The Peabody Institute, Peabody, Essex Co., Massachusetts -- (See The Resources for Genealogists)

This beautiful building was built in 1853 and because of my small connection to it, I was anxious to visit it on May 20, 2023. This is the 12th library I wrote about this month.

The Peabody Institute, Peabody

82 Main St, Peabody, MA 01960

Phone: (978) 531-0100

https://peabodylibrary.org/

I saw this photo on the wall as I entered. The library opened in 1853.

The reference desk is above and multiple displays on the main floor are shown below.

Because it was a perfect weather day, I had to take three below photos of the library.

While walking around I could see where the old building met the new building.

I love roaming around. Nobody ever sees me.

I was happy to see a sign for Level 3 and the listing of the Fitch Poole Room. Fitch was my 2nd great-uncle. He was the son of Fitch Poole and Elizabeth Cutler. A photo of Fitch and his wife's burial sites are below.                

While on the third floor, I just saw lots of shelves of books. Then I went toward the window and saw an office below, between the old and new buildings. I later learned that was where the archivist works. She was at lunch and only sees by appointment. I hope another time, I can meet with her, especially since I hope to move to Peabody.

From one window I was able to see my car below.

 

From: New England Historical Geographical Record. vol. 28: 486 (Oct. 1874).

“Poole, Fitch, Esq., librarian of the Peabody Institute, Peabody (late South Danvers), Mass., at his residence in that place, Aug. 19, 1873, aged 70. He was b. at Danvers, June 13, 1803, and was a son of Fitch and Elizabeth (Cutler) Poole, and a descendant of the Pooles of Reading, being the seventh generation from John Poole, of that town, one of its earliest settlers, through previously Cambridge and Lynn; through Jonathan,2 Jonathan,3 Zechariah,4 William,5 and Fitch,6 his father, above named. His immediate ancestors on both sides were distinguished for literary tastes, and his maternal grandfather, the Hon. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. (Yale, 1765), was the author of several scientific treatises which gained for him the notice and friendship of the eminent men of his time. The tastes of Mr. Poole led him to cultivate literature even amidst the distractions of business, to which early in life he was devoted. He was educated at Bradford Academy, in the class with the Hon. Daniel P. King. On the establishment of the Institute and library in his native town by George Peabody, of London, he accepted the congenial post of librarian which he held to the day of his death, and his valuable aid in historical research has been often acknowledged by writers whom he assisted by his accurate judgment and untiring zeal. He possessed a delicate sense of humor, a keen love of scholarship, a lively imagination, and an accurate knowledge of books, all of which gave to his pen a racy power and an admirable mastery over the subjects which from time to time he presented to the public. Among his principal contributions to the press, were: ‘The Lawrence Conant Letters,’ ‘Lament of the Bats,’ ‘Legend of Gallows Hill,’ ‘Old Bell Tavern,’ ‘The Haunted Steeple,’ ‘Olden Times,’ ‘Old Meeting-Houses,’ ‘Deacon Jone’s Brewery,’ ‘Devil’s Dish full,’ ‘Deacon Simpkin’s Butchery,’ ‘Giles Corey’s Dream,’ ‘The Librarian’s Epitaph,’ ‘Political John Gilpins,’ ‘Death and von Vulcan,’ ‘Polk’s Bridge of Sighs,’ ‘Polk’s Trial for Murder,’ and a hundred other quaint and humorous pieces suggested by ancient traditions, historical researchers and passing events.

He repeatedly declined a nomination to the state senate, and other county offices tendering him by his fellow citizens, and rarely accepted public trusts, though he served two terms as representative to the legislature, was for many years trustee of the public schools, and Postmaster of the town.”

C. H. P. (Charles Henry Poole)*

(Charles Henry Poole (my gg-grandfather) was a brother to Fitch.

The local History Resource Center for the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody MA has these records from 1854-2018, see link below. 

http://Peabody Institute Library Records, 1854-2018www.noblenet.org/images/pea/Peabody%20Institute%20Library%20Papers%20Finding%20Aid.pdf

Fitch Poole Jr. and his wife Mary Ann Poor are buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, MA.

Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts

Harmony Grove Cemetery

30 Grove St, Salem, MA 01970

Phone: (978) 744-0554

Date formed: 1840

Website: https://www.harmonygrovesalem.org/

From the website is this write-up, "At nearly 100 acres in size, Harmony Grove Cemetery has avenues and paths that meander through its over 21,000 monuments or burial markers, and rare and unusual plantings and tree specimens. Facing the entrance to the cemetery is the Blake Chapel, a beautiful gothic-style structure built in 1904 of Cape Ann granite."

