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98-518: Coues was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire , to Samuel Elliott Coues and Charlotte Haven Ladd Coues. He graduated at Columbian University , Washington, D.C. , in 1861, and at the medical school of that institution in 1863. He served as a medical cadet in Washington in 1862–1863, and in 1864 was appointed assistant-surgeon in the regular army, and assigned to Fort Whipple, Arizona . While there

196-576: A materialist orientation and rejected organized religion. In 1854 the utopian socialist Robert Owen was converted to spiritualism after "sittings" with the American medium Maria B. Hayden (credited with introducing spiritualism to England); Owen made a public profession of his new faith in his publication The Rational Quarterly Review and later wrote a pamphlet, "The future of the Human race; or great glorious and future revolution to be effected through

294-562: A career out of painting the dead or "spirit portraits". Mina Crandon (1888–1941), a spiritualist medium in the 1920s, was known for producing an ectoplasm hand during her séances. The hand was later exposed as a trick when biologists found it to be made from a piece of carved animal liver. In 1934, the psychical researcher Walter Franklin Prince described the Crandon case as "the most ingenious, persistent, and fantastic complex of fraud in

392-559: A dubious Marie Curie . Thomas Edison wanted to develop a "spirit phone", an ethereal device that would summon to the living the voices of the dead and record them for posterity. The claims of spiritualists and others as to the reality of spirits were investigated by the Society for Psychical Research , founded in London in 1882. The society set up a Committee on Haunted Houses. Prominent investigators who exposed cases of fraud came from

490-473: A female householder with no husband present, and 52.7% were non-families. 39.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.03, and the average family size was 2.75. In the city, the population was spread out, with 16.6% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

588-485: A fire hazard. As a result, the Portsmouth Housing Authority proposed the destruction of approximately 200 buildings, a school, and a church and redevelopment for commercial, industrial, and public use, rather than for residences. The project would displace approximately 300 families as a result. In 1968, Portsmouth Preservation Inc., a preservation organization was formed to attempt to save some of

686-541: A half century without canonical texts or formal organization, attaining cohesion through periodicals, tours by trance lecturers, camp meetings, and the missionary activities of accomplished mediums . Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported causes such as the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage . By the late 1880s the credibility of the informal movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums, and formal spiritualist organizations began to appear. Spiritualism

784-523: A house believed to be haunted by the ghosts of three murder victims seeking revenge against their killer's son, who was eventually driven insane. Many families, "having no faith in ghosts", thereafter moved into the house, but all soon moved out again. In the 1920s many "psychic" books were published of varied quality. Such books were often based on excursions initiated by the use of Ouija boards . A few of these popular books displayed unorganized spiritualism, though most were less insightful. The movement

882-657: A long symbiotic relationship with Kittery, Maine , across the Piscataqua River. In 1781–1782, the naval hero John Paul Jones lived in Portsmouth while he supervised construction of his ship Ranger , which was built on nearby Badger's Island in Kittery. During that time, he boarded at the Captain Gregory Purcell house , which now bears Jones' name, as it is the only surviving property in

980-591: A long history of exposing the fraudulent methods of mediumship. During the 1920s, professional magician Harry Houdini undertook a well-publicised campaign to expose fraudulent mediums; he was adamant that "Up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains." Other magician or magic-author debunkers of spiritualist mediumship have included Chung Ling Soo , Henry Evans , Julien Proskauer , Fulton Oursler , Joseph Dunninger , and Joseph Rinn . In February 1921 Thomas Lynn Bradford , in an experiment designed to ascertain

1078-599: A nine-member at-large City Council to serve as the city's primary legislative body. The candidate who receives the most votes is designated the Mayor (currently Deaglan McEachern), while the candidate receiving the second-highest vote total is designated the Assistant Mayor (currently Joanna Kelley). While the mayor and council convene to establish municipal policy, the City Manager (currently Karen Conard) oversees

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1176-663: A publicly funded bus network in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and neighboring Maine including service in, to and from Portsmouth. C&J is a private intercity bus carrier connecting Portsmouth with coastal New Hampshire and Boston, as well as direct service to New York City. Wildcat Transit , operated by the University of New Hampshire , provides regular bus service to the UNH campus in Durham and intermediate stops. The service

1274-460: A series of intense mystical experiences, dreams, and visions, claiming that he had been called by God to reform Christianity and introduce a new church." Mesmer did not contribute religious beliefs, but he brought a technique, later known as hypnotism , that it was claimed could induce trances and cause subjects to report contact with supernatural beings. There was a great deal of professional showmanship inherent to demonstrations of Mesmerism , and

