Looking Ahead on My One-Year Blogoversary

Photo on Display at the Museum of Appalachia

I've been blogging for a whole year! I'm glad I've been able to stick with it because it has introduced me to new friends, relatives and concepts, and it's a wonderful way to jot down fleeting thoughts. I will continue to blog because it spurs me to think outside the box and it gives me an outlet to express my views.

I've been thinking about my recent "media blitz": I'm quite uncomfortable with it! At the annual Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) conference in Knoxville, Tennessee I was honored to receive a certificate of appreciation from the Assocation of Professional Genealogists (APG) for my leadership of the New England chapter last year. After having attended so many talks on marketing I felt obliged to announce to the four corners of the earth my humble achievement. So why do I feel uneasy?

The problem is my achievement is not genealogical in nature. Rather it lies in more of an organizational/motivational arena. It has virtually nothing to do with my skills as a genealogist. Instead it called heavily upon talents first learned in my days as an executive secretary long ago, and later finely tuned as a mother. Oh sure, some of the skills overlap with genealogy, but so do some of my skills as a knitter, chorus singer, blogger, and graphic designer. All it proves is that I was able to take advantage of being in the right place at the right time. My predecessors had prepared a solid groundwork and chapter members were instrumental in carrying out the tasks. I just facilitated.

Immediately upon receiving my award I intensified my thinking about writing an article. I've been contemplating this for quite a while, but just never seem to focus long enough to do it. As of yesterday, my blog is a year old. While I enjoy writing it, the style is off-the-cuff, casual in nature, inconsistent and fun. But because of this I don't feel it reveals much about my abilities as a genealogist. Though I make a point to mention my sources in narrative format while blogging, I do not use formal citations. I don't have to assemble vast amounts of information. No complicated analysis or corroboration is necessary. There is a lot of nostalgia and talk of my own opinions about things. It's like looking at the world through a magnifying glass, up close and personal, but with no perspective.

But an article! An article published in one of our field's top journals would make me feel very proud of myself. About that I would gloat! With an article I would stand high on a hill and survey the horizon. My eye would scan the view, and perform a reasonably exhaustive search of my surroundings. I wouldn't be able to leave out inconvenient conflicting evidence. I'd have to search for things I couldn't see. I'd have to tell a story, convincing readers that they had all the information necessary on the subject. I'd have to go somewhere no one has been or revisit a spot where the first visitor was blinded by something, and correct the story. I'd be contributing something to the community. And most frightening/exhilarating of all, I'd be edited by the best genealogists in the country. I'd receive their precious feedback, and that would enhance my skills. Investing a lot of energy into creating a logo, brochure, website and conference booth presence is helpful, but doesn't improve the genealogical community in quite the same way.

Blogging has been so rewarding! I've met a whole line of family that had been invisible to many of us for fifty years! We held a family reunion in the summer and my kin seemed really excited about genealogy for the first time. I've made lots of geneablogger friends, and read others' fascinating and entertaining blogs. I have even gained a few clients this way. So while I will continue to blog, I am content knowing I have a New Year's resolution ready to go.

2011––Year of the Article! Now, anyone got any good ideas?

A Press Release!

SHREWSBURY GENEALOGIST HONORED AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE

SHREWSBURY, MA, August 26, 2010 –––

The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG®) last week honored five members for their outstanding achievements in the field of genealogy at the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference in Knoxville, TN.

Among those awarded certificates of appreciation in recognition of outstanding contributions to APG was Polly FitzGerald Kimmitt, CG of Shrewsbury, MA. Kimmitt was was honored for her activities as president of the New England Chapter of APG in 2009. During her tenure, Kimmitt was responsible for spurring an increase in meeting attendance and chapter memberships and motivated the organization to design a chapter logo, brochure and new interactive website. Under her leadership, the chapter created a booth and presence at the New England Regional Genealogical Conference and its featured Ancestors Road Show. The chapter credits Kimmitt's energy and guidance in helping gain its recognition as "Golden Chapter" at the APG Gathering of the Chapters at the 2009 National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"We congratulate today's award recipients," said APG President Laura Prescott. "As the world's leading professional organization of family history and related professionals, the APG celebrates excellence and ethics in the genealogy profession. These recipients have distinguished themselves in many ways and have strengthened APG as a result. They are models for what it means to be a professional genealogist."

