Looking Back on February 2010

Valentine's Day came and went, as did the figure skating at the Olympics, and soon life will be back to normal.  Genealogy research, blogging, and trying hard to have a more rounded life are in store. A few things I wanted to share are below.  And I will begin with a quick tour of the Missisquoi Museum and Historical Society in Stanbridge East, Quebec, Canada. I have mentioned this Historical Society in my My Favorite Historical Society is on a Stamp blog.  P.S. It is also on a post card, which I will show another time.

It was a big step for me to add something to the side on my blog.  When I asked Lindalee of Flipside if I could copy her image of the Dove of Peace, she said yes.  (Picture is at the left.)  But it was a week or more before I gathered the nerve to make a change to my home page.

While looking at blogs at a leisurely pace, I was quite surprised to see a post of mine in the Friday, December 18, 2009 issue of Shades of the Departed.  A very belated "Thank you" goes to Footnote Maven and the individual who submitted my article. My article was The Best Christmas Gift -- DAR and genealogy related, of course. Thank you again.  It always pays to read everything, even if you don't submit anything.

The day I posted my Tuesday Tombstone posting for two generations of Van Woerts buried in Oneonta, New York, I received a nice comment and email from a Van Woert cousin. Always very nice to make a connection like that.

Last month, I mentioned I was going to work on my photos, which meant scanning and copying to Find-A-Grave.  I started off with a bang, and then the Olympics came on. However, I managed to do over 100 scans and will try to finish up in March.

Once again, Randy Seaver and I are cousins, this time through our Gates line.  Update, found out yesterday, that we also shared the Sawtell line. And, Kathleen Brandt of a3genealogy was kind to do a Follow Friday, highlighting my above Gates article. Thank you Kathleen.

In closing, I have decided not to continue with my Looking Forward blog, mainly because I haven't given March any thought!

Farnham and the Connecticut Barbour Collection

Any researcher doing Connecticut genealogy research, especially prior to around 1850 has probably heard of the Barbour Collection. They are the Vital Records for Connecticut.  Over the years, I have found my ancestor, JOANNAH RUTTY, wife of HENRY FARNHAM listed in two different sources, and both correctly named the Barbour Collection.

In an attempt to explain, I will show copies of the two sources for the above individual. When I first began researching this line, I used the Barbour Collection at the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Library (NEHGS). This collection consists of about 110 maroon bound books, one for a town or city in Connecticut, but not all towns are in this series (photos taken at NEHGS).

Within these books, the surnames are in alphabetical order, then the names, indicating whether it is a birth, marriage or death, and followed by the volume and page number.  Unfortunately, when I first began sourcing this name and using the book for Killingworth, Connecticut, I just used the page number (Pg. 31) from the book as the source. The page I used is shown below, and Joannah's name has an arrow by it.

So imagine my dismay when a new series of the Barbour Collection was published, about eight years ago, not all at once, but one or two books at a time.  These blue books are set up the same way as the original maroon ones, but may contain more than one town.  I think there are 52 books in all. 

They are much smaller and easier to read. Surnames are in bold and all-capped, everything is cleaner, no crossed out typo errors. However happy I was to see these new books, imagine my surprise when I realized my past sourced entries weren't agreeing with the new books. Not only did I now have a huge number of Killingworth sources incorrect, but I probably had thousands for the entire state! My new JOANNAH FARNHAM'S death is now on page 34 not 31. And, there was a correction to her death date, no longer was it August 22, 1689, it was now August 11. The death date was easy to change, but not for all the incorrect page numbers. 

What did I do about all the thousands of incorrect page numbers?  I did what I should have done in the very beginning.  Instead of the page number, I manually went back and put in the volume and page number for that record. This is another hard lesson I learned, don't assume that the page number is always going to be the same for records.  Another publication may come along with pretty much identical bits of information.  So please don't be like me, but think ahead, and try to find out where the original information was obtained from and  try to use that.

In closing, I was going to discuss the background of the Barbour Collection, but already this is too long. However, here is a photo of the original record; I obtained from the town hall in Killingworth. You can clearly see that Joanna Farnham died on 11th Day of August 1689 (the tape is under her name).

Tombstone Tuesday -- Before and After for Schramling or Scramlin

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I got this photo from, I've had it for over 11 years, and the minute I saw it, I knew I had to locate the tombstone of my ancestor. That was no easy task until I met my friend Sandy in 2001.

