Turner Library Historical Collections
I believe I’ve written about this before but, as a reminder for those who love history and/or have ancestors from Aroostook County, the Madawaska Region, and Northern Maine. Go to the home page of the Turner Memorial Library. Click on Aroostook History. When the Aroostook Historical Collection page comes up, click the link to enter […]
Typhoid and Natural Disasters
From American Heritage May/June 1994: Typhoid Mary’s name was Mary Mallon. Typhoid is of the Salmonella genus and is mostly spread by contaminated drinking water but, some people were chronic carriers. The carriers were asymptomatic. Perhaps some of the ancestors didn’t die from the water, it was their cook. As I’ve noted before, pay attention […]
The Importance of Correct Information in Family Trees
No doubt I’m being repetitive but, there are folks out there who post incorrect information on online family trees saying they have an ancestor who was Native American. NOT! They think this because they do not understand what they are looking at. I’ll use my ancestors as an example. The 1851 New Brunswick census has […]
The Importance of Research Etiquette
Genealogy and research etiquette is important. This is after a recent out-of-state visitor who was not nice at three different local libraries. Be courteous and respectful of those who work or volunteer at, libraries, archives, research centers, record depositories, etc. Staff and volunteers are there to assist you, not wait on you and do your […]
Understanding Surnames
Going over the lists of guilds I found surnames and even given names all derived from occupations. Here are a few: Baker, Brewer, Collier, Cooper, Draper, Dyer, Fuller, Glover, Goldsmith, Mason, Merchant, Sadler, Skinner, Smith ***, Tanner, Taylor, Tyler, Weaver ***There are many different kinds of smiths and the colors can be surnames too. -Blacksmith […]
Surname Backgrounds
Here are some names of old occupations that may give you an idea of the history of your surname: Surname Occupation Backman/Backster/Baxter/Beck/Becker baker Barker One who strips bark from trees prepares leather with bark = tanner Bauer German for farmer Beadle/Bedel/Bedell town crier or someone who keeps order Boniface innkeeper Brewster female brewer Burgess represented […]
“Secretary Hand”
Member Frances Heales mentioned “Secretary Hand.” This led me to the following info: It was a style of European handwriting from the 1500s and 1600s and longer for English, German, Welsh, and Gaelic. This led me to a BYU Script Tutorial on line. There are four main hands or scripts in English documents; Round, Italic, […]
Gleanings from the NEHGS weekly e-newsletter
Look up Civil War Photo Sleuth. You’ll find an article in Slate and other articles which will explain their use of facial recognition software. One of the photos they examined was from the Maine State Archives. They identified the man as Francis Marion Eveleth who was the assistant surgeon of the 7th Maine Infantry. He […]
Some hints from the DAR Genealogy Guidelines…
These hints are good whether you’re doing lineage papers or not. Do the dates make sense? What were the parent’s ages when they married? What date was the child born? What age were the parents when the child was born? Are they old enough to have a child or are they too old? Do the […]
President’s Message, November 2018
How do you like early winter?! Hopefully, you got all sorts of genealogical stuff done this summer which is now waiting on your desk to keep you busy all winter. As a follow-up, my 3rd grader, grand-niece read two of my grandfather’s WWI letters. She was able to read at least 90% of what she […]