Cotton Mather and the Six Degrees of Separation

Cotton Mather (1663-1728)

“Conspicuous” on horseback, Cotton Mather (1663-1728) attended the hanging of fellow minister and Harvard graduate George Burroughs (1650-1692), found guilty at the Salem witch trials. Called the ringleader of witches, Burroughs’ parting speech followed by a perfect recitation of “The Lord’s Prayer” caused doubt to stir among the onlookers. Yet Mather, who firmly believed in the devil himself, dismissed Burroughs’ words. 

And the executions continued.

Mather held a passionate dislike for Burroughs, despite their similar backgrounds. Perhaps he truly believed the former Salem Village minister conducted devil worship with scores of witches, murdered his two wives (as their ghosts told Ann Putnam Jr.), or turned Baptist. Whatever the cause, a Harvard historian concluded the Boston minister’s biography by claiming Mather was linked to Burroughs through their descendants, no doubt causing Mather to roll over in his grave.

“The name Mather among Cotton Mather’s descendants has long been extinct. His son Samuel Mather, (Harvard University 1723), had a daughter, who married the Reverend Josiah Crocker of Taunton, H.U. 1738, among whose descendants was Samuel Leonard Crocker of Taunton, a graduate of Brown University in 1822, who married a granddaughter of Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., the founder of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, whose maternal grandfather was George Burroughs, at whose execution Cotton Mather acted a Conspicuous part on horseback. Thus by the marriage of Crocker to a granddaughter of Thomas, the Cotton Mather family became united with the George Burroughs family.” 

—Colonial Collegians 1642-1774, Harvard, pp. 797-798. (Online database at AmericanAncestors.org.)

So, let’s fill in the missing data to prove six degrees of separation between the two Puritan ministers. 

MATHER	BURROUGHS
Cotton Mather (H.U. 1678, 1681)	George Burroughs (H.U. 1670)
Samuel Mather (H.U. 1723)	[daughter Burroughs]
[dau.] Mather m. Rev. Josiah Crocker (H.U. 1738)	Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., founder of AAS
[among whose descendants was . . .]	[child of Isaiah Thomas]
Samuel Leonard Crocker (Brown U. 1822) m. [granddaughter of Isaiah Thomas]

The first child of Rev. Increase Mather (1639-1723) and Maria Cotton (1642-1714), Cotton Mather was married three times and had 15 children. Unfortunately, childhood diseases and early deaths wiped out most of his children, leaving only three who married. With his second wife Elizabeth Clark (1675-1713), Cotton had a son, Samuel Mather (1706-1785). Rev. Samuel married Hannah Hutchinson (1714-1752) in 1733.

Eligible Harvard Grads

Since we don’t know which Mather daughter married a Crocker, let’s return to the Colonial Collegians biographies.

Josiah Crocker (H.U. 1738) was a minister at Taunton but he married Rebecca Allen (p. 4451). The Taunton vital records show Josiah died in 1774, age 55, and he’s buried next to his wife Rebecca Allyn Crocker (1721-1759). He married his second wife, Hannah Cobb, in 1761 (Taunton VR). Born in Yarmouth in 1719, he was the only son of Capt. Josiah (d. 1721) and Desire (Thacher) Crocker (Yarmouth VR).

Josiah Crocker (H.U. 1760) was born 1740/1741 in Eastham, son of Rev. Joseph Crocker (H.U. 1734) and Reliance Allen. He died in 1764, unmarried (p. 6681).

Josiah Crocker (H.U. 1765) was born 1744 in Barnstable to Cornelius Crocker, tavernkeeper, and Lydia Jenkins. He married Deborah, daughter of Daniel Davis, and died in 1780. He lived in Barnstable and was a schoolmaster and clerk (p. 7319).

We’ve run through all the possible Josiah Crockers in Colonial Collegians, and even though Josiah and Joseph are not interchangeable names, there could be some confusion between generations. So, let’s continue.

Joseph Crocker (H.U. 1734) was a minister in Orleans. Born in 1715, he was the son of Thomas (d. 1728) and Hannah (Green) Crocker of Barnstable. He and his wife Reliance (Allen) Crocker were the parents of Josiah (H.U. 1760), above. He married, second, Mary (Pemberton) Hatch, widow of James Hatch, in 1766. He died in 1772 (p. 4053).

