By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 22, 2019
Milton men serving in the Sixth NH Regiment returned home in July 1865. Here, a Connecticut newspaper includes them in a list of units passing through New York City.
Returning Soldiers. New York, July 21. The 61st Massachusetts regiment, 420 men, Col. Stone, arrived here this noon, and left at 5 o’clock for Readville. The 6th New Hampshire, Col. Bixby, 408 men, arrived here last night, and left this afternoon for Concord. The 13th Massachusetts battery, Lieut. Nichols, 100 men, arrived from New Orleans last evening, and left at 5 p. m. to-day, for Boston. The above were attended to by Col. Howe, and received the usual hearty salute from the New England rooms, as they marched homeward. The 5th Connecticut regiment, 390 men, left Washington this morning, for Hartford, Conn., and are expected by Col. Almy in this city, Saturday p.m. (Hartford Courant, July 22, 1865).
Of the nine Milton men that had enlisted in this regiment in 1861, only Dudley F. Brown and William Nettles would have been present on this train. (Milton natives Moses W. Cook of Dover and Charles H. French of Rochester too).
Riot at Concord, N.H. Concord, Thursday, July 27. Demonstrations of a serious riot were made here during last night by some two hundred returned soldiers, which commenced by their threat to “clean out” the clothing store under the Eagle Hotel, the proprietor of which charged a soldier with attempting to steal a suit of clothes. After breaking some windows the soldiers proceeded to the jail, and demanded the release of two of their number who had been arrested, and threatening to demolish the jail. At this time two companies of veteran reserves were ordered out, and the riotous soldiery scattered in different directions. There is much sympathy felt for the soldiers, who, it is alleged, are unnecessarily kept out of their pay and discharge papers (New York Times, July 28, 1865).
A regimental history explained this last as episode thus: “Payment being delayed for a week, the men became somewhat impatient and many left temporarily, but all were present on the 29th of July, when they were paid off and each man went his way to his home.”
Some of Milton’s soldiers served in the Second NH Regiment. It was part of the occupation force that moved into the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA, on April 3, 1865, after Confederate forces withdrew. President Lincoln and his son visited the city on the following day. The Second NH Regiment remained in Richmond until July 10, 1865.
RETURN OF THE SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT. This veteran regiment returned to Concord on the evening of [December] the 23d, 450 strong, under command of Brevet Brig. Gen. Patterson. A public reception was given the regiment on Christmas day. A large number of people witnessed the ceremonies. This is the last of the New Hampshire regiments to return and it was the first to leave home on the outbreak of the rebellion. Its record has been a proud one (New England Farmer (Boston, MA), December 30, 1865).
Ten Milton men had marched away with the Second NH Regiment in May 1861. Six of them had already been discharged at the expiration of their three-year enlistments in June 1864. (Two of those re-enlisted in other units and had mustered out with them). While several of the ten had been wounded, some quite seriously, only one had been killed in action, while another one had already received a disability discharge. (And one had deserted).
Only 1st Lt. Charles E. Jones might have stepped off the train in Concord in December 1865. Perhaps some of the others were there to meet him.
In a prior episode of Let’s Make a Deal, Selectman Lucier objected categorically to this CIP Warrant Article obfuscation:
This sum to come from the fund balance and no amount to be raised from taxation.
His objection arose out of an apparently sudden realization that the fund balance is also taxation. It is just last year’s taxation! The standard phrase endeavored to obscure that reality. It might not be an outright lie, but it is certainly a very close cousin to one.
Selectman Lucier refused to approve any one of the CIP warrant articles that had concluded with the offending phrase, that close cousin to a lie.
Chairman Thibeault: So, the concern when we talked about these last was the way it was worded, and that’s been changed.
Selectman Lucier: That helps.
Thibeault: Are you satisfied with that? [general laughter].
Selectman Lucier: It’s better.
Town Administrator Thibodeau: We had a long talk with [Town attorney] Walter about that and he was just like … I don’t know … he never got what I said … one of our selectmen was very concerned about the wording and he said, ‘Well, can I change it to this?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m going to give you Andy’s phone number.”