Kimmitt owns Kimmitt Genealogical Research in Shrewsbury, MA. She is a certified genealogist, and has been an associate of the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) since 2009. She currently serves on the Professional Issues Committee of the APG, and was president of the New England Chapter of APG (2009). Among other professional associations, she was regent of the Col. Timothy Bigelow Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Worcester, MA (2007-2009). She has attended the National Institute on Genealogical Research in Washington, DC (2006), and the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research at Samford University in Birmingham, AL (2007). A native of Scituate, MA, her specializations are: Massachusetts, immigration, and lineage society applications. She speaks Italian and French, as well as her native English. She is a 1978 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is currently accepting clients and can be reached through her website at www.kimmittgenealogy.com.

Delegate's Eye View of FGS 2010 in Knoxville #fgs10

FEDERATION OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES (FGS) 

ANNUAL CONFERENCE, KNOXVILLE, TN

18-21 AUGUST 2010

I submitted a delegate's report to the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists this morning, and thought it might interest some of my readers as well so I'm adding a few photos and personal thoughts here. 

I drove down with two good friends, my geneababes. We had a great time talking and the time passed rather quickly. We stopped overnight in Winchester, VA and we drove through some nasty rainstorms.

A total of 1,800 people participated in the conference: of those about 1,000 were registered. The others consisted of volunteers, speakers, librarians, and about 500 beginning genealogists who attended a special Ancestry.com event on Saturday.

PMC

On Tuesday, 17 August, the day before the FGS conference, the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) sponsored a Professional Management Conference (PMC). Directed at those who operate genealogy businesses, the day was split between a morning session for all, and two afternoon tracks. In the morning, Laura Prescott, APG President, presented “From the Trenches: How We Manage Clients, Time and Projects.” Laura’s presentation was filled with practical ideas on how to get your desktops (real and virtual) organized, and how to control the use of your time. She featured photos of colleagues offices and had participants guess which one belonged to whom!

At lunch, I hosted a table for “The Part-Time Genealogist” and we discussed juggling our businesses with some other time-consuming component: in my case, family!

After lunch I attended Anne J. Miller, PhD’s “Overcoming Obstacles that Interfere with Genealogical Research,” which focused on psychological aspects of problem-solving techniques, especially the concept of divergent vs. convergent thinking. Very interesting!

Next, Paula Stuart Warren, CG’s session on “Niche Planning and Marketing” encouraged us to develop a niche. Paula brought home her marketing points by singing the first half of some well-known jingles, such as “plop plop, fizz, fizz…” and having us finish them. 

For a detailed syllabus, visit http://www.apgen.org/conferences/index.html.

FGS

Wednesday, Society Day

The first day of the conference is traditionally dedicated to talks on managing genealogical societies. The Opening Session featured Curt Witcher on “SOS! SOS! Saving Our Societies: Answering Our Distress Beacons,” and focused on ridding boards of toxic officers! Sadly, I missed this one due to a brief illness. Curt also mentioned the need for many states to send a liaison to the FGS RPAC (Records Preservation and Access Committee), Massachusetts being one of them. If you have a talent in this direction, MASSACHUSETTS NEEDS YOU! I also missed the FGS annual meeting, including the announcement of the upcoming ballot which included my own name, as I am running for the FGS Board of Directors! 