1372-642: A series of séances at Duncan's house and took flash photographs of Duncan and her alleged "materialization" spirits, including her spirit guide "Peggy". The photographs revealed the "spirits" to have been fraudulently produced, using dolls made from painted papier-mâché masks, draped in old sheets. Duncan was later tested by Harry Price at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research ; photographs revealed Duncan's ectoplasm to be made from cheesecloth , rubber gloves, and cut-out heads from magazine covers. Spiritualists reacted with an uncertainty to

1470-519: A single Heaven, but rather a series of higher and lower heavens and hells; second, that spirits are intermediates between God and humans, so that the divine sometimes uses them as a means of communication. Although Swedenborg warned against seeking out spirit contact, his works seem to have inspired in others the desire to do so. Swedenborg was formerly a highly regarded inventor and scientist, achieving several engineering innovations and studying physiology and anatomy. Then, "in 1741, he also began to have

1568-616: A study of Indian ghosts in seances: Undoubtedly, on some level spiritualists recognized the Indian spectres that appeared at seances as a symbol of the sins and subsequent guilt of the United States in its dealings with Native Americans. Spiritualists were literally haunted by the presence of Indians. But for many that guilt was not assuaged: rather, in order to confront the haunting and rectify it, they were galvanized into action. The political activism of spiritualists on behalf of Indians

1666-775: A theory to explain the phenomenon, publishing an article about his telekinetic theory of levitation in the first issue of The Metaphysical Magazine (1895). Coues joined the Theosophical Society in July, 1884. He visited Helena Blavatsky in Europe. He founded the Gnostic Theosophical Society of Washington, and in 1890 became the president of the Theosophical Society. He later became highly critical of Blavatsky and lost interest in

1764-568: A type of séance in which spirits were said to communicate with people seated around a table by tilting and rotating the table. By 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes . Spiritualism was mainly a middle- and upper-class movement, and especially popular with women. American spiritualists would meet in private homes for séances, at lecture halls for trance lectures, at state or national conventions, and at summer camps attended by thousands. Among

1862-843: A variety of backgrounds, including professional researchers such as Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research and Harry Price of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research , and professional conjurers such as John Nevil Maskelyne . Maskelyne exposed the Davenport brothers by appearing in the audience during their shows and explaining how the trick was done. The psychical researcher Hereward Carrington exposed fraudulent mediums' tricks, such as those used in slate-writing, table-turning , trumpet mediumship, materializations, sealed-letter reading, and spirit photography . The skeptic Joseph McCabe , in his book Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? (1920), documented many fraudulent mediums and their tricks. Magicians and writers on magic have

1960-595: Is 110 feet (34 m) above sea level, within Pease International Airport. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Portsmouth has a warm-summer humid continental climate , abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Portsmouth was 104 °F (40.0 °C) on August 2, 1975, while the coldest temperature recorded was −26 °F (−32.2 °C) on January 22, 1984. Portsmouth

2058-473: Is a social religious movement popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, according to which an individual's awareness persists after death and may be contacted by the living . The afterlife, or the " spirit world ", is seen by spiritualists not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to interact and evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to

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2156-596: Is best known as a chronicler of the movement's spread, especially in her 1884 Nineteenth Century Miracles: Spirits and Their Work in Every Country of the Earth , and her 1870 Modern American Spiritualism , a detailed account of claims and investigations of mediumship beginning with the earliest days of the movement. William Stainton Moses (1839–92) was an Anglican clergyman who, in the period from 1872 to 1883, filled 24 notebooks with automatic writing, much of which

2254-399: Is crossed by Interstate 95 , U.S. Route 1 , U.S. Route 4 , New Hampshire Route 1A , New Hampshire Route 16 , and New Hampshire Route 33 . Boston is 55 miles (89 km) to the south, Portland, Maine , is 53 miles (85 km) to the northeast, and Dover, New Hampshire , is 13 miles (21 km) to the northwest. The Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation (COAST) operates

2352-591: Is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Spiritualists believe in the possibility of communication with the spirits of dead people, whom they regard as "discarnate humans". They believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes, and that

2450-582: Is divided among the 25th through 31st Rockingham districts. Politically, Portsmouth is a center of liberal politics and a stronghold for the Democratic Party. Ronald Reagan was the last Republican presidential nominee to carry the city in his 1984 landslide reelection. In 2016, Portsmouth voted 67.70% for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election , 62.53% for Colin Van Ostern in the gubernatorial election , 64.48% for Maggie Hassan in

