A Christmas Wedding in 1890

 

From the Beverly Citizen newspaper
27 December 1890 

On a recent snowy day my 3rd cousin, on my maternal side, a Hitchings descendant like me, sent me this lovely news clipping from the Beverly Citizen.  It shows our common ancestor, Abijah Franklin Hitchings (1841 - 1910), and my great grandfather, Arthur Treadwell Hitching's wedding to my great grandmother Florence Etta Hoogerzeil on 25 December 1890 at 8 Bentley Street in Beverly, Massachusetts.  They were married on Christmas, which was very common in New England at the time.  Thanksgiving was also a very popular time for weddings in New England. If the family was already gathered together, then it was a perfect time for a wedding.  Early Puritan settlers eschewed Christmas as a holiday in New England, but perhaps they were side stepping religion for fun when they held weddings on or around Christmas Day? 

It made me think "What other ancestors were married on Christmas Day?".  This is what I had in my files: 

Phoebe Munroe (my 4th great aunt) and William Cross, 25 December 1828 in Danvers, Massachusetts. 

Elizabeth Sparks and Jacob Perkins (my 8th great grandparents), 25 December 1634 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  I descend from two of their three children, Elizabeth (who married David Burnham on my wedding day 2 July in 1711) and Jacob Perkins (who removed to Wells, Maine and married Anna Littlefield). 

Close to Christmas - 

21 December

Abijah Hitchings and Mary Cloutman, my 4th great grandparents, were married on 21 December 1795 in Salem, Massachusetts.  

Phebe Lilley and Noah Eaton (my 6th great grandparents), were married on 21 December 1726 in Woburn, Massachusetts. 

Hannah Munroe (my 7th great aunt) and Joseph Pierce, were married on 21 December 1692 in Watertown or Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

22 December

Mary Barber and Benjamin Tarr (my first cousin 7 generations removed), were married on 22 December 1748 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  Our common ancestor was James Wallis (about 1668 - 1744) who was born in Maine and died in Gloucester, Massachusetts. 

Hannah Dennison and John Wallis (another first cousin 7 generations removed), were married on 22 December 1782 in Gloucester.  They were first cousins to each other.  Was this a double wedding? 

23 December

Sally Flint (my fifth great aunt) and Levi Nichols were married on 23 December 1778 in North Reading, Massachusetts.  

Sally Flint (my fourth great aunt) and Nathaniel Upton, were married on 23 December 1802 probably in North Reading.  

24 December - Christmas Eve

Polly Bray and Asa Burnham, my 5th great grandparents, were married on 24 December 1801 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  

Emily Burnham (my 5th great aunt) and John Rollins, were married on 24 December 1836 in Essex, Massachusetts. 

26 December (The day after Christmas)

Elizabeth Peach and Harvey Allen (my 3rd great uncle), were married on 26 December 1887 in Beverly, Massachusetts.  

Susanna Dutch (2nd cousin ten generations removed) and Benjamin Knowlton were married on 26 December 1705 in Beverly, Massachusetts. 

New Years Day Weddings:

Tabitha Damon and John Townsend (my 7th great uncle) were married on 1 January 1722 in Reading (now the part that is Wakefield), Massachusetts. 

Sarah Andrews and Charles Treadwell (my 8th great uncle) were married on 1 January 1723 in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. 

Hannah Flint (my 5th great aunt) and William Whittredge were married on 1 January 1795 probably in North Reading, Massachusetts.  

Thanksgiving weddings (just a few mentioned here, but the last week or ten days in November was extremely popular among my ancestors for weddings):

My grandparents, Bertha Louise Roberts and Donald Munroe Wilkinson  26 November 1926 at 7 Dearborn Avenue in Beverly, Massachusetts. This was Bertha's home, and where my Dad grew up, and where I grew up, too!  I know they were married on Thanksgiving from an audio tape made by Bertha telling the story of her life.  

My 2nd great grandparents, Robert Wilson Wilkinson and Phebe Cross Munroe were married on 24 November 1853 in Danvers, Massachusetts.  This date was confirmed to be Thanksgiving from family tradition. 

