Ryan W. Owen, Writer and Photographer
Any discussion on “Lost Boston” has to include Boston’s North Union Station, which once stood on Causeway Street, on the current site of the TD Garden (better known locally as “the Boston Garden” and by some as the “Fleet Center”). North Union Station, which consolidated the operations of four different railroads into one building, was […]
Read MoreHave you visited Boston? Do you have ancestors who lived or visited here? Since you’re reading a blog called Forgotten New England, chances are good that you, or someone on a branch of your family tree, has ridden Boston’s subway. Boston’s subway, or ‘the T’ as its locally known, makes a very walkable city even […]
Read MoreSo, say you’re writing a scene about Edwardian-era police officers in New England, or researching the life and times of a police officer ancestor. Or, perhaps you’re trying to get an idea of how people got into trouble with the law in the first years of the twentieth century. You’ll need to know why Edwardian-era […]
Read MoreIf you spend a considerable amount of time reading turn-of-the-(twentieth)-century editions of the local papers of Lowell, Massachusetts, you’ll soon come across the name of Samuel P. Hadley, who presided as a Justice for the Lowell Police Court for close to three decades. In fact, I think a few of the people I’ve researched for […]
Read MoreSometimes, you need to work really hard to land the latest find in your family tree discoveries. Sometimes, family history finds just fall in your lap. Before going to work yesterday morning, I stopped at the barber shop, and checked Facebook while waiting for my turn in the chair. And I found – quite a […]
Read MoreFirst, flu-like symptoms emerge -fever, aches, pains, nausea. Exhaustion soon follows. It’s not until a few days later when the telltale, flat, red spots appear about the face, hands, and arms. The spots evolve into pus-filled blisters that scab first and then fall off, to reveal deep, pitted scars. Smallpox was one of history’s most […]
Read MoreIn these days of point-and-click genealogy (think sites like Ancestry.com or familysearch.org), local and regional history centers of the brick-and-mortar variety are sometimes unjustly overlooked. Some, like the New England Historic Genealogical Society, have online resources and an impressive web presence themselves. Others, especially those dedicated to smaller cities or even towns, have wonderful resources […]
Read MoreDid you know that Jingle Bells was composed by James Lord Pierpoint in Medford, Massachusetts in 1850? It’s claimed that the town’s 19th century sleigh races inspired the song, and that it was originally written as a Thanksgiving, not Christmas song. Why “jingle bells”? Music historian James Fuld informs that the horse-drawn sleighs of the […]
Read MoreHuntington Hall/Merrimack Street Depot By 1904, the building that housed both Huntington Hall and the Merrimack Street Depot had served as the city’s main public gathering place for generations. The City of Lowell and the Boston & Lowell Railroad entered into a joint agreement to build the hall in 1853, providing the railroad with the Merrimack […]
Read MoreWere your ancestors among the crowds gathered to meet a young Charles Dickens when he visited Lowell, Massachusetts in early February 1842? Dickens, a young writer of rising fame at the time of his visit, had yet to write A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities. His fame had largely been won […]
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Forgotten New England 