2548-469: Is free for students, faculty and staff and $ 1.50 for the general public. Amtrak 's Downeaster train service, is available in Dover and Durham , nearby to the northwest. Allegiant Air offers scheduled airline service from Portsmouth International Airport at Pease (PSM). Portsmouth's sister cities are: Portsmouth also has friendly relations with: Spiritualism (movement) Spiritualism

2646-528: Is the sole city in Rockingham County, but the fourth-largest municipality, with fewer people than the towns of Derry , Londonderry , and Salem . As of the census of 2010, there were 21,233 people, 10,014 households, and 4,736 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,361.1 people per square mile (525.5 people/km ). There were 10,625 housing units at an average density of 681.1 per square mile (263.0/km ). The racial makeup of

2744-509: The Abenaki and other Algonquian languages -speaking nations, and their predecessors, inhabited the territory of coastal New Hampshire for thousands of years before European contact. The first known European to explore and write about the area was Martin Pring in 1603. The Piscataqua River is a tidal estuary with a swift current, but forms a good natural harbor. The west bank of the harbor

2842-811: The Century Dictionary , wrote for various encyclopaedias, and edited: Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire , United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine , Portsmouth was formerly the home of the Strategic Air Command 's Pease Air Force Base , since converted to Portsmouth International Airport at Pease . American Indians of

2940-498: The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Portsmouth one of the "Dozen Distinctive Destinations". The compact and walkable downtown on the waterfront draws tourists and artists, who each summer throng the cafes, restaurants and shops around Market Square. Portsmouth annually celebrates the revitalization of its downtown (in particular Market Square) with Market Square Day, a celebration dating back to 1977, produced by

3038-563: The Spiritualist , attempted to view spiritualist phenomena from a scientific perspective, eschewing discussion on both theological and reform issues. Books on the supernatural were published for the growing middle class, such as 1852's Mysteries , by Charles Elliott, which contains "sketches of spirits and spiritual things", including accounts of the Salem witch trials , the Lane ghost, and

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3136-626: The afterlife is not a static state, but one in which spirits evolve. The two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits may dwell on a higher plane—lead to a third belief, that spirits can provide knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about God and the afterlife. Many believers therefore speak of " spirit guides "—specific spirits, often contacted, and relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance. According to spiritualists, anyone may receive spirit messages, but formal communication sessions ( séances ) are held by mediums, who claim thereby to receive information about

3234-502: The gubernatorial election , and 68.50% for Carol Shea-Porter in the congressional election . In March 2014, Portsmouth became the first municipality in New Hampshire to implement protections for city employees from discrimination on the basis of gender identity, by a 9–0 vote of the city council. Tertiary institutions: Portsmouth School District is the public school district of the community. Private schools: The city

3332-413: The senatorial election , and 62.16% for Carol Shea-Porter in the congressional election . In 2014, Portsmouth voted 70.05% for Maggie Hassan in the gubernatorial election , 67.34% for Jeanne Shaheen in the senatorial election , and 68.34% for Carol Shea-Porter in the congressional election . In 2012, Portsmouth voted 67.56% for Barack Obama in the presidential election , 70.16% for Maggie Hassan in

3430-663: The 1840s in the " Burned-over District " of upstate New York , where earlier religious movements such as Millerism and Mormonism had emerged during the Second Great Awakening , although Millerism and Mormonism did not associate themselves with spiritualism. This region of New York State was an environment in which many thought direct communication with God or angels was possible, and that God would not behave harshly—for example, that God would not condemn unbaptised infants to an eternity in Hell. In this environment,

3528-643: The 1905 signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth which ended the Russo-Japanese War . Though US President Theodore Roosevelt orchestrated the peace conference that brought Russian and Japanese diplomats to Portsmouth and the Shipyard, he never came to Portsmouth, relying on the Navy and people of New Hampshire as the hosts. Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in bringing about an end to

3626-537: The American Civil War was Cora L. V. Scott (1840–1923). Young and beautiful, her appearance on stage fascinated men. Her audiences were struck by the contrast between her physical girlishness and the eloquence with which she spoke of spiritual matters, and found in that contrast support for the notion that spirits were speaking through her. Cora married four times, and on each occasion adopted her husband's last name. During her period of greatest activity, she

