Wednesday, December 31, 2025, at 4 p.m. the Lingo Family Singers will present a special program at the Peterboro United Methodist Church at 5240 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY as a continuation of the 14th Annual Peterboro Watch Night held in the afternoon in Peterboro at the Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro NY.
The evening will feature stirring selections from the Civil War era alongside beloved favorites of the Hutchinson Family Singers, to ring in the New Year. The program will include classics such as The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Tenting Tonight, Get Off the Track, The Spider and the Fly, Kind Words Can Never Die, King Alcohol, and of course Auld Lang Syne.
The Hutchinson Family (eleven sons and two daughters) began musical performances in the 1840s in their home state of New Hampshire. Their four-part harmony copied the touring Tyrolese Minstrels, but soon they started writing their own songs which addressed the reforms of abolition, emancipation, temperance, and women’s rights. The first Hutchinson group was three brothers and one sister, but through the years the group was composed of differing arrangements of the talented siblings.
Much like the Hutchinsons, The Lingo Family Singers' roots began on a farm filled with singing. Lowell Jr started singing in local churches, community theatre productions, and sang with the Syracuse Oratorio Society. His wife and children began joining him by singing special music in the Welsh church in Nelson, and in the Peterboro United Methodist Church. The Lingo Family Singers initially included Father Lowell Jr., Mother Kristin, siblings Karen (Zamora), Lowell III, Rebecca (Noble), and Robinson. This year introduces grandson Liam Noble on stage with the family. The Lingo family will also be joined by Alex Bodenham.
The Hutchinsons performed in Peterboro in the 1800s. Gerrit Smith was fond of the family, and the family was fond of Smith. Hired by Smith, George Washington Putnam lived in Peterboro for several years and became the agent for the Hutchinsons. Putnam had been Charles Dickens’ personal secretary on the famous author’s first visit to American. A tabletop exhibit on this history researched by Town of Smithfield and Hamlet of Peterboro historian Donna Dorrance Burdick will be at the program.
This project is made possible through a grant to the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum from the CNY Arts Grants for Regional Arts and Cultural Engagement regrant program thanks to a New York State Senate Initiative supported by the NYS Legislature, the Office of the Governor and administered by the New York State Council on the Arts.
All are invited to join in this celebration of freedom and song. Admission is free and open to the public.
For more information: nahofm1835@gmail.com, 315.308.1890.