Category Archives: Genealogical Writing

Writing family history from A to Z

Genealogical Writing, ,

Penny at podium_croppedWhen writing your family history, it’s important to decide what to omit. This almost sounds like perverse advice, doesn’t it? And yet, when I read a recent New Yorker article on that topic by John McPhee,[1] I realized that omission is an essential part of the process of all writing: whether it’s a letter, a memo, an essay . . . or a family history.

McPhee describes the process of writing as selection. You begin, he says, by choosing “one word and only one from more than a million in the language,” and then you choose the next. Continue reading Writing family history from A to Z →

For want of a key

American History, Collections, Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, , , , ,
Notes by Margaret Steward, June 1966, p. 1

I would venture to say that many of us got our start in genealogical research with the kind of handwritten notes on cemeteries I found in my grandfather’s box of family papers. My great-aunt Margaret Steward (1888–1975) was the family historian, and doubtless it was at my grandfather’s request that she wrote out this long-hand list of places where family members were buried.

Her list is invaluable, and yet it is also frustrating. As a beginner when I first saw this list, such a list of names daunted (and intrigued) me: who were these exotic Beeckmans and Lorillards and Stuyvesants? What were the connections between them? – obvious to Aunt Margaret, and to her brother, since the people listed were the Stewards’ parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, with a sprinkling of cousins; yet, absent a key, a family mystery to future generations. Continue reading For want of a key →

Harry Potter? Harry Leech!

Genealogical Writing, News, , ,

J K RowlingTo a genealogist who is also a huge Harry Potter fan, the recent news from J.K. Rowling has been very exciting. According to a short story posted to her website, the origin of the Potter surname has deep roots in twelfth-century England. According to Jo, Linfred of Stinchcombe was “a vague and absent-minded fellow whose Muggle neighbours often called upon his medicinal services. None of them realised that Linfred’s wonderful cures for pox and ague were magical; they all thought him a harmless and lovable old chap, pottering about in his garden with all his funny plants.”[1] As a result, his nickname “the Potterer” transformed into the surname Potter. Continue reading Harry Potter? Harry Leech! →

Prison time

American History, Genealogical Writing, Research Methods, ,
Prison 1
Inhabitants of Danville Jail, 1850. Click on images to expand them.

The Federal Census of the United States was established to accurately list the nation’s citizens, including those serving time in jail. In June 1850, men by the name of Christian Meadows and William H. Warburton (better known by his alias of “Bristol Bill”) were found guilty of counterfeiting currency at Groton, Vermont.[1] Meadows appears in the 1850 Census living in Danville, Caledonia County, with his condition listed as “counterfeiter.” Directly above Meadows is Warburton, whose profession is listed simply as “burglar.” Continue reading Prison time →

Making progress by breaking with tradition

American History, Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, Research Methods, , , ,
Pellegrino Vitale
Pellegrino Vitale (1887-1973)

As an avid genealogical researcher, I am keenly aware of the role that tradition plays in history. In all cultures, each new generation largely expects to follow traditions set by their predecessors, often without much thought as to why. Asking why is important. Challenging tradition brings progress. Haven’t the advances in civil rights over the past 100 years come largely from challenging tradition?

Recently I saw a discussion on Facebook on the tradition of a woman taking her husband’s last name upon marriage. A friend who had chosen to keep her birth name commented that she didn’t see any reason to change her name; she thought the tradition was outdated and paternalistic. I agreed, but I couldn’t help but notice that while she had kept her surname, both her son and daughter had their father’s last name. This has always been a tradition with which I had been uneasy, but until now I hadn’t been able to come up with a better alternative. Continue reading Making progress by breaking with tradition →

How to keep a surname going?

American History, Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, , , ,
The poet James Russell Lowell

Reading Scott Steward’s post about surnames being changed to keep another family name going reminded me of two examples we encountered when we wrote The Descendants of Judge John Lowell of Newburyport, Massachusetts together.

The first example is relatively straightforward. This involved the descendants of the poet James Russell Lowell (1819–1891). James had three daughters and one son, but only his daughter Mabel survived childhood. She married Edward Burnett and had three sons – James Russell Lowell Burnett (b. 1873), Joseph Burnett (b. 1874), and Francis Lowell Burnett (b. 1878). In 1890, Mabel’s eldest son James had his name changed to James Burnett Lowell to continue his maternal grandfather’s surname. Continue reading How to keep a surname going? →

Composition: Part Four

American History, Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, Research Methods, , , , ,

Final assessment

Alicia Crane WilliamsAs I tie up loose ends on the Early New England Families Study Project sketch for Richard Newton, it is time to assess the work.

Newton’s sketch is fairly short, four pages at the moment: his birth and ancestry are unknown, he did not participate in town or colony governments, was not in trouble with the courts, and left no interesting biographical highlights. A lot of information was already in print about the Newton family, including a full transcription of Richard’s will in the Newton Genealogy.  Continue reading Composition: Part Four →

The name’s the same

American History, Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, Research Methods, ,
Asa Thurston Child
My great-great-great-grandfather Asa Thurston Child (1820-1860), through whom 7/10 of these Child lines, and 8/12 of these Bowen lines, descend.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, my grandfather was raised in the northeastern Connecticut town of Woodstock, a town away from where I grew up. His ancestry can pretty much be summed up as “New England Yankee,” largely descending from families that arrived in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s and 1640s. Settled by English people in 1686, Woodstock was originally called “New Roxbury,” after the town in Massachusetts from which most of the original English settlers migrated, and was part of Massachusetts until annexed by Connecticut in 1749. With a limited number of families to marry, this quarter of my ancestry features a large number of cousin marriages. I have ten unique descents from my patrilineal immigrant ancestors, Benjamin and Mary (Bowen) Child of Roxbury, and twelve from Mary’s parents, Griffith and Margaret (Fleming) Bowen, also of Roxbury and Boston. Continue reading The name’s the same →

Composition: Part Three

Genealogical Writing, Research Methods, Technology, ,

Footnotes

Alicia Crane WilliamsEach Early New England Families Study Project sketch is an article by itself, so full bibliographic citations are given the first time a source is used, with short form citations thereafter. I have a Word file with the full citation for every source I have used (which grows with each new sketch), and I can “cut and paste” these into footnotes without having to retype. This is my manual version of the bibliographic and footnote options that come with most genealogical database programs these days. Continue reading Composition: Part Three →

“Daylight upon magic”

Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, , , , ,
Leopold Grand Duke of Baden
Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden (1790-1852). Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

The British constitutional historian Walter Bagehot (1826–1877) wrote that “When there is a select committee on the Queen, the charm of royalty will be gone. Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic.”[1] There is something uncanny about royalty, a mystique that can be hard to value according to its merits. This phrase of Bagehot’s – with its reference to “mystery” and “magic” – came to mind as I was thinking about the question of morganatic marriages in Germany. Continue reading “Daylight upon magic” →