The Slovak Yankee

Provenance Notes

Continuing the thought of sources in genealogical programs, I want to air one of my genealogical pet peeves.  What you do in the privacy of your own computer is your own business.  However, when you upload the contents on to the Internet, please know that there is a huge difference between a footnote and what I call a provenance note.

A footnote is source citation that enables a researcher to find that information on their own.  It may be to a book or article or best of all, to a primary source such as a vital record, church record, deed, probate, etc. In any case, it is to something that I can then look up on my own.  It also tells me that this is a bona fide family or person.  

A provenance note is that terrible source note that says the information came from a person or database such as World Family Tree or Ancestral File.  The worst thing about genealogies on the Internet is finding a person or family and then trying to see where the information comes from.  Then the answer is: "GEDCOM file from John Smith, Jan. 1 1999."  Ugh.  That's not a footnote!  That's just where you got the information.  It doesn't tell me whether the information is reliable or not.  So thanks for sharing, but I have to do the research on my own anyway.  

So what you do on your own time--that's your business.  What you post on the Internet becomes everyone's business.  Do us all a favor and give good sources.

Follow Friday: A Genealogist's Sketchbook

One of favorite colleagues and friends is Nat Taylor [who in real life is Nathaniel Lane Taylor, Ph.D.].  He and I share a common love of colonial New England and medieval genealogy.  But the genealogical reality is I'm just a Chevy to his Maserati.  Two of his latest articles were:   

The False and Possibly True English Origins of Richard Taylor of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia, The American Genealogist 83 (2009):161-173; and 

Genealogist John Farmer Discovers His Ancestry: The Warwickshire Family of Edward Farmer, Isabel (Farmer) (Wyman) (Blood) Green, and Thomas Pollard, of Billerica, Massachusetts, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 160:261-72, 161:62-72, 146-55, 209-22, 289-99, 162:299-300.

He also blogs when he can at A Genealogist's Sketchbook.  There's not enough smart and nice people in this world and Nat is certainly one of the few.

Getting Records From Far Away Places

Two recent postings have had me ruminating about some of the positives of having an Internet in our lives.  As much as Ancestry.com and the rest don't particularly help me, these web sites have forced the average record depository to step up their services in order to remain relevant.  Even if only half the people believe that "it's all on the Internet" you've possibly lost half your traffic.  There was a time when depositories, whether public or private, could force you to come to them--they were the only games in town then--but now, they seem to be more solicitous of genealogists and researchers.

One post was about the valuable records being added in England.  By now most people know that the National Archives there have the PCC Wills online and downloadable for a fee.  Remember that £3.50 is much less that plane trip to London (although not as much fun).  Within the last two years, I used the Wiltshire Archives at Swindon (which includes Hampshire as well), which has a searchable database for wills in those two counties other than PCC wills.  Remember that most counties have at least two additional jurisdictions for probate other that the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.  I acquired the will of Christopher Gardiner (1643) that way in order to prove his daughter Mary married Thomas Dowse.  Quite reasonably priced and I received a paper copy.

The other post is about dealing with distant depositories.  There are two things to understand about these places.  One is doing the research for you, which they probably won't do.  The other is document delivery, which they probably will do.  So, when I contacted the PRONI about a document they had, they gladly made a digital copy and sent it to me via email.  The key was I didn't ask for them to do research on my Lawrence family.  I said I need, such and such and gave them the specifics from their own catalog.  

So, as much as you can, narrow down what it is that you need.  You may not need to travel to get it.  You should be prepared to pay something for such services, so don't be cheap!!  Just this week while working I ran into a cheap genealogist and I wanted to slap her silly.  But I was good and I held back.

Journal Penetration on the Web: Final Analysis

In the beginning of this continuing thread, I noted this was not a scientific study.  However, based on the random articles I pulled from my collection of the following journals:  The Genealogist, The American Genealogist, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, The New Hampshire Genealogical Record, and The Maine Genealogist, I think it is obvious that only a small subset of the genealogical community read such journals.

The information contained in these journals are added by some researchers.  As they make familial connections, they share the information, and that information finally makes it way on to the Internet, sadly and in my opinion, egregiously, unattributed.  Most of the web sites I saw note the information came from a GEDCOM download.  If there is any crime I despise in genealogy is people presenting information without properly thanking the writer/researcher who actually made it possible.

In any case, I've always wondered why a genealogist would assume that a family written about in say 1880, 1920, or even in 1950 hasn't been updated?  Why are researchers always so quick to cite to older materials?  Mostly, because they don't know how to look up the newest information (past a quick Google search, which as we can see doesn't really help).

That's one of the reasons I compiled my first book: New Englanders of the 1600s.  It is the best research published between 1980-2005 on families that came to New England between 1620 and 1700.  I wrote about writing such a book in 1997 before the world wide web took its dominant place in everyday life, but I can see that even after a decade of Internet, finding good, solid, and recent research is still difficult.

