The Weekly Genealogist
Vol. 14, No. 32
Whole #543
August 10, 2011
Edited by Lynn Betlock, Jean Powers, and Valerie Beaudrault
dailygenealogist@nehgs.org
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Greetings from the New England Historic Genealogical Society! This newsletter has been sent to people who asked to receive it. If you would like to unsubscribe or change your email address, please click on the link at the bottom of the email and follow the instructions provided.
NEHGS collects, preserves, and interprets materials to document and make accessible the histories of families in America.
Contents:
* Coming Soon in the July 2011 Issue of the Register
* Preorder The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, volume 7, T–Y
* A Note from the Editor: Local Context for National Stories
* Name Origins
* This Week's Survey
* Spotlight: Lincoln County, Wyoming
* Stories of Interest
* New Titles Available at the NEHGS Bookstore
* Upcoming Education Programs
* NEHGS Contact Information
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Coming Soon in the July 2011 Issue of the Register
Editorial
The Yeo–Condy Family of Marblehead, Massachusetts: Some Proposed Corrections to Torrey
Austin W. Spencer
Elias1 Shevalier, Immigrant to Connecticut: His Origin and Migration
Edward J. Harrison
The English Origin of Robert1 Rand of Charlestown, Massachusetts
Leslie Mahler
The Two Richard Taylor Families of Early Yarmouth, Massachusetts
Jillaine S. Smith
Watertown, Massachusetts, Marriages, Deaths, and Other Events, 1794–1837
Scott Andrew Bartley
The Banisters of Oxfordshire, Boston, and Newport, with a Royal Descent for Frances Walker, Wife of Thomas2 Banister
Nathaniel Lane Taylor and Michael Andrews-Reading (concluded from 165:99)
New England Articles in Genealogical Journals in 2009
Henry B. Hoff
NEHGS members can view a PDF of the July issue.
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Preorder The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, volume 7, T–Y
The seventh and final volume in the 1634–1635 Great Migration series is now available for preorder. The book, which will contain more than 200 new authoritative genealogical sketches, will ship in mid-September.
Order volume T–Y, or all seven volumes of the series.
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A Note from the Editor: Local Context for National Stories
by Lynn Betlock
Two weeks ago, I visited the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site in Little Falls, Minnesota. My parents both grew up in Little Falls, and I’d visited the Lindbergh site, which is operated by the Minnesota Historical Society, since I was a child. This time, I brought my own kids. In the visitors’ center we watched the introductory movie, with original footage from Lindbergh’s historic 1927 flight across the Atlantic, and my kids enjoyed playing in the Spirit of St. Louis replica cockpit.
What made the biggest impression on me, though, were the laminated reproductions of newspaper front pages reporting Lindbergh’s accomplishment. Newspapers from New York, Paris, and other major metropolitan areas were represented, and their stories were compelling. But most interesting to me was the front page from the Little Falls newspaper. I picked that one up, sat down, and read every word.
While I had many relatives living in Little Falls in 1927, I didn’t expect to find any of their names in the story — and I didn’t. What came through loud and clear, though, was the excitement of a community responding to one of their own — someone who had played there on the banks of the Mississippi and attended Little Falls High School — making good in the most spectacular way imaginable. The articles allowed me to get a sense of what this exciting event would have been like for my two grandmothers, Erna Smith, age seven, and Bobbie Flack, age nine, as well as their parents and even grandparents. (One grandmother always said two of her older sisters flew with Charles Lindbergh in Little Falls, presumably before his transatlantic flight. I wish I could find documentation of that!)
What I took away from this experience was the unique perspective a local newspaper could provide on events of national importance. While genealogists generally recognize that historic newspapers are an invaluable resource for finding specific information about ancestors, I hadn’t fully considered how much local color and context a hometown newspaper could provide about a major news event. These accounts convey the impact of national news on an ancestor’s community and provide an additional layer of information about the lives our ancestors led. In the future, I know I’ll be using newspapers of the past in an entirely new way.