Without a cemetery name, I wasn't sure where to begin, so I turned to a message board for Oneonta, New York, and fortunately received a reply from Sandy, who knew where it was. I spent far more time worrying about how I was going to find the cemetery than it took to connect with her. Our corresponding took place during March, and with snow on the ground in upstate New York, she had to wait until it melted before she could go and see it again.  And, I had to wait.  Before long, she made a quick trip and reported back to me with the details.

Once summer came, my husband and I took a weekend research trip to Cooperstown, Canajoharie, Fonda, and Oneonta, New York. We met Sandy in Oneonta, who took us to two cemeteries, where my ancestors were buried.  The first is the of Henry Scrambling.  My photos show a very hidden cemetery, within a grove of trees, I would never have found it, without help.

Henry Schramling was my 5th great-grandfather.

Born:  Bef. 1745, Canajoharie, Montgomery Co., New York

Died:  Bet. February 24, 1808 - June 22, 1810, Oneonta, Otsego Co., New York

This is the same family I wrote about in November, in my Scrambled Eggs post.  Even in the original cemetery photo, somebody wrote the surname as Schramling AND Scramlin.

The 5 photos below were taken by my cousin, Susie Hull on March 6, 2016.

The cemetery as shown by Google Earth.

A DAR Chapter named after my Ancestor

When I worked at the DAR, I had access to many books, including one which was kept in the Human Resources room, for applicants to look at.  After I began doing my research, I decided to look at the book, and saw an article about the Hannah Woodruff DAR Chapter in Southington, Connecticut.  During that time, I was working on research on her line,  oh what joy.  Fortunately, I thought to make copies of a few pages from the book, so now, fast forward to a few weeks ago.  While surfing around, I found the book online, digitized by our friend, Google!

The Hannah Woodruff Chapter was organized on June 25, 1897 and the Charter was dated November 30, 1897.  From the Chapter Site is the following statement:
"It was the unanimous decision of the organizing committee to name the chapter for Hannah Woodruff, a granddaughter of Samuel Woodruff, the first white settler of Southington. Hannah Woodruff married Asahel Newell, by whom she had eight children.  Shortly after her husband's death she married Daniel Sloper, a widower with five children, and they soon had a son. This was Hannah's family when her husband, Captain Daniel Sloper, led the Southington company to the Revolutionary War accompanied by her three sons, Solomon, Asahel, and Mark Newell, and two of her husband's sons, Daniel and Ezekiel Sloper.  Thus, Hannah Woodruff saw six men of her family go off to serve in the Revolutionary Army, leaving her to care for the remaining nine children of their combined families. She certainly was a true patriot and heroine of the American Revolution."

Hannah was my 5th great-grandmother.

On Tuesday, March 2, 2010, I will be posting her tombstone photos for Tombstone Tuesday; however, I'm showing the plaque at the back of her stone (see 1st picture).  Unfortunately, her stone is completely washed out and almost unreadable, fortunately, the 1901 book mentioned herein, showed the tombstone and transcription.
Chapter sketches, Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution By Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution  1901, 531 pages.  Pg. 305-314  (great index, and search box to check out  Connecticut names).

Visiting the Boston Athenaeum where my 2nd great-grandfather worked

These beautiful red, leather doors greeted me as I was about to enter the Library where my great, great-grandfather worked.  For many years, I've known that he was one of the first librarians of the Boston Athenaeum, but whenever I went to the city, it was always to go to the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Library (NEHGS), and not the Athenaeum.  When the Boston Globe newspaper had an article about changes at the Boston Athenaeum, I thought I finally needed to go and visit it.  Then, a new book Culture Club: The Curious History of the Boston Athenaeum by Katherine Wolff was published and I knew I had to get the book.  Even better, the author was going to give a free lecture to discuss her book and I knew exactly when I was going for my visit, to see the Athenaeum and hear a lecture the same day!  I even managed to get to NEHGS in the afternoon.

Arrangements were made for me to have a tour of the 2nd floor to see where my ancestor, William Frederick Poole would have worked. My tour was given by the archivist who was wonderful, and guided me around and showed me several things, especially things that would have been there between 1856-1869. It was fun putting myself back in that time era. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed, but just imagine "a wide array of newspapers and artwork, too, with paintings by Gilbert Stuart and John Singer Sargent and sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Houdon." Lots of sitting rooms, 500 newspapers and periodicals, lovely rugs, children's Library, and peace and quiet.

Wikipedia has a lot of information about the Library, pictures, and mention of my ancestor.  

