Andover Historical Society Receives Gift of 1807 “Almanack”

One item from the 1807 New Hampſhire almanac donated to the Andover Hiſtorical Society by Tom and Rae Voſs. Note the archaic typographic uſe of the "long s" (which, to modern eyes, appears to be an "f") for all lowercaſe "s" characters, except thoſe that fall at the end of a word. The Times of London ſtopped uſing the "long s" in 1803, but that modern innovation obviouſly hadn't reached the Almanack four years later. — One item from the 1807 New Hampſhire almanac donated to the Andover Hiſtorical Society by Tom and Rae Voſs. Note the archaic typographic uſe of the “long s” (which, to modern eyes, appears to be an “f”) for all lowercaſe “s” characters, except thoſe that fall at the end of a word. *The Times* of London ſtopped uſing the “long s” in 1803, but that modern innovation obviouſly hadn’t reached the Almanack four years later.

Today, if you want to learn something fast about the state we live in, no problem: You ask Google.

But if you lived back in, say, 1807, things were different. You would have consulted your copy of Curtis’s Pocket Almanack and Register of New Hampshire, which sold for a quarter (about $5 today).

The Andover Historical Society recently received a copy of the 1807 edition. The little 3½” by 6″ pamphlet, bound with string and containing 108 pages, has a wealth of information about New Hampshire and the federal government.

The cover of the 1807 New Hampshire almanac donated to the Andover Historical Society by Tom and Rae Voss. Photo: Larry Chase

It reveals that Thomas Jefferson is the president of the United States and that he earns $25,000 per annum. George Clinton is the vice-president, and he is paid $5,000. It lists the names of the Senators of the then-27 states and also the members of the House of Representatives.

It gives the powers of the Congress, the names of the Supreme Court justices (John Marshall is the Chief), the names of all the District Court justices and their salaries, and the dates on which each court sits. It reveals the names of the various departments of the federal government and the salaries of their heads and provides a table of the values and weights of the coins then in circulation.

It describes the Bank of the United States and lists all the New Hampshire banks and their directors. It identifies the post offices in New Hampshire and their postmasters, the Custom officers, and the population of each state.

Also, for the State of New Hampshire, it lists all the government officials and their salaries, the senators and representatives, and all the towns with their populations. (Andover is listed as having a population of 1,133, and our state representative is Jacob B. Moore.)

Also listed are the Judges on the Probate Court, the Registers of Probate, the Sheriffs, County Treasurers, Prisonkeepers, and the dates on which the courts sit. There are lists of attorneys, justices, coroners, and fees due the state for various purposes.

Lastly, the little almanac lists the militia companies and their commanders, the ministers, churches and religious assemblies by county, the literary institutions, Dartmouth College and its president and trustees (and among other items of interest the fact that there are 3,000 volumes in the library there). Also listed are local academies – prominently, Phillips Exeter and its trustees – and the names and locations of the Masonic Lodges in the state.

And like almanacs today, it gives the dates of lunar eclipses and tide tables, important birthdays and events, and some weather observations.

So if you had been living in 1807 in Andover, and you needed a quick fact about the Granite State or the USA, Curtis’s Pocket Almanack might well have saved the day.

Donated by Tom and Rae Voss

The Almanack and Register was compiled for years by Samuel Curtis (1747-1822) and printed in Curtis’s hometown of Amherst, New Hampshire by Joseph Cushing. A copy of the 1807 edition, in good condition, was recently given to the Andover Historical Society by Tom and Rae Voss, who make their summer home on Bradley Lake.

The Vosses, in turn, were given the pocket reference by Warren Mears, a longtime friend and Florida neighbor, where the Vosses spend their winters. Warren’s father, Cyril Harrison Mears, grew up in Littleton, where Warren’s grandfather, an earlier Warren Mears, had a farm and worked for the Saranac Glove Factory.

Upon the earlier Warren’s death, son Cyril found the booklet in a safe deposit box. It eventually came into the possession of the younger Warren, “who thought the booklet should return to New Hampshire, and so they gave it to us,” according to Rae Voss. “We knew the Andover Historical Society would be a good repository for it.”