One lecture I thoroughly enjoyed was Julie Miller, CG, speaking on “Firing Up the Next Generation of Genealogists!” This treated not only the educational possibilities but the sometimes frustrating task of passing on our passion to children and grandchildren. I also attended Josh Taylor’s “Reaching Out: Beyond Your Society’s Doors,” which examined ways in which to engage more people in your society, primarily using modern technological methods of communication such as social networking. Jana Broglin gave a great lecture on “Tips for Planning a Successful Seminar,” which will be extremely helpful. Finally, Lori Thornton spoke on “Organizing Your Society’s Library and Archives,” which was primarily on creating a means to catalog collections via diferent methods, online or software.

Thursday-Saturday

Thursday’s Keynote Session was a very amusing “feud” between Tennesse[e?!]an Mark Lowe (Davy Crocket) and Kentuckian Kent Whitworth (Dan’l Boone), each of whom tried to win the audience’s affections while introducing us to the customs and range of records in their respective states. We even got to sing a few tunes! After that we were fired up for a great conference. I attended countless informative sessions, presented by some of the best genealogists in the nation, including Elizabeth Shown Mills, Tom Jones, Pamela Sayre, David Rencher, Curt Wicher, Paul Milner and Paula Stuart-Warren, to name but a few.

The Exhibit Hall was the central meeting spot, though the number of vendors seemed lower than at some conferences. I volunteered some time working at both the APG and BCG (Board for Certification of Genealogists) booths. It’s a great place to wander around, investigate member societies, try out new software, collect nametag ribbons, BUY BOOKS and network.

I attended a few of the organized meals, specifically two evening meals, both rather informal, which is not usually the case, and one luncheon hosted by APG. The dinners both made us feel fully immersed in Tennessee life and featured on Wednesday, local singer and storyteller Sheila Kay Adams, who presented “Come and Set a Spell,” an amusing look at an Appalachian “family wreath.”  We visited the Museum of Appalachia on Thursday evening and enjoyed another concert as well as exhibits on all kinds of local marvels. 

At the APG luncheon on Friday, Laura Prescott announced the five winners of awards for outstanding contributions to the field of genealogy. See Dick Eastman's Online Newsletter at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/08/apg-announces-five-award-winners.html for details. I was the lucky recipient of one of those awards for the work I did for the New England Chapter of APG as president last year, and am very honored and humbled by it all. AND, I received this award on my birthday. Doesn't get much better than that! Laura also broke the news that for the first time APG will have a presence at the “Who Do You Think You Are” conference in London, 25-27 February 2011. Interested members are encouraged to attend. Check your calendars now!

I missed the Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero, speaking at the FGS luncheon, but understand it was a great talk on the future of the National Archives. He disclosed that the 1940 census will not be microfilmed, but directly digitized by NARA, without the participation of any other entity such as Ancestry.com or Footnote.com. The census will be available on the internet.

On Friday evening, FGS hosted a reception to celebrate the War of 1812 digitization project. FGS is proud to be partnered with NARA in this multimillion dollar project and encourages its members to make donations to the cause which will require $3.7, or $0.50 per image (7.2 million images) to complete.

The conference finished on Saturday at 6:00pm and we relaxed and celebrated on our last night in Knoxville. The drive home was much less rainy and allowed us to see the gorgeous countryside of Tennessee, Virginia and Pennsylvania (with a bit of West Virgina and Maryland, too!)

Looking back on the conference, apart from the wonderful sessions on methodology, records and business practices, the outstanding theme of this year was social networking and efficient use of the internet. Whether you are a seasoned professional or brand new to genealogy, you will benefit from connecting with other genealogists and records via the web. It is simply no longer possible to keep up without having an online presence of some kind. But this is only because it enables a closer connection with live people, real records and archives, and learning via the experience of others. There is something for everyone at these conferences and I encourage everyone who wants to learn more about the field to attend as many of these as possible.

For more details on this conference, visit https://www.fgs.org.

Delegate for the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists

Polly Kimmitt

Wordless Wednesday - FitzGeralds

 Taken on the occasion of Patrick and Annie's 50th wedding anniversary, probably in Arlington, Mass. They were married in Boston on 6 September 1896. Their oldest child, Mary, is not pictured.

