Was she the most dangerous young woman in American history? Peggy Shippen born in 1760 was the granddaughter of a Philadelphia mayor and belonged to one of the city's first families. At their fancy home, just around the corner from Independence Hall, her parents entertained George Washington as a dinner guest. At eighteen, Peggy Shippen married a crippled, war-hero widower twice her age. Together they embarked on a plot to destroy the American revolution . . . Peggy was Mrs. Benedict Arnold.
Documents made available in the 1920s proved conclusively that Peggy had been an active conspirator with her husband from the very start.
In 1776, at age sixteen, Peggy was a beguiling, charming star of the Philadelphia scene. When she was seventeen, the British invaded and occupied the city. Peggy developed a friendship with a particularly handsome and charming twenty-six-year-old British officer, John Andre.
When the British left Philadelphia, Benedict Arnold was appointed military commander of the city. Arnold's successful exploits at military engagements at Fort Ticonderoga, Quebec, Valcour Island and Saratoga place him, in my opinion, alongside Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman and George S. Patton, Jr., as one of the most effective field commanders in American military history. Some might compare his tactical achievements with those of Robert E. Lee and Stonewell Jackson.
During Arnold's oversight of the city, he was accused of misconduct and court-martialed. The proud Arnold was angry with and alienated from George Washington. At the same time he was courting Peggy and they married April 8, 1779. One month later, the couple sent a secret coded message to John Andre offering Arnold's services to the British and the rest, as they say, is history . . .
Peggy reacted with an amazing performance, convincing Washington and his aides she was innocent. Taking pity, he sent her home to her father in Philadelphia. Ultimately, Peggy was banished from Philadelphia and sent to her husband, who was with the British forces in New York. She and Arnold had seven children, five of whom lived beyond infancy. The family moved to England, then Canada, then back to England. Arnold died in London in 1801, and Peggy died there in 1804, at 44, known in England as the charming, innocent wife of a vilified man.
The author set out to make a movie about Peggy Shippen. While looking into how to make that happen he was advised to write a book that could be used to generate interest and serve as the basis for a movie. The rest of the article explains the process of assembling a research group of historians and archivists, researching and writing the book.
He says, I searched for descendants of Benedict and Peggy Arnold in case any had interesting family lore or heirlooms. This is where the New England Historic Genealogical Society provided vital assistance. . . . But I finally hit pay dirt, tracking down an engaging highly skilled professional fashion photographer named Hugh Arnold living in France. He said, "Yes, I'm a descendant [a great-great-great-great-grandson] of Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold. And I have trunks full of old letters, including some written by Peggy herself."
He concludes by saying "one of the major lessons of our project is that people are willing - even eager - to help you."
Books:
Brandt, Clare. The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold, 1994
Flexner, James Thomas. The Traitor & the Spy, 1991
Jacob, Mark & Stephen Case. Treacherous Beauty: Peggy Shippen, the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold's Plot to Betray America, Guilford, CT: Lyons Press
Randall, Willard Sterne. Benedict Arnold: Patriot & Traitor, William Morrow, 1990
Van Doren, Carl. Secret History of the American Revolution, 1968
Chase, Theodore & Laurel Gabel. Gravestone Chronicles: Some Eighteenth-Century New England Carvers & Their Work, Boston, MA: NEHGS, 1990
Introduction:
The articles which follow are about eighteenth-century gravemarkers - most of them of slate - found in old New England burying grounds, and about the little-known men who carved them. All of these articles are concerned, among other things, with detective work - the attribution of designs and individual stones to particular carvers. How is this done? Perhaps the surest way - and most exciting - involves a search of probate records, where a simple entry showing a payment for gravestones may provide the answer.
The search led us to hundreds of old New England burying grounds, to registries of probate and registries of deeds, to state archives, historical societies, census lists, church records, court records, town clerks and assessors, town and county histories and public libraries. We explored trade routes, changing religious beliefs, various aspects of colonial law, the master / apprentice system, migration patterns, geography and the ever-changing town, county and state boundaries, the colonial and post-Revolutionary War economy, military organization and campaigns, family life in New England, funeral customs and practices, fraternal societies and even the institution of slavery.
Although not considered primary evidence, gravestones are indeed vital records.
The choice of a burial site in the eighteenth century was often a matter of convenience and family preference rather than of religious affiliation; the earliest burial grounds were established and maintained by civil, not ecclesiastical authorities.
