Just for fun! A Lego Weathervane - Weathervane Wednesday

 This weathervane was photographed at the Legoland amusement park in Goshen, New York.

Today's featured weathervane was spotted on a family vacation to Legoland New York.  We had fun with all the Lego workshops, Lego art installations, Lego rides, and Lego themed fun.  Inside "Mini-land" there were hundreds of historic sites from all over the USA built out of Lego bricks.  We saw national parks, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington DC, and then there was a miniature Lego Philadelphia.  Their replica of Independence Hall was beautiful, right down to all the colonial details including this Lego weathervane.

I have previously featured Independence Hall and its weathervane on this blog.  You can read all about it at this link:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/weathervane-wednesday-historic-site.html Independence Hall was the meeting place of the Founding Fathers and the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed.  The weathervane in Philadelphia was completely restored and regilded in 2010. 

The Mini-land inside Legoland is a fantastic art exhibition featuring historic sites, including humor and whimsy for all ages.  It's a great way to get generations of children interested in history, geography, and the science and engineering of building with Lego bricks.  I hope you can all visit Legoland, too.  

Legoland's Mini-land seen from a distance
This view shows the Lego version of
New York City

For the truly curious:

My 2013 Weathervane Wednesday blog post on Independence Hall:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/weathervane-wednesday-historic-site.html

Legoland New York:  https://www.legoland.com/new-york/  

The National Park Service Independence Hall website:   https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/independencehall.htm 

Click here to see over 500 Weathervane Wednesday blog posts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday

A Lego version of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including Independence Hall

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Just for fun!  A Lego Weathervane - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 14, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/08/just-for-fun-lego-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]). 

Top Ten Scary Halloween Stories for Genealogists!

#10  You can’t join DAR because that Revolutionary War ancestor Major Daniel Bollman was really a Hessian soldier.

#9    The family cemetery you've been looking for this past decade was just investigated by “Ghost Hunters” on TV.

#8   That Mayflower lineage document from 2^nd Cousin Horace is really just a 1972 receipt from the moving company.

#7   Great Aunt Hilda, who you have avoided interviewing, just passed away and you never got the story of her passage through Ellis Island.

#6   That illustrious ancestor who, according to a 1912 compiled genealogy book, “occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution” was really a convict sent to the electric chair. 

#5  You finally arrange a visit with a professional genealogist at NEHGS and they kindly refute your great grandparent’s lineage, leaving you back at square one on that branch of the family.

#4  You finally find that your 3^rd great grandfather, David Burham who married Dorothy Burnham, had a mother named Judith Burnham and her mother was Martha Burnham. 

#3  A sudden natural disaster destroys your computer, floods your paper files, and burns your family photo albums.

#2  Your mother confesses about the “milkman”,  making 50% of your family tree moot.

#1  Your Irish grandfather’s y-DNA test comes back as Haplogroup H

Remedy:

Some of the situations above are avoidable.  Have a disaster plan for your files, interview those elderly relatives NOW, and double check your research. 

Don't worry!  Sometimes you have to lop off a branch of your family tree and rebuild all over again. Often the new branch will be much more interesting than the original

Happy Halloween!

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Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Top Ten Scary Halloween Stories for Genealogists!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 29, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/10/top-ten-scary-halloween-stories-for.html: accessed [access date]). 

Bucket List Genea Meme Revisited 2021

 

Back in 2012 Jill Ball, the blogger at Geniaus www.Geniaus.com ,  had started a meme that was rather fun.  She encouraged us to list our favorite genealogy bucket list items.  I played along, and posted it online at this link:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/bucket-list-genea-meme.html  

I recently revisited this old blog post, and it was fun to see what I put down nine years ago. For #1 I mentioned RootsTech as a conference I wanted to attend - and I'm proud to say that we went to RootsTech 2013 the very next year.  That also meant that #16 (the library I most wanted to visit) could be crossed off my bucket list, too, because I visited the Salt Lake City Family History Library while we were at RootsTech.  I even met Jill Ball at that RootsTech conference - win win for everyone! 

Several other items could cross off my bucket list were #6 (I went to the Netherlands in 2017), #9 for a place of worship I'd like to visit (I saw St. Pieter's Kirk in Leiden in 2017), which also meant that #11 (an ancestral town I'd like to visit and I wrote down Leiden) can be crossed off, too.  

#10 was the cemetery I most wanted to visit, and I had listed the Westminister Memorial Park in California where my grandparents were buried.  I was fortunate to visit there in 2015. 

The tech toy I most wanted back then was an iPad (#14) and I got one soon after that blog post.  The most expensive book I wanted then (#15) was The Great Migration series by Robert Charles Anderson, which is now on my bookshelf.  

It's time to revisit this list!

Here is my 2021 version of the Bucket List Genea Meme.  Some items are still the same, some have been updated, some crossed off on my old list.  Please post your list on your blog or in the comments below!  Jill's old rules were:

Things you would like to do: Bold Type

Things you haven't done or don't care to do: plain type

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1.    The genealogy conference I would most like to attend -   The Southern California Genealogy Society Jamboree  (I've been twice, and liked it more than any other conference I've attended)

2.    The genealogy speaker I would most like to hear and see is - Judy Russell (yes, I've heard her, met her, had dinner with her, but can't get enough!)

3.  The geneablogger I would most like to meet in person is - still Kathleen Brandt from a3Genealogy (we still have not connected in person after all these years)

4.  The genealogy writer I would most like to have dinner with is - Robert Charles Anderson  (I think my old choice of Elizabeth Shown Mills would scare me now if we discussed genealogy)

5. The genealogy lecture I would most like to present is - Anything Mayflower (yes, I've gotten over my fear of speaking in public)

6.  I would like to go on a genealogy cruise that visits Scotland (I've now done the Netherlands which was on my old bucket list)

7.  The photo I would most like to find is - still my great