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Another obit about a skilled conversationalist of New Ipswich. Why is this attribute not often publicly remarked upon these days? Could it be that people are so wrapped up in their own virtual worlds, political group speak, and personal electronic echo chambers, that they cannot think actively enough to converse across the boundaries of differing views?

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As a "native daughter of this town" I have LOVED reading these snippets from the past, Thank you! BUT... the obit dates don't add up, he was born in 1844 but married in 1830? I also read this typo elsewhere. Wondering if someone can fact-check to verify and clarify, please?

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What would I do without alert readers? He was married in 1880. These obits are scanned by Google to convert to text and it can be confused by the yellowing newsprint. A 3 and 8 can be misread. I should have caught it myself. Thanks for the catch.

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I assume he inherited most his wealth since he was a collector of historical document and did some writing but not enough to support a summer in NI and a winter home (the Hotel Lenox). The Fitchburg Sentinel followed any work at the Barrett house closely, even the removal of a dead limb from one the maple trees by the son of John Appleton in front of the mansion in 1909. It's interesting to note that many of the old families of NI are 'connected', the Perrys, the Prestons, the Barrs, the Barretts, the Ames, the Wheelers, etc. It seems like there were 2 worlds in NI in 1909, that of the Barrs and Barretts and that of James Roger and Lonie Willard.

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