Those who died as a result of suicide, from virulent epidemics such as smallpox, or those considered in some way outside of the law, were sometimes buried apart from the main burial yard. Occasionally the periphery of the yard or an otherwise unused corner (often on the north side of the yard) was set aside for blacks, slaves, paupers or felons.
Early burials frequently occurred at sunset, perhaps for symbolic as well as practical reasons. In many instances gravestones were purchased shortly after the burial. However, it was not uncommon to wait ten or even fifteen years; stones for husband and wife were often obtained following the death of the surviving spouse. The carved surface of the gravemarker usually faced away from the body, with the headstone facing west and the footstone east, and the body, positioned to greet the new day at the Resurrection, was buried between them.
Recent research suggests that the earliest markers in New England, like those sometimes found in England were of wood. The earliest slate marker of which we know, shaped and lettered in what later became the norm, is that of Bernard and Joan Capen (our grandparents!) who died in 1638 and 1653 respectively. A replacement stands in the North Burying Ground in Dorchester, with the original fragments at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Another early manner of marking graves was with a large, flat, horizontal stone. Such slabs, or "wolf stones" as they were sometimes called, were placed over a newly dug grave to prevent animals from disturbing the burial.
. . . probably the most common and familiar burial marker is an upright marker of fieldstone, slate, sandstone, coarse granite or marble. Carved slate headstones with their corresponding footstones became fairly commonplace in the 1670s.
Before 1800 there were three basic gravestone styles in common use in New England. First was a winged skull or a death's head, a familiar emblem in use since medieval times, that reflected the harsh, often ambivalent Puritan attitudes about death. The second style was a winged face or cherub, sometimes referred to as a soul effigy, which seemed to stress the more optimistic attitudes of resurrection and immortality that were becoming prevalent by the mid-eighteenth century. And third, the classical urn-and-willow design, which reflected the impersonal, more intellectual feelings of the new republic at the turn of the century.
More children died during the summer months; winter often claimed the elderly.
Popular themes -
- Stop and note as you pass by
- As you are now, so once was I.
- As I am now so you will be.
- Prepare for death and follow me.
Some gravestones have the price inscribed or practice carvings.
Summary of Hints for Genealogists
- Survey the entire graveyard. Families did not usually own specific areas in early burying grounds. Family units were not always interred together. Many very old burying grounds have been rearranged or even relocated, so that original burial patterns have often been lost.
- If you locate a family group, record the names and dates of all buried there. Note the family names of adjacent burials.
- If you do not find the family name you are seeking the family plot, look elsewhere in the burying ground. Young married women, especially those who died shortly after marriage or in childbirth with their first child, are frequently buried with their parents (or their husband's parents) rather than by themselves in a new area.
- Look for gravemarkers that are out of place; that is, stones that reflect a regional style or stone material foreign to the local area. The source of such an out-of-place gravemarker is often a valuable clue to a family's origin.
- Look for fraternal emblems and / or occupational symbolism on gravemarkers. Turn to local records of these groups for additional information about an ancestor.
- Cemetery records may give details of a relocated burial, often revealing when, where, and by whom remains were moved. This can tell you where a family came from or where they went. Burial records and plot plans may also register burials for which no markers exist.
- Look for early inventories and epitaph collections from area burying grounds. Markers lost through erosion, vandalism, theft or neglect are often listed in these obscure accounts.
- Remember to look in the burying grounds and records of surrounding towns. Town jurisdictions were not always as important as the family's proximity to a graveyard.
- A tall mirror is a valuable asset when trying to read or photograph the lettering on early gravestones. Use it to direct the sun at a raking angle across the face of the stone.
- In Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire probate records and deeds are filed in registries at the county seat. In Vermont and Connecticut probate records are filed in a district office, and deeds are recorded with the town clerks. In Rhode Island both probate records and deeds are filed in the towns.
Books:
Benes, Peter. The Masks of Orthodoxy. Folk Gravestone Carving in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. (Amherst, MA, 1977).
Caulfield, Ernest. "Connecticut Gravestones I-XV" The Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin (Hartford, CT, 1951-1978).
Forbes, Harriette. Gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who Made Them, 1653-1800, 1927.
