It pays to read everything, no matter how...

Obscure.

More than just about anything, I enjoy searching through Google Books to see if I can find anything relevant to any of my ancestors. Names and dates are fine for pinpointing people in place and time, but I want to know more about these folks. These three books have given me a sense of what it was like back in the days that my ancestors lived, and what it may have looked like (I have a good imagination - that helps too).


Abstracts from the New London Gazette by Richard B. Marrin, published by Heritage Books Inc. 2007.

Samuel Mack has mail waiting at the post office ca. 1765. But more than that, it is a wonderful glimpse into life during the period that my ancestors were living in East Haddam, CT. An enjoyable read.

...

Collections of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, New Haven, Connecticut Published by the Society in 1907.

These entries are family related:

37 SAMPLES of the first friction matches made in this county. They were first made by Thomas Sanford in that part of town of Bethany now called Beacon Falls (Conn.). Soon after, Mr. Sanford moved to Woodbridge, where he manufactured them until 1860, the time of his decease. After manufacturing them for several years a Boston firm attempted to procure a patent on them, and served an injunction preventing him from making them; he and his brother (who assisted him in their production) were summoned to New York at the hearing; it was proved that Thomas Sanford made the first friction match, but neglecting to obtain a patent, he and others were debarred from procuring one under the statue of limitation. Presented by Mrs. Laura A. (Sanford) Smith, daughter of Thomas Sanford.

38 OLD-FASHIONED TINDER-BOX. Presented by Mr. W. S. Sanford, September 12, 1882

...

Statistical Account of Middlesex County of Connecticut, David Dudley Field, 1819 Published by the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. Printed in Middletown CT by Clark &Lyman, April 1819. This copy was reprinted for J.D. Kelsey of Haddam, CT. It is currently available as a pdf download to read through www.godfrey.org.

Everything mineral, vegetable, geographical, medical and genealogical from the first settlers until 1819. A good read if your family lived in Middlesex County in Connecticut. 


I'm off to the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc. 2012 Family History Seminar, Enhancing Genealogical Paths this weekend. I will be listening attentively, absorbing information like a sponge and enjoying the company of my nearest and dearest cousin.

I've got a hunch...

Do you trust your intuition when it comes to genealogy? I always act on it. Oh, indeed, there are times when I get unexpected results... lots of times actually. But often enough, the result is a happy one. Like this morning.

I spend the first hour of my day reading through the multitude of blogs that I follow. After I read through the bevy of blogs delivered to my iPad (and laughed, empathized, wondered and sometimes drooled), I sat for a moment and asked myself - what now? I don't know - maybe it was the quiet of the moment, or possibly just the lack of momentum, that made me pause over the google books app icon... and finally decide to tap it to see what I am currently reading. [Sadly, yes, it has been that long].

The History of Queens County, NS.

Oh, yes, I remember now... another tick in the PRO column for Google (who has been rapidly getting more ticks in the other column lately). I don't know if I am just fortunate that there is a lot of reading material available for the particular spot my family lived in for five generations, or what; however, there is an abundance of really good reading material! Obscure stuff  too! Belcher's Almanac? Can you believe that?

Back to Queens County, Nova Scotia.  It had been a while since I was last reading said book, so I went back to the preface and started again. Basically, how the New Englanders came to NS to fill in the void left by the Acadians, who were tossed out by the British.  [I know, but let's just leave politics out of this particular discussion].

In 1760, roughly 60 men and women from New England petitioned the government to set up a township on the southern shore of Nova Scotia that would eventually come to be called Liverpool. In 1764 there were 150 persons listed who were allotted land plots, and who became proprietors of the township. Was I surprised to find two direct relatives? You bet I was! William K. Cahoone and Lemuel Drew. The rest of the list was comprised of familiar names related to the Mayflower and early settlements in New England. And relatives of relatives!