Thibeault: So the new wording is:
‘This appropriation will be funded by the transfer from the fund balance and no additional amount will be raised by taxation.’
Last time, Selectman Lucier sent this order back to the kitchen. He wanted just a soupçon of truth in his word salad. The Town lawyer did insert the synonym “additional,” instead of “new,” as well as introducing some passive-form verbs. But he left out Selectman Lucier’s particular preference: the fig-leafy word “new” in front of the “taxation.”
Thibeault: That’s the new wording, versus I don’t have the old wording …
(Nor does he care, either way. He’s a “process” man). All the kids then looked to Selectman Mikey (who hates everything). Will he tuck into this new word salad?
Lucier: Raised by new taxation?
Well, yes that was the word you had requested last time, but, no, that was not what the Town lawyer has given you.
Thibodeau: He said, “by taxation.” I tried. We kept going back and forth.
Lucier: I was in agreement that it would be no new taxation.
Thibeault: So, if we add the word “new” in there, are we still …
Lucier: Yeah, put it in there.
Thibodeau: If he [the Town lawyer,] tells us, “no,” can I …?
Lucier: Yeah, I’d love to talk to him.
Thibodeau: We’ll add the word “new” in all this.
So, in the end, the BOS agreed to add Selectman Lucier’s “new” verbiage, which proved sufficient to allay his concerns – sufficient to cover his embarrassment, so to speak.
And the BOS went merrily on to approve the pile of CIP warrant articles, with the new “new” wording. Let us see: $197,395.85 in budget increases, $435,500.00 in CIP warrant articles, plus the $500,000.00 needed to paper over the budget increases. That comes to $1,132,895.85. That must be a fairly hefty fund balance. Wherever did the BOS get so much money?
Selectman Lucier once said that he considered himself to be “The Taxpayers’ Friend.” He may have even believed it.
Might a taxpayer ask, as a friend, why there even was a fund balance of over $1 million with which to begin? That would be easily 25% over what was needed to cover last year’s budget. That is a lot of leftovers.
The amounts being bandied about certainly suggest that the Town over-taxed the average property by at least $420 in order to create its “fund balance.” ($1,132,895.85 / 2700 = $419.59). All of us might wish we had that money back in our pockets instead of in the Town’s “fund balance.”
We might then “encourage” local businesses with our custom, or otherwise invest or participate more fully in the free market, rather than in this coercive “command” economy. (Or we might just use it to keep body and soul together).
And it would be a pretty safe bet that the Town government has still more taxpayer money “squirreled away” in its fund balance, amounts above and beyond the $1,132,895.85 currently on the table.
All of that is just money taken out of pocket. There is also the inevitable reduction in everyone’s capital value to consider.
These fund tricks are certainly not “new” and there really are no words to make them less reprehensible, or even to make them less … embarrassing.
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 20, 2019
The Second NH Regiment began their year at Point Lookout, in St. Mary’s County, MD, and Miss M. Augusta Berry recommended a health clinic. (This was also the year of the Vulpes letter of January 1864 and the US Excise Tax of May 1864).
As this year began, the Second NH Regiment, in which a number of Milton men had enlisted, was guarding Confederate prisoners.
There is every reason for believing that Gen. Butler will negotiate an exchange of all Union prisoners now at Richmond. He will send in exchange the rebel prisoners at Point Lookout, where there are more than eleven thousand under charge of Gen. Gilman Marston. The New Hampshire brigade, which guards the prisoners, received last week over five hundred recruits, and the 2d New Hampshire is now over one thousand strong (New England Farmer (Boston, MA), January 2, 1864).
Actually, there was almost no reason to expect an exchange of prisoners to take place. The Confederate government refused to exchange black prisoners and, in response, President Lincoln had issued General Order 252, on July 30, 1863, which suspended the Dixon-Hill Cartel for prisoner exchange until the Confederates relented.
Miscellaneous Items. We learn that the infantry force which accompanied the cavalry in the late raid into Virginia from Point Lookout, Md., numbered three hundred men from the 2d, 5th, and 12th New Hampshire regiments, under command of Lieut. Col. R.E. Cross, now commanding the 5th Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, and brother of the lamented Col. E.E. Cross. Among the rebel officers captured was a paymaster with $40,000 in his possession (New England Farmer (Boston, MA), January 30, 1864).
