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The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, Massachusetts -- History and Genealogy Section

Lincoln Massachusetts
A war memorial, apparently no others are in town, and I had to post the unusual tree shown below.

A nice private room with plenty of familiar books and a good selection of books about Lincoln. The librarians were very nice here and were able to give me directions to my ancestor's grave.


I was unaware that a children's sing-a-long was going on when I went to the old section of the Library but, soon the voices gave it away. Loved the stained glass, but it's very hard to photograph when the sun is shining through. At least these pictures give you an idea of the beauty of this building.




Original Demoulas Market Basket Post and Follow-up

I am reposting my August 5th article because several people have expressed in interest in this post, and they were unable to read it from another site.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The First Demoulas Market Basket in Lowell, Massachusetts, the Fighting Two Cousins and All the News it's Making

Cropped photo taken May 14, 2014.

The First Demoulas Market was established in
Lowell in 1917 by Athanasios "Arthur" Demoulas
and his wife Efrosene (Soulemanis) Demoulas.
Immigrants who ten years earlier had arrived
in Lowell from Kalabaka, Greece.

In 1955, the market was incorporated by their
sons Telemachus and George, who expanded the
business to 14 supermarkets before George's
early death in 1971.

Telemachus went on to create on of the
largest supermarket chains in New England.
He became a well known and respected
philanthropist beloved throughout the
acre and the city of Lowell for his
generosity, his vision and his spirit.
He died in  2003 at the age of 82.

The photo above and below were taken behind the house where James McNeil Whistler was born.
 (The marker is in the middle, with red car to the left.)
To read more about this family and the business, see Wikipedia HERE or google Demoulas or Market Basket. It is currently on our Massachusetts news non-stop, and on national news as well. I'm posting this because there might be some people who would like to see photos from two of their 71 stores.
There is a feud between two cousins and apparently, there has been bad blood for many years. Both cousins have the first name, one is Arthur S. and the other Arthur T.

As a result of the favored cousin's firing, the employees are extremely upset, as are the customers. People are not shopping in the stores, instead dragging themselves to the more expensive stores such as Hannaford, Stop and Shop and Shaws as a way to force the other cousin to change his ways. Employees and customers are picketing side by side and many customers are bringing food for the employees. This began at least 12 days ago, and nobody knows when it will end or what the outcome will be. Update: Agreement made on August 27th around midnight.
Customers are taping their receipts from competitive stores on the doors. Market Basket is losing at least 10 million a day because of this. Update: the company lost 95% of it's business during the six weeks of the boycott.

Unsold bread and other perishables are donated to food banks. There hasn't been produce in the stores for about 14 days (correction, it became 6 weeks), so many of the local farms are doing a brisk business, now selling fresh blueberries, corn and other crops.

 Burial site of Artie T's Father. I am not going to disclose the location, and it isn't on FindAGrave.

“You proved, all of you, that your grass-roots efforts to save your company and harness thousands and thousands of people was not about a family conflict or a Greek tragedy,” he said, “but more about fairness, justice and a solid moral compass that unites the human soul.

Arthur T. Demoulas

The below photos were taken on August 28th. The customers and employees, along with Artie T. are now one happy family, after almost two months of uncertainty.


Thursday, August 28, 2014

Leominster Public Library, Leominster, Massachusetts -- Historical & Genealogical Collection

Leominster Public Library, Leominster, Massachusetts
I have never been to Leominster but heard that they had a nice library and a great genealogy collection. I was not disappointed. As with many of the other libraries I've been to, the old building gained a new addition, and as always I love seeing how they did it. When I mentioned my appreciation to a librarian, she said they hired an expert architect who specialized in libraries. These photos (above and two below) were taken in the old section.

The main collection is in the larger of the genealogy two rooms, shown below.


Old Leominster city directories.
The photos below are of the second genealogy room.



Some specific books for Leominster history and to the left, is a row devoted to Johnny Appleseed, who was born in Leominster.



