Newsletters

For more than 40 years, Westmorland Historical Society has produced newsletters, which are available for reference at the Graydon Milton Library and Genealogy Centre. More recent newsletters can be downloaded here:

September 2023

  • Who was the ‘Edward Barron’ of Edward Barron Chandler?

June 2023

  • Down by the Old Mill Stream: Memories of Some Long Gone Landmarks

February 2023

  • Bernie’s Boys are Back!
  • Nellie Palmer Ryan: The Life and Loves of a Dorchester Shipyard Daughter, Part II

September 2022

  • Museum Manager-Curator’s Report
  • Nellie Palmer Ryan: The Life and Loves of a Dorchester Shipyard Daughter

June 2022

  • In Lieu of a Museum Manager’s Report
  • Henry Robert Emmerson: A Forgotten Dorchester Luminary

February 2022

  • Pat Belliveau in Memoriam
  • A Westmorland County ‘Ferry’ Tale
  • The Westmorland County Censuses of 1834 and 1840

September 2021

  • Remembering Dorchester’s Beloved ‘Beast’
  • The Keillor House Courrier and Ives Lithograph: The ‘Bear’ Facts
  • Curiosities of the Coach House: The Grain Cradle

June 2021

  • The Keillor House Concealed Shoe
  • The Dorchester Roots of Sackville’s Wood Family: Some New Information
  • So, You Think We Have it Tough?
  • Recent Museum Acquisitions

February 2021

  • Sorry Folks, It Ain’t a Landau
  • Gottfried and Doug: An Improbable Dorchester Friendship
  • Some Keillor House Mi’kmaq Artifacts

September 2020

  • Dorchester’s Mi’kmaq
  • ‘Prankhurst Manor’: The Story of the Dollhouse

June 2020

  • A Company’s Guilt or a Child’s Innocence? The Tragic Death of Agnes Melanson at the Dominion Cotton Mill, Moncton 1893
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook

February 2020

  • St. James Textile Museum Report
  • Betty Adams in Memoriam
  • Sir Pierre-Amand Landry: Does His Message Still Resonate?

September 2019

  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • Dorchester’s Last Hangings

June 2019

  • Eddie Bowes in Memoriam
  • The Worst Laid Plans of Mice and Men: The Sorry Saga of the Westmorland Chemical Park
  • Dorchester’s Fourth Murder Trail and Hanging

February 2019

  • St. James Report: The Millville Loom
  • “Up the Centre and Down the Muddle”: Doug How’s Tribute to Foster Hewitt
  • Dorchester’s Third Jail and Hanging

September 2018

  • Museum Manager/Curator’s Report
  • Dorchester’s Second Jail and Hanging
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Remembers Teddy, the Dorchester Bear
  • A Special Magic: The First Fifty Years of Cooking at Keillor House
  • New Bedroom Furniture in the Keillor House Master Bedroom
  • St. James Textile Museum Report

June 2018

  • Remembering Sylvia
  • Dorchester’s First Jail and Hanging
  • The Dorchester Poorhouse: Lost but Unlamented
  • New Businesses to Open at the Bell Inn

February 2018

  • The Bernie Brigade Does it Again
  • WHS Awarded Senate Medal
  • A Forgotten Bedfellow: Celebrating the Hand-Woven Coverlet
  • All that Gliters: Shopping for Buttons in Early Westmorland County
  • The Sad End of a Lost Landmark—and of a Dream

September 2017

  • Celebrating the Haunted House Tour
  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • Albert J. Smith, Dorchester’s ‘Stepfather’ of Confederation

June 2017

  • Dorchester Memories: Jim How; “It was better in the old days”
  • Edward Barron Chandler and Albert James Smith: Dorchester’s Father and Stepfather of Confederation
  • The Chandler Family (Based largely on Helen Petchey, Chandler of Rocklyn)

