RootsTech 2012 Tweets

I was not at RootsTech 2012, which was a conference held in Salt Lake City last week for genealogists and also a trade show for genealogical technology.  But I had a lot of fun following along through the magic of technology.  The live streaming videos at www.rootstech.org were wonderful, especially when I had two windows open right along with the tweets and Facebook comments.

Leave me a comment with some of your favorite RootsTech tweets...

Here is a smattering of some tweets, just for fun!

@footnoteMavenfootnoteMaven

@moultriecreek so good so far! 4000 people here who know how to operate their iPhones and iPads.#rootstech

@cballdredgeCindy

#genealogy Great presentation at#rootstech by Ron Tanner. He's my favorite kind of speaker - really smart/intelligent AND a little crazy!

@geneapleauChristine McCloud

First tweet. Dipping my toes in, thanks to Thomas MacEntee's#rootstech presentation, seen via live stream. Hello!

@ACoffinACoffin

Jay Verkler lost his glasses. Please return if found. @JayVerklersHairinconsolable. #rootstech

@geniausJill Ball

Excited to being going to a real American home for a party with other @geneabloggers #rootstech

There were many tweets in other languages, too!

@Red_AntepasadosRed de Antepasados

La App que estabas esperando para iPhone y iPad bit.ly/zucyb3Indexing de FamilySearch#rootstech #genealogía

Tweeter Brand Nieman, who gave this website in his Twitter profile http://semanticommunity.info/, also provided an analysis of the RootsTech tweets at this link http://archivist.visitmix.com/9b21a536/2.  This is a screen shot of that page...

(Click on the image to enlarge this chart)

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday - A weathercock

I'm nearing the end of this series.  There are only so many weather vanes in the Nutfield area (Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire).    This is one of the last I will be posting in the next two months on Wednesdays.

As a challenge, I publish the locations at the bottom of the post so you can see the photo first.  After you guess you can scroll down to the bottom to see the location.

Do you know the location of weather vane #29?

The rooster is a popular weathervane motif, and is so common that in England weathervanes are known as "weathercocks".   This one is located in a very public and well known spot, and I'll bet that many Londonderry people have never noticed it at all.  It is on top of the cupola above the BP gas station at the crossroads of Mammoth Road and Nashua Road (Route 102).  This gas station is more commonly known as "Chuck's", and is the site of many fundraisers, community car washes and the annual Knights of Columbus Christmas Tree sale.

Click here to see the other weather vanes I have featured in this series.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Jane and Robert McMurphy

This gravestone was photographed at Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire.  There are a great number of colonial era double headstones like this one at Forest Hill, especially near "Settler's Row" where the early Scots Irish pioneers are buried.

In memory of           In memory of
MRS JANE                 ROBERT
McMURPHY            McMURPHY
wife of Robert                 ESQR    
McMURPHY          Who died
Esqr. who died       Jan. 20, 1814
Dec. 31, 1764             Aged 91
aged 84 Years           Years  

 This gravestone appears to have cracked, but was repaired with iron braces long ago.

closeup of the double urns carved above the epitaph

Robert McMurphy was the son of John McMurphy and Mary Cargill, immigrants from Northern Ireland.  He was born on 30 January 1724/5 and married Jane Shirley on 10 March 1747/8.  She was the daughter of John Shirley, born in Northern Ireland in 1688, died 1764 in Chester, New Hampshire.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Millie, the Mill Girl of Manchester, New Hampshire

Recently the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists, Merrimack Valley Chapter heard a great talk by Lorre Fritchy, the writer and director of a new movie called “Millies” about the millworkers in Lawrence, Massachusetts during the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike.    I was inspired to post a photo of Manchester, New Hampshire’s mill girl statue, “Millie”.  It is located at the staircase on Commercial Street. 

A nearby plaque reads:

“The Mill Girl

She stands here, for thousands of 19^th century working women:  Industrial revolutionaries who broke with the past to earn their living making history and creating the future.   In 1880 one third of Manchester’s population, 3385 women, worked in the textile mills of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, situated below along the banks of the Merrimack River.