Joseph Crocker (H.U. 1774) was the son of Rev. Josiah Crocker (H.U. 1738) and Rebecca Allen mentioned above. He was born in Taunton in 1749 and died in Boston in 1797. He was a military man, not a minister like his father. And he was the husband of Hannah Mather (1752-1829), daughter of Rev. Samuel (p. 8627).

Finding Parents for a Match

Now that we’ve solved the Mather-Crocker marriage, we have to skip a generation or two to find out who were the parents of Samuel Leonard Crocker, Brown University 1822. For that, we go to the Massachusetts vital records.

In Worcester in 1825, Samuel L. Crocker married Hannah W. Thomas, the granddaughter of Isaiah Thomas. Born in Taunton in 1804, Samuel was the son of William Augustus Crocker and Sally Ingell. William was the son of Capt. Josiah Crocker and Abigail Leonard. Capt. Josiah was the son of Rev. Josiah Crocker and Rebecca Allen of Taunton, above. The family tree looks like this:

1. Capt. Josiah Crocker (d. 1721) m. Desire Thacher

2. Rev. Josiah Crocker (1719-1774) (H.U. 1738) m. Rebecca Allen

3. Capt. Josiah Crocker (1743-1808) m. Abigail Leonard

4. William Augustus Crocker (1774-1805) m. Sally Ingell

5. Samuel Leonard Crocker (1804-1883) m. Hannah Weld Thomas

                    3. Capt. Joseph Crocker (1749-1797) m. Hannah Mather

The Colonial Collegians biography had Cotton Mather’s granddaughter marrying Rev. Josiah Crocker (H.U. 1738), who was a generation older than her, instead of his son. Then it was the wrong son (Joseph, not Josiah). To clarify, Hannah (Mather) Crocker was the grand-aunt of Samuel Leonard Crocker who married Hannah Weld Thomas. That means Cotton Mather and George Burroughs were not related by blood through this line.

Fortunately, the Harvard Crocker biographies do not mention the false Mather/Burroughs connection. Nor does the Horace E. Mather’s Lineage of Rev. Richard Mather (1890). But you will see mention of it in other sources.

Postscript: Hannah (Mather) Crocker

Hannah became well-known for her writing and good works. She believed in the equality of women, as shown in Observations on the Real Rights of Women (1818), and supported a women’s educational “lodge” based on Masonic principles. You can learn more about her by visiting the Hannah Mather Crocker Society online, which promotes “scholarship and public understanding concerning the life, writing, and legacies of Hannah Mather Crocker (1752-1829).” 

In 1814—more than a decade before the Crocker-Thomas marriage—Hannah (Mather) Crocker donated 1,500 books from the Mather family to the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas LL.D. (1749-1831). Her descendants also donated manuscripts, portraits, and other ephemera to the society. 


To find out if the Burroughs line in Cotton Mather's Colonial Collegians profile is correct, read George Burroughs Genealogy: Burroughs-Thomas-Crocker Line.

Written in Stone: Proof of the Hazen/Gibson Marriage

Note: previously publishe in the New England Historic Genealogical Society's magazine in 2009.

---

New England Ancestors (Fall 2009): 40.

For the last decade, I’ve overturned rocks in my efforts to find the parents of John Gibson, a miller in the North End of Boston, who died in 1721. I often collaborated with my newly-found fifth cousin twice removed, Ruby (Gibson) White. One of her common refrains was: “What about Hannah Hazen’s Gibson children?” At first, I dismissed this lead. In New England Marriages Prior to 1700, [i] Clarence Almon Torrey listed her marriage with an extra editorial: “GIBSON, William & Hannah HAZEN?, dau Edward (very doubtful).”

When the New England Historic Genealogical Society published Torrey’s 12-volume manuscript on CD a few years ago, I checked his sources. I found it odd that he referenced the major Hazen genealogy,[ii] while doubting is accuracy in his concise synopsis.

