3 Tips for Genealogy Research in New England

New England has an abundance of records which go way back in time, often to the 1600s. For that reason many genealogists think that researching in New England can be fairly easy. But that abundance doesn't come without some pitfalls that are often unique to New England. By knowing what to look out for you'll avoid creating unnecessary obstacles in your research.

Here are 3 tips to help with your New England Genealogy Research:

1) Check the town settlement date

Colonial settlement and later migration westward created a situation in New England where original towns were broken up over time into new, smaller towns. This means your ancestor could have lived in two different towns without ever having moved. For this reason you will want to check both the settlement date and the incorporation date of a town.

Let's take a look at the town of Glastonbury, Connecticut. The land was first settled in 1636 as part of the town of Wethersfield. In 1693 Glastonbury was established as its own town separate from Wethersfield. To make things even more complicated Wethersfield was known as Watertown from 1634 until it changed its name in 1637. If you have ancestors who lived in what is now Glastonbury prior to 1693 you may need to search for their records in the town of Wethersfield.

How can you determine when towns were established as well as the names of their parent towns? The handiest reference is a book called Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, now in it's 6th edition, and published by the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS).

2) The oldest town cemetery might not be in the same town

Changing town borders in New England not only meant you might need to look in various towns for records but it also means you could have to search a different town to find a cemetery.

The town of Medway, Massachusetts was founded in 1713 from the town of Medfield. The eastern part of Medway was settled first and that's where the first church and graveyard were established. As more people settled in Medway a second church and graveyard were established in the western part of town. There was a bit of friction between the east and west side of town and ultimately, in 1885, the eastern half of the town broke off to form the new town of Millis.

This creates a complication for genealogists searching for their ancestors in Medway. They can see that Medway was established in 1713 but they often don't realize that Millis was part of Medway until 1885. Nor do they realize that the eastern part of Medway, now Millis, was the section that was settled first. Which means that Medway's oldest cemetery is actually located in the town of Millis.

Genealogists sometimes create memorials on cemetery websites for their ancestors in Evergreen Cemetery (established 1749) in Medway when the ancestor has already been documented as being located in Prospect Hill Cemetery (established 1724) in Millis. This can create duplicates or at the very least, confusion.

To get around this problem check the book A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries by David Allen Lambert. It includes both the year a Massachusetts town was established as well as the consecration date or oldest burial for each cemetery. For other New England states check with historical societies, USGenWeb sites or regional cemetery projects.

3) Check Town Reports for an alternate source of information

New England towns were founded by Puritan settlers whose governments were run at the town level. In the early years, important information such as births, marriages, deaths, and taxes were kept in town record books. In the 19th century these were transformed into an annual Town Report which summarized all the key information for the year. In some New England states annual Town Reports are still printed today.

Marriages from the 1919 Town Report, Concord, New Hampshire

Town Reports are an overlooked resource that may contain key details about the life of your ancestor. They are most often found in the local library, town hall or historical society but increasingly they can be found in digitized format on sites like Internet Archive. For best results search for annual report + town name. Here's a listing of the Town Reports for Concord, New Hampshire available on Internet Archive.

Deaths from the 1919 Town Report, Concord, New Hampshire

The next time you get stuck researching your New England ancestors be sure to check if you have a jurisdiction issue related the changing borders of the town or whether you need alternate sources of information which you can find in Town Reports.

Have you had success finding information about your New England ancestors? Tell us how you did it in the comments.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a house history and genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

 

 

Even Brief Death Notices Can Provide Ancestor Clues

It would be wonderful to find a long biographical obituary for each of our ancestors replete with employment history, hobbies and family members.  For relatives who died before 1940, more often than not, that won't be the case. But if you look closely enough you can extract lots of good information from a quick death notice.

Let's take a look at the death notice for Christian Nunge which was published in the Pittsburgh Press in 1916.

