BUT I STILL CAN'T PAHK MY CAH IN HAHVERD YAHD

I've mentioned before, I think, my practice of occasionally picking the
name of one of my ancestors and doing a Google web and Google Books
search to see if I can find some new information on them. This has had some
good results for me and provided me with material for blog posts as well. A
few weeks back I mentioned I was planning a post about Simon Willard (it's
coming soon). But first I want to discuss his relative by marriage, Henry
Dunster, the first President of Harvard College.

After the death of his first wife Mary Sharpe, Simon Willard married Elizabeth
Dunster, one of Henry Dunster's sisters, but she died shortly after their marriage.
Simon then married Mary Dunster. There seems to be some confusion as to
whether she was another of Henry Dunster's sisters or a cousin but it is agreed
that she was related to him. What interests me about this connection is not so
much that Henry Dunster was Harvard's first President, but how he came to
be so and how I first learned the story behind it.

Harvard's first professor was a man named Nathaniel Eaton who from all
accounts was a great believer in the "spare the rod, spoil the child" school of
education and frequently beat his students. In 1639 he apparently went too
far and injured a student badly enough to spark an investigation into his
methods and into his handling of the school funds. Among other accusations,
it was charged that he and his wife had skimped on the food allowance. Mrs.
Eaton was supposed to have confessed that she'd added goat dung to the
hasty pudding! In the face of this scandal, Eaton left Boston for Virginia and
Harvard was closed for a year until 1640 when Henry Dunster was appointed
to take his place.

Ironically, it appears I am also related to Nathaniel Eaton through my ancestor
Peter Eaton, who might have been his brother.

Now when I saw all this on my Google search, I had to smile. I'd already read
about it several years ago in a novel "Harvard Yard" by William Martin. I've
mentioned it before as a book that involves genealogy as part of a mystery and
I highly recommend all of William Martin's books. Better still, if he stops in
our bookstore again to autograph his books as he's done many times in the past,
I'll tell him about my ancestor's connection to his novel!

MY BRICKWALL ANCESTOR, JOHN CUTTER WEST 1802-1862 Part 2

Negative Searches: Back in November of 2007 I posted "The Search Goes On"
and told about how those of us researching John Cutter West have so far had
no luck in finding any record of his birth in either Plymouth County or the
town of Plymouth, Ma. So far that still remains the case. Randy Seaver kindly
tried his hand at it and found several leads but so far none of those have panned
out as well. I've also searched at the NEHGS website for any reference but
that has not been successful either nor have the several visits to the local
FHC center in Hingham.

Resources to check: I need to get into Boston to the NEGHS and the State
Archives so that I can follow up on Randy's suggestions about looking into
the probate records for Plymouth Ma. and Oxford County, Maine. I also
need to look further into purchasing a copy of John Cutter West's death
certificate if it is available. More trips to the FHC also, since I'm well
aware that it might take quite a bit of searching before I find what I need
there.

I've also begun looking into the families that first settled Canton and Sumner
Maine. I recently found a brief history of Sumner from George Varney's
"Gazetteer of the State of Maine"(1886) that gives a list of the early
settlers there and says most came from Plymouth County and were
Revolutionary War veterans. I'll widen the search out to the neighboring
towns as well since many New England towns broke off from each other
and it's possible there is a record of John Cutter West's family in one of
the newer towns that might once have been part of Canton.

Of course, if he didn't come to Maine with his family but came on his own as
a worker of a bachelor seeking to make his way in the world, then I may not find
a record of his parents in Maine at all!

But in any case, as I've said before, the search goes on!

TWO YEAR BLOGIVERSARY

The second part of my post on my brickwall ancestor John Cutter West
will be posted Saturday night. But I wanted to make note that it's now
been two years since I began this blog on January 23,2007 and to thank
all my readers and fellow geneabloggers for visiting "West in New England".

Your comments and help in my research have been greatly appreciated and
I've had a blast writing here!

Thanks again!

