Remembering Odette Leclerc

 We all know of a special person who has touched our hearts and souls.  These people are few and far between and as such, when we lose these people they forever hold a special place in our hearts.  On September 22, 2020, we lost such a treasure, our beloved Odette Leclerc. Odette was truly a friend to the Berlin & Coos County Historical Society and to all of us in her truly unique way. Odette was always steadfast, beginning from the early days of the organization when meetings were held at Berlin City Hall. She rode the rollercoaster of heartbreaks and disappointments the Society endured before finding its home at the Moffett House in 1996. She never flinched and always supported our cause. Her daughter-in-law, Karen, has so eloquently described Odette as being “the heart of the Moffett House”

For 30 years Odette was always at the forefront of everything, but yet never brought attention to herself, despite the many accolades she deserved. She became a part of the fledgling organization, fueled by her interest in genealogy and Berlin’s interesting history. Along with her sidekick, Lois Beaudoin, she quickly became an integral part of the society’s vision for the future. Her volunteerism spanned every aspect of service to the historical society. No task was ever too demanding or too complicated, as she served as a director and curator. Her spirit was always unassuming and she always served from her heart without the need for recognition. Along with her wonderful husband, Don, she helped to transform our organization into one of respect, notoriety, and accessibility. Odette and Don always served as our goodwill ambassadors to everyone and their efforts will never be forgotten. Odette was an unselfish example of how to bring about the best in everyone.

Odette truly exemplified the benchmark of what a volunteer should be. She stands as a shining example. Her humility, grace, and poise will never be forgotten. The historical will always remember her lasting legacy. May her memory always live on.

A  ROLAND MONTMINY  PHOTO

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THE MOFFETT HOUSE IS CLOSED DURING THE CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

HOPE EVERYONE WILL BE SAFE AND HEALTHY KEEP YOUR DISTANCE

THE MOFFETT HOUSE STAFF

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 NEWS FROM THE HOUSE

BCCHS thanks the following for their contributions: Ray Daigle, Walter Nadeau, Paul Croteau, Shawn Costello, Brad and Sue Wyman, Scott Halvorson, Lucien and Melinda Laflamme, John and Jean Roccio, Vaughn and Elizabeth Roy, Andrea Philbrook, Bob Lafrance, Normand Head, Ann Marie Bills, Martha Taylor, Bryant Funeral Home, Kenneth White, Barry Kelley, Jerry Riendeau, Fleury-Patry Funeral Home, Northway Bank and Service Credit Union

The Walling map will soon be available for study on our web site: www.berlinnhhistoricalsociety.org

The Log Jam

The following is a short story written by Edward White for Outing Magazine in 1907.

Log jams are not an abnormal part of the riverman’s work as most people suppose, but a regular incident in the day’s business. In the breaking of a log jam the jam crew must be quick and sure. There is no finer sight than the going out of a tall log jam. The men pry, heave and tug sometimes for hours, Then, all at once the apparently solid surface begins to creak and settle. The men zig-zag quickly to shore. A crash and spout of waters mark where the first tier is already toppling into the current. The front melts like sugar. A vast formidable movement agitates the brown tangle as far as you can see, and then with another sudden and mighty crash, the whole river bursts into a torrent of motion.

If everything has gone well, the men are all safe ashore, leaning on their peavies, but ready at any instant to hasten out for the purpose of discouraging by quick, hard work any tendency to plug on the part of the moving timbers. I have seen men out of bravado jump from the breast of a jam just as it was breaking down to a floating log ahead, thus, to be carried in the sweep and rush far down the river. A single slip meant death.

Note: during this time period, the Berlin Mills Company, later Brown Company, employed 4,000 plus lumberjacks and rivermen to get wood to its saw mills and paper mills in Berlin and Gorham. At the time the “Company” owned/managed 3.5 million acres of land and owned almost 1000 work horses.

Stairlift

During the February meeting the BCCHS board of directors voted to purchase a stairlift for the Moffett House Museum. There have been many occasions when physically challenged individuals were not able to visit the second floor of the Moffett House Museum because of a disability. This meant that they were not able to partake of all the historical and genealogical material that is located on the second floor. Many times, volunteers would bring items down to the first floor for them to read and enjoy. BCCHS received a $5,000 grant from the Frank Stanley Beveridge Foundation toward the installation of the stairlift. Many thanks to that foundation.

The stairlift is a commercial grade lift with a 400 pound capacity and will bring an individual to the second floor in about one minute. A representative from the company recently took measurements and photos of each step. This information is downloaded into a computer with software that will compute a digital blueprint used to guide a machine that manufactures the rail that will be installed in the Moffett House stairway which has a left turn halfway to the second floor. The chair is attached to this rail which is powered by electricity with a battery back-up. The stairlift will be installed sometime in the next two to three months and will be a welcome improvement to the Museum, making our archives readily accessible to everyone.

                                                                           BCCHS WEB SITE

There is a lot of activity on our web site.  The Brown Bulletins have been especially very popular.  It’s a great way to research relatives’s activitiies who worked in the mills.  Some articles are very amusing while others are informative. You can now explore the many Berlin Neighborhoods. By clicking on a particular neighborhood, you read about its history. Check out our website at www.berlinnhhistoricalsociety.org.

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(86) Shawn Marquis – 1953 Berlin Flood Footage A few years ago I was…

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PICTURE OF HOOF

The Berlin & Coos County Historical Society invites you to its museum at the Moffett House to view one of our many interesting and most enigmatic exhibits.  Are you curious?  Of course, this is the hoof of one of the thousand brave draft horses who labored alongside the woodsmen of the Brown Company in getting timber to the river.  William R. Brown introduced the draft horse to the company in 1901, replacing mules. Brown valued these horses greatly, not just as assets on his balance sheet, but as wonderful and faithful “employees”.  It is well known that he acted swiftly against any reported mistreatment and abuse of the animals.  He also maintained a full time veterinary hospital on Main St. in Berlin known as the “hosspital”.  When it came to keeping track of the horses and assigning numbers to them, Brown didn’t use the brand on the horses’ hides, but instead humanely branded the front hoofs, the right one in the fall and the left in the spring.  Branding had to be done twice a year because the hooves grew down from the top just like our fingernails and the numbers eventually disappeared.  This method was painless for the horses, but often they had to have their heads covered so they couldn’t see what was happening and get “fractious”.  More information about this process may be found in the May 1930 edition of the Brown Bulletin which you may access for free at www.berlinnhhistoricalsociety.org.  The Brown Company published this bulletin from 1919 through 1931 and in the late 1940’s to the early 60’s.  All are available on line or better yet, come to the Moffett House and see the entire collection in their original printed form. If you want to look up a person or an event in the bulletin, a museum volunteer will help you to find what you need and then you can enjoy a leisurely read in our second floor reading room. To get back to our horses, you will also find many photographs of the horses at work and at their home, the original Thompson Farm on East Milan Road. In closing, we’d like to quote from the Brown Bulletin of February 1949 regarding the death of draft horse “Old Frank”. “ VETERAN HORSE OLD FRANK DIES.“ Old Frank, one of the best known horses in woods operations is dead.  He died suddenly while at work on the job at Wheeler Mountain camp at an age estimated to be between 18 and 20 years.  Old Frank put in many years of faithful service in the various Brown Co, woods operations.” Come in and visit us Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12 noon to 4PM.  We are here to answer your questions and give you a personal or group tour.  For more information please call 603-752-4590 or 603-752-7337.

Read story of keeping tabs on 1000 horses .Brown Co Bulletins on our web pages archves  May 1930 page 3 & 4

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ON SALE IN OUR MUSEUM STORE

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