the trains are running in Concord and the mail will be delivered as usual, at 7 and 11 a.m. But in general, “the streets wore a Sunday-like still,” the Evening Monitor reports.
Nov. 28, 1785: William Whipple dies at his home in Portsmouth at the age of 55. He was one of New Hampshire’s signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Nov. 28, 1814: An earthquake rattles the Suncook River valley. “The villagers were all out viewing the stars and earnestly telling each other what they heard and how the shake appeared to them, all acting as if in a momentary expectation of another earth-shaker,” a Barnstead town history reports.
Nov. 29, 2002: Two men are killed when an avalanche slams through Tuckerman Ravine. They are among seven men who are mountaineering and ice climbing when the avalanche sweeps them about 1,000 feet down the ravine.
Nov. 29, 1999: A 15-year old boy in Weare requires surgery after a homemade bomb goes off in his hand. In a search of his basement, the police find bottle rockets, fireworks, matches, carbon dioxide cartridges and wicks.
Nov.29, 1989: State troopers Gray Parker and Joseph Gearty are mortally injured when a load of lumber breaks loose from a tractor-trailer and crushes their cruiser.
Nov. 29, 1982: Former governor Hugh Gregg writes to Vice President George Bush with two pieces of advice for his future presidential run: Cement a relationship with John and Nancy Sununu and build a bridge to Nackey Loeb.
Nov. 29, 1867: Ingalls & Brown’s Quadrille Band plays at a grand ball at Concord’s Eagle Hall. “If you don’t dance,” exhorts the ad in the Patriot, “go to hear the music.”
Nov. 29, 1866: Fire damages the Penacook mills. Loss estimated at $40,000.
Nov. 29, 1814: U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster writes to his brother Ezekiel in New Hampshire that he will vigorously oppose the draft. The Senate has passed a bill authorizing conscription of 80,430 troops for the faltering American war effort against Britain. When the bill comes before the House, Webster accurately predicts, it will “cause a storm as was never witnessed before.”
Nov. 30, 2002: The average homeowner in Bow will pay $1,000 more in property taxes this year than last, the Monitor reports. That’s because the biggest property owner in town, the Public Service Company of New Hampshire, is getting a much smaller bill. A recent revaluation placed the value of the company’s power plant and other utilities at $8 million less than last year.
Nov. 30, 2001: Robert Tulloch, a teenager accused of killing two Dartmouth College professors will use an insanity defense at his trial, his lawyer states in a court filing. The defendant will argue he suffers from a “severe mental defect or disease and that his acts were the direct result of the mental defect of disease,” public defender Richard Guerriero states in the filing.
Nov. 30, 1999: Conant School parents say they’ve been discouraged from supporting teachers in their contract negotiations after back-to-school night and an evening holiday concert are canceled. “Parents want to support the teachers,” says parent Ann Lanney, “but there could have been better ways.
Nov. 30, 1960: Bob Tewksbury is born. He will be a star pitcher at Merrimack Valley High School and go on to a long career in the major leagues.
Nov. 30, 1870: Fire burns out the stone warehouse behind the Eagle Hotel, leaving only the granite walls standing. The warehouse became the home to the Museum of New Hampshire History.
Nov. 30, 1983: Mayor David Coeyman is squired through the streets of Concord in a rickshaw pulled by Somersworth Mayor George Bald. Coeyman, a former two-pack-a-day smoker, won a bet that he could quit.
Dec. 1, 2003: Chief Justice David Brock announces his retirement from the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which will take place at the end of the month. Brock, a 25-year veteran of the court, served as its highest official since 1986. He wrote the historic school funding decision known as Claremont II in 1997; three years later, he became the only judge in state history to withstand a Senate impeachment trial.
Dec. 1, 2002: Citing high taxes and poor services, a group of East Derry residents wants to secede from Derry, the Monitor reports.
Dec. 1, 2001: With a weekend of spontaneous and rehearsed music, the Concord Community Music School celebrates a milestone: the grand opening of a $1.5 million addition that more than doubles the space for the school.
Dec. 1, 2000: Fulfilling a charge from the Legislature, the state Department of Education makes available on the internet massive statistical snapshots of each school and district. The data include ranked lists of how each school has fared on the state’s assessment tests.
Dec. 1, 1999: A Monitor poll finds that many Republican voters have a more favorable impression of Arizona Sen. John McCain than they do of Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Pollster Brad Coker’s conclusion: That trend could translate into an upset election.
Dec. 1, 1848: Edward E. Sturtevant, a Concord printer, writes to his parents in Keene: “The Shakers are having a trial before a Legislative committee, which excites some curiosity among the people of this town. . . . A petition is presented for a law against parents and guardians binding children to them, alleging that they (the children) are taught to disregard all friendship for father & mother & brothers & sisters – to know no God except the Elders of the Shaker Society – and accusing the Shakers of abusing them & killing them, &c.&c. The petitioners have brought forward some 20 who have been Shakers but left them who testify strongly in favor of the petitioners. It is amusing to hear these backsliders swear down the religion of Anna Lee.”
Dec. 1, 1994: The early morning barks of a dog save the lives of six residents in a Merrimack Street apartment house destroyed by fire. The cause: overheated wiring within a bathroom wall.
Dec. 1, 1989: In Concord for a speaking engagement, peace activist William Sloan Coffin makes a prediction. Once Americans realize that the fall of the Iron Curtain means military power is no longer the central prerequisite for governing, he says, they will turn to the Democratic Party.