Left to right:
James Edmund "Jim" FitzGerald  [my father]
(1 August 1910 – 25 May 1988)

Phillip Francis "Frank" FitzGerald
(13 August 1906 – 20 April 1963)

Julia Theresa "Theresa" (FitzGerald) Murphy Bradshaw
(6 February 1902 – 11 May 1963)

Annie Josephine (O'Sullivan) FitzGerald
(18 December 1869 – 2 August 1949)

Patrick John FitzGerald
(21 March 1867 – 21 August 1949)

John Joseph "Jack" FitzGerald
(5 July 1899 – 11 September 1988)

Stories to come, in another post. One thing to note, since their dates are here is that they seemed to die in twos. Patrick and Annie died within three weeks of one another. Frank and Theresa died within three weeks of one another and Jim and Jack died a bit more than three months apart, and my wedding was sandwiched in between their deaths.

Contemporaneous Thoughts on Hiroshima

My parents did not serve in the military in World War II, but their siblings did. My mother's twin sisters, Abbie and Anne were in the Waves and Wacs, and Billy was in the Navy. My father worked in munitions stateside and my mother had two small children. Here's a little snippet in time...

This is my Uncle Billy, William Humphrey Barnes (1920-1992), and his mother, my grandmother, Vernetta Gertrude (Jones) Barnes (1892-1962). I don't know when it was taken, but I think Billy looks about 17 or so: definitely before World War II. He was Vernetta's only son.

This is a letter in the Barnes Family Papers, passed down to me by my mother. It was written by Vernetta to Billy.

[page one]
Sunday, Aug. 12, [1945]

Dear Billy, Isn’t the news wonder-
ful? It won’t be long before Japan
gives in – and how thank-
ful I , and millions of us, will
be. I keep wondering where you
are. in Pearl Harbor, I guess.
Just now I am waiting for
the official news of peace – the
radio is on practically all
the time –– Maybe I sounded a
little soft over the Atomic
Bomb, but I can’t see waging
wars on innocent children,
altho heaven knows they
would [on us, interlined] quickly enough.
Anyway the news of Peace
will be wonderful, and I

[page two]
can rest easier over you. Louise says Ed is being dis-
charged. Abbie thinks she
will be released soon – I only
hope she completes her course
first. Anne will be in for
quite a long time even
after Peace. How long do
you think it will be before
you get thru? I hope it
will be soon. The State of
Mass is giving each returning
veteran $100 – the federal
gov’t more. Abbie was going to come
home last night but called

[page three]
up in tears from New York
to say she missed her train –
no more last night. Its
hard to tell who felt the
sadder Abbie or me. I’ll write again, maybe
tomorrow – –– (if its V. J.) I’ll
be sure to. Did you get the books
and magazines? Love to my dear boy
my brave boy. Oh I’ll
be so glad to know
you won’t be in danger.
God bless you Mother

Georgianne "Anne" (1924-1994) Barnes and Billy Barnes, shortly after the war, I think. 

Anne, Louise Bethia (Barnes) Sullivan (1915-1997) and Billy

Dec 1944

The note is self explanatory. 

This photo and the one above were scanned by Abbie and her husband Kenneth, and put onto a CD which was distributed several years ago. My sister gave me a copy at the recent family reunion, and I'm loving it!

Sarah and Ann Drury, Mountain View Cemetery, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Here lies the body of Ann Drury

Here lies the body of Sarah Drury

Ann and Sarah were twin daughters of Daniel and Sarah Drury. Their births on 23 November 1738 are listed in the published Vital Records of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts to 1850. Their deaths are also: Ann died 30 June 1740 and Sarah died 20 July 1730. Daniel and Sarah went on to have many more children, but this must have been very painful to bear. No cause of death is found in either the vital records of Shrewsbury or in Andrew Ward's History of Shrewsbury.

