GENEALOGY DAYTRIP

Now that I'm in better shape and the same true for Ping the Wondercar,
I decided to try to get out of the apartment more on my days off and do
some genealogy legwork. Today's inaugural adventure was a trip down
to West Bridgewater to try to find some of my ancestors' final resting
places. I'd made a unsuccessful try at this last Thursday but had left the
Googlemaps I'd printed out at home but this week I brought them with
me and set out optimistically.

After a short stop at CVS in Whitman to get some prescriptions filled
I continued down Rte 18 to East Bridgewater and then cut across to Rte
106 in West Bridgewater. I turned left on Howard St, drove past the
West Bridgewater Historical Society building, and then turned right onto
River St. According to the directions, the parsonage of my ancestor
Reverend James Keith should have been a little ways down on the right
but I drove to the end of River St without spotting it. A quick turnaround
in a driveway and I went back down the way I'd come, and there now on
my left, was the building. 

 

I pulled over to the side of the road and took a picture with my digital
camera(which once more insists it's October). It was a beautiful, warm
afternoon. The parsonage seems to sit in the middle of farm property,
with a barn on the left and a field with cows seeking shade under some
trees to the right. Across the street, on the other side of my car, a flock
of Canadian geese were foraging along the banks of a small river. Except
for the occasional car passing by on the blacktop road, it could have been
a typical summer day from Rev. Keith's time in the 17th century.

The building was closed so I resolved to find out when it might be open
and come back to see the inside. Then I drove on down River St, crossed
the bridge by the Canoe Club and continued on until I came to the Alden
Cemetery on my left. I parked across the street on Cross St and walked
over to the graveyard.

I was dismayed by what I found. While most of the markers are upright
and intact, some of them are beginning to lean over or sink into the grass.
And with the exception of perhaps fifteen or twenty markers, most are
unreadable. Inscriptions have worn away from the weather or obscured
by fungus. The stonewall at the front is so close to the first row of
markers that it surely must run over the graves themselves.The grounds
were obviously cared for and the grass mowed, but I had to wonder how
long  it would be before all the gravemarkers were unreadable and Alden
Cemetery was no longer cared for.

I have no ancestors at Alden Cemetery(that I know of, anyway) and I'd
intended to try to find the graves of Reverend Keith and  Deacon Samuel
Edson but it was already late afternoon and I knew the traffic on Rte 18
would be getting heavy. So I decided to call it a day and return to find
them another day.

So ended my first genealogy daytrip of the year.

COMING UP FOR AIR

I'm still working on adding my Ellingwood cousins to my Ancestry
family tree, and I find myself happily spending hours entering
names and dates, looking for records on line and adding my
sources as I go along. It's easy to become lost in the hunt as I
find information that has me asking questions, such as why can I
find evidence of a person that was supposedly married only
twice was actually married three times? Or does the cause of
death "stricture of the esophagus" on a New Hampshire death
record refer to a medical cause or hanging? And where did some
of the unusual names come from that were given to the children?

As I said, it's easy to become lost. I tell myself I'll go to bed as
soon as I finish an entry, but then there's the children to enter, and
then their children, and there are images of records to download.
And this could go on for quite awhile, because the Ellingwoods
were a prolific bunch, and besides my New England kin there were
some who migrated to Michigan and California, and some who
emigrated to Canada before the Revolution. I then can move on
to other lines in my ancestry, the Barkers, Dunhams, Ames, and
all the others.

I think only other genealogists, along with historians and archaelogists,
would consider this as fun. But it's like putting together a giant jigsaw
puzzle, and it's fascinating. This has been what has filled my evenings
for the last month, and every once and awhile I come up for air.

And then I dive right back in again.

IN MEMORIAM: TERRY THORNTON

Everynight when I come home from work, I put dinner in the oven and
then read my email while I wait.Tonight's email brought the sad news
from Dorene Paul that our fellow geneablogger Terry Thornton has
passed away.

While I was saddened, I have to admit I had been expecting this ever
since Terry posted the video of the bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace"
next to Terry's gravestone. I don't know if he'd already been given a
terminal diagnosis or if Terry suspected he was "near his time". I do
know he'd been in pain and was using medication for it, even though
he didn't seem happy about it:

"I can now control the pain by making myself enter a drugged 
state.  And it is not a state of ecstasy."

I  would guess that Terry didn't care for having his mental processes
dulled along with his pain.

Terry was one of the geneabloggers who befriended me when I started
blogging. It was a smaller community back then and we exchanged
emails about a commemorative plate he'd found with a New England
connection. We shared an interest in poetry and we both ran memes
on our blogs that explored the connections between poetry and
genealogy. Terry also had a humorous side which he displayed
sometimes under the alias "Willy Puckerbrush" in posts on Janice
Brown's now defunct "Cow Hampshire" blog.

But when I think of Terry, the word that comes to mind is
"passionate" because that is what he was about the things he believed
in, whether it was free speech or genealogy. Back in January, he
wrote the following in his introduction to Robert Graves' poem "To
Bring the Dead to Life" on his Hill Country HOGS Blog and it serves
as an inspiration to me in writing about my family history:

"Those of us who spend part of our efforts writing about individual 
ancestors long ago dead know the difficulty of accurately telling 
their story. Much of recorded family history is just a listing of who 
begat whom, when and where, and where and when they all were 
buried ---but we all know on occasion some writers can bring the 
dead to life as those gifted writers produce accounts to show, 
indeed, that Graves is correct --- that to blow on a dead man's 
embers can ignite a live flame and from that ignition ancestral 
story becomes alive. Certainly those of us writing in this field 
should attempt to ignite those embers --- but that task is much 
more difficult than merely describing the process.


That is why I've selected Graves' poem, To Bring The Dead To Life, 
as the poem to start the new year. I think his words, especially those 
of the first five lines, should be a challenge and an ideal. As I 
continue my puny attempts to bring life to the family and local 
history I'm recording, I certainly will keep Graves' words in mind. 
And I invite you to accept this as a challenge in your family history 
writing for 2010 --- to bring the dead to life by using words to fan 
the embers of those long dead bones and let the resulting flame 
illuminate their life and times."

Rest in peace, Terry. You will be missed.

CHARLES O. ELLINGWOOD 1845-1864

While going through the process of entering Ellingwood family
information from Florence O'connor's book to my Ancestry.com
family tree, I have come across entries that have piqued my curiosity.
I always keep in mind that Florence did all her research the old
fashioned PC (pre-computer) way and didn't have the online resources
I use today available to her, so I try to find what I can and fill in the
blanks, so to speak.

One such entry concerns Charles O.Ellingwood, son of Isaac Harris
Ellingwood and Columbia Briggs and nephew of my ancestor Asa
Freeman Ellingwood. In the book, Florence says:

"Their oldest son, Charles born 1845/6 died at the age of 19yrs. in 
Kentucky during the Civil War." (p37)

I read that and wondered where and how he died. Was he killed in action
or did he die of illness? I decided to see what I could find out.

First I did a search for Charles on the FamilySearch Record Search site
but other than an entry for the !850 Federal Census when Charles was
five years old I found no information. Next I went to Footnote.com and
entered "Charles O. Ellingwood" and "New Hampshire". I found an
image on "The Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index" that
shows that his mother, (Columbia Briggs Ellingwood)received a payment
of $188.31on 1Oct 1866.It also lists Charles' military unit as Company
E in the 9th New Hampshire Infantry.

From there I went back to Ancestry.com and clicked on "Search historical
records". The second entry on the next screen was from "U.S. Civil War 
Soldier Records and Profiles" and from that I learned that Charles was
18 years old when he enlisted on 21 Dec 1863 with the rank of private
and that he was mustered out on 13Mar 1864 at Camp Burnside,
Kentucky.

"Mustered out"? Was that an euphemism for "died"?