Death Notice for Christian Nunge, 1916[1]

 

    NUNGE—On Tuesday, Nov. 20, 1916,
at 7:30 a. m., Christian Nunge, beloved
husband of Lizzie Nunge (nee Pfalz-
graf), in his 44th year.
    Funeral from his late residence, 2114
Lautner st., Troy Hill, Northside, on 
Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Mem-
bers of the Northside encampment, No.
251; Deborah Rebekah No. 27, I. O. O.
F.; Mozart lodge No. 971, I. O. O. F.;
Homewood commandery No. 378,
Knights of Malta; Grand Army band
and Pittsburgh Musical society and 
friends of the family are respectfully 
invited to attend.

First clue - date of death. Now we can go in search of an Allegheny County, Pennsylvania death certificate which would provide details about where he was born and list the names of his parents. 

Next - we have the name of his wife, Lizzie, and amazingly, her maiden name (Pfalzgraf)! With this information we can easily go in search of a marriage record. Combined with the next bit of information - "in his 44th year" - we can calculate his birth year to 1873 or so. We can also expect that he was married after his 18th birthday so we can narrow the search time frame for the marriage certificate to 1892 or later (up to 1916).

In the second paragraph of the death notice we get the funeral details and information about the people who are invited to attend. We learn that the funeral is taking place from his home and we even have his address - 2114 Lautner Street (Troy Hill, Northside of Pittsburgh). With this information we can look for the house on Google Maps and even use Google Street View to see what it looks like in more recent times.

2114 Lautner Street, Pittsburgh, PA on the left in yellow.
Source: Google Street view; image date April 2012

 

Map showing 2114 Lautner Street, Pittsburgh. Source - Google Maps, 2022

With the precise location of his residence at the time of his death we can check land records to see if he owned the property or rented it.

Lastly, based on all the members of organizations that were invited to the funeral we can presume that Christian Nunge was a member of the following groups:

• Northside encampment, No. 251
• I. O. O. F. - Deborah Rebekah No. 27
• I. O. O. F. -  Mozart lodge No. 971
• Knights of Malta - Homewood commandery No. 378
• Grand Army band
• Pittsburgh Musical society

To learn more about these organizations it might take Googling their names, searching old city directories and watching the webinar Decoding Secret Societies: Finding Your Male Fraternal Ancestors by Michael L. Strauss. I would probably also check for history specific to music or musicians in Pittsburgh at the turn of the century to see if that reveals any further clues.

From a relatively short death notice we were able to find many clues that will lead us to other records which in turn will reveal more about his life. Did you catch any clues that I missed? Let me know in the comments.

[1] Source: “Death Notices,” The Pittsburgh Press [PA], Tuesday Evening, 21 November 1916, page 28, column 5; digital image, MyHeritage.com (https://www.myheritage.com/ : accessed 6 October 2022), Newspaper collection.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a house history and genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

5 Photos Genealogists Should be Taking Now

In her recent webinar, Gena Philibert-Ortega asked us if we remembered our grandmother's kitchen. Do we remember her rolling pin, dishes or the way the kitchen looked? That got me thinking about all the kitchens I have known and the relatives who filled them with warmth and good food. But as a photographer, I couldn't help but start thinking about photographs too. As part of our role as genealogists we should be proactively thinking about taking photos so that our descendants don't have to rely simply on their memories.

Here are five photos every genealogist should be taking now in order to pass down more than just memories:

1) In the kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of most homes. Great smells emanate from the kitchen as family recipes are being cooked. During holiday celebrations conversations are happening, people are bumping into each other, laughter is peeling out. Other times the kitchen is the center for hanging out. A visitor stops by unexpectedly and everyone gathers around the kitchen table for lemonade. Or family and friends relax there after a high school soccer game or theatre production.

When capturing your kitchen in a photo try to consider all the uses of your kitchen. Take photos of the cook(s) and what they are cooking. Show images of friends casually gathered around the table. Don't forget to include special items such as heirloom china or your mom's favorite bowl. I know my kids will remember me wearing an apron. I am always wearing an apron in the kitchen. While I might not want someone to photograph me in an apron it would be a really meaningful photo for my children to have. It would bring back lots of memories for them.