My Poole lineage began in Massachusetts in 1632, but my father was born in Evanston, Illinois. And, Evanston was also the death location of William Frederick Poole. Not until I began doing genealogy did I learn of their early Massachusetts roots, and that was a wonderful surprise.

William Pabodie and Elisabeth Alden

William Pabodie

Born:  1616 England

Died:  December 13, 1707 at Little Compton, Newport Co., Rhode Island

His wife was Elisabeth Alden, daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens.  Her gravestone photos were among the first I posted. William's tombstone is next to Elisabeth's (the large monument).

They were my 9th great-grandparents.

They are both buried at the Old Commons Cemetery, Little Compton, Newport Co., Rhode Island

Keeping Track - Part 1

Not all genealogy buffs use genealogy software. That has become rather apparent to me this past week. For example, one friend of over 35 years called to discuss our rather close line through Nathaniel Foote of Connecticut. (We are 9th cousins, twice removed.) She has been doing genealogy for a very long time, and is a DAR member, and she doesn't use genealogy software.  In our long telephone conversation from Kansas to Massachusetts, we verbally over her line. I'm sure there are many others out there who are like her, who have written their lineage on pieces of paper. And two days later, I have been in contact with the person who left a comment to my blog Tombstone Tuesday - Van Woert. He is new to genealogy, and he doesn't use genealogy software.  How do they keep track?

So how are these genealogy friends going to keep track of everything, without software? I sure hope not like I did when I first began! About eight years ago, I taught a number of beginner genealogy classes. And beginner it was. No software was used by the students. So I devised a method that they could use to keep track of their ancestors. The page below is one of the two methods I came up with.


In the locations where I have ancestors, I have listed the states in alphabetical order, then the county, then town/city. Within the towns, I then listed my surnames in alphabetical order, followed by their spouse and what personal event occurred there, such as birth-marriage-death, with the dates. I entered all my surnames this way, and kept the pages in a binder. For years, I would bring the binder to libraries. Why? It was the easiest way to see what families I had in each state and in each county. Many genealogy libraries have books shelved by state, and then county, so this method made it a breeze to go down an isle (say Vermont) and see those I have for that certain area (Vermont).


If your library doesn't have open stacks, but instead, you need a staff member to get your books (closed stacks), you first have to use a card catalog or an online catalog to see what is available. An example, search Massachusetts, then Middlesex County, then Andover to see what the library has in their holding.  Having all your states and towns typed and printed out, makes it easier to go down your list against the catalog.


I do not use this system any more; I have way too many names, towns, towns, counties and states. However, if somebody is just beginning out, I think this is a easy and free method. Of course, this only pertains to locations. What if they don't have a computer, a person can easily hand write everything.  My form for names will be shown tomorrow. The example below was done in MS Word, but you can now use Google Docs or any other document software. (Further down, is the page in a pdf.)


ESSEX COUNTY
ANDOVER  (all the below had residency in Andover)


William Ballard / Grace Berwick—He died July 10, 1689. She died April 27, 1694.
Joseph Ballard / Rebeckah Rea—He born abt. 1645, married Nov. 15, 1692, and died Sept. 29, 1722. She died Feb. 11, 1739
Josiah Ballard / Mary Chandler—He born June 22, 1699, married Aug. 7, 1721, and died Dec. 26, 1780. She born March 8, 1701 and died April 3, 1779.
Josiah Ballard / Sarah Carter—He born August 14, 1721.
Simon Bradstreet / Anne Dudley—She died September 16, 1672.
Thomas Carter / Ruth Phelps—They married Dec. 25, 1706. She born June 1, 1684.
Thomas Chandler / Hannah Brewer—She born Oct. 25, 1630. He died Jan. 15, 1702 and died Oct. 25, 1717.
Thomas Chandler / Mary Peters—He born Oct. 9, 1664. They married May 22, 1686. She died July 21, 1753.
Andrew Peters / Mercy Beamsley—They married 1659 poss. here. or Ipswich. She died Nov. 5, 1726. He died Dec. 4, 1713.
Edward Phelps / Elizabeth Adams—They married 1651 here or Newbury. She died May 4, 1718 here or Lancaster.
Edward Phelps / Ruth Andrews—They married March 9, 1682.
Maj. Nathaniel Wade / Mercy Bradstreet—They married Oct. 31, 1672. She born 1647.

President Bill Clinton, Photos one Morning on a Walk by the White House

William "Bill" Jefferson Clinton

President Clinton going back to the White House after a jog.  It was a warm but very cloudy day.

Got a huge hug, and then I pulled out my camera for these pictures.  We met at a walkway intersection. I probably saw him 15 times at various locations during my days working in DC.