There was a link to "American Civil War Regiments" for the 9th New
Hampshire Infantry which included a regimental history written by
"GEORCE L. WAKEFIELD, late Sergeant Company C, Ninth Regiment,
New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry." Apparently the regiment had been
depleted by illness during the final months of 1863 before Charles enlisted
and depending on travel conditions he probably didn't actually arrive until
sometime in January when the regiment had been issued the new
Springfield rifles and was once more on the move. On Feb 27 it was
ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee  to escort an artillery unit but I don't
think Charles was with them. I found his name on a list of the regiment's
soldiers and finally verified that "mustered out" meant he had died of
disease at Camp Burnside.

I went back to the "historical records" page and the third and fourth
entries for Charles were from "U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006".
Charles was buried on the same day he died and his remains now rest in
Section B Site 661 of the Mill Springs National Cemetery in Nancy,
Kentucky.

There's a photograph of Charles online, but out of respect of the owner's
copyright I won't post it here. It shows a young man like so many others
before and after him posing proudly in his uniform, ready to go off and
fight for his country. A few months later, he was gone.

Charles O. Ellingwood is my first cousin 3 times removed, and now, as
Paul Harvey used to say, I know the rest of his story.

THE BEST LAID PLANS, ETC.

I fully intended to complete a series about my Revolutionary War
ancestor Elisha Houghton but here it is August 1st going on August
2nd and I have a long way to go to before it is done. Part of the
reason is that I really want to research the battles he took part
in a bit more and I underestimated how long that might take.

The other part is what I've come to think of as my Ellingwood
Project, entering the information from Florence O'Connor's
book on my Ancestry.com tree. There are just so darn many
of them and I want to have sources posted for as much of it
as possible. I've also found information that wasn't in the
book, and I'll be sharing some of the stories I've pieced
together about my Ellingwood cousins with you here.

So, with that in mind, I now plan to finish the Elisha Houghton
series by the end of this month.

Honest.

Really!

THE COMING GENEALOGICAL DARK AGES? PT3

Besides his warnings about records access and threats to record
preservation, Curt B, Witcher spoke about how the electronic
age has changed genealogy records on a personal level, citing the
decline of old fashioned letter writing as an example. He also
pointed out emails are part of a family's living history that should
be preserved. He made the following suggestions:

"To counteract the trend, Witcher encouraged people to write. "Write as 

you never have written before." This writing can be about memories, 

describing a family photograph or center on themes such as a family's rituals.

After something is written, Witcher said to share it with others. Otherwise, 

he said "many of those precious pieces of living history go into landfills."

Witcher said to publish — locally to family or even on a website such as 

werelate.org. Just be careful with personal information of living individuals. 

The object is to create a record that will be there for descendants."

Now we geneabloggers have been doing this for sometime now.

But Mr Witcher's remarks have been food for thought for me as to
what else I can do. I can post more about my personal memories.
and about when and where a photograph was taken. I can keep a
paper copy of my posts (well maybe not the silly ones) along with
the copies on cds, For all we know, some new technology could
come along to replace computers, so a paper record of my posts
might actually outlast the cds .

I'm considering putting my posts into book form, using a program
such as Blurb. And I'd like to bwecome proficient enough to
perhaps write an article on my West ancestors good enough for
publication for the NEGHS magazines or for inclusion in their
library.

As I said in the first post about Mr Witcher's speech as reported
by Michael De Groote, it's generated a lot of discussion.Whether
you agree or not about an approaching genealogical Dark Ages,
it certainly has made me for one think seriously about the state
of genealogical and historical preservation today, and about
what I could and should be doing about it.

THE COMING GENEALOGICAL DARK AGES? PT2

So what can we do to help preserve genealogical and hustorical
records and information and hopefully drive back the "genealogical
dark ages: that Curt B. Witcher warns us about?

I think we need to start with educating ourselves. How much do
we know about where records are kept in our cities, towns,
counties and states? Do we know how well preserved they are and 
if they are well protected against possible water damage? Have they
already been digitized. If not, are there any plans to do so? What
sort of funding is allocated for their upkeep and is it sufficient to the
task? Is that funding in jeopardy and is it a ballot question in an
upcoming election? Who are the people responsible for their
upkeep and what is their outlook on the importance of record
preservation?

We also need to keep informed about threats to records,
cemeteries and historical sites, not just in our own area but in
others as well, and when we hear about those threats, we need
to speak out! An example of this is how fellow geneablogger
George Geder alerted the geneablogging community to how a
Florida town planned to build an industrial park at the site of
an African-American cemetery. Another example is how
genealogists have organized over the Michigan State Library
issue. On a local level, join in the debate when an issue comes
up on the ballot concerning funding or preservation of historical
sites and libraries. Don't be complacent and think that the funding
will pass because people must realize how important it is to save
the site or fund the libraries. People are more concerned about 
keeping their taxes from rising than funding repairs for the old
courthouse with the leaky roof over the records room. Write
letters to the editor and attend meetings to tell people why they
should spend their tax dollars on that courthouse!

We can't assume that everything is going to be digitized in time.
We can't hope that a band of LDS angels will swoop down on
our towns and preserve every last record forever online. And
by the way, computer files can be lost and destroyed as well.
so we still need to see that the original records are preserved
even after they are digitized.

Mr Witcher also addressed how the electronic age has affected
history on a personal level, and I'll address that in the final part
of this discussion.

THE COMING GENEALOGICAL DARK AGES? PT1

There's been a bit of discussion today on my wall on Facebook
fueled by this link to an article in the Mormon Times entitled "The
coming genealogical dark ages" by Michael de Groote, which is
about a speech given by Curt B.Witcher yesterday at Brigham
Young University's Conference on Family History and 
Genealogy. Mr. Witcher was spoke about how many records,
archives and tombstones are in danger of disappearing:   

"Libraries are limiting hours and public access to materials. Courthouses 

are engaging in "radical sampling," where they take a few samples of 

large collections of old records and destroy the rest. "This is going on 

now,"  Witcher said.

Witcher gave several specific examples of the problem. The Ohio State 

Library gave away all its genealogical materials to a local library. The 

Library of Michigan was getting rid of genealogical items that are not

directly related to Michigan. The Boston Public Library is contemplating 

making its vast collections of newspapers inaccessible to the general

public. Seventy-nine percent of reporting U.S. Federal agencies believed

their records were at high or great risk of being lost.

This seemed a bit exaggerated to some, but not to myself and other
Facebook friends from the genealogical community. Besides the
examples given by Mr. Witcher, we only have to look at the recent
headlines about the neglect at the cemetery in Chicago and at
Arlington National Cemetery. And many of us have had instances
in our own research where the loss of the 1890 Federal Census or
World War 2 service records to fire have left holes that cannot be
filled?

The point can be made that digitalization of the records will prevent
such loss, but not every vital record is being scanned all over the 
country. In the present political and economic climate getting the
necessary funding to perform such a task is difficult when cities
and towns are already cutting back on their police, fire, and school
departments. Boston, a city once renowned for its library system,
is talking of closing some of the neighborhood branch libraries and
limiting the hours of those that remain open. The newspaper archive
at the Main Branch library may be moved to a less accessible
location to make room for a map collection. And in some places,
old records are stored in older buildings where they are imperiled
by leaky roofs, broken water-mains or electrical fires. I've seen
several news stories this past year of instances where this happened.

Sadly, many cities and towns are more concerned with saving money
than in saving their history.

The question is, what can we do as genealogists and historians to
help preserve the records and historical landmarks that are so
important to us?

To be continued....

AMANUENSIS MONDAY: THE PENSION FILE STATEMENT OF ELISHA HOUGHTON Pt 2

This is the second in a series of posts from the Revolutionary War
Pension Request file. Amazingly enough there already were
preprinted government forms and this was one of them. The
preprinted parts are in regular print while the filled in words
are italicized. 



"District of Massachusetts,ss1

On this day Sixth day of July 1820:Personally appeared in open
Court before the circuit Court of Common Pleas, begun and holden
in Lenox ,within and for County of Berkshire ,in the Western Circuit,
on the 4th Monday of June 1820, the same Court, being a Court
of record for said Circuit; preceeding according to the course of the
common Law, with a jurisdiction, unlimited in point of amount,
kereping a record of its proceedings, and having the power of fine
and imprisonment,

Elisha Houghton aged 71 years, resident in Adams in the County
of Berkshire aforesaid, who being first duly sworn, according to
law,doth on his oath declare, that he served in the revolutionary
war as follows; that he enlisted in the company commanded by
Captain Brown in the regiment commanded by Colonel Bigelow
in the line of the State of Massachusetts on the Continental
establishment. That his original declaration is dated May 6th 
1818 and that his pension certificate is numbered 4,189.