My 4th great grandparents Romanus Emerson and Jemima Burnham were married on 22 November 1810 in Milford, New Hampshire.  I had to search online for the date of Thanksgiving in 1810, and this was the result, but I'm not sure that Thanksgiving had a set date this early. 

Mark Burnham (first cousin 7 generations removed) and Hannah Goodhue were married on Thanksgiving day 26 November 1767 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. 

Sarah Rue and John Beckett (my 6th great grandfather, I decend from his first wife, Rebecca Beadle) were married on Thanksgiving Day 25 November 1762 in Salem, Massachusetts (if Thanksgiving was celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November back then).  Sarah Phipps married my 6th great uncle George Munroe on that same day in Lexington, Massachusetts.  

If Thanksgiving were held on 24 November 1763 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, then my 5th great grandparents Isaac Allen and Abigail Burnham also had a Thanksgiving wedding date. 

I'd have to calculate the date of Thanksgiving for each year in the past, which is a floating holiday, and would become a truly huge proposal!  But it is a good future project.  Thanksgiving was not set as a national holiday until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it in 1863.  He was persuaded to make it a national holiday by New Hampshire resident Sarah Josepha Hale, because of her fond memories of celebrating Thanksgiving as a child in New England.  It was not until 1941 that FDR set the holiday as the fourth Thursday in November, which was previously a tradition in New England that was loosely followed.  

1915 Salem Gazette

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Christmas Wedding in 1890", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 23 December 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-christmas-wedding-in-1890.html: accessed [access date]).

What did Genea-Santa Bring? Christmas Books 2024

 Happy Holidays!  For many years I have posted the books that the Genea-Santa has put under my Christmas Tree.  This year was a big haul of new books to read!  I hope that now that Christmas and Three Kings have passed, I can start to read the Christmas books I received this holiday season.  I hope you enjoy this blog post, and that you find a book or two you might like to read, too.  Here they are in no particular order- 

A few months ago I heard that Heritage books was having a sale on their genealogy books, so I made a list of some of the titles that might help me with my family tree.  Genea-Santa ordered three of those books, wrapped them up, and delivered them in time for Christmas.  Thank you Genea-Santa!  This volume about the Greenleaf family includes my ancestor Captain Edmund Greenleaf, who was born before 2 January 1574 in Ipswich, Suffolk England, and died in Boston on 24 March 1671.  I descend from two of his children - Judith, who married Tristam Coffin, and Stephen Greenleaf, who married Elizabeth Coffin (two Greenleaf siblings married two Coffin siblings).  I haven't written up a Greenleaf "Surname Saturday" blog post yet, but this book should help! 

This is another book published by Heritage Books.  It is a reprint of a book I have referred to often in my family tree research.  I do not descend from Thomas Pierce, but I have found many of his descendants in my family tree through marriages and other kinships.  

This book A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia Edwards is a book I am looking forward to reading.  This book is also a reprint, since the original is long out of print (1877).  It is a classic book about early Egyptologists, and Amelia Edwards was a pioneering woman in exploring Egypt in Victorian times. She was also the inspiration for the fictional character Amelia Peabody in a modern series of mystery novels about archeaology in Egypt in the 1800.  I read many of the Amelia Peabody books before my own trip down the Nile River in 2023, and I can't wait to read the real story written by the real "Amelia". 

This is the third book published by Heritage Books on my Genea-Santa list.  It is the complied genealogy of the Crosby family and descendants of Simon Crosby.  He is my 9th great grandfather, born about 1609 in Holme-on-theSpaulding-Moor, Cambridge, England, and he died in September 1639 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I descend from his eldest son, Thomas Crosby, who settled in Eastham on Cape Cod.  My line of Crosbys eventually removed to Nova Scotia during the Planter Movement.  You can read more about my Crosby lineage at this 2012 blog post:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/08/surname-saturday-crosby.html   

The last book from Genea-Santa was this lovely edition of Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad. When I was a girl we read Huckleberry Finn in school, and then I borrowed many other of Twains books from the library, but Innocents Abroad was always my favorite.  I reread this book online before our trip to Egypt, and now I can reread it before our next trip to Europe.  It's still a funny book with many thoughtful insights on American tourists, and it still makes me laugh.  This is a boxed book with a fine cover, and I've never owned a copy of Innocents Abroad.  

