One Will Equal Two and The Great Migration -- Follow Friday

Thomas Scott, who migrated 1634 from England and settled in Massachusetts, gave me a lot of problems. I used several references and some of the data didn't mesh. One source had Thomas as having four children, another had him having seven. His birth was off by three years, and the death by 10 years. The Scott family went into my tree, and online on RootsWeb, and I knew it was wrong. I was Just waiting for somebody to correct me. Finally, the best of the best books was published by Robert C. Anderson, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Vol. 6, R-S in 2006. I just recently got around to looking at it, because the last of the series, Vol. 7, was released a few months ago, and I went through both books. (See below for more information about the books.)


Imagine, there two Thomas Scotts, both coming to America in 1634, both having children named: Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah and Thomas! And they both lived for a time in Cambridge, MA. A merge and corrections were made, and just as quickly I uploaded it into my RootsWeb, and nobody ever knew of my error!

One of the more popular sources for doing early New England research are a series of books called, The Great Migration : Immigrants to New England. The first series comes in three volumes with the title, The Great Migration Begins : Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, published in 1995 and contains more than nine hundred sketches. The second series, The Great Migration : Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, consists of seven volumes, the last volume published recently. Robert Charles Anderson, of the New England Historic Genealogical Society is the main author, and NEHGS is the publisher.

What can you do, if you can't purchase a volume? There are two options, the first is to go to www.worldcat.org (well-known library catalogue) and you should see that 320 libraries own a copy of the first series (1620-1633). Perhaps a library is near you.

The second option is to use Ancestry.com, if you are a subscriber. The first series is on their site, so in a way, it is free for you, since you already subscribe.

Tombstone Tuesday -- No Bull, You Need to Look at all 4 Sides

After doing 98 Tombstone Tuesday entries for this blog and entering hundreds to Find-A-Grave.com, I am still learning new things. On a recent trip to Newport, Rhode Island, I took many photos, including several in the Coddington Cemetery, seen below. Why shouldn't I take a photo of the largest stone, the lighting was semi-perfect. Once home, I discovered I hadn't a clue what family this stone was for, no surname was listed! Apparently, I didn't walk around it, as I always tell people to do it...there are four sides. The biggest isn't always the best. Fortunately, I went to the Find-A-Grave site and able to see others listed for that cemetery, including who these two women were married to, it was Henry Bull. The site says he was an "American Colonial Governor. He emigrated to America in 1635 and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts." Henry is listed on one of the sides of this stone. I was lucky, once again.

ELIZABETH

HIS WIFE,

DIED OCT. _ 1665

ANNE CLAYTON

HIS SECOND WIFE,

AND WIDOW OF

NICHOLAS EASTON

DIED JAN. 30, 1707

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #4 Inter-Library Loan

My local library is shown at the left and you can read about it in  Challenge #1. In Challenge #4 our assignment is to, "Learn about your local public library’s inter-library loan (ILL) policy. Pick a genealogy-related book that you want to read that is not in your library’s collection. Ask the librarian how to request the book from another library. Find the different library systems from which you can request books through your own library, as this can dramatically increase the number of genealogy books to which you have access. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experience with requesting items through your library’s ILL service."

I don't want to be fired because I didn't follow Amy's instructions exactly.  However, there just isn't time or the need for me to get a genealogy book, just for the sake of this challenge.  It is mid-winter which means snow, ice and cold in Massachusetts.  In addition, I have been told processing inter-library loans (ILL) is a very expensive process to deal with; a lot of wrapping, packing and mailing is involved.  Fortunately, they haven't begun to charge patrons, but it may be a reality someday, I heard $5 per request.

Our library belongs to the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. along with quite a few other libraries (my guess is 30 towns).  That means, if I want a book that isn't in my library but is in one of the other libraries, I can get it rather quickly if it isn't checked out, otherwise, I am on a waiting list.  First, before I even think about ordering a book through ILL, I always check www.worldcat.org to see what libraries have it. Sometimes, you may determine it might not even be available to your library or it just isn't worth the time and effort, if the book is across the country.

In June of 2009, I did a guest blog for Cheryl Palmer Cutting Back on Spending, in which I discuss inter-library loans and Worldcat.

At my library, the inter-library loan requests are processed differently. The order request is sent to another library, where all the requests from the entire consortium are processed. In the past, I have ordered and received two books using this method. One book had to be used at the library under our librarian's eyes. The other I was able to check out.

The books I got were:
1. The Van den Berghs in America by Stockman, R. Grunwell and B. Grunwell, (Lynchburg, VA: Pub. Robert L. Grunwell, 1994) from the Jones Library, Lynchburg, VA and,
2.  Molson, The Birth of a Business Empire by Hunter, Douglas, (Canada: Penguin Books, 2001) it came from Univ. of Maine.

Cemeteries And More #1

Several months ago I posted my Cemetery List in a Google Spreadsheet and explained I was going to enter all the names and photos into the Find-A-Grave database.  As I began going through the huge pile of 10 year old photos (none digital), I realized there were some tidbits I could share regarding cemetery research.  The photo at the left was taken last month in the main reading room of the Boston Public Library.  I went there to get the correct title of a cemetery book, listed below.

