Oils of the North Country

 

Oils of the North  Country

Journal Opinion    May 14, 2025 

In the past 300 years, New Hampshire and Vermont have been oil states, although not quite like Alaska or Texas.  This column looks at the history of oils such as those produced from sperm whales, farm animals, linseed, and coal and those collected from the region’s natural environment. 

It covers the period from 1750 to 1960. The information is taken from vintage newspapers and online sources.

. Some presented themselves as fluids and others as solids. They were used for lighting, medicines, toiletries, greases, and repellants. Several were used by native peoples prior to colonial settlement.

As was true with other agricultural products of New Hampshire and Vermont, oils produced locally were often eclipsed by production elsewhere. Some oils were exported to other states and other oils were imported

Two early widely used imports were whale and sperm oil. The American whaling industry was located in nearby Massachusetts and peaked around 1850. Through the middle of the 19^th century, whale oil was used in candles, soaps, lubricants, and lamps. Sperm oil, harvested from some whales, was of superior quality and used in medicine, perfumes and higher-quality lighting.

Items made from these oils were offered in Vermont stores early in the 19th century. In 1861, Blakes’ store in East Corinth still offered whale and sperm oil products.

The introduction of kerosene for lighting in the 1850s usurped the whale oil market, although the oils were still used in other products. Kerosene was just the beginning of a tsunami of petroleum-based oil products that transformed daily life. At the  same time, coal or coaline oil became available for burning in kerosene lamps and for use as an insecticide.

Two other imported oils found in most local households were cod liver oil and castor oil. Early druggists offered these oils for the treatment of rheumatism and rickets. Many children were given regular doses of one or both of these oils.  

Still, some fish oil was locally produced. In the early 1800s, fish oil was processed in several locations to produce meal and oil.  In New Hampshire, Hampton fishermen made fish oil for lamps and for cod liver oil. This may also have happened in the Champlain Valley in Vermont. 

Another oil offered in Vermont stores in the early 19th century was neetsfoot oil. Made from cattle bones, it was used to condition leather. In the 1890s, one factory in St. Johnsbury manufactured the product.

Raising sheep became a major agricultural pursuit in the two states during the first half of the 19th century. Wool oil, also known as wool wax, wool grease or lanolin oil, was a byproduct.  

It was used as a lubricant and in manufacturing leather and soap.  Vermont newspaper advertised both for sheep pelts and for the sale of the oil. One ad in 1837 offered 300 gallons of wool oil. Wool oil advertisements were still appearing in a Portsmouth newspaper as late as 1871.   

Between the 1830 and the 1860s, lard oil was another  local product. It was made by pressing pure rendered pig fat and extracting the oil. It was used as a lubricant and in the production of soap.

 In 1852, one Vermont newspaper reviewed the used of lard in lard-oil lamps. It “was the best of winter oil…better than sperm oil.”  

Many turned to the natural environment for oils. As early as 1685, residents in southern New England were harvesting the resin or liquid pitch from pine trees to make gum turpentine.

Distilled turpentine was used as a solvent, cleaning fluid, and in folk medicine. The resin was collected from pine trees in a process known as boxing, that scarred bark and deeply damaged trees. By 1715, the process had stripped the landscape of pine in the southern Connecticut River Valley.

The process then moved to southern New Hampshire where activities began as early as 1724.  In 1749, the state’s naval stores used pine oil as “the most and best oil.” By 1880, the supply of pine in the two states had been “tapped out.”

 One of the earliest manufactured products in Vermont was flaxseed or linseed oil. Many farmers raised flax for both the fibers and seeds. The oil was used in the manufacture of paints and varnishes for buildings and furniture.

Beginning in the late 1700s, flaxseed mills were built along waterways in both states. Early mills were located in Post Mills, Bellows Falls, Salisbury, Windsor, and Rutland in Vermont and Weare, New Boston, and New Ipswich in New Hampshire.  

Mills hulled, dried, and crushed locally grown flax seeds, which were then cooked and pressed to extract the oil.

In the early 1800s, paint companies, such as those in Montpelier and Burlington, advertised for hundreds of gallons of linseed oil.

The rise of cotton textiles after 1820 led to a decline in the raising of flax and the closure of linseed mills in the two states. Production elsewhere more easily satisfied the demand for linseed oil. 

And there were oils found in perhaps unusual sources., Skunk oil was made from the rendered fat of skunks and their scent glands. Early settlers may have learned about its use from natives.

In the 1840s, Vermont druggists began offering pure skunks oil as a treatment for croup and sore ligaments. They acquired the product from local trappers and hunters.

In 1850, a tongue-in-cheek suggestion was made that a skunk oil mill should be established in Ripton. Not only was that mill not established, I could find no reference to actual local mills producing the product.

Druggists from Newport to Rutland and Brattleboro advertised frequently, both seeking the oil and offering it for sale.

In 1875, Andrew Bates of Hanover sent “2,000 skins of these pesky animals to the Boston Market. Skunk’s oil is valuable for medicinal purposes and brings a fair price.” A pelt was said to yield about 4  ounces of oil. 

An 1881 Richford newspaper article answered the question “What do people buy skunk oil for?” The reply was that it was good for rheumatism.  

