Planning a Future for Your Family's Past

My genealogy blogger friend, Marian Wood has written a genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past and I'm sharing the information with you. When she first mentioned this book to me, and wondered if I would write a review or post an announcement to my blog, I pretty much told her no, because the topic wasn't of interest me as I don't have many heirlooms and no living ancestors, no children or grandchildren.

However, I know many people do have living ancestors and children and would like ideas and guidance as to how to take care of their genealogical materials in all shapes and form.

This is a perfect time for you to order either a hard copy or a Kindle online copy because Christmas is coming soon and the book would be a wonderful stocking gift. Naturally, it could be purchased for birthdays or for yourself. Marian's book won't break the bank (Kindle price at $2.99 and hard copy at $5.99) and I'm quite certain you will get some good information to put to use.

I am very happy to help her out by providing a little advertising, and will happily purchase my own copy.

Marian isn't new to publishing, I discovered she has written quite a number of books on marketing, as I discovered from reading her impressive bio on Amazon. She is also an active genealogy blogger and may be followed by reading: Climbing My Family Tree at (http://climbingmyfamilytree.blogspot.com).

Below is Marian's book announcement I copied from her blog.

Did you inherit a genealogical mess? Do you want to organize your genealogy collection and preserve your family's history for future generations?
My new book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, is a concise, step-by-step guide to the PASS Process:

• Prepare by organizing your genealogy materials
• Allocate ownership of photos, research, and artifacts
• Set up a genealogical "will" 
• Share your knowledge with heirs

Old photos, ancestors' stories, heirlooms, and original documents are an important part of your family's past--and they belong to your family's future. Whether you're new to genealogy or you've been tracing your family tree for years, this book will help you: sort your genealogy collection into logical categories . . . safely store and label materials . . . inventory and index for new insights . . . decide what to keep and what to give away . . . write instructions for your collection's future safekeeping . . . and bring family history alive now. Includes sample forms and dozens of links to online resources. 

Available in Kindle format soon (preorder now) and in print now.

Lowell, MA Roll of Honor --- 2,100 Names

The Lowell (MA) City Directory of 1918 "containing a General Directory of the citizens, house directory, business directory, street directory and record of the city government, institutions, etc." And, I recently discovered there is a listing of 2,100 "Lowell men  in the service of the United Stated and her Allies in the Great World War." Although I don't have any ancestors from Lowell, I thought this list provided useful information. There are 18 scanned pages, and the first one describes how the information was obtained. The names are in alphabetical order and I made the pages extra large for easier reading (however, some won't enlarge). In 1918 there was a population of approximately 115,000 people.

This 1918 city directory is my personal copy, and if anybody needs a look-up please contact me.

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Wistariahurst -- Historic Estate, Gardens and Genealogy

Wistaria and formal garden
seen from 2nd floor window.

I first heard the name Wistariahurst from facebook friend and genealogy blogger Sara Campbell when she said she was going to lecture there. I googled and learned what it was and where it was located. Research told me that it is an historic house museum located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. But, there was something else that interested me besides the fact that the house WAs covered in Wistaria / Wisteria, and there is a large formal garden. I discovered that a Kilborne and a Skinner lived there. Both surnames are in my family tree for many generations. I needed to find out more.

Front of the house showing a row of Wistaria. The house has had additions, and you can see below the Wistaria growing on several sides. Over 130 years ago, Sarah Skinner (the original owner) had these plants planted.

This estate was built in 1848 for William Skinner, the owner of a successful silk spinning and textile business. See Wikipedia for more information.

The photos above and below show part of the back of the house (which is where we entered). Because all the trees were full, I couldn't get a decent photo of the house.

This was taken as we entered into the house for the tour. The guide mentioned that the slabs on the ground contain dinosaur footprints. I could see them clearly, but unfortunately I didn't take closeup shots because of the shade. Apparently, these slabs came from an area close by where the dinosaurs roamed.