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Name Origins
by Julie Helen Otto
SOBRIETY (usually f): Widow Sobriete (Hilton) Moulton d. Hampton, N.H. 31 Jan. 1717/18 ae. 85 (Hampton VRs 1:125); Henry Moulton “and Sobrietie his wife” [no maiden name recorded], who were married at Hampton 20 9th mo. 1651 (VRs 1:555), had children rec. Hampton 1655-1666; a granddaughter was Sobriety Moulton, b. Hampton 13 Aug. 1694 (Hampton VRs 1:71), daughter of their son Josiah Moulton (b. 26 2nd mo. 1662) and wife Elizabeth (Worthington) (Hampton VRs 1:78).
This is one of the less common “virtue names” dear to Puritan parents. Sobriety — defined as a state of sedate or gravely or earnestly thoughtful character or demeanor — was no doubt especially valued when exercised in calm consideration of virtue and Biblical wisdom. Probably this meaning was first in Sobriety’s parents’ minds, rather than the simple avoidance of drunkenness.
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This Week's Survey
Last week’s survey asked how old you were when you first began to do genealogy. Interestingly, the responses were spread rather evenly across the decades. Twenty-two percent began their genealogy research when they were between the ages of 16 and 30. No respondents began their genealogy over the age of 80. Complete results are:
- 12%, under 15
- 22%, 16-30
- 17%, 31-40
- 21%, 41-50
- 19%, 51-60
- 8%, 61-70
- 1%, 71-80
- 0%, over 80
This week's survey asks about your genealogical book buying. Take the survey now!
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Spotlight: Lincoln County, Wyoming
by Valerie Beaudrault
Lincoln County, Wyoming
Lincoln County is located in the southwestern part of the state. According to the website, Lincoln County is comprised of two sections, Upper Lincoln County or Star Valley, and Lower Lincoln County, which includes Kemmerer and Cokeville. To access the resources available through the Lincoln County website, click on a location button to open a new page.
Cokeville Headstones
This online database contains a collection of digital images of more than 913 headstones from cemeteries located in Cokeville. The cemetery names are Border, Cokeville, Geneva, Raymond, Sage, and Smith Fork. The images may be downloaded to your computer and printed free of charge. Instructions for navigating the database have been provided. The images are in jpeg file format and have been organized alphabetically.
Cokeville Obituaries
This database contains images of obituaries and funeral notices from the local newspaper. Images are being added to the database as they are received. Currently there are fifty-one obituaries in the Cokeville database. They have been organized alphabetically. Each obituary may be downloaded free of charge.
Kemmerer Headstones
This online database, sponsored by the Lincoln County (Kemmerer) Historical Society, is a collection of digital images of more than 2,700 headstones from cemeteries located in Kemmerer. The headstones are located in the Beaver, Diamondville, Ham's Fork, Holden, Kemmerer, Twin Creeks, and Viola–LaBarge cemeteries. The images may be downloaded to your computer and printed free of charge. Instructions for navigating the database have been provided. The images are in jpeg file format and have been organized alphabetically. There is also a link to other Kemmerer burial sites at the end of the Kemmerer headstones main page.
Star Valley Headstones
This online database, sponsored by the Star Valley Historical Society, contains a collection of digital images of more than 4,700 headstones from cemeteries located in the Star Valley area. The twelve Star Valley cemeteries are represented in the database: Afton, Alpine, Amesville, Auburn, Bedford, Etna, Fairview, Freedom, Grover, Smoot, Thayne, and Turnerville. The images may be downloaded to your computer and printed free of charge. Instructions for navigating the database have been provided. The images are in jpeg file format and have been organized alphabetically. There is also a link to a few other burial sites in Star Valley, located at the end of the Star Valley headstones main page.