In 1885, a New Hampshire paper mentioned that teenage boys might earn pocket money hunting skunks.

The skunk population was overhunted, and those remaining were in poor condition with “no oil in them.” Maine continued to be a primary source, producing 25,000 gallons as late as 1907. 

After that, advertisements were less frequent. However, there were elders’ recollections of their family’s use of the oil as cures. 

One 1948 advertisement suggested, “the odor was no more than other liniments and much cheaper.”  At the same time, druggists mention that they no longer carry this folk medicine. One of the last ads seeking oil from hunters was in the Valley News in 1960.

On a smaller scale, there was the use of “coon oil” from the carcasses of raccoons. As with skunks, the rendered oil was used as a homemade liniment and a “sovereign remedy for coughs and colds” For a short time in the late 1850s, the “splendid light” of a coon oil lamp was advertised.

Snake oil was also produced on a limited scale in the two states. Rattlesnakes were found in several locations including along the Connecticut River and along the New York boarder. Snake carcasses were boiled, and the resulting oil was refined and offered as a liniment.

One of the first Vermont newspaper advertisements for snake oil appeared in 1827. Before 1848, notices offered snake oil for sale by druggists. Only one ad sought locally caught snake carcasses.

While snake oil continued to be offered until the 1920s, none of it was local oil. Also, the rise of fake oil of the “cure-all variety” peddled by carnival hucksters led to the use of the term “snake oil” to describe a fraudulent products or scheme..  

Wild spearmint and peppermint were found along most New Hampshire and Vermont brooks. As early as 1830, farmers realized they could make money from the wild plants. Newspapers such as Danville’s North Star mentioned “cash will be given” for the herbs.  

The crop was collected in bails and sold to processors. Steam distillation allowed the oil to be collected. It was generally available in bottles and sold for medicinal purposes and as a flavoring for food.  Druggists throughout the region offered it for sale.

While there was a north country market as late as 1880, it was generally overshadowed by commercial crops from large farms in the Midwest.

Wormwood and snakeroot were two other native plants that were sought by druggists and wholesalers for processing into oils.

As early as the late 18th century, locals gathered snakeroot. In Walpole, New Hampshire, “a large portion of pin money was derived from the sale of snakeroot.”

As late as 1830, a Chelsea store offered goods in exchange for snakeroot “well washed and dried.”

Those were not the only oils gathered in the north country.  Beginning in the period after the Civil War, it was not uncommon to see steam rising from scores of stills throughout the northern sections of New Hampshire and Vermont.  Those stills were used in the distillation of cedar and spruce oil.

In the spring and again in the late fall, cedar branches were gathered from relatively young trees. The brush was packed in a silo-like tub. An adjacent fireplace created steam which was diverted into the silo. The resulting vapors were drawn off, and the oil was extracted.

It might take as much as 1,000 pounds of bush to make 10 pounds of oil. This yellow “running off oil” was shipped to Boston or New York where it was used to manufacture furniture polishes, insecticides, perfumes, and drugs. 

Both cigar boxes and keepsake chests were sometimes flavored with the oil to give the impression they were made of cedar wood.

 During the two world wars, cedar oil was used in the maintenance of large guns. One source mentioned that Vermont led the nation in cedar oil production in 1942. 

Unfortunately, in the latter half of the 19th century, there were a number of suicide attempts linked with the drinking of cedar oil. 

In the period after 1840s, there was local cedar oil activities in the area of Vermont known now as the Northeast Kingdom. On a regular basis, town columns carried news of local operations. Towns such as Danville, Sutton, Glover, and Hardwick had regular teams of one to six workers per still.

I only found one reference to any community south of Peacham and Groton. In 1896, the local column mentioned that a man from South Ryegate had set up a still in Topsham. 

Locals used the income to supplement their regular activities. As one Burke resident said, “Although not produced in large quantities in this state, it does help with income…every dollar helps when you’re living on a farm.”

The availability of oil determined prices. That production, as with maple syrup, often depended on the weather.

Spruce oil was also manufactured using the same local distillation process. In the early 1800s, Strafford’s Taylor Factory processed the oil.

The first newspaper advertisement selling spruce oil was in 1829 from a Windsor store. Newspaper column references did not mention small farm stills until after 1878. In 1883, the Shaker community at Enfield Centre, distilled spruce oil.

Spruce oil stills were found in parts of Vermont that had not seen cedar stills. These included Newbury, Groton, Orange, Weston, and West Dover.  Benton, Easton, and Franconia in New Hampshire were also included.

In 1902, the following appeared in The United Opinion, “Earnest Brock is manufacturing spruce oil, instead of sperm oil as last week’s Opinion said.  Whales are not plentiful in West Newbury.” 

This needle oil continued to be distilled into the 20th century. Despite the impact of imported less expensive oil, some stills continued to operate. During World War II, the oil was used in the maintenance of large guns. As late as 1963, one article mentioned that spruce oil production was “still profitable.” 

When the idea for this article first arose, I had no idea of the number of oils produced in the North Country. A search of the Internet can still find some of these products; some  being offered by Vermont or New Hampshire sources.    