Before going to any cemetery, especially if it involves some travel, you should do your homework first.  There are several ways.  The most important thing is, you need to is there a cemetery in the area you are interested in.  Of course if you have the name and phone number, call the cemetery to determine what records they have, if there is a flyer or leaflet of their cemetery and if there is a map. (Part 2 will cover this.)  Ok, how does somebody find out their address, phone number and what cemeteries may be in the ancestor's town?  Here are my methods; use the internet and use books.

One of the quickest and least expensive way to get a listing of burials is by using the internet.  A simple google search using key words such as Cemetery + name of town.  You do not even need to know the name of the cemetery.  An example is using the words "cemetery" + "Enosburgh Falls"  A great listing of all those buried there appears in the Main Street Cemetery.  I have used this list many times since 2004.

Those using the internet, you can locate cemeteries, and photos from the last three sources:
Cyndi's List  Cyndislist
The popular FindAGrave (begun in 1995)  41 million records now online.
I also like A Very Grave Matter (since before 2003)
For Quebec, Canada and the United States I like Interment.net  (begun in 1998)

There are some excellent books that list cemeteries. The ones I especially like are:
1.  Cemeteries of the U.S. : a guide to contact information for U.S. cemeteries and their records is a wonderful resource, as it lists more than 22,600 currently operating or inactive cemeteries in the United States and its territories, and major military cemeteries in foreign countries. Provides the cemetery's address, contact information, former names, years of operation, affiliation, records location, historical notes, and references to publications concerning that cemetery.  There are more than 1,000 pages and it is quite heavy.  When I first found out about it, it was only available in my area at the Boston Public Library.  I made many copies of various cemetery locations (copy below gives you an idea of what is on a page).  It has been a good eight years since I last used the book.  So, on December 29th when I went to the Library to get the correct title, and other information, there it was, right where it had been 10 years before, like it was waiting for me.  It was sharing a low shelf with three other over-sized books.  Glad some things never change.

If you want to locate the above book through www.worldcat.org you have two options, when the title appears, you can select either the editor Deborah M. Burek or the publisher, Gale Research.  Check out both to see where the nearest library is to you.  This appears to be a case in which the librarians didn't know how to categorize it.

Example page for Vermont

2.  A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries by David Allen Lambert, published 2002 by the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  Since I have many Massachusetts ancestors, I use this book a lot.  David signed my copy, and I have #98 from his first printing, so it is already nine years old.  There is a nice index included in the 272 pages.  There is now a revised edition.

3.  A Guide to Cemeteries in Essex County Massachusetts by the Essex Society of Genealogists.  The book has 136 pages, a map for each town with cemetery markers and information about the cemetery.  This is a must for those with ancestors in Essex County.  This guide can be ordered from the Society Form for Cemetery Book.

In closing, try to do as much homework before you go to a cemetery, especially if you are going to travel a distance.  What a nice feeling to easily locate the cemetery and then walk directly to the grave.  Tomorrow I will continue with Part 2.

Leaving the Boston Public Library.

Internet Genealogy and WorldCat

Thursday, August 17th, 2006


Barb Poole has written another article for today’s Blog. Someday Barb and I will have to actually meet each other! Here’s Barb’s GuestBlog:   (Note:  Steve and I have met twice.)


I wrote a piece about a new genealogy magazine in Steve’s blog of May 20th, in which I wrote, “A new genealogy magazine has arrived on the scene; it is Internet Genealogy and can be ordered as a hard copy or downloaded from the internet (different prices for each). To order go to http://www.internet-genealogy.com/ and you can see the specifics as well as download a preview issue.” This is an update, which may be beneficial to some, whether you subscribe or not. The editor/publisher of that magazine asked for suggestions from the subscribers as to what they wanted in the magazine.


One suggestion was to have all the websites listed in that issue of the magazine to be on one page, so you could go to that page and see all the links listed, and not look all around for them. However, the magazine went one step further and now has on their website all the links that were mentioned in that particular issue. If you go to the site listed above, you will see a section listing the links for each magazine (both past and current issues) and the link will take you to that webpage. No more typing out the addresses. And, these sites give you an idea of what the magazine has covered thus far. In addition, if the links change, the company will change them as well on their homepage. So far, there is a pretty impressive list of genealogy sites.


My second recent find is a site called WorldCat, which I got from a message board, out of Canada. It is the first I have heard of it, but is a site I will use many times over. This is what I received, ” Google is easily accessed, but WorldCat’s locations of 1.3 billion items in 10,000 libraries around the world previously have been available only through institutional access. It’s become available to the public here and now. It’s FREE and simple to use. Just type in a book name or author and it shows which library holds that book. Just go to: http://www.worldcat.org/ .”


On a personal note, I put in titles of three books and not only did they appear, but it gave the name of the library and the distance from where I live (Massachusetts). For an example, I put in the book title New England Marriages prior to 1700 and there were 381 hits. The closest library that has the book is the library in Lexington, 13 miles away, and the furthest is Alaska, all of 3,349 miles away from me! With this information, you can either go to or contact that library or see if you can get it through the inter-library loan process.