Miss M. Augusta Berry of Milton, N.H., was one of thirty-five guests, or patients, at Dr. William T. Vail’s Granite State Health Institute who signed a sort of testimonial that was published in the newspapers in June 1864.
GRANITE STATE HEALTH INSTITUTE! Hill, N.H. To invalids: The physician to the Granite State Health Institute desires to say to invalids, that he has now kept a health establishment for a dozen years, during which time he has restored many hundreds of cases of the worst forms of chronic disease to perfect health. He uses no drugs nor poisons of any kind in his treatment, but devotes himself to the development of the innate powers of the system itself, and cures disease by developing health and strength in the organism. This mode is successful in thousands of cases where the patient utterly fails by the drug poisoning mode. Patients who come here for treatment no matter how bad their disease, or how long they have been sick, are, almost without a single exception, greatly pleased with the result. We append a commendation from our last summer’s patients, simply by way of showing the state of feeling, and sentiment which usually prevails, among the patient of the institute:
“Newton’s Inn, c1897, was located on Main Street in Hill village. It was a fine brick building that was owned by Dr. William T. Vail from 1859 to 1870. It was known far and wide as ‘Dr. Vail’s Water Cure.’ Mary Baker Eddy frequently came to drink of this ‘cure for all ills'” (Harvey, 2001).
The undersigned, at this date guests at the Granite Slate Health Institute, Hill, N.H., take pleasure in commending this establishment to the attention of invalids throughout the country.
Dr. W.T. Vail, the conductor of the establishment, is a gentleman of experience and skill, having been educated to the medical profession by a long course of personal suffering in early life, as well as by collegiate instruction, and has now been the successful conductor of an establishment for nearly a dozen years. His reputation is growing, and his house for the present season has been crowded to its utmost capacity, and he has been obliged to lay under contribution all the spare house room in the village. He contemplates enlarging his establishment the coming season, and greatly improving his conveniences.
Invalids placing themselves under his direction will find themselves under the care of a gentleman, who has a living faith in the system he practices, and a confidence that he understands his business, who will look after his patients attentively, prescribe for them with care, and require of them somewhat imperatively that they follow his prescriptions.
Mrs. E.M. Vail has charge of the female department, for which her qualifications admirably fit her, and fills for the present the office of female physician in the establishment with acceptance.
The dietary arrangements of this establishment are of the first order. Miss S. Davis, the intelligent and experienced lady who presides over this department, thoroughly understands the magic art of producing the most palatable dishes from the simplest materials, which contributes in no small degree to the good success of the treatment administered here.
The vegetarian theory is adopted at this Institute as the true theory of human dietetics; yet meat is allowed two or three times a week for such as are not prepared to break off suddenly from the use of animal food, and this course is commended as being the wisest for many, especially for those somewhat advanced in life and long accustomed to stimulating food. The administration of the treatment in the ladies’ department is under the control of Mrs. Lucy C. Wheeler – an old patient – a lady gifted with qualities which eminently fit her for the position. Her skill, genial good nature, and uniform kindness will not soon be forgotten by any one who has been under her care.
The moral influences of the establishment are good. The Doctor is a man who aims at nothing short of a correct life, morally and spiritually as well as physically, and this is the spirit and tone which pervades the whole establishment. There is a morning exercise daily, which includes a short lecture upon some medical, physical or moral topic, reading the Scriptures, music and prayer, which secures a good attendance. Patients who are feeble and unable to walk much for exercise, are carried to ride each day one mile and back, free of expense, a feature peculiar to this institution, so far as we know, and, as we think, of much value to the patient. The arrangements of the house are all made and carefully carried out for the benefit of the sick; and believing this establishment affords important facilities for the recovery of lost health, with terms more moderate for value received than most others of the kind, we think we may be doing good service to the sick and suffering of our race by recommending it to their notice.
