Tag Archives: A Genealogist’s Diary

Brigadoon

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,
Map of Mannheim 1888
Map of Mannheim in 1888. (Note the circular grid at right, representing the city William Boucher Jr. would have known.)

My great-grandmother was one of a large family, and when her mother died in 1924 the family house was evidently broken up, its contents divided between Wally and her nine surviving brothers and sisters. A fascinating family register, listing my great-great-grandfather’s twenty-three children and (most of) their birthdates descended to the youngest daughter: her granddaughter, my second cousin once removed, now has it. My great-grandmother Wally received a curious trove of documents associated with her father, a well-known musical instrument-maker: her portion included an 1845 passport from the Grand Duchy of Baden, an 1863 receipt for a soldier substitute, and an 1899 condolence letter from William Boucher Jr.’s half-brother to his widow. Continue reading Brigadoon →

Family connections

Family Stories, ,
Anne Curry and Pearces
From left: Nancie Stewart Curry Pearce, John H. J. Pearce, Anne Curry, and Charles Steward, 1961.

I recently skipped ahead in the Gray diary, as I had a printout of the 1873 volume and thought it might be fun to skim through that year’s entries. It was interesting to see the shifts in Mrs. Gray’s tone: she is, after all, about ten years older than when I last “checked in” with her, and her children – and their family and friends – are that much older, too, with more definite personalities and interests. Continue reading Family connections →

What’s in a name: Part Two

Family Stories, Research Methods, , , , ,
Hedwiga Gray diary1
Hedwiga Regina Shober Gray diary, entries for 5-7 February 1864. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections

In the coming weeks, I will be reviewing a diary in our collection with an eye toward its eventual publication. The diarist is Hedwiga Regina (Shober) Gray (1818–1885), a native of Philadelphia who married Dr. Francis Henry Gray of Boston (1813–1880) in 1844. As diaries are rarely written with an audience in mind, no matter how remote, Mrs. Gray’s diary – in twenty-five volumes, spanning the years 1860–1884 – is full of interesting mysteries about the identities of the people she encounters. Continue reading What’s in a name: Part Two →

The year in review concluded

Family Stories, News, Research Methods, , , , ,

Newbury Street TodayIn yesterday’s post, I covered some of the more than 250 blog posts published in Vita Brevis during the first half of 2014. The series concludes with a post from each of the last six months of the year.

At the end of July, Katrina Fahy solved a genealogical puzzle using family letters, since the family in question lived in a region with few available nineteenth century vital records: Continue reading The year in review concluded →

The year in review

Family Stories, News, Research Methods, , , , , , , ,
1928 Newbury Street Artist Rendering
99-101 Newbury Street, the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s home since December 1964

As I write this, a few days before the New Year begins, Vita Brevis is nearly a year old; it has had more than 300,000 page views since its first post on 2 January 2014. (This is a statistic I like to trumpet, although of course a single reader on a given day might well look at more than one entry: so I cannot claim 300,000 unique readers over the course of the first year, much as I would like to!) That first post, Generatio longa, vita brevis, hinted at the blog’s purpose: “Vita Brevis will include short posts on research methods – applicable to a variety of genealogical subjects – as well as posts on results. Like a mosaic, these posts will, in time, form a new collection for the genealogical researcher to explore.” Continue reading The year in review →

The family historian

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,
Margaret in Goshen for VB
Margaret Steward in Goshen, New York

Most families have one: the family historian. Whether or not the focus is genealogical, there is usually at least one family member who keeps track of siblings and cousins, sometimes to the nth degree. My father’s family had one in my great-aunt Margaret Steward (1888–1975). I do not remember meeting her, but I’ve been told I take after her, at least in so far as the mantle of family genealogist passed from her to me when I was still in middle school. Continue reading The family historian →

Getting the picture, or, reflections on research

Family Stories, Research Methods, , ,
Cornelia Wheaton Ayer
My nephew’s great-great-great-grandmother, Cornelia Wheaton Ayer (1835-1878).

As part of his schoolwork, my nephew is working on a family tree showing his forebears. The assignment seems fairly flexible: Show as many ancestors as you can, or, if you don’t have much information, focus in greater depth on the more recent ones you do know.

My brother-in-law is just getting started on his genealogy, so I suggested beginning with what he knew: the identities of his parents and grandparents. I pointed Christopher toward the California Birth Index, 1905-1995, as he should be listed there, and toward Lindsay Fulton’s Vita Brevis post on Social Security Administration applications, since information on his twentieth-century ancestors will be found in those files. Continue reading Getting the picture, or, reflections on research →

“All far from Goshen”: Three family photos

Family Stories, , ,
Steward 1
From left: Catharine White Steward (1818-1867), John Steward (1814-1901), John Steward (Jr.) (1847-1923), Harriet Steward Stuyvesant (1842-1872), and Campbell Steward (1852-1936).

I am fortunate in that my parents and grandparents took photographs and preserved the photos of the generations before them. My paternal great-aunt Margaret Steward (1888–1975) was the genealogist of the Steward and Beeckman families, and she was careful to identify the sitters in family photos whenever she could. Through her efforts, I have three photographs of the Steward Homestead in Goshen, New York, from the 1850s. These pictures show different collections of Stewards, Whites, Le Roys, and Mariés, the parents, siblings, and other kin of my great-great-grandparents, John Steward and Catharine Elizabeth White. Continue reading “All far from Goshen”: Three family photos →

The value of a school history

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,

Fay School coverGenealogists can find useful information in a variety of unlikely places. Local histories, with their lists of nineteenth-century aldermen and the minutes of long-ago meetings, can be a valuable resource; so, too, can school and college histories. (NEHGS has a whole floor largely devoted to these two types of books.) My first book was a history of the nation’s oldest elementary boarding school, and as a genealogist – as well as an historian – I made sure to include genealogical information about the school’s founders and its headmasters, teachers, trustees, and students. Continue reading The value of a school history →

Keeping memory alive

Family Stories, ,
Mount Royal Apartments
Edward Hughes Glidden, Mount Royal Apartments, 101-103 East Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore (1900)

I have written here before about the family of my maternal grandmother, Pauline Glidden Bell (1903–1968), who died when I was a small boy – I only just remember her. With her, one could say, died a part of my family history, although in fact her daughter and her husband both died in 1994, when I was an adult. Grandmother’s brother and sister outlived her, and I’m sorry I never met Uncle Ted or Aunt Miriam in person. Still, a lot of Glidden family stories came down to me through my mother, and I wish I could have discussed (and checked!) them with my grandmother. Continue reading Keeping memory alive →