“Nabby Hooper, A Girl Like No Other”

On Wednesday evening, October 19, the Manchester Historical Museum sponsors an illustrated talk on the early life and times of “Nabby” Hooper, who would grow up to become Abigail Hooper Trask (1788-1885), the town’s leading businessperson and the builder (when not yet married) of the house at 10 Union Street—the Museum headquarters— 200 years ago.

Starting now, the Museum is leading a celebration of the Bicentennial of Nabby’s building of its present headquarters. The talk on the 19^th is the first of a number of events and exhibits that will explore the surprising history of Manchester during the long life of Abigail.

How she avoided the many roadblocks and dead ends experienced by women in the early 1800s makes for a fascinating tale of self-empowerment by a young woman who was not daunted by her disadvantages as a female in the man’s world of Young America.

Booth, the presenter of “Nabby Hooper, A Girl Like No Other,” is the director and curator of the Museum, the author of “The Women of Marblehead,” and a past consultant o the Smithsonian on issues of women’s history.

“No other house in Massachusetts is known to have been built for a woman independent of men and their money,” noted Rus Brown, museum president. “She earned her own small fortune through retail enterprises and private banking. The story of her girlhood and young womanhood in Manchester gives a fascinating picture of the town as it emerged from the Revolution into its new identity as a place in the United States.”

The Manchester Historical Museum (10 Union Street) invites everyone in town to attend this presentation, to be held at the American Legion Hall (behind Town Hall—plenty of parking on site). No charge for Museum members, $10 for general public (all ages). Refreshments will be served, and doors open at 7 p.m. for socializing, followed at 7:20 by the 45-minute illustrated talk.