(Signed by) J.A. Robertson, Sloans Station, Ohio, H.B. Cross, Orfordville. N.H., Edward A. Jones, New York, Mrs. G.C. Littlefield, Newton, Mass., Miss M. Augusta Berry, Milton, N.H., Mrs. Thomas N. Wood, Sharon, Mass., Mrs. Kimball Eldridge, Chatham, Mass., Mr. A.M. Strobridge, New Durham, N.H., Mrs. Mary E. Thurston, Lebanon, N.H., Lessie M. Goodel, Amherst, Mass., Mrs. E. Lathrop, Parkersburg, Va., Mrs. Julia Knight, Stanstead, C.E., Harriet E. Burrell, Roxbury, Mass., Mary A. Morse, [Roxbury, Mass.], Elizabeth H. Morse, Sharon, [Mass.], Lura A. Howard, Hyde Park, Vt., Chester E. Parsons. Coventry, [Vt.], Edwin J. Cowell, Great Falls, N.H., Maria Louisa Cummings, Roxbury Mass., Maria Bowes, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Julia T. Noyes, Henniker, N.H., T.O. Davis, Stanstead, C.E., Mary D. Boswell, Hill, N.H., Eva D. Angell, Salt Point. N.Y., Mrs. Mary E. Jones, Williamsburg. N.Y., Mrs. Ellen M. Goodenough, Derby Line, Vt., Mrs. B.H. Goodall, Littleton, N.H., Mrs. L.A. Davis, Stanstead, C.E., L.C. Wheeler, Waitsfield, Vt., Abbie M. Everett, Hill, N.Y., David T. Averill, Northfleld, Vt., Ira Goodall, Littleton. N.H., Daniel Stevens, Newton, N.H., Mrs. Daniel Stevens, [Newton, N.H.], Rufus A. Fogg, Gorham, Me. Hill, August 10th, 1863.
P.S. Persons wishing further information, will please enclose stamp for circular (Lamoille Newsdealer (Hyde Park, VT), June 29, 1864).
Mary Augusta “Augusta” Berry was born in Milton, N.H., April 22, 1835, daughter of James and Eliza G. (Jewett) Berry. She died in Milton, NH, January 10, 1923, aged eighty-seven years (per town records; her gravestone has it a year earlier).
James Berry, a farmer, aged seventy-five years, headed a Milton Mills household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Eliza G. Berry, aged sixty-nine years, his daughter, Mary A. Berry, a milliner, aged forty-five years, and his mother-in-law, Nancy Jewett, at home, aged ninety-two years. (The household of James Berry’s eldest son, Charles J. Berry, clerk in a store, aged forty-three years immediately preceded that of James Berry in the enumeration).
Mary A. Berry ran a fancy goods and millinery store in Milton Mills in at least the years 1870, 1871, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1887, and 1889. She appears there as both Miss Mary A. or M.A. Berry, for her fancy goods listing, and Augusta Berry, for her millinery listing.
Fancy goods may be defined as small decorative items or knick-knacks, while millinery is the design, manufacture, and sale of hats and other headgear, usually women’s hats.
Mary A. Berry, of Milton Mills, N.H., lost the substantial amount of $256 in Mrs. Sarah E. Howe’s Ladies’ Deposit bank swindle of 1879-80 (Boston Globe, May 25, 1881).
Herein find the Rochester tabulation from the First (1790) Federal Census. It was created per Article One, Section Two of the US Constitution, whose ratification Rochester (including then Farmington (Northwest Parish) and Milton (Northeast Parish)) had opposed in the prior year.
There was no separate tabulation of the Rochester’s Northeast Parish (Milton to be) in 1790, as there would be in 1800.
Rochester as a whole had 2,857 inhabitants residing in 504 households. which works out to 5.6 inhabitants per household. It had 1,470 (51.5%) males (740 (25.9%) of whom were aged 16-and-over and 730 (25.6%) were aged under-16 years) and 1,386 (48.5%) females (of all ages).
Rochester had also a single slave, who resided in the household (#100) of John Adams. New Hampshire as a whole had 158 slaves, who constituted 0.1% of its total population of 141,885 inhabitants. New Hampshire’s slaves were largely concentrated at Portsmouth, some of whose merchants participated in the slave trade. (There were 8 slaves in NH in 1800). (See Milton and Abolitionism).