Journal Penetration on the Web, Part VI

This week, here's three from the Maine Genealogist.

The Houston/Huston Families of Falmouth, Maine by Kathleen Canney Barber and Janet Ireland Delorey 25 (2003):147-163.  A search on "William Huston" Falmouth weaver yielded 239 hits.  Putting in "William Huston" Delorey brought the number down to 32.  Trying "William Huston" McCausland (the apocryphal name of William²'s wife) you get 228 hits.

Identifying Priscilla (Davis) Rumery by Doris J. Woodward 26 (2004):147-157. Searching "John Davis" "Elizabeth Basford" (her grandparents) yields 324 hits. "Ezra Davis" "Sarah Edgecomb" (her parents) yields 178 hits.  "Priscilla Davis" "Jonathan Rumery" (the couple in question) only 9 hits.  Here's one site (perhaps the only one) who gets it correct.

The Nathaniel Wallis Family of Maine and Essex County, Massachusetts by David C. Dearborn, FASG, and John Bradley Arthaud, FASG, 29 (2007):51-68.  A search on "Nathaniel Wallis" Margaret Beverly yields 320 hits.  A search of "John Wallis" "Bridget Shepard" yields only 17 hits.  His sister "Mary Wallis" "Samuel Pike" yields only 32 hits.  Changing Wallis to Wallace brings the numbers down.  
 

Journal Penetration on the Web, Part V

State journals very likely have a smaller readership, but in New England these journals do publish much original research including English origins and 17th century genealogy.  From the New Hampshire Genealogical Record:

"The English Ancestry of William Chadbourne of Kittery, Maine" vol. 10 (1993):101-114, and "Additions and Corrections to the English Ancestry of William Chadbourne of Kittery, Maine" both by George F. Sanborn, Jr., FASG vol. 10 (1993):167.  A google search of "Robert Chadbourne" "Margaret Dooley" (William's true parents) yields 229 hits.  "William Chadbourne" Winchcombe (the wrong place) still yields 401 hits, but substituting Tamworth (the correct place) and one gets over 700 hits.

"Sarah Waters, Second Wife of Nathaniel² Sanborn of Hampton, New Hampshire" by Clifford L. Stott vol. 13(1996):145-151.  A google search on those two principle names yields 350 hits.  Substituting Rebecca Prescott, Nathaniel's first wife, the hits jump up to 966.  Adding all three names in quotes, yields only 10 hits.

"English Ancestry of Michael and John Brawne of Dover, New Hampshire and York, Maine" by James R. Brann, vol. 18 (2001):1-5.  A search for "John Brawne" and "Berry Pomeroy" (the village in Devonshire whence he came) yields only two hits.  Substituting Michael for John yields only one hit.

Journal Penetration on the Web, Part IV

These three articles are from The Genealogist, which since volume 11 (1997) has been published by the American Society of Genealogists.  It is biannual.

"Ancestors in England of Anne Stacie, Wife of Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, Connecticut" by Myrtle Stevens Hyde 11 (1997):163-175.  A google search of "William Stacie" "Agnes Garrold" yielded 590 hits.  A confirming search of "Thomas Fitch" "Agnes Garrold" yielded 530 hits.

"Sarah³ Southwick: The Forgotten Daughter: Wife of William³ Aborn of Salem, Massachusetts" by Janet Ireland Delorey and Jerome Traver 16 (2002):40-41.  A google search "Sarah Southwick" "William Aborn" resulted in 2 hits.  Changing Aborn to Heborn then to Hebborn resulted in one hit.  This article built upon an earlier one "John² Southwick of Salem, Massachusetts: A study in mistranscribed records" by Delorey, 12 (1998):223-31. A google search of "John Southwick" "Sarah Tid" yielded two hits; chaning Tid to Tidd yielded in 231 hits.  A search for "John Southwick" and Delorey yielded only nine hits.

"The Hydes of England: Ancestors of Thomas Olcott of Connecticut, Samuel Hardy of Massachusetts, and Susan Hyde, Wife of William Harris of Rhode Island" by Frederick J. Nicholson 20 (2006):131-183. A search of "Susan Hyde" "William Harris" yielded 137 hits.  A search of "William Harris" "Mary Bonfoy" (his mother in law) yielded only five hits.  A search of "Samuel Hardy" "Mary Olcott" yielded 61 hits, and "Thomas Olcott" "Margaret Hyde" yielded 236 hits.  The common ancestors were "Edward Hyde" "Margaret Griffin" and that search yielded 64 hits.

Chasing Down a Genealogical Rumor

At least 81 web sites claim that the second wife of John Barrows was Deborah Doty.  Usually without any citation or reasoning.  The second wife of John Barrows was certainly a Deborah as evidenced by his will [Plymouth County Probate 1:133].  After reviewing all the primary documents for this family, it took me about two hours or so to figure out who she really was.  No, I'm not going to tell you (yet).