3724-505: The Civil War was Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875), a man of mixed race, who also played a part in the abolitionist movement. Nevertheless, many abolitionists and reformers held themselves aloof from the spiritualist movement; among the skeptics was abolitionist Frederick Douglass . Another social reform movement with significant spiritualist involvement was the effort to improve conditions of Native Americans. Kathryn Troy writes in

3822-583: The Coues' white-tailed deer is named after him. Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus couesi , a subspecies of the Cactus wren , is named after him and is specifically the state bird of Arizona, recognizing Coues' contributions to natural surveys of early Arizona. Coues took an interest in spiritualism and began speculations in Theosophy . He was a friend of Alfred Russel Wallace and they had attended séances with

3920-516: The Fox sisters became a sensation. As the first celebrity mediums, the sisters quickly became famous for their public séances in New York. However, in 1888 the Fox sisters admitted that this contact with the spirit was a hoax, though shortly afterward they recanted that admission. Amy and Isaac Post , Hicksite Quakers from Rochester , New York, had long been acquainted with the Fox family, and took

4018-637: The London Spiritualist Alliance, which published a newspaper called The Light , featuring articles such as "Evenings at Home in Spiritual Séance", "Ghosts in Africa" and "Chronicles of Spirit Photography", advertisements for " mesmerists " and patent medicines , and letters from readers about personal contact with ghosts. In Britain, by 1853, invitations to tea among the prosperous and fashionable often included table-turning,

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4116-881: The NSA in October 1909, at a convention in Rochester, New York . Then, in October 1944, a ninth principle was adopted by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, at a convention in St. Louis, Missouri. In the UK, the main organization representing spiritualism is the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) , whose teachings are based on the Seven Principles. Spiritualism first appeared in

4214-565: The Patriot government moved the capital inland to Exeter , which ensured that it would be under no threat from the Royal Navy, which bombarded Falmouth (now Portland, Maine ) instead on October 18, 1775. Portsmouth was the destination for several of Beaumarchais's ships containing materiel , such as artillery, tents, and gunpowder, to help the American revolutionary effort. African Americans helped defend Portsmouth and New England during

4312-531: The Rochester rappings. The Night Side of Nature , by Catherine Crowe, published in 1853, provided definitions and accounts of wraiths, doppelgängers, apparitions and haunted houses. Mainstream newspapers treated stories of ghosts and haunting as they would any other news story. An account in the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1891, "sufficiently bloody to suit the most fastidious taste", tells of

4410-743: The Theosophical movement. Coues wrote an attack on Blavatsky entitled "Blavatsky Unveiled!" in The Sun newspaper on July 20, 1890. The article prompted Blavatsky to file a legal suit against Coues and the newspaper but it was terminated as she died in 1891. He fell out with Theosophical leaders such as William Quan Judge and was expelled from the Theosophical Society in June 1899 for "untheosophical conduct". Coues retained interest in oriental religious thought and later studied Islam . Among his publications are: Coues also contributed numerous articles to

4508-496: The United States associated with him. Built by the master housewright Hopestill Cheswell, an African American, it has been designated as a National Historic Landmark . It now serves as the Portsmouth Historical Society Museum. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , established in 1800 as the first federal navy yard, is on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine. The base is famous for being the site of

4606-661: The United States, Russia and Poland. Palladino was said by believers to perform spiritualist phenomena in the dark: levitating tables, producing apports, and materializing spirits. On investigation, all these things were found to be products of trickery. The British medium William Eglinton (1857–1933) claimed to perform spiritualist phenomena such as movement of objects and materializations . All of his feats were exposed as tricks. The Bangs Sisters , Mary "May" E. Bangs (1862–1917) and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Snow Bangs (1859–1920), were two spiritualist mediums based in Chicago, who made

4704-552: The afterlife. As an informal movement, spiritualism does not have a defined set of rules, but various spiritualist organizations within the United States have adopted variations on some or all of a "Declaration of Principles" developed between 1899 and 1944. In October 1899, a six article "Declaration of Principles" was adopted by the National Spiritualist Association (NSA) at a convention in Chicago, Illinois. An additional two principles were added by

4802-706: The agency of departed spirits of good and superior men and women". A number of scientists who investigated the phenomenon also became converts. They included chemist and physicist William Crookes (1832–1919), evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) and physicist Sir Oliver Lodge. Nobel laureate Pierre Curie was impressed by the mediumistic performances of Eusapia Palladino and advocated their scientific study. Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T. Stead (1849–1912) and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). Doyle, who lost his son Kingsley in World War I,