MY BRICKWALL ANCESTOR, JOHN CUTTER WEST 1802-1862 Part 1

Miriam over at Ancestories has proposed that those of us with
brickwall ancestors write a detailed post on them with what
we know, what we want to know, results of what we have searched
and where we think we should research next. So here's my first,
John Cutter West. I've used the format Miriam suggested but I'm
breaking this into two parts because of the length:


Name: John Cutter West
What I want to Know: His place of birth and the names of his parents.
Known Information:

Born 8 Oct 1802 in Plymouth, Ma. (But no record of his birth has yet
been found there by myself or by other descendants searching for it.)

Married Arvilla Ames 23 Sept 1827 in the town of Sumner, Oxford,
Maine. (I have a copy of the marriage certificate from the town clerk but
there is no information on it about his parentage)

1830 Census, Canton, Oxford, Maine. He appears as head of household
with following notations on family:
1 male under age 5 (oldest son, Asa Atwood West, born in 1830)
1 male of 10 and under 15 years of age (person not known)
1 male of 20 and under 30 years of age.(John would have been 28.)
1 female under age 5 (daughter Ann Matilda West was born in 1828.)
1 female of 20 and under 30 years of age (wife Arvilla Ames West was 20.)

1837 Special Federal Census. Township Letter B, Oxford County, Maine. Head of
household with following notations on the family:
2 persons under 4 years old (probably Jonathan Phelps and Vienna Ames West)
3 persons between 4 and 21 years old (Ann Matilda, Asa Atwood and John West )
3 persons over 21 years old (John ,his wife Arvilla and an unknown person)

1840 Federal Census Township Letter B, Oxford County, Maine.
Head of household
with following notations on family:
2 males under 5 years old (Hiram Ferdinand West and unknown)
2 males between 5 and 10 years old (John West and Jonathan Phelps West)
2 males between 10 and 15 years old( Asa Atwood West and unknown)
1 male between 40 and 50 years old (John Cutter West?)
1 female under fiver years old (Vienna Ames West)
1 female between 10 and 15 years old (Ann Matilda West)
1 female between 40 and 50 years old (Arvilla Ames West)


1850 Federal Census for Township Letter B, Oxford County, Maine.
Head of Household, Age 47,
Occupation blacksmith
"value of real estate owned" $800. Born in Massachusetts.
Household includes:
Arvilla West, age 40
Asa A. West, age 20, occupation farmer.
John C. West Jr., age 18, occupation farmer.
Jonathan P. West , age 16, occupation farmer.
Viana (sic) West, age 14
Hiram F. West,. age 12
Clarinda B. West, age 9
Arvilla A, West, age 6
Leonidas West , age 3


1860 Federal Census, Upton(Formerly Letter B), Oxford County, Maine
Head of Household, age 57, occupation farmer & blacksmith,
"value of real estate" $1000.
"personal estate," $500.
Household includes:
Arabella (sic) West age 50
Jonathan West age 26

Clarinda West, age 19
Hiram F. West, age 21
Arabella (sic) E. West, age 16
Leander(sic) West, age 12
Ruth E West, age 9 (listed as idiot)
David P West, age 6
Orpha Reynolds, age 19

Died 24 Jul 1862 . Death recorded in West Family Bible.

THE CARNIVAL OF IRISH HERITAGE AND CULTURE IS UP!

The 11th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture
is up over at Lisa's Small-Leaved Shamrock.The theme this
time is "My Key to Ireland" and 16 genea-bloggers(including
myself) wrote about things that have helped or might help
them discover more about their Irish heritage. It also
features an interactive map of Ireland designed by Thomas
MacEntee featuring the locations mentioned by the bloggers
in their posts!

Here's Lisa's call for submissions for the next edition, which
will be a "St. Patrick's Day Parade":

"As you probably know, March is Irish heritage month in many
places, thanks to the feast day of St. Patrick, beloved saint of
Ireland. Our "parade", the 12th edition of the Carnival of Irish
Heritage & Culture, will be open to anything and everything
about Irish heritage, genealogy and culture. Posts about St.
Patrick will be appreciated, but posts related to any meaningful
aspect of Ireland's heritage are welcomed.