2) Don't forget your pets

Everyone seems to have lots of photos of their pets which they've shared on Facebook. But do you have photos of you and your other family members with your pet? Photos of interest to genealogists will also contain family members. Take a family photo with your pet when he first joins your family. Then be sure to continue taking more photos through the years. Both your family and your pet will change as time passes. You will all grow and start to look older. Also, how did you interact with your pet? Did you take your dog on hikes or summer vacations? Did you ride your horse on a particular trail? You want to be able to capture those moments so that you can show your descendants how much your pet meant to you.

3) Multigenerational photos

Perhaps the most important photo of all for genealogists is the multigenerational photo. Every time you get together as a family you should consciously take a photo of the youngest person in the family with the oldest person in the family. Those photos serve as the link between generations many years into the future. The youngest people in your family will be grateful they have photos with a relative they were only able to meet once or twice.

Also, how many generations of living family members do you currently have - three, four, maybe even five? Get a group photo showing the span of the generations as they are now. 

Sometimes people like to take these photos based on gender - daughter, mother, grandmother, great grandmother. And the same photo for the men. Other options are to take a photo with all the men in the family and another of all the women in the family. A single photo showing the entire family is certainly good too but it gets more difficult to see everyone well. And not to mention it's nearly impossible to get a good photo of everyone the more people you have in the photo.

4) Gravestone photos with people in the photo

Genealogists love to go to cemeteries to locate and photograph the graves of their ancestors. But have you ever included yourself or your family in the photo? Gravestone photos are so much more meaningful when the people we love are in the photos. And it also serves to document for future generations that we have visited the graves of our ancestors. When my children were little I took them to cemeteries quite regularly. Some of my most precious photos are of my little boys next to an ancestor's gravestone. They may not remember the specific visit but they will always know that there were there once.

Two of the Pierre-Louis boys in 2006

5) Photos of your passions

Back when I was in high school my local church was making a directory of all its members. They asked all the families to come dressed in the outfits that represented them the most. The father might be holding fishing gear, the mother in her running clothes, a son in his football uniform and a daughter with her camera gear. The photos were wonderful because they really gave a sense of who each person was.  It would be fun to create a staged photo like that just for our own family keepsake or maybe even a holiday card.

If you don't feel like staging an event like that then you'll have to keep in the back of your mind to capture these moments as they happen. Photograph your kids during scouting events such as Brownies, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Head off to a sporting event and get a photo of your kids in uniform before or after the game. Take photos of family members marching in the local 4th of July parade. And don't forget that photo of your Dad in his favorite hat when he's off sailing.

By going to the effort of taking these photos now you'll provide a much richer way for your descendants to get to know you. What other types of photos would you include? What images do you want to pass down to your descendants? Let me know in the comments.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a house history and genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

 

The Sound of Our English Ancestors

My ancestor, Leonora Quayle, was born in 1763 on the Isle of Man. She had moved to Liverpool by the age of 27 where she married and then ultimately died in 1850. I imagine she would have taken her Manx accent with her to Liverpool.

Have you ever wondered what your English ancestors sounded like when they talked? England has many regional accents. One hundred years ago there would have been even more. 

While it may not be possible to know exactly how your ancestor spoke there is a way that we can get an idea. The British Library has 287 sound recordings in a collection called "Survey of English Dialects." 

The recordings were created by the University of Leeds under the direction of Harold Orton between 1950 and 1961. The goal was to capture "folk-speech" from rural areas in order to preserve the sound of regional accents. The collection is sorted alphabetically by county. Under each county you may find multiple recordings for individual towns. The speakers are mostly men but there are some women too.

I found a recording from the Isle of Man. Here's an 1958 recording of "Amanda [who] expresses her dismay at the lack of discipline she sees in children." Perhaps she can give me a clue as to what my ancestor, Leonora, sounded like.