 

Caring for Animals Great and Small

Edwin Powers
 

Edwin & Katharine Blaisdell

Walter Cottrell

Journal Opinion  April 2, 2025

I have often been asked how I get my column ideas. This month’s one came to mind as PBS featured the latest chapters in the James Herriot series “All Creatures Great and Small.” We have also been making frequent visits to our local veterinary office as we put down our elderly poodle and acquired a rescue dog from Louisiana.

With those prompts in mind, I fashioned a column on veterinarians using online sources as well as recollections from many local residents.

Before the mid-19th century, the care of animals was left mostly to their owners. By 1851, there was at least one book on animal care for farmers was on sale in Bradford.

In the later 1800s, those who did offered their services for the care of large animals had little, if any formally educated, gaining their knowledge from hands-on experience. Farriers or horse doctors dealt with horses while people known as “cow leeches” dealt with cows and other large farm animals.

While they tended to the needs of large animals, those who referred to themselves as veterinary surgeons also carried on several other businesses at the same time.  

Charles H. C. Williams began his local practice in the period after the Civil War. In 1868, he warned that Morgan horses were being harmed by poor breeding practices. He traveled the state “exhibiting his trained horse and dogs, and selling his patented bit.”

In 1872, Prof. Williams was in Bradford. There he received “colts and horse of vicious habits at his stable for breaking and training.”  He later opened a confectionery store and billiard room and offered a minstrel and burlesque combination at the town hall. He then moved to Franklin NH.  

Notices that surgeon veterinary Dr. Frank Lamb was making farm visits to care for sick animals began to appear in 1876. Lamb was born in Ryegate in 1858. ”His early ambitions were to study medicine, but sickness prevented his completing his studies.”

He practiced in East Orange and Topsham before he relocated to Bradford. During his time in Bradford, he was a constable, village trustee, and legislator. He also advertised as a carpenter and re-tinner of cookware.

When he died in June 1922, his obituary included the following: Lamb “will be greatly missed in the many homes in the surrounding towns where his profession as veterinary has taken him.” 

Formal veterinary schools were first established in the 1850s in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Their major focus was the care of urban working horses.

These private, proprietary institutions were all closed by 1927. Between 1879 and 1959, 18 new schools were created, and between 1973 and 1998, 10 more veterinary schools opened.

Veterinary historians assert that the original James Herriot books “created such a phenomenal interest in veterinary medicine with his books that state legislatures were forced to build veterinary schools so their constituents could obtain a veterinary education.”

Currently, most accredited veterinary schools are located at public institutions such as Cornell or the University of Pennsylvania. New England’s only accredited school is at Tufts University.    

Universities and community college systems  in New Hampshire and Vermont offer pre-veterinary and veterinary technology programs. 

I talked with Dr. Milton Robison of Swanton, who, at 90, is the oldest registered veterinarian In Vermont. In response to my question about historical changes in his practice since he began in 1965, Dr. Robison lamented the state-wide decline in large animal practitioners due to the loss of the state’s dairy farms.

He understands the advantage that today’s veterinarians have in treating small animals brought to their offices rather than traveling to individual farms for larger patients.   

What follows are the stories of three local veterinarians who practiced for decades. Examining the lives of these individuals is not meant to ignore the contributions of the other local vets. Rather, it is meant to use their examples to focus on the work of all local vets meeting our animals’ needs.

Dr. Edwin Powers was born in Bethlehem, NH in 1913, graduated from Bradford Academy in 1931 and the University of Toronto School of Veterinary Medicine in 1935.

He moved to Fairlee to begin 16 years of practice there. In 1952, Powers moved his family and practice to Bradford, where he remained until 1964. He had an operating room and kennels for patients and boarded animals at both locations. During these years, he mentored a number of young assistants.

His daughter Janice Fournier recalled her father being called out day or night, good weather and bad. Mud season was always a special challenge. He made it part of his duties to keep farmers aware of diseases such as tuberculosis and brucellosis that affected local herds.

In addition to his work with local farmers, Powers was active in local affairs. In 1954, he was a major advocate for expanding vocational agriculture at Bradford Academy by building of a new shop and classroom.

Beginning in 1949, he was the official veterinarian of the Connecticut Valley Exposition, the forerunner of today’s Bradford Fair. In 1963, he   presided over a rabies clinic for 650 dogs at the Bradford Armory.

Powers was a great supporter of the Academy’s alumni association and the school’s athletic teams.  He rarely missed a BA basketball game, where he frequently offered unsolicited advice to officials.  He was often called upon to act as toastmaster for local banquets for both alumni and athletics.  

His influence reached beyond the local level in his work with the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association, where he served as president for two terms.  Dr. Robison commented that Powers was one of the major organizers of that organization. 

In 1964, Powers was appointed by the governor to the Veterinary Examination and Registration Board.

In 1965, when the physical demands of his practice began to affect his health, Powers accepted a federal appointment with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Montpelier.

He retired in 1979, but continued to maintain an active interest in veterinary affairs.  Fournier told me that a Lake Morey Inn event celebrating his 80th birthday attracted more than 200 celebrants. “Very impressive and touching, was witnessing thanks from folks for veterinary work done decades earlier!” Powers passed away in Montpelier in 1994.

 

Dr. Edwin Blaisdell was born in Laconia in 1927. He graduated from the UNH pre-veterinary course in 1949 and from Cornell in 1952.