Hannah Hazen was born the seventh month of 1653 in Rowley, Massachusetts,[iii] daughter of Edward Hazen (b. 1614[iv]; buried 22 July 1683 in Rowley[v]) and his second wife, Hannah Grant (b. 1631[vi]; d. Feb. 1715 in Haverill as widow of Capt. George Brown[vii]). The Hazen volume claimed that Hannah Hazen married William Gibson and died before 1683, leaving three children. When Hannah’s father died intestate, the inventory of his estate by his widow Hannah and son Edward was attested in Ipswich court 25 September 1683, and recorded 12 March 1683/4. The settlement gave the names of his children, including “Hannah Gibson deceased (3 children living) hath received 15.18.” After debts and the widow’s thirds, the estate was divided between the 10 Hazen children, with the eldest son receiving a double portion. Each child was entitled to 33 pounds and 10 shillings, with “William Gibson having = Rstd [received] 15.18.8/ Rest. [remained to be paid] short of a share 17.11.4.” [viii]

After Hannah (Grant) (Hazen) Brown died in February 1715, land that was part of her widow’s thirds was distributed to her children. This agreement, dated 20 June 1716, makes provision for her grandchildren, “brother Gibson’s children . . . they having their share with the others.”[ix] Unfortunately, the probate records do not mention the Gibson children by name nor identify their residence, but the plural “children” means at least two and possibly all three, Gibson children were still alive by this date.

Hannah (Hazen) Gibson gravestone, Granary Burial Ground (2008)

In addition to these two probate records, an additional source now confirms the Gibson-Hazen marriage. In early August 2008, I was taking cemetery photos for the Halloween issue of a local parenting magazine in the Granary Burial Ground in Boston, when I stumbled by chance across Hannah’s gravestone alongside the path near the wall by Tremont Place (by wall tomb 103):

“Hannah wife to/ William Gibson/& daughter to Edward Hazen/aged about 25….”[x]

Prior to this cemetery visit, I had checked the NEHGS database, Old Cemeteries of Boston, [xi] to see if any of my ancestral connections were buried there, so I knew Hannah’s stone was not included. Nor is the stone mentioned in the 1856 survey or the 1905 inscriptions compiled by Henry A. May, both of which were consulted for Ogden Codman’s Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Granary Burial Ground. [xii] Hannah’s grave was not included in the 1980s survey by the Historic Burial Grounds Initiative (HBGI) nor can it be found on HBGI’s map. When I contacted HBGI, project director Kelly Thomas had no record of the grave and could not say whether it was found during recent conservation.[xiii] Since the grave had been forgotten or misplaced for the last 150 years (since the 1856 survey), on 22 August 2008, Kelly Thomas and conservators at the cemetery lifted the stone to reveal the rest of the inscription:

“Hannah wife to/ William Gibson/& daughter to Edward Hazen/aged about 25/ years dec’d October ye 10/1678/Also 2 sons lyes by her.”

How the gravestone was overlooked for generations is a mystery. Clearly, it is not new. The fan-sunburst motif on Hannah’s gravestone can be attributed to an unnamed carver “whose works are to be seen primarily in Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, Malden, Wakefield, Woburn, the Granary, and King’s Chapel.” This design by the “Charlestown carver” was only used in the 1670s and 1680s, making the gravestone contemporary with her death date. “From the extant evidence it would seem that the [Charlestown carver’s] earliest carving, stemming from broadsides, developed north of the Charles River possibly as early as 1674 and certainly by 1678.”[xiv]

Given that the gravestone was probably placed shortly after her death in 1678 and before her father’s 1683 probate, Hannah and William Gibson had at least five children, born between say 1670 and 1678. Five Gibson children (none named John) are recorded in Boston records during this time but belong to another couple with the same names: William Gibson, often referred to as “the Scotchman” or by his occupation as cordwainer or shoemaker, [xv] and his second wife, Hannah Phippen.

Finding Hannah (Hazen) Gibson’s grave not only confirms her marriage but also gives her exact death date and narrows the time period for her children’s births—all information not found in contemporary records. Based on the grave inscription, I can conclude that Hannah Hazen is less likely than Ruby and I hoped to be the mother of our John Gibson of Boston, who filed a marriage intention on 18 December 1708 to Margaret Wood of Ipswich. [xvi]

So the search continues—for my John Gibson’s parents as well as “brother Gibson’s children.”

Footnotes

[i] Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985, 1997), 301.

[ii] Tracy Elliot Hazen, The Hazen Family in America (New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., 1947).

[iii] Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2009).

[iv] Torrey, New England Marriages, 361, and Hazen, The Hazen Family, 4-5, 7-8.

[v] Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850.

[vi] Torrey, New England Marriages, 361, and Hazen, The Hazen Family, 10-11, 14.