Rochester was the twenty-fifth most populous place in the United States in 1790, and the second most populous place, after Portsmouth, in New Hampshire. (Before the subsequent separations of Farmington (1798) and Milton (1802)).
This representation of Rochester’s 1790 enumeration has been augmented with a view to “teasing out” further geographical details and other information. The bolded names are those that appeared also in the Second (1800) Federal Census of Rochester (and its separately tabulated Northeast Parish (Milton)) and Farmington. Their Rochester, Farmington, and Milton (Northeast Parish) locations of 1800 are noted beside them.
The Farmington and Milton separation petitioners of 1798 and 1802, respectively, have also been considered.
Also included in those marginal identifications, for Milton anyway, are settler locations from local histories. The Milton ones appear in several clusters: West Milton, at the very beginning of the Rochester enumeration, Plummer’s Ridge, near the end of the Rochester enumeration, and others for whom no more specific locations have come to hand.
The schoolteacher’s c1796 Plummer’s Ridge sponsors are all present, while her c1798 Three Ponds ones are not. They presumably settled at Three Ponds after 1790, but before c1798.
The 1790 and 1800 households overlap, but not completely, as with a Venn diagram. Some persons who headed households in 1790 may have died or moved away by 1800. Household successors, such as widows or grown children, or newly established households are present in 1800 (and not included here). For example, Milton Mills’ Appleby families appear for the first time in 1800.
It should be possible to “tighten up” the accuracy of this approximation with further information from deeds, probate records, and other contemporary records, as well as secondary sources such as histories, and genealogies. (Commenters might help point the way or suggest corrections).
To the extent they can be identified, Rochester’s Northeast Parish, i.e., Milton to be, had about 451 residents in 1790: 236 males (52.3%) and 215 females (47.7%). This is likely an underestimate.
(These numbers may be compared with the nearly double figures of 899 residents of 1800: 430 males (47.8%) and 459 females (51.2%). Further additions or refinements may be expected as data becomes available).
The separate columns are represented here as digits. The first two digits are the number of free white males aged 16-and over and those aged under-16. The third digit is the number of free white females of all ages. The final two digits are the number of all other free persons, and slaves.
The Town of Rojchister
Wentworth, Samuel, 122-00
Coason, Joshua, 124-00 – Milton
Foss, Benja, 122-00 – Milton
Coarson, Ebenzr, 133-00 – Milton (West Milton settler)
Varney, Ebenzr, 100-00
Thomas, James, 100-00
Thomas, John, 100-00
Plummer, Ephm, 102-00 – Milton (West Milton settler)
Tuttle, Wm, 105-00 – Milton (West Milton settler)
Goodwin, James, 122-00 – Milton
Wentworth, Ichabod, 111-00
Varney, Enoch, 224-00 – Milton (West Milton settler)
Whautcum, Caleb, 122-00 – Milton (West Milton settler)
NH House of Representatives. (1884). Provincial and State Papers, Volume XIII. Documents Relating to Towns in New Hampshire [Farmington Petition, 1798]. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=hYw7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA346
NH House of Representatives. (1884). Provincial and State Papers, Volume XIII. Documents Relating to Towns in New Hampshire [Milton Petition, 1802]. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=hYw7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA349
Milton’s Town Administrator is leaving us. Let us wish her Godspeed and all the best in her new endeavors.
That leaves Milton with no Town Administrator. Is that really such a bad thing?
One might bet any amount of money – even as much as a Town Budget increase – that there was a time when Milton had no Town Administrator (and that time was within living memory). And you would win that bet. Having a Town Administrator is a relatively recent “innovation.” How is that working out for us?
Mr. Elder informs us that we have had eight Town Administrators in the last ten years. And that there have been gaps of a month or more between them. That works out, roughly, to an average tenure of 14 months per Town Administrator, of which he further informs us that 6 months of that time is spent learning the ropes. Therefore, by his own accounting, we have paid (in just over a decade) for 4 years of getting up to speed and less than 6 years of town administration. (And 8 months of gaps between them).