I've visited the cemetery a number of times but not the office. My first visit was in 1999 and the most recent was this past May. I had a lengthy conversation with the staff of two and asked a lot of questions. When you scroll down in this blog you will see printouts I obtained. I was very curious to learn if they were online. The answer was no, but they were sure it would happen in the future. The other day, I called the office to see if the online project was completed, because I wanted to share the information. However, they think it might be as long as a year. When it happens, it would be a reason to celebrate.

Main Entrance

The Blake Chapel is above and to the left is the business office on Highland Avenue (side view), shown below.

Main door, looking out. Office photos below.

The two women staff were most helpful to me. I didn't expect what they gave me. After bringing out two large binders (shown above), they showed me the listings of all those buried in this cemetery. I asked to see a listing for Poole, which turned out to be quite lengthy. I have eight direct Poole names and two Daniels names listed. I was very lucky when they offered to make copies of the pages for me. (Shown below.)

 

Back entrance to the office, and parking area.

 

I Recently Received Photos of My Poole Grandparents, They Loved Cats

Clarence F. Poole   1891-1957

Photo dated 1940

Marjorie Adams Poole   1891-1953

Photo dated 1940

Photo of their house taken about 1935.

(Google Nov. 22, 2023)

Grandparents lived here 30 years.

Both of these pictures are of my grandmother holding my father in 1919.

Wow is All I can say, Imagine Finding Clues this Way

Family Photo of William Frederick Poole.

February 4, 1882 lasted two days for my gg-grandfather, William Frederick Poole, as this is how long it took him to fill out a New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) application inviting him to be a corresponding member of the society. In their four required pages, he wrote about his life's work, including listing 17 published works (with full titles and dates), and gave six generations of his ancestors "in direct line, as far as is convenient to do" from his father who was born in 1763 to his 5th great grandfather, John Poole who died in 1667 in Reading, Massachusetts. Why didn't I find this 25 years ago?

When I began my genealogy hobby in 1989, I naturally started with my parents as I knew my father was born in Illinois. A few years later and generations too, the Pooles were born and living in Illinois. It wasn't until January 1998 at the NEHGS (in Boston) I discovered his huge obituary in the New York Times and learned he was born in Salem, MA. This is the very best thing a genealogist could wish for, learning this ancestor's roots were nearby. The very next day I drove to Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem. MA where he and his parents were buried.

One of the strangest things was I wasn't looking for anything on him because a month previously sent the last of my Poole information to a first cousin. However as luck would have it, with a few minutes on the AmericanAncestor's web page, I put in his name with his birth date and the word Evanston, Ill. The first thing that appeared was a total surprise. Fortunately, this Society kept and scanned all their applications, and this one was dated 1883. You might consider using this source. I just read "This database contains over 11,000 pages of applications and correspondence and 121,000 searchable names."

With my ancestor living near Chicago, I would never have thought his information would pop up in Boston!

Below are three sections:

I found this information on the American Ancestors (NEHGS) site at:
https://www.americanancestors.org/

The citation and all pertinent information are below.

"Citation

NEHGS Membership Applications, 1845-1900. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2020.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2758/rd/58871/33-co1/1427893480

Description

American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is America’s founding genealogical organization and the most respected name in family history. Since its founding in 1845, NEHGS has had a written membership process that typically includes written biographical and genealogical information about each new member. As part of the 175th anniversary of its founding, American Ancestors has indexed the membership application forms and correspondence for those who joined between the years 1845 and 1900. The first member was former President John Quincy Adams, and the database contains membership information for several other Presidents and other famous individuals.

The 52 volumes in this database are organized by the year that the member joined NEHGS. The records indexed in this database are generally between the years 1620 to 1900, though some will be found outside this range. The most common record types are Birth, Baptism, Marriage, and Death. There are also many Residence records, as they include where the member lived when they joined NEHGS. This database contains over 11,000 pages of applications and correspondence and 121,000 searchable names.

Please be aware that the genealogical information submitted with these applications was not reviewed or verified for accuracy.

Keywords: AAUnique"

 

First and Third Cousins Sharing Their Old Family Albums, and Look What I Got!