Geddes, Gordon. Welcome Joy: Death in Puritan New England (Ann Arbor, MI, 1981)
Gillon, Edmund. Early New England Gravestone Rubbings (New York, 1966)
Kull, Andrew. New England Cemeteries: A Collector's Guide (Brattleboro, VT, 1975)
Ludwig, Allen. Graven Images: New England Stone Carving & Its Symbols, 1658-1815 (Middletown, CT, 1966)
Slater, James. The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut & the Men Who Made Them (Hamden, CT, 1987)
Stannard, David. The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture & Social Change (New York, 1977)
Strangstad, Lynette. A Graveyard Preservation Primer (Nashville, TN, 1988)
Watters, David. With Bodilie Eyes: Eschatological Themes in Puritan Literature & Gravestone Art (Ann Arbor, MI, 1981)
Welch, Richard. Memento Mori: The Gravestones of Early Long Island 1680-1810 (Syosset, NY, 1983)
Clemens, William. American Marriage Records Before 1699, Pompton Lakes, NJ: The Biblio Company, 1926.
- Bushnell, Richard & Mary Martin 11 Oct. 1648, Hartford, CT
- Capen, Bernard & Sarah Trot, 2 Jun 1675, Dorchester, MA
- Capen, Bernard & Joan Purchase, March 1696, Dorchester, MA - grandparents
- Capen, John & Redegon Clapp, 20 Oct. 1637, Dorchester, MA
- Capen, John & Mary Bass, 20 Sep. 1647, Roxbury, MA
- Capen, Preserved & Mary Pason 16 May 1682 Dorchester, MA
- Capen, Samuel & Ann Stone, 16 Nov. 1693, Boston, MA
- Capen, Samuel & Susanna Payson 9 Apr. 1573, Dorchester, MA
- Gallop, Benjamin & Hannah Sharp, 1 Nov. 1694 Boston, MA
- Gallop, John Jr. & Hannah Lake 1643 Boston, MA grandparents
- Gallop, Joseph & Elizabeth Dwight, 1 Mar. 1694, Boston, MA
- Gallop, Nathaniel & Margaret Eueley, 11 Apr. 1652 Boston, MA
- Gallop, Samuel & Mary Phillips, 20 Dec. 1650 Boston, MA
- Gallup, Samuel & Elizabeth Southworth 12 May 1685, Bristol, RI
- House, Samuel & Rebecca Nichols 1664, Scituate, MA
- Lathrop, Barnabas & Abigail Dudson 15 Nov. 1698 Boston, MA
- Lathrop, ELizabeth & Hope Lathrop 15 Nov. 1696, Barnstable, MA
- Lathrop, Jane & Samuel Fuller 8 Apr. 1635, Scituate, MA
- Lathrop, John & Joanna Prince 21 Jan. 1697 Boston, MA
- Lathrop, Martha & Samuel Hinckley, 29 Sep. 1699 Boston, MA
- Lathrop, Meletiah & Sarah Farrar 20 May 1667, Lynn, MA
- Mason, Daniel & Rebecca Hobart 10 Oct. 1679 Norwich, CT
- Mason, Elizabeth & Thomas Norton 8 May 1671 Saybrook, CT
- Mason, John & Anne Peck July 1639, Norwich, CT - grandparents
- Mason, Nicholas & Mary Dudley, 11 March 1686 Saybrook, CT
- Mason, Priscilla & (Rev) James Fitch Oct. 1664, Windham, MA - grandparents
- Peck, Eleaser & mary Bunnell 31 Oct. 1671 New Haven, CT
- Peck, Elizabeth & John Hotchkiss, 5 Dec. 1672 New Haven, CT
- Peck, Hanna & Joseph Hopkins 27 Apr. 1699 Hartford, CT
- Rockwell, Ione & Jeffrey Baker 15 Nov. 1642 Windsor CT
- Rockwell, John & Sarah Ensign 6 May 1651 Windsor, CT
- Rockwell, Mary & Robert Watson 16 Dec. 1646 Windsor, CT
- Rockwell, Samuel & Mary Norton, 7 Apr. 1660 Windsor, CT - grandparents
- Stout, Alice & John Throckmorton 12 Dec. 1670, Middletown, NJ
- Stout, David & Rebecca Ashton 1688 Freehold, NJ
- Stout, John & Elizabeth Crawford, 12 Jan. 1671 Monmouth Co., NJ
- Stout, Jonathan & Anne Bullen 27 Aug. 1685 Monmouth Co., NJ
- Stout, Mary & James Browne 31 Dec. 1664, Monmouth Co., NJ
- Stout, Sarah & John Pike, 2 Feb 1675 Monmouth Co., NJ
- Stout, Richard & Penelope (Kent / Lent) Von Printzen 1634-5 Gravesend, Long Island, NY
- Thorne, Richard & Phebe Denton, 29 Aug. 1699 NY
- Bushnell, Samuel & Ruth Sanford 15 May 1665 Saybrook, CT
- Fitch, James & Abigail Whitfield 1 Oct. 1648 Guilford, CT - grandpa's first wife
- Fitch, James & Priscilla Mason, 3 Oct. 1664, Saybrook, CT - grandparents
Darley, Stephen. "The Authenticity of Joseph Ware's Journal: A Historical Argument Revisited," American Ancestors, Fall 2012.