Note:  Little security, but this was 1994.

Bill Clinton information from Wikipedia.

Trying to Help a Friend

Boott Mills, Lowell

When my friend Joyce wrote me the other day, to see if I could check out a surname from whatever sources I could, I thought, hum, this is going to take a while and I'll do it after dinner. Well, of course, we never wait, we all want to check these things out immediately. It took five seconds, and I had a wealth of information for her.  Why is this sentimental to me?  It is because I love the history of Lowell, and unfortunately I don't have any ancestors from this city I now live in.  To be able to help an old friend in hopes of her finding a connection between the GALUSHA and her CARTY lines was right up my alley.  It has been so much fun, and I felt I had to write about it.

A little background.  Joyce and I met through another genealogy related site four years ago, and at one time, we discovered we had our ancestors living in Missisquoi Co., Quebec, Canada.  She knew I lived in Lowell, Massachusetts, so when she found out that her ancestor had connections to the GALUSHA family and there were some letters possibly in a Museum or Historical Society in Lowell, she asked for my help.  Later I discovered she already had copies of the transcriptions, not the originals.  All the originals were donated to the Lowell National Historical Park (NPS), just a few miles from where I live.  If you click on the NPS site, you can see how the collection was arranged.  These are important papers, and at some point, I hope to go to the National Park Service and see if I can see an original letter.

From the above NPS site is a listing of Galusha Family Relationships

The Galusha Family Collection (1820 - 1900), describes a group of letters and other items collected by J. Lynwood Smith of South Hero, Vermont, and donated to Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts.  To me, these letters are important for several reasons.  Among them, they show a glimpse of life in Lowell, during the Industrial Revolution, a true family genealogy preserved for their family and for all historians interested in this era.  I especially enjoyed seeing names of locations familiar to me.

A transcribed letter follows, however, there are many listed, and can be viewed at: Galusha Family Letters and the Names in the letters and topics of interest - spreadsheet is useful in following the family.

"WRITTEN BY AMY MELENDA GALUSHA1

TO HER PARENTS REV. WILLIAM AND POLLY GALUSHA
Lowell Oct 9 1851

Dear Parents

I received your letter and was glad that you were doing so well as you are I hope that you will not freeze to death this winter if you cannot get into the new house try to fix up the old one so that you can live in it comfortably as possible do not be discouraged for the Lord will take care of you I wish that you would write how much you owe Erastas Bard and I will try to send you the money fore I suppose if he is sick that his family will need it I shall send you ten now and will send you then more if it is necesary when I am paid I am a going to get me one dress and a cloak which will be enough for the winter I have hired a seat in the Methodist Church with Christopher and Viola C. has experianced religeon since he came here and has united with the Worthen Street M E Church on probation he is very much engaged in religeon he likes here very much and so does Viola she says she would give anything if her Father could but hear Mr Colyar preach for he would not know how to contain himself I do think myself that he is the smartest Methodist preacher that ever I heard preach why Eldar Meeker could not hold a candle to him I do not know as I shall hire a seat after this quarter which will continue till the first of January although C and V are very anxious that I should it is very pleasant wether here this fall Viola says she is not sorry that she has come and thinks she shall stay a year very contedly she was rather homesick at first but I have not heard any more of that since C. came he is very attentive and sits her up evry Sunday night. on the whole I think he is a very good little fellow I begin to like him better than I used to when we went to school together. Viola has got so that she can run four looms quite decently Mr Cooper says that she gets along remarkbly well she makes about two dolers per week I never learned a girl with so little trouble as I did her she is very smart and will make a first rate weaver Oh how lonesome I shall be shen she is gone home. I hope that Arvilla will learn as easy as she did I hope that you will not let Arvilla race around with ... this winter I think it is bad enough for her to go with boys of her own age I hope that Lele will go with her himself it will look much better than the other way but I must stop and get a light tell Lele that if he will kill gray squirrils enough to make me a boa I will five him five dollars
Charles Miner is married 
John French and Rhoda called to see us to night they are well Rhoda had not heard of Janes wedding she thinks that Jane has done first rate she was very much displeased to think they tried to sheviree her Mrs Burgess is going to california and John says he shall go in the spring I believe that I should rather be in Janes place than Rhodas. I pity her but you must not say a word. tell Janette when you see her that she ought to write to Rhoda for she feels rather bad. give my love to H and L and aunt Fany and Nancy and aunt Olive and all the folks. do not let Sall see nor hear from this letter if you can heple it I guess you will laugh when you see how I have written help just as I used to say it what I was a little baby O how many little things will take place to bring back the memory of the past “Memory thou restless spirit why break my rest.” I cannot live one hour without thinking of the happy days when I knew no care when the voice of my parents was my
only guide and a Mothers bosem was the only recpticle for my childish griefs. I have been more homesick since I came back this time that I have been before since the first summer that I was in the place but that is almost done with I hope I do not think that I shall come home again till I come for good and all I wonder how you stood through the day after I came away I thought that you would cry after we were gone for all you braved it out better than I did but you was so afraid you should appear like Aunt Irena that you did not shed a tear until I was gone but if you got along without all day you did better than I did Viola and I have laughed a great many times over what pa said when he came down stairs that night after we had such a tremenoeous uprore as bad as ever they had at Ephesus about the godess Diana I cannot help thinking how ridicolously I was treated in my own Fathers house by some of my relation but never mind them we can live without them and shall probably have to give my best respects to all the friends and neighbors who shall enquire for me Lucina Ganes went from here the next week after we come down she could not get work to suite her and she went to Springfield she has writen to us once since she left she was sewing then and was expecting a chance in the mill soon it was just as I expected almost a thing imposible to get a place for a new hand in the mill I was glad that there did not any more girls come with me but Lucina did not blame me or at least she said she did not I tried all that week to get her a place and Ann Fay tried her best to get her in but did not succeed but I shall write for Arvilla when I want her tell Lele he must write to me and let me know how he gets along with the house


