Professor Jere Daniell’s Insights, Navigation Acts, Culpepper, and New Hampshire Heroes

Jere Daniell is a legend in the Upper Valley as an unbeliveable resource regarding many things- he is encyclopedic in his knowledge of Colonial America. Pip enjoyed a lunch with Jere yesterday and got schooled! Part of our interest was in the Navigation Acts.Yes, 60 of them designed to tax Americans for their intra colonial trade in goods and services.

The Navigation Acts-  1650-1696

The Navigation Acts were passed by the English Parliament in the seventeenth century. The Acts were originally aimed at excluding the Dutch from the profits made by English trade. The mercantilist theory behind the Navigation Acts assumed that world trade was fixed and the colonies existed for the parent country. http://thenagain.info/webchron/usa/navigation.html

Back to The Colonial Era Chronology

The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1696 restricted American trade in the following ways;

1. Only British ships could transport imported and exported goods from the colonies.
2. The only people who were allowed to trade with the colonies had to be British citizens.
3. Commodities such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton wool which were produced in the colonies could be exported only to British ports.

But also part of our shared interest was in the Culpepper Rebellion of 1677 in North Carolina. An early hero of the American Revolution….

Culpeper’s Rebellion (1677-79), was an early popular uprising against proprietary rule in the Albemarle section of northern Carolina, caused by the efforts of the proprietary government to enforce the British Navigation Acts. These trade laws denied the colonists a free market outside England and placed heavy duties on commodities.The colonists’ resentment found an object in the deputy governor, Thomas Miller, who was also customs collector. Led by John Culpeper and George Durant, the rebels imprisoned Miller and other officials, convened a legislature of their own, chose Culpeper governor, and for two years capably exercised all powers and duties of government. Culpeper was finally removed by the proprietors and tried for treason and embezzlement but was never punished.

Books About New Hampshire

Table of Contents        Title Index

The New Hampshire State Library first published Books About New Hampshire in 1946. Updated editions were published in 1955, 1962, 1965 and 1969. In 1979 the New Hampshire Department of Education published New Hampshireiana: Books of New Hampshire 1969-1979. This brochure continued the work begun by the State Library in 1946. Entries in New Hampshireiana were obtained from the “New Hampshire Books” column in each issue of Granite State Libraries. This column, by Eleanor O’Donnell of the State Library, showcases new books about New Hampshire or by New Hampshire authors. The column is still being published in Granite State Libraries.

This publication incorporates most of the information in the earlier Books About New Hampshire and New Hampshireiana plus the “New Hampshire Books” column through mid 1999. In editing and organizing the material, I have purposely excluded certain types of books. Listed below are the types of books generally NOT included in this bibliography:

General histories of New Hampshire Town histories Genealogies Travel guides

Regimental histories Books about New England Local cookbooks Government documents

Do not consider this guide to be a comprehensive bibliography of all books about New Hampshire. However, it should be helpful to people interested in New Hampshire literature.

Books About New Hampshire
Compiled by Donna V. Gilbreth
Revised & Enlarged
1999

New Hampshire State Library
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301
November 2000

This Housing Recovery Is Different: Investors Are Now Big Buyers By Bernice Napach | Daily Ticker

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/housing-recovery-different-investors-now-big-buyers-145259693.html

There’s no doubt that housing is recovering. Existing home sales—which account for the bulk of the market—have topped year-ago levels for 20 months in a row and existing home prices have bested year-ago levels for 12 consecutive months. In addition, inventories of those homes have dropped to a 4.7 month supply — far below the more normal 6 months.

But unlike past housing recoveries, this one is heavily supported by investors — big and small. They account for about a third of home purchases in the existing housing market, according to the National Association of Realtors. Among those big investors are the Blackstone Group (BX) which has been buying $100 million worth of single family homes a week since early last year, spending a total $3.5 billion to date, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A Challenge to “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is”

Three Revolutions, recently featured on Vermont Public Radio, is a new Vermont-based crowd-funding portal whose mission is to bring the rise in social media platforms, the growing consumer demand for “natural, organic, local, sustainable” food sources, and community investment together to create an organization through which consumers can support the endeavors of farmers and other food innovators in their communities.