The Roll of Honor for the War of 1861-1865 was recently moved to the first floor and because of the lighting, I wasn't able to get a good picture. When I mentioned that fact to the librarian, Jeannine T. Levesque, she quickly showed me the book where all the photos were, with the soldier's names and a short bio, including the cause of death. A photo of the book is "Leominster Historical and Picturesqueby William A. Emerson (google book, the below photo is on page 53.
A. W. Cowdrey
Capt. C. H. Stevens
J. F. Crosby
Lieut. A. R. Glover
A. B. Osborn
J. B. Foster
G. H. Gallup
J. G. Snow
W. H. Johnson
A. H. Carater
J. F. Owens
E. Hardy
F. Gardner
J. Q. A. Tripp
J. M. Mellen
C. H. Derby
A. L. Wilder
A. W. Johnson
Capt. Jorgensen
G. E. Wilder
J. E. Marshall
H. K. Derby
J. McDonough
M. L. Jordan
C. A. Lamb
C. B. Wood
J. C. Ready
L. Goodrich
D. Butterfield
J. M. Lewis
E. B. Rollins
R. H. Carter
C. H. Sinclair
L. R. Gallup
E. A. Ellick
L. Richardson
Side photo of the Library, with the oldest section at the front right.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Jesup Memorial Library / Bar Harbor Library, Bar Harbor, Maine -- Genealogy Section

The Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, Maine
The front room is the reading area.


Main section of the Library. The patrons are looking at the books on sale. I love the two staircases on each side of the window.

The photos are of past Library directors. The tiny genealogy room is shared with books in large print. Part of the room is shown to the left (below).

The collection is next to the chair. A cozy alcove for one person.


I learned to Swim at Walden Pond Before Thoreau was Cool

How many people can say they learned to swim on Walden Pond? Looking back, I guess I was quite lucky.
The above photo shows where the road was to the parking lot of "Camp Hart," a former day camp, located between Lincoln and Concord. In the late 50s, I attended that camp, right across the road from the Pond, and all the campers had their swimming lessons there. John thought it was interesting that I learned there, and that is how I decided to write about both. Recently, my husband and I drove 40 minutes to my old camp and to check out the area. We don't go often because of the crowds of tourists, so we chose a very overcast day when we knew it would be quiet. There were no original buildings on the private land.

An article in the Boston Globe stated, "The reservation will open for swimmers this year starting May 24." It seems there was a possibility of banning open-water swimming this year. Often, people have their strong opinions about swimming in the well-known Pond. They also have strong thoughts on water, as in drinking water. A little over a year ago, the town of Concord banned the sale of plastic bottles of water! So, when I went into their gift shop, I wasn't surprised to see water, but it was in a square box. I really should go back and take a photo of it. They don't mind you drinking water, just don't want plastic containers thrown around their town.

There is so much I don't remember about the camp. Was it co-ed, I doubt it. How many weeks did I go, no idea. The sad thing is, I don't remember any of the other camper's names. However, I do remember walking around the left side of the Pond to the railroad tracks and picking up bottles, cigarette butts, and other trash. A happier thing was picking raspberries on the property. We never went to Thoreau's now famous hut site.
WALDEN POND STATE RESERVATION
ESTABLISHED 1922
To preserve the Walden of Emerson and
Thoreau. About eighty acres of land were
given the commonwealth by deeds from
Edith E. Forbes et. al. and C. Fay Heywood et. al.
Other purposes of the gift was to allow
the public to enjoy the woods and nature
including bathing, boating, and fishing.
The Middlesex County Commissioners
constitute the reservation Commission
and expenses of care and improvement
are borne by the county.
As we walked down the hill, we saw the same old bathhouse. Now used for staff and lifeguards. Below, there is sand on two sides, however, it wasn't always like that. During the camp, the only beach was in front of the bathhouse.

Yes, it did rain on our parade. Below, you can see how easy it is to get to Thoreau's hut site.
We decided to walk around the Pond, a little over a mile. They have made nice improvements to the walkway, as it used to be very hilly, with rocks and tree roots everywhere.
 The Pond from the opposite side of the Bathhouse.
Plenty of students, having a history lesson. Yes, we had Walden to ourselves, except for a large group of students who surprised us at Thoreau's hut.
"I went to the woods  because
I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential
facts of life
and see if I could
not learn what it had to teach
and not, when I came to die,
 discover that I had not lived." Thoreau

(Note: During this time, he walked home, ate there, washed his clothes and met with friends.)

The large stones show the outline of where the hut was, and the smaller ones in the back were where the shed was.
  Raindrops and a few seconds of sunlight changed the color of the water to this lovely shade.
 Near the parking lot is a reconstructed hut, and his wood shed.