4900-455: The beginning of their movement. On that date, Kate and Margaret Fox , of Hydesville , New York, reported that they had made contact with a spirit that was later claimed to be the spirit of a murdered peddler whose body was found in the house, though no record of such a person was ever found. The spirit was said to have communicated through rapping noises, audible to onlookers. The evidence of the senses appealed to practically minded Americans, and

4998-505: The belief that spirits are capable of advising the living on moral and ethical issues and the nature of God . Some spiritualists follow " spirit guides "—specific spirits relied upon for spiritual direction. Emanuel Swedenborg has some claim to be the father of spiritualism. The movement developed and reached its largest following from the 1840s to the 1920s, especially in English-speaking countries . It flourished for

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5096-399: The city was 91.5% White , 1.7% African American , 0.2% Native American , 3.5% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 0.7% some other race, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.8% of the population. There were 10,014 households, out of which 20.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.5% were headed by married couples living together, 8.3% had

5194-431: The city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top ten employers in the city are: The Portsmouth Downtown Historic District encompasses the city's historic urban core and Market Square. The city has a vibrant restaurant culture. In 2023, it was reported that the city had 36,000 restaurant seats for a population of 22,000. The Seacoast United Phantoms are a soccer team based in Portsmouth. Founded in 1996,

5292-593: The city's day-to-day operations. Portsmouth is part of New Hampshire's 1st congressional district , currently represented by Democrat Chris Pappas . Portsmouth is part of the Executive Council 's 3rd district, currently represented by Republican Janet Stevens . In the State Senate , Portsmouth is represented by Democrat Rebecca Perkins Kwoka . In the State House of Representatives , Portsmouth

5390-525: The city's prosperity. Portsmouth was part of the Triangle Trade , which made significant profits from slavery. At the town's incorporation in 1653, it was named "Portsmouth" in honor of the colony's founder, John Mason . He had been captain of the English port of Portsmouth , Hampshire , after which New Hampshire is named. When Queen Anne's War ended in 1712, Governor Joseph Dudley selected

5488-649: The currently accepted standards of trinomial nomenclature  – the taxonomic classification of subspecies – in ornithology, and ultimately the whole of zoology. During 1873–1876 Coues was attached as surgeon and naturalist to the United States Northern Boundary Commission, and from 1876 to 1880 he was secretary and naturalist to the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories ,

5586-452: The difficulty of understanding the alleged abruptness of the transition from activity to torpor. I cannot consider the evidence as inadmissible, and must admit that the alleged facts are as well attested, according to ordinary rules of evidence, as any in ornithology. It is useless as well as unscientific to pooh-pooh the notion. The asserted facts are nearly identical with the known cases of many reptiles and batrachians. They are strikingly like

5684-460: The early nineteenth century. Spiritualist camp meetings were located most densely in New England, but were also established across the upper Midwest. Cassadaga, Florida , is the most notable spiritualist camp meeting in the southern states. A number of spiritualist periodicals appeared in the nineteenth century, and these did much to hold the movement together. Among the most important were

5782-520: The existence of an afterlife, committed suicide in his apartment by blowing out the pilot light on his heater and turning on the gas. After that date, no further communication from him was received by an associate whom he had recruited for the purpose. The movement quickly spread throughout the world; though only in the United Kingdom did it become as widespread as in the United States. Spiritualist organizations were formed in America and Europe, such as

5880-425: The historic building stock in the area slated for redevelopment. After bitter fighting and preservation advocacy, just fourteen houses were saved and mostly moved to an area known today as “The Hill”. This preservation was only the beginning, and eventually efforts conspired to created the afformentioned historic district. Urban renewal was many events that led to its creation. Portsmouth shipbuilding history has had

5978-514: The history of psychic research." The American voice medium Etta Wriedt (1859–1942) was exposed as a fraud by the physicist Kristian Birkeland when he discovered that the noises produced by her trumpet were caused by chemical explosions induced by potassium and water and in other cases by lycopodium powder. Another well-known medium was the Scottish materialization medium Helen Duncan (1897–1956). In 1928 photographer Harvey Metcalfe attended

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6076-647: The known cases of many bats. They accord in general with the recognized conditions of hibernation in many mammals. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1878. He resigned from the army in 1881 to devote himself entirely to scientific research. In 1899 he died in Baltimore, Maryland . Grace's warbler , a species of bird, was discovered by Elliott Coues in the Rocky Mountains in 1864. He requested that