For the truly curious:

Christmas Books 2023

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html    

Christmas Books 2022

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html    

Christmas Books 2021

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html  

Christmas Books 2020

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html  

Christmas Books 2019

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html   

Christmas Books 2018  

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2018.html   

Christmas Books 2017

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2017.html 

Christmas Books 2016:

 https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-books-from-santa-2016.html   

Christmas Books 2015:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/genealogy-gifts-from-santa-2015.html  

Christmas Books 2014:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-books-for-christmas-santa-was-very.html

-------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "What did Genea-Santa Bring?  Christmas Books 2024", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 14, 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html: accessed [access date]). 

Nacimientos, Manger Scenes, Nativities, Crèches, etc.

 I recently realized that most of my Christmas decorations are nativity scenes, from all around the world.  Here is a sampling of some of them - small and large!  I love minatures, of any type, and so I find nativities to be fascinating. As a child I remember the nativity we had, which was identical to the one my Nana had at her house. My uncle had built the wooden stable, and my mother had collected the figures. Of course, as children we could only look and not play with the figures.  Now we collect nativities on our travels, and have brought many back from Spain, South America, and Europe.    

This very large scene is called a "Belen" in Spain, which is Spanish for Bethlehem.  All the tiny clay figures were bought in Madrid, Spain at the Christmas market in the Plaza Mayor over almost 40 years of collecting.  The landscape was built by Vincent and I out of an old, cork bulletin board and papier mache.  The final touches were plants, grass and trees from a hobby shop.  Children love to rearrange the figures in this little village. And so do my cats! 

This tiny little nativity was from a New Hampshire craft fair.  It is on the molding above our front closet, and below Vincent's grandfather's sword from the Guardia Civil in Spain.  

These nativity pieces were all from my mother-in-law's house in Spain.  I didn't know that Vincent had packed them all into his suitcase after she passed away.  They are made out of papier mache and cloth. 

This little nativity is made out of fabric.  I made it in the 1990s when my daughter was little and wanted to play with the figures in the nativity scenes. It is indestructable.  I've even caught the cats playing with it! 

Here is another nativity from Spain.  It is on our mantel at Christmas time. 

This tiny nativity is in my office.  It is three extra pieces from the clay "Belen" at the top of this blog post. We bought extra Marys, Josephs, and Baby Jesuses just in case! 

Here is another tiny nativity that is placed above a window trim.  It just barely fits up there! 

There are many, many nativities on the Christmas tree.  This one is a Hallmark ornament.

This ornament was bought in Rome, Italy.

This nativity is on our tree.  I forget where we bought it, but it was on a trip. 

This is another tiny nativity.  You can see how small it is compared to the two coffee mugs behind it. 

This nativity comes from Ecuador, and the ball closes up into an ornament. 

This tiny Christmas tree nativity came from Puerto Rico. 

This is tree ornament has three mooses depicting the Holy Family in a stable.

There are many more nativities scattered around the house at Christmas time.  Do you have more than one in your house during the holidays?  Do they have special meaning for you, too? 

-------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Nacimientos, Manger Scenes, Nativities, Crèches, etc.", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 24, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/12/nacimientos-manger-scenes-nativities.html: accessed [access date]). 

What did Genea-Santa Bring? Christmas Books 2023

For many years I have posted the books that Genea-Santa has put under my Christmas Tree. Now that Christmas and Three Kings Day have passed, I am starting to read the Christmas Books I received this holiday season.  I hope that you enjoy this, and find a book or two you might like to read, too.  Here they are in no particular order.

The Boston Massacre: A Family History, by Serena Zabin, 2020, was intriguing to me just because of the title.  Professor Zabin is the chair of the history department at Carleton College, and she also co-designed a video game about the Boston massacre. This book promises to tell a new slant to the story. I can't wait to read it! 