The deadline is March 14, 2009. Submit your parade entry here.
Then come join us for the parade on St. Patrick's Day, March 17,
2009. On the feast of St. Patrick, everyone likes to be Irish,
at least for one day. Hope to see you at the parade wearing your
green!"


There's plenty of time to think about what you want to
write about for this next edition, so I hope to see a lot of
entries for the parade!

Now I just need to think about what I'm going to write about!

THE CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY 64TH EDITION IS UP!

The topic this time around was a Winter Photo Essay and
you can read it here. There are 40 participants including
5 folks whose blogs are new to me and I've added them
to my links list on the right of the page (along with 10 more
from the last two postings of Thomas' lists of new geneablogs
here ). As always with the CoG there's plenty of good reading
to be found!

And here's Jasia's call for submissions for the 65th Edition:

Now it's time for a Call For Submissions! The topic for
the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: "The Happy
Dance. The Joy of Genealogy. Almost everyone has experienced
it. Tell us about the first time, or the last time, or the best
time. What event, what document, what special find has
caused you to stand up and cheer, to go crazy with joy?
If you haven't ever done the Happy Dance, tell us what you
think it would take for you to do so." This next edition will
be hosted by Becky at kinexxions. Thanks Becky!
The deadline for submissions is Feb. 1st.

If you want to join in the fun, send your blog post submission
here !

Thanks once more to Jasia of Creative Gene for all her
work on the Carnival of Genealogy!

MY KEYS TO IRELAND

As frequent readers of this blog know, I've been very fortunate in
researching my father's side of the family. Even though I have a
brickwall in my 3x great-grandfather John Cutter West, I've found
a great deal of information on the families of the women who've
married into the West line. It's in my mother's Irish-American line
that I have found very little about the family. Family tradition
says her mother's family came from Roscommon but beyond that
I know very little.


I know the key here has to be my Mom's grandfathers, Edward J.
White and John McFarland. I have copies of the Federal Census
pages they appear on from 1900 through 1930 which lists their
occupations and both had worked for the City of Boston at different
times. Edward's Irish nationality is in question for me at the moment
since his father's place of birth is listed as Boston on one census but
Ireland on the others. My hope is that there are city employment
records for that period and that if Edward and John are on them, there
might be information on their place of birth and their parents names. I
need to find out where such records might be archived.


A second possible source of information might be the records of the
entity that constructed the Boston elevated railway in the late 1900's.
Family tradition says John McFarland was one of the laborers. Does
the present day Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority have
any records on those first employees?


I hope to get into Boston to the main branch public library to search
for both John and Edward's obituaries. And now that the Archdiocese
of Boston's Archives have reopened, I need to go about calling for an
appointment to search for any church records on John and Edward's
family that they might have.

So there are my keys. Hopefully I'll be able to find them and open the
door to my Irish families.

Written for the 11th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture.

WINTER, MALDEN, MA. 1953

As you can see from the above photo, I come from a long line of hardy
Maine people who thought nothing of going out to work and play in
harsh Winter weather. From left to right, that's my grandfather Floyd E.
West Sr., his father Philip J. West, and his stepmother Alphonsene
Turgeon West. The caption says "Some catch taken in Spring,1923"
and that would refer to the wildcat or bobcat slung over P.J.'s shoulder.
Of course, technically, it isn't a Winter photo but the weather conditions
are wintery.


As for myself, I take after my Mother's side of the family. I can't say all
Irish American's have a similar view but I do know both Mom and her
brother, my Uncle Ed, weren't the type to love the sight of the first
snowfall. My earliest memories of snow involve the house on Beach St.
in Malden. I have some pictures taken one winter day there. The first
is looking over towards Clapp St, which was one house away from ours.
The other is looking over towards the other side. Up until now I didn't
know what street those other buildings in the distance faced but a quick
look at Google Maps just now told me it's Springdale St.