Here’s how it works:

(Photo Source)

Creating a campaign to seek funding is simple and applications may be submitted at any time. Once approved, a campaign will be active for sixty days. After those sixty days, 90% of profits are given directly to the “planters” to begin their business venture. (Source)

There are currently two open campaigns on Three Revolutions:

Furtile Turtle Slow Food Truck

Goal: $5,000   Ends: April 5

“The Furtile Turtle is a slow food truck, an offshoot of the Fertile Underground Natural Cooperative. We plan to bring healthy, local, and nourishing produce and food selections to areas where there is currently no access. We’ll also have delicious and hearty prepared foods to choose from, tried and tested recipes from our family that have been cooked and shared for years. The truck is also going to work in collaboration with Pasture to Plate to provide on-farm dinners, educational workshops, and opportunity for local farmers to produce value added products.”

Saving the Thorpe First Nation Organic Farm

Goal: $16,000  Ends: May 20

“The Thorpe First Nation Organic Farm is located in Historic Bucks County near Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. It is one of the few Native-American owned farms in this part of America. We are a 145-acre farm surrounded by grand mansions on large tracts of land. In order for farming to survive here and elsewhere, it’s imperative that our cross-rural settings live in harmony with each another. As we greet people visiting our Farm we are spreading a message of the worth that comes from organic crops and animals, even as we share the terrain with very large homes.”

According to an interview with VPR, Three Revolutions hopes to expand well-beyond Vermont borders soon. But for now, it’s our diamond in the rough, featuring innovators from local communities who understand the power that nutritious, sustainable local food has to bring people together. Through Three Revolutions, these networks have been able to go from small, local bands of people within communities to also now including new supporters within the town, state, country and world, who are willing to back the food-loving innovator next door to help their dream become a reality.

You may join in supporting these campaigns or start your own on the Three Revolutions website.

Orford Historical Society Advances & Needs Support

An amazing story is developing in the beautiful, historic town of Orford NH which was a wonderful settlement from the 1761 Connecticut River settlement that boasts some of the most incredible homes in the Upper Valley. Orford historical references are listed by the town here. Town historian Carl Schmitt reported that the town approved on March 12 a plan to benefit our UV community by approving a proposal to secure a permanent home for Orford’s history and also save the historic Old Town Hall building in Orfordville. Article 9 authorized the town to purchase the Old Town Hall building with donated funds to be raised by the Orford Historical Society. The building would then be leased by the historical society to display, preserve and safeguard nearly 1,000 donated artifacts, photographs and documents for the benefit of present and future generations. This would constitute an ideal new use for the Old Town Hall, which was built by the town in 1859 and served for over 130 years as Orford’s only government building as well as the site of countless community functions. This plan was consistent with support shown for the historical societies in Piermont, Lyme, Bradford and Fairlee, which all use space in town-owned buildings.

The annual Friends of the Orford Libraries Soup Supper was held on March 9th, accepted the support of Orford’s two libraries, the Orford Social and Orford Common Library, and it featured a program called “That Reminds Me of a Story.” Delivered by well known author and storyteller, Rebecca Rule, it highlighted the town’s history in a fascinating lecture. Becky draws on the letters of Horace Walpole cited here:

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters of Horace Walpole

What is compelling is the courage of the early settlers of the Upper Valley- many of whom lived into their early nineties. In the centennial account for Orford in 1965, the following acknowledgement was received.

               The natural beauty and fertility of this part of the town attracted to its

               inhabitants of considerable wealth from other places. I may mention

               particularly, Capt. Joseph Pratt, Capt. Alexander Storey, Capt. George

               Ropes and his brother Hardy Ropes, — all from the fine old city of Salem,

               Mass. They purchased large farms, and helped greatly to support the

               religious and educational interests of the town. Their titles were acquired,

               not in the military service, but in maritime pursuits. They left the ploughing

               of the ocean for the safer though less remunerative work of ploughing the land.

The Orford Historical Society maintains a Facebook presence which is easy to support- Like It!

https://www.facebook.com/Orford.Historical.Society

Immigration, EB-5 Projects, and Sharing the Upper Valley with New Visitors

Almost everyone in the Upper Valley knows of the success of the destination site, Jay Peak, which was revitalized by Bill Stenger using the EB-5 program. What kids will tell you is that Jay Peak is FUN! Vermont and New Hampshire officials are on their way back from a summit in Shanghai, China on EB-5 programs. The graph below shows the importance of Asia.

Started in 1990, the federal EB-5 program grants green cards to foreign investors who inject $500,000 or more into the nation’s economy and create 10 jobs. As VT Digger details:

Brent Raymond, who directs the Vermont EB-5 regional center, told VTDigger that he’s mainly promoting two already approved EB-5 projects in the state: the DreamLife retirement resorts project, signed off by Lawrence Miller, the state’s secretary of Commerce and Community Development, in November 2012, and Bill Stenger’s well-known $600 million Jay Peak Resort expansion. Raymond left Wednesday to attend the Invest in America 2013 Summit and Exhibition from March 15-18 in Shanghai, a major convention which focuses on foreign investment in America and real estate development, mostly in the context of the EB-5 visa program.

