Who Do You Think You Are

Season 3 premiere February 3!

Who Do You Think You Are - NBC 

Boxes and Boxes

It's hard for me to imagine genealogy research without the luxury of modern technology. Today, if I want to check new information on census records I just log in to Ancestry.com! I love to visit libraries but with online catalogs I know exactly what they have and what I'm looking for.

As my Mom and I were going through my Grandmother's boxes I realized the time and energy it took to collect that information. Letter writing and a lot of waiting for returns. I imagine it was exciting, though, after months of waiting for a reply, you would get something in the mailbox and can't wait to get to the house to read it! The anticipation must have been fun.

We are now in the process of scanning these old photos, documents and Correspondence. Some are very fragile and it's a slow process. When that is finished, we'll have organized electronic versions of everything.

Now for preserving the contents of these boxes? There is plenty of information out there on preserving old papers and most of it seems confusing. We don't want to hire a professional archivist, at least not at this point. Preservation and storage isn't something we really wanted to get into! I've found this article on "Old Paper" which makes it all seem more doable. I'll be off to the craft store to buy some acid free sleeves, which will hopefully protect what we have until we can do better.

Ah... The Good Ol' Days

In my never ending quest to find some dead ends, I decided to read Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn By Heman Rowlee Timlow. It is a book listed in my Grandmother's sources and is digitized by Google Books.

I've searched the book and read various passages which contain my searched names, but I figured I may miss something so today I started reading the whole darn book. 856 pages. Its fun to read even if it is on the screen instead of the real book. One thing I know for sure is we'd never make it in 1758 at Southington, CT. lol.

Chapter XXIV (pg 404) "Court Record of Southington Parish" The first Justice of the Peace was Jared Lee. By law of the Colony, he handled certain cases involving the Church and society. He kept 25 years worth of records and the Author transcribes a few. The cases and arrests in the book involve neglect of public worship, "rude and idel behaver", "wispering and Laufing ", etc. And you better have the kids under control too!!!

"Laufing Between Meetings"
At a Court holden at Farmington In and For the County of hartford April 25 1758 present Jared Lee Just peace In and for sd County whear as Jane hasard Jun' a minor Daughter of James Hasard of Farmington being Complained of by John webster Granjuror of and a Gainst the sd Jane hasard to Jared Lee Just peace For sd County being Gilty of the breach ofas Law of this Coloni page 139 by profaning sd Day whispering and Laufing between metings of the 26 Day of February 1758 asn the sd Jane Hasard withoute any Lawfull proses personally Appeared In Cort and pleas Gilty aledged In sd Complaint therfour Find the sd Jane Gilty and aledged and theirfour In Cured the penalty of Law In that case thre shiling as a fine to the town one shiling Coas of Cort alowed whear of Execution Remains to be don
June 27 1759 then Recei'd

None of my ancestors were listed in this chapter, but maybe I should find out where those 25 years worth of records are stored and read up!

Subscription?

I am, or have been, subscribed to about every internet genealogy service ever known. I've always found a lot of good information on all of them. The problem is after awhile I don't find anything new, so I discontinue for a year or so and check back later. The coolest thing Ancestry.com ever did was add the US Census images! (Although that wasn't too fun during the dial-up days. lol.) Before that I actually had to go to the library and reel through the microfilm. That is fun, too, just a lot more time consuming.

My Mom and I inherited the genealogy bug from my Grandmother. I love to go back and read all of her typed and hand-written correspondence. Some dating back to the 1940's. I have it so easy now. I think what she would have loved about the internet is the camaraderie among fellow researchers and the sharing among cousins you never knew you had.

She has her sources pretty well recorded. 10 years ago I subscribed to a site called "Geneoalogylibrary.com" That was pre-Ancestry.com and I'm not sure if its still around or not. Probably merged with genealogy.com or Ancestry.com or maybe familytreemaker.com... on the other hand, maybe all of those are one in the same by now! Hard to keep up. Anyways, at genealogylibrary, I was able to find the exact books that she had to go to state or university libraries to find. I think I paid $9.95 per month for unlimited access. But now, a bunch of those books (AND MORE) are free to read on Google Books! It just keeps getting better.

So, at the moment, I'm not subscribed to anything. Between Genforum, Rootsweb and Googlebooks I'm all set.

I'm going to gather our own library and post what we have in case it will be of help to anyone else!