What does New Hampshire mean to me? A simple question steeped with many answers. The meaning is different for every person. Perhaps for someone that lived here and moved away, the answer might be one of nostalgia. For the person that never left New Hampshire, the answers might possess a feeling of belonging. For the person that can boast several generations of direct lineage, the answer might be one of pride, independence, family history and more. Regardless of the individual response, New Hampshire means different things to different people.
For me, the meaning of New Hampshire instills deep contemplation. With my family arriving in 1850 and remaining in the same town in the north end of Concord, my heart is content. During a time when life was more challenging and simple pleasures few, the Concord community accepted the arrival of four young men from Ireland. They married, had children, built friendships and careers. They did this in the face of adversity.
The potato famine was raging and the thought of prospering was remote. They boarded a steam ship in route to Boston where they would then travel north to the Manchester mills and work their assigned indentured service years with the sight of freedom and opportunity never far from their reach. These four brothers were Martin, Michael, Thomas and James Spain, my grandfather and great uncles.
The arrival of the Spain brothers was inspired by the famine in Ireland and presented them a unique opportunity in Concord. The city was on the verge of rapid growth in the granite industry, opening quarry upon quarry on Rattlesnake Hill. My grandfather and his brothers, situated by fate in a small rooming house in the north end of Concord, coincidentally found themselves at the base of Rattlesnake Hill. Their timing, their location and their needs were all perfectly aligned to launch their many decades of employment as quarrymen.
Each of the Spain brothers married and had children. My grandfather Martin Spain kept a romantic alliance with old Ireland in the form of Bridget Madden. As Martin worked in the quarry, he saved his small earnings and purchased a home on North State Street, once again at the base of Rattlesnake Hill. With a passion for his work as a quarryman and the ownership of a home, his beloved Bridget made the same journey as he years before.
Upon arrival, Martin and Bridget married and lived in their small house in Concord. They had two children: Martin and Delia. They lived for many years that New Hampshire so graciously provided to them. Years that provided employment, freedom, home ownership and a growing love for this great state. But sadly, as enjoyable as the years lived had been for Martin and Bridget, they concluded. They rest eternally together across the street from that home they purchased, full of treasured memories.
Martin and Bridget inspired their young son Martin. They wanted his life to be easier than the life they had lived. Their son moved into the family homestead and followed in the steps of his father. He sent to Ireland for his bride, Mary Ellen Cooley. As Bridget Madden had journeyed years before to wed her beloved Martin, we find Mary Ellen making the same journey. She made friends quickly, set up her home and married Martin. They spent their entire lives in that little home on North State Street as citizens of the United States. New Hampshire provided for them as it did for the generation before. They grew to love this community that provided without asking for anything in return.
Martin worked as a quarryman on Rattlesnake Hill just like his father. With hard work, he purchased land and opened Spain Quarry. It was small but provided the best quality stone for building, curbing and gravestones. Mary Ellen would often walk across the street and up the trail to Spain Quarry to bring her husband his lunch. His dedication and hard work provided for the family and the next generation.
History certainly repeats itself generation after generation. Martin and Mary Ellen rest eternally in Blossom Hill Cemetery in the shadow of Rattlesnake Hill.
Martin and Mary Ellen named their son Martin and he ventured to another opportunity that was growing in New Hampshire quite rapidly. Young Martin established himself with the Boston and Maine Railroad and spent his career with them. He married Emily and they too lived at the bottom of Rattlesnake Hill where they raised their six children.
With many generations before me in New Hampshire, I now reflect upon the meaning. What does New Hampshire mean to me? It means I am able to walk the same path as my family before and enjoy some of the same views and experiences they did.
New Hampshire provided for them. I am grateful their lives were enjoyed more here in Concord, where they were accepted and welcomed. This place that provided employment, housing and the opportunity to marry and start a family.
I am reminded of the poem by John Howard Payne written in 1823: “Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home”
What does New Hampshire mean to me? It means I am home.
James W. Spain lives in Concord and writes a weekly column “Vintage Views.”