Obviously, we have not received value for tax money in this whole Town Administrator venture. In the real world, we might now just cancel our subscription and take our business elsewhere. Or just give it up as being a “bad business.” But this is government.
Failed government innovations and interventions are rarely, if ever, “backed out” like the buggy software that they are. Government always doubles down: it “fixes” its failures with more tax money and increased regulations. (They are mired in the Calculation Problem). Cast your mind back, if you will, to Daylight Savings Time, farm subsidies, government cheese, Fannie Mae, the food pyramid (related to the farm subsidies), Dot-com bubbles, housing bubbles, student loan guarantee bubbles, health care market interventions, etc. etc.. The list is lengthy. It has always been thus.
In that same doubling-down spirit, some have suggested that Milton “solve” its perceived administration problems by “upgrading” to a Town Manager instead of a Town Administrator.
No, thanks. That would have us paying double – likely more – for even less satisfactory results. Selectmen are bad enough. (If they had to do their own administration, as they formerly did, they might have less time for mischief).
The Milton Town government’s ever-increasing budget problems are beyond level funding. They need cutting badly. (It’s a very deep hole with very steep sides). This current vacancy, in a non-constitutional position, presents a perfect opportunity to reduce staff through simple attrition. Do not fill the position, just eliminate it.
Lather, rinse, repeat. And never create any new positions. That would violate the Law of Holes: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 17, 2019
Here we bid farewell to the same Milton centenarian whose hundredth birthday was celebrated two years earlier. (This was also the year that Milton’s Class II Military Draft List was compiled).
Mrs. Eunice Hayes died at Milton, N.H., on the 27th of last March, at the age of 102. She left 181 descendants, was born on Friday – consecrated to God in baptism on Friday – married on Friday – moved into Milton on Friday – her husband died on Friday – and she died on Friday, as she often affirmed she should (Wood County (Wisconsin) Reporter, May 7, 1863).
NH regiments found it necessary to refill their ranks, which had been depleted through expiration of enlistments, captures, disease, wounds, death, and desertion. The recruitment bounty had increased vastly from the $10 of 1861 to as much as $1,000. (Greenback inflation was a part of this too).
Congress had passed also the Enrollment Act (or Military Draft Act), March 3, 1863, whose enforcement had occasioned the New York Draft Riots.
Recruiting in New Hampshire. Recruits come in at Concord at the rate of about forty daily, and rapidly increasing. Recruiting has been stopped for the 2d, 3d, 8th, 10th, 13th and 14th, and the men are now enlisting for the 6th, 9th and 11th, which regiments are with Burnside at Knoxville. The former regiments are nearly or quite full, the third lacking but seventeen men of the maximum number. Thus has New Hampshire, through her patriotic Governor, placed herself in the front ranks (New England Farmer (Boston, MA), December 19, 1863).
I’ve sometimes referred to the brightness of different stars and other objects in the sky. Let me tell you how astronomers measure brightness.
The first term you need to know is “apparent magnitude,” which is just a fancy way of saying how bright an object appears to be, usually when seen from the surface of the Earth.
The second term is “absolute magnitude”, which means if you put the stars at the same distance from Earth, what would the brightness be then?
Now let me explain about the numbering scale used to express these brightness. This is where it gets to seeming crazy. You see, the brighter an object is, the lower the number is. For instance, the brightest object, the Sun, has an apparent magnitude of -26.74. The next brightest star, Sirius, comes in at “only” -1.46.
The peculiar scale goes back to the Greek writer Hipparchus in the 1st century BC. He labelled the brightest 20 stars as first degree stars, and the dimmest as 6th degree. This was a rather simple way of describing brightness, before there were telescopes or instruments for measuring brightness precisely. Stars that are too dim to see with the naked eye are 7th degree or lower.
Eventually, after measurement of magnitude started, a decimal form started to be written. This system was formalized in 1856 by an English astronomer named Norman Robert Pogson (1829-1891). Under his system, a first degree star is 100 times as bright as a sixth degree star, and so each degree represents a ratio of about 2.5, sometimes called “Pogson’s ratio”. For you math nerds, the exact amount is the 5th root of 100.