Katharine Skinner Kilborne was not directly related to me, but her husband Robert Stewart Kilborne was my 6th cousin 4 times removed. I had an easy time determining that the original owner, William Skinner, 1824 - 1902 was not in my tree because several census records (1870, 1880, 1900) stated he was born in London. My Skinner family came from England, between 1649 and 1652 and settled in Malden, Massachusetts  before moving to Colchester, Connecticut. The Kilborn / Kilborne / Kilbourne line was pretty easy because this line left a good paper trail, records such as vital records, obituary, censuses, newspaper marriage announcements, and a lot of Find-A-Grave memorials. Unusual first names such as Truman, Allerton, Horatio and Jesse allowed for easier than normal research on that direct line.

Above and below are photos of the garden.

 

Three photos of the Dining Room (above and below.)

Enormous Music Room, used for lectures, weddings and various events.

Two bedrooms.

Sitting area.

Room used by one of the household help.

It is believe that this stained glass could have been made by the L. C. Tiffany Company and it might have been in their New York City house. The minute I saw this, I thought it was, because I want it to be. I believe one of the photos on the window sill was taken in their old house, and those were made by Tiffany.

I got American Phoenix by Sarah S. Kilborne out of the library and also downloaded it from Amazon. Because of the subject matter and the fact that the author is probably a distant cousin to me, I had high hopes of really enjoying this book. There is a little disappointment here, because it is all about the Skinner family, the silk business and the disaster involving his business and house after the flood. The small photos were nice, but there was nothing shown for the interior of the house (so I'm glad I posted mine), and nothing about Sarah's relationship to Mr. Skinner. Being that I love and do genealogy, I was able to trace and gather information about some of the family, including R. Stewart Kilborne's tragic death in New York City.

Manuscripts at the New England Historic Genealogical Society

Many years ago, I discovered a 257 page manuscript written by my great-great grandfather, Charles Henry Poole, was located in the archives at the New England Historic Genealogical Library (NEHGS). Over four years ago, armed with an iPad, I was given permission to take photos of the manuscript. Previously, I had copied a few pages, but at .25 a page, it would have been too expensive and taken too long to copy the entire manuscript. The iPad photos took me about 4 days, and many more days to crop them.

During the time I was copying pages, The NEHGS published a book, "Manuscripts at the New England Historic Genealogical Society." With over 1,000 pages, it's a useful resource because you can quickly see if there is a manuscript you might be interested in. The first time I saw this book was in the local library, so you might be able to find one near you, by going to the WorldCat.org seen HERE for all locations.

As shown below are the original cover and brief description of GENEALOGICAL RECORDS of the POOLE   FAMILY And particularly the descendants of JOHN POOLE of READING In the STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The original cover is quite fragile, as evidenced by my photo. The typed pages were in pretty good condition, except some were faded. My problem was due to my photography skills. At least ten had to be retaken because they weren't sharp enough. Looking back, I wished I had inserted plain white paper between each page, so I wouldn't have to see print from the following page. Copies of the cover and first page are below.

I was very fortunate to connect with a wonderful man whose wife is a Poole descendant. Over the years, he has been typing this manuscript and putting in links for each page. It has been time-consuming but Barry is a trooper. He did me a huge favor, because I knew I would never be able to type it (because of my poor eyes). The first 25 pages of the manuscript are HERE.

Marston of Salem, Massachusetts -- Tombstone Tuesday

HERE LYETH BURIED

Y^e BODY OF

JOHN MARSTON SENIOR

AGED 66 YEARS

DEC^D DECEMBER Y^e

19 1681

Buried in the Charter Street Cemetery aka Burying Point Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts

He was my 9th great-grandfather.

His foot stone was discovered when I pulled back a lot of the vine growing on the fence.

Two photos of the head and foot stones.

Photos taken May 23, 2015.

The above diagram is from the book, Charter Street Cemetery Burial Records: Salem, Massachusetts by William Carlson, Compiler, (Salem, MA: Higginson Book Co., 2009). I've used this book quite a few times, since I have five ancestors buried in this cemetery.

On pg. 38, you can see the entry for my ancestor, "Marston, John I. Born about 1615 Died December 19, 1681 age 66 years. The son of Thomas and Margaret (Salter) and the husband of Alice (Eden). D 163 (Note: D 163 is the section in the cemetery.)"