Perhaps your ancestors come from the south of England in Cornwall. In this audio clip from 1963 "William talks about his early working days on the farm and compares modern working conditions and food production with those of his younger days." To the non-British ear this recording is probably much easier to understand the first one.

Or maybe your ancestor came from Lancashire, home to the cities of both Liverpool and Manchester. Here "Three fisherman remember the fisherman's strike of 1926..." This recording was made in 1954.

Explore the recordings included in the Survey of English Dialects and discover how your ancestor might have spoken!

Need help tracing your English ancestors? Check out our many English genealogy webinars in the Legacy library!

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

 

5 Ways to Find Out Your Grandparents' Names

Unless you are a genealogist or were very close to your grandparents, there's a good chance you don't know your grandparents' names. Surveys have shown that many Americans don't know who their grandparents were. If you are older when you start your family history journey you might not have family to ask. Here are five easy ways to find out your grandparents' names which will help to begin your family history journey.

1. Grandparent's obituary

If you don't know your grandparent's name, how on earth are you supposed to find their obituary?  Easy, depending on the date, it's very likely that either your parent(s) or you yourself are named in the obituary. Search Google for your parent's name and the word obituary. Any obituary that they are listed in should turn up in a Google search. If your mother's parents died before the 1980s and you are having trouble locating an obituary try searching for the more traditional Mrs. plus the husband's name (ie. Mrs. John Smith). If no obituary turns up in Google, try a newspaper research site such GenealogyBank.com, Newspapers.com or the newspaper search on MyHeritage.com. (Please note that these sites are subscription based.)

2. Parent's marriage certificate

You parent's marriage certificate might name both the parent's of your father and your mother. Unfortunatley, this is not consistent in all states in the United States. If you don't have a copy of your parent's marriage certificate, you can write and request it. You'll need to know the location they were married. In most cases in the United States you will write to the county for a copy of the marriage certificate. But if your parents were married in New England then you'll need to write to Town Hall. Do a Google search for Vital Records for the town or county. The government office will then provide instructions for how to obtain a copy of the certificate.

3. Parent's marriage announcement

There's a good chance that even without your parent's marriage certificate you can locate a copy of their marriage announcement. Most couples through the years have listed engagement or wedding announcements in the newspaper. Most marriage announcements list the names of the parents for the bride and the groom. You can try a Google search but in this case you'll probably want to try the newspaper sites (listed above) directly.

4. Parent's death certificate

If you've had a parent die, his or her parent's names will be listed on death certificate if known. You can request a copy of your parent's death certificate from the government office in the location where your parent died. As mentioned before this will most likely be a county office, unless you they died in New England and then you would write to the Town Hall.

5. Social Security Application

When a person applies for a social security card, the name of both their mother and father is included. While it's not likely that you have a copy of your parents' social security card applications lying around, you can apply for the information. You can make an online request for the original application of a deceased person through the Freedom of Information ACT.  

Bonus - Parent's birth certificate

The vital records - birth, marriage and death certificates - are all important sources for discovering your roots. Your parent's birth certificate, just like their marriage and death certificates, will provide information about who their parents were. The exception to that is if your parent's were adopted. In that case, depending on individual state law, the information may not be available to you. Contact the government offices where your mother and father were born for details about how to get copies of their birth certificates.

What to do next

After you discover your grandparents' names you will be curious about the rest of your family history! The next step is accessing U.S. Federal Census records to start building your family tree. Depending on the age of your parents, you will look for your parents or grandparents in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. There you will find either your parents or your grandparents or both. Families are shown as a whole - both parents and children - and that's how you'll know you have the right family. From there you will use the U.S. Federal Census to go back in time (by 10 years each time) and as you do you will discover your grandparents as children in the household of their parents. From this you will discover your great grandparents' names! 