When I started out looking into my family's past, I was a collector more than a researcher. These days I am more of a researcher than a collector.  I am working now on when a certain Samuel Mack (4x great grandfather) bought a certain sawmill in Port Metway, Queens County. I am collaborating with two fellows from Canada, that I met through my research project a couple of years ago. We each have our own perspective, but in working together we gain in knowledge of the times and events in our ancestors lives. I happen to enjoy spending hours in the NEHGS library in Boston looking for deeds (and finding them) and subsequently transcribing them. When I forwarded the documents to my collaborators, we were able to develop a clearer idea of how the mill passed from hand to hand, often back and forth, over the years. This is the depth and breadth of research that really makes me happy, and I really enjoy working with my distant relatives!

Of course, there is so much more to be discovered, or not be discovered. For instance, we may never really know for sure that Dr. Thomas Moseley -one of eight men who sold the mill to Samuel - actually knew Samuel back in East Haddam, CT before the mill transaction in Nova Scotia came about. But it is surely likely  that they did. I'm currently working on the deeds that I collected on a trip this past summer in East Haddam. I sure could use some old maps though! Maybe they were connected through Samuel's wife, Lydia Brainerd Mack who died around the time Samuel picked up and moved to NS, leaving his young daughters to be raised with Lydia's family. Maybe not. I sure would like to know. In fact,  I'd be happy to find out when Lydia died, and where she is buried!

One other benefit from reading old deeds - increased vocabulary! Enfeoffed and messuaged are the latest gems added to my repretoire. Thank goodness for the internet! Although, I did enjoy spending a lot of time with the HUGE Mirriam Webster dictionary that we had in our house when I was a kid, there is nothing like typing a word in Google search and getting many results, including passages in a book printed in the 1800's using the word you are trying to get a definition for.

Happiness is a tool that works!

Roadtrip souvenier...

(page 305)

To all People to whom thefe Prefents fhall Come, Greeting.

Know ye, That I Nathan Beebe of East Haddam in the County of Hartford and Colony of Connecticut in New England For divers good Caufes and Confiderations moving,

HATH Remifed, Releafed and for ever Quit-claimed, and by thefe Prefents, for

 him and his

Heirs, DOTH Fully, Clearly and Abfolutely, Remife, Rleafe and for ever Quit-claim unto 

Samuel mack of East Haddam in the County and Colony above Said in his full and peaceable Poffeffion and Seifin, and to his Heirs and Affigns for ever, all fuch Right, Eftate, Title, 

Interft and Demand whatfoever, as he the faid  Nathan Beebe:

had or ought to have, in or to all the Land that his stand Hond Father Cabb Beebe Late of East Haddam Deceased Died Pofsesd of in the Townfhip of East Haddam afore Said_

To Have and to Hold the above Released Premifses: unto the faid  Samuel mack his Heirs and Affigns, to the only Ufe and Behoof of the faid Samuel mack his Heirs and Affigns for ever; 

So that neither he the faid Nathan Beebe:

nor his Heirs, nor any other Perfon or Perfons, for Whom or in, their Names, nor in the Name, Right or Stead of any of them fhall or will by any Way or Means hereafter, Have, Claim, Challenge or Demand, any Eftate, Right, Title or Interft, of, in, or to the Premiffes, or any Part or Parcel thereof, but from all and every Action, Right, Eftate, Title Interft and Demand, of, in, or to the Premiffes, or any part or parcel thereof, they and every of them fhall be utterly Excluded and Barred for ever by thefe Prefents. And Farthermore, he the faid Nathan Beebe and his Heirs, the faid Released Estate and other the Premiffes, with the Appurtenances to the faid Samuel mack his Heirs and Affigns, to his and their own proper Use and Ufes, in Manner and Form before Specified, againft their Heirs and Affigns : And every of them fhall Warrant and for ever Defend by thefe Prefents. In Witnefs Whereof, I have hereunto fet my Hand and Seal this Eighth – Day of December In the third Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George the Third of Great Britain, &c. KING.  Annoque Domini, 1762:

Signed, Sealed and Delivered                                                       

                in the Prefence of                             Nathan  Beebe [scribble]

James (one)               Hartford Countyifs East Haddam December ye 8^th, 1762,

Daniel (one)              those Perfonally appeared mV. Nathan Beebe the Grantor

                                     and acknowledged this Instrument to be his free act and Deed Before me

Recorded Dec.V ye 8^th 1762               Daniel Cone Justice of Peace

Found at the East Haddam, Connecticut Town Hall in Land Records Book. How cool is that?