6174-533: The loss of her son, organized séances in the White House which were attended by her husband, President Abraham Lincoln . The surge of Spiritualism during this time, and later during World War I , was a direct response to those massive battlefield casualties. In addition, the movement appealed to reformers, who fortuitously found that the spirits favoured such causes du jour as abolition of slavery, and equal rights for women. It also appealed to some who had

6272-458: The medium Pierre L. O. A. Keeler . He felt the inadequacy of formal orthodox science in dealing with the deeper problems of human life and destiny. Convinced by the principles of evolution , he believed that these principles may be capable of being applied in psychical research and he proposed to use it to explain obscure phenomena such as hypnotism , clairvoyance and telepathy . He claimed to have witnessed levitation of objects and developed

6370-413: The mills. It shifted growth to the new mill towns. The port of Portsmouth declined, but the city survived Victorian -era doldrums, a time described in the works of Thomas Bailey Aldrich , particularly in his 1869 novel The Story of a Bad Boy . In the 20th century, the city founded a Historic District Commission, which has worked to protect much of the city's irreplaceable architectural legacy. In 2008,

6468-405: The more mainstream churches because those churches did little to fight slavery and even less to advance the cause of women's rights . Such links with reform movements, often radically socialist, had already been prepared in the 1840s, as the example of Andrew Jackson Davis shows. After 1848, many socialists became ardent spiritualists or occultists. The most popular trance lecturer prior to

6566-415: The most significant of the camp meetings were Camp Etna, in Etna, Maine ; Onset Bay Grove, in Onset, Massachusetts ; Lily Dale , in western New York State; Camp Chesterfield , in Indiana; the Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp , in Wonewoc, Wisconsin ; and Lake Pleasant , in Montague, Massachusetts . In founding camp meetings , the spiritualists appropriated a form developed by U.S. Protestant denominations in

6664-442: The new species be named after his 18-year-old sister, Grace Darling Coues, and his request was honored when Spencer Fullerton Baird described the species scientifically in 1865. In addition to ornithology he did valuable work in mammalogy; his book Fur-Bearing Animals (1877) being distinguished by the accuracy and completeness of its description of species, several of which were already becoming rare. Odocoileus virginianus couesi ,

6762-577: The non-profit Pro Portsmouth, Inc. This emphasis on historic preservation and revitalization was the result of much pain and destruction. Portsmouth is largely walkable due to its network of streets and tight blocks filled with preserved Revolution-era homes. However, like many other cities all over the region (and nation), Portsmouth was hit by Urban Renewal, a planning tool used nationwide to provide Federal funds to address “urban blight” and revitalize downtown cores after decades of suburbanization and loss of tax revenue. An urban renewal district for Portsmouth

6860-448: The population were below the poverty line , including 6.9% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over. Heinemann USA is based in Portsmouth. Before its dissolution, Boston-Maine Airways (Pan Am Clipper Connection), a regional airline, was also headquartered in Portsmouth. Companies with headquarters in Portsmouth include packaged software producer Bottomline Technologies and frozen yogurt maker Sweet Scoops. According to

6958-466: The practitioners who lectured in mid-19th-century North America sought to entertain their audiences as well as to demonstrate methods for personal contact with the divine. Perhaps the best known of those who combined Swedenborg and Mesmer in a peculiarly North American synthesis was Andrew Jackson Davis , who called his system the "harmonial philosophy". Davis was a practising Mesmerist , faith healer and clairvoyant from Blooming Grove, New York . He

7056-590: The publications of which he edited. He was lecturer on anatomy in the medical school of the Columbian University from 1877 to 1882, and professor of anatomy there from 1882 to 1887. He was a careful bibliographer and in his work on the Birds of the Colorado Valley , he included a special section on swallows and attempted to resolve whether they migrated in winter or hibernated under lakes as

7154-486: The publicity of fraud accusations and partly through the appeal of religious movements such as Christian science , the Spiritualist Church was organised. This church can claim to be the main vestige of the movement left today in the United States. London-born Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–99) moved to the United States in 1855 and was active in spiritualist circles as a trance lecturer and organiser. She

7252-423: The ranks of its adherents were those grieving the death of a loved one. Many families during the time of the American Civil War had seen their men go off and never return, and images of the battlefield, produced through the new medium of photography, demonstrated that their loved ones had not only died in overwhelmingly huge numbers, but horribly as well. One well known case is that of Mary Todd Lincoln who, grieving