 It was at UNH that he met Katherine Frizell and they were married in 1949. She had a PH.D in veterinary parasitology and physiology, and after they settled in North Haverhill, they began a lifetime of working as a team.

Blasdell “brought many innovative vet practices to the area which greatly enhanced the dairy and cattle farm industry.”  He dealt with epidemics, endemic diseases, and injuries and set up local rabies clinics.

He was “not your ordinary veterinarian.” His daughter, Dorothy Custance of Belmont, NH, recalled that their “family suppers rotated around barn calls.” 

She said there were no animal shelters at the time and her father could not stand to put down a healthy animal, so, they sometimes had as many as 20 pets. 

Custance said that her father loved the James Herriot series Identifying with the tales of the rural British veterinarian. The Blaisdells also connected with veterinarians from other countries and sometimes flew to foreign places to work with them.

Others share memories of taking their pets to “Doc” Blaisdell and his willingness to treat them at any hour. Sometimes it was for an injury or illness, and other times, it was for a face filled with quills. 

In addition to household or farm animals, Blaisdell’s practice included caring for the animals at Natureland in North Woodstock and the exotic species at Green’s Rare Bird and Animal Farm in Orford and Fairlee. There he treated emus, elephants, cheetahs, snakes, and more.

In 2007, Blasdell was presented the Andrew Felker Award for service to the promotion of agriculture. He retired from practice in 2008 after 56 years of “compassionate care of all creatures great and small.”

Blasdell’s interest beyond animal care had a significant influence on the community. In 1958, he helped raise funds for the new Cottage Hospital and later worked with the Haverhill Historical Society in the reconstruction of the Bedell Bridge and Ladd Street School.

When Katherine began writing a column on local history for the Journal Opinion she often included stories Ed brought home from his veterinary practice. This column expanded in a series of nine books on local and   regional history.

He was a collector of antiquities and readily shared his collections with schools, local societies, and the North Haverhill Fair.  He was president of the fair when it first began as the Pink Granite Grange Fair. In 2007, the fair dedicated the Ed Blaisdell Maple Museum, to which he donated his maple collection.

He was also on the precinct commission for the North Haverhill Fire Department and active in the local grange. Both Edwin and Katharine passed away in 2015. 

 Dr. Walter Cottrell grew up in Maryland, served in the Marines, and  entered veterinarian medicine later in life than most.  He graduated from Cornell at age 38.

In 1985, he joined Dr. David Webster’s Bradford practice at the Oxbow Veterinary Clinic. In 1993, he opened the River Valley Veterinary Hospital in a remodeled farm house in Newbury. 

In a letter to me, a local resident related an experience when her son’s family dog was brought to Cottrell for a scratched eye. “Dr. Cottrell had a reassuring ‘bedside manner,’ and was truly sensitive to a child’s anxieties about a beloved pet. “

Another story involved an aspiring nursing student with a dog with challenging health issues. “Having virtually no money, Dr. Cottrell took both my dog and myself under his wing and promptly and properly diagnosed by beloved dog Chili.” This care included using his influence to get additional care for the dog at Tufts. “A true gentleman in every sense of the word.”

Still further, Walt is “a first-rate clinician” with a “warm capacious heart.” 

 in 2004, he sold the Newbury practice and relocated to Pennsylvania to be closer to grandchildren. There he became a wildlife vet for the state of Pennsylvania. His practice had grown from a handful of species to one treating over 450.

 Upon retirement in 2013, he returned to Vermont. He expanded his role as a wildlife vet for the Northeast Wildlife Disease Cooperative, serving nine states from Delaware to Maine until 2019.

Today, he describes his practice as sporadic. Other than working with the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, his attention is often focused on the raising of English setters and heritage apples.   

 In a recent conversation, Cottrell discussed changes in veterinary practices. At the same time that generalists who worked with both large and small animals vanished locally, significant changes occurred in how veterinarians organized their practices.

After 1980, as more women were accepted as veterinarians, there was an increased pressure to balance work with family needs. By 2009, women outnumbered men in the field. Additionally, the expanding research and new developments in animal care led to specialization among practitioners.  

There was a rise in emergency care facilities, replacing vets who were available day and night. At first, emergency coverage was shared by co-operating practices. Then they become stand-alone facilities and had to charge higher rates.

In the mid-1990s, the organized profession began to respond to the discrepancy of income between veterinarians and other medical professionals. Cottrell referred to this response as the adoption of a “white coat syndrome.” Realizing that young vets had higher debts to service and lives to lead, there was an organized effort to increase individual income and time off.

James Harriot wrote, “If you decide to become a veterinary surgeon… you will have a life of endless interest and variety.”  That certainly seems to sum up the careers of Drs Powers, Blaisdell and Cottrell. Over the years that has meant so much to local owners of “creatures great and small.”

 

 

Even More Than Just A Club

 

WHAT A LIFE. The Newbury High class of 1958 presented this 1938 Broadway play by Clifford Goldsmith as its senior play. Senior plays were a traditional class activity in most of the local high schools until 1971. The activity helped to solidify class spirit and enrich its treasury. (Tenney Memorial Library)

FIRE AND ICE. In February, 1970, the students and staff of Bradford Academy continued the winter carnival tradition first established in 1928. Complete with interclass competitions, snow sculptures, and a winter carnival ball highlighting the fire and ice theme, it was held just before winter vacation. (Bradford Historical Society)

This column is the second in a series on non-athletic extracurricular activities in local high schools to about 1971. The first article in Oct 2024 described the history of career groups such as the Future Farmers of America and the Future Homemakers of America.