Despite the closeness in time of their deaths, their gravestones seem to be of different kinds of stone. The carver is the same. Note that his N's are backwards! I love how the stones lean towards each other, as if trying to console one another. Also, the large, primitive letters, just like those a child would write, and the damage, giving the impression of something unfinished.

In the Event of My ... Silence?

Genea-Bloggers
52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #30 

Image via Wikipedia

Week 30: Create an emergency chain. Select someone you trust to handle duties should you be unable to access your research, blog or other genealogy projects. Chances are that you have an online presence and genealogy friend with whom you are in regular contact. If you are unable to get online for a significant period of time, how will you let everyone know? Use this week to give your contact information to at least one genealogy friend so he or she could check in with you or your family in case of unexplained absence. The genealogy community is pretty tight, and we worry when one of our own hasn’t been heard from in a while. This challenge was inspired by Hurricane Ike and 14 days without power. Bloggers: describe the steps you take to establish an emergency chain to help your readers      do the same.

OK, I've been stuck on this one for a few minutes. I could select someone close by, like my lovely friend, neighbor and quickly rising genealogy prodigy, whom I shall call KK. But if it were a natural disaster, power outage or something local, and my communication were to fail, then so would KK's fail. On the other hand, if I delegate someone far away, how the heck would I get word to them? As for someone I trust, that would be my dependable and technologically gifted husband, Myles. But he isn't a genealogist.

Image via Wikipedia

I am left with devising a chain, or an endless loop, I'm not sure which it is. Therefore, know all men by these presents that I declare Myles as the provider of personal information and KK as my link to the genealogical world. Myles has the key to my heart and my house, along with the password for my computer, our local area network, home video camera and bank accounts, amongst other things. KK is a great genealogist and communicator, and she is efficient, empathetic, and lives right across the street. AND, get this! If the power is out, Myles is a licensed ham radio operator and could send radio messages! How cool is that! What a team they would make. KK could dictate and Myles could transmit the old fashioned way. He even knows Morse Code. Very Sci-Fi. dit dit dit, daaaaaah daaaaah daaaaaaah dit dit dit. And no, that's not a dit name.

I'm wondering, however, if all this would really be necessary. "If you are unable to get online for a significant period of time, how will you let everyone know?" Believe me, they'll know it. I'm so obnoxiously present on the web (updating Facebook, emailing, texting, phoning, skyping, using the new iPhone's face-to-face feature) that if something goes wrong it will be clear. I have enough real life friends that are also FB friends that they could easily post something on my page.

What is more concerning though is, should I fall ill, go insane or die, who would tell my clients? I have customized folders for my current clients, both in Safari (email) and in my Clients folder on my hard drive. I also use Bento database software to keep track of my projects. In Bento you can see the status of each project since I update it with notes as I go along. I usually don't have more than five clients at any one time. Of course I always have hard copy files accompanying the digital data. That is usually splayed across my desk. The other thing to check would be my very lengthy work to-do list. Since I have a brain the size of a pea, I update that list daily. It's a great means to be pseudo me during my unfortunate incapacitation. The work to-do list (not to be confused with my regular to-do list) works in tandem with my calendar. And my address book has any phone number or email address you should need.

Image via Wikipedia

Personal research and family papers have been left to a local society in my will, so I'm not worried about that problem. It is mainly cyber-info that could be lost. And what is out there? Not much really: just this blog, Facebook, my simple webpage at kimmittgenealogy.com and my personal webpage. I've put a
 tree up on Ancestry that is only for my own convenience and that of relatives. Once I'm gone, hey, make it public, I don't mind! Relatives would want to keep the personal website, though, because that is where I store family photos. My Facebook page can be retired. Well. If I'm dead, I mean. Don't go sneaking around just because I'm in a coma and delete all of my fun stuff! At least hold a mirror up to my mouth first. And while we're at it, I'd like a string down in the coffin attached to a bell in the graveyard. Just in case. Oh wait, I want to be cremated...