And I do solemnly swear, that I was a resident Citizen of the
United States, on the 18th day of March, 1818, and I have not
since that time, by gift, sale or in any manner disposed of my
property, or any part thereof with intent, thereby to diminish it,
as to bring myself within the provisions of an Act of Congress
entitled "An Act to provide for certain persons, engaged in
the land and naval services of the United States, in the
Revolutionary war," passed on the 18th day of March, 1818,
and that I have not, nor has any person in trust for me any
property or securities, contracts, or debts, due to me, nor
have I any income, other than what is contained in the schedule,
hereto  annexed, and by me subscribed-schedule of property,
necessary clothing and bedding excepted-to wit:

1 Tub and firkin --------.33
1 Iron pot--------------- -.75
1 Salt mortar-------------.12
1 Tea kettle--------------.75
1 Sugar box of Plates---.19
1 Tin tumbler ------------.6
1 Old Pail------------------.13
                                  ­­­­­­­­­­­_______
                                    2.33

That I am by occupation a Labourer that I am not able to labor,
that the number of my family residing with me is none.
(signed) Elisha Houghton                                              

Sworn to, and declared on the Five day of July 1820, before the
said Court                         
Parker L Hall (illegible) pro tem

I Parker L Hall Clerk of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas
within  and for the County of Berkshire do hereby certify, that the
foregoing oath and the schedule thereto annexed, are truly copied
from the record of said Court; and I do further certify,that it is the
opinion of the said Court, that the total amount in value of the
property exhibited in the aforesaid schedule is two dollars and  
thirty three cents.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed 
the seal of said Court on this ninth day of August 1820.

Parker L Hall   }Clerk of the Court for the County of Berkshire."                        

I AM A GENEEK

Last week I mentioned  my current project of entering information
on my Ellingwood line onto my Ancestry.com family tree. I use my
late cousin Florence O'Connor's book"The Ancestors and 
Descendants of Asa Freeman Ellingwood and Florilla(Dunham)
Ellingwood" as my guide and then find the sources and add the
citation to my tree. It's become almost an obsession now to get all
the names of the deceased Ellingwoods posted. The trouble is,
there's so darn MANY of them.

To give you an idea, my great grandmother Clara Ellingwood was
one of Asa and Florilla's eleven children, who went on to have a
total of fifty five children by my count so far. And then those
children went out and in turn produced more Ellingwoods. So
I've been doing a lot of adding of names.( My admiration for
Florence O'Connor has increased when I think of how she did all
this research without the use of computers.)

In fact, the women who married my male West ancestors all came
from large families. Arvilla Ames was one of thirteen children.
Louisa Richardson was one of nine. It seems a good many of my
ancestors took the Biblical instruction to "be fruitful and multiply"
quite seriously, and I couldn't be happier about it. There's enough
people and material in my genealogy to keep me busy for years
in both blogging and researching.

Which leads to my title. There are geeks and now "gleeks". And  
so since I am a geneablogger, I guess I'm also  a "geneek"!

A WALK AT TWILIGHT2

I'm trying to take my after dinner walks at least four times a week,
on my two days off and the days when I get out of work at 6pm.
That way I can cook and eat dinner and be out walking by around
8pm. The other three days I get out at 7pm, and whether I walk
depends on how long it takes to make dinner.

Tonight I started around 8pm. The weather was perfect, very
comfortable and surprisingly the mosquitoes haven't made an
appearance as yet. There were even fewer cars than usual tonight
and I made pretty good time, except for my stop to take some
pictures of the baby bunny who let me get within 4 feet of him.
I made it down to the turn and back in about a half hour but I'm
more interested in building up endurance than setting a land
speed record here.

I don't take a radio or music player with me. It's nice just to
walk and hear nothing but birds, crickets, and the train whistle
off in the distance. Over than the rabbits and the occasional
passing car there was no one else around which was nice, too.
When I got back here I sat outside on the patio for a bit. One
the neighbors upstairs across the way was sitting outside
smoking and the only other thing moving was the very large
rabbit I named Thumper grazing on the other side of the
meadow. I sat out there for a good half hour and relaxed.

Once, long long ago, when I was a kid, I'd sit out on the
porch on a summer afternoon or early evening and read
while I waited for the ice cream man to come around. Or
I'd lay on my bed in my room with the windows open and
read there while listening to the Red Sox game. Kids back
then didn't have all the electronic distractions they have now
and I think we had more "quiet time" as well.

Anyway, I'm enjoying these quiet afternoons reading on my
patio and the after dinner walks. And tomorrow night I'm
going to see if there's enough light out there to read in the
evening as well.

AMANUENSIS MONDAY: THE PENSION FILE STATEMENT OF ELISHA HOUGHTON

 I mentioned in an earlier post that I would be exploring the
Revolutionary War service of my ancestor Elisha Houghton.
I'm starting off with his testimony from his Pension Request 
file as given to Justice Samuel Putnam :


"Commonwealth of Massachusetts
(“District of” crossed out) Berkshires  of Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts .
On this sixth day of May 1818 Before me the subscriber one of 
the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of said Commonwealth  
personally appears Elisha Houghton aged sixty eight years
resident in the town of Adams in said district who being by me
first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the 
following declaration in order to obtain the provisions made 
by the late act of  congress entitled `an act to provide for 
certain persons engaged in the land and naval services of the 
United States in the revolutionary war ‘ that the said Houghton
enlisted as a private in May 1778 in the town of Harvard in the
state of Massachusetts in the company commanded by Captain
Joshua Brown of the fifteenth Regiment of commanded by Col. 
Timothy Bigelow.That he continued in the service of the United 
States  until May 1781 when he was discharged from service 
at West Point in the State of Newyork. That he was in the 
Battles of  Bunker Hill Stillwater Monmouth and Newport and 
that he is in reduced circumstances and stands in need of the 
assistance of his country for support and that he has no other 
evidence now in his possession of his said services and
relinquishes all claim to any other Pension but what he now 
asks for.

Sworn to and declared before me this day and year aforesaid
Berks.ss                                                        S. Putnam Just
May 6 1818                                                 S.J. Court of Massts


I Samuel Putnam one of the Justices of the aforesaid Court do 
certify that it does appear to my satisfaction that the said Elisha 
Houghton did serve in the Revolutionary war as stated in the
preceding declaration against the Common enemy and I now 
transmit it the preceding and testimony taken here before me to 
the Secretary of the Department of War. Given under my hand 
at said Court.

S. Putnam Justice S.J. Court of Massachusetts"



Bunker Hill is squeezed into the document and appears to have been
added later. Elisha's signature is written above the words " the year
aforesaid.

We'll start exploring the facts of the statement next.

I posted this today to take part in "Amanuensis Monday" which is a
blog meme started by John Newmark at his TransylvanianDutch blog.
John's definition of an amanuensis" is "a person employed to write
what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
In which case, Samuel Putnam was Elisha Houghton's amanuensis and
I in turn am his!

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: I WRITE LIKE....

There's a website that's become popular on the Internet of late and
Randy Seaver has made use of it for this week's Saturday Night 
Genealogy Fun entitled "I Write Like...". This is how it goes:


1) Find something that you have written that you are really proud of -
the best of your work. Do an Edit > Copy of it.

2) Go to the website http://iwl.me/ and Paste your text into the
waiting box.

3) Tell us which famous author you write like. Write it up in your own
blog post, in a comment to this blog, or post it on Facebook. Insert
the "badge of honor" in your blog if you can.


Okay, I decided to try three examples of my writing:

First I used a paragraph from "When the World Changed" :
 

I write like
Margaret Mitchell

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Well, fiddle de dee!