Several years ago I heard a lecture by the author of this book, They Sawed Up a Storm: The Women's Sawmill at Turkey Pond, New Hampshire, 1942, by Sarah Shea Smith, 2010.  The book outlines the wonderful story of women who were recruited as lumber jacks during WWII, to use the fallen trees from the Great Hurricane of 1938.  Turkey Pond is a local landmark in Concord, New Hampshire, with a historical marker commemorating these women.  Their contribution to the war effort was used for building ships and other important materiel to help win WWII.  I've been meaning to read this book for years, since hearing the lecture.  Now it's my chance! 

In December I went to Spain for my mother-in-law's funeral mass.  A dear family friend from Malaga, Spain (in Andalusia) told us about this book SS Heliopolis: The Immigration of Andalusians to Hawai'i, by Miguel Alba Trujillo, 2020.  He thought I would appreciate this story, especially with my family tree having branches in Hawaii at the time of this event (1907).  Our friend in Spain told the author about my interest, and the author surprised me with this book just in time for Christmas.  I've already read the first few chapters, and it looks like an interesting story of desparate immigrants moving from Europe to a completely new and different culture for survival. 

A few years ago, when the COVID pandemic hit, we fled to AutoCamp in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, for a weekend in an airstream camper.  We had a wonderful time exploring Cape Cod, and while relaxing by the camp fire I read parts of this book, which was on the bookshelf inside our camper.  I never finished the book before we had to leave Cape Cod. Last year Santa brought me the wrong book.  So I searched for it online. Santa Claus found it first, and it was under my Christmas tree this year.  Natural History Essays, Henry David Thoreau, 2011, includes his essay about his walk to Mount Wachusett from Concord, Massachusetts, which fascinated me since I grew up near the mountain and climbed it many times on Girl Scout hikes, blueberrying, and riding the ski lift. Now I can read the rest of his essays in this volume!  

This is a strange history book, but fascinating to anyone interested in the ocean, Lego, or pollution.  Adrift: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea, by Tracey Williams, 2022 is the story of the sixty-two containers that fell of a cargo ship in 1997.  One container held over 5 million pieces of Lego (coincidentally they were all ocean themed pieces of Lego).  Soon after the accident people on several continents began to find these Lego bits on their local beaches.  I thought Vincent would enjoy this book, and he is already half way through it!  There is also a Facebook group for fans of this Adrift story, where they post photos and stories of their beachcombing Lego finds.  This will be a fun history to read. 

For the truly curious: 

Christmas Books 2022

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html    

Christmas Books 2021

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html  

Christmas Books 2020

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html  

Christmas Books 2019

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html   

Christmas Books 2018  

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2018.html   

Christmas Books 2017

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2017.html 

Christmas Books 2016:

 https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-books-from-santa-2016.html   

Christmas Books 2015:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/genealogy-gifts-from-santa-2015.html  

Christmas Books 2014:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-books-for-christmas-santa-was-very.html

------------------------

To Cite/Link to this Blog Post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "What did Genea-Santa Bring?  Christmas Books 2023", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 9, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html: accessed [access date]). 

Merry Christmas, Hamilton, Massachusetts, 1950

Merry Christmas! Here is my mother and her family at Christmas around 1950 at my grandparents home on Roosevelt Avenue in Hamilton, Massachusetts.  Seventy-three Christmases have come and gone since this photograph was taken.  

Back row, my Auntie Mamie (Mary Cecelia Horgan Allen) holding her son, Marty (Martin Michael Allen, born 1950), next to my Uncle Donald Franklin Allen holding Mamie's son, Mickey (Stanley Elmer Allen III), next to my grandfather, Stanley Elmer Allen, my Auntie Barbara, and her husband Edward Baxter Thacher.  

In the middle, my mother is in the plaid shirt.

The next row down is my Uncle Dickie (Richard Lewis Allen), my grandmother, Gertrude Matilda Hitchings Allen), my Uncle Bobbie (Robert Arthur Allen) and my great aunt (sister to my grandmother) Eunice Mary Hitchings Bunce). 

