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MEET THE AUTHORS

Write Quick
War and a Woman's Life in Letters, 1835–1867

Edited by Ann Fox Chandonnet
and Roberta Gibson Pevear

Sunday, May 16
DRACUT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1660 Lakeview Avenue, Dracut, Mass. 01826
Site is usually open 1–3 p.m., Sundays, (978) 957-1701.
            The authors’ talk will include material about the Fox family and Marsh Hill Farm (Dracut) not covered in other presentations. Ann Fox Chandonnet will be donating to the society John H. Bodwell's 1867 certificate of service from the State of New Hampshire, as well as a summer dress made c. 1910 by hand by her grandmother, Ethel Kimball Bodwell Fox (foster daughter of Bodwell).
            Contact: R. Harvey, 978 957-3445; N. Taplin, 978 685-0129.

 
Monday, May 17, 7 p.m.
HAMPTON FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Hampton Falls Historical Society Museum, 45 Exeter Road, Hampton Falls, N.H.
            This lecture will examine the multi-generational influence of the Pevear family on the town of Hampton Falls, where there is a street named after the Pevears and numerous sources document other connections. Edward Pevear, the late husband of Roberta Gibson Pevear, was a member of a family that has lived in Hampton Falls for more than 200 years. His grandfather Daniel Emmons Pevear (b. 1839) fought in the Civil War and later served in the New Hampshire legislature. Edward Pevear attended the one-room schoolhouse that is preserved in Hampton Falls. Roberta was the first president of the Hampton Falls Historical Society.
            Contact: Sheila Kennedy, 603 929-1878.
 

Wednesday: May 19, 7 p.m.
“A Knot of Relations: Henry, Eliza, Andrew and Gustavus”
SAMUEL S. POLLARD MEMORIAL LIBRARY, 401 Merrimack Street, Lowell, Mass.
In conjunction with the library’s "Forever Free" Emancipation exhibit
            Raised in Dracut, Ann Fox Chandonnet often wondered about the pewter candlesticks on her grandmother's sideboard—candlesticks bearing Cyrillic writing on their bases. She has solved the mystery of those candlesticks and much else in her new book, “Write Quick”: War and a Woman's Life in Letters, 1835–1867. This nonfiction book is a portrait of Eliza Bean Foster, a mill girl who married a house painter. When her husband, Henry Foster, served in the 26th Massachusetts Infantry, he wrote dozens of letters to Eliza. She also received and saved letters from her brother, Andrew Bean, who was serving with the 5th Maine Volunteers. More than 150 previously unpublished letters from Henry and Andrew as well as members of the extended family network shed light on links with Abraham Lincoln’s assistant secretary of the Navy, Gustavus Vasa Fox—to whom the candlesticks were given during a diplomatic mission to Russia. Chandonnet will speak about the links among these family members, their ties to Lowell and Boott Mills, and their various roles during the Civil War.
 
Numerous Dracut locales are mentioned in the book:
•             31 High Street, where Henry and Eliza lived in 1860.
•            #45 Boott Corporation, where Amanda Fox was boarding housekeeper and where Dana Fox boarded during the week.
•            Simpson photographer, whom they patronized in spring 1864.
•            212 Tenth Street, where Andrew Bean lived after becoming guardian of Eliza’s children.
•            Edson Cemetery, where Andrew, Eliza, Henry, and other family members are buried.
•            Eight rows of Boott Mill boarding houses between Amory and French Streets, where Eliza lived before her marriage.
•            Eliza patronized butcher Charles D. Starbird, corner of Branch and Walker.
•            She also patronized merchant Theodore F. Parker and E. B. Patch, a secondhand furniture dealer.
•            Merrimack House (a hotel built in 1832 where Eliza and Henry attended entertainments); burned down during her lifetime.
 •            Andrew bought his ledgers from Joshua Merrill, Bookseller, at 37 and 43 Merrimack Street.
•            In the year 1869, Andrew dealt with merchants John Cain, Patrick Mars, P. Hirshfield, John A. Lewis, McGoverin, and Daniel Kelley.
•            Receipts show he bought food from Litchfield, Edwards & Co., at the corner of Market and Shattuck.

Information: 978 970-4120.

 
Friday, May 21: One-year memorial in Bethel for Edward Pevear. Includes a private luncheon.
 
Saturday, May 22
BETHEL HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 10-14 Broad St., Bethel, Maine
            This event will be accompanied by a mini-exhibit (in the Robinson House, 10 Broad St.) of papers and objects donated to the archives by Roberta Gibson Pevear. The  talk will focus on the role of Maine, Bethel, Andrew Jackson Bean, Clark Swett Edwards, and the 5th Maine Regiment in the Civil War. There will be references to the collection donated by Roberta Pevear and its importance to local history.
            Contact: Randall Bennett, curator of collections, 207 824-2908 or info@bethelhistorical.org
  

Sunday, May 23, 2 p.m.
FIFTH MAINE MEMORIAL MUSEUM, Peaks Island, Maine
            Ann Fox Chandonnet will give a talk titled “Corporal Andrew Jackson Bean and the Fifth Maine.” The free lecture will be followed by a book signing.
            Andrew Jackson Bean served in the Fifth Maine Volunteer Infantry for three years before returning home, ill and exhausted, to his wife and family. During his military service, both his young sons died. (The grave markers for these boys can still be seen in Songo Pond Cemetery.) Andrew's brother-in-law, Henry Charles Foster, served with the 26th Massachusetts and died as the result of wounds suffered at the Third Battle of Winchester, Virginia. Bean’s sister, Eliza Bean Foster, died soon after of consumption. Bean and his wife Lizzie moved to Lowell, Mass., and he became guardian for Eliza’s two children. He was later one of the founders of the meeting place on Peaks Island.
            The Fifth Maine was known for collecting Confederate battle flags and taking prisoners as well as participation in many major battles of the Eastern Theater, including Gettysburg, First Bull Run (Manassas), Antietam, Crampton’s Gap, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor.