Category Archives: American History

A growing family

American History, Family Stories, , , ,
Maryland Casualty Tower Building for VB
Edward Hughes Glidden’s sketch of the Maryland Casualty Tower.

We pick up the Bouchers in 1912 with Mrs. Frances Boucher[1] and her sons Carlos H., clerk, and Emile G., “2d vice pres. Crook-Horner Supply Co.,” at 1718 Linden Avenue in Baltimore, along with Mrs. Boucher’s grandson Harry P. Stone, clerk.[2] Thomas J. Wentworth, now a member of the Melbourne Advertising Agency with an office at 210 East Lexington Street, is back at 1731 Linden Avenue.[3] Edward H. Glidden appears as a member of Glidden & Friz, architects (in the Glenn Building, 16 St. Paul Street), and the treasurer of the Maryland Apartment House Company; he has already moved into the Glidden & Friz-designed Homewood Apartments on North Charles Street.[4] As in 1910, Claude Burch is at 804 North Calvert Street.[5]

In 1913, Edgar L. Brooks (who married Josephine Boucher Stone in that year) is listed as secretary of the Baltimore Chemical Company at Seventh Street, east corner of Gough; Julien P. Friez, instrument maker and the father of Lucien Louis Friez, was living at 1230 East Baltimore Street.[6] Edward H. Glidden and Clyde N. Friz now had their office on the twelfth floor of the Maryland Casualty Building.[7] Continue reading A growing family →

Chasing a squirrel

American History, Research Methods, , ,

Sonet distributionA squirrel![1] I find a lot of them while researching and I am sure all other researchers find them, too: those pieces of information that have nothing to do with what you are researching. You come across them by accident and they pull your attention away from what you are trying to find because they are equally or sometimes more interesting.  Sometimes it is a quick tangent – and sometimes squirrels can lead to an entirely new path of research that sticks with you for a long time. Continue reading Chasing a squirrel →

“Socially, she is not received”

American History, NEHGS Collections, , , , ,
Oscar Wilde by Sarony
Oscar Wilde by Sarony. Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

A frequent theater-goer and enthusiastic pedestrian in the 1860s, by the early 1880s – following the death of her husband – Regina Shober Gray was going out rarely, and only to the houses of relatives and close friends. This does not mean that she lost her interest in the goings-on around Boston or, indeed, among the celebrated and notorious people of her day.[1]

1 Beacon Hill Place, Boston, Wednesday, 8 February 1882: Laura Howe[2] has sent Mary[3] a most humorous parody ‘After Oscar Wilde.’[4] She says she and Harry [Richards] agreed that the only thing to be done with his book of poems was to burn it, that there were some pretty things amid the filth! The ‘Swinburne’[5] School of poetry is certainly open to reprobation in the matter of good taste & pure morals! Continue reading “Socially, she is not received” →

Not just Rip Van Winkle

American History, Family Stories, ,
Harriet Hanson Robinson 2
Harriet Hanson Robinson (1825-1911). Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

As anyone engaged in the study of family history knows, researching the women of the past can be a difficult process. Many commonly used sources draw out details in the lives of men but provide only minimal statistical information about the lives of women. Women are often erased from the narratives written by historians and their documents lost or destroyed. This state of affairs is changing, however, and improving, thanks in part to the entrance into the historical field of women eager to tell their own stories. This substantial increase in historical work by women began in part with the field of genealogy, which opened to women much more quickly than other areas of study. Continue reading Not just Rip Van Winkle →

Probate records: Part Six

American History, Research Methods, ,

[Editor’s note: Alicia’s probate series began here.]

Joseph Alden Real InventoryAppointment of appraisers

On the same day that the letter of administration and bond were made, 4 April 1787, the judge appointed three men to take the inventory of Joseph Alden’s estate: Joshua White, Esq., Seth Eaton, yeoman, and Silas White, yeoman, all of Middleborough. Continue reading Probate records: Part Six →

Northeastern University’s roots

American History, News,
Mathews Arena
Courtesy of Northeastern University

Genealogy is the never-ending story of your ancestors as you track them down and learn about the lives they lived. It is also the opportunity to learn about the communities in which they resided. Recently, I had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the place I now reside and about a university that I visit a lot from October to March, spending many weekend evenings in Matthews Arena, the oldest indoor ice hockey arena still in use for the sport. Continue reading Northeastern University’s roots →

A new century

American History, Family Stories, Research Methods, ,
Frances Giles Boucher
Frances Giles Boucher

My review of almost sixty years’ worth of Baltimore city directories has yielded much information on my great-great-great-grandfather E. W. Boucher; my great-great-grandfather William Boucher Jr. (1822–1899) and his two wives; and many of William Jr.’s children and -in-laws. In the 1904 city directory, we find Mrs. Frances Boucher[1] at 1718 Linden Avenue with her sons Louis A. and Carlos H. Boucher, clerks. Thomas J. Wentworth, “Proprietor of Saturday Review” and husband of the younger Frances Boucher, is nearby at 1731 Linden Avenue; his temporary office in the year of the Great Baltimore Fire is at 17 East Saratoga Street. Continue reading A new century →

Probate records: Part Five

American History, Research Methods, ,

[Editor’s note: Alicia’s series began here.]

Joseph Alden LetterIntestate probate

For this exercise we will use the records from both the files of the Plymouth County Probate Court (i.e., images of the original documents) and from the copy books. The original files for Plymouth County are accessible and searchable on www.americanancestors.org, but you can access the scans of both the originals and the copy books at www.familysearch.org – on the Search page fill in the box “Find a Collection” with “Massachusetts, Plymouth County.”

It will autofill the two selections: Continue reading Probate records: Part Five →

“Brought to ‘attention’”

American History, Family Stories, , , , ,
FJB and Barbara for VB
My mother and her father, Frederick J. Bell, in Falls Church, Virginia.

The recent gift of some family photos reminds me that, well as in some ways I knew my maternal grandfather, there will always be things one cannot know, save by lucky chance. My grandfather was a career Naval officer, one who later went into business and then, in retirement, was ordained an Episcopal minister. A native of Norfolk in Virginia, Frederick Jackson Bell (1903–1994) was appointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1919, when he was 16, and for the next 28 years he led a peripatetic existence, from Scotland and the Mediterranean to California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War. Continue reading “Brought to ‘attention’” →

An 1890 census substitute

American History, Family Stories, ,
William Boucher
William Boucher Jr. (1822-1899)

As we are missing (most of) the 1890 Federal Census, the value of city directories for the years around 1890 is all the greater. Looking at the Boucher family of Baltimore, the 1880s proved somewhat chaotic, with the family shop and household changing location (or perhaps just street address) more than once. As the Boucher sons grew up, they joined the family business, William Maria Boucher (1867–1921) in 1885 and Louis Albert Boucher (1871–1914?) three years later. As in 1888, Wm. Boucher Jr.,[1] “mus[ical] inst[rument]s,” appeared in the Baltimore city directory with a shop at 414 East Baltimore Street and a residence at 716 West Lanvale Street in 1889, 1890, and 1891.[2] Continue reading An 1890 census substitute →