Learn more about getting started in Family History Research by watching the six-part Legacy Family Tree Webinars Getting Started in Family History series.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

Newspaper Skill Challenge Answers

Here are the answers (below the article) to last week's skill challenge.

The following fun newspaper article appeared in the Providence Evening Press on 29 April 1870.

Read the following story and see if you can answer the questions. You will have to do some detective work (ie. research) to find out the answers. In addition to answering the questions, determine what type of records would provide answers to the questions and where you will start. Also, are there any other clues in the article that would lead you to more information about this family? Because the type did not render well, the name of the town where the family lives is Somerville.

Click to Enlarge     
The Providence Evening Press, 29 April 1870, p. 3, col. 5; digital image, MyHeritage.com (https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10620-519702/the-providence-evening-press?s=282563811 : accessed 24 October 2019), Rhode Island Newspapers, 1778-1938.                                                                    

Questions

What state is Somerville in? How do you know from the context of the article?

Somerville is in Massachusetts. We know this because of the notation at the very end of the article "-Boston Traveller." That indicates that the Providence Evening Press published an article originally from the Boston Traveller.

What is the full street address of the Gurney family? List one document you can use to find out. Extra credit for each additional type of document that will provide the same information.

I'm revising this answer because, frankly, I got it wrong the first time. In my original answer I looked at the wrong column in the 1880 census. I think it's a good lesson to show that a genealogist can be wrong. Even when we try really hard not to be! If you look at something too long sometimes you can't see what's right in front of you anymore. Revised answer below.

This article was published in 1870. The US Federal Census of 1870 did not include street names or street numbers. The 1880 Federal Census did not list a street number even though it was an option on the census. The enumerator did not fill it in or perhaps there were no street numbers (but that seems unlikely to me in a busy city). While the property was still in the hands of the Gurney family in 1900 no one in the family is listed as living there at that time.

Henry Gurney is found more often in Boston, Massachusetts city directories listing his place of work with a brief  mention that his home is in Somverille. However, the 1875  City Directory of Somerville, Massachusetts has the following listing:

"Gurney Henry L., pilot, house Cedar, cor. Highland av." 

The 1873 Somerville City Directory has the same listing.

That description is very helpful because very often streets are renumbered over the years. That means that 72 Cedar Street in 1870 would not necesseary be the same house/lot as 72 Cedar Street today. But with the description of the house being located at the corner of Highland Cedar we can narrow down the location much easier.

Another place you could find the address is in the deed. FamilySearch.org holds many land records from Massachusetts. A quick search shows that Henry Gurney purchased the property from William Gates in April 1866.  The property is described in the index as "Somerville Cedar formly [sic.] Leland St. + Cedar St." This demonstrates once again that street locations and their names have been very fluid through time. You can view the original deed here (requires login with free account): https://tinyurl.com/y4hkfw8l

What are the names of the daughters who were at home that night?

The 1870 US Federal Census indicates that the most likely candidates for the two daughters are Emily, age 28, and Catherine, age 20. The article describes the girls as "...two daughters, one a young lady of about twenty years of age and the other about fourteen years of age..." This is a good reminder that not only can the information be wrong in the census but it could be wrong in newspaper articles as well. Other documents such as birth, marriage and death records would give a better indication of the daughters' true ages.

Who are the other people in the family not mentioned?

Again, we turn to the 1870 US Federal Census and find that wife, Mary Gurney, and son, Henry Gurney, were not mentioned in the newspaper article. It's a mystery where they were and why they were not home that night or why they were not mentioned in the article. There is an additional daughter, Beatrice, not mentioned in the 1870 census but found in the earlier 1860 US Federal Census.

1870 US Federal Census showing household of Henry Gurney and family, Somerville, Massachusetts. MyHeritage.com

What does en deshabille mean? Why would a newspaper use the French phrase instead of English?

The phrase en deshabille means "in a state of undress" according to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary.  As this was during the Victorian Era it would likely have seemed improper to talk about young ladies in their night clothes. The French phrase provides a precise description of the situation without the risk of appearing improper.

