In 2021, local historian Larry B. Keech called the Portsmouth Athenaeum with a simple question. 

Would the Athenaeum be interested in a digital transcription of a set of more than 40 diaries penned by local resident Supply Foss Trefethen? 

These diaries recorded day-to-day life in Rye and Portsmouth spanning the 50 years from 1856 to 1907. They capture events from the mundane to the notable: notes on the local weather; births, deaths, and marriages of friends and family; working at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; references to shipwrecks; and commentary on local and national politics --  including assassinations, executions and the Civil War. 

So, absolutely yes, the Athenaeum was interested.

Supply Foss Trefethen, a resident of Rye, was born in 1833 and died in 1907. He wore many hats: son, brother, husband, father, shipwright, house builder, carpenter, farmer, landlord and politician among others. 

He saw the change at the Navy Yard from wooden ships to ironclads in the 1860s and steel or iron ships required by the Navy in the 1880s. 

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He witnessed the electric trolley line that ran right by his house. By 1907, he bemoans the “tombiles” (automobiles) that increasingly raced down the street. 

He served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives for Rye in 1905. The same year he discusses the “great blast” of the blowing up of Henderson’s Point to improve navigation in Portsmouth Harbor.

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The diaries start in 1856 when the 23-year-old Trefethen was living with his older brother, Joseph P. Trefethen, in Portsmouth at 1 Dearborn St. 

In January 1857, he notes the Piscataqua “freezing” and walking across the ice to Kittery, Maine, with friends. 

Throughout the years, he describes the major fires in Portsmouth, Rye and Kittery. During the Civil War, he follows the war campaign and is very forthcoming in his opinions of the success of those efforts.

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For 40 years, he worked as a shipwright at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. However employment at the Yard was inconsistent, being dependent on government contracts and funding. So like many civilian Naval Yard workers, Supply supplemented his income as a house carpenter and farmer.

Supply bought land and built a couple houses, one on Sagamore Avenue in Rye and one on Lincoln Avenue in Portsmouth. 

He also worked for Frank Jones at the brewery, and worked extensively for Alfred Langdon Elwyn at the Langdon-Elwyn farm (now the Urban Forestry Center).

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As a farmer he supplemented his grocery budget and his income. Over the years, he expanded his acreage. He grew vegetables, especially potatoes, had fruit trees, and raised chickens. Toward the end of his life, he had 75 to 80 chickens and was selling eggs and meat regularly to friends, neighbors, and the Rockingham Hotel. 

Supply Trefethen was a diverse and active member of the community. He was also observant and opinionated. 

As a shipwright, he described the working day at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, including several workplace accidents, some resulting in death. 

As a farmer, he noted the weather on a daily basis and the price of eggs. 

As a resident, he recorded the evolutions of families, neighborhoods and daily life. 

As a politician, he considered the effects of local and national events. 

All of these notes, experiences and musings are a wealth of information to genealogists and historians.

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Though maintaining a diary was common in the 19th century, not many diaries have survived over the decades. In fact many diarists directed that their diaries be destroyed upon death. 

For years, Larry Keech has been transcribing the Trefethen diaries, owned by the Rye Historical Society (which has the originals in its collection). 

He not only deciphered the scrawling penmanship, but also edited for easier reading, and provided annotations for genealogy and historical context based on his extensive research. 

Portsmouth Athenaeum librarian Robin Silva then cataloged the 1,000-plus-page transcript, building a searchable cross-reference of people, places and events that is now available to researchers on the Portsmouth Athenaeum website portsmouthathenaeum.org. 

With 450 named people noted as well as almost 175 businesses, ships and localities, this is a rich look at life in the local area in the second half of the 19th century.

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

“Today has been the coldest day on record in Portsmouth. This morning at 6 o’clock the thermometer was 27 below zero in some parts of the city. There never was known to be so much ice in the Piscataqua River before. It is passable by ice from Pray’s wharf to Badger’s Island. But a little way above, hundreds have crossed and crossed for the fun or oddity of the thing on the ice, keeping up the sport all the forenoon, I was one of the numbers. In the morning I thought I would take a walk over to the mechanic’s ship yard on Nobles Island (where I work when we have the right temperature) to see if all was right and meeting some friends. They invited me to cross for the fun of the thing. I accepted and we embarked and had a fine trip as all the ice was quite smooth. We started from Nobles Island just at the stern of the ship on the stock and went to Badger’s Island, crossed Badger’s Island and back then down to the Navy yard and back, thinking it quite a novelty to hand down to antiquity.”