Skip to main content

The Time the Snow Split - Family Lore & Facts

Family Lore & Facts is a series where I will take the family stories we heard as kids and adults but were never sure of all the details, research the facts of the time, and put together a full picture. 


I remember standing in the kitchen, probably around the time of the Northridge earthquake in Southern California in 1994, when Nana, my mom's mother, came downstairs for breakfast and told us the story about the time she saw the snow split straight down to the ground. 

Flora Sturtevant grew up in many places in central New Hampshire and at this time they were in Ossipee, where the snow was deep that year and it was around Christmas. They had an earthquake and she recalled going out to break the ice in the water for the animals in the barn and seeing a giant crack that went all the way down into the ground in the solid snow across the field.

Nana would have been about 12 years old, the 3rd child, 3rd daughter, in a family of 5 kids. In this photo from the prior winter, she's the girl on the right in the striped hat. 

Photo in the inherited collection of the author of this post. Please give credit when used elsewhere. 

Twenty something years later I looked up New Hampshire earthquake and lo & behold, there were not one but TWO earthquakes centered near Lake Ossipee, NH in December of 1940, (Dec 20 & Dec 24). 

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 24 Dec 1940, Tue · Page 3

On The 1940 US Census the Sturtevant family is enumerated on Rt. 28, Ossipee Town, Carroll County, New Hampshire. Their home is listed as rented for $10. Also of note that it is not enumerated as a farm, which doesn't match Nana's story, but also her father at this point is 73 and enumerated as unable to work. They moved a lot, and its possible she meant the fields around her. I do have photos of when the older kids in this photo were younger with farm animals so maybe she got her memories mixed up. Mom says they kept a cow & some chickens but that they probably belonged to the people they rented from. 

The news stories of the day indicate the earthquake was centered around Lake Ossipee. I have not located a city directory or other more specific address for them at this time. By Feb 1942 when her father died they were living in Tamworth for at least 9 months (per his death certificate) so it is possible that this photo is the last view of there Ossipee home. I checked the USGS earthquake map fault lines view to see if I could tell where the fault was but wasn't able to bring up a fault line in New England. 

So there you have it, another family story confirmed with facts from the news and records of the day. What else could I add to this story? If I could go to Ossipee would there be additional records for their address or a more local newspaper of the day? Does the house pictured still exist today? Who rented it to my great grandparents? Is this fault line still active?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photo ID: My Dad visited Atlanta 68 Years ago

When we announced our move to the Atlanta area for work in 2016, my dad said "Oh, I've been there once, when I was a little kid, I think I had cousins there."  Fast forward four years and my parent's downsizing means all the family albums have come to me.  In going through photos from his childhood, we found these gems: My grandmother Miriam with her niece & my dad Check out the Chuck Taylors. These pictures are from 1953 at the top of Stone Mountain . I can totally see them walking up the side of the smooth rock, one mile trail, in chucks which have zero traction, with the kids leading the way. The mountain is 825 feet above the ground and 1686 above sea level. The one time I went up to the top (in the Skyride bc my parents cannot hike anymore) it was cold and foggy, with no visibility. On a clear day you can see something like 60 miles. The natural areas of the park around the rock are beautiful. The "entertainment park" is meh and the relief is an abo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 28 #52ancestors Transportation

Excuse the format, this one will be a bit of a brain dump as I've not had a free moment lately to write a proper post. 52 weeks prompt this week is: Transportation. On my dad's side, his mother's mother's father James Albert Adams was a wagoner in the US Army from 1870-1888. From records I've found he was driving officers around and helping deliver telegraph line building equipment. This is a fun rabbit hole posted by  Greg Krenzelok - Director - Historian of the  U.S. Army Veterinary Corps Historical Preservation Group  (facebook link) "The Duties of the U.S. Army Waggoner"  (rootsweb link) Also on my dad's side, his great grandfather on mom's father's side drove a wagon in his later years in Allston, MA & was actually run of the road by a car, the horse got spooked & flipped the wagon. If you've ever driven in Allston this resonates.  Dad's stepdad Chester Flattery drove trucks in the Korean war and when he came home worked fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

*Updated 10.22.22* 1937 Ossipee Center School play, Ossipee, New Hampshire

Black and white photo of a group of 3 rows of children of various ages in colonial costumes holding the Betsy Ross designed and sewn flag of 13 alternating stripes of red and white and circle of 13 white stars on the upper left solid blue field. Photo edge is marked "1937" in pen. On the back of this photo my great grandmother Jessie McIntosh Sturtevant wrote out their names as follows: 1937 Ossipee Center School play When Betsy Ross made Old Glory First row L-R Roland Wilkins Edwin French Jr Norman Remick Jr Harvey Emerson Raymond Perry Lenela Moody Madeline Goldsmith Dorothy Sturtevant* Esther Perry Barbara Emerson Second row L-R Violet Moody Flora Sturtevant* Theresa Goldsmith Vileta Moody Jean Sawyer John F. Harmon Joseph Nevers Harley Moody Back row L-R   Elmer Berry - Violin Miss Todd - Piano Helen Sturtevant* George Knapp - Mandolin Robert Sawyer Jr Hayes Sawyer Jr * Denotes grandmother and great aunts of this blogger. In 1937 Helen was 13, Flora was 10, an...
Post a Comment
Read more