"Funnily enough" (my mother-in-law used to say that) a friend of mine suggested to me today that one way to preserve my blog posts would be to print them out and keep them in a binder. Nothing like good old paper. It's just there, doesn't need a password, no media conversions, no file formats to worry about. Just open the cover and you're off. How refreshingly simple. Of course, then links don't work, but, eh, too bad. I hardly use them. There is a way to back up the information in your blog, but I think I tried it and it was too complicated, so I abandoned it. And I could place this blog post at the very begininning. It would be out of chronological order, but could prove useful some day.

In the meantime, as the post shows, I'm still blabbing away. The weather is fine and electricity is pouring into our house. I feel better already, though, knowing that cyber me will be looked after.

Image via Wikipedia

Cousin Joanna Barnes Invited to Next Barnes Family Reunion

In my last post, I talked about how it is impossible to trace the descendants of all of your ancestors. Even finding all descendants of just one ancestor, though possible, is daunting, and I haven't attempted it. I'm just too involved in other endeavors, and frankly, I don't think anyone is particularly interested. Besides, a lot of it has been done here and there, just not compiled in one place.

At our family reunion I was asked twice about Joanna Barnes, the actress. "Is she a relative?" "I always heard she was a cousin!" Now I had heard this claim, too, but was keenly aware that the sources were prone to exaggeration and/or wishful thinking. Yet, most family stories/myths end up having more than a grain of truth to them: fact and fantasy intertwine seamlessly and need to be separated carefully. So like a good genealogist, I wanted to verify this information before confirming the family story.

This is Joanna Barnes* (1934–  ). You can see her listing in the Internet Movie Database at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0055645/. My uncle, William Humphrey "Billy" Barnes (1920-1992), used to boast that Joanna was a relative. He'd bat his eyes winsomely, swoon and generally get all soft of expression. He was quite the jokester, and I always thought he was making it up, or simply wishing it were true. She was a beauty and he fairly turned inside out everytime she came on TV. Whelp, we just had a Barnes family reunion this past weekend, and the subject came up. I was sceptical about the relationship until I heard she was from Hingham. Since I know that my immigrant ancestor, Thomas Barnes, was the only Barnes with lots and lots of progeny in the area, I thought it plausible that she, too, had descended from him. 

So I googled her when I got home, and once I saw her photo, I knew she was related. She's got those wide-set, light colored eyes and dark blond hair, thin upper lip/thicker lower lip, oval face, with heavy eyebrows. Lots of Barnes descendants seem to have these features. In fact, I think she looks a lot like my sister.

 I also knew that she could not be a close relative. I'm aware of everyone descended from my great great-grandfather, Israel Merritt Barnes I, on down. Israel I's father, Joseph Barnes, had moved from Hingham to Scituate to marry Polly Vinal, and they were given the old Capt. Israel Vinal homestead, built about 1723 on what is now Booth Hill Road, as a wedding gift, according to family stories. The land had originally belonged to John Booth (hence the modern street name) but was sold to Israel Vinal early in the eighteenth century. That home remained in the family until Uncle Billy sold it in the 1960s.

Joseph and Polly had eight children, the youngest of whom was Israel, born in 1820. I was pretty sure she wasn't descended from any of them because they remained in Scituate or moved to Boston. None went back to Hingham. Joseph only moved to the next town, but he did not seem to have many interactions with his siblings except in a few land dealings. That still left five previous generations. 

Joanna is too young to appear in the census, since 1930 is the most recent to which we have access. It appeared that she is still alive. I didn't want to get all caught up in invented or undocumented family trees and was hoping to find some original information on the web since she was so famous. I googled "Joanna Barnes" and "daughter of" and found a newspaper announcement from 1959 in Hingham which said she was the daughter of John Barnes. From there I could go to census and on back bouncing vital records off of census and other records–– easy peasy––until I found she is descended from John, grandson of the immigrant ancestor. So she is my sixth cousin once removed!

