Meet the moms of Portsmouth's past

For Mother's Day, let's take a trip through the Portsmouth Athenaeum archives to meet some moms.

The Badger Family Photo Collection's 78 images include Mary Graham Badger (1878-1940) holding daughter Mary Ann in 1910. Handwritten in ink on the back of the picture is: "Mary Badger, 3 mo 3 days, weight 13 1/2 lbs."

The Badgers were a prominent family in the Seacoast, with dairy farms in Greenland (on the site of the Portsmouth Country Club) and Newington (near the site of the Portsmouth traffic circle).

Daniel Wesley Badger, who died at 86 in March 1952, is credited with founding Badger Farms' Creameries in 1918. Located at the corner of Bow and Daniel streets in Portsmouth, its delivery trucks were a common sight in the city.

Badger was a former state representative and mayor of Portsmouth (1911-1913). His obituary in the Portsmouth Herald described the creamery as the "first in the area to have modern pasteurizing equipment."

The Athenaeum archives include an Oct. 13, 1948, receipt from Badger Farms' Creameries for $3.45. That was for 15 quarts of milk (23 cents a quart) sold to John Quirk of 301 Lincoln Ave., Portsmouth.

The Athenaeum's North End Neighborhood Collection features the families from an area destroyed during urban renewal in Portsmouth. The collection has grown to more than 800 images since a 2016 exhibit on the lost neighborhood curated by Athenaeum photographic collections manager James Smith.

One of those family snapshots shows Rosa Moroncelli Bizzocchi (1883-1980) holding her oldest child, Maria Carolina Bizzocchi Genestreti (1909-2006).

The family lived at 36 Jackson St. The street became the site of the former Portsmouth Herald building, and is now home to a Kennebunk Savings Bank branch.

One of Rosa's grandsons, Hugo "Ugo" Emilio Riciputi (born 1920) donated many family photos to the Athenaeum. He worked with Smith on the 2016 exhibit and helped join Portsmouth and Santacarangelo, Italy, as sister cities.

When Riciputi died in October 2020, Smith wrote in a post on the Athenaeum's Facebook page: "Ugo's dedication to collecting, identifying, and donating material related to the North End not only ensured that future generations will learn about the neighborhood and the families, but also that Ugo's memory will live on."

Also in the Athenaeum's archives is a formal portrait of Isles of Shoals poet Celia Thaxter's grandchildren and daughter-in-law from 1905.

Mabel Gray Freeman Thaxter (1858-1952) appears to be studying a book along with her four children, Catherine, Elizabeth, Edmund and Charlies Eliot Thaxter.

Their father, Roland Thaxter, was Celia's third and youngest son.

The photograph is part of the Isles of Shoals Collection. Celia Thaxter grew up on White Island and Smuttynose; her father accepted the post of lighthouse keeper in 1839.

When Roland turned 1, Celia (then living in Newton, Massachusetts) wrote to friend Lizzie Hoxie about taking her three sons to the Isles of Shoals for the summer.

"There can never be such a charming sea place as the islands; how can anybody want to go further? I do not, most certainly."

One of the largest photo collections at the Athenaeum came from the Card family. Among the hundreds of images is Verna Carleton Card proudly holding her 4-month-old son Louis C. Card at the family's new home at 21 Humphreys Court in Portsmouth.

It was 1928, a busy year for Verna and husband, Frank, that included their marriage at Rye Beach, Louis' birth and the purchase of their first home.

Louis grew up to work at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and run Paul's Market on Daniel Street (flattened for a bank parking lot during urban renewal).

Many of the Card family photos are attributed to Louis' uncle, Alvah C. Card (1913-1988).

Alvah lived at 466 Marcy St. He was an Athenaeum member who worked for the Portsmouth Water Department for 40 years and volunteered for the Portsmouth Fire Department for 24 years.

The Portsmouth Athenaeum, 9 Market Square, is a nonprofit membership library and museum founded in 1817. The research library and Randall Gallery are open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. For information, call 603-431-2538 or visit portsmouthathenaeum.org.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Meet the moms of Portsmouth's past