OCTOBER 22, 2023 – BY SANDY DAHLFRED
Historical tidbits from Londonderry, in no particular order:
From the Derry News, March 25, 1881:
Gabriel Barr courted Rachel Wilson for 40 years but died unmarried. The problem? It seems that one of the lovebirds lived in the West Parish, the other in the East, and they couldn’t agree on which church to attend after the wedding.
From the Independent Democrat, May 12, 1870:
One day Mr. J.E. Kendall stopped along the side of the road in Londonderry to pick some mayflowers. Upon returning to his wagon, he found that a 4 and a half foot black snake was “gracefully winding itself up his leg like the stripes on a barber‘s pole.”
From the Derry News, March 25, 1881:
Until it was formally abolished, the Londonderry Fair occurred every year on the third Tuesday of October. The local farm boys, having completed the harvest, got together with every “scallawag” within a 50-mile radius and spent the week “running and swapping old horses, imbibing New England rum and its kindred abominations, eating gingerbread, and witnessing fiddling and dancing.”
From the Derry News, November 18, 1881:
The “meanest man alive” has been identified as a Londonderry resident who cut every branch off of a shade tree in one of the town’s cemeteries, leaving it “bare as a pole.” It was reported that he would be brought to justice.
From the Derry News, January 14, 1881:
A severe snowstorm dumped so much snow on the town that “short men” were advised to wear stovepipe hats, high-heeled boots, or “other signals of distress to indicate where they may be found in case of disappearance.”
From the Boston Globe, Aug 20, 1978:
Gregg Zilenski of Londonderry broke a world record by playing 171 straight hours of pinball.
From the Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics, June 13, 1868:
Every year at Town Meeting a Londonderry doctor requested insertion of an article that would allow him to be interred on the town common. Although usually voted down, one year the article passed, but with the stipulation that the burial occur forthwith, requiring the doctor to be immediately executed. Needless to say, the execution didn’t happen and the doctor kept mum at future meetings.
From the Boston Globe, December 7, 1892:
Lithia Springs Water Company of Londonderry had to print a disclaimer when a “A Liar Abroad” proclaimed that the company’s spring had been pumped dry.
From the Boston Herald, July 30, 1925:
In 1925 a “Canadian vagrant” named Peter LeBlum broke into the home of Londonderry resident George Blodgett, took a nap on the couch, and was preparing a meal for himself when the homeowner returned.
From the Boston Globe, June 28, 1939:
“Middled-aged people” who wished to avoid the Independence Day noise were invited to come to Sunset Farm in Londonderry where they could enjoy peace, quiet and good food.
From the Boston Herald, October 5, 1899:
This last item didn’t happen in Londonderry but involved a crime so heinous that it just had to be included. It seems that four Suncook boardinghouse keepers were arrested for using OLEOMARGARINE instead of butter. (Author’s Note: I hope they all rotted in jail.)