Abstracting: Do It Right!, The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter, August 1997
Extracting the essential facts from a record without copying the document verbatim is a technique that genealogists commonly refer to as abstracting. Printed forms for abstracting pertinent records are commercially available. They may be useful, but many are not satisfactory because the documents themselves do not always conform to the format selected by the form designers.
Wills
- Citation - note county, will book #, beginning page number
- Testator's occupation, age, health, residence, etc.
- Abstract names of all people named and their relationship to testator
- Essentials of bequests, land descriptions, slaves, money, etc.
- Special explanations or restrictions, trustees, guardians, etc.
- Executor / executrix
- Witnesses, signatures or signed with X or mark
- Dates written and probated
- Inventory
- Sale bills
- Administrator bonds
Deborah Leffingwell
Born: ca. 1660
Died: after 1732
Buried: may be buried in Olde Mansfield Center Cemetery, Manfield, CT with Andrew Warner
Married: 1) Nathaniel Crow ca. 1683 & 2) Andrew Warner March 6, 1701, Hartford, Connecticut
Records:
1660 - there is no record of Deborah's birth or baptism. She is thought to be the daughter of Lt. Thomas & Mary (White?) Leffingwell. This is possible, if she were born ca. 1660 as that family was in the process of moving from Saybrook to Norwich. There is no probate for Lt. Thomas that might have evidence of the connection. He did serve many years on the general court in Hartford which could explain her marrying men from Hartford instead of someone from Norwich.
1695 - Sept. 7 - Hartford, CT - Inventory of Nathaniel Crow's estate mentions legatees:
Healy, Elizabeth. Round Towers & High Crosses, Ireland of the Welcomes, July/August 2006.
In Victorian times, Round Towers and High Crosses acquired almost iconic status in representations of Ireland.
These towers and crosses are products of the monasteries of the Early Christian period, that era which gave us the illuminated manuscripts and other masterpieces of art. The towers and crosses, usually seen together, are the most enduring features, and very often the only elements that are left standing today.
Sometimes there were several of the intricately-carved stone crosses within or on the edge of the monastic enclosure. They varied in height up to seven meters (over 20 feet). Their chief purpose would have been for the inspiration and instruction of the faithful - picture-books, if you will, for a usually illiterate congregation - but they were often positioned as boundary markers.
Nathaniel Crow
Born: ca. 1650
Died: 30 July 1695, Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut
Buried: Hartford, Connecticut
Married: Deborah Leffingwell ca. 1683
Records:
1693 - Hartford, Connecticut - Nathaniel Crow as warrantee, Volme 1, p. 481.
1693, Oct. 5 - A Court of Assistants holden at Hartford
Nathaniel Crow of Hartford, being Agrieved with the determination of the County Court at Hartford in September last, relating to the Estate of his late Brother Daniell Crow of Said Hartford deceased, made his application to this Court, and declared his Objections against the Same, upon Consideration whereof This Court See no reason to alter the Said determination of the County Court.
Dorothy Irene (Lathrop) Utley
Born: March 17, 1940, Wayne City, Illinois
Married: Philip Utley, December 22, 1962, First United Methodist Church, Wayne City, Illinois
Died: October 17, 2018 Tifton, Georgia
Dorothy Irene Utley, a longtime resident of Tifton, Georgia, died at home on Wednesday, October 17, 2018.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church of Tifton. The family will receive friends immediately following the service in the front lobby of the church. A private family interment will be held later in the day at Zion Hope Baptist Church cemetery.
Anderson, Robert. Reflections on the Great Migration Study Project, New England Ancestors, Holiday 2008.
On November 15, 2008, we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the Great Migration Study Project.
During my early years in genealogy, while handling typical client commissions, I was constantly faced with the problem of learning what research had already been undertaken and published for a family of interest. This search frequently consumed much of the time allocated for research and became very frustrating.
Thus arose the concept of a reference work for New England genealogy which would update and supplant Savage and some of the other single-colony-based compendia.
Work began on November 15, 1988 with the pilot project which became the Great Migration Begins series of volumes which covered immigration to New England from 1620 to 1633.
Sketch format:
Section one - migration
Hannah Adgate
Born: Oct. 6, 1653, Saybrook, Middlesex Co., Connecticut
Died: September 18, 1695 Norwich, New London Co., Connecticut
Buried: Old Norwich Cemetery
Married: Nov. 1675 Samuel Lathrop in Norwich, Connecticut
Years ago, when the country around here was mostly covered with woods, two men named George Casner (in 1852) and John Hawkins Jr. (in 1854) decided to settle in this territory. Mr. Casner cleared some land, built some fences, and entered the land in the records at Shawneetown in his own name. The of the United States signed the patent giving George Casner the title to the land. Mr. Casner and his wife had a son named Ramsey and after Mr. Casner was killed in an accident, this young man sold the farm to a trader on May 1, 1868, just six years and a month after his father had purchased it. Six months later, the trader, Joel Scrivner sold it to William Palmer, who kept it several years, and then it passed from hand to hand until on February 10, 1865, John Gentle purchased it and planned to make his home there.
Samuel Lathrop
Born: March 1650, New London, Connecticut
Died: 9 Dec. 1732, Norwich, Connecticut
Buried: Old Norwich Cemetery, Norwich, Connecticut
Married: 1) Hannah Adgate Nov. 1675 in Norwich, Connecticut
2) Mary (Reynolds) Edgerton Dec. 30, 1697 in Norwich, Connecticut
Records:
1660 - The seventeenth century home of Dr. John Olmstead, Norwich's first physician, was located at the current site of Lathrop Manor, on Washington Street in Norwichtown. He later sold his house, built around 1660, to Samuel Lathrop (1650-1732). It was then inherited by Samuel's son, Thomas Lathrop (1681-1774). It is possible the original house burned in 1745 and was rebuilt. In any case, after Samuel's death, it was owned by Dr. Daniel Lathrop, who joined with Dr. Joshua Lathrop (whose home is across the street) to establish Connecticut's first apothecary, at that time the only one located between New York and Boston. Benedict Arnold lived in the house as a young man while he was
