Noted Townies of the Past and Present

Defined & Described

EVERY NEW ENGLAND town has a history centered: around characters who were considered unusual even in those days when men did not seem to be formed from a single mold Hanover annals teem with unique and arresting figures and the place to find out about them is in one of our barbering establishments. There you get facts, anecdotes, philosophy, and the keenest interpretation of men and events. What a history could be written about famous Hanover barbers! Perhaps the most interesting of all was a man we of the '90's used to call Old Man Amaral.

Manuel M. Amaral was born on the Cape Verde Islands. Portugal was his fatherland. At twelve years of age he was bound out and sent as an apprentice to South America. He didn't like his job or his boss, so he ran away and joined his elder brother who had settled in Lawrence, Mass. He went to school and learned the barbers trade at night, standing on a platform to reach his subject. He never was very tall even at a mature age.

He came to Hanover about 1870 when Hod Ferry was running the hotel. He decided to enter the Medical School, doing barbering on the side to pay his way. He never graduated and eventually set up his shop in the old Tontine Building and later moved across the street to the building next to Cobb's Store.

He seldom left town except for one long trip which he used to describe to his intimate friends. He called it his smuggling scrape. It was a scheme to take a cargo, probably of cigars and tobacco, from the Azores in cahoots with a customs official. The authorities got wise and he had to burn the warehouse and run. The only salvage was a money belt containing $1,500 in gold. The profit of the venture if it had succeeded would have taken care of him for the rest of his life. He came back and never left Hanover again until old age overtook him. Maybe this is just a story but he was a man capable of almost any bold undertaking.

One winter's day he was playing a game of 500 in the shop with an 1901 man and was bothered considerably by boys coming in and out and leaving the door open. When this chap left a cold breeze hit the old man and he yelled out "G —D —it. Shut that door." When he looked up Pa Leeds was just walking in. "How do you do Dr. Leeds. It's getting a little colder isn't it?" was his greeting and nothing more was said.

Old Dr. Bartlett was supposed to be a regular Amaral patron. One day he dropped in and Amaral was out so he went across the street to John McCarthy. When the time came for his next hair cut, Amaral would slip out to a back stairway until he had gone. He kept this up for three days until the old Doctor got wise and just went around the corner and back, catching him in the shop. He never patronized a rival after that.

Amaral barbered five generations of Lords, starting with Nathan Lord and ending with Fred's son, Frederick.

Although both were active in the Episcopal Church, Amaral and Walter Cobb used to wrangle a good deal. One hot day the old man wanted Walter to unbutton his collar while being shaved. He refused and then complained because the razor pulled his upper lip. Amaral said that a tight collar made his hand unsteady.

Amaral was treasurer of the Odd Fellows for many years. He came to an annual meeting and forgot to bring his report. When called to read it, he said "Treasurer's report same as last meeting." This came to be a by-word in Hanover financial circles.

When Dorrance Currier graduated from college he started writing plays and producing them with local talent. Mrs. Amaral was his leading lady. The old man didn't like it very well. One evening when he was taking Mrs. Amaral home after a performance he kept sputtering all the way. As they turned to go into the house he said, "You going to be an actor's wife, you be an actor's wife. You going to be a barber's wife, you be a barber's wife."

He was a handsome man, well read, keen mentally, but always speaking with an accent. When he left Hanover too old to work, Pa Leeds came to say good-by. "Well, Mr. Amaral," he said, "I don't suppose you and I will meet until we join the Heavenly throng." "Maybe not," said Amaral, "but I am pretty well satisfied to stay where I am."

So he went to live with his daughter in Minnesota until he was brought back to Hanover to be buried. His body lies in the old cemetery. Just how old he was we don't know for he always quoted his age several years less than it was.