December Gathering at the General Montgomery House

The Haverhill Library Association recently held a holiday tea, hosted by the owners of the General Montgomery House. Tea and egg nog, books on tea tables, music and convivial conversation were abundant. Well-loved and carefully preserved, the family lives with the memories of the Montgomerys everyday. They have generously opened their home to the author over the last decade and shared discoveries, such as shoes found in an attic crawl space.

Based on Myra's descriptions of the house, this is most likely her bed chamber with its "snug little fire." From here she frequently wrote to her cousin and finance, Horace Henry Goodman. Goodman was a merchant who traveled the eastern seaboard, eventually hanging his "shingle" on a store on Long Wharf in Boston. He also spent time with the General's detachment, protecting the Portsmouth waterfront during the War of 1812.

If you have thought of me this evening, your imagination should have pictured me by a snug little fire in my bed chamber, with my writing implements before me, and I (until within a few minutes) apparently resolving in  my mind, whether or not it would be best to make use of them.  

--Myra Montgomery to Horace Henry Goodman, Haverhill December 19^th 1814. Courtesy, Haverhill Historical Society