February 2017

  • Another Honour for Alice
  • The Weldon Hearse at Keillor House Museum
  • Captain Edmund O’Neal, Aunt ‘Em’, and the Kaiser’s Watch
  • An Update on the Date of Keillor House

September 2016

  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • What Can We Say About Alice (Folkins)? Part 2
  • A Year at the Hardware Store, by Douglas How
  • The Commemoration of Chandler House

June 2016

  • Exhibit: Homey Elegance, Aspiring Gentility
  • What Can We Say About Alice (Folkins)? Part 1
  • A Family for All Seasons, by Douglas How
  • New Publication: In Search of John Keillor

February 2016

  • When Time Took Time, by Douglas How
  • Katie’s Memories: A Rocklyn Girl’s Retrospective on the Early Years of WHS
  • Report on the Keillor House Project

September 2015

  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • St. James Textile Museum Report
  • The Acquisition and Restoration of Keillor House: Our First “Megaproject”
  • Our Volunteers

June 2015

  • Special Exhibit: Love in War Time
  • The Early History of WHS Part 1
  • Another Tidbit from the Keillor Project: The Dating of Keillor House
  • Greater Dorchester Moving Forward
  • Our WHS Volunteers

February 2015

  • AMNB Honours Judy Morison
  • John Keillor’s Account with Amos Fowler 1789-99
  • Was Dorchester’s First Post Office in Keillor House?
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our WHS Volunteers

September 2014

  • Meet the Staff
  • The Origins of the Bell Inn Restaurant
  • A Researcher’s Serendipitous Thrill
  • Our WHS Volunteers

June 2014

  • New Acquisition: Ledgers from the Windsor
  • Book Review: Sackville Then and Now
  • Cavour Chapman: A Public Spirited Citizen
  • Our WHS Volunteers

February 2014

  • Inga’s Home Run
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Pt. III
  • A History of the Bell Inn
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our WHS Volunteers

September 2013

  • St. James Textile Museum
  • The Fine Art of Textile Conservation
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Pt. II
  • Memories of a Lost Landmark: The Hickman Barn
  • A Tribute to our Volunteers from Westmorland Institute
  • Our WHS Volunteers

June 2013

  • Noteworthy Events
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Pt. I
  • Book Reviews: Two New WHS Publications
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

February 2013

  • Events Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Keillor House 2013
  • A Tale of Two Churches Part 2: St. James, Dorchester
  • Review of The Covenanters in Canada by Eldon Hay
  • A Dorchester ‘Ferry Tale’
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

September 2012

  • Darrel Butler on the Keillor House Furniture Collection
  • A Tale of Two Churches: The Presbyterians of Rockland and Dorchester
  • Beyond the ‘Begats’ I Found Politics
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

June 2012

  • The Hotels of Dorchester
  • Memories of a Different Kind: Dorchester Penitentiary as an Historic Site?
  • Why Dorchester Became the Shiretown and Sackville Did Not
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

February 2012

  • Bernie’s Garden
  • Preserving Dorchester’s History and Our Stories
  • Domestic Textile Production in Early New Brunswick
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

November 2011

  • AMNB Honours Gene Goodrich
  • Dorchester Memories – Garfield Spence, Part 2
  • Westmorland Institution and WHS
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

June 2011

  • AMNB Honours Edith & Wayne Gilcash
  • Robert J. Cunnungham
  • Dorchester Memories – Garfield Spence, 1923-2008, Part 1
  • New Welcome Centre in Keillor House
  • Keillor House Museum
  • Stage Coach Days, Part II
  • Our Volunteers

May 2009

  • The Intellectual World of Josiah Wood
  • More Browsing in the Wood Library
  • Dorchester Memories – Art McCready
  • Stage Coach Days, Part I
  • Keillor House Museum
  • Memories from the Past
  • Our Volunteers

October 2008

  • Shipbuilding in Westmorland County
  • Browsing in the Wood Library
  • Dorchester Memories – Charlie McEwen
  • St. James Museum
  • Keillor House Museum
  • Library & Genealogy
  • Our Volunteers

