| |
Over 130 years of preservation and study of
Kennebec County history (1891-Present)
________________
KHS April Program:
“The Death of Charlie Northey and the Trial of Alice Cooper”
Rumors of an adulterous relationship between Mrs. Alice Cooper and her husband’s former apprentice Charlie Northey flourished in the Maine village
of South Windsor during the spring and summer of 1905. Then on a summer-like Tuesday afternoon in October, the 21-one-year-old Northey was found mortally wounded in the Coopers’ dining room with a revolver by his side
while a hysterical Mrs. Cooper was witnessed on her front lawn, alleging that Northey had shot himself.
Cooper, a 33-year-old mother of three, admitted to Kennebec County
officials that she had purchased the revolver to protect herself from Northey
but contended that he had wrested it from her and turned it on himself.
She was subsequently indicted for murder, resulting in a trial that lasted
42 days and made headlines from Bangor to Key West and Boston to
San Francisco. Those events form the basis of Pettingill’s 2024 historical
novel Alice Shrugged: The Mysterious Death of Charlie Northey.
In his April 16 presentation, Kennebec Historical Society presenter
Peter M. Pettingill will present his research on the period, the Kennebec
County characters involved, and the dynamics at work concerning the press
and the politics that drove a case to trial that many at the time considered politically motivated.
Pettingill, an amateur genealogist and historian living in New Hampshire,
holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York. He retired from a 36-year insurance career in 2022. Pettingill said his family instilled in him a love of Maine genealogy and history. Since 2022
he has written three historical novels, including two that take place in
Kennebec County.
The presentation, free to the public (donations are gladly accepted), is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. For more information, call Scott Wood, KHS executive director, at 622-7718.
________________
KHS May Program:
“Amazing Stories: Tales from the Annals of a Maine Family”
.jpg)
Simmy Murch Baseball Card (Dana Murch Private Collection)
Belfast genealogist and author Dana Murch, the Kennebec Historical Society’s guest lecturer for May, plans to tell some amazing stories he has discovered while researching the history of the Murch family of Maine, including stories
of cod, fornication, capture by Indians, the Battle of Quebec, squatters and Spanish gold, ferries, block making, the Civil War, ice harvesting, baseball,
the Antarctic, and “a little old lady who never cries anymore.”
Murch was born in Caribou and grew up in Clinton. He retired in 2011 after
a career as the dams and hydropower regulatory specialist at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and has been happily doing genealogy ever since then. He is a 13th-generation Mainer and multiple Mayflower descendant and has published books on his maternal and paternal ancestries.
He is currently researching and writing the definitive history and genealogy of
the entire Murch family of Maine.
The society’s May presentation is free to the public (donations are gladly accepted) and is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, at the Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. For details, call Scott Wood, executive director, at 622-7718.
________________
Throw a "Watch Party"!
KHS Facebook Live programs are available to watch again!
Simply click on the links below to see the most recent KHS presentations.
KHS March Facebook Presentation:
“Augusta’s Memorial Bridge”
________________
|
|
Discovering, preserving, and disseminating
Kennebec County history
.jpg)
KHS is located in Maine's Capital City ... in
historic Kennebec Valley at
Henry Weld Fuller, Jr. House
107 Winthrop Street
Augusta, ME
Click the "donate" button below to join KHS or make a donation. Please be sure to explain what the amount is for in the "Add special instructions to seller" section.
Thank you!
READING ROOM
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
10am-3pm
Tuesday through Thursday
APPOINTMENTS PREFERRED
If unable to visit during our open hours, please call for an appointment.
Phone:
(207)
622-7718
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 5582
Augusta, Maine 04332-5582
Those unable to visit us may send questions to our email:
kennhis1891@gmail.com
|