Next I tried a paragraph from "Aggie", a post about my grandmother:

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

And last, I tried a piece of one of my fantasy stories, "The Altars 
of Deshkar":

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

So I write like Margaret Mitchell or James Joyce?  So why aren't
I rich and famous?

THE CASE OF FRED R. ELLINGWOOD

One of my ongoing genealogy projects is entering the information on
my Ellingwood ancestors and relatives onto my Ancestry.com tree
from Florence Evelyn O'Connor's book "The Ancestors and 
Descendants of Asa Freeman Ellingwood and Florilla(Dunham)
Ellingwood".  I've started with the descendants first because there
are so many of them and there are sources and images of records
that aren't available for earlier generations. Some of the people
mentioned in the book have passed away since it was published and
so I've been able to update the book's information with the records
on Ancestry. In a few cases I've been able to fill in some missing
pieces.

One such gap is concerns Fred Ellingwood, the son of Walter Fred
and Jane S(Brown)Ellingwood. He would have been the nephew of
my great grandmother Clara Ellingwood. In her book, Florence
doesn't have much information on him:
"...born in Upton, Me.about 1884; married Helen Wood and lived 
in Lynn,Mass. where he worked for General Electric Co.; he died in
Lynn, Mass." (p.59).

Florence got a lot of her information from Ellingwood family members
but this entry is so small that my guess is that Fred didn't make it
back up to Maine often, if at all, and he fell out of touch with the
rest of the Ellingwoods. So I entered this into my Ancestry tree
and then searched for records.

The first thing I found were the WWI and WWII Draft Registration
Cards for one Fred Roland Ellingwood, born 18Apr 1884. But
there is a discrepancy between the two as to Fred's place of birth.
On the WWI form, he said his birthplace was Upton, Oxford, Me.
where he  registered. But in 1942 when he registered in Lynn,
Essex, Ma. at the age of 58, he says he was born in Cambridge, Nh.
That puzzled me until I remembered his mother Jane had been born
in Cambridge as well. Perhaps he was born in his grandparent's home?
I still haven't found a birth record to settle on which birthplace was
correct although Fred gives it as NH on the Federal Census as well.

Next I found a record of his marriage to Helen Wood in the Maine
Marriages 1892-1996 Collection. They were married on 22Aug
1918.

The Federal Census for 1920 finds a Fred R. Ellenwood and his
wife Mary at 34 Neptune St in Lynn, Essex, Ma. Here another
discrepancy appears. They are living with a Michael O'Connor and
his wife Mary, and Helen is listed as Michael's daughter. So was
Fred's wife Helen Wood or Helen O'Connor?  There was also a
Kathleen W. Ellenwood, age 6, listed as Fred and Helen's daughter.
Since they were married only two years before, I speculated that
Helen was married once already, and that Kathleen was her
daughter by her first marriage.

That theory was confirmed with the 1930 Census. Fred and Helen
were living at 21 Childs St. in Lynn and Kathleen, now 16, is
listed as Kathleen Wood, stepdaughter.  By then there were also
three other children, all girls, Ruth, Jane, and Claire. Fred's job
description is given as "packer, shipping room,  elec. appl. factory".
They would still be at that address when WWII broke out.

That's all I've been able to find so far about Fred and his family.
I'm hoping that someone who is related to  Fred's daughters will find
this post and fill in the rest of the blanks!

Fred R. Ellingwood, b. 18Apr 1884, Cambridge Coos, Nh(?) d.
unknown m. Helen O'Connor on 22Aug 1918 in Maine.

Three Children:
Ruth b @1920
Jane b @1923
Claire b @ 1924

One stepdaughter:
Kathleen Wood b @ 1914

WHAT I DO

There's a meme going around the blogging universe that Thomas
MacEntee introduced into the geneablogging community which
asks the musical question, "What do you use in doing what you  
do?" The what in this case is the technology and tools we use
in our genealogical research.

Here, for what it's worth, is my list:


* Hardware: Toshiba Satellite L455 -S5975 laptop. 223GB of which
   I've only used 40 so far, Intel Celron 900, 2gb DDR2 RAM, 250GB
   HDD. (I have no idea what anything other that the 223GB means) .
   I also have a separate floppy disk drive.

* External storage: umm..2 flashdrives at 2GB each which I'm
   going    to replace with larger ones soon, plus numerous CDs,
   DVDs and yes, floppy disks!

* Online storage: None yet

* Backup: See External Storage.

* Firewall: Norton Internet Security

* Virus protection: See firewall

* Spyware: see firewall

* File cleaner: none

* Printer: HP Officejet 5610 All in One (Printer, Copier, Scanner,
   Fax)

* Phone: yes..2..one cell, one landline.

* Mobile media: None

* Music player: umm....one cassette player. One cd player, one
  stereo set (cd, cassette, and radio) and one portable radio/dual
  cassette player

* Car audio: Am/Fm/Casette player. Standard GM issue.

* eBook Reader: None as yet.

* Browser: Firefox

* Blog: Blogger with a backup "mirror site" on Wordpress

* RSS: Google Reader and Feedburner

* FTP:  The racer's edge..oh wait, that's STP. None.

* Text editor: Notepad or Wordpad. I use both.

* Graphics: none.

* Screen capture: Snipping Tool. Still learning how to use it.

* Social media: Facebook, Maine Genealogy Network  
* Social bookmarking: Nope.

* Social profile: Nope

* URL shortener: TinyUrl.com

* Office suite: Microsoft Works. It was free. it came with the computer.
   And it was free

* E-mail: Gmail and Yahoo

* Calendar: The one on my cell phone.

* Accounting: Nope.

* PDF generator: Nothing yet, but I'm looking into it.

* Genealogy database: PAF, RM4, Ancestry.com and Rootsweb.
   Call me Mr.Insecurity.

* Genealogy tools: My wit, charm, and devilish good looks.
   Ok, make that wit and charm...

* Other tech stuff: None at the moment!

THE 2010 ELLINGWOOD FAMILY REUNION

I won't be able to attend this year but I had a great time last
year meeting and talking with my Ellingwood cousins. I hope
to make it back again next year:


"Mark your calendars!!!!!! 
August 14, 2010. At Jerry Ellingwood's home 12 Harrison Rd.,
Norway, ME 04268. Begin gathering after 10am. Bring basic 
(sandwich, meat to cook) for yourself. One item for the "share" 
table. Can be salad, dessert, chips, favorite family yummy. Drinks
are provided, condiments, grill. Games for the young at heart, prizes
for the oldest, youngest, and who traveled the furthest. Party boat 
for casual cruise around the lake. Swimming from the boat or at
the nearby public beach. There is an ever-growing amount of
information and pictures to browse. We encourage you to bring 
your annual updated information to add to the items on display.
Mostly we want to see you and meet you if you are a first-timer!"

The first reunion was held back in 1921, and has continued since then,
except for three years back in WW2!    

FEDERATION OF GENEALOGY SUMMER CAMP IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

Lori Thornton sent this along from Pat Oxley. I realize Knoxville,
Tennessee is not in New England, but helping kids learn about
their family history is a subject that we all should support!


"For Immediate Release
July 7, 2010
KNOXVILLE–If your kids are looking for something fun and unique
to do this summer, an upcoming free genealogy camp may be just the
answer. The FamilySearch Kids Camp will be held on Saturday, August
21, 9 a.m. to noon, at the Knoxville Convention Center in conjunction
with the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ national conference.
This free event requires advanced registration.

The FamilySearch Kids Camp helps young people develop an
appreciation for their family history and better understand why it is
important to know about one’s ancestors. The Camp is geared to
youth 10 to 14 years of age.

The event will involve a variety of activities, including several designed
to help Boy Scouts earn their Genealogy Merit Badge. Kids will learn
how to  interview relatives and document families in their family tree.
There will be interactive workshops on the importance of gathering
records and keeping journals. and participants will use computers to
find information about their ancestors.

“We are excited to offer this fun, educational opportunity to youth in
the Knoxville area,” Federation of Genealogical Societies President,
Pat Oxley, said.  “Kids are naturally inquisitive and love the personal
discoveries that can come from the camp’s activities. It is a fabulous
opportunity for the youth of that area.”