February 2008

  • ‘Highland Soldier’
  • Josiah Wood
  • Library & Genealogy
  • St. James Museum
  • Keillor House
  • Board News
  • Our Volunteers

October 2007

  • With Axe & Bible
  • The Wood Library
  • St. James Church
  • School Outreach
  • Library News
  • Keillor House News
  • Our Volunteers

September 2021

  • Remembering Dorchester’s Beloved ‘Beast’
  • The Keillor House Courrier and Ives Lithograph: The ‘Bear’ Facts
  • Curiosities of the Coach House: The Grain Cradle

June 2021

  • The Keillor House Concealed Shoe
  • The Dorchester Roots of Sackville’s Wood Family: Some New Information
  • So, You Think We Have it Tough?
  • Recent Museum Acquisitions

February 2021

  • Sorry Folks, It Ain’t a Landau
  • Gottfried and Doug: An Improbable Dorchester Friendship
  • Some Keillor House Mi’kmaq Artifacts

September 2020

  • Dorchester’s Mi’kmaq
  • ‘Prankhurst Manor’: The Story of the Dollhouse

June 2020

  • A Company’s Guilt or a Child’s Innocence? The Tragic Death of Agnes Melanson at the Dominion Cotton Mill, Moncton 1893
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook

February 2020

  • St. James Textile Museum Report
  • Betty Adams in Memoriam
  • Sir Pierre-Amand Landry: Does His Message Still Resonate?

September 2019

  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • Dorchester’s Last Hangings

June 2019

  • Eddie Bowes in Memoriam
  • The Worst Laid Plans of Mice and Men: The Sorry Saga of the Westmorland Chemical Park
  • Dorchester’s Fourth Murder Trail and Hanging

February 2019

  • St. James Report: The Millville Room
  • “Up the Centre and Down the Muddle”: Doug How’s Tribute to Foster Hewitt
  • Dorchester’s Third Jail and Hanging

September 2018

  • Museum Manager/Curator’s Report
  • Dorchester’s Second Jail and Hanging
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Remembers Teddy, the Dorchester Bear
  • A Special Magic: The First Fifty Years of Cooking at Keillor House
  • New Bedroom Furniture in the Keillor House Master Bedroom
  • St. James Textile Museum Report

June 2018

  • Remembering Sylvia
  • Dorchester’s First Jail and Hanging
  • The Dorchester Poorhouse: Lost but Unlamented
  • New Businesses to Open at the Bell Inn

February 2018

  • The Bernie Brigade Does it Again
  • WHS Awarded Senate Medal
  • A Forgotten Bedfellow: Celebrating the Hand-Woven Coverlet
  • All that Gliters: Shopping for Buttons in Early Westmorland County
  • The Sad End of a Lost Landmark—and of a Dream

September 2017

  • Celebrating the Haunted House Tour
  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • Albert J. Smith, Dorchester’s ‘Stepfather’ of Confederation

June 2017

  • Dorchester Memories: Jim How; “It was better in the old days”
  • Edward Barron Chandler and Albert James Smith: Dorchester’s Father and Stepfather of Confederation
  • The Chandler Family (Based largely on Helen Petchey, Chandler of Rocklyn)

February 2017

  • Another Honour for Alice
  • The Weldon Hearse at Keillor House Museum
  • Captain Edmund O’Neal, Aunt ‘Em’, and the Kaiser’s Watch
  • An Update on the Date of Keillor House

September 2016

  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • What Can We Say About Alice (Folkins)? Part 2
  • A Year at the Hardware Store, by Douglas How
  • The Commemoration of Chandler House

June 2016

  • Exhibit: Homey Elegance, Aspiring Gentility
  • What Can We Say About Alice (Folkins)? Part 1
  • A Family for All Seasons, by Douglas How
  • New Publication: In Search of John Keillor

