Little Ian Frampton was born two years ago this day, January 7th, to Dawn Frampton, one of our lifetime New Castle residents.
He entered the world weighing ONE POUND, SEVEN OUNCES. It was almost six months before he was able to come home.
Monthly, she writes an update of his progress and sends it out in an email. My reply to her is as follows. Remember, my granddaughters constantly advise me, "Pappou.... Spare the Details." So when you read my response, you will see that I am a bit, hard of hearing.
Dawn’s email:
It is true.... my little guy is 2 today.
I am so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends that have taken such good care of us, especially over the last 2 years.
Ian is a typical little boy, so I have been told. He loves to be outside picking up sticks and rocks, and loves going to the beach with his Grammy and Grampy to collect shells and sea glass. He is a good eater now, veggies, fruits, meat, and of course bread. He could not be my kid if he did not like to "carb" load! He even still likes to cuddle at the end of the day. I could not ask for more.
Physically and medically he is doing very well. Grampy & Ian are starting yoga on Monday at the Richie McFarland Center. They have lots of classes over there. Ian is going to story hour twice a week too. We are working hard on his "social" skills.
I am doing ok too. Busy, busy, busy.
Love & friendship
Dawn & Ian
My Reply to Dawn:
Again and Again Dawn, THANK YOU SO MUCH for keeping us advised.
We've been praying now for two years FOR YOU AND IAN and it seems to be working. I am so happy with the results.
My current pappouism is "Keep HAPPINESS in your heart and savor the JOY of the Journey."
See ya, down the path (our dirt road from my house past their house to Laurel Lane). When I was a teenager, some called it Muskito Lane and in season there were plenty of them around.
Perhaps that was the real given name as "Muskito Hall" was the name of the first land granted to an individual in New Castle in 1638, one of my grandfathers, Francis Mathes. It encompassed all of the land from the school down River Road and Ritson Street and all of the land to the west, including, “The path.” It is a BIG peninsula. Francis Mathes, a fishing "magnet" at the Isle of Shoals, used this land for putting up fish racks to dry the catch. Then they would ship this so called DUNG out to Europe where it was considered a delicacy. A hundred years ago or so some of this “Muskito Hall” was referred to as “The Fish Pasture.”
Francis didn't settle here but inland up at Oyster River, now called Durham, on what is now known as Adams Point. This is where the UNH Marine Research facility is now located. Next to him up there was William Drew, who had married his daughter Elizabeth and so my line here in America begins.
Actually, the line didn't move to far away. In the 1770's a Benjamin Drew moved from the seacoast up to Acton Maine, across from Milton Mills, New Hampshire, right along Route 16. It was from that location around 1900, my grandfather, another William Drew at age 22, moved to Portsmouth and so the beginning of my recent line in the seacoast.
Another connection I have with New Castle occurred over 150 years ago. Perhaps you have heard the story of the Drew family having a large burial lot up in Riverside Cemetery. My great grandfather, Robert Aldrich, was stationed at Fort Constitution during the Civil War. One of those rare, or perhaps not so rare, occurrences happened. He was involved in getting a New Castle maiden in the family way. Shortly after they married, she died, so he purchased the plot in the cemetery. He moved on and married a Portsmouth girl, my great grandmother. And the resulting family lived their entire lives in Portsmouth.
Around 1892, Robert Aldrich was asked if his first wife's mother could be buried in the plot, temporarily. He allowed it.
In 1960, visiting the cemetery with my grandmother, she was firmly of the belief that this Yeaton woman would be moved. But then again, she also believed that the news of putting someone is space was just propaganda. Mrs.Yeaton is still there and when I tried to collect some restitution for her "extended stay" of some 120 years, by making arrangements to pay my dentist's bill at office of "Dr Richard Yeaton of Cranfield Street, he refused. Those Yeatons. Don't believe a thing they say or promise.
And so, another bite of the GRIST, a few "GReat ISland Tales." Pappou