7350-556: The systematic study of ornithology in America. In 1883, he was one of three members of the Nuttall Ornithological Club that put out a call to form a "Union of American Ornithologists". This would become the American Ornithologists' Union , with Coues as a founding member. He edited its journal, The Auk , and several other ornithological periodicals. His work was instrumental in establishing

7448-586: The team plays in the Northeast Division of USL League Two (USL2), one of the unofficial fourth-tier leagues of the American Soccer Pyramid . Freedom Rugby Football Club is a men's rugby union team based in Portsmouth, founded in the summer of 2014. The club is an active member of USA Rugby and New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU). The city of Portsmouth operates under a council-manager system of government. Portsmouth elects

7546-717: The theories of evolution in the late 19th and early 20th century. Broadly speaking the concept of evolution fitted the spiritualist thought of the progressive development of humanity. At the same time, however, the belief in the animal origins of humanity threatened the foundation of the immortality of the spirit , for if humans had not been created by God, it was scarcely plausible that they would be specially endowed with spirits. This led to spiritualists embracing spiritual evolution . The spiritualists' view of evolution did not stop at death. Spiritualism taught that after death spirits progressed to spiritual states in new spheres of existence. According to spiritualists, evolution occurred in

7644-592: The town to host negotiations for the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth , which temporarily ended hostilities between the Abenaki Indians and the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire. In 1774, in the lead-up to the Revolution , Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth warning that the British Royal Navy was coming to capture the port. Although Fort William and Mary protected the harbor,

7742-422: The two girls into their home in the late spring of 1848. Immediately convinced of the veracity of the sisters' communications, they became early converts and introduced the young mediums to their circle of radical Quaker friends. Consequently, many early participants in spiritualism were radical Quakers and others involved in the mid-nineteenth-century reforming movement . These reformers were uncomfortable with

7840-471: The visible, audible, and tangible evidence of spirits escalated as mediums competed for paying audiences. As independent investigating commissions repeatedly established, most notably the 1887 report of the Seybert Commission , fraud was widespread, and some of these cases were prosecuted in the courts. Despite numerous instances of chicanery, the appeal of spiritualism was strong. Prominent in

7938-482: The war. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 16.8 square miles (43.6 km ), of which 15.7 square miles (40.6 km ) are land and 1.2 square miles (3.0 km ), or 6.92%, are water. Portsmouth is drained by Berrys Brook, Sagamore Creek and the Piscataqua River , which is the boundary between New Hampshire and Maine . The highest point in the city

8036-632: The war. In 1779, 19 enslaved African Americans from Portsmouth wrote a petition to the state legislature and asked that it abolish slavery, in recognition of their war contributions and in keeping with the principles of the Revolution. The legislature tabled their petition. New Hampshire abolished slavery in 1857, by which time the institution was effectively extinct in the state. Thomas Jefferson 's 1807 embargo against American trade with Britain severely disrupted New England's trade with Canada , and several local businessmen went bankrupt. Portsmouth

8134-777: The weeklies the Banner of Light (Boston), the Religio-Philosophical Journal (Chicago), Mind and Matter (Philadelphia), the Spiritualist (London), and the Medium (London). Other influential periodicals were the Revue Spirite (France), Le Messager (Belgium), Annali dello Spiritismo (Italy), El Criterio Espiritista (Spain), and the Harbinger of Light (Australia). By 1880, there were about three dozen monthly spiritualist periodicals published around

8232-482: The world. These periodicals differed a great deal from one another, reflecting the great differences among spiritualists. Some, such as the British Spiritual Magazine were Christian and conservative, openly rejecting the reform currents so strong within spiritualism. Others, such as Human Nature , were pointedly non-Christian and supportive of socialism and reform efforts. Still others, such as

8330-409: The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and the teachings of Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) provided an example for those seeking direct personal knowledge of the afterlife. Swedenborg, who claimed to communicate with spirits while awake, described the structure of the spirit world. Two features of his view particularly resonated with the early spiritualists: first, that there is not a single Hell and

8428-433: Was 40.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males. For the period 2010–2014, the city's estimated median annual household income was $ 67,679, and the median family income was $ 90,208. Male full-time workers had a median income of $ 58,441 versus $ 45,683 for females. The city's per capita income for the city was $ 42,724. About 4.0% of families and 7.6% of