Pogson’s system assigned the North Star, Polaris, as being of degree 2.0; however this was later changed because Polaris’ magnitude varies slightly over time. The star Vega is now defined as 0.00 magnitude. There are four stars brighter than Vega, which necessarily means they have negative numbers in their magnitude.
Here is a list of the 10 brightest objects in the sky (the planets and Moon are listed at their brightest but they vary over time). It should be noted that there are different possible ways of measuring apparent magnitude of stars, and you may see these in a slightly different order. See below Wikipedia, List of brightest stars for more information on these variations.
The Sun: -26.74
The Moon: -12.74
Venus: -4.89
Jupiter: -2.94
Mars: -2.91
Mercury: -2.45
Sirius: -1.46 (star in Canis Major)
Canopus: -0.74 (star in Carina*)
Saturn: -0.49
Rigil Kentaurus: -0.27 (star in Centaurus*)
*Note: Carina and Centaurus can only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere.
Now to Absolute Magnitude. This is defined as the brightness an object would have if seen from a standard distance (10 parsecs, or 32.6 light-years), adjusting for interstellar dust. They can also measure it in different light bands, but I won’t bore you with an explanation of that. See Wikipedia, Absolute magnitude for more on this. Warning: there’s a lot of complicated math on this page. Also, note that a parsec is a measure of distance, not time as implied in the first Star Wars movie.
Measurement of absolute magnitude is made with an instrument called a bolometer, and varies based on what type of light wavelength you’re looking at.
Some stars are so bright that they would appear brighter than the planets and cast shadows if they were only 10 parsecs away. For example, Rigel is -7.0, Deneb is -7.2, and Betelgeuse in Orion has an absolute magnitude of -5.6. By comparison, Sirius is 1.4, much brighter than the Sun’s absolute magnitude 4.83.
Apparent magnitude for objects in the solar system is based on supposing that the object were a standard distance of 1 Astronomical Unit (about 93 million miles, or the distance between the Sun and Earth) from both the Sun and the observer.
So now you know the difference between apparent and absolute magnitude. Now if someone asks how to measure the brightness of stars, you’ll know the answer!
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 15, 2019
Here follows a June 1863 US military draft list of Milton’s seventy-five married men aged between 35 and 44 (Class II). (Those aged 45 and over were exempt from military conscription).
[Class I comprises all persons subject to do military duty between the ages of twenty and thirty-five years, and all unmarried persons subject to do military duty above the age of thirty-five years and under the age of forty-five. Class II comprises all other persons subject to do military duty.]
SCHEDULE II. – CONSOLIDATED LIST of all persons of CLASS II, subject to do military duty in the first Congressional District, consisting of the Counties of Rockingham, Strafford, Belknap, and Carroll, State of New Hampshire, enumerated during the month of June, 1863, under direction of Capt. John S. Godfrey, Provost Marshal.
Residence. Name. Age 1st July 1863. White or Colored. Professions, Occupation or Trade. Place of Birth (Naming the State, Territory, or Country). Former Military Service. Remarks.
Milton
Burrows, James, 40, white, farmer, New Hamp., none
Wentworth, John C., 41, white, shoemaker, New Hampshire, none
Whitehouse, Henry D., 39, white, farmer, New Hampshire, none
Whitehouse, Josiah, 44, white, farmer, New Hampshire, none
Young, Thomas, 41, white, shoemaker, New Hamp, none
Colonel James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General U.S., Washington, D.C.
STATION: Headquarters first Congr. Dist. of New Hampshire. DATE: June 30, 1863. John S. Godfrey, Provost Marshal.
Of these 75 men, 30 (40.0%) were shoemakers, 29 (38.7%) were farmers, 3 (4.0%) were blacksmiths, 2 (2.7%) were hotel keepers, 2 (2.7%) were mill hands, 1 (1.3%) was a carpenter, 1 (1.3%) was a depot master, 1 (1.3%) was a laborer, 1 (1.3%) was a mason, 1 (1.3%) was a miller, 1 (1.3%) was a physician, 1 (1.3%) was a shoe manufacturer, 1 (1.3%) was a [livery] stabler, and 1 (1.3%) was a tailor.