Sculptress: Antoinette Schultze

Funding for this public art project was made possible by gifts from:

Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation and Samuel P. Hunt Foundation

Dedicated September 9, 1988

Presented by the city of Manchester Parks and Recreation Commission 

and Manchester Art Commission”

I originally believed this to be a unique statue commemorating women’s history and Manchester’s role in the American Industrial Revolution.   There are other statues of factory workers, including a group of female mill workers in Lowell, Massachusetts named “Homage to Women” http://sculpturesbymico.com/homagetowomen.htm.  And then I discovered there were three similar statues, all named “Millie” in England:

1.) In 2000 the city of Bradford on Avon, England dedicated a statue named “Millie” for the new millennium, but it depicts a female mill worker.  It was created by Dr. John Willats, a local sculptor in Bradford on Avon. http://www.bradfordonavon.co.uk/WhatToDo/milliesculptureb.html

2. ) A stainless steel sculpture was dedicated in 2007 at Colne Railway Station in England, and nicknamed “Millie”.  It has an information board telling about the life of the typical mill workers.  It was sculpted by Clare Biggar, an artist from Clitheroe. http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/1272643.the_statue_arriving_on_platform_is_our_mill_girl_millie/

3.) The Millie statue also in Belfast Northern Ireland to commemorate the Millies or “Shawlies” who labored in the textile mills there.   It was created by sculptor Ross Wilson and unveiled in 2010.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8700695.stm

It appears that the Manchester, New Hampshire Millie was first, followed by three British Millies.  Do any of you know of any other Millie statues?

For more information:

Millies movie information .  http://milliesmovie.com/

Lorre Fritchy’s video and film production company http://masterpeaceproductions.com/

Manchester Historic Association Millyard Museum http://www.manchesterhistoric.org/mill.htm

Massachusetts Society of Genealogists http://www.massog.org/

NOTE -  The 2013 New England Regional Genealogical Conference will be held a few blocks away from "Millie," the textile mill girl statue, at the Radisson Hotel, on 17 -21 April 2013 in Manchester, New Hampshire.  The theme will be "Woven in History - The fabric of New England".
http://nergc.org/

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Upcoming Genealogy Events

There are some fantastic upcoming genealogy events in this part of New England.  Don't miss them!

African American History and Genealogy Open House Day, Wednesday, February 8,  9AM – 9PM, at the New England Historic Genealogical Society at 99 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts

NEHGS Online Genealogist David Allen Lambert will help you learn how to trace African American ancestors, author and historian Alex R. Goldfeld will present stories of Boston’s earliest African American community, and former Executive Director of the Springfield Museums and author Joseph Carvalho III will share his revised edition of Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts 1650-1865, recently published by NEHGS. The lecture will be followed by a book signing and reception. All participants will receive free access to the NEHGS research library for the day, with ample time for research.
FREE; registration required. Please call 617-226-1226 to register

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They came from Canada, Thursday, February 16, National Archives, 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, 6PM. Dr. Andrew Holman, Bridgewater State University will be the guest speaker.  FREE but please pre-register by emailing boston.archives@nara.gov

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Gravestone Art and Preservation, Saturday, 10 March, Taunton Old Colony Historical Society, 1PM FREE to the public by the Lydia Cobb - Quequechan Chapter of the DAR and the Old Colony Historical Society. The Gravestone Girls are three Massachusetts women who have made it their mission to "entertain and educate on the historical perspective of old cemeteries by documenting and preserving the beautiful art they contain".  Refreshments to follow.

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A House on the Bay: Life on 17th Century New Hampshire's Coastal Frontier Sunday, February 12, Blaisdell Library, Nottingham, New Hampshire. 2PM.  Illustrated talk by Neill DePaoli on the home of Thomas Wiggins, recently discovered by a team of archaeologists.  Contact 679-8484 FREE

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A Visit with Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, February 21, Merrimack Library, Merrimack, New Hampshire, 7PM.  Hear a reading of the "Gettysburg" address by re-enactor Steve Wood as Abraham Lincoln, and then he will comment on his run for the presidency, and the Civil War.  Contact 424-5084

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Finding Your New England Yankee Ancestors, Thursday, February 23^rd, Worcester Public Library, 9:30 – 11:30 AM, for more information contact Joy Hennig 508-799-1670 or jhennig@worcpublib.org

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Genealogy Lecture Series, Saturday, March 3, 2012, Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell, Massachusetts, 10AM – 3PM,

Schedule:  10AM Michael Brophy: “Paddy on the Net” explore what’s new in Irish research online, 11:15 AM- Marian Pierre-Louis “Researching House History” how to research your own home using deeds, census records, probate and tax records, historical maps and other sources,  1PM Walter Hickey: “The 1940 census” Get a jump on the 2 April 2012 release of the 1940 census from a speaker from the National Archives.

