Welcome to the
Henniker Historical Society
& MuseumHenniker, New Hampshire, USA
The Only Henniker On Earth
The photo at left is of Academy Hall,
home of the Henniker Historical Society,
its museum, archives and research facilities,
located at 51 Maple Street, in Henniker.
You should know Martha Taylor
This is the headline on the front page of the February 1, 2013, issue of The Villager, the weekly newspaper serving the Contoocook Valley. We proudly note that the subject is our very own Martha Taylor, the indefatigable lynchpin of the Henniker Historical Society & Museum. Below is the text of the front-page article, the photo that accompanied it, and the full ‘Page 5’ story (reprinted with permission).
“Martha Taylor of Henniker is one of ‘20 Outstanding Women You Should Know,’ according to the 95.7 WZID annual contest. Her many years of work on the Historical Society, the numerous committees she served on, all the volunteer work she's done in town, and the books she's produced about Henniker, have not gone unnoticed by those who nominated her. Out of the hundreds of entries, she and 19 other outstanding women were celebrated at a dinner in Manchester, where Martha had WZID's morning show host, Mike Morin, on her arm. See full story on Page 5.” [the page 5 story is below]
Martha Taylor outstanding woman to know
by Michael Pon, The VillagerHenniker's Martha Taylor was recently named by the 95.7 WZID Women's Expo as one of New Hampshire's ‘20 Outstanding Women You Should Know.’ Unknown to her, she was nominated by several women in the town hall.
“I'm honored, really honored. They said they had hundreds of entries,” said Martha. “I was notified out of the blue. The email I got was dated January 14, when they informed me that I had been selected.”
WZID is in its fourth year of running the contest. At some point over the next two weeks, the station will pick two of the winners a day to feature on their morning show. And there will be an event at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester on Saturday, February 16, at 3:00 to honor the winners. But Martha and the other winners were already recognized at a congratulatory dinner at Fratello's in Manchester last Friday [January 25].
Nicole Gage, Cindy Marsland and Annette Poland in the town offices nominated Martha who is primarily known for her work on the Historical Society. But she is a woman with many hats who currently sits on nine committees in addition to volunteering at the Congregational Church and is currently writing a hundred-year history ofthe town.
“Everyone loves Martha. Her professional past is something she should be very proud of, having made a difference in many people's lives with her work in the Governor's office, the Community Action Program, Elderly Services and the Community Loan Fund,” said Gage in her nomination letter. “Since retiring 20 years ago, she continues to be a major bright light in our community. She has even become a local celebrity author, having researched and published a complete cemetery inventory to help genealogy research. She also wrote three books on local architectural accents and historical postcards.”
She and her husband of 50 years, Ron, a man of few words who also has a long history of serving the community, and is currently a selectman, have had a busy retirement running a part-time real estate and storage company, in addition to the rest of her contributions to the town, and the history she is working on.
“I'm writing a hundred-year history of Henniker, ‘A Century in the Life of New Hampshire, A Bird's Eye View, 1900 to 2000.’ I researched all my scrapbooks of newspaper articles that the Historical Society has, and I have the text done,” said Taylor. “Now I'm working on illustrating it with old photographs, old advertisements, whatever made it into the newspaper. Although there are many things that happened that didn't get into the newspapers, this publication focuses on newspaper content.”
She admits they don't have scrapbooks for every year of that century, but she fills in the gaps by digging through the archives.
“I think we had 87 scrapbooks. It should be done in a couple of months,” Taylor said. “It's about letting people know about Henniker and this society.”
“I don't know where Martha gets all her dedication, vim and vigor, but I know one thing — Martha Taylor is an amazing woman who deserves to be recognized,” Gage said, concluding her nomination.
Welcome to the Society's website. Click items below to learn more about the Society, the historical town of Henniker, and related items of interest.
The Society
General information about the Society
Current and future displays in the Museum
Introduction to the history of Henniker
Officers, Committees and Governing Board
Publications of the Society available in our Mini Store
Other items in our Mini Store (old town reports, maps, prints, photos, ornaments)
Changes to book, Historic Cemeteries of Henniker
Genealogy by Childs - Looking for persons that may have lived in Henniker, NH?
An Index to Burials - Cemeteries of Henniker, NH
The Society today, yesterday and tomorrow
The Town of Henniker
Official town website
Tucker Free Library
Henniker's covered bridge
Henniker Lions Club
Henniker Rotary Club
John Stark School District
New England College
The Cogswells of Henniker
State and local history sites in New Hampshire
Canterbury Shaker Village
Exeter Historical Society
Hampton Historical Society
Heritage NH
Jackson Historical Society
Madison Historical Society
Manchester Historical Association
New Hampshire Historical Society
New Hampshire Society of Genealogists
Peterborough Historical Society
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
Sandown Historical Society
Seacoast History
Strawbery Banke Museum
The NH Almanac
University of NH Archives & Special Collections
Wolfeboro Historical Society
Wright Museum
American history online
American Independence Museum
Cyndi's List of genealogy sites on the Internet
Duke University collections
Mount Holyoke College archives
Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library
Preservation Directory
Tufts University archives
National Genealogy Society
University of Vermont Special Collections
Another Henniker Family!
Dave Henniker in Edinburgh, Scotland, has a private website he calls Henniker's Home Page.
To see a Henniker family from the Old Country, go to Other Stuff -> Henniker -> Roots.
This website was last updated February 2, 2013. Your comments and inquiries are always welcome.
Send postal mail to Henniker Historical Society, PO Box 674, Henniker, NH 03242; or send us e-mail.
Visit us year round at Academy Hall, 51 Maple St, Henniker -
Thursdays 10:00 to 2:00
1st & 3rd Saturdays 10:00 to 1:00
Call Academy Hall at 603-428-6267 during open hours (see above).
We gratefully acknowledge the generous provision of this site by MCT Telecom which provides internet access service to us and others via its ConkNet server.
Bruce Elliott, Webmaster
Martha Taylor, CoordinatorCopyright © Henniker Historical Society, 1999-2013