William H. Huntress, Joseph Plummer, Lewis D. Reed, and Hiram V. Wentworth appeared also in the US Excise Tax of 1864.
References:
National Archives. (n.d.) Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registrations, 1863-1865. NM-65, entry 172, 620 volumes. NAI: 4213514. Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), Record Group 110
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 14, 2019
Milton.
STRAFFORD Co. The Salmon Fall River washes its whole eastern boundary, a distance of thirteen miles; and a branch of the name river crosses from the south part of Wakefield, and unites near the centre of the eastern boundary.
Teneriffe, a bold and rocky mountain, extends along the eastern part Milton near which lies Milton Pond, of considerable size, connecting with the Salmon Fall river. This town was formerly a part of Rochester.
Boundaries. North-west by Middleton and Wakefield, east by Salmon Fall River, separating it from Maine, and south-west by Farmington.
First settlers. See Rochester. First ministers. See Rochester.
Productions of the Soil. Indian corn, 7,282 bushels; potatoes, 12,560 bushels; hay, 2,296 tons; wool, 3,625 pounds; maple sugar, 473 pounds.
Distances. Forty miles north-east from Concord and twenty north-west from Dover.
Milton gave 188 votes (68.6%) to independent Nathaniel S. Berry and 86 votes (31.4%) to Democrat incumbent Jared Warner Williams in the NH gubernatorial election of 1848. Governor Williams won re-election by 3,000 votes.
New Hampshire. The annual election for the choice of Governor, Council and Legislature, occurs next Tuesday, in N. Hampshire. The Polk party support Jared W. Williams, of Lancaster, now Governor of the State; and the “Allies” – the Whigs, Independent Democrats and Liberty men, Nathaniel S. Berry, of Hebron, for the office of Governor.
Each party seems to be awake, and the struggle will be a warm one. The result none can tell; but as the locofocos carried the State last year by 11 or 1200 majority, it is presumed that they calculate with confidence upon doing the same this year. Indeed, they proclaim the State theirs by thousands. If “Secret Inspectors,” with liberty to draw upon the National Treasury at the rate of $2,200 per annum for traveling (electioneering) fees can secure them the election they are sure of it. But for this corrupt system of buying up men with money from the Treasury, as it has been demonstrated is the practice of the administration in New Hampshire, we should count upon the State as certain for “Berry and Liberty.” As matters are, we can only hope for the best (St. Johnsbury Caledonian, March 11, 1848).
In a table of comparative statistics, Milton was said to have 330 polls; a tax rate of $3.65 per thousand in 1844; improved and unimproved lands valued at $216,852 in 1848; mills and carding machines valued at $10,075; 1,068 sheep; and a total amount of inventory of $383,023 in 1848.
(Farmington’s total amount of inventory was $556,796, Middleton’s was $117,232, Rochester’s was $907,610, and Wakefield’s was $309,515).
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | January 14, 2019
MILTON, post-town, Strafford co., in lat. 43°26′, is bounded N.W. by Middleton and Wakefield, E. by Salmon Fall river, separating it from Maine, S.W. by Farmington, and contains about 25,000 acres. The Salmon Fall river washes its whole E. boundary, a distance of 13 miles; and a branch of the same river crosses from the S. part of Wakefield, and unites near the centre of the E. boundary. Teneriffe, a bold and rocky mountain, extends along the E. part of Milton, near which lies Milton pond, of considerable size, connecting with the Salmon Fall river. This town was formerly a part of Rochester, from which it was detached, and incorporated June 11, 1802. There is a meeting-house here, but no settled minister. Pop 1232.
In a table of comparative statistics, Milton was said to have 1 Meeting-house, 7 School districts, 7 School-houses, 5 Taverns, 5 Stores, 5 Saw-mills, 4 Grist-mills, 1 Clothing-mill, 2 Carding-machines, no Bark-mill, and 1 Tannery.
Milton Observer 