What was the occupation of Henry L. Gurney? From that, what can we guess he was doing in Washington?

From the 1870 (and other)  US Federal Census we learn that Henry Gurney was a "Pilot." City Directories and other documents show that he was a pilot at Lewis Wharf in Boston, a center for merchants and commerce.  If we were to guess what Henry Gurney was doing in Washington, I would say that he was perhaps piloting his boat to pick up merchandise for sale at Lewis Wharf or perhaps droppoing off goods for sale in Washington.

 

Extra Credit:

How would you find out if the same house is standing today?

The first thing I would do answer this question is to look at Google maps and use the street view to see what is at the location now. Even though the street numbers likely have changed we know the house was as the corner of Cedar Street and Highland Avenue (which exact corner is the question!). Doing that indicates that three of the corners have newer commercial buildings on them. The fourth corner contains a yoga studio on the first floor of a building that could have existed in 1870. A quick Google search shows that the address of yoga studio is at 288 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA 02143. Using that address I would access the City of Somerville's Assessor Database in order to see when the building was built. It indicates that building at that location was built in 1920. However, older buildings are not always dated correctly in Massachusetts assessor databases so a 1920 date would not be conclusive.

To resolve the issue of "which corner" quickly, you could look at some historic maps such as cadastral maps (also known as land ownership maps) or Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. An 1895 street map of Somerville shows the Gurney property on the southwest corner of Highland and Cedar. The yoga property, currently on the southeast corner, is therefore not the same property. Since all the other buildings currently at that intersection are new we can say that the Gurney property is no longer standing.

Interestingly enough, the 1895 map shows that the Gurneys owned a large 2+ acre property at that location, in contrast to many much smaller house lots it was surrounded by. It would be fun to research and discover when the Gurney property was broken up.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Once a month you'll find her as the evening host of Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

Newspaper Skill Challenge

The following fun newspaper article appeared in the Providence Evening Press on 29 April 1870.

Read the following story and see if you can answer the questions. You will have to do some detective work (ie. research) to find out the answers. In addition to answering the questions, determine what type of records would provide answers to the questions and where you will start. Also, are there any other clues in the article that would lead you to more information about this family? Because the type did not render well, the name of the town where the family lives is Somerville.

The answers will be posted next Friday, 1 November 2019.

Click to Enlarge     
The Providence Evening Press, 29 April 1870, p. 3, col. 5; digital image, MyHeritage.com (https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10620-519702/the-providence-evening-press?s=282563811 : accessed 24 October 2019), Rhode Island Newspapers, 1778-1938.                                                                    

Questions

What state is Somerville in? How do you know from the context of the article?

What is the full street address of the Gurney family? List one document you can use to find out. Extra credit for each additional type of document that will provide the same information.

What are the names of the daughters who were at home that night?

Who are the other people in the family not mentioned?

What does en deshabille mean? Why would a newspaper use the French phrase instead of English?

What was the occupation of Henry L. Gurney? From that, what can we guess he was doing in Washington?

 

Extra Credit:

How would you find out if the same house is standing today?

 

The answers will be posted next Friday, 1 November 2019.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Once a month you'll find her as the evening host of Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

 

 

How Do You Feel About Sharing Photos of Your Ancestors?

Caroline Nunge, great grandmother of Marian Pierre-Louis, born 1878 in what is now Baerenthal, Moselle, France

Most genealogists tend to have pretty strong feelings, especially when it comes to genealogy and their ancestors! One topic that brings up a lot of emotions is photographs of our ancestors. Some people have them and others don't. Some people are willing to share them and others won't.

I have to admit that I have done a complete flip in how I feel about owning and sharing ancestral photos.

When I started out in genealogy many years ago I didn't have a whole lot of ancestral photos. My mom had a portait of my great grandparesnts, Jesse Forest Silver and Margaret Jane George. But I never saw much on my paternal side except for my grandparents. My great grandparents remained faceless to me.