The material is taken from local newspapers, school yearbooks, and alum memories. I have selected enough examples to create an understanding of the importance of these activities to student life. The 1971 date is chosen because a number of smaller local high schools closed around then.

From the early 1900s, local high school classes elected officers to organize their participation in school activities.

The officers were president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, although a class student council representative might also be included in the executive committee. Officers were elected annually, with or without campaigns. Popularity played a role in initial elections, but effective leadership often determined re-election.  

The duties of these officers were generally the functions associated with the offices in local groups. Class presidents presided over meetings to plan major events such as class trips, winter carnivals, dances, fund- raising events, Halloween parties, and graduation. They also spoke to the school administration about class concerns.

One local class president recalled standing up for class members who were caught smoking by reminding the principal that the faculty had a smoking room. 

Orford historian Art Pease served as president of Orford High’s class of 1964 for two years and recalls the “challenge of trying to corral some of his buddies when trying to run a class meeting.”

Mike Ackerman of Haverhill, reflecting on his decades as a class advisor at Woodsville High, said that “good class officers kept a class focused and organized, and without them, there would be chaos.”

Class officers were often members of the high school student council government.

Student councils began to appear in Vermont high schools in the early 1920s and locally in the 1930s. The earliest was at Groton High, where a council was organized in 1929. Others included Haverhill Academy (1934), McIndoes Academy (1939), Woodsville High (1940), Wells River High (by 1944), and Orford High (by 1949). 

In Dec 1937, The United Opinion reported: “Bradford Academy took an unprecedented step last week by putting an important school question in the hands of students. This, in some measure, resembles what is known in other schools as ‘student council.’” The questions passed to this group included noon-hour recreation and furniture for the hot lunch room. 

Elections for student council president resembled political campaigns, complete with posters and speeches. One noticeable one was the close contest in 1942 between two Bradford Academy students from Piermont. In the election, Marion Gould beat Freeman Robie.

Student council activities ranged from organizing assemblies and dances to representing student concerns before the administration. Sometimes, they were allowed to actually legislate policies. In 1963, Orford’s council legislated, “no slacks are to be worn after March 1.”  In 1969, the Bradford council organized a student town meeting that debated articles suggested by the student body.

Magazine drives, dances, and other fundraising activities gave the councils funds to purchase needed school equipment, ranging from electronic equipment to a piano or a ski tow rope.  

 The focus of class activities varied from year to year. During the first decade of the 20th century, Vermont high school senior classes began to present class plays. These productions were usually three-act comedies, light mysteries, or operettas that could be practiced and performed in a few weeks.

 Presentations were often scheduled between athletic seasons to allow for the greatest inclusion. At some high schools, they were part of graduation activities.

 Members of the class filled all of the roles, from actors to production crew. These plays were often more inclusive than other dramatic productions, thus opening opportunities for those who had never been on stage.

Kathryn Kidder of Bradford recalled that her BA Class of 1968 class play included “a cross-section of students and a chance to work together beyond normal groups.”

The director was usually a faculty member. The plays were selected either by the director or students’ vote. Performances were in local halls for large and enthusiastic audiences.   

The following are samples of the plays performed by local high school senior classes. It is difficult to determine if plays were held annually as there are often spaces between newspaper coverage. 

Bradford Academy seniors presented plays as early as 1906. Performances were held in the Village Hall until the new auditorium was dedicated in 1936. Reserved seats tickets for performances could be obtained from Gove and Bancroft Pharmacy. 

As a young faculty member, I directed two senior plays. In 1967, it was “The Mouse That Roared” followed by “January Thaw” the next year. That play set a record for attendance at 696. At that time, classes realized about $700 for their treasuries.

The earliest mention of a play at Newbury High School to benefit the graduating class was in 1912. There is then no mention of plays until 1930 and 1931 and then there was a break to 1946. In 1948, the production of “The Adorable Imp” featured Beatrice Putnam in the leading role.

The first newspaper reference to a senior play at Thetford Academy was in 1922 for the production of “The Poor Married Man.” Senior plays continued more or less annually until the late 1960s, with early performances in the Village Hall. 

One way in which these productions differed was being taken on the road to villages from which Thetford Academy students came. Those include Post Mills, South Strafford, and Lyme.

In 1955, the three-act comedy “Beauty and the Beef” was held in the new gym auditorium at the Academy. Later plays ranged from “Our Miss Brooks” in 1964 to George Bernard Shaw’s satire “Arms and the Man” in 1968. This annual tradition lapsed for several years, but was “resurrected” in 1991 in the Grange Hall. That was the last one mentioned.

Some smaller high schools held senior plays, but newspaper coverage may not have been complete. The first mention of a production at Groton High was during graduation week in 1926. Productions continued through the late 1920s and early 1930s with shows at the Groton Opera House and South Ryegate. The play given in 1940 was the last mentioned.