[vii] “Descendants of Henry Brown of Salisbury” in Essex Antiquarian, 12 (1908), 97.

[viii] Hazen, The Hazen Family, 21-23.

[ix] Hazen, The Hazen Family, 24.

[x] Since 1660, more than 5,000 people have been buried at Granary Burying Ground, though less than half are marked by gravestones, which have sometimes been moved in an effort to straighten the rows. Hannah (Hazen) Gibson’s grave is located in a row with three unrelated and also relocated graves, for Susannah Reynolds (died 5 May 1746, aged 26); Windsor Goulding (d. 26 August 1702, aged 13 months and eight days); and Mary Coney (d. 17 June 1697, aged 21 months). There are no known Hazen graves in Granary, and the other Gibson burials are probably unrelated.

[xi] Old Cemeteries of Boston (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, NEHGS, 2007), taken from Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, Inscriptions and Records of the Old Cemeteries of Boston (Boston, MA: NEHGS, 2000).

[xii] Ogden Codman, Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Mass. (Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1918).

[xiii] The Historic Burying Grounds Initiative is part of the city of Boston’s Parks & Recreation Department. HBGI has an online database of burials (http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/hbgi/). Email correspondence with Kelly Thomas, 11 Aug. 2008; 15 Aug. 2008.

[xiv] Allan I. Ludwig, Graven Images: New England Stonecarving and Its Symbols, 1650-1815 (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1999), 291.

[xv] See Annie Haven Thwing, Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630-1800 & The Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston, 1630-1822 (Boston: NEHGS, CD-ROM 2002) for his profile. From 1663, this William Gibson is credited with at least 20 children, including 15 with Hannah Phippen, listed in The American Genealogist 17 (1940): 12. The Scotchman was actively involved in the community and more likely to record his children’s births. None of the gestational periods overlap. His wife Hannah Phippen was born 25 July 1653, just two months before Hannah Hazen, according to Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1630-1699 (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill City Printers, 1883), 41.

[xvi] The average age at marriage for males during this period is 25. If John Gibson were Hannah Hazen’s son, he would have been between 30 and 38 in 1708. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1910) 2:181.

Reprinted by permission of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robin Chalmers Mason, “Written in Stone: Proof of the Hazen/Gibson Marriage,” (New England Ancestors, vol. 10, no. 4 (fall 2009): 40-42. For more information about the magazine, now known as American Ancestors, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, please visit www.americanancestors.org. 

Envisioning ancestors’ neighborhoods: National resources Part 4

After you've checked deeds, probate records, censuses, tax records, and/or city directories, you may want to learn more about your ancestors’ neighborhood and what their dwellings may have looked like. If your family wasn’t from Lexington or Massachusetts (like the study in the previous three posts), you’ll find the strategies are similar but the resources may be different.

Historic Places to Visit

Collins Log Cabin (1818), Columbia, Missouri; photo: HornColumbia

If you’ll be in the neighborhood, check out USA.gov’s links to state travel and tourism web sites. From there, you can drill down by region, county, or town, or do a Google search for a local tourist bureau. You’ll find historic places to visit and a calendar of events. In all likelihood, you won't find your ancestral home, but you may find similar building styles and household furnishings pertaining to the time frame you’re interested in.

The American Alliance of Museums’ directory lists museums from A to Z (aquariums to zoos), including history museums, historic sites, and museum associations that make up its membership. You can search by name, city, state, or museum type.

PreservationDirectory.com offers several databases for the U.S. and Canada, including historical societies by state/province, region, or keyword; historic house museums, living history museums, and specialty museums by category; and historic tours by category.  

Learning about Architecture

If you didn’t take art history and architecture in school, you may want to brush up on some building styles and time periods to put your ancestors’ era in the correct context. For the Lexington, Massachusetts, study, I referred to Historic New England’s architectural style guide, but different regions tend to create buildings more in line with their landscapes.

Jeffery Howe, a professor at Boston College, put together a Digital Archive of American Architecture for his students. He includes a chronology, description, and examples of architectural styles. The web site hasn’t been updated in a while, but it’s still useful. Or pick up a book on architectural history.

The Anatomy of a Historic House

Maybe you’re lucky and your ancestral house has a National Register (NR) designation for being connected with a famous person or event, or for being culturally or architecturally significant. If not, you can learn about NR buildings in your ancestors’ community and surrounding towns. Some of them are private property, but their NR paperwork is available. 

