The Elliott Clan
Gam's Diaries
End Notes
by her youngest son, Bruce
These explanatory notes were written by Bruce Elliott in December 2001 and January 2002 based on research at the Exeter Historical Society, the Internet and other sources. The Society's curator, Barbara Rimkunas, was most helpful in the effort.1. Exeter was founded in 1638 by 175 individuals from the Massacusetts Bay Colony, and now has a population of about 15,000 as of this writing (2018). It was the capital of New Hampshire from 1774 untl 1788. Visit its website at www.exeternh.gov.
2. Phillips Exeter Academy (P.E.A.) was founded in 1781 by Dr John Phillips, a Harvard graduate who resided in Exeter. In 1910, when Mother turned 16, there were 516 students at P.E.A. and tuition was $150 per year. Originally for boys only, the Academy became coed in 1970. Visit its website at www.exeter.edu.
3. Rolla A. Tyler came to Exeter in 1868 to attend Phillips Exeter Academy (P.E.A.). After graduating in 1871, he married a local teacher, settled in town and built his business there. For more about him, see his obituary.
4. Haverhill is about 15 miles from Exeter and barely across the border into Massachusetts. Visit its website at www.ci.haverhill.ma.us. As her diary shows, Mother and her family often shopped in Haverhill. But apparently she never knew Dad until they met during their summer jobs at Poland Springs House in Maine, while she was attending Boston University's Sargent School (see page 35) in Boston and he was attending Bowdoin College in Maine.
5. Stevenson's (S's), apparently a family in Exeter where Ruth, and sometimes Mother, worked. Ruth and Mother and their mother all did domestic work for local families to earn money. Their family was large and never had much money.
6. Phillips Church, formerly known as Second Church, was a Congregational denomination that split off from First Church in 1743. Its handsome stone church was dedicated in 1899, built on land donated by PEA at the corner of Front St and Tan Lane (next door to the Exeter Historical Society). It was sold to PEA in 1922.
7. Alma was probably one of Mother's half-sisters.
8. Sunday School.
9. A travelogue on Fez, a city in northern Morocco.
10. Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias, was a secret fraternal and service organization. Their annual Grand Fair lasted three days.
11. S's (Stevenson's), apparently a family in Exeter where Ruth, and sometimes Mother, worked. Ruth and Mother and their mother all did domestic work for local families to earn money. Their family was large and never had much money.
12. Probably the Fiske family for whom Mother worked.
13. Phillips Exeter Academy.
14. Probably the Boston Athletic Association.
15. The Christian Fraternity was P.E.A.'s student charitable organization but was primarily involved in enhancing the students' spiritual growth.
16. Harlan M. Bisbee, RFS principal 1905-1928.
17. First Church, a Congregational church, was established in Exeter by John Wheelwright when he founded the town in 1638.
18. Clarence G. Tyler, older brother of MLT.
19. Where he was a student at Dartmouth College.
20. O. H. Sleeper's jewelry store.
21. Robinson Female Seminary is never spelled out in the diary, but is referred to variously as R.F.S., R.S., Fem Sem, or Seminary.
22. Mabel was probably one of Mother's half-sisters.
23. A store for books, stationery and leather goods.
24. Annual fund-raising event by the ladies of the Unitarian Society for the Unitarian Church.
25. Flavia Jones, a classmate of Mother at RFS. Flavia was an aunt of David Kruger, president of the Exeter Historical Society when I talked with him in January 2002. I learned that Flavia lived her entire life in Exeter, even when she attended UNH (she took the train back and forth every day), and was 103 years old when she died in 1997. Very active and lucid until the end, Flavia Jones Page in 1978 tape-recorded the recollections of many elderly citizens of the town and published it in booklet form as Reflections of a Few Older Exeter Citizens.
26. The opera was produced by local talent.
27. This was the day after Ordway's, a clothier at 133 Water St, ran a display ad in The Exeter News-Letter for their "Smoke Sale" with everything 25% off original prices because there had been a fire next door.
28. On Bread Prize Day, each RFS student in cooking classes presented to a "distinguished group of judges" a loaf she had baked. Prizes and honorable mentions were awarded.
29. The Daughters of Rebekah was a branch of Sagamore Lodge No. 9, I.O.O.F (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) in Exeter.
30. Street car of Exeter-Hampton-Amesbury Street Railway.
31. Exeter-Hampton-Amesbury Street Railway.
32. Between Rye Beach and Hampton Beach.
33. The Exeter News-Letter, the local newspaper.
34. The controversy over discovery of the North Pole.
35. The Thursday Circle (Mother called it a Club), an element of the Congregational Church, was a women's social group that also engaged in welfare work.
36. Parish hall of the Unitarian Church.
37. Each spring, RFS held the Harriet M. Merrill prize contest, a rhetorical competition in public, with prizes for assigned declamations (originally debates) and for compositions read aloud by the student.
38. An Exonian is a student or former student of PEA, and the name was applied to some of the academy's student elements, such as the student orchestra and the weekly student-run newspaper.
39. A dormitory at Dartmouth College.
40. A clothing store on Water Street.
41. The second bridge over the Little River, as one heads out of town.
42. Govan's sold "man-tailored garments" at prices "from one-half to one-third those usually charged by the smaller ladies' tailors".
43. Exeter High School, for boys only since the founding of Robinson Female Seminar.
44. The Seminarian, an annual publication of Robinson Female Seminary, was originally a literary magazine.
45. The Quinquennial was a meeting of the Robinson Seminary Alumnae Association held every five years.
46. Located in the town of Twin Mountain, at the northern end of the Crawford Notch in the White Mountains.
47. In Massachusetts, SW of Exeter and NW of Boston.
48. Hedding was a Methodist-run camp ground in the town of Epping, where there was a train station, one of three in town. The train she took was part of the B&M (Boston & Maine) Railroad, then the dominant railroad in New England. The section she rode on began in 1845 as part of the C&P (Concord & Portsmouth) RR, which became part of the Concord RR in 1860. The Concord RR merged in turn with the BC&M (Boston Concord & Montreal) RR in 1889 to form the C&M (Concord & Montreal) RR, and the latter became part of the B&M in 1895. By 1910, the B&M was in trouble and railroading in New England continued on a steady decline from which it has never recovered.
49. A. S. Wetherell's drug store.
50. Located in Durham, a few miles from Exeter, its name then was actually the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts; in 1923 it was renamed the University of New Hampshire.
51. Mother turned Sweet Sixteen this day.
52. A youth temperance group at P.E.A.
53. A brimless and close-fitting hat for women.
54. Up the Exeter River, westerly from Exeter.
Go to Gam's 1909 diary
Go to Gam's 1910 diary
Go to Gam's 1911 diary
Go to Introductory notes for Gam's diaries
Go to Supplementary notes for Gam's diaries
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