The coverage of performances at Haverhill Academy is very spotty. The first mention is in 1926 and 1928, with not another one mentioned until 1963. Performances of these plays were held in Alumni Hall.

As Wells River High had a small student population, productions included students from other classes. The first mention was in 1925, followed by an operetta in 1926 and a farce in 1927. Other plays that received local newspaper coverage were in 1929, 1944, and 1964 with performances in the Village Hall. The school closed in 1967. 

The annual winter carnival was one of the most important activities for student leaders to organize. In the 1880s, communities and colleges began organizing winter carnivals fashioned after those held in Canada.

Dartmouth and Middlebury colleges were among the first to hold winter carnivals. Early winter festivals also were held in Burlington and Stowe, Vermont and Concord and Newport, New Hampshire.

In 1930, 30 winter carnivals were reported in northern New England. An example was the one organized by the Silver Fox Outing Club of Woodsville/Wells River.

Their first one, which was held in 1927, was expanded over the next several years to include a two-day community-wide festival of skating and skiing competitions. Later, a street parade, hockey competition, street parade, toboggan chute, horse and auto racing were added.  Students from area schools were invited to participate.

Membership fees financed this festival. Businesses in both towns became involved in awarding Queen competition ballots in exchange for cash purchases. The last mention of this carnival was in 1942. 

The American Legion Post hosted a Woodsville carnival in 1948. There was not another mention of a Woodsville High carnival until about 1960 when the tradition was renewed.

Local high school students were drawn to the thrill of winter carnival activities. The first mention of a winter carnival at Bradford Academy was in 1928. It was an invitational event including 70 senior and junior high students from 12 schools. 

Events such as skiing and three-legged races and nail driving contests set the pattern for later carnivals.

In 1930, the students from participating schools competed for the honor of winning the Opinion Cup. In 1931, the carnival broadened to include a parade and other activities around the village, topped off with a carnival ball. Local businesses gave financial support.

Following a break, a carnival was held in 1937, and thereafter, if the weather permitted. Some years, the lack of snow meant that the carnival was largely a basketball game and dance. The practice of inviting other schools to participate gradually evolved into a carnival for Academy students alone.   

Snow sculptures, skating parties, and indoor contests such as volleyball were added to the traditional events.

Except in 1968, when the death of a classmate caused it to be cancelled, a semi-formal carnival ball with royalty and a grand march was a major part of the yearly activities. The last BA carnival was held in 1971.

In addition to the Academy carnival, the regional Future Farmers of America held its own winter competition. From 1950 to 1970, local chapters met to compete in events ranging from winter sports to speaking and cross-cutting competitions. The event was usually held at Bradford Academy.

For decades the Thetford Academy community celebrated Founders Day. It was an opportunity to review the school’s history and anticipate its future. In 1947, a winter carnival, complete with games and ski and sack races, was added to the traditional day.

On the designated day, the morning was spent in sports with the afternoon devoted to class skits, songs, and other competitions as well as an all-school luncheon and speakers.

In the years that followed, the events varied from intermural basketball to class song and table-decorating competitions. A King and Queen were crowned and new facilities were dedicated. A trophy was awarded to the class with the highest points and a dance became part of the celebration.

Bradford’s Randy Odell recalls that Founders Day was one of the Academy’s most significant student events. In 1968, Odell was president of the senior class. His job as president “was to round up as many classmates as I could to complete in the various winter sports events, as well as help design and build our snow sculpture.”

Orford High also had the tradition of a winter carnival. The first one mentioned was held at Lake Morey in 1932. The 1936 carnival included students from other schools topped off by a ball at the Fairlee Town Hall.

Outdoor activities were held on the school lawns and in the field north of the school. There may have been some controversy over the method of selecting the Queen in the early 1950s, but in 1956 she was chosen by an “unadorned student vote.” The annual ball was soon relocated to the newly dedicated Memorial Hall.

 Haverhill Academy came late to holding its own carnival. In 1965, the first in “a good many years” was held. After that, carnivals were held until the school closed in 1969. Small schools such as McIndoes, Wells River, and Groton may have held several carnivals, but often their students accepted participation in area invitationals.  

As with the organizations mentioned in the first column in this series, the activities mentioned above gave students leadership and organizing lessons. A number of the students mentioned in the newspaper coverage of these activities went on to contribute to the area in significant ways.

A future column will continue the theme of student activities prior to 1971.  It will cover topics such as school clubs, publications, fund- raising, freshman initiation, and class trips.  Those with interesting stories may contact me at larrylcoffin@gmail.com.

Women in Medicine - Part Two

 

WONDERFUL COUNTRY DOCTOR; Dr Frances Olsen served the patients of the Valley Health Center in East Corinth from 1958 to 1981. She served a wide number of patients, many of whom had never been to a woman doctor before. It was said that her super power was that she listened carefully to those who sought her care. 

AN INSPIRING DOCTOR: Dr. Elisabeth Berry joined the Wells River Clinic in 1962 and became the first woman doctor at Woodsville Cottage Hospital. She was described as excellent and inspiring doctor to her many patients. She retired in 1985. The hospital board of directors offers an annual scholarship in her memory.    