There was a long driveway that opened up into a wide parking area
between our house and the Tedesco's next door, and in the early to mid
fifties, in the pre-snow blower age, everyone shoveled.(unless you were
lucky to know someone who drove a snowplow who'd do plow you out
when he did your street). The other photos show my Mom doing some
shoveling. I'm certain she did not do all that herself, but was probably
clearing the end of the driveway after the plow went by so that Dad
and Uncle Ed could get in when they came home from work. I suspect
my Aunt Emily took the pictures.







Meanwhile, as the adults worked, my cousins and I looked on,
mostly because we were too young to do much shoveling and besides,
we probably couldn't move much bundled in those snowsuits! But we
did make snowmen and have snowball fights and sled, having the
fun any kid has in the snow, heedless of the cruel shock that loomed
ahead of us like a tree at the bottom of the hill: adolescence and
snow shovels and the dreaded words: "Go help your father shovel the
driveway!"



Written for the 64th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy

QUESTION

Is there a program out there that does a timeline for an
entire family tree or for a select period? I know some like
Family Tree Legends have timeline reports for individuals.

This question came to mind because I was thinking about
my ancestors during the American Revolution and the
earlier King Philip's War period and I want to have a
some sort of way to keep track of who was doing what
when and where.

Or do I need to do it the old fashioned way with index cards?

COVENANT & FREEMAN

As I've mentioned earlier, I've been doing some researching of my
Andover, Massachusetts ancestors and reading my distant cousin
Elinor Abbot's book "Our Company Increases Apace". One of the
things it helped clear up for me was the terms "covenant" and 'freeman"
we see so often associated with ancestors from this period. I'm going to
try to give a coherent version of what I learned here.

In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, towns were formed by a group that
had to include a minister and at least ten men who would form a
"covenant" church. In order to become a member of a covenant, the
applicant would have to undergo questioning by ministers to determine
if his beliefs adhered to the Puritan faith. He'd also have to make a public
declaration of faith before the members of the church and tell about
his personal conversion and beliefs. Depending on how he performed
these two requirements he would then be accepted or rejected for
membership into the church covenant.

In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, only covenant members were
allowed to take the Oath of Freeman, by which they could vote or
hold office. So you can see how this favored members of the
Puritan church over settlers from other religious affiliations. As the
population of the Colony grew there was an increase in settlers from
the Anglican Church who were taxed by a government in which they
could not actually participate. Eventually, after the Restoration of the
monarchy back in England, the covenant requirement for taking the
Oath of the Freeman was abolished.

While many of my ancestors were early covenant members and
freemen, a few like John Prescott were not.

Source:
Abbot, Elinor, Our Company Increases Apace: History, Language, and
Social Identity in Early Colonial Andover, Massachusetts.
Dallas, Texas: SIL International, 2007

RANT: WHY WE NEED BOOKSTORES

Alright, this is not strictly genealogy but this has been bugging me now
for a few days and in a way it does relate to how we research.

I work for a major bookstore chain that's been going through some tough
times for awhile but is still around and fighting to stay that way. Recently
I've been looking at some of online financial analysis and message boards
and have been dumbfounded at some of the comments I've read from the
"professionals" and others on retail bookselling.

Nobody under the age of 30 reads books for pleasure. They read more
online.

Really? So all those people who have been reading the Twilight, Harry
Potter, Clique, and Gossip Girls series are all over 40? The kids who
put a reservation in for the next Wimpy Kid book are actually adult
midgets?

Most people buy their bestsellers at Costco or Wal-Mart or some other
discount store.

And where do they buy the older books that aren't on the best seller list?
Where do the students buy their summer reading list books?

The day of the bricks and mortar bookstore is over. More and more
people will buy their books from Amazon and other online dealers.

Not everyone has a computer. And not all of those who do feel comfortable
buying online. And there are countless people for whom browsing in a
bookstore is the only way they choose and purchase a book.

Hand held electronic readers with downloadable ebooks will replace
traditional books.