8526-473: Was also a member of the Ghost Club . Founded in London in 1862, its focus was the scientific study of alleged paranormal activities in order to prove (or refute) the existence of paranormal phenomena. Members of the club included Charles Dickens , Sir William Crookes, Sir William F. Barrett , and Harry Price . The Paris séances of Eusapia Palladino were attended by an enthusiastic Pierre Curie and

8624-428: Was also strongly influenced by the socialist theories of Fourierism . His 1847 book, The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind , dictated to a friend while in a trance state, eventually became the nearest thing to a canonical work in a spiritualist movement whose extreme individualism precluded the development of a single coherent worldview. Spiritualists often set March 31, 1848, as

8722-451: Was believed at the time: I have never seen anything of the sort, nor have I ever known one who had seen it; consequently, I know nothing of the case but what I have read about it. But I have no means of refuting the evidence, and consequently cannot refuse to recognize its validity. Nor have I aught to urge against it, beyond the degree of incredibility that attaches to highly exceptional and improbable allegations in general, and in particular

8820-433: Was extremely individualistic, with each person relying on his or her own experiences and reading to discern the nature of the afterlife. Organisation was therefore slow to appear, and when it did it was resisted by mediums and trance lecturers. Most members were content to attend Christian churches, and particularly universalist churches harboured many spiritualists. As the spiritualism movement began to fade, partly through

8918-536: Was host to numerous privateers during the War of 1812 . In 1849, Portsmouth was incorporated as a city. Once one of the nation's busiest ports and shipbuilding cities, Portsmouth expressed its wealth in fine architecture. It has significant examples of Colonial , Georgian , and Federal style houses, some of which are now museums. Portsmouth's heart has stately brick Federalist stores and townhouses, built all-of-a-piece after devastating early 19th-century fires. The worst

9016-583: Was in 1813 when 244 buildings burned. A fire district was created that required all new buildings within its boundaries to be built of brick with slate roofs; this created the downtown's distinctive appearance. The city was also noted for the production of boldly wood-veneered federal-style (neoclassical) furniture, particularly by the master cabinet maker Langley Boardman. The Industrial Revolution spurred economic growth in New Hampshire mill towns such as Dover , Keene , Laconia , Manchester , Nashua and Rochester , where rivers provided water power for

9114-495: Was its North End neighborhood, which similar to Boston’s, was home to an Italian-American population. In 1964, federal funds were allocated to the North End project area in Portsmouth, for urban renewal. Prior to redevelopment, the North End was a mix of residential and commercial buildings, with many older houses converted into storefronts with apartments above. In the mid-1960s, the area was considered overcrowded, run down, and

9212-532: Was known as Cora Hatch. Another spiritualist was Achsa W. Sprague , who was born November 17, 1827, in Plymouth Notch , Vermont. At the age of 20, she became ill with rheumatic fever and credited her eventual recovery to intercession by spirits. An extremely popular trance lecturer, she traveled about the United States until her death in 1861. Sprague was an abolitionist and an advocate of women's rights. Another spiritualist and trance medium prior to

9310-417: Was not yet any legal provision for divorce under its laws, the 1st Arizona State Legislature granted Coues an annulment of his marriage to Sarah A. Richardson. His marriage to Jeannie Augusta McKenney ended in divorce in 1886, and he married the widow, Mary Emily Bates in October 1887. In 1872, he published his Key to North American Birds , which, revised and rewritten in 1884 and 1901, did much to promote

9408-436: Was said to describe conditions in the spirit world. However, Frank Podmore was skeptical of his alleged ability to communicate with spirits and Joseph McCabe described Moses as a "deliberate impostor", suggesting his apports and all of his feats were the result of trickery. Eusapia Palladino (1854–1918) was an Italian spiritualist medium from the slums of Naples who made a career touring Italy, France, Germany, Britain,

9506-498: Was settled by European colonists in 1630 and named Strawbery Banke , after the many wild strawberries growing there. The village was protected by Fort William and Mary on what is now New Castle Island . Strategically located for trade between upstream industries and mercantile interests abroad, the port prospered. Fishing, lumber and shipbuilding were principal businesses of the region. Enslaved Africans were imported as laborers as early as 1645 and were integral to building

9604-518: Was thus the result of combining white guilt and fear of divine judgment with a new sense of purpose and responsibility. In the years following the sensation that greeted the Fox sisters, demonstrations of mediumship (séances and automatic writing , for example) proved to be a profitable venture, and soon became popular forms of entertainment and spiritual catharsis. The Fox sisters earned a living this way and others followed their lead. Showmanship became an increasingly important part of spiritualism, and

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