In the 1960s, there was a big push for the U.S. government to recognize and preserve historic buildings. That’s why National Register of Historic Places seeks to “identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archaeological resources.” Some states have their NR documentation posted online, with photos, floor plans, descriptions, and house histories. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, contact the State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO).

The Library of Congress also has a search online for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)/Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)/Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) database.

Location, Location, Location

Realtors know the importance of location. You may want to compare historic maps with Google Maps and Google Earth to get a bird’s-eye view to see why your ancestors may have chosen a specific location and how it’s changed over the years. Check out these collections:

• American Memory: Map Collections 
• David Rumsey Map Collection 16^th to 20^th century
• Norman B. Leventhal Map Center 15^th century to present
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps 
• U.S. Geological Survey maps

Every Picture Tells a Story

Carlyle House in 1909, Alexandria, Virginia
William & Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine,
Vol.18, No.1., pp.1-17.

It almost goes without saying, but check your photographs and ask relatives if they have pictures of the old homestead. If not, you may be able to find pictures of your ancestral houses or neighborhoods. 

Public and secondary education libraries sometimes have archival collections online, such as the Archive of Photographic Documentation of Early Massachusetts Architecture at Boston Public Library, which includes late 19^th century photographs and engravings of 17th and 18th century buildings in Eastern Massachusetts. Connect with state libraries, public libraries, academic libraries, and federal libraries for collections.

Old and new town histories usually have photographs of buildings, so do a search on Google Books, Internet Archive, HathiTrust digital library, or other digital providers. You also could go to your local library and check their collections or interlibrary loan.

Several web sites invite people to add their images, both old and new, to online maps. Check out HistoryPin.com and WhatWasThere.com. The Clio and Waymarking.com tag historic buildings and much more—with photos and descriptions.

Arcadia Publishing specializes in local books filled with old photographs, often compiled by town historians or using historical society collections.

You’d be surprised what turns up on postcards. I have a postcard of Mirror Lake taken from the exact location where my parents built their house 30 years later, before any buildings existed on the property. I bought the postcard from eBay. I’ve also purchased historic house cards from CardCow.

Building a Foundation

Researching how people lived will give you a better understanding of your family in their neighborhood setting. Envisioning their homes, the everyday tools they used and chores they did, their status in the community, the luxuries they had, and the hardships they faced will help you appreciate your forebears and the choices they made.

And, now that you’ve gone beyond birth and death dates by filling in the space between, you should consider writing down what you’ve discovered and sharing it with your family. 

Read previous posts, “Envisioning ancestors’ neighborhoods: A study of Lexington, Massachusetts”

Part 1: history, historical sites

Part 2: books, photos, maps

Part 3: historical property data

Genealogy conferences and other in-person educational opportunities

When I first started researching my family history, I read Val D. Greenwood’s The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy from cover to cover—after I realized I needed to cite my sources. I still read how-to genealogy books, magazines, and scholarly journals because it’s important to have the skills to access, use, analyze, and document records. But I also try to supplement my learning with classes and conferences. Plus, it’s great to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who not only understand your passion for genealogy, but support and help you with your research.

National Conferences and Institutes

Salt Lake Institute for Genealogy (SLIG) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA). One week in January. 

APG's Professional Management Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by the Association of Professional Genealogists. January.

FGS National Conference held in various locations every year. Hosted by the Federation of Genealogical Societies. February.  

RootsTech in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by FamilySearch. February. 

Forensic Genealogy Institute (FGI) in Dallas, Texas. Hosted by the Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy. Three days in March.

The NGS Family History Conference held in different locations every year. Hosted by the National Genealogical Society. May.

Carl Sandburg Institute of Genealogy (CSIG) in Galesburg, Illinois. May.

Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research (IGHR) at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Hosted by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. One week in June. 

Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two programs, each is one week long, in June and July.

National Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) in Washington, D.C. For experienced genealogists only, hands-on federal records research. Previously known as National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR). One week in July. 

Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI) in St. Louis, Missouri. July.

BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy in Provo, Utah. Hosted by FamilySearch and ICAPGen. July.

British Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. October.

Although the conferences are reasonably priced, travel, hotel, and meal expenses can add up quickly. However, the conference locations are surrounded by libraries, archives, and other genealogically valuable repositories. 