Four virtually identical journals from Captain Samuel Ward's company provide an important record of the 1775 expedition led by Col. Benedict Arnold to take Quebec. The journals, which all begin on September 13, 1775, and end on September 6, 1776, contain a list, by company, of the men wounded, killed, or taken prisoner in the assault on the night of December 31, 1775. This list of 350 men, critical in determining the fate of the participants is found in these four journals.
Because they are so similar, one is likely to be original and the others copies.
The question of whether Joseph Ware or Ebenezer Tolman wrote the original journal was greatly debated in the nineteenth century. The Ware journal was published in the NEHGS Register in 1852. John Locke, a genealogist, had access to Ebenezer Tolman's journal and realized they were identical.
Each family has claimed that their man was the author of the original. The author explains the research into the military records that point to Joseph Ware being the true journal writer.
Davis, Laurie. "Scanning & Safeguarding Your Family Photos," American Ancestors, Fall 2012.
- Scanning negatives is the best method and will yield the highest-quality files, since negatives are the film originally in the camera.
- JPEGs are good for many purposes, such as email, but are not optimal for long-term storage.
- Lossless or uncompressed files are superior - tif, png and raw are examples of this file type.
- A hard disk drive is a mechanical device that can - and will - fail.
- Storing CD and DVD backups in archival sleeves and boxes will help with preservation.
- Additionally, files can also be stored "in the cloud"
Diagram of Elizabeth II, website defunct
Drawing of the ship featured at Roanoke Island, North Carolina showing and explaining the forecastle, foremast, bowsprit, beakhead, billage, billage pumps, hold, water casks, capstan, bittacle, whipstaff, powder room, mizzen, sterncastle and quarterdeck.
Lewis, Marcus. The Development of Early Emigrant Trails in the United States East of the Mississippi River, Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society, 1962.
The Great Indian Warpath - sometimes referred to as the Warrior's Path, is the name which together with its almost equally important branches, will always be associated with the early growth and development of a number of our colonies and states. This great trunk trail reaching from eastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, crossing the Susquehanna not far from the present city of Harrisburg, thence passing westerly and southwesterly between mountain ranges and along the valleys of the Shenandoah and the upper tributaries of the Tennessee River to Chattanooga, was taken by many of our early emigrants who, immediately following the Revolutionary War, began removing from New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia into the newly opened regions of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and also into the states lying to the south of North Carolina and Kentucky.
The distance from Philadelphia to the interior of Kentucky by way of this trail and its important branch or prong which passed through the Cumberland Gap was nearly 800 miles. The line of early travel passed through the present towns of Lancaster, York, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, and Winchester; thence up (south) the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton, Va.; thence along the great trough between the principal ranges of the Appalachian system, over the divide into similar valleys of eastern Tennessee to Chattanooga.
Southwest Virginia and western North Carolina were settled by people largely from Pennsylvania and northern Virginia.
The Warror's Path in Kentucky was a continuation of several trails which led up from Carolinas and Georgia through eastern Tennessee where intersections were made with the main trail; thence through the great opening in the mountain wall at Cumberland Gap. From this gap it ran towards Portsmouth, Ohio and Louisville, Ky., with a number of less important branches. The trail known as the "Warrior's Path of Kentucky" was the one which reached the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Scioto. This was the second most famous continental thoroughfare which has never lost its importance.