These investment summits are effectively regional marketing meetings for investors. But the Upper Valley is very appealing to Chinese investors seeking low cost land, a high quality of life, and proximity to the East Coast financial centers. VT’s EB-5 Head Raymond’s Summit goal is also long term and pragmatic. Again, he explained in VT Digger :

Raymond doesn’t have a target dollar figure he’d like to secure in promised investments. He said the Invest in America 2013 Summit is more about making a first impression on investors and holding initial meetings prior to rigorous background checks on investors and the source of their funds. “The Chinese represent 90 percent of EB-5 investment in the nation, followed by South Korea, Taiwan, Iran and Venezuela,” said Raymond. “The Vermont regional center is well-known in China, but still, we’re competing against a couple hundred other regional centers and need to continue to market. This is a group of people we need to be in front of.”

These programs offer real promise in attracting new, well-capitalized families to the Upper Valley. A new committee in the Upper Valley League, working to implement positions in the League of Women’s Voters aims to: Secure equal rights and equal opportunity for all. Promote social and economic justice and the health and safety of all Americans. (http://uppervalleyleague.org/socialpolicy.html). Discover Newport VT reveals the true merit of Mr. Stenger:  “EB-5 has worked for Jay by creating hundreds of jobs and growing a failing economy.  Stenger says he sees Jay Peak and recently purchased Burke Mountain’s growth as vehicles to boost the region and the state. But that is only part of the equation for his success. “It is done through listening and ordinary hard work,” Stenger said. “Nothing else.” He bristles at being called a visionary for Vermont.  However, in an economy where corporations cut staff to boost margins, EB-5 program implementers have helped to create jobs in Vermont and the Upper Valley more generally. Now 64, he spent decades talking to mentors, staff, friends, colleagues, family and even lift line strangers. Newport VT resident Stenger embodies the idea that all of the people brave and passionate enough to speak up inspire him; and he has become the ambassador for their creativity and courage. “I am a collector of ideas,” he said. “It comes from paying attention to the market and hearing what people want to make the experience better.” Let’s applaud Bill, entrepreneurs and people with vision and the drive to accomplish it!

Homes.com Offers an Online Reputation “Playbook”- What do Clients Want?

Homes.com offers online reputation ‘playbook’

http://www.inman.com/news/2013/03/14/homescom-offers-online-reputation-playbook

White paper is also a plug for ‘Social Impact’ marketing service

BY TEKE WIGGIN, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013.Inman News®

Ed: This article from Inman News details a social media primer for reputation building or online branding. The social media craze has grabbed the real estate industry like wildfire but some  spend forty to seventy hours a week online putting all their information, click pics and minutiae on the web. Do clients really like this?  How do we protect our Clients?? The Barton Group is investigating thes issues in depth, working with Upper Valley experts in the fields of photography, copy writing, videography and communication. We will feature some of these stars in a future post to demonstrate our commitment to these issues!

A new white paper from Homes.com takes a look at best practices for using online directories, review sites and social media platforms to manage a brand’s “online reputation” and keep tabs on competitors”Maximizing Your Online Reputation: A Playbook for Engaging Consumers and Winning their Business” is also a plug for Homes.com’s social media marketing service, Social Impact, which is offered at a 30 percent discount.

Before diving into best practices, the 23-page report calls attention to the importance of maintaining a polished image on directory, review and social media websites. Citing marketing software developer HubSpot Inc., the white paper said 72 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Information technology research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. has found 74 percent of consumers rely on social networks to make purchasing decisions, the paper said.

Given that so many consumers use online chatter to learn about brands, those that cultivate an attractive online image may reap significant rewards, the Homes.com report said. The white paper pointed to a Media Post News report that said that brands with the highest “social media activity” boosted revenue by as much as 18 percent. Developing the infrastructure for building an attractive online reputation, first and foremost, means creating an online footprint that spans the most popular directories, review sites and social media platforms, the report said. Those include Yelp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and business directories on major search engines, it said.

Experimenting with Real Estate Video

http://www.agentcasts.com/Grovenor-House-2627-South-Bayshore-Drive-Coconut-Grove-FL.html

So, at the Barton Group, we are looking into videography as a means to make the beauty of the Upper Valley more accessible to US buyers not aware of our assets and foreign buyers. Some sellers are sensitibve about having their homes and possessions online which is a concern we share and want to respect. Clients are kings and queens for the Barton Group!