978-979-4121 or email sfougstedt@mvlc.org for more information  www.pollardml.org

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American Journey, March 4, 2:30 – 4:30 PM, Watertown, Massachusetts Arsenal Center for the Arts

NEHGS is a proud sponsor of An American Journey, produced and performed by the Revels Repertory Company. This original musical theater production brings the story of American immigration to life in partnership with Watertown’s Arsenal Center for the Arts. The 90-minute production finds Italian, Irish, and Eastern European Jewish immigrants on a passenger ship bound for America circa 1907. Sharing their music and songs, their dances and their dreams, the diverse group of travelers become one, as they leave their hardships behind and steam toward America, the land of hope and promise.
Rhonda McClure, NEHGS Senior Researcher and an expert on American immigration, will give a pre-conference talk at 2:30 p.m. Learn more about finding your family in records, which can bring you closer to understanding how they lived and why they chose to immigrate.
Revels Repertory Co. is the touring ensemble of Revels, Inc., the national performing arts company that presents the Christmas Revels in ten cities across the U.S. The show is appropriate for adults and children ages six and up and includes audience participation.
Tickets: $20 adults ($18 for NEHGS members), $12 students/children 12 and under. Visit revels.org for tickets. NEHGS members may enter the discount code NEHGS2012.

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New York Family History Day, Saturday, March 17^th, Tarrytown, New York
Sponsored by the New England Historic Genealogical Society and Ancestry.com at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY.  Twelve classes offered to help you get started or to hone your research skills.  Full day registration $44, free parking.  Space is limited.  Please pre register at www.FamilyHistoryDay.com

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New England Family History Conference, Saturday, March 24^th,  Franklin, Massachusetts at the Franklin LDS Chapel 91 Jordan Road. An all day program with 28 different classes. See the website to pre-register http://www.nefamilyhistory.com/

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Worcester Library Genealogical conference, Friday April 27^th and April 28^th, Worcester Public Library, Saxe and Banx Rooms, for more information contact Joy Hennig 508-799-1670 or jhennig@worcpublib.org

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Buxton of Salem, Massachusetts

BUXTON

Anthony Buxton owned 30 acres near the Ipswich River
in what is now Danvers, Massachusetts*

Anthony Buxton was born in England about 1610, and can be found in Salem, Massachusetts by around 1637 when he was given five acres.  It is believed that he came to Massachusetts with his relative, William Vincent and William’s mother.  Governor Roger Conant wrote that “Anthony Bucstone” was William’s kinsman.   William Vincent/Vinson is my 9x Great Grandfather who eventually settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In 1644 Anthony Buxton was given 30 acres near the Ipswich River, which was eventually willed to his son John Buxton. 

Anthony’s brother Thomas Buxton was in Salem by 1648.  In the Town Records of Salem, I:59,221 Anthony had to administer the estate of his brother Thomas, who died in 1654, and he was directed by the court to pay his children who lived in England, see the Town Records of Salem, I: 59, 221 and I:357, 373.

Anthony Buxton appears in the town records as member of grand juries and as witness against Quakers.  He was tythingman in 1678, and member of various committees to mend roads and bridges.  He appears in records witnessing wills and administering estates.   In the vital records of 1662 he lost two children in six days and in 1676 three more children.

Anthony died in 1684 and his will was proved on 29 July 1684.  His wife Elizabeth was administrix of the estate, and received his land and dwelling house.  He left his daughter  Elizabeth Cooke the part of the land her husband Isaac had worked.  The will names all his living children.  The final inventory of his estate was 238 pounds.  See the Probate Records of Essex County, 1:288, 390, II:422.  Anthony Buxton’s will was witnessed by Nathaniel Felton (my 9x Great Grandfather), Robert Fuller and William Osborn (my 9x Great Grand Uncle).   

An Elizabeth Buxton signed a testimonial approving of Rebecca Nurse’s character during the witch trials in 1692, and she was probably the widow of Anthony Buxton.

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My Buxton genealogy:

Generation 1:  Anthony Buxton, born about 1610 in England and died 1684 in Salem, Massachusetts; married Elizabeth Unknown. Twelve children:

1. Lydia Buxton

2. Mary Buxton

3. Sarah Buxton

4. John Buxton, born about 1645

5. Anthony Buxton, born 6 September 1653, died May 1676

6.  Samuel Buxton, born 14 August 1655, died 24 Feb 1675

7. James, born 8 August 1659, died 15 October 1662

8. Thomas, born 24 February 1662, died 20 October 1662

9. Joseph, born 17 July 1663, married Hester Southwick

10. Hannah, born 27 January 1666; married David Foster

11. Rachel, born 27 January 1666, died 24 February 1675

12. Elizabeth (see below)

Generation 2:  Elizabeth Buxton, born about 1641; married on 3 May 1664 in Salem to Isaac Cook, son of Henry Cooke and Judith Birdsall.