Lisa Oakley, the Curator of Education for the East Tennessee
Historical Society, says the Kids Camp is a unique event.

“The East Tennessee Historical Society recognizes the importance
of children connecting with their past, and I can't think of a better
way to do that than for kids to learn how to collect and understand
their family history, which becomes critical to remembering your
roots in the future,” Oakley said.

 “Everyone has ancestors and it is incredibly rewarding to learn about
them,” said Cherie Bush of FamilySearch, who is organizing the
Genealogy Kids Camp. “Knowing more about where you come from
can help both kids and adults better understand themselves.”

Oakley plans to bring her own daughter to the Kids Camp.

“I am excited for her to learn the steps for collecting her family history
in an age appropriate and productive way,” Oakley said. “After all,
when mom or dad tries to tell them how do something, it is always
looked at as being not quite correct. To have FamilySearch provide
this workshop, I know she will hang on every word. I will look
forward to working together on our family tree!”

The FamilySearch Kids Camp event is free, but participants need to
register in advance. To register, please e-mail kidscamp@fgs.org
with names and contact information.  For more information, please
visit https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Kids_Camp "

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: WRITE A GENEALOGY CLERIHEW

It's Saturday night and time for a Saurday Night Genealogy Fun
Challenge from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings! This week
Randy asks us to wax poetic..er..clarihew ...on our genealogy:

"Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:


1) Write a Genealogy Clerihew (and what is a "clerihew" you 
ask? See Jim Smith's post today for more details and his  
clerihew (briefly, a clerihew is a four-line irregular poem or 
verse that follows an AABB rhyme scheme. It is named for 
the birthday of Edmund Clerihew Bentley the inventor, aka 
writer, aka poet."). If you're feeling especially creative, write
two or more!
2) Show us your genealogy clerihew in a blog post of your own, 
in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook comment or 
update. C'mon, dazzle your readers and friends with your poetry
and creativeness."


Those of you who've read this blog for some time now know how
much , for better or verse, I love poetry. So:


My luck indeed is very good
In researching my Ellingwoods
And when I totally have done `em
The next line that I'll do is Dunham!

I swear that I will do my best
in working on John Cutter West
He's certainly a tough brickwall
But someday he is going to fall!


I thought I might have one or two
Ideas to write a clerihew
But as you readers now can see,
I ended up instead with three!

THE SOURCE OF MY DILEMMA IS THE SOURCE

I'm trying to correct errors from my early days of genealogy research
starting with citing sources on my Ancestry tree. Now I have the
usual Ancestry.com sources cited, but I'm adding a citation to my
Ellingwood line and I'm not entirely happy how it's coming out.

Much of my Ellingwood research comes from Florence Evelyn
O'Connor's book The Ancestors and Descendants of Asa Freeman
Ellingwood and Florilla (Dunham)Ellingwood.which was selfpublished
in West Paris, Me. The edition I have is from 1979. I'd hoped the
citation would come out looking like the examples in Evidence
Explained but they didn't. (I mean, I want them to pass footnote
Maven's high standards!)

And there's the problem of a repository. The book is out of print,
very hard to find, and I obtained this copy from one of my Ellingwood
cousins who had Florence's permission to print out a three ring binder
edition which Ellingwood family members can purchase. How do I
cite that? I don't want to post my cousin's personal information
(address, phone number) and endanger her privacy.

Do any of my readers have suggestions about this?

ELISHA HOUGHTON: "ON GUARD", "ON COMMAND" AND BUSTED BACK DOWN TO THE RANKS!

Back in November of last year I wrote my first two posts here about
my 5x greatgrandfather Elisha Houghton, including one which told how
he lost his rifle in the aftermath of Bunker Hill. Looking over his service
record and the muster rolls for his regiment, it struck me he was a
colorful fellow and I decided to do a series transcribing his Pension
Request file. But the busy Christmas season at work and then my
illness at the start of the year postponed that.

Then last week I was thinking about what I might want to post about
here for the 4th of July and research once more piqued my interest in
Elisha.First there were the battles he took part in, and secondly there
was the fact he'd twice been a sergeant, and twice he'd been broken
back down to the ranks. Third, his pension request file is relatively
small compared to some of the others I have (My 4x great granduncle
Benjamin Barker's file, for example, has 86 images if I include the
service records and muster rolls.) and I thought I could write about it
in only a few blog entries.

As Robert Burns said, the best laid plans of mice and men so often go
aglae.

So I began by looking over the service records, and then the muster rolls,
and this is the information they gave me in chronological order of Elisha
Houghton's military career with the Massachusetts 15th Regiment of the
Continental Army in a company commanded by Captain Joshua Brown:

1May 1777  enlists for 3 years
1Nov 1777 appointed Sgt
10Dec 1777  Sick at Albany.
Jan 1778 reduced to ranks as Pvt.
21Feb 1778 On command at Albany  Jan 1778
5Mar 1778 Sick in Albany Feb1778 Valley Forge
Apr 1778 Sick in camp March 1778 Valley Forge
2May 1778 On Guard Apr 1778 Valley Forge
2Jun 1778 Sgt May 1778 Valley Forge
25Sep 1779 reduced to ranks as Pvt.
1May 1780 discharged at"Camp near Robinson's Farm(?)"
(This doesn't include his previous service with the militia at Boston.)

Looking at this raised a question I hadn't considered before. I knew
what"on guard" meant  and of course "sick", but what did "on
command"mean?Not finding much information on my own I asked my
friends on Facebook if anyone knew what the term meant. I received
answers and suggestions from genealogist and non-genealogist friends
alike, and I finally decided that the best explanation was that Elisha
was either on a special detail or detached duty from his company
during those periods he was "on command".

There is of course more to explore about Elisha Houghton then I
originally thought, and that's what I'll be doing in honor of him and my
other Revolutionary War ancestors during this month of July.

THE 95TH EDITION OF THE CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY IS UP!

Well, Jasia has done it again over at her Creative Muse blog. She's
just published the 95th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, with
contributions from twenty-six geneabloggers, This was the annual
swimsuit edition with pictures and stories of summers past and lots
of good writing.

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be:

"Scrapbooking Your Family History! Here's a real challenge for you... 

Who's up to the task? Create a scrapbook page on any theme that 

suits one or more of your vintage photos. If you don't feel very artistic, 

lay a few photos down on a piece of colored paper, add a few captions, 

take a snapshot of it, and voila! You have yourself a digital scrapbook 

page! If you enjoy creating traditional scrapbook pages, take a picture 

of one you've done, and that works too. If you're up for creating

something more artsy, buy a kit or make your own. Go for it! If you've

never done scrapbooking before, this is the opportunity you've been 

waiting for! If you're an experienced scrapbooker, dig in and enjoy the 

creative process! The deadline for submissions is August 1st. 

Thirty submissions will be accepted. "

"Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of 
Genealogy using our carnival submission form."

Sounds interesting! I'll be looking forward to seeing what folks
come up with for this!

WITH THANKS TO MY ANCESTORS

 I first published this list a few years back, but in honor of the 4th
of July I'm publishing it again. We know about Washington and
Knox and Lafayette, but we should never forget that it was the 
unknown citizens who served under them who fought and bled
to win us all our freedom.

The italicized names are those whose Pension Files I've found.
I've already shared some of their stories here and plan to do so
with the rest, starting with Elisha Houghton next,



 
Jonathan Barker Jr.
Was a Minuteman from Methuen Ma with the rank of Sergeant. He
was at Lexington and Concord with his sons Jonathan (see below)
and Samuel. Served in Captain Samuel Johnson's Company in
Colonel Titcomb's Regiment for 2 months in 1777 in Rhode Island
and then with Nathaniel Gage' Company in Colonel Jacob Gerrish's
guards from Dec 1777 until April 1778 guarding the captured
troops of General Burgoyne.