Thousands of emigrants also went west by way of Braddock's Road in Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Ohio River or the National Road of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, but by comparison, more went into the interior by way of Cumberland Gap and the Kanawha River
The Old Trading Path of Pennsylvania - In the 1750s one of the most practicable routes was found to be to be an old trading path which ran almost west from Philadelphia to the present site of Pittsburgh. The course of this early trail is best described by the description of the Old State Road through Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh built during the first half-decade following the Revolutionary War. This road passed through Lancaster, Carlisle, Bedford and Greensburg. The old tracing path passed through practically the same points. As this path followed no streams and crossed only one major stream, the Susquehanna, it could be traveled any month of the year, something that could not be said of many of the early trails. An official report to the Pennsylvania Council in 1754 gave the length of this Indian path as 190 miles.
National Road - this important east-west trail became one of the longest of the early emigrant roads although that portion west of Wheeling on the Ohio is not as old as many other roads of the eastern and southern states. The national Road eventually extended from Philadelphia to St. Louis. It passed through Baltimore, Frederick, Cumberland, Wheeling, Columbus, Richmond, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, to St. Louis. It became one of the most extensively used roads in this country, and its cost was, to a large extent, borne by the Government.
The Buffalo Trace - was also known as the Kentucky Road, Vincennes Trace, Clarksville Trace and Harrison's Road. It entered Indiana from the south at the present site of New Albany, almost opposite Louisville, along whose waterfront lies the Falls of the Ohio River. From New Albany the Buffalo Trace extended in a northwesterly direction a few miles south of the towns of Paoli, Greenwich, Washington, and thence to Vincennes on the Wabash River. In early times buffaloes passed over it in great numbers and kept it open in many places 20 feet wide. It was a beaten and well-worn path. The Buffalo Trace became the one important overland highway across southern Indiana.
Early Trails & Roads of New England - Among the early trails which later became emigrant roads we may mention the Coast Path from Boston to Plymouth . . . the Bay Road from Boston to Taunton; the Old Connecticut Path from Boston, through Worcester and Springfield to Albany, N.Y. where it joined the Mohawk (or Iroquois) Trail to Lake Erie . . .
The South Carolina State Road and the Catawba Trail extending from eastern Tennessee through the Carolinas to Charleston formed another important connection with the Great Warrior's Path; forming a direct southern connection with the Great Warrior's Path forming a direct southern connection with Warrior's Path of Kentucky, the total length from Charleston to the Ohio River being about 575 miles.
The Mohawk Trail of New York (also known as the Iroquois Trail) extended from Albany to near Tonawanda at the eastern end of Lake Erie, passing through Utica, Syracuse, Auburn and Batavia.
The Hudson River - Lake Champlain Trail followed these waterways and formed a direct connection between new York and the early roads of Canada which led into the St. Lawrence Valley.
Books:
Hulbert, Archer. Historic Highways of America
Little, Barbara Vines. "A Reasonably Exhaustive Search, Part II," The Virginia Genealogist, nd
Many of us think that we go beyond reasonable in our search for our ancestors. However, there is a difference between searching for years and "reasonably exhaustive" research. In the one, we may look, often at the same records, hoping the answer will miraculously appear; in the other, we expand the scope of our search often following collateral lines and neighbors into places and record groups not previously researched.
Our opening article from the Virginia Gazette and Petersburg Intelligencer, which goes beyond the published obituary to other items that indicate the death of an individual is a perfect example of reasonably exhaustive research. The researcher looks at records other than those normally searched for specific types of information.
In researching the Berry, Bell and Chapman families, researcher Gerald Jones followed all of the known siblings (and even some of their families) collecting information from a wide variety of sources in order to build his case for the parentage of Benjamin Berry Jr., John Bell and Jane Chapman. He received a bonus when his search uncovered the original lease for land in Frederick County, a manuscript that gave him the proof he was looking for in his search for the parentage of Benjamin Berry Jr. Reasonably exhaustive research often leads to research relevant, but unindexed, manuscript collections that hold such hidden gems.
Our Goochland County insolvents list may ask more questions than it answers, but finding those answers may lead us to other answers we are seeking. Sometimes it takes the right question, whether it is why, what or when, to find the answer.
John Haskew died in Orange County and the records there note that his will was brought into court. Yet no will is found among the county record books or loose papers. Reasonably exhaustive research sometimes takes us on a search for original documents. It was among the original documents, supposedly all copies of recorded documents, that the clue to the source of the will was found. Sometimes looking at material that should contain no new information is necessary if we are to uncover that link to what we want whether it is a reference to items held else where or a name omitted or misread when copying.