Here’s an example of how it works:
Property Description: Carl Marzola of Atlantic Properties International Inc. presents Grovenor House – 2627 South Bayshore Drive Unit 2206 Coconut Grove, FL 33133. This unit features 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and is listed at $1.495,000.

Rising above Coconut Grove and Biscayne Bay, Grovenor House has been called the “Jewel” of Coconut Grove and has earned the reputation as one of South Florida’s premiere properties, developed by internationally acclaimed Italian developer, Ugo Columbo. This magnificent tower offers 32 stories of estate sized residences with unsurpassed and commanding unprecedented water vistas of Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. You are greeted by only the highest standards of excellence throughout this lush 3.5 acre resort which is conveniently located across from a marina for easy boating access and the finest of restaurants that are unique to Coconut Grove residents. And you’re just minutes to South Beach and Coral Gables.

Web Searching and Small Cap Real Estate ETF Called ROOF Shines

If the stock market is any guide, real estate continues a strong recovery that began in 2011. Small cap housing real estate investment trusts have been up 20-35% this year alone as new capital flows into the fund. Zacks gets credit for calling this trend last summer on a product called ROOF. The IndexIQ detail is here: (http://www.indexiq.com/indexes/real-estate-indexes.html). What the chart below shows is that Zillow and Trulia have become destination sites for real estate sellers and buyers despite some issues regarding lack of local market awareness and scarcity knowledge. If you don’t over-intellectualize their valuation estimates, they do collect a lot of data and it complements what you find on MLS sites.

Is ROOF a Better Real Estate ETF?

by Zacks ETF Research, August 23, 2012  – ROOF IYR VNQ

The real estate segment has been a huge winner this year despite the ongoing chaos in the European market and the uncertain U.S. growth outlook. This is largely thanks to strengthening commercial real estate fundamentals, recovering housing sentiments, high dividend payouts and low interest rates are making securities in this segment attractive at present. Investors looking to cycle their exposure back to the market might consider real estate ETFs for their exposure. These have often outperformed the other traditional safe havens such as bonds and gold, suggesting that they have also become a solid bet as of late (read: Real Estate ETFs: Unexpected Safe Haven). Though many U.S. real estate ETFs have gained more than 10% so far this year, the small cap IQ US Real Estate Small Cap ETF ( ROOF ) has outpaced its large counterparts in the space such as Vanguard REIT ETF ( VNQ – ETF report ) and iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate Index Fund ( IYR ) by at least 700 bps in the year to date time frame, meaning that small caps are leading the charge back higher. As the real estate market recovers, small cap real estate ETFs are poised to benefit enormously from the current market environment, implying that they could continue to outperform heir large cap counterparts as the year progresses. This is because small caps are less vulnerable to global trends, tend to do better on average in rising markets, and can potentially offer a different—and hopefully better—sector mix than their large cap peers in changing markets (read: Small Cap Real Estate ETFs: Crushing The Competition).

Support Upper Valley Community Banking!

 

ICBA Outlines Its Regulatory Aims for 2013

 NationalMortgag…

Sources: http://www.icba.org/consumer/BankLocator.cfm

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/resources/cbi/

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has announced its top legislative and regulatory priorities for the coming year. ICBA made the announcement in Las Vegas at the 2013 National Convention and Techworld. “ICBA’s policy priorities are set to ensure community banks have the opportunity to support greater economic growth, job creation and prosperity nationwide,” said Bill Loving, incoming ICBA chairman and president and CEO of Pendleton Community Bank in Franklin, W. Va. “Our policy agenda is focused on minimizing the negative impact of excessive regulations, addressing the overly aggressive examination environment, minimizing risks to our financial system and creating greater economic activity and growth in local communities.”

ICBA’s top priorities for 2013 include:

►Exempting financial institutions with consolidated assets of $50 billion or less from Basel III and the standardized approach. ICBA supports strong capital requirements for all banks, but any regulatory response to the financial crisis of 2008, including any changes to the capital standards, should begin with the recognition that community banks were not the cause of that crisis. Applying these new proposed rules to community banks would drive broad industry consolidation and harm communities served by community banks.

►Expanding community bank accommodations in new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) mortgage-lending rules to allow them to continue serving their customers and communities. As relationship lenders that underwrite loans based on firsthand knowledge of their customers and communities and who thrive based on the strength of their reputations, community banks have every incentive to make fair, common-sense and affordable loans. They do not need burdensome, prescriptive regulations to compel them to do so.