Not until the prices drop much lower and every book is available in
a universal format that works on any reader. And can you see a 6
year old reading Junie B Jones on her Dad's Kindle? Thought not.
Neither can I.

People should save money by using their local libraries.

A good thought except that one of the first areas town governments cut
funding is the library. They cut back hours, staff, and budget, so you
might have a copy of a hot bestseller at your library, but you have to go
on a waiting list to read it and be able to get there when the library is
open. Given the current economic crisis, that is going to be much more
common nation wide.

There are other reasons why we need bookstores, both the national chain
I work for and the smaller local stores. It would be disastrous for new
writers who will find it more difficult to get their books out in the
public eye, for example, and make it less likely that many older authors'
books stay in print and available. And of course from a genealogist's
viewpoint, it would be harder for us to find the history books we use to
fill in the background of the times our ancestors lived in.

One of America's great strengths has been the easy availability of books
to all classes through bookstores and libraries. To think it is no great loss
if there are less bookstores because of the reasons I mentioned is to
ignore the effect it would have on our country's future.

GENEALOGY MEME

I had made a sort of resolution to my self to spend less
time on memes and new Facebook apps, But I'm a little
under the weather today and needed something to distract
me so I decided to do this genealogy meme that's going
around the genealogy blogs.

Ah, just when you think you are out, they pull you
back in! *Grin*


The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

1. Belong to a genealogical society.
2. Researched records onsite at a court house.
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) .
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
12. Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the state in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25. Have been paid to do genealogical research.
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research.
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48. Translated a record from a foreign language.
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy.
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
66. Visited the Library of Congress.
67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71. Can read a church record in Latin.
72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74. Created a family website.
75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77. Have broken through at least one brick wall.
78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.
85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87. Use maps in my genealogy research.
88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90. Visited the National Archives in Kew.
91. Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records.
92. Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93. Consistently cite my sources.
94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors.
95. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98. Organized a family reunion.
99. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100. Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
101. Have done the genealogy happy dance.
102. Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103. Offended a family member with my research.
104. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.

JONATHAN BARNES AND ELIZABETH HEDGES

Today is the 344th anniversary of my ancestors Jonathan
Barnes and his wife Elizabeth Hedges, who did considerably
better than their families at being respectful citizens of
Plymouth Colony.

I've written before about Jonathan's father John Barnes
who was a drunkard and appears in the court records
numerous times. John came to an untimely end when
(apparently while drunk) petting his bull which gored
him.

Elizabeth Hedge's father, Captain William Hedge,
remarried after Elizabeth's mother died and his
marriage to Blanche Hull didn't last very long. While Blanche
was herself a widow, she was much younger than Captain
Hedge and deserted him not long after their marriage. This
lead to this bequest to Blanche in his will:

"And whereas Blanche my Wife hath dealt falsely with me in
the Covenant of Marriage in departing from me; therefore I
do in this my Last Will and Testament give her twelve pence..."

which someone commented was "full eleven pence more than
she deserved"

At any rate, Jonathan and Elizabeth's marriage seems to have
prospered. Their daughter Mary Barnes married John Carver,
and their granddaughter Mary Carver married Moses Barrows
from whom I'm descended through my great grandmother
Clara Ellingwood!

SNOWBOUND

They are forecasting another snow storm here and it might
make this the snowiest December on record for the Boston
area.

It put me in mind of "Snowbound", a poem by John Greenleaf
Whittier that I had to read at some point at St Mathew's
Parochial School in Dorchester when I was a kid. It's a long
poem, but these lines from the first verse seem to suit
how December has been this year:

"The sun that brief December day

Rose cheerless over hills of gray,

And, darkly circled, gave at noon

A sadder light than waning moon.

Slow tracing down the thickening sky

Its mute and ominous prophecy,

A portent seeming less than threat,

It sank from sight before it set.

A chill no coat, however stout,

Of homespun stuff could quite shut out,

A hard, dull bitterness of cold,

That checked, mid-vein, the circling race

Of life-blood in the sharpened face,

The coming of the snow-storm told."