Even when we have the information we seek - whether it's a birth, death or marriage, we shouldn't close off an avenue as finished - there is always more to learn as the letter detailing the death of Elizabeth (Braden) Hixon shows. Networking with other researchers and a willingness to share can often unearth a photograph, letter or family bible previously unknown to us. Sharing and networking can be a major component in reasonably exhaustive research.
George Harrison Sanford King was a researcher who worked extensively in burned record counties; consequently he understood the necessity of looking under every rock for any scrap of information. Studying the sources used by a knowledgeable researcher, especially one who has worked in your geographic areas and time periods of interest is an excellent way to learn about new resources. It will also provide you with a yardstick against which to measure whether your research meets the reasonably exhaustive search test.
The records do not survive. How often do we hear that phrase, whether they are the personal property taxes for Montgomery County for 1783 and 1784 or any other record group? The records may not - but perhaps a copy does. Studying the process that is followed in the creation of a record can sometimes point us to other sources, such as the county copies, albeit incomplete, that were found among the Montgomery County loose court papers.
Unless they are researching free Negroes, researchers often ignore free Negro registrations considering them of no value in the search for individuals who were white or slave. yet many of these were freed by their owners and may provide links or clues to the others who were not. And, especially in the case of burned county research, information regarding the death of previous owners or even clues to migration in the birthplace of free Negroes can be invaluable in the continuing search for our illusive ancestors.
We mentioned sharing earlier. Reasonably exhaustive research should include sharing. One never knows when "bread cast upon the waters . . . " will return many fold. Thus we end this volume with a letter - the original is not know to survive - all that is left is a photocopy in a researcher's files, doomed also to be lost if not shared. We share when we network, publish or donate copies to institutions. Sharing allows another researcher to make that connection that reasonably exhaustive research can make only if the document survives.
We can never exhaust all possibilities, but we can be reasonably exhaustive by looking beyond the direct line to the whole family. We can be reasonably exhaustive by looking beyond the indexed, published or on the Web sources to those records that take time and effort to uncover, understand and access - and we can network and share. Hopefully, in the process, we will find the answer.
Little, Barbara Vines. "A Reasonably Exhaustive Search, Part III," The Virginia Genealogist, nd
What's reasonable to one person is not necessarily reasonable to another. We all have our limits. The restraints may be based upon time, accessibility or other factors. We can't all afford (either because of time or money constraints) to travel to Europe or even to places in the U.S. We may be limited by what we know about where to look or what to look at, or may not understand subtle hints or clues in a record we have. The one thing that we can all do is not quit. We may have done it all today, but tomorrow there may be a new record - whether that record comes out of an old trunk in someone's attic, a box of records hidden behind other records in a courthouse or a previously unknown record or a new awareness. The tobacco inspector's records abstracted for this issue (and continuing) by Eric Grundset is a good example. Most researchers probably did not know it existed. And while it doesn't necessarily tell us a lot, it may contain that clue that we need to find the answer. We may learn of the existence of a widow, the death of a spouse and at the very least we can find neighbors and other individuals who used the same warehouse and thus traveled the same roads and probably purchased goods at the same store. Uncovering neighbors or even the existence of an individual at a specific place at a specific time can be the first step in finding the answer to a long sought after question. And being alert to the appearance of new records is part of conducting a reasonably exhaustive search.
Being on the alert for new records means that we check periodically with archivists to see if anything new has been uncovered. Sometimes we're rewarded with items like the Cumberland County insolvent and supernumerary lists.
Being on the alert for new records means that we look at every iteration - that means every census year and every tax year. It's only on the 1813 list in the only one district in Washington County that we find the specific residence of individuals listed. But if it's your person, wouldn't you like to have that information?
Being on the alert for new records means that even if we're not interested in the people noted in King's card file we still read the reference notes on each abstract just in case he refers to a record that we don't know about.
Being on alert for new records means that we read the Frederick Parish records of the overseers of the poor, even if we're not looking for a poor person because these records include payments to individuals for a variety of services including piping water to the poor house. Was your ancestor a contractor? And, as this issue notes, not everyone in the poor house was totally without assets.
Being on the alert for new records that we to look at records from a different perspective. Allason had a store in Frederick County. Limiting our search for a Frederick County person to those records would mean that we would miss the people from Frederick County who had accounts with his Falmouth store.