It's got to be coincidence that she looks the way she does, but it was still fun to find Barnes relatives in Hingham more than two hundred years after our own ancestor left. I know there are scads more, but since Hingham is so easy to research it feels more like record-keeping than genealogical research. Countless people have transcribed original records, and written town histories and genealogies, so it is not as compelling as solving those brick wall mysteries. I think I'll leave it until I'm older and can't get around as well...

Cousin Joanna, nice to know you're part of the family! We hope you can join us at the next Barnes Family Reunion, not yet scheduled, but sure to occur in the near future!

* Photo of Joanna Barnes courtesy of "Ace Photos" website (http://www.acephotos.org/c13578426/joanna-barnes-photo.html : accessed 26 July 2010).

"Hey, Can you Give Me the Family Genealogy?"

No, actually. Not easily! There's too much of it! It's going to take years to write it up, if I ever feel ready to do that. We're having a family reunion this weekend and I want to provide information for my relatives. It lies relatively hidden on my computer and in files in my office, and it's certainly not ready for distribution, yet there is plenty I will share with my Barnes cousins.

For over twenty years I've been gently working on my family lines. A great deal had been done by other family members, so often I'm just verifying or trying to break down the few brick walls, especially on the Barnes side. I have to admit though that I spent most of my early years learning about resources, methodology and professional practices until I felt reasonably qualified, then I began taking clients. What I haven't done is concentrate on descendants of my ancestors because there are far too many. I've got enough Barnes descendants to make an impression, but probably not even one tenth of the total! I just document them as I run into them, to distinguish them from my own direct lines, for instance. But let's not even talk about the descendants of my other lines! There are scads of Litchfields, for instance, probably a billion living in Scituate alone (haha), but I've only taken note, again, of those families that are in my direct line, or those who could be confused with them. This is hard to explain to people who wonder why I can't just hand over the book. Yes we're related to Israel Litchfield of diary fame, but not directly, so he doesn't appear in a pedigree or fan chart. He's my 5th great-uncle, brother of my 5th great grandfather Capt. Daniel Litchfield Sr. (see my John Hancock post).

Now we're about to gather a big gang of Barnes descendants together and I wish I had a book to hand out! So instead I've made some charts––big ones––to hang up on the side of the house. I'm bringing red pens so people can make corrections. I've asked them to sign their notations so I can know who my sources are (I neglected to do that in 1995) and I'm bringing along some family group sheets for those extra large families of unknown cousins. 

Here are the charts I'm making:

•  10-Generation fan chart starting with my grandfather and his siblings and moving back to 1600s.

•  All descendants of Capt. Joseph Barnes and Polly Vinal, mostly via Israel Merritt Barnes I. This one has photos included.

•  Descendants of the father of immigrant ancestor Thomas Barnes for 6 generations.

•  Lists of Revolutionary War, Mayflower, and Ancient and Honorable Artillery ancestors.

I use Reunion for Macintosh, which creates lovely charts but is quite buggy, especially with a 100-page chart. These charts contain so much info that they have to be huge in order to be legible. It's much too expensive to print them in color so it's black and white and the photographs suffer. 

The fan chart at the beginning of this post will be 16 inches by 30 inches. Not too bad considering how many names it has. People enjoy seeing the whole she-bang at once. Get a load of those glaring brick walls. How they torture me!!

The next chart is the descendants of Joseph Barnes. This one took a lot of tweaking before I could get it down to 100 pages. I forget the final dimensions, but it's something like 18 inches by 120 or thereabouts! It will include everyone at the reunion and many more.

And the final one, below, is 16 inches by 51. It has descendants of the immigrant down six generations. I love doing these because they show me gaps. I need to do some work on the early Barnes generations.

When I feel ready, I'll get one done up properly by the Chart Chick, Janet Hovorka, at generationmaps.com, who does wonderful work, but for now, we intend to scribble on these and use them as information-gathering vehicles, so I don't want to spend too much money or time. Besides, I'm not ready yet. This is kind of joke because you're never ready. You can never be finished with genealogical research. There is always one more source to consult, one new ancestor who blesses you with two more progenitors. 