Jonathan Barker 3rd
Enlisted on 19 Apr 1775 in Continental Army, Capt. John Davis'
Company, Col. James Frye's Regiment, in the Massachusetts line
for 8 months in Cambridge, Ma. At the conclusion of the term, he
reenlisted for another 3 months in Capt John Allen's Company,
Colonel John Waldron's Regiment, General Sullivan's Brigade in
the New Hampshire Brigade at Charlestown, Ma. He then enlisted a
third time in June 1778 at Methuen, Ma., joining Captain Samuel
Carr's Company, Col. James Weston's Regiment, in General Lerned's
Brigade at White Plains, N.Y. and serving for another 9 months.


John Ames
Was a Minuteman under Capt. Asa Parker on April 19th, 1775. He
subsequently enlisted in the Continental Army under Captain Oliver
Parker, Col. William Prescott's Regiment and in the Brigade that
was commanded in turn by Generals Putnam, Lee, and Washington.
and served for 8 1/2 months.


Asa Barrows
 A member of the militia from Middleborough , Ma. (south of
Boston) in the Company of Captain Joshua Benson, in Colonel
Cotton's Regiment, and General William Heath's Brigade for
8 months during the siege of  Boston.  In December 1776 he
joined a militia Company  commanded by Captain Joshua
Perkins and marched to Barrington, R.I. and was stationed there
for 6 weeks. In July 1780 he again enlisted, this time in a militia
company commanded by Captain Perez Churchill that marched
to Tiverton, R.I.


Moses Coburn
 Moses Coburn got into the War late and by reason of being
"hired by a certain class of men in the then town of Dunstable
to go into the Continental Army in the summer of  1781." When
he reached Phillipsburgh in New York he was placed in Captain
Benjamin Pike's Company, in the Regiment of the Massachusetts
line commanded by Lt. Colonel Calvin Smith in which he served
for nearly two years until it was broken up. He then transferred to
the Company of Judah Alden in the Regiment commanded by
Colonel Sprouts until his discharge in 1783.


Samuel Haskell
Samuel served in Captain Joseph Elliott's Company in Colonel
William Turner's Regiment and then under Captain Hezekiah
Whitney in Colonel Josiah Whitney's Regiment.


Amos Hastings
Amos  responded to the Lexington Alarm as part of Captain
Richard Ayer's Company and Colonel William Johnson's Regiment.
He later served in Captain Timothy Eaton's Company in Colonel
Edward Wigglesworth's Regiment and was at the taking of  the
British General Burgoyne at Ticonderoga.



Elisha Houghton
Enlisted at Harvard Ma as a Private in May of 1777in the
Massachusetts militia and was at the Battles of Bunker Hill
and Stillwater. He then enlisted for three years in the infantry
company commanded by Captain  Joshua Brown in Colonel
Timothy Bigelow's 15th Regiment of the Massachusetts line.
and took part in the Battles of Monmouth and Newport and was
at Valley Forge. He twice was promoted to Sergeant and  twice
was busted down to the ranks.


Amos Upton
Responded to the Lexington Alarm and marched there from his
home in Reading. He later joined the militia company commanded
by Captain Asa Prince as an orderly sergeant and then enlisted
for eight months in the Continental Army under Colonel Mansfield
He was at the Battle of Bunker Hill and was discharged in October
of 1775.


John Griffith
Enlisted in 1781 as a Matross (he swabbed out the barrel of the
cannons after they fired, or so I've been told) in Captain William
Treadwell's Company  in Colonel John Crane's Artillery Regiment.



Reuben Packard
A Sergeant in Captain Josiah Hayden's Company in Colonel Bailey's
militia. They marched to Lexington at news of the Alarm. He also
responded several more times as a Minuteman for a total of nearly
8 months duty.


Jonathan Abbot
Served as a Sergeant in the Militia under Captain Henry Abbott
and responded to the Lexington Alarm

Besides those direct ancestors, these other relatives fought
in the Revolution:

Moses Barrows, brother to Asa Barrows.

Samuel, Jesse, and Benjamin Barker, sons of Jonathan Barker,
Jr. and brothers to Jonathan Barker 3rd.

James Swan, brother in law to Jonathan Barker 3rd.

A TRIP TO THE ABINGTON LIBRARY

I took a walk further down Lincoln Blvd today to take care of some
business at the Town Hall and then decided to walk next door to the
Town Library and get something I haven't had in forty years or so:
a library card.

This is the third location for the Abington Town Library since I first
moved into town back in the 1960's and it was built in 1997. It is a
beautiful building with a soaring beamed ceiling, plenty of light and
the shelved areas running off to either side. You can see pictures
here at the library website .

After I filled out my application and obtained my card I took a walk
around the stacks. The fiction stacks are on the left of the mainroom
but I visited the nonfiction stacks to my right first to see if the
19th century local history books I recalled from years ago were still
there, and they are. They include some books on Maine and New
Hampshire, and Massachusetts colonial history as well, all of which
could be very useful to me in my genealogy research. There were
some old genealogies in the low reference shelves running down the
center of the main room that bear exploring also.

I finished up with a quick look at the fiction area. Alas, the sf and
fantasy selection was sparse! I'll have to will what's left of my own
hardcovers to them but that's many years in the future.

I saw a lot of books that I itched to take out today but most of
them are fairly old and I was on foot today. The library does sell
a book bag and I'll purchase one next trip there which probably
will be next Thursday. I'm torn between walking there which is
good for my health or driving which would mean I could bring
my laptop and do some reading and research right there.

A tough decision but either way, I can't lose!

I've had a bit more to say about this over on my book blog,
"East of The Sun, West of The Moon"

A WALK AT TWILIGHT

I took an after dinner walk tonight down Lincoln Blvd past my old
alma mater Abington High School. Strange to call it "old". It was
barely open a year when I started there as a sophomore but
that was 46 years ago now. I guess we both qualify as old. There
was no traffic on the street and I only saw two cars during the 20
minute walk down to the turnaround and back. The only other
living things were some birds and a very small rabbit who seemed
unafraid and let me get within a few feet of it.

Or maybe it was just frozen in terror.

The side of the road across from the school is a morass of bushes
and trees overgrown with vines. There were some small berries, red
and black, but I didn't touch any. In all that mass I'm sure there's
poison oak, sumac, or ivy somewhere and with my luck I'd brush
up against it. I'll bring the camera next time and take a picture to
identify them. I was pleasantly surprised by not having to wave off
mosquitoes.

With that solid wall of brush and vine any animal further in is
well protected from detection. I wouldn't be surprised if that is where
the doe who showed up outside my bathroom window the other
night came from. A look at GoogleMaps when I came home showed
me there's enough cover in this area of town to hide a whole dang
herd of deer or maybe a moose or three, and we in these apartments
would never know they were so close at hand.

The field behind the high school had a thick mist on it and the sun was
red and looked huge setting. By the time I got back here it was nearly
dark. It was a nice relaxing walk, and I hope to do it more often in the
weeks ahead.

And I'll be sure to bring the camera.

SEARCHING FOR MCFARLANDS ON RECORD SEARCH

Having had such luck extending my German Offinger line a little
at FamilySearch Search, I decided to try my luck again there on
my Irish McFarland ancestors. I have a letter my late cousin
John McFarland that included what he knew about their
grandparents. It included what he believed were the names of
John McFarland and Annie Kelley's parents. I used that
information as my starting point.

According to John, my greatgrandfather's parents were
Michael McFarland and his wife Nora. maiden name unknown,
and he'd been born on 28Nov 1852 in Leitrim Ireland. I
entered the names, year and place in Record Search and selected
"exact, close and partial" as search parameters. There were no
exact or close hit, only over 2,000 partials but none with the right set
of parents for John McFarland. I tried Kiltrustan and Roscommon
next as places of birth.Annie was supposed to have been born in
Kiltrustan. Maybe John had actually been born there as well. No luck.

Setting great grandad John aside for the moment, I turned to Annie
Kelley, born to Patrick Kelley and Anne Byrne on 1Oct 1859 in
Kiltrustan, Roscommon, Ireland. My search on her was much more
successful. I found several exact matches and many partials for Anne's
baptism. Her name was given in Latin as "Annam" and her parents as
"Patricii" and "Annae", but there was a discrepancy with the date
cousin John had given for her birth. The date of baptism is given as
22Oct 1858, a full year earlier. But where everything elses matches up,
I have to assume that cousin John's information was incorrect.

