Tag Archives: Spotlight

Writing family history from A to Z

September 28, 2015Genealogical WritingCritical Analysis, Family stories, SpotlightPenny Stratton

When 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 →

Harry Potter? Harry Leech!

September 23, 2015Genealogical Writing, NewsCritical Analysis, Family stories, International genealogical research, SpotlightLindsay Fulton

To 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! →

A family of photographers

September 22, 2015American History, Family Stories, Research MethodsA Genealogist's Diary, Critical Analysis, Family stories, Object Lessons, Photographs, SpotlightScott C. Steward

Canon Inc — Franchot Tone filming “Trail of the Vigilantes” (1940). Photo by Roman Freulich

One of the pleasures of collecting old photographs is the (perhaps unsurprising) genealogical content they embody – or maybe that’s just me. The focus of my recent collecting has been Hollywood photographs of the 1910s, ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s, and even ‘50s; I find my interest drops off at about 1960. To some extent, my collection process is driven by the genealogist in me, as I like to buy images of Hollywood wives (and their husbands) or husbands (and their wives). For someone like Joan Crawford, who married three of her co-stars, such a policy leads quickly to further purchases. Continue reading A family of photographers →

What’s in a photo?

September 17, 2015American History, Collections, Family Stories, Research MethodsCritical Analysis, Family papers, Family stories, Object Lessons, Photographs, Research tips, SpotlightPenny Stratton

Ella 1 — Click on the images to expand them.

I have been looking at lots and lots of photos lately – mostly of my mother-in-law, Ella Mabel Corke. Her recent death at 99 – almost 100 – prompted a sifting of hundreds of photos. Ella’s family always seemed to have a camera at the ready, so her long, full life is well documented pictorially. I found myself studying two particular photos closely. Continue reading What’s in a photo? →

A second toe in the web

September 14, 2015Research Methods, TechnologyCritical Analysis, SpotlightAlicia Crane Williams

When I started my experiment of creating a web page about seven months ago, I advised everyone not to follow my advice and not to expect quick results. Good thing, because as of this writing, I have just managed to publish a website with one page!

Back in February I found the procedures and information that I needed to wend through in order to create a web page far more complex than it had been the “old days,” when I had successfully created a website with Network Solutions, so I let the project linger while attending to more urgent and/or fun things. Continue reading A second toe in the web →

Family history for sale

September 11, 2015American History, Family Stories, NewsFamily stories, Object Lessons, SpotlightChristopher Carter Lee

Bear Castle 1 — Bear Castle house and, at left, its garage, Louisa County, Virginia, photographed in the mid-1990s.

For the second time in my life, I have the nagging sensation of not being at all in the market for a home in the middle of Virginia – but wishing that I were. Bear Castle, dilapidated and sad-looking (“livable but needs work”), is for sale (“Sold AS IS”).[1] Its interior cluttered with the incongruous collections of more than two and a half centuries’ habitation, its kitchen startlingly reminiscent of a mid-twentieth-century diner, the thousand-acre estate it once governed has been reduced to just over three acres that realtors suggest might be subdivided further still. Continue reading Family history for sale →

Vive la Reine!

September 9, 2015NewsA Genealogist's Diary, Family stories, International genealogical research, SpotlightScott C. Steward

Queen Victoria genealogical tree cropped — A decorative family tree created for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Queen Elizabeth II’s father, the future King George VI, may be seen at right, about half-way up the tree. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, NEHGS

Later on today, Queen Elizabeth II’s reign will surpass the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria in length. While the British throne has known many monarchs of short duration – the queen’s uncle, King Edward VIII (1936), comes readily to mind – it is interesting to note that the House of Hanover/Saxe-Coburg-Gotha/Windsor has produced a king and two queens who ruled for more than fifty years each: George III (1760–1820, 59 years and 96 days), Victoria (1837–1901, 63 years and 216 days), and Elizabeth II (1952–, 63 years and 215 days … and counting).[1] Continue reading Vive la Reine! →

The sweet satisfaction of labor

September 7, 2015American History, Family StoriesFamily stories, Object Lessons, SpotlightJean Maguire

At this time of year, my family and I have two special reasons to contemplate the memory of my maternal grandfather, Arthur David (born Achille Alessio Riccardo) Belforti (1902-1996). First of all, his birthday is September 3 – a date that never passes unnoticed in my family. Second, there is no person we associate more with Labor Day than Grampy, not just because he worked so exceptionally hard and long, but because of the immense value he placed on work and the personal satisfaction and pride it brought him. Continue reading The sweet satisfaction of labor →

17th-century occupations in Massachusetts

September 4, 2015American History, NewsCritical Analysis, Spotlight, The Well-Stocked Genealogical LibrarySam Sturgis

In his monumental work The Pioneers of Massachusetts, Charles Henry Pope summarized the occupations and trades of 1,725 of the 6,000 “pioneers” for whom the information was available. These 6,000 individuals were identified “in the journals and lists of the colonies, towns, churches and counties of the period 1620-1650, inclusive, as well as those perpetuated in the passenger-lists of that time which have survived to our day.” (Pope’s “day” was 1900, 115 years ago.) Continue reading 17th-century occupations in Massachusetts →

Stone-ender houses of Rhode Island

August 27, 2015American History, Research MethodsBrick Walls, Critical Analysis, Object Lessons, SpotlightZachary Garceau

The Eleazer Arnold house in Lincoln. From Norman Morrison Isham’s Early Rhode Island Houses (1895).

The earliest houses built in Rhode Island, beginning with the first settlement by Reverend William Blackstone in the area now known as Cumberland, were different from those which were being built elsewhere in New England during the seventeenth century. One style of building in particular stands out for its presence in the formative years of the Rhode Island colony. These houses were known as stone-enders, as they were built around large chimneys made of limestone which formed an entire wall of the house. Early settlers found an abundance of limestone throughout the colony, leading to its use in house construction.[1] Continue reading Stone-ender houses of Rhode Island →

Vita Brevis

A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org