11.20.06
Old Houses Harbor History
I prefer to live in an old house. Our home, built in 1821 by a well-to-do business owner, is still structurally sound. I like the fact that the house itself, and its inhabitants form a history of its own. Abel J. Baker, Jr., who built the house, was the father of Nathaniel Baker who served as Governor of the state of New Hampshire in 1854.
This much is certain. He studied law under Franklin Pierce, and he knew Daniel Webster who lived just up the road a piece in Boscawen, NH. I have seen photos of our street before it was paved, and when it was lined with Elm trees before an Elm tree disease wiped out that certain variety of Elm tree, around here. I don’t know if the great statesman, Daniel Webster, was politically aligned with Baker or not, but Webster would have passed by our home, on the way to the State Legislature in downtown Concord, NH. I can’t help but wonder if President Pierce, or Daniel Webster were ever visitors at this home.
We can know so much about history, and yet so many details of daily life can escape us, after the fact, and be difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct. We wonder why there is writing in a closet that says, “Don’t spit on the floor.” For whom, exactly, was that message intended in that tobacco chewing age? We wonder how many fireplaces this house originally had, and what the hearth/bread oven looked like. We wonder why there had been a set of exterior stairs to the third floor. Someone surmised that the unheated quarters there were for the kitchen help. Where was the “birthing room?” We found a “dance card” which leads us to wonder where, exactly, the dance was held.
So many questions…perhaps we should hold a seance to try to divine the answers. Only kidding. However, did you know that seances were a popular pastime in the nineteenth century? The prevailing opinion was that people could convene with the deceased.
That aside, I stray from the point. We discovered a link to more information about Nathaniel Baker. I am proud of his accomplishments! In my opinion, anyone who signed an act allowing women to write their own will is an all right fellow. To read more about him, access this link:
http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/glikeness/bakenath.html