 Women Physicians   

Journal Opinion Dec 25, 2024

“But it appears entirely absurd to expect to raise up a class of educated female physicians. She is not fit by nature for the toil and exposure of that profession…”

That statement appeared in Newbury’s Aurora of the Valley on Nov 7, 1850. It reflects the reaction to women struggling to enter the medical profession in the mid-19th century.

In the Nov 27 edition, I profiled area midwives and nurses dating, working, and living in the area from the 18^th century to the 20^th century. Midway through the last century, women started to fill the role of country doctors.

 The decline of female midwifery generally left only male physicians to treat women’s medical needs. No medical colleges accepted women. Some women became unlicensed physicians by apprenticing under experienced doctors.  

In 1849, British-born Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from a small rural New York medical college, the first American woman to receive a medical degree.

Not long after, Lucinda Capen Hall of Concord, NH became that state’s first woman physician when she graduated from the newly opened Boston Female Medical College. The college, which had originally prepared midwives and physicians, expanded to include a full medical curriculum for women.

Some chartered medical schools began to admit small numbers of women after 1870.  The three medical schools in Vermon, however, were not among them.

It was not until 1879 that Vermont had its first female physician.  A graduate of Pennsylvania Medical College, Dr. Laura Platz open her practice in Putney.

Even as schools admitted women, there was the issue of mixed classes, especially in anatomy.

As male physicians struggled to retain their control of the profession, attempts were made to deny licenses or open medical societies to women. There was a prevailing opinion that female doctors should limit their practice to women and children.

Despite these roadblocks, there were over 7,000 female doctors in America by 1900, a number which rose to 13,000 by 1910.

In 1924, Vermonter Dorothy Lang became the first woman to graduate from the UVM College of Medicine. Still, over the next 50 years, the annual number of female medical graduates was never more than three. Today, more than half of medical students are women.

The life stories of three women who practiced medicine in the local area follow. They came to the area as the first women in their field.

They stayed for decades caring for their patients, participating in their communities, and paving the way for future generations of female doctors.

Jean Henderson was born in 1905 in Kings, New York, to Alfred and Ethel Henderson. Her father was a doctor. She followed suit, graduating from Smith College in 1926 and Columbia Medical College in 1931.

After practicing medicine in Connecticut, Henderson became a captain in the Women’s Army Medical Corps in 1943. As women doctors were not permitted, she served as a nurse.

 Dr. Barbara O’Mara of Orford portrayed Capt. Henderson in a reenactment for the Orford Historical Society, and shared her research with me.

Henderson’s unit was deployed to the South Pacific where she continued through war’s end.  There she and other nurses treated wounded and ill service personnel, as well as freed prisoners of war. Sometimes, the hospital had to be protected from enemy snipers. She was discharged in March 1946 and was decorated for her service.

After the war, she practiced for a short time in Connecticut and then moved to the area in 1948 to work with Dr. William Putnam of Lyme. The following year, she opened her practice in Fairlee where she remained until her retirement.

In 1951, she had a new home and office built on what was then known as Sargent Road in Fairlee and employed a part-time nurse.

Rev. Robert Robb, formerly of Orford, described Dr. Henderson as “warm, wonderful and approachable.”

Dr. Henderson made frequent visits to my family home in Orford. My mother was recuperating from tuberculosis, and I recall the tenderness of the care she received.

Calista Diane of Fairlee recalls the care her dying grandmother Florence Chapman received in 1965. Henderson and Diane stayed at Chapman’s bedside for over 24 hours. The doctor’s compassionate comfort care for the dying woman, Diane recalled, reflected “what a great doctor can be.”

Henderson’s caring approach reached out to the surrounding area beyond just medical issues.  She worked on blood drives, and immunization clinics.  She was on the board of the Valley School in North Thetford.

She led fund drives for the Salvation Army and the Vermont Children’s Aid Society. Never married, Henderson participated in the international Foster Parents Plan and sponsored at least one child in Greece. 

Around 1960, she temporarily left her practice due to illness and spent several months in Tucson AZ. She spent the winter of 1961-62 in Boston doing part-time chemical work on arthritis. She resumed her practice in June, 1962.

In 1969, construction of I-91 took her house, and she relocated near the Connecticut River in South Fairlee.  She became a library trustee and f the Rondo women’s club president in 1968 as retirement activities.

She describes retirement in a letter to her Columbia alumni magazine, writing that she performed “mostly useless sedentary activities…”

 The serenity of retirement was interrupted in Nov 1975 when three railroad cars carrying liquid propane on the nearby rail line exploded. She had to be rescued from her home.

She spent her last years at Hanover Terrace and passed away on May 27, 1980.

Several area residents describe Dr. Frances Adams Olsen of East Corinth as being a “wonderful country doctor.” Frances Adams was born in 1916 in Binghamton, New York. In 1938, she graduated from New York City’s Bernard College and worked as a medical technician on Staten Island. 

 In 1939, she married Hugh Olsen, and they had four children. In 1956, she graduated from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and began an internship at Philadelphia’s General Hospital.

During her six years of training, Hugh remained home as a house husband. This unusual arrangement caught the attention of the Ladies’ Home Journal for their series “How America Lives.”  In May 1958, the Olsens were featured in an article entitled “Mother is a Doctor Now.”