Next I tried finding a record of John and Annie's marriage in Edinburgh
Scotland between 1877  but while there were several partial hits none
of them inspired me with absolute confidence that they were my great
grandparents. Nor did I find any records of Patrick Kelly residing in
Edinburgh at the time of the wedding.

However, further searches on John and Annie McFarland turned up
records of some of their childrens' marriages in Boston, Massachusetts,
including the names of the brides' parents:

Michael E. McFarland married 29Jun 1908 to Mary L. Carroll,
daughter of John J. Carroll and Mary A. McCaffrey.

Francis J. McFarland married 11Oct 1914 to Mary J. Carroll,
daughter of John Carroll and Mary McKeon.

John P. McFarland married  28Oct 1910 to Catherine Curran,
daughter of Patrick Curran and Margaret  McEleney.

Robert McFarland married 24Sep 1913 to Anna Fay, daughter
of John J.Fay and Catherine Murphy.

As you can see, they all married Irish lasses. Perhaps the families
knew each other in Ireland?

It's another avenue of exploration, and if it pans out, I'll write about
it here!

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: WHY DO GENEALOGY?

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun asks this question this
week: "Why Do Genealogy?" :

"1) Think about the question: "Why do I pursue genealogy and family 
history research?"

2) Tell us about it on your own blog post, in a comment to this blog 
post, or in a comment on Facebook."


1. To learn more about those unknown relatives on my Mother's side of
our family.

2. To learn more about the relatives I do know about on my Dad's side,
along with the few who remain a a mystery. I'm talking about you, John
Cutter West. and you, Caleb Coburn's nameless wife!

3. To give me something to do until I figure out how to get my tv to
finally work, and probably even after that!

4. To give me something to talk about at work and bore my coworkers.

5. Finally, because I like it! Try and stop me!

A NEW BLOG

As an avid reader and a bookseller of 21 years now, I have thoughts
and opinions that really don't belong on my geneablog, so I've started
a second blog, EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON. 
I'll also be talking a bit about the music I listen to and enjoy there.

It's just started up, and I can't guarantee it will be deathless prose, but
drop on by, and if you have something you'd like to say about what you
like or dislike about books, feel free to give your opinion!

"CURIOUS INCIDENTS IN KING PHILIP'S WAR" : A BOOK REVIEW

One of my responsibilities at the bookstore is the local interest section,
a perfect match for me considering how my West roots run deep in
Massachusetts. And I have to admit whenever any books come into
the store about Colonial or Revolutionary War New England I check
to see if there is any mention of my ancestors in them.So when Yolanda
Lodi called me at work a few weeks ago about a new book by her
husband Edward Lodi about the King Philip's War I told her some of
my ancestors had fought in it. Yolanda offered to send along a copy of
the new title, "Curious Incidents in King Philip's War", for review
and I spent a few evenings enjoying what I read.

"Curious Incidents in King Philip's War" is a collection of unusual
tales of heroism, savagery, and in some cases the downright strange
during the bloody conflict. Mr. Lodi chose thirty stories taken from old
histories of New England and the war and edited them into short
chapters that are easy to read and enjoyable. There are events and
incidents I have not ever read about before starting from the very first
chapter, which tells how New York Governor Andros tried to take
advantage of the outbreak of the war to seize part of Connecticut!
Another chapter "Angel and Witch" revisits the legend of the Hadley
Angel that Mr. Lodi covered in two earlier books but adds the story
of a Hadley Witch and concludes with a tale about an usual fencing
exhibition. Each chapter also includes his commentary on the particular
event the stories cover and in some cases the veracity of the story.

Although several incidents from Lancaster appear in the book, alas,
none of them involve my relatives,but that didn't stop me from enjoying
it. There's a timeline of the  King Philip's War at the end of book as
well as a biblography of reading material stretching from the 19th
centuryto the present decade. I suspect I will find both useful in my
research into my ancestor's involvement in the war and recommend the
book to those interested in New England colonial history.

"Curious Incidents in King Philip's War"(ISBN 978-1-934400-20-3) ,
compiled and edited by Edward Lodi, is published in softcover and costs
$16.95. It's published by the Lodi's own Rock Village Publishing
Company and you can find it online or at your local bookstore. (They
specialize in books about New England and Yolanda has written some
cookbooks with great traditional New England recipes.) 

Disclaimer: I am a bookseller by trade. I'm recommending a book
you might like to read, and I received a review copy from the 
publishers, a common practice in the bookselling business.

  

SPLOG IS SPLOG

Notice: If you are reading this on any other site other than
"West in New England" at Blogger or my blog
on the "Maine Genealogy Network"  you are reading 
copyrighted material taken from my blog without my permission.

 Well, it's happened again. A commercial website is publishing material
taken from my and other geneabloggers' blogs. One of the unifying
moments in the geneablogging community was a similar incident a few
years back that brought us closer together. It's been necessary since
then for us to remain vigilant and to react immediately when we see
any geneablogger's writing used in such a fashion.

In this case Thomas MacEntee issued a "Splog Alert" over on his
Geneabloggers blog about the Rootsfeed.com site and told us how to
ask them to remove our intellectual property. Since then Rootsfeed.com
has added  a "Contact" function and I've just sent my request through
that. If that fails, I will move on to lodging complaints to the parties
Thomas suggests that we use.

Now, I'm not very good at explaining just how sploggers profit from
what they do, but luckily footnoteMaven is, so check out her post
about it over on her blog here. 


Finally, Thomas suggested in an update that we strengthen our
copyrights with stronger language. If you look to the right on my site
you'll see I've followed that suggestion.

I await a reply from Rootsfeed.com. Until then, I will run that disclaimer
you see in boldface at the top of this post.

UPDATE:

I just read an email from Rootsfeed.com:
 
"RootsFeed is not a Splog.

Your posts have been deleted"

I've removed their name from the disclaimer, but I think I'm going
to leave the rest there for now.

DIGGING UP ALEXANDER AUGUSTUS BARKER

So last night after posting my response to Randy Seaver's SNGF
challenge of "A Prolific Dad" I decided to run the names of some
of my Barker ancestors through FamilySearch's Record Search.
When I put in my the names of my 3x great grandparents
Nathaniel Barker and his wife Huldah Hastings, I found this
surprise:



This is the Massachusetts Death Certificate for one Alexander Augustus
Barker born around June or July 1824 to Nathaniel Barker and Huldah
Hastings who died on 9Oct 1912. Well, this was news to me! I knew of
two sons for Nathaniel and Huldah, my 2x great grandfathers Amos
Hastings Barker and Nathaniel S. Barker but no other children.
Admittedly I hadn't started looking for any other siblings as yet,
but I'd never seen mention of Alexander on any of the places I'd found
Amos and Nathaniel S. If this was one of Nathaniel and Huldah's
children who'd headed south to Massachusetts, he'd done quite well
for himself, since the certificate lists his occupation as "Formerly Asst.
Supt. of  Cambridge Cem". It gives his place of burial as Mt.Auburn
Cemetery which is a beautiful place. I wonder if he'd picked out a good
spot for himself?

I decided to look further for Alexander Augustus Barker on Record
Search. I found a record of a marriage to a  Lydia Jane Hutchins on 4Jul
1855 in Carmel, Me. and the groom's father is listed as Nathaniel. It
seems the newlyweds left Maine soon after for Massachusetts because
they are enumerated on the 1855 Ma. State Census living in Watertown.
Alexander's occupation is given as  laborer. Next I found Alexander
and Lydia listed as the parents of a Frank W. Barker born in
Watertown, Ma. 19Feb 1858. Then on the Massachusetts
1865 State Census in Watertown Alexander is listed as "Supt. Mt.
Auburn Cemetery.  

The 1870 Federal Census shows the Barkers still living in Watertown
with their son and two daughters. Alexander's position is now given as
"Foreman at Mt. Auburn Cemetery" . Sometime before 1880 the
family moved to Cambridge and Alexander is listed as "Sexton in
Cemetery." By 1900 the now 76 year-old Alexander was working as
the cemetery gatekeeper, so I suspect his Lexington Ave home must
be only a short distance away from the place.