Generation 3. Elizabeth Cook m. Robert Wilson

Generation 4. Isaac Wilson m. Mary Stone

Generation 5. Robert Wilson m. Elizabeth Southwick

Generation 6. Robert Wilson m. Sarah Felton

Generation 7. Robert Wilson m. Mary Southwick

Generation 8. Mercy F. Southwick m. Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 9. Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 10. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 11. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Sources:

New England Historical and Genealogical Register. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Vol. 103, p. 223

New England Marriages Prior to 1700. by Charles Almon Torrey,  Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1990.

History of Salem by Sidney Perley, Volume I, pages 450 - 451

 Essex Probate, 302:74-75

See also The Descendants of Anthony Buxton by John Osborn Buxton, Salem, Mass: 1936, manuscript at the New England Historic Genealogical Society  Mss C 3070  and Volume II, The Buxton Family: Descendants of Anthony Buxton and Elizabeth of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, New England, 1637 compiled by Beatrice F. Buxton, Madison, WI, 1985 (a revision of the genealogy by John O. Buxton).

*The photo above of the Ipswich River is from Wikimedia Commons, by Fletcher6, 2007-10-21, "The Ipswich River from Bradley Palmer State Park, Massachusetts" 

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Follow Friday ~ “Always More Pilgrim Books”

As editor of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society newsletter, "The Shallop" I recently received a notice that there was a transcript of Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs keynote lecture from the banquet of the 2011 Trienniel Meeting of the General Society of Mayflower Desecendants held at Taunton, Massachusetts at the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society website www.sail1620.org.  I believe that it is important we share this information, and the opportunity to read Dr. Bangs's lecture, with genealogists, historians and interested folks outside of the Mayflower Society. 

Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs addresses the
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
12 September 2011 in Taunton, Massachusetts

I was fortunate to have been at this banquet, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing Dr. Bangs speak.  I had last heard him speak many years ago at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  He is a world renowned expert on the Pilgrims, especially on their years in Leiden in the Netherlands.  He also spoke earlier in that same week on some research about the “Women of the Mayflower” project, along with genealogists Caleb Johnson and Simon Neale. https://sites.google.com/site/womenofthemayflower/home/announcing-a-presentation-of-new-research   He is the author of the 2009 book Stranger and Pilgrims, Travelers and Sojourners: Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation as well as other books and articles.  He is the director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in the Netherlands. 

Please visit this page at the website http://www.sail1620.org/history/articles/226-always-more-pilgrim-books.html for Dr. Bangs 2011 lecture “Always More Pilgrim Books”.  I remember that at this lecture he had a slide show of all the books mentioned in his lecture, as well as a pile of some of them on his lecturn.  He often had to move the books about as he spoke, so he could reference his notes.  In my opinion, no matter how many history and genealogy books have been written on the subject of the Pilgrims, there will always be room for more on my bookshelf! 

For more information:

Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs http://www.pointloma.edu/sites/default/files/filemanager/Wesleyan_Center/Jeremy_Bangs_CV.pdf

The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~netlapm/Page01.htm

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants http://www.themayflowersociety.com/

The Pennyslvania Society of Mayflower Descendants http://www.sail1620.org/

The New Hampshire Society of Mayflower Descendants www.nhmayflower.org

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Who was Julius Palmer?

image from the New York Public Library
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org
Image ID: 1806746

I found many mentions of a Captain Julius A. Palmer in the newspaper articles I saw at GenealogyBank.com when I was researching Queen Liliuokalani’s trips to Boston, Massachusetts.  It appeared that he was her personal secretary, and was also described as a “chamberlain” in several newspapers.  When I saw that he was from Boston, I wondered how hard it would be to research him and his genealogy?  Was there a family connection to the Boston Dominis or Jones families?  What would I find online?

First, a simple Google search brought up a book he had written in 1894, Memories of Hawaii and Hawaiian Correspondence, published by the Boston firm Lee & Shepard.  This was good clue, since William Lee was the nephew to Mary (Jones) Dominis.   Lee also published the Queen’s autobiography in 1898, and was mentioned several times in the same news paper articles about the Queen’s Boston visit in 1897. This book was available to read online, and I saw that it described Palmer’s visit to Hawaii immediately following the coup d’etat in 1893, but was several years before the 1897 Boston visit. 