When I did find photos I had a tendency to covet them and secret them away. I made it a policy that I wouldn't share family photos online in my blog posts or social media. Part of how I felt was that I wanted to protect my ancestors from unethical commercial entities. Those groups that would steal photos online and then sell them as stock photography to be used as advertisements. I couldn't think of a worse thing happening to my ancestors.

But I also wasn't keen on sharing with distant cousins either. I kept thinking that I was going to write and publish a family history and I would save the photos for the book.

At some point things started to change. I started a website for my Edwards ancestors. I was touched at how distant cousins from far flung branches were willing to share photos for inclusion on the website. The next big change came after my Dad's brother died. During the process of downsizing, my aunt decided to pass on to us the boxes of family photos they had stored in their basement. I was visiting my Dad one weekend and he said "I have something to show you." He started pulling out photo after photo of his ancestors. I saw my great greandparents Seeber Edwards and Sarah Estella Gurney for the first time. I was dumbfounded. For the very first time I was looking at their faces. They were suddenly real people with real features and family resemblances.

More recently I have hit a milestone birthday. That has changed my perception of everything. Instead of wanting to keep everything to myself or to worry about that book that may never get published, I am suddently more concerned with making sure that everyone I am related to has access to our family history and all of our family photos. The way I see it now, our family history, memories and photos have a better chance of surviving, particularly in the digital age, if they are widely shared.

Another thing happened as well. I was on a large database site looking at family trees for my maternal line when I came across a tree that had a photo of our original immigrant ancestor who came over from the Czech Republic. I had never seen a photo of this ancestor before and never imagined that one had even existed. If this 3rd cousin of mine had not publicly shared the photo I would never have seen my ancestor. I am so grateful that he did.

It was a very special moment to see the face of my immigrant ancestor. It got me thinking that everyone who is a descendant of this person might feel the same way when seeing the photo. Everyone should have the same opportunity to get to know their ancestors. And it was at this point that I decided that photos of our ancestors need to be shared. 

There are perhaps some guidelines we can follow when sharing that will make things easier. When sharing online in public trees, blog posts or social media perhaps use a low resolution (such as 72dpi) so that photo thieves won't be able to make good quality copies. Even though I post lower resolution copies online, I like to make it known to distant cousins that I am willing to give them higher resolution copies. When sharing directly with close family, either via Dropbox or thumbdrive, I always provide the high resolution copy.

If someone has shared a family photo with you, it's always best to get permission before share it again yourself, particularly online. And always be sure to credit the person who owns the photo.

Beyond that I don't have too many rules.

How do you feel about sharing photos of your ancestors? Any guidelines that you find helpful? Let me know in the comments.

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Once a month you'll find her as the evening host of Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

 

Test Your Skills on an Early 18th Century Document - Challenge Answers

Last week we challenged you to answer questions about an early 18th century document.

Here are the answers to our challenge.

click to enlarge

1. What type of document is this?  This document is called a deposition. A deposition according to Black's Law Dictionary (4th edition, p. 527) is "The testimony of a witness taken upon interrogatories, not in open court, but in pursuance of a commission to take testimony issued by a court, or under a general law on the subject and reduced to writing and duly authenticated, and intended to be used upon the trial of an action in court. It is sometimes used as synonymous with "affidavit" or "oath," but its technical meaning does not include such terms."

2. Where would you find this document? This document was created in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. In that jurisdiction you will find the document in the Essex County Registry of Deeds.

3. Without worrying about months or days, what year was Thomas Lovell born? "The deposition of Thomas Lovell being in his Eighty Seventh yeare now of Ipswich." The document was recorded in 1707 when Thomas Lovell was 87 years old. That makes him born, more or less, in 1620!