In the front row the two children seated on the floor are my cousins Sandra Lee Thacher and Allen Baxter Thacher. 

Nearly everyone in this photo has passed away since this photograph was taken in Hamilton, Massachusetts. Only four relatives are still living today.  My mother was one of seven siblings, and she is still with us, as well as her youngest brother Dickie.  Even most of my first cousins in this photo have passed away except for Sandra and Allen.

To cite/link to this photo: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Merry Christmas, Hamilton, Massachusetts, 1950", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 24, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/12/merry-christmas-hamilton-massachusetts.html: accessed [access date]).    

What did Genea-Santa Bring? Christmas Books 2022

For many years I have posted the books that Genea-Santa has put under my Christmas tree.  You can see below for a list of links going back to 2014!  This year was a small haul, but enough to keep me very busy reading.  

I hope you find a few books on this list for yourself and your own family history research!

The first book is Robert Goodby's A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History. We were very lucky that in November Professor Goodby of Franklin Pierce College was the featured speaker at the Compact Day Luncheon held by the New Hampshire Mayflower Society.  We were able to purchase an autographed copy of his newest book about the Native Abenaki who lived in our part of New England. He was a wonderful speaker, and if you hear about him speaking near you I would recommend you attend.  I can't wait to read this book!

Santa found this book on the history of Eastham, Massachusetts.  I have many ancestors from this town - Crosby, Bangs, Lumpkin, Mayo, Osborn, Mayhew, Davis, Hawes, and more.  It will be fun learning more about their hometown, and perhaps finding additional information on my ancestors.

In 2021 we stayed at a campground on Cape Cod, and this book of essays by Henry David Thoreau was in our little Airstream trailer.  During our weekend on the Cape I read several of these essays about Cape Cod and one about Mount Wachusett (near where I grew up and graduated at Wachusett Regional High School).  I was hooked and hated to leave the book behind.  Thank you, Santa!  Now I can read all the other essays.  (Purchased at the Concord Museum gift shop in Concord, Massachusetts)

This book looks like fun!  New England's Hidden Past: 360 Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Misunderstood Landmarks by husband and wife Dan and Leslie Landrigan is a surprise.  If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how much I like to post about unsual New England historical sites. This book might send me off on a few local road trips.  Stay tuned!

For the truly curious: 

Christmas Books 2021

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html  

Christmas Books 2020

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html  

Christmas Books 2019

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html   

Christmas Books 2018  

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2018.html   

Christmas Books 2017

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2017.html 

Christmas Books 2016:

 https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-books-from-santa-2016.html   

Christmas Books 2015:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/genealogy-gifts-from-santa-2015.html  

Christmas Books 2014:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-books-for-christmas-santa-was-very.html

------------------------

To Cite/Link to this Blog Post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "What did Genea-Santa Bring?  Christmas Books 2022", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 2, 2023, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html: accessed [access date]). 

Happy Holidays 2022

 1906 advertisement for Londonderry Lithia Water

---------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy Holidays 2022", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 24, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/12/happy-holidays-2022.html: accessed [access date]). 

What did Genea-Santa Bring? Christmas Books 2021

 

Every year I post the books that Genea-Santa brought to my Christmas tree.  The photo above shows the genealogy and family history books I received this year.  Last year my haul of gift books was heavily slanted towards the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower.  This year the list is well rounded, and includes two books of historical fiction. Thank you, Santa!

I hope you find a few books on this list for yourself and your family history research, too! 

First Yankee: David Thomson, 1592 - 1628 - The Story of New Hampshire's First Settler, was published in 1997 by Ralph and Matthew Thomson.  Santa bought this edition at the gift shop at the Science Center at Odiorne Point State Park, the location of David Thomson's fishing colony in 1623. David Thomson is my 9th great grandfather, and husband to Amyes Colle.  She was married to two of my 9th great grandfathers - Thomson and also to Samuel Maverick of Boston. I can't wait to read this book! 