Star Valley Obituaries
The obituaries found in this database have been scanned from the Star Valley Independent newspaper, which was first published in 1901. More than 6,800 obituary images have been uploaded to the website. The images may be downloaded to your computer and printed free of charge. Instructions for navigating the database have been provided. The images are in jpeg file format and have been organized alphabetically.
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Stories of Interest
‘All Jews Are One Big Extended Family’: Tel Aviv U. Professor Spearheads Global Jewish Genealogy Project
The Am HaZikaron Institute of Science and Heritage of the Jewish People in Israel has developed a number of genealogical initiatives, including a website which allows Jews to build family trees and collect family history artifacts with relatives from all over the world.
A Journey that Leads to Long-lost Relatives
A New York woman succeeded in tracing lost branches of her grandmother’s family in California and County Cavan, Ireland.
Today's Polar Bears Trace Ancestry To . . . Ireland?
According to a study in the journal Current Biology, every polar bear alive today can trace its ancestry to one mama bear that lived in Ireland during the last Ice Age.
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New Titles Available at the NEHGS Bookstore
The Bookstore at NEHGS is pleased to announce the availability of two new titles:
So Proudly We Hail: Ancestors and Descendants of Harold and Elsie Cole (Whipple) Morgan by Janice Morgan Seligman, edited by Christopher Challender Child
The Ancestry of Helen Marion (Locke) Wright, researched by Helen Marion (Locke) Wright, edited and updated by Aaron Goodwin, Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG, FGSP, and Michael J. Leclerc
For more information on these titles or to place an order, please click the links below:
So Proudly We Hail
The Ancestry of Helen Marion (Locke) Wright
Did you know that the NEHGS Book Store offers library-quality copies of over 10,000 rare and out-of-print books? Some titles ordered by recent customers include:
- Records of the Town of Tisbury, Massachusetts, Beginning June 29 1669 and Ending May 16 1864 (Item P5-MA0500H, $87.00)
- Records of the First Church at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in New England 1636-1734. (Item P5-MA0526S, $27.50)
- Richmond Co., Virginia, Wills. 1699-1800. (Item P5-VA0034S, $22.00)
- Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760-1800 (Item P5-ME0256H, $47.00)
- Old Houses of the Ancient Town of Norwich, Connecticut, 1660-1800. with Maps (item P5-CT0105H, $67.00)
You can search the entire Classic Reprints catalog online. If you would like a list of FAQs and search tips for the Classic Reprints catalog, simply send an email with "Classic Reprints" in the subject line.
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Upcoming Education Programs
Each year the Society presents a number of dynamic lectures, seminars, and tours for genealogists and the general public. Programs are held at 99–101 Newbury Street unless otherwise indicated. For more information, please contact D. Joshua Taylor at 617-226-1226 or jtaylor@nehgs.org.
View a full listing of upcoming programs at AmericanAncestors.org.
Seminars and Tours
Boston University Genealogical Essentials online course
Begins September 6, 2011
Boston University’s four-week, online course in Genealogical Essentials is designed specifically for genealogy enthusiasts who seek to improve their research skills and develop a better understanding of best practices in the field. NEHGS members get a 10% tuition discount.
Get more details
London Research Tour
September 25 – October 2, 2011
Discover the wealth of information available in London's repositories as NEHGS returns to London in 2011. Participants will take part in two group dinners, consultations, and guided research through the Society of Genealogists (SOG) and the National Archives (UK). Daily educational activities include lectures and tours by the experts at the National Archives (UK), SOG, and NEHGS. Featured NEHGS experts include David C. Dearborn and Christopher C. Child.
Salt Lake City Research Tour
October 30 – November 6, 2011
You won't want to miss our thirty-third annual research tour to the world-renowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Following a continuing tradition of excellence, NEHGS staff will guide you through a week of research, consultations, lectures, group meals, and other activities as you explore the collections of the largest genealogical library in the world.
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NEHGS Contact Information
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Copyright 2011, New England Historic Genealogical Society
99–101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116
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