Being on the alert for new records means that we follow the collateral lines in the hope that we will discover copies of lost or destroyed documents such as the wills noted in the chancery court records in Henrico and Petersburg where we find John Williamson's 1769 Hanover County will in an 1893 Henrico County chancery suit. Or we may find a list of marriages such as those uncovered in an old ledger book by June Banks Evans.
Being on the alert for new records means that we publish what we know in the hope that what we know will help someone connect and we will gain new information. Thus Donald Ray Barnes, although he doesn't have all the answers, is sharing information he has about the Buford, Collins and Wisdom families. Hopefully, his sharing will generate new information.
Conducting a reasonably exhaustive search doesn't mean we do what we can and quit. Reasonably exhaustive isn't an end; it's a continuum - we search, we learn, we evaluate, we share - and each point in the process takes us back through the process again.
Passenger List for the Lyon 1632, website, appears to be defunct.
Lyon, William Peirce, Master, sailed from London June 22, 1632 and arrived September 16, 1632 at Boston. 'He brought one hundred and twenty three passengers, whereof fifty children, all, in health. They had been twelve weeks aboard and eight weeks from Land's End.'
Our ancestors and relatives on board the Lyon:
- John Talcott
- Mrs. Dorothy Talcott
- John Talcott
- Mary Talcott
- William Goodwin
- Mrs. . . . Goodwin
- Elizabeth Goodwin
- Ozias Goodwin
- William Goodwin
- John White
- Mrs. Mary White
- Nathaniel White
- Mary White
Placzek, Adolf, ed. Gravestones of Early New England, nd
Photograph of John Capen's tombstone, Dorchester 1692
Here lyes buried ye body of Cap'n John Capen He was Deacon of ye Church of Christin Dorchester he dec'd April ye 6 1699 in ye 80 year of's age
The ancient burying-ground in Dorchester has on the whole received good care. Inside the high walls surrounding the Old North, there are fifty-seven seventeenth-century stones, besides six equally early tombs. When William Blake made his will in 1661, he gave 'unto the Town of Dorchester twenty shillings to be bestowed for ye repairing of ye Burying Place so yt swine and other vermine may not anoy ye graves of ye saints.'
From that time until the middle of the nineteenth century, there are many items in the Town Records relating to its care. As late as 1838, the Town removed twelve cartloads of brambles out of the center of the burying-ground, which also was 'full of Holes and Snakes.'
There is only one of 'the graves of ye saints' which is now marked with a stone that antedates the making of William Blake's will - that of Bernard Capen and his wife, 1653, and what was left of their gravestone was removed some years ago to the library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and one in a much later style substituted for it.
Ships, Galleons, Frigates and Corvettes, website.
Witcher, Curt. "Census Records: Federal Non-Population Schedules," The Hoosier Genealogist, Fall/Winter 2008, abstract
Witcher, Curt. "Census Records: Federal Non-Population Schedules," The Hoosier Genealogist, Fall/Winter 2008, abstract
A number of federal non-population schedules were taken in conjunction with the population enumerations and can provide significant additional detail about an ancestor and his or her family. Non-population schedules usually provide two important elements for researchers. First they provide a significantly enhanced context in which one can more successfully continue research that has already begun. . Second, using all the schedules available for a particular census year dramatically reduces the change of "losing" someone in that census years. Numerous researchers have found ancestors on one of the non-population schedules in a year when, for whatever reason, those ancestors were missed on the population schedules.
Agricultural schedules are among the better known non-population schedules and were taken in conjunction with the 1850 through 1880 censuses. The 1850 & 1860 schedules include farms / plantations producing more than $100 of produce. In 1870 & 1880 they included farms / plantations on more than 3 acres or more than $500. . . . A researcher can further benefit from the additional context provided by ag schedules by carefully evaluating if a farm's produce was only at a subsistence level or if the level of production in evidence necessitated the substantial movement of the farm's goods in order to sell them. . . . Additionally paying careful attention to both population & ag schedule locations may reveal an ancestor's primary domicile in one township and county while his farm is located in another.
Manufacturers, manufacturing & industry & manufacturing are all names of the non-population census schedules taken intermittently from 1810 to 1900 to determine the pulse of the country in the area of manufactured goods and products.
1810 & 1820 manufacturing schedules were quite incomplete and contained many errors.
