All kidding aside, I really like the rural parts of New England, particularly Maine

Thanks for rubbing, Tom, and you can count on my partnership in this pursuit, however I am weary of striking, polishing, steaming, etching, carding, and drying barrels during the summer. I don’t know what sweat does to barrels, but I’d bet it’s not ideal.

For the record, I “live” in the south, but was born and raised in Nebraska, back when the Cornhuskers still knew how to play football properly.

New Hampshire sounds lovely. I’ll be happy to visit at least.

Where in New England are you headed Tom?





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I am moving back to my family home in Pawling, New York. I guess it’s a bit of a stretch calling it New England but it is to me. It’s a small New England type town right in the heart of wonderful grouse and woodduck country. I will continue to hunt the same areas I did as a kid. Things have changed a bit but not all that much. There are now more woodduck and turkeys than there were when I was a boy. The grouse coverts are not as productive but most of it has been kept preserved as a result of selective logging every ten years. In addition, old money and strict zoning have kept most of the areas I hunt free of development.

And I’ll be near my favorite state Vermont. I have deep roots there. My family moved from Andover, Mass. to Wilmington, Vermont in 1826. My ancestors are buried there and I go back to Vermont often. I love it. If I didn’t own the family home in Pawling, I would move to Wilmington.

There's a coincidence Tom - I currently live in Andover MA and spend 98% of my hunting time in Vermont , my own favorite place on Earth... and Wilmington MA is right up against Andover a half mile from my house.

William Harnden Foster lived in Andover and the Harnden farmhouse was right over in Tewksbury, just north of Wilmington. General Harnden was a prominent figure in the American Revolution. Lots of history nearby.





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I love the history of the Andover, Mass. area. It is a big part of my family history. My mother was a Farnum. Farnum road in Andover is named for my family. My grandfather (10) Ralph Farnum Sr. and wife Alice came to the colonies in 1635 aboard the brig James. The Farnum family settled in Andover, Mass. and lived there until William Farnum moved the family to Windham county Vermont in 1826.

Members of my family had a role in the Salem witch trials. Despite being generally known as the Salem witch trials, the preliminary hearings in 1692 were conducted in a variety of towns across the province: Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover and Salem town.

Ralph Farnum Jr., was a grand juryman for the beginning of the hearings in 1692, but died before rendering service. Ralph III and his brother John were summoned on July 30, 1692 to appear as witnesses against Martha Carrier of Andover who was tried for witchcraft and who was hanged August 19, 1692.

My family kept a lot of records and even some artifacts from the Andover days. I have the text of a letter written by one of the Farnum’s who experienced the family trouble during the witch trial period. It was difficult on some of the accusers also. Ralph and his brother were “forced” to testify at two witchcraft trials according to the family letter…….“In 1692, our Farnum’s cup adds Martha Carrier's tragic death, and Eunice Frye late awhile in jail with he, Elizabeth's cousins, Ralph and John Farnum, being dragged forward as accusers. Uncle Ralph dies in all this trouble, and Elizabeth, at thirty-two, takes young James Johnson of twenty, while Mehitabel, only fifteen, unites his brother Peters' strong arms in a long pull together.”

Ralph Farnum V was born on June 20, 1756 in Andover. The Rev. Amos Main baptized him on September 5th. He enlisted May 15, 1775, in Capt. Philip Hubbard's Co. of Col. James Scammon's Reg't. This regiment was stationed on Bunker Hill on the ever memorable June 17, 1775. In 1860 he visited Boston after Senator Charles Sumner, in a speech delivered in Boston, said that the last survivor of the Battle of Bunker Hill was dead. Ralph showed up on his door to prove him wrong. But the statement of Senator Sumner was soon literally true. Ralph Farnum died Dec 9, 1860, aged 104 years. He was the last living survivor of the Battle of Bunker Hill.


This is a family picture of Ralph V. He was quite a man and had a great sense of humor according to passed down family history.

The last person tried for witchcraft in New England is one of my ancestors. She was found not guilty but died as a result of the trial

More people in Andover were accused of witchcraft than in Salem.

Funny thing about those trials, if a person survived the 'trial by water' (prolonged dunking) he or she was a witch according to the law of the time. If the person drowned he or she obviously had no powers of witchcraft and therefor was innocent.






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I have no doubt that your ancestor died as a result of being imprisoned before trial. The jails where they kept those poor people were horrible. Some died even before reaching trial. And they were forced to pay for their own keep in the jails. Accused children were kept in those jails also. Horrible. It was a difficult time for some of the accusers also, hard as that may be to believe. Not all testified of their own free will. There was a lot of pressure put on some of them. Luckily my family kept records of everything that went on at that time which were passed down. I know the story behind the story and have the testimony that my grandfather (8) and his brother gave at the trials.

The only thing good about that period in Andover was that the woods were filled with Heath Hens. I wonder if #9's would have worked on them.

Andover is over 18 miles from Salem where the accused were jailed. As Tom said, they were made to pay for their own internment - not only that but the jailed person's family was responsible for their feeding and clothing. Family members would walk that 18 miles every other day and back to care for their imprisoned family member.






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