But in order to formulate a good article, I needed to chase down where the Doty myth began.  I spent today doing that.  It was exhausting and I still can't tell you where or who started this.  I was most concerned to see what reasoning was behind the bogus identification.  The first good treatment of the Barrows family was by the Rev. Lucien Moore Robinson at The Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder 7(1893):134-145, 198-206.  He doesn't include it.  Neither did the editor of the Genealogical Column of the Boston Evening Transcript on 30 August 1934 (#8711).  William Prescott Greenlaw studied the family and he didn't include it in his manuscript notes (1922).  It also doesn't appear in Torrey's New England Marriages, which indexed all sources up to 1960-62.  It does appear in Barrows Collection by Frank E. Barrows (the author, 1985).  This work is poorly cited and the sources used are invariably secondary sources.  Even a brief rundown of the sources included provided no clue.  

In any case, it could be one of two things.  George⁴ (George³ Robert² John¹) Barrows did marry a Desire Doty at Plymouth on 23 August 1722 (Plymouth VRs, p. 93).  I've seen generational confusion with names before.  Or, someone possibly noted that Robert Barrows and Edward Doty were both granted six acres of meadow each on 13 October 1667 (Plymouth Town Records I:91).  However, it should be noted that being granted land at the same time does not indicate relationship, and it was Robert² not John¹.  However, Robert's wife Ruth Bonum and Edward Doty's wife Sarah Faunce were first cousins [both had mothers who were sisters].  

It's a mystery how this came to be.  

Journal Penetration on the Web, Part III

Three more articles from The American Genealogist in the 1990s:

"Philip Parsons of Enfield, Conn. Grandson of Walter Fairfield of Wenham, Mass." by Harriet Hall Dieterich, 66 (1991):193-96.  A search on "Sarah Needham" and "Philip Parsons" yields only six hits.  Changing Sarah Needham to Sarah Fairfield you get 77 hits.  Connecting "Walter Fairfield" and "Philip Parsons" you get 59 hits.

"The English Origin of the Lakin Family of Reading and Groton of Mass." by Douglas Richardson 70 (1995):142-48.  A search for "William Lakin" and Ruddington (the place in England) yields 124 hits.  Change Ruddington to Groton and the hits go up to 1,920.  "William Lakin" Ruddington and Groton yields 106 hits.  Lastly the search "William Lakin" "Lydia Browne" yields 350 hits.  Both Lakin brothers married in New England and their wives' names are known.  "John Lakin" "Mary Bacon" search yields 206 hits.  So, assuming crossover with both brothers, there are about 200-300 sites with this family only half of which include the origins in Ruddington.

"Rebecca Revisited: The Unidentified Wives of Angell Husted and Jonathan Reynolds of Greenwich, Conn." by Gordon L. Remington, 73 (1998):201-206.  The search "Angel Husted" "Rebecca Sherwood" yields 191 hits; making Angel Angell yields 271 hits.  Unfortunately that is the relationship that is disproven in the article.  Rebecca is (---) for now and wife first of Jonathan Reynolds then Angell Husted.  The mother of Husted's children is completely blank.  

Journal Penetration on the Web, Part II

"Edward Converse of Woburn, Mass.: Notes On His Birthplace and Ancestry" by Arnold P.G. and Carolyn Bryant Peterson, NEHGR 146 (1992):130-132.  A google search on "Edward Converse" "Mary Parker" yielded 216 hits.  "Edward Converse" Navestock (a proposed birthplace) yielded 380 hits.  "Edward Converse" Clemence (a proposed mother) yielded 281 hits.  Lastly, "Edward Converse" "Joan Fuller" (his grandmother) yielded only 117 hits.

"Eleanor Cogan, Wife of Walter Deane of Taunton" by H. Clark Dean, NEHGR 147 (1993):240-254.  The search for both names in quotes yielded only 163 hits.  Changing Eleanor's name to Strong (a long-held, but incorrect identification) yielded 364 hits.  This is a sad statement that a great article out for 16 years has not shown up on at least as many sites as the wrong identification (which, btw, dates from the 1840s.

"The English Origin of Thomas Hett of Massachusetts Bay" by Leslie Mahler, NEHGR 155 (2001):357-58. Unbelievably "Thomas Hett" "Anne Shearson" (the parents of the immigrant) yielded no hits whatsoever.  Taking the "e" off Anne didn't help either.  Turning Hett into the English spelling of Hytte, also didn't help.  Going broader, "Thomas Hett" Folkingham (his birthplace) did get 54 hits.  "Thomas Hett" Charlestown (his death place) yielded 528 hits.  Which means approximately 528 people need to read Mahler's article tomorrow.