I`VE BEEN PROXIMIDATED

I'm extremely flattered to have been given the Proximidade
Award by the footnote Maven, a genea-blogger who certainly
precisely fits the definition of the Award. She's always ready
to help with a piece of art or a bit of good advice on genealogical
matters and source citations.

Now I in turn must present 8 more bloggers with the Award
and hope that I haven't duplicated someone else's choices!
The trouble is I have no idea how long this has been
circulating so I most likely will be choosing folks who
were previoulsy chosen. But at any rate, here they
are:

Little Bytes of Life by Elizabeth O'Neal

Small-leaved Shamrock by Lisa

Creative Gene by Jasia

Walking the Berkshires by Tim Abbott

Smoky Mountain Family Historian by Lori Thornton

What's Past is Prologue by Donna Pointkouski

Transylvanian Dutch by John Newmark

Tracing the Tribe by Schelly Talalay Dardashti

Arrrrrrgh, the pressure! I'll have to send
then emails tomorrow that they are award recipients,
but right now I need to go get some sleep!

SEVEN RESOLUTIONS

The topic of the 63rd Carnival of Genealogy is our New Years
Resolutions for our genealogy research. I thought I'd look back at
last December's list and see how I did before making the 2009
list with how I did in boldface:

"Well, it’s that time of year when folks make New Year’s
resolutions and we genealogy bloggers are busy making our lists.
So here’s mine.

One, to break that John Cutter West brick wall. (nope. not yet)


Two, to spend more time on my maternal line. I’ve found so much
lately about Dad’s side of the family that I feel like I’ve neglected
the Whites and McFarlands. So I’ll research more and blog more
about them and try to break down those brick walls as well. (not
much progress here.)


Three, to get my files better organized and correctly cite my sources.
(umm...yeah...needs work still)


Four, try to make it out to Ohio some time next year to visit
with my Aunt Dorothy and my cousins, including Diana and Louise.
(Yes! Had a great time and you can read about it in my
Road Trip series of posts.)


Five, try to get OUT to do research at the BPL main branch,
the NEGHS, the Massachusetts State Archives and the
Hingham Family Search Center. (I made it to the Hingham
FHS Center twice and that's it.)


Six, get all the pictures scanned. I am considering rearranging
my work station. At present, the printer is on the top shelf and
getting up and down to place or remove pictures may be good
for my health but it sure slows down the process. I may swap
fit where the cpu sits on the desk. As a result, still have
pictures waiting to be scanned.)


Seven, come up with more genealogy related uses for flutaphones!
(Sucess! But I'm worried about Janice Brown who instigated
my flutaphone list. Janice, where are you? We miss you!)

So, we’ll see how well I’ve done by next New Years!"


So given the successes and failures of this year's list, here's the
resolutions for 2009:

One, keep chipping away at the John Cutter West brick wall.

Two, do more research on my White and McFarland ancestry and blog more
on them.


Three, well, exact same as last year, work on organizing my files and
source citations.


Four, stay in touch with Aunt Dot and the rest of my Ohio relatives and share
what I find about our family history with them.


Five, get out to the Hingham FHS, the NEGHS, the Boston Public Library,
the Mass State Archives. I'm also adding the Boston Archdiocese Archives
when it reopens sometime next year.

Six, work on getting all the pictures scanned.

Seven, try to keep from getting bogged down on Facebook with application
requests. To that end, I'm not accepting any new apps. I hope this doesn't
offend anyone whose invitations I decline but when the requests get up into
the 70 and 80 request range, it cuts into the research time.


So those are my genealogical resolutions for 2009. Let's see if I can do
better with them than I did with the 2008 list. Tune in next year to find out!


Written for the 63rd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 29

I've been a bit of a slacker lately with my geneablogging but I hope
to take up that slack in the coming days. I am planning a post on
my ancestor Simon Willard who I hadn't realized was such a prominent
figure in 17th century Massachusetts, And in the course of researching
Simon, I discovered that through him I'm a distant cousin of Miriam
Robbins Midkiff of Ancestories (9th, twice removed, Miriam tells me).

