A Bestseller in the Upper Valley in the 19th century

When I googled the year of Oliver Farnsworth's death, 1785, and Upper Valley, I found a book called“Reading Becomes a Necessity of Life”, by William Gilmore. This book was all about the reading habits of the residents of the Upper Valley in the late 18^th and early 19^th century. The author makes it clear that he is not writing about intellectuals, who mostly read the work of European philosophers, scientists and religious thinkers. He was writing about the average person who lived in Upper Valley at the time.

In the early 19^th century, almanacs, broadsides, pamphlets and newspapers were the most popular forms of printed media. The most popular of all of these was the almanac. Almanacs were printed on very cheap paper, and were meant to be kept for a year and then thrown away. Gilmore says that ¾ of all households in the Upper Valley probably had an almanac. They cost 6 cents in 1816. Farm families depended on the almanacs for advice on when to plant their crops. The almanacs showed when the phases of the moon would be, forecast the weather, showed what time sunrise and sunset would be. This was a huge help in keeping track of the time of day, since many families didn't own clocks.

The most popular almanac used in the Upper Valley was the New England Farmer's Diary and Almanac, by Truman Abell. (Dr) Truman Abell lived in Lempster, New Hampshire. He wrote the New England Farmer's Almanac for 39 years. His wife's name was Sarah. They had eleven children but only four lived to be adults : Sophia, Erasmus, who also became a doctor and moved to Minnesota, Mary Jane, and Truman, Jr,. Dr Abell's obituary in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal states that “Dr A was an eminent and industrious practitioner, and his industrious and well-spent life secured for him the respect of a large circle of friends. Besides fulfilling all the duties of an active country physician, he cultivated the highest departments of science, especially astronomy.”Dr Abell died at age 74. He must have been rich, being a popular doctor and the author of a popular almanac for 39 years.

The Almanac was first printed in Weathersfield in 1815 by printers Eddy and Patrick. The 1816, 1817, and 1818 editions were printed by Jesse Cochran. For the next sixteen years, it was printed by Simeon Ide of Windsor. There was no New England Farmers' Almanac for 1836. In 1837, 1838, and its last year of 1839, it was printed by N.C. Goddard.

Simeon Ide was a prominent printer in Windsor. He printed the “Vermont Republican”, a newspaper centered in Windsor, from 1809 to 1818. His brother was the president of the short-lived Republic of California, and Simeon wrote, printed and published a biography about him. He also printed “The Recollections of an Old Soldier”, the memoir of David Perry. Perry was a hero of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War who lived in the Upper Valley. He printed Perry's story without pay, because of his respect for war heroes.