4. Where was Thomas Lovell born (take a creative stab at this)?  Since we find in Essex County, Massachusetts in 1707 and not in Plymouth, it's a pretty safe bet that he came over 1630 or later. Therefore we can guess that Thomas Lovell was born in England or some other part of the British empire, and not in the American colonies.

5. What year did he live in Salem? "I this deponent does Testify that in Anno Domini One Thousand Six hundred and forty I was an inhabitant of the Towne Salem in the County of Essex in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England in which I live about seven years..."  From this we can extract that he arrived in Salem (from where exactly we do not know) in 1640 and he lived there seven years.

6. Whose house did he live in? "...I had my aboad [abode] in the house of Mr William Bacon." From this we learn that Thomas Lovell did not own property himself but likely rented a room in the home of William Bacon.

7. How long did he live in that house? "...for about three years..."

8. What was near the house and who owned it? "...and was neer the first corn Mill that of said Traske." The house of William Bacon, which was bought from Capt. Traske, was near the first corn mill owned by Traske. Implying that something happened to the first one perhaps and that a second one was built.

9. Thomas Lovell is describing a memory/fact that occured how many years ago? It's hard to say exactly. We know that Thomas arrived in Salem in 1640 and that he stayed there for seven years. At some point during those seven years he lived with William Bacon for three years. Therefore Thomas Lovell is describing and event that happened 60-67 years in the past!

In this particular exercise we are concerned with learning about the biographical information of Thomas Lovell rather than the legal matter for which he was testifying. That matter had to with land and water rights of Capt. Traske. Thomas Lovell is testifying merely as a witness, yet because of the deposition crucial biographical information is preserved.

This document is so important because it reminds us 

1) that people who didn't own land may be recorded in records at the Registry of Deeds

2) that biographical information may be found outside of traditional vital records or church records

3) that previously unrecorded events may be preserved at a much later time.

For an extra challenge, take a stab at transcribing the document.

Transcription:

The deposition of Thomas Lovell being in his Eighty Seventh yeare of [faded]

now of Ipswich

Recorded Aprill 8 1707

I this deponent does Testify that in Anno Domini One thousand Six

hundred + forty I was an Inhabitant of the Towne Salem in the County

of Essex in the province of Massachusetts Bay in New England in 

which I lived above Seven yeares + for about three years I had

my aboad in the house of Mr William Bacon that he Bought of

Capt. Traske + was neer the first corn Mill that of Said Traske did so

.....

One last thought, is the information in this deposition accurate? We don't know. What we do know is that in 1707 it is an accurate account of what Thomas Lovell remembered from 60 plus years earlier. No indication is given as to the accuracy of his memory. We would need to corroborate the events and people mentioned in the deposition. We could start by looking for land deeds for William Bacon and Capt. Trask in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Then we could check vital records for Thomas Lovell, William Bacon and Capt. Trask. As they were all alive during the 1640s we can make some assumptions about their life spans.

 

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Once a month you'll find her as the evening host of Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.

 

 

Test Your Skills on an Early 18th Century Document

It's time for another skill challenge!

Try to read the document below and then see if you can answer the questions. 

The answers will be posted Friday, September 20, 2019.

click to enlarge

1. What type of document is this?

2. Where would you find this document?

3. Without worrying about months or days, what year was Thomas Lovell born?

4. Where was Thomas Lovell born (take a creative stab at this)?

5. What year did he live in Salem?

6. Whose house did he live in?

7. How long did he live in that house?

8. What was near the house and who owned it?

9. Thomas Lovell is describing a memory/fact that occuried how many years ago?

For an extra challenge, take a stab at transcribing the document.

 

Have fun! The answers will be released next Friday, September 20, 2019.

 

 

Marian Pierre-Louis is a genealogy professional who specializes in educational outreach through webinars, internet broadcasts and video. Her areas of expertise include house history research, southern New England research and solving brick walls. Marian is the Online Education Producer for Legacy Family Tree Webinars where she produces online genealogy education classes. Once a month you'll find her as the evening host of Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Check out her webinars in the Legacy library.