Browse Items (22 total)

Addison Emery Verrill Eminent Zoologist by Stanley Russell Howe Addison E. Verrill (1839-1926) One of the most eminent zoologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Addison Emery Verrill was born on Patch Mountain, Greenwood, Maine,…

Bethel's Civil War Soldier's Monument Dedicated 100 Years Ago by Stanley Russell Howe The year 2008 year marked the centennial of the dedication of Bethel’s Civil War Soldier’s monument on Memorial Day 1908. The account of this event in the 4…

Bethel’s Robert A. Chapman and Frances C. Chapman by Stanley R. Howe Hon. Robert Andrews Chapman and Frances Carter Chapman Photo from Maine: A History (1919) Hon. Robert Andrews Chapman, the second owner of the Bethel Historical Society's…

Commemorating the 200th Anniversaryof Hannibal Hamlin’s Birth Editor’s Note: On August 7, 2009, the Bethel Historical Society’s annual Hall Lecture was presented by H. Draper Hunt, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, University of Southern Maine. His…

Edward Sylvester Morse: Dr. True's Star Pupil by Stanley Russell Howe Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925) Courtesy of the Maine Historical Society Few connected with Bethel's Gould Academy are aware that one of the leading figures in the fields…

Enoch Foster, Jr.: Third Owner of the O'Neil Robinson House by Stanley R. Howe Sarah W. Foster and Enoch Foster, Jr. Photos from Maine: A History (1919) Enoch Foster, the third owner of the Society’s O’Neil Robinson House, was born in…

Ernest M. Skinner by Stanley Russell Howe Ernest Martin Skinner 1866-1960 In Bethel’s Woodland Cemetery, not far from the Gothic Revival tomb, is the grave of Ernest M. Skinner, one of America’s leading organ makers whose fame spread across…

Eva M. Bean and East Bethel Road A Fifty Year Perspective By Stanley R. Howe Eva Marion Bean (1895-1969) Editor’s Note: A version of this essay was delivered during a Society program held on 14 May 2009. It has been edited and expanded for…

Farming and Bethel Text adapted from The Family Farm, a 1975 Bethel Historical Society exhibit guidecompiled and written by Stanley R. Howe Bethel's Agricultural Heritage Earliest Days The potential for making maple sugar from the numerous…

General Oliver Otis Howard Speaks at Bethel by Stanley R. Howe Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909), ca. 1865 Courtesy of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission Civil War General Oliver Otis Howard spoke at Bethel on the afternoon of 15 July…

Lafayette Grover: Would-Be President Maker by Stanley Russell Howe Lafayette Grover1823-1911 Born in Bethel, Maine, on 29 November 1823, the third son of Dr. John and Fanny Lary Grover, Lafayette Grover was educated at Gould Academy and…

Life on the Home Front: Bethel During the Civil War by Stanley Russell Howe Major Gideon A. Hastings (1821-1905), 12th Maine Battalion Editor's note: Few events in American history have received more attention than the Civil War. A neglected…

Lucy Larcom's Bethel by Stanley R. Howe Lucy Larcom (1824-1893) Observing nature was a major focus of the life of Lucy Larcom (1824-1893), who spent much time in the White Mountain region and especially in the western Maine town of Bethel.…

O'Neil Watson Robinson First Owner of the Robinson House by Stanley R. Howe O'Neil W. Robinson (1797-1867) As certain as can be currently determined, the Broad Street building acquired by the Society in 1998 was built about 1821 by O’Neil…

To Improve the Farmer's Lot: The Grange in Maine by Stanley R. Howe For over half a century, beginning in the 1870s, the Grange in Maine numbered some 50,000 members in more than 400 locations throughout the State. Active on behalf of Maine's…

Twenty-five Years of the Courier: A Personal Memoir by Stanley Russell Howe Masthead from an issue of Bethel's first newspaper, The Bethel Courier (1858-1861) When I became Director of the Bethel Historical Society in 1974, there was almost…

William Berry Lapham Local Historian and Genealogist by Stanley Russell Howe William Berry Lapham 1828-1894 William Berry Lapham (1828-1894) was one of the most prolific compilers of local history and genealogy that Maine produced during the…