My first Poole cousin shared many of the photos with me in 2021.

In December 2001, I received an email from a rather young researcher inquiring if I was related to a particular member of his Poole family. David found me through a Rootsweb Gedcom and provided quite a bit of information about his line. We emailed back and forth several times and he reluctantly shared some photos of his line, which I am showing at the end of this post. It wasn't his album and the owner wasn't keen on his sharing. David and I are third cousins once removed. When family trees online came into our lives, I often thought about these pictures, but always kept them private. We didn't correspond again until I wrote him recently, fortunately, he had the same address and email.

In the past few months, I have been talking genealogy with my two first cousins, one living in Illinois and the other in Colorado. I met the Illinois cousin when she was about three in 1953 at our grandfather's house. Several years ago, she and her husband photographed a large family album, with about 100 small pictures all glued on! Each page was sent to me, but it was put aside until now since I did no genealogy last year. I knew it would be a big project because I couldn't read some writing and it was difficult cropping individual photos out of groups of 4 or more tiny pictures.

This year through a discussion with my two cousin sisters, I learned they were going to get together and plan to talk about their genealogy. Since I am a first cousin, with a lot of information, and they have the album, I told them I would send quite a bit of information to them before they meet. They don't use a database like my RootsWeb. I'm not sure either about FamilySearch.org or the other genealogy companies, I won't name them.

I realize these albums and the story will mean little to anybody else, but it is important to me to share what I have and what they have, and our relationship with each other. The lineage chart was done in order to figure out their relationships for this post. I wish more writers would do lineage charts to help readers follow their complicated family stories.

William Frederick Poole and his wife Fanny (Frances) Gleason. I can't tell which of the two photos of him is the oldest. I think he is younger than the below picture. He is one of my most famous ancestors. I've written a lot about him, but here is Wikipedia's information.

There are many photos of William, see my post The Aging of My Great-Grandfather. Now I have a few additional photos to add.

Clarence Frederick Poole was my grandfather. His wife was Marjory, her name and ancestry aren't shown, because I didn't want anything about my father shown. I have photos of two grandparents (Clarence and Marjory), two greats (Charles Clarence Poole and Anna Poole), four great-grandparents (Charles, Mary, William, and Frances), and two great-great-grandmothers (Eliza Cutler Poole and Elizabeth Wilder Poole).

I believe the oldest photo is of Eliza Cutler Poole, dau. of Manassah Cutler (Wikipedia article) who was born on 4 July 1779 and died on 22 April 1854. Mother of Charles Henry Poole.

Mary Abbie / Abby Daniels Poole (wife of Charles Henry Poole) Born 5 Feb. 1825. Below, she is with her granddaughter, Frances.

Nurse Frances and the Flu was a popular blog post of mine, it might be of interest to you.

I'm not sure if we ever met, but I was lucky to inherit my great aunt's dining room table when my mother died in 1990. Dorothy died in 1965 in Florida. Her death was noted in my diary which I still have.

Charles Henry Poole went to West Point. He married Mary Abbie Daniels, her father was Stephen Daniels of Salem, MA. (There are six direct lines of Stephen Daniels in her line.) He was a civil engineer and surveyed San Diego, Roxbury, MA, and Long Island, MA. Also wrote the 250+ page manuscript of the Poole family located at the New England Historic Genealogy Society, and I copied it, and then a friend transcribed it for my blog.

Charles Clarence Poole married Annie Poole, they were my great-grandparents. He was a patent lawyer.

Annie Poole and Charles Clarence Poole, perhaps before they married. At least some names were clearly written with dates in this album.

My Great-grandmother, Annie Poole married Charles Clarence Poole in 1884.

Clarence Frederick Poole, my grandfather. He was a patent attorney like his father, Charles Clarence.

I feel this is a sweet page. The pictures at the upper right show of my grandmother Marjory Adams Poole holding my father in 1919. I have the original photo, so apparently, copies were made. The photo below was enlarged so you could read why these pictures were taken.

Below are photos from the second album. I selected just a few to show.

The Family of William Frederick Poole, his wife Fanny, daughters, Alice and Anna (their husbands), son William Frederick and grandchildren.

Elizabeth Wilder, mother of William F. Poole

Born 1801 in Keene, New Hampshire

Died January 1859 in So. Danvers, Massachusetts

Two photos of Alice Poole, born in 1855. She was a sister of Annie.