Note: Dates and locations may change. See web sites for details.

Advanced Education

The University of Washington has a nine-month certificate program held in Seattle. 

Brigham Young University offers a Bachelor's degree in family history in Provo, Utah.

Local Conferences

Although not exactly on the same scale as the national conferences, there are plenty of educational opportunities in the Boston area.

Every two years, the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium Inc. (NERGC) hosts a multi-day conference with an exhibit hall, society fair, special interest groups meetings, librarians’ and teachers’ day, technology day, and Ancestors Road Show. 

The Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC) has an annual one-day seminar in July. MGC is an umbrella organization for genealogists, historical researchers, and people concerned with records preservation and access.

Sponsored by the Hingham Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the New England Family History Conference is a free annual event for learning new research and organizational techniques and networking.

Look for local, state, and regional events posted on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter calendar and on NGS's events calendar. 

Lectures, Workshops, and Special Events

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has many educational opportunities, from one-hour orientation classes and workshops on a variety of topics to intensive Come Home to New England week-long events and research trips.

The Essex Society of Genealogists (ESOG) and the five regions of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) hold monthly meetings, often with a lecture on a particular topic. Ethnic and religious genealogy societies, such as The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB), provide educational opportunities and networking meetings as well.

The National Archives, Northeast Region, located in Waltham, and the Massachusetts Archives at Morrissey Point offer free genealogy and history workshops.

Local public libraries, historical societies, genealogy interest groups, and adult education departments offer classes, workshops, and meetings. My local historical society hosts talks, walks, and tours of its historic house. 

So, if you spend a day, a week, or a semester pursuing your genealogical education, you’ll discover new resources, new technological advances and techniques, new research methods and strategies, and so much more. Maybe with your new-found knowledge, you'll break through a brick wall research problem. Or you'll meet your second cousin once removed who owns the family Bible.


updated 12/30/2015

Volunteer with Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness

Started in 1999, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) is a web-based volunteer organization that provides a wealth of services, from photographing graves to retrieving vital records, finding obituaries, researching in libraries and much more. Volunteers never charge for their time, just for expenses (photocopying or record fees, postage, parking fees, etc.). Each volunteer has committed to making at least one RAOGK a month.

In October 2011, a catastrophic computer failure took down the RAOGK web site. The following month, founder Bridgett Schneider (1946-2011) died. As stated in her obituary, Bridgett had "thousands of genealogy friends around the world." Her dedication, and that of her husband Doc, inspire many of us to volunteer or perform random acts to our fellow genealogists, one at a time.

In March 2012, RAOGK was reborn as a wiki site. It included sections divided by state and country, detailing what volunteers are available to research and the rules of making requests. Volunteers are listed by state and then by county, starting with "all." People who cover more than one county have their entries added more than once.

In January 2015, Dick Eastman posted on EOGN that one of his newsletter readers told him RAOGK was back online, as a web site. I'm not sure what will happen to the wiki site, if the two will be merged or if they are separate.

You can help this award-winning site grow again, by volunteering. What's your niche? Do you research at the state archives regularly? Visit the local history and genealogy room at a major library or historical society every month? Check out deeds in the county courthouse? Visit the National Archives? Or maybe you need an excuse to go? Do you collect history books or have a specific area of expertise? Do you visit your local town hall, public library, historical society, and/or cemeteries in the area—or would if it helped someone else's research? Then sign up as a RAOGK volunteer!

(original post 23 April 2012)

Expand your research skills with genealogy magazines and journals

When you receive a new issue of a genealogy magazine or journal, do you read it cover to cover? Or do you browse through the pages, looking for an article that fits in with your family research plan or contains related surnames? If you’re in the latter group, you may be missing opportunities to increase your research skills or overlooking more than a connection to a collateral line.

Be Prepared

Genealogy publications such as Family Tree Magazine are filled with useful articles ranging from finding Civil War ancestors and German roots, using social media or the latest DNA tests to find cousins, and reviewing the best web sites to how-to ideas for courthouse research or archival storage, and deciphering clues hidden in legal documents or photo mysteries.

Read all the articles, regardless whether you have a Czech ancestor or need new genealogy software. Why? Even if the article doesn’t pertain to you right this minute, you may find out three months later that your German great-great grandfather actually was born in Bohemia or that your beloved database program has been discontinued. Or a good friend—who has never been interested in your hobby, your obsession—has an event scheduled in her Swedish grandparents’ homeland, and she wants to know how to start her family tree.