Amy Galusha"

Seeing President Jimmy Carter

President Jimmy Carter

The above was taken by me when he was in Boxboro, Massachusetts four months after winning the Presidential election. There was a lot of news about his prior visit, first to a Clinton, MA church for a town hall meeting in the evening of March 15th and the next day at the Sheraton Boxboro motel. My sister hoped to see him, so we drove 40 minutes to get there and joined a small gathering of people. Once inside the great hall, everybody began chanting his name. I managed to get very close, but the press had the clout to get in front of me. I remember they had to get a chair for him. I think it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to meet the public before his official meeting.

Sorry about the blur, but I was a bit nervous. Later that year, I was working in Washington, DC, a block away from the White House and I saw him a few times at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree.

The below photo is by a professional and was used in the local paper.

Photos taken on March 16, 1977 in Boxboro, Massachusetts

Tombstone Tuesday - Solomon and Hephzibah Prentice

Old Burying Ground, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Below are stones of my ancestors.  They were my 7th great-grandparents.

Solomon Prentice

Born:  September 23, 1646, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Died:  July 24, 1719, Cambridge, Massachusetts

(Much better photo at Find-A-Grave

His wife, Hephzibah Dunton

Born:  About 1653

Died:  January 15, 1741/42, Cambridge, Massachusetts

You can see the footstone (above) behind the headstone.

Cemetery is across the street from Harvard University.

Looking Forward

Photo by Joe Beine and used with permission.

I absolutely love the above photo and thought others would like seeing it as well.  It caught my eye when he posted it to facebook.  For other great photos, please view his site at Flicker.

My plans for February are not as aggressive as they were for January.  I'll write an article about the Barbour Collection, Connecticut researchers might like this, and reports about two lectures, on different days, I hope to attend, as long as the weather cooperates.  My first topics to write about when I began blogging in October, may finally get written as well.  Nothing too long or complex, but I hope entertaining.


A few people seemed to enjoy my last Wordless Wednesday with the photo of Ansel Adams.  For the month of February I will post photos of celebrities and/or various autographs.  Two presidents, a football player and a singer.


I am going to devote time entering photos into Find-A-Grave.  It needs to get done.  The process takes a long time, because I need to scan the photos, write cemetery information on the back, enter the information into the site, as well as put the photo into my Family Tree Maker.


Since the Winter Olympics will be on television for about two weeks, I will be spending a lot of time watching the events; therefore I will be cutting back on the posts.


I was hoping I was related to Scott Brown, the new Senator from Massachusetts, but I haven't found a connection yet.  However, Princess Diana and I share the same common American ancestor, and I think I will do a post about that.


Randy's Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, wasn't so fun for me.  I struggled to make the Ancestral Calendar of Birthdays (now changed from January to February).  If an entire name is in All Caps, it is a direct ancestor of mine.  Now, I hope I can remember how to do it for March, but if I do, this will be a part of Looking Forward every month.  Randy thanks for the information.  But, I need to work more with it, since it didn't pick up everybody born in February.