►Exempting community banks from CFPB rules designed to address abuses in large-bank mortgage servicing. Community banks have not perpetrated abuses in servicing and should be exempt from any prescriptive rules that make servicing too costly for them. The CFPB should carefully coordinate the implementation of all the proposed mortgage rule makings to minimize the cost and impact on community banks and consumers.

►Relieving community banks from excessive regulations to allow them to support the credit needs of their customers, serve their communities and contribute to their local economies. ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity legislative platform for the 113th Congress contains a number of targeted provisions that would provide regulatory relief for community banks. ICBA urges Congress and the regulatory agencies to continue to expand and refine a tiered regulatory and supervisory system that recognizes the differences between community banks and larger, more complex institutions.

►Urging Congress to review the unwarranted federal tax subsidy of the credit union industry. ICBA continues to oppose expanded powers for credit unions, particularly the proposal to raise the cap on member business lending, as long as credit unions remain exempt from taxation and the Community Reinvestment Act. The association also opposes legislation that would allow credit unions to raise supplemental capital and, in effect, cease being exclusively member-owned cooperative entities—a condition of their original tax exemption.

►Supporting legislation that ensures greater deliberation and accountability for consumer-protection regulations. ICBA supports measures to replace single-director governance of the CFPB with a five-member commission. Additionally, the Financial Stability Oversight Council should have the power to veto CFPB rules under a more practical and realistic standard than currently exists.

►Advocating the use of consistent standards when evaluating a community bank’s fair-lending practices. ICBA opposes changes to methodologies, standards or analysis used to assess fair-lending compliance without providing proper notice to community banks. ICBA supports transparency regarding the legal theories and methodologies used when enforcing fair-lending laws, and it opposes any cause of action under the Fair Housing Act for disparate impact without a finding of intentional discrimination.

►Urging Congress to abolish the FCS or at least restrict it to its historical mission of serving the agricultural marketplace. ICBA adamantly opposes the FCS’s expansionist agenda, which would allow FCS lenders to become the equivalent of commercial banks while retaining their status as government-sponsored enterprises with its inherent tax and funding advantages. The Farm Credit Act should further define and narrowly target FCS lending activities to refocus on serving bona fide farmers and ranchers and young, beginning and small farmers and their farmer-owned cooperatives.

Survey shows Americans upbeat about housing

Fannie Mae: Consumers expect home prices and mortgage rates to rise

By Teke Wiggin, Thursday, March 7, 2013.

Inman News®

Sunny image via Shutterstock.

Americans continued to view housing as a relative bright spot in the economy, even as their sentiment towards the broader economy and household finances limped along, according to Fannie Mae’s February 2013 National Housing Survey.

Americans who believe home prices will increase over the next year and home price expectations for 2013 both hit their highest levels since the survey’s inception in June 2010, the survey found. But confidence in personal finances, household income and the health of the overall economy kept pat or dipped, according to the survey.

“Despite fiscal headwinds and political uncertainty, consumer sentiment toward housing is robust and continues to gather strength,” said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae.

Fannie Mae said that a sizable pool of borrowers eligible for refinancing, the looming expiration of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and an increasing expectation that mortgage interest rates will creep up are likely to spur more refinances in 2013. 

“Despite historically low mortgage rates, nearly half of borrowers have never refinanced their mortgage,” Duncan said. “Combined with the scheduled year-end HARP deadline, rising rate expectations should prompt some borrowers to refinance soon to take advantage of more favorable mortgage terms and add to their disposable income, helping to offset ongoing fiscal drag.”  

Findings of the report included:

• The 48 percent of respondents who believe home prices will go up in the next 12 months was also a survey high. The share who believe home prices will go down — 10 percent — held steady at the survey low.
• The share of respondents who said that if they were moving, they would buy rather than rent, increased by 2 percentage points to 67 percent.
• Nearly half of those surveyed — 45 percent — think mortgage rates will go up. That was an increase of 4 percentage points to the highest level since August 2011. Only 7 percent of those surveyed thought mortgage rates would go down.
• One in 4 respondents think it’s a good time to sell a house, the highest level since the survey’s inception in June 2010.
• At 38 percent, the share of respondents who say the economy is on the right track has held steady over the past three months.
• The percentage who expect their financial situation to get better over the next 12 months fell by 2 percentage points to 41 percent.
• Nearly 1 in 3 respondents — 31 percent — reported significantly higher household expenses compared to 12 months ago. But that was a 7 percentage point decrease, and the lowest level since June 2010.