At that time, the Valley Health Center in East Corinth was looking for a resident doctor. Although the article had led to “many favorable offers from all over the country,” Olsen accepted an offer from the Center.

Sarah Polli of East Corinth said that her father, John Williams, as committee chair, was instrumental in getting Dr. Olsen to come. Over the years, the Olsens lived in several houses adjacent to the Center and Hugh continued to assume the role of house husband. 

The Corinth town history included the following: “She came on alone, working long hours to take care of the many patients in an area far greater than originally contemplated. It can honestly be said that the people of the area expressed respect and confidence for the capabilities of Dr. Frances Olsen.”

In those days, doctors were always on call and, often, made house calls. Gerald Colby of Fairlee recalls that his father went to Olsen, but, somewhat of a curmudgeon, he refuted her diagnosis of appendicitis. At home, his condition deteriorated. In the night, Olsen came to his house, and, with the help of family members, sent him to the hospital, saving his life.

That was only one of many lives saved. Joe Sampson of Bradford recalled that as a youngster, she twice saved his life, once from accidental poisoning and then from drowning.

She also cared for expectant mothers and delivered many babies., “It was her favorite part of being a doctor.” Corinth’s Sarahjane Dooley recalls the wonderful care she gave. Listening was “Dr. Olsen’s super power.” “She listened and heard everything said and the way it was said whenever we spoke,” Dooley said.”

As with others mentioned in this two-part series, Olsen was also active in the community, including the East Corinth Congregational Church and the Valley Health Center Auxiliary.

She retired from the Center in 1981. At the time, she said, “I used to see a lot of people who had never been to a doctor, but that isn’t true anymore.” It might also be said that many had never been to a woman doctor before receiving care from her. 

 In her retirement, she worked part-time, filling in for other doctors, and also worked at the LBJ Hospital in American Samoa. Olsen passed away in East Corinth on February 4, 1991.

Elisabeth Mandigo was born in Cambridge, Vermont in April 1911. She was a pioneer at the University of Vermont Medical School where she was the only woman in the graduating class of 1936. 

She was quoted: “If you want to become a doctor, girls, then be prepared to give up love and romance, at least until you graduate,” she said.

She was an intern and resident at the Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, New York. In 1942, she married Rev. Kenneth Berry and went into private practice. Rev. Berry was a counselor, and for several years, they jointly operated a clinic in Burlington.

In 1952, Dr. Berry transferred to the White River Valley Clinic and Gifford Hospital in Randolph as an internist and family physician. She had special interests in geriatrics and the ethics of terminal care.

In 1962 she decided to move to Wells River to join Dr. Harry Rowe, whom she had known since their years at UVM, at the Wells River Clinic.

The Randolph community was so devastated by her plans to leave that a petition with 580 signatures was presented to the hospital pleading to keep her in Randolph. “Her leaving would be a grave injury to the quality of medical services.” the petitioners said. Calling her “warm and understanding,” they said “the community will be poorer for her loss.”

It was to no avail. Berry left for Wells River in September, 1962 and by December became the first woman doctor at Woodsville’s Cottage Hospital.

 In 1978, Governor Snelling appoint Berry to a three-year term on the Vermont Board of Medical Practices. She was often called on to make public presentations on heart disease and cancer.

She remained at the Clinic until her retirement in 1985.

Woodsville’s Brenda White, who worked with Dr. Berry for many years, said that Berry “was a tiny woman,” and, at first, some patients looked at her “and wondered if she could care for them. But soon she had the respect of many many people!”

White commented on Berry’s strong personality, “She was very much matter of fact but an excellent doctor.”  “It was her way or the highway.” They worked together in the ER, sometimes retrieving eyes from donors for the eye bank.

Dr. Donald Kollisch of Hanover described Berry as “an inspiring doctor” who was “deeply committed to justice and fairness.”

He recalled that Berry marched in the Woodsville/Wells River 4th of July parade in 1988 in opposition to the presidential candidacy of General Alexander Haig, feeling him unsuited for office.

“Dressed in a lovely suit and accompanied by her leashed Corgi, Dr Berry, a universally-loved and admired doctor, proudly declared her convictions and beliefs.”

Patients often had letters of thanks printed expressing their gratitude toward Dr. Berry. Words such as thoughtful, wonderful, and expert care were included in those letters.

Typical of his sense of humor, my friend Wayne Dickey, formerly of Woodsville recalled going to Dr. Berry with an injured finger. When she inserted a needle to relieve the pressure, Dickey said, blood was spattered on her face and down the front of her pretty pink dress.

After retirement, the Berrys returned to Randolph, where he died in 1987. Dr. Berry remained in the advisory committee for the Gifford Hospital until she moved to Kendall in Hanover. She died there in 1991.

The area has not forgotten the Berrys. In 1989, Dr. Berry donated a piece of land in Wells River for community use. In 1994, the Kenneth Berry Memorial Field was dedicated. 

The Cottage Hospital Board of Trustees established the Elisabeth M. Berry, M.D. Health Career Scholarship awarded annually to a local student.  

My next column will deal with non-athletic school clubs in local high schools before to 1971.  If you have a story about student councils, yearbooks, student newspapers, honor societies, winter carnivals or class office in local high schools during the period, please send them to me at larrylcoffin@gmail.com.