Tag Archives: Spotlight

Learning from our mistakes

Research Methods, ,

We often learn from our mistakes. A promise that “I won’t do that again” can be a valuable tool. And, if repeated enough times, it becomes known as experience.

A decade ago I had a luncheon talk entitled “My Ten Worst Mistakes in Genealogy.” When the title appeared, Robert Charles Anderson commented, “and he updates it frequently!” In fact, I do update it, but now I separate the mistakes that did not appear in print or in a lecture from those that did. And I’m glad to say the former far outweigh the latter. Continue reading Learning from our mistakes →

Genealogical building blocks

Research Methods,

Alicia Crane WilliamsA master mason can “butter” a brick and add it to a straight and true wall in a matter of seconds. He learns to do this through repeated practice, laying thousands of bricks in hundreds of walls.

In genealogy we deal with bricks that we call primary, secondary, and circumstantial evidence.  A house made entirely of primary bricks is the strongest, but those bricks are often hard to find and expensive. Most of us have houses made from primary and secondary bricks that are perfectly sound. A house of only secondary bricks is substandard to modern building code. Circumstantial bricks are kept for building flying buttresses to hold up wobbly walls. Continue reading Genealogical building blocks →

A shopping list of technological and genealogical resources

Research Methods,

Tree monitorAs I was pulling together information for my upcoming April presentation, “Genealogy on the Go: Mobile Tools to Manage Your Discoveries,” I started thinking about how genealogy and technology go hand-in-hand these days – but that finding out more about the technology part, besides its application to genealogy, can sometimes be confusing for beginning users. Here are some places online I think would be helpful in finding tech information and news, as well as kin and research allies! Continue reading A shopping list of technological and genealogical resources →

An interview with David C. Dearborn

News

A milestone event in the life of NEHGS recently occurred when David Dearborn, one of our Senior Genealogists, retired on March 22 after a thirty-eight-year career here.  His many accomplishments and dedicated service to NEHGS were honored by his colleagues at a festive celebration the week before.  Although we know David will remain in close contact with us, and will visit often in order to carry out his own genealogical research, his daily presence in the library will be greatly missed.  Continue reading An interview with David C. Dearborn →

What we inherit, or, critical analysis

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,

Alicia Crane WilliamsThe seventy-ninth anniversary of my parents’ marriage falls on 30 March 2014. They were married for 71 years before my mother’s death at age 99 years, 6 months, and 9 days in 2006.  Mom was my connection to genealogy. Her mother was the last of her branch of the family and inherited and treasured all of the possessions, lore, and memories that came down to her. They’ve all been passed to me now. Continue reading What we inherit, or, critical analysis →

The Indian and African-American populations of Stoughton

Family Stories, Research Methods

99-101 Newbury StreeetDavid Allen Lambert and Jennifer Pustz will speak at NEHGS on Wednesday, March 26, on “Uncovering African American Stories.”

As a community historian for Stoughton, Massachusetts, I have studied all local families from the early eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries.  Within Stoughton there was a population of Native Americans placed into the Praying Indian village of Punkapoag  through the efforts of the Rev. John Eliot in 1657.  As the Tribal Historian of the Massachuset-Punkapoag Indians, I have also spent many years researching the members of that community.  Continue reading The Indian and African-American populations of Stoughton →

The last name’s the thing

Family Stories, Research Methods

As a genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, there are many aspects of my job that I truly enjoy –  especially when it involves helping those new to the hobby of family history get off on the right foot. One of my favorite experiences is the chance that I have each college semester to interact with Boston University college students who sign up for a three-week family history program offered through B.U.’s Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground. As I write this, I will be introducing myself and the society to a new group this week, and I am looking forward to seeing where their various ancestries take us over the course of the program. Continue reading The last name’s the thing →

Mining the Social Register, an unexpected resource

News, Research Methods,

Boston Social Register 1914In my role as a technical services librarian, I’ve recently been working on adding issues of the Social Register published between 1890 and 1923 to the NEHGS Digital Library. Started in 1886, this publication is a directory of names and addresses of prominent American families. At its inception, the Social Register was primarily populated by descendants of early Dutch and English settlers of New York, but the scope of the series quickly expanded, and by 1918 there were eighteen annual volumes representing twenty-three U.S. cities. The Social Register Association continued publishing separate volumes for different cities until 1976, when the listings were consolidated into a single publication. Continue reading Mining the Social Register, an unexpected resource →

Mid-century migration from Iraq to Mexico to the United States

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,
Isak Aghassi
The Records of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Boston Office at the American Jewish Historical Society, New England Archives, http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=365459#a1

While interning at the American Jewish Historical Society—New England Archives and processing their collection of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), I came across the interesting case of the Isak Aghassi family, an Iraqi Jewish (or Mizrahi) family who for years struggled to immigrate to the United States, first from Iraq and then from Mexico. The Aghassis’ story is an extraordinary one of resolve and courage that epitomizes the struggle Iraqi Jews went through before, during, and after the period of the Second World War. Their story reveals another side of the Jewish struggle, one that is not as commonly known or understood. Continue reading Mid-century migration from Iraq to Mexico to the United States →