Hmm. There's another post I need to do, an update on the cousins I've
found through this blog.

I am also planning to write about my ancestors from Andover,
Massachusetts based on what I've learned from Elinor Abbot's book,
"Our Company Proceeds Apace" and examine the connections that
carried over into the settlement of Oxford County, Maine.

So now all I have to do is write them!

THREE WISHES FOR GENEA-CHRISTMAS

Dear Genea-Santa,
It's been a very good year for me genealogy wise on my Dad's side of the
family, so I guess I'd like some things that would come from my Mom's
family for Genea-Christmas:

1. A White Family Bible to go along with the West Family Bible that Aunt
Dot gave me for my birthday. Of course, I hope that the White Bible
would have the family birth, death, and marriage dates filled in.

2. A picture of my Mom's Dad, Edward Francis White, Sr. I'd like to know
what he looked like. All pictures of him were removed from the family
album and destroyed so this would fill in a big gap.


3. Some letters that my Great-Grandmother Anna Kelly McFarland might
have exchanged with her parents that might shed light on her experiences
here in a new country in the late 19th century.


I know these are mighty tall orders, so I'll settle for whatever genealogical
discoveries you can send my way(or nudge me towards)in the upcoming year.

Thanks!

Bill

GENEA-BLOG CAROLING: "GAUDETE"

footnoteMaven is continuing her geneablogger caroling tradition
so I'm chiming in with the 16th century hymn "Gaudete" which
I hear played everyday at work over the store speakers as performed
by the Irish choral group Anuna. Enjoy!





Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Tempus ad est gratiae hoc quod optabamus
Carmina laetitiae devote redamus

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Deus homo factus est natura mirante
Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Deus homo factus est natura mirante
Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Ezekelis porta clausa per transitor
Unde lux est orta salus invenitor

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro
Benedicat domino salus regi nostro

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine gaudete

SOME HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

When we were kids we didn't have very many holiday traditions.
Holiday meals were divided between our house and my Aunt and
Uncle's place: if Thanksgiving was at our place, was Christmas was at
theirs, and New Year's Day we played by ear, depending on how late
the adults had been out on New Year's Eve.

Holiday dinners at Aunt Emily and Uncle Ed's was served in two stages:
first, the traditional turkey and all the usual vegetables. Then Nonny, Aunt
Emily's Mom, would bring out the Italian food: lasagna, meatballs, eggplant,
and other dishes whose names I don't recall. My Dad liked Italian food and
lasagna became a standard dish that was served at least once at either Christmas
or New Year's. Dad was also the designated turkey cooker for Thanksgiving,
getting up at 6am on Thanksgiving Day to get "the bird" started.


Some families out their Christmas trees up the day after Thanksgiving, but we
often waited until Christmas Eve before even going out to purchase a tree! This
often led to disagreements between Mom and Dad about the way the tree looked.
(Especially after we got it home. Christmas trees look better in a badly lit parking
lot than they do in the harsh reality of the living room lamplight.) Eventually the
age of artificial Christmas trees arrived and we struggled with inserting the
branches into the "trunk" in the proper order. Another Christmas Eve tradition was
the last minute gift wrapping. No matter how early Mom might have started her
shopping, there was always some gifts to wrap, usually those for our cousins that
would be delivered that very night or next day when we went to their house for
dinner.

A lot has changed over the years. Uncle Ed and Aunt Emily and their family moved
out of state. After my sister married, the holiday dinners rotated between her house
and our parents. Cheryl and her husband Pete began the tradition of exchanging
gifts at their house on Christmas Eve, which this year will move to her daughter
Sarah's house for the first time. Cheryl and Pete's Christmas tree is live and is
decorated with ornaments that they've accumulated over the years and that have
significance for their 3 children. And somebody at one of the holiday dinners makes
lasagna.

So some traditions have continued, while others have been replaced by new ones!


You can read more of my Christmas memories by clicking on the "Christmas"
label in the list on the right hand side of the screen.

Written for the 61st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.