This is the sixth edition of the Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, edited by Rhonda R. McClure and published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  I've owned every edition of this book, and find it invaluable for New England family history research.  This edition updates lots of contact information, new resources, and things that I've been waiting for (such as the probate information from Connecticut missing from the last edition).  It looks wonderful, the true test will be actually USING this book for some upcoming projects. 

For a change of pace, I've included two books of historical fiction on this blog post because BOTH have to do with some of my family history.  J. Dennis Robinson, the author of Point of Graves: A New England History Mystery, has always written some of my favorite books, articles and short stories from the New Hampshire seacoast region.  Now he has written a mystery, and I can't wait to read it!  The Point of Graves is one of my favorite cemeteries in New Hampshire, and is featured in the title and on the cover.  I'm looking forward to reading this! 

This little volume was put together by my daughter with highlights of my granddaughter's sixth year on the planet.  She actually makes one of these every year, and I should have included it in previous blog posts.  

This large format book (380 pages) The Mayflower Quarterly Diamond Jubilee Edition was published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants in 2012.  It was originally sold for $50, but Genea-Santa saw it for sale at the GSMD board of assistants meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  It is still for sale for $15 at the GSMD website, so don't miss out on this lovely book that features a compilation of the "best of the best" from the journal produced by the Mayflower Society. 

 https://shop.themayflowersociety.org/product/mayflower-quarterly-diamond-jubilee-edition/161  

This very heavy book (printed on glossy photographic paper and 453 pages) Made in America - The Pilgrim Story and How It Grew was written by James W. Baker, former historian from Plimoth-Patuxet museum (formerly known as Plimoth Plantation).  I've enjoyed his previous books, and this one I started on Christmas night and read straight through to the end!  In this volume he doesn't explore the history of the people known as "The Pilgrims" but he delves into the phenomenon behind their becoming myth and legend.  Very interesting, and very historical in its own way!  

This is another historical novel, Bound For Gold: Novel of the California Gold Rush, by William Martin.  He is the author of many of my favorite historical fiction books such as Back Bay, Cape Cod, and Harvard Yard.  He wrote this book in 2019, but I have not read it yet.  I'm interested not only because I enjoyed his earlier books very much, but because I had an ancestor leave Boston for California as a '49er (he actually returned with a nugget or two!).  This book should prove to be very interesting because William Martin does such meticulous research on his subjects.  I follow him on Facebook, and look forward to reading Bound for Gold. 

This is volume 2 of Early New England Families 1641 - 1700 edited by Alicia Crane Williams.  I own volume 1 and used it a lot for my research, and look forward to having this book on my shelf.  It includes sketches with several surnames from my family tree - Carter, Fairbanks, Glover, Maverick, Stone, etc. These are families that arrived AFTER the Great Migration and are not include in Anderson's series.  These sketches are also available online at the database at AmericanAncestors.org 

I'll let you know later what I think of all these new books!  It will take me some time to read them all!

Christmas Books 2019

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html   

Christmas Books 2018  

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2018.html   

Christmas Books 2017

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/01/christmas-books-from-santa-2017.html 

Christmas Books 2016:

 https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-books-from-santa-2016.html   

Christmas Books 2015:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/genealogy-gifts-from-santa-2015.html  

Christmas Books 2014:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-books-for-christmas-santa-was-very.html

------------------------

To Cite/Link to this Blog Post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "What did Genea-Santa Bring?  Christmas Books 2021", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 6, 2021, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-did-genea-santa-bring-christmas.html: accessed [access date]). 

Lobster Pot Trees - Merry Christmas!

 These lobster pot trees are a New England tradition.  In the past, lobster fishermen have piled their traps in their yards for the winter, and some were creative in making them into Christmas trees for the holidays.  Then some appeared in harbors and on village greens.  Now coastal towns are featuring more and more lobster trap trees.  No two are alike, and all are welcome signs of the holidays!

Kittery, Maine

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Provincetown, Massachusetts

Rockland, Maine

York, Maine

Winthrop, Massachusetts

A buoy tree
Kittery, Maine

Seabrook, New Hampshire

Some variations on the theme:

Lobster Trap Menorah, Gloucester, Massachusetts

Potato Barrels, Fort Fairfield, Maine