Now if I can find a record of his birth to Nathaniel and Huldah, I can
add a gravely distinguished 2x great granduncle to my family tree!!

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: A PROLIFIC DAD

It's Saturday night and time once more for Randy Seaver's Saturday
Night Genealogy Fun. at Genea-Musings! This week's challenge is 
"A Prolific Dad":

1) Determine who is one of the most prolific fathers in your genealogy 
database or in your ancestry. By prolific, I mean the one who fathered 
the most children.

2) Tell us about him in your own blog post, in comments to this blog
post, or in comments on Facebook.

Okay, the most prolific recent ancestor would be my 2x great grandfather
Amos Hastings Barker. He and Betsey Jane Moore Barker had twelve
children, six boys and six girls. But HIS great grandfather Jonathan
Barker had thirteen with Abigail (Mitchell) Barker, But three of those
died in infancy or at a very early age.

The Barkers were a prolific bunch and I really need to start tracing the
lines of my ancestors' siblings.

Pictured below are Amos and Betsey Barker at a picnic celebrating their
50th wedding anniversary along with their children and some grandchildren.

SUKIYAKI SUMMER

The other night I flashed on the memory of a song, and it brought back
memories of the summer we moved out of Dorchester to Abington.
Bear with me here as I explain.

 One of my Facebook friends uses what I believe are Japanese Kanji
characters as part of her screen name. I was looking at something she'd
posted and thought how much things have changed from when I was a
kid in the way Japanese culture has become so popular. That was the
thought that reminded me about the Japanese language song that
became an American hit back in the 1960's. I could remember the
music and in my mind I could "hear" it being sung. What was that song?
I could even recall it playing in the car one day as we pulled into the
driveway of the new house on Bicknell Hill Rd!

And that got me started on the memories. The contractor had left a
small mound of dirt on the front lawn next to the driveway that had
quickly been covered by weeds. In fact the there was a whole section
of the backyard that was basically knee high tall grass and Dad bought
one of those old fashioned weed whackers. You know, the ones with
the serrated blade that you swing like a golf club? Of course, the motor
driven weed whackers were a few years away in the future from 1963.
Guess who got to use that weed whacker club a whole lot?

There was only two other buildings on the street at the time that first
summer. Our next door neighbor was Assistant School Superintendent
in Abington, and there was a family across the street from us. The rest
was empty space, part of an old farm, and across the street was a big
field that once  might have been used for crops or pasture but now was
just more of that tall grass waving in the wind. Part of our back yard
was actually in the next town over, Whitman, and less than a half mile
away from us was Spivack's farm, where cows still grazed in the pasture
or stood stoically in a small corral next to Washington St staring at the
cars whizzing by.

City boy that I was, I was a little disappointed that the closest movie
theater was a good walk away in Whitman Center. And there was only
one library in Abington, and it was smaller than the ones I had haunted
in Boston, and it was open fewer hours!  But I met some of the kids in
the neighborhood and soon enough I was playing football and wiffleball,
so I survived the lack of a  city sized library.

One image from that first summer in Abington is of one night when we'd
been out someplace and returned home shortly after dark. As the car
pulled off of Washington St onto Bicknell Hill Rd we could see something
red glowing in the dark on our front lawn. It was the eyes of a rabbit
reflecting the car headlights. In fact, there was more than one rabbit,
maybe a half dozen, and they froze there in the grass as they were caught
in the lights. Then we pulled into the driveway, Dad turned off the
headlights and the engine and the rabbits scattered away into the dark
as we all got out of the car.

All that came to mind because of my thinking about that Japanese song
from 46 years ago. I couldn't remember the name so I posted a question
on Facebook asking if anyone knew what it was and genealogist George
Morgan told me it was "Sukiyaki". I found it online and if you click

http://hubpages.com/hub/Sukiyaki-by-Kyu-Sakamoto








Does it spark any memories for you? 

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT MY OFFINGER ANCESTORS2

In Part 1 I discussed how I found  information on my Offinger ancestors.
Now I'm going to discuss  that information and what it tells me about the
family's history.

Charles Offinger and Johanna Luick arrived in New York City aboard
the Deutschland on 13Jun 1870.Whether they were already a couple or
met onboard is unknown, but both were in Massachusetts by the end of
the summer. Johanna was working as domestic servant in the Jamaica
Plain neighborhood of Boston on 4Aug 1870 for the John D Wester
family. Charles was enumerated on 29Aug in the Cambridgeport section
of Cambridge and apparently was living in an apartment building with
other young men from Wurtemburg, all but one under the age of thirty
and all giving their occupation as something connected with furniture-
making.

Then Charles and Johanna  wed on 11Sep 1870. On 19Dec 1870 a
Charles Offinger is born to Charles and Johanna Offinger in Cambridge,
Middlesex, Ma. Did Johanna's pregnancy happen before they left
Wurtemburg or was Charles the product of a shipboard romance?
Either way, he must have died at a young age because he does not
appear as one of the Offinger children listed on the 1880 census.

"Charles Offinger, cabinet maker, h. Harvard near Weston" appears
in the Cambridge City Directory for 1871. In 1872 and 1875 his
address is given as "6 Portland"  but by 1878 he'd moved to a house at
"19 Vine". Something must have changed in the next two years as in the
1880 directory he's listed as  "Offinger Charles, laborer, h. rear 13 Vine".
This must be the house listed as 11 Vine St on the 1880 Cambridge
Federal Census. By this time he and Johanna had six children, ranging
from 12 year old Emelia to two year old Julia. His occupation is
however listed as a cabinetmaker.

Wait a minute! Twelve year old Emelia? Where did she come from?
That would put her birth two years before Charles and Johanna married.
Given the times, I doubt they would have had a child out of wedlock in
Germany so at the moment my theory is that Emelia was a child from a
previous marriage of either Charles or Johanna. This is the only mention
of her I can find so far so she might have died sometime shortly after
1880. Charles is listed a final time in the 1881 Cambridge City Directory,
once more as a cabinet maker. He died on 17 Jul 1881 leaving 36 year
old Johanna to raise their children alone.

I haven't found any trace of Johanna from 1881 until the Boston City
Directory of 1895. It was published in Oct 1894 and shows that
Johanna had now moved into Boston and living at a house on
"Metropolitan Ave near Washington". Son Albert is listed as a clerk and
as a boarder at the same address, as well as son Frederick, who was a
clerk at 105 Summer St, Room 14". They might all have been there since
1890 when the boys are listed at that address.Perhaps Johanna lived
there as well since  Albert and Frederick were only still in their late teens.
I found no mention of William, Pauline or Julia in the directories prior to
1895.

The year 1895 would hold both joy and sorrow for the Offingers. Son
Frederick died at age 23 on 26Jul 1895, and my great grandmother
Pauline married Edward J .White on 27Nov. Johanna and Albert were
now joined at Metropolitan Ave by third son William. He died young at
age 22 on 24Aug 1898 and now daughter Julia moved into the household.
On the 1900 Federal Census the household consisted of 56 year old
Johanna, 29 year old Albert, a curtain hanger, and 21 year old Julia, a
bookkeeper and saleswoman.

Albert married Hattie Heckman on 6Jun1905 in Boston. I've found no
record that they ever had any children.Albert appears in the Boston City
Directories as an upholsterer at 23 Metropolitan Ave right up until 1946
when he would have been 76 years old. I've yet to find a date of death
for him.

Julia married John W. McCarthy on 25Feb 1906 and had five children.
So far I haven't found any records of any descendants or of her death.

As for Johanna Luick Offinger, she may have moved out of Metropolitan
Ave when Albert married because when she died at home on 14Aug 1908,
her residence is listed as 32 Folsom Street. She'd been fighting cancer for
a year and a half.

And except for what little information I had about great grandmother
Pauline and her children, I  knew none of this until a week ago Sunday
when I entered Pauline's name in FamilySearch's Record Search!