Besides learning something specific, you may be able to apply what you’ve read to another part of your research. You could learn about using a record group available in the National Archives and turn that knowledge into using corresponding state-level resources. A piece on marriage records may explain why your great-great’s diary mentioned “jumping the broom” or a hand-fast, or it could explain how laws differed in bordering states or countries, making an unexpected wedding ceremony location make sense—or even give you a clue where to search for a marriage certificate or notice.

Apply What You Learn

Scholarly genealogical journals—such as The American Genealogist (TAG), New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly—often feature more in-depth articles, on a specific family or area. An article on an unrelated couple in Connecticut could give you clues about your own family’s migratory path from Essex county, Massachusetts. Or it may mention a name within a four-generation study that ties into your own line—and you may have missed it if you didn’t read page 83 or thoroughly scan the annual everyname index.

You may learn how to evaluate your data in a different way. If you have a tendency to use mostly vital records and census records in your research, reading about how someone used city directories or probate records to distinguish men of the same name could provide you with incentive to learn more about underused resources. It helps to see how people use mapping software or land ownership to solve parent/child relationships. You may even learn historic tidbits, such as military conscription or wedding fees, and how they influenced your ancestors’ lives.

Book reviews, articles, footnotes, and references could include publications, web sites, library collections, or unpublished manuscripts that could help you crack your brick wall.

You never know what you’ll find within the pages of an article that will help your genealogy research. So pick up a magazine or journal. Don’t just browse. Read!

Giving thanks genealogy style

Etiquette experts often provide tipping guides during the holidays and throughout the year. Let’s take that idea and use it year-round to show appreciation for all the people who have helped our genealogy research. 

Recently, I requested obituaries from the Worcester Public Library, which has an online form for submitting obituary requests. The search, photocopying, and mailing are free for Massachusetts residents, but you can donate money to support this great service. The Salem Public Library and many others also help with similar services—just don’t expect them to do your research for you.

My public library is part of a consortium of public and academic libraries in the area, making it easy to do interlibrary loans. It provides a wide array of online databases, including newspapers, Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, and WorldCat. It offers museum passes for JFK Library & Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. It also maintains its own local archives. I’ve used all these services and I must admit I have “donated” to the library through late-book fees, but I also donate books for the book sales held by the friends of the library, a group of people who support the library by raising funds for services and programs beyond the library’s budget.

As an almost 20-year member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), I have spent days browsing the stacks, checked precious manuscripts for clues, scrolled through microfilm, received advice from staff members, taken classes, read its publications cover to cover, and spent many hours using the online resources. As a nonprofit member organization, NEHGS accepts cash donations and gifts of stock; offers premium membership benefits and volunteer opportunities; and provides a home for donated genealogical materials. 

I consider Plimoth Plantation a top-notch living history museum, well worth visiting even if you only have Puritans in your family tree (like me). It immerses you in the life of the 17th century, from buildings, food, and clothing to artisan crafts and farming techniques. Plimoth has unique gifting opportunities, from providing feed money for rare animal breeds to helping restore the Mayflower II before the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims’ voyage.

Other nonprofits, such as historical societies and museums, provide similar thanks-giving opportunities. Nonprofit cemeteries and churches (where you’ve found family graves and records) usually accept donations. Check with government-run entities to see if you can give a gift or donation.

Payback

You also can pay back your genealogical successes without providing a dime. I use FamilySearch frequently to access vital records, censuses, wills, passenger lists, draft cards, and so much more. Its web site grows frequently, thanks to thousands of volunteers who index records. I have transcribed records from Texas to New York, regardless whether or not I have any genealogical interest in the area. I figure it’s good karma to help others. I keep hoping another volunteer will come across the ship manifest listing my great-great-grandmother. 

Typically, I read blogs to stay up-to-date on genealogy news, research suggestions, technology issues, legal conundrums, case studies, and DNA. If you’ve read a particularly good blog or one that’s useful to your research, consider commenting on it or sharing it on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, other social media platforms, or email. Writers like feedback and they like knowing they’re being read by someone other than their mothers. 

Support the genealogy community and others who help your family research by “tipping” to show your appreciation.