Anyway, I'm excited to display these for my Barnes cousins and even more excited to see everyone!

Atwood Mott and His Mysterious Female Relatives

It seems fitting on this Fourth of July weekend to discuss the family of one of my own Revolutionary War ancestors, Atwood Mott. Atwood, it seems, was surrounded by women of unknown origin: both his mother and his wife are shrouded in mystery.

I was first introduced to Atwood in the context of a Mayflower line. In 1979, my mother and Aunt Abbie were accepted into the Mayflower Society on a line back to Stephen Hopkins through Atwood's mother Deborah Atwood. By 1998, when I tried to join the Mayflower Society on that line, it was rejected––precisely because of Deborah Atwood! I won't dwell on Deborah here except to say that that I know she's not going to be easy to find.

I haven't delved into thorough search on Atwood yet. I have two other proven Mayflower lines, so it has never seemed too critical. Plus, I know that these are not going to be simple to solve, and because I've been so preoccupied with clients, family and other ancestors, he remains on my "Requires Further Research" list. He was born 18 September 1736, in Scituate, Massachusetts, son of Ebenezer Mott Jr. and Deborah Atwood, according to the published Vital Records of Scituate (1:262). His marriage to Mrs. Hannah Whood on 23 July 1758 also is listed (2:211).

And Samuel Deane, in his History of Scituate, says only this about him:  "Lieutenant Atwood Mott, a worthy man (the father of the wives of Nehemiah Merritt, Nathaniel Vinal and Laban Rose), was also son of Ebenezer, Jr. He married Hannah Hood 1758. Hannah (widow of Laban Rose) was wife of Gamaliel Merritt, 1782."

How's that for a confusing treatment? I find it odd that for a man described only in terms of his daughters' husbands, the other two women in his life are so hard to pin down. You'd never know it from the above paragraph, but the Hannah in the last sentence is his daughter, not his wife. Of his three daughters, two were married twice, both to Merritt men, not brothers. The other sister was my ancestor.

Anyway, for a "worthy" man, he doesn't get much space in the history books. He is, however, mentioned in Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution (11:168):

"Mott, Atwood, Scituate, Corporal, Capt. Samuel Stockbridge's co. of Minutemen, Col. Bailey's regt., which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775; service, 21 days; also, Lieutenant, Capt. Samuel Stockbridge's co., Gen. John Thomas's regt.; list of officers who were commissioned May 19, 1775; also, Lieutenant, same co. and regt.; muster roll dated Aug. 1, 1775; engaged May 10, 1775; service, 2 mos., 3 weeks, 6 days; also, company return dated Oct. 7, 1775; also, Capt. Seth Stowers's co., Col. J. Robinson's regt.; engaged June 27, 1777; service, 6 mos. 3 days, at Rhode Island."

Apart from his military service, the only other information I have in my notes is that he was admitted to full Communion in the First Church of Scituate on 4 February 1770 (Mayflower Descendant 10-11:208).

Nothing on his mother, not much on him, so my first step will be to get a look at some land and probate records. These will hopefully also provide some information on his wife, Mrs. Hannah Whood. WHOOD? What kind of name is that? The vital records say it could also be Wood or Woods, and somewhere else I saw Hood suggested. Still, nothing comes up in Scituate. She's a mystery, plain and simple. From the Mrs. we can deduce that she is a widow of a man named Whood. My mother always thought that maybe she was Native American. That is probably because the only time the name, spelled as Whood, is found, it belongs to some "Indians" around Plymouth. The name has also appeared in Middleborough and in Shapleigh, Maine.

I don't even dare to guess at anything, though, and I think it would be jumping the gun to make any kind of research plan before even seeing land and probate records. This is the kind of project that will require writing up as I go along, and I'll have to suffer a lull in clients before I attack it, but whenever that happens, I will enjoy it, I'm sure!