February 2016

  • When Time Took Time, by Douglas How
  • Katie’s Memories: A Rocklyn Girl’s Retrospective on the Early Years of WHS
  • Report on the Keillor House Project

September 2015

  • Museum Manager’s Report
  • St. James Textile Museum Report
  • The Acquisition and Restoration of Keillor House: Our First “Megaproject”
  • Our Volunteers

June 2015

  • Special Exhibit: Love in War Time
  • The Early History of WHS Part 1
  • Another Tidbit from the Keillor Project: The Dating of Keillor House
  • Greater Dorchester Moving Forward
  • Our WHS Volunteers

February 2015

  • AMNB Honours Judy Morison
  • John Keillor’s Account with Amos Fowler 1789-99
  • Was Dorchester’s First Post Office in Keillor House?
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our WHS Volunteers

September 2014

  • Meet the Staff
  • The Origins of the Bell Inn Restaurant
  • A Researcher’s Serendipitous Thrill
  • Our WHS Volunteers

June 2014

  • New Acquisition: Ledgers from the Windsor
  • Book Review: Sackville Then and Now
  • Cavour Chapman: A Public Spirited Citizen
  • Our WHS Volunteers

February 2014

  • Inga’s Home Run
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Pt. III
  • A History of the Bell Inn
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our WHS Volunteers

September 2013

  • St. James Textile Museum
  • The Fine Art of Textile Conservation
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Pt. II
  • Memories of a Lost Landmark: The Hickman Barn
  • A Tribute to our Volunteers from Westmorland Institute
  • Our WHS Volunteers

June 2013

  • Noteworthy Events
  • Dorchester Memories: Ernie Partridge Pt. I
  • Book Reviews: Two New WHS Publications
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

February 2013

  • Events Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Keillor House 2013
  • A Tale of Two Churches Part 2: St. James, Dorchester
  • Review of The Covenanters in Canada by Eldon Hay
  • A Dorchester ‘Ferry Tale’
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

September 2012

  • Darrel Butler on the Keillor House Furniture Collection
  • A Tale of Two Churches: The Presbyterians of Rockland and Dorchester
  • Beyond the ‘Begats’ I Found Politics
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

June 2012

  • The Hotels of Dorchester
  • Memories of a Different Kind: Dorchester Penitentiary as an Historic Site?
  • Why Dorchester Became the Shiretown and Sackville Did Not
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

February 2012

  • Bernie’s Garden
  • Preserving Dorchester’s History and Our Stories
  • Domestic Textile Production in Early New Brunswick
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

November 2011

  • AMNB Honours Gene Goodrich
  • Dorchester Memories – Garfield Spence, Part 2
  • Westmorland Institution and WHS
  • Notes from Marlene’s Scrapbook
  • Our Volunteers

June 2011

  • AMNB Honours Edith & Wayne Gilcash
  • Robert J. Cunnungham
  • Dorchester Memories – Garfield Spence, 1923-2008, Part 1
  • New Welcome Centre in Keillor House
  • Keillor House Museum
  • Stage Coach Days, Part II
  • Our Volunteers

May 2009

  • The Intellectual World of Josiah Wood
  • More Browsing in the Wood Library
  • Dorchester Memories – Art McCready
  • Stage Coach Days, Part I
  • Keillor House Museum
  • Memories from the Past
  • Our Volunteers

October 2008

  • Shipbuilding in Westmorland County
  • Browsing in the Wood Library
  • Dorchester Memories – Charlie McEwen
  • St. James Museum
  • Keillor House Museum
  • Library & Genealogy
  • Our Volunteers

February 2008

  • ‘Highland Soldier’
  • Josiah Wood
  • Library & Genealogy
  • St. James Museum
  • Keillor House
  • Board News
  • Our Volunteers

October 2007

  • With Axe & Bible
  • The Wood Library
  • St. James Church
  • School Outreach
  • Library News
  • Keillor House News
  • Our Volunteers