1830 & 1840 schedules were not taken, completely missing from the National Archives website detailing non-population schedules.
1850 through 1870 industry schedules contained entries for businesses and factories that exceeded $500 of business. In 1880 the schedules were called manufacturers schedules and collected data on twelve specific industries:
- agricultural implements
- paper mills
- boots & shoes
- leather, tanning & curing
- flour & grist mills
- milk & milk product factories
- slaughtering & meat processing
- salt
- mills
- brick & tile works
- coal mines
- quarries
They include the name of the entity owning the business; capital (real & personal) invested in the company; kinds, amounts & value of raw matierals; kinds of power, machinery & other resources used; average number of employees, male / female, average wages male / female; and kinds, amounts & value of annual products.
1935 census of business - the largest and most inclusive census of business establishments undertaken up to that time. 15 categories of businesses were included - everything from transportation and construction to hotels and retail trade. However, only the following categories of data were microfilmed:
- advertising agencies Roll #M1797 - includes entire country
- banking & financial institutions - 31 rolls
- miscellaneous enterprises - 43 rolls
- motor trucking for hire - 103 rolls
- public warehousing - 6 rolls
- radio stations Roll #M2070 - includes entire country
Social Statistics Schedules were taken from 1850 through 1870 federal population schedules for most states. These schedules can be very critical in providing meaningful details about a community in which one is searching for ancestors. While not enumerating any individuals these schedules provide data on income and wealth, public borrowing and debt and all the various taxes imposed. They also identify schools, libraries, extant religious denominations, published newspapers and the number of paupers and criminals in specific counties. Just knowing institutions in existence contemporary to one's ancestors as well as newspapers being published and taxes being levied can provide numerous additional record sources to explore.
Examples from Dubois County 1870
- taxes collected - state, school, sinking fund, county, road, township, special school, dogs
- public aid - 25 native born individuals on the dole, 15 native & 3 foreign paupers,
- no crime reported that year
- six township libraries housing 3000 volumes; 1 court library housing 50 volumes
- wages - daily, monthly, w/ board, w/o board
- newspapers - Jasper Courier, Huntingburg Signal
- schools - 70 ungraded common public schools, # of male teachers, # of female teachers, # of male pupils, # of female pupils, $9,448.80 tax revenue
- religion - 10 organizations - Presbyterian, Methodist Epsicopal, Methodist Protestant, Lutheran, Christian, Regular Baptist, General Baptist, Missionary Baptist, United Presbyterian & Catholic. The largest three were Methodist Episcopal with 8 organizations & 8 church buildings accommodating 2000 congregants, valued at $5700; Lutheran, 6 organizations and 6 churches accommodating 2000 congregants, valued at $6500; Roman Catholic 6 parishes, 6 churches accommodating 1060 congregants, valued at $90,000
1880 includes supplemental schedule called defective, dependent & delinquent classes.
- insane
- idiots
- deaf-mutes
- blind
- homeless children
- prisoners
- paupers
Mortality schedules are frequently confused with vital records. Though the schedules do contain death event data, they are another type of non-population schedule taken in conjunction with a number of federal population schedules.
1890 Veterans Schedules - the last half of Kentucky thru the alphabetical end of the states surviving for this special schedule.
Nonpopulation Census Records at the National Archives.
Wulf, Karin. "Eighteenth-Century Family Histories," American Ancestors, Fall 2012
Colonial British America was a genealogically minded place. The evidence of the importance of family connections is plentiful - in fact, it is so abundant and so infused the culture that finding distinct expressions of what was so commonly assumed can be difficult.
The evidence of early Americans acting on their enthusiasm for genealogical research and record-keeping is extensive, although the number of extant elaborate, formal early American genealogies in publicly accessible archives is not great. What has survived includes a variety of forms: watercolor and needlework family trees, gravestones, a very few printed genealogies, and some manuscript volumes. Such genealogies were intended to be appreciated for their form as well as for the information they conveyed.
Bibles have long been a predictable repository for family information, and early Americans used them for just this purpose. But Bibles proved a bit awkward for lengthy family records. Until the late eighteenth century, Bibles in America were almost exclusively published in England. In this period, the practice developed of listing family records in the flyleaf, or in an extra, central page, inserted between the Old and New Testaments. Not until the 1780s did American publishers begin to print English language Bibles in earnest. By the early nineteenth century, large family Bibles regularly included preprinted family record pages.
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