In her autobiography the Queen states “: “I have found Captain Palmer to be well informed on all matters relating to Hawaii, whether in those earlier days when he visited the Islands under the monarch, or since 1893 under the rule of the Provisional Government. Like many others I might mention, he went there soon after the overthrow, and was petted and flattered by the party in power. But all the time he was quietly investigating the situation for himself. The result of his observations was a conclusion that the right of the Hawaiian people to choose their own form of government should be affirmed, and that they should be protected in this choice by the power of the United States, in which event he was fully assured that their queen would be overwhelmingly restored to her constitutional rights.” [Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, by Liliuokalani, Honolulu, Hawaii: Mutual Publishing Company, 1990, pages 322 – 323.  Also available to read online through digital.library.upenn.edu/women/Liliuokalani/Hawaii/Hawaii.html]

At the NEHGS website americanancestors.org I found this marriage:

Boxford Vital Records

Marriages

Page 180

“PEABODY, Lucy Manning, and Julious Aboyno Palmer of Boston, Nov. ----, 1827”

Intention also recorded

At FindAGrave I found Julius Auboyneau Palmer http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66968702 and Lucy Manning Peabody http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66970998  were buried in Boxford, Massachusets at a sketch complete with photos, biography and genealogy.  Surprisingly, there was no mention of his trip to Hawaii nor his relationship with Queen Lili’uokalani.

I went back to the Google Book search with the names of his parents and found this on page 389 History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts by Sidney Perley

“1869 Julius Aboyneau Palmer (1803-1872) b. in Little Compton, RI, son of Thomas and Susanna (Palmer) Palmer.

Hon. Julius A. Palmer, son of Thomas and Susanna (Palmer) Palmer, was born in Little Compton, RI, June 14, 1803.  His parents were both descendants of William Palmer- who came over in the ship “Fortune” and landed at Plymouth, Mass. In 1621, - though distantly related to each other.  He went to Boston in 1819, and was, at the time of his death, the senior member of the firm of Palmer, Batchelder & Co, jewelers, in that city.  He was an uncle of Rev. Charles R. Palmer of the Tabernacle Church, Salem; and he delivered the address at the dedication of the new Tabernacle chapel, in 1870.  He was an ardent temperance man, and was several times selected as the temperance candidate for mayor of Boston.  He was a representative to the Legislature from Boston in 1843 and 1851.  Retiring to Boxford on account of his age and health, he was elected to the Senate from Essex County in 1869.  This was his last public office.  Mr. Palmer was connected with many charitable, religious, and reformatory organizations, where he exercised marked influence on account of his intelligence and high personal character.  He was an active member and deacon of the Mount Vernon Church, Boston.  Deacon Palmer, though living much of the time and doing business in Boston, was nevertheless closely connected with this town, where he held, occupied and improved a valuable estate, and where he gave encouragement to all good local undertakings.  He died in Boston on Thursday, Feb. 15, 1872, and was buried from the Mount Vernon Church, the following Saturday.  Mr. Palmer married Lucy Manning Peabody, daughter of Major Jacob Peabody, a descendant of Capt. John Peabody, one of the early settlers, who resided in the old mansion that was razed to the ground by Deacon Palmer.”

Now that I know the correct spelling of his whole name I was able to find much information on Julius Palmer, even trees on Ancestry that appeared to have all the correct birth and death information on the entire family when I checked with the Massachusetts vital records.  It was obvious to me that there was no connection between the Palmer family and to my Jones ancestors in Boston. 

I was surprised to find Lucy Manning Peabody, the wife of Julius A. Palmer, already in my family tree.  I knew I had Peabody cousins, but there is a closer relationship through her grandmother, Lucy Manning (1780 – 1813).  Her great grandfather is my 8x great grandfather, Thomas Giddings (1638 – 1681).  But this was not a close enough relationship to warrant some type of cousin relationship between Julius A. Palmer and the Queen.   In my opinion, she found him to be a true kindred spirit in wanting to resolve the annexation of Hawaii in her favor.  And since he was from Boston she also must have had found something in common with him to strike up a good friendship.


Even though I didn't find a "cousin connection" I'm amazed at how much research I can do online.  With a newspaper article from GenealogyBank.com in one window, I can open up a second window and quickly find genealogy information on people mentioned in that article.  This is great since a lot of this information is vital records and other primary sources.  It is also amazing how these Boston and Hawaii families have so many connections.  There are several more people I'll be tracing since I found their names in the Queen's autobiography and in these newspaper articles.  If you look back, it was from a name in Lili'uokalani's book that started this whole blog back in July 2009 with my very first post!  

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo