Letter Writing

Letter Writing

Many of us "older folk" lament that cursive writing is becoming a lost art. There was a time when elegant handwriting was a status symbol and there were schools in penmanship. While penmanship is still taught in Europe, North American schools have largely eliminated it from the curriculum. The invention of the typewriter in 1867 began the movement away from penmanship, and the growing usage of electronic devices has largely eliminated the related skill of letter writing.

Schools in early Kings County spent many hours teaching first reading, then cursive writing, and then instructing in the proper form for letter writing, as this was the principle way of communicating. Young men away at war wrote letters home and eagerly awaited letters from parents and wives to get the news from home. Young women who married and moved with their husbands to new communities wrote letters home. Siblings could go their whole adult lives not seeing each other, but remaining in touch through letters.

If you want your children to experience the joy of writing a letter, you may be interested in an up-coming event at the Saint John Public Library in which your child can compose and type a letter on an old typewriter, perhaps similar to the one pictured below. This typewriter from our museum collection is a Woodstock No. 5, manufactured in Woodstock, Illinois between 1912 and 1922.

HAMPTON CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

We have a number of photos of Hampton Consolidated School in our photo collection, including of the fire that led to its demise. Hampton Consolidated School opened in the fall of 1907 on the site of the current Hampton Middle School. As it served the students of both Hampton Village and Hampton Station, it was constructed midway between the two communities. By the time the building burned in March of 1981 it had become Hampton Junior High School, with the high school students being bused to the Kennebecasis Valley High School. It was a Thursday morning on March 12th that the 452 students were safely evacuated and watched, with much of the community, as their school burned. The students had only a few days off, however, as portable classrooms were quickly set up and work commenced on the construction of the new school and amazingly several classrooms were ready for use by September of that year and the rest as the term progressed.

EXPLORE YOUR IRISH ROOTS

The Kings County Museum has a large collection of local family histories in our Research Room and we will be open on St Patrick's Day, March 17, from 1:00pm until 4:00pm.

Come explore your Irish roots. Locate your family home on our Irish Family Homes Map. Get hints on research with our books Handbook on Irish Genealogy by Heraldic Artists Ltd, Tracing Your Irish Roots by Christine Kinealy or Immigrants from Ireland to Kings County Prior to 1840. For those wearing their green, the $10 research fee will be waived.

And remember . . . "If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough".

Treasure from the Storeroom:

Treasure from the Storeroom:

One of my favourite items unearthed from the storeroom during the recent clean-out was this beautiful ladies dress from the mid 1800's. It is a fairly recent acquisition and has not yet been displayed, but I anticipate it being a hit for our exhibit this summer. It belonged to Mrs Julia Nembhard Helen (Kortright) Neales, wife of Rev Dr James Neales of Gagetowm She was born in 1831, married in 1849, moved to Gagetown in 1859, died in 1885. It is handstitched with an elegant Scallop pattern at the neck and the sleeves, fully lined, and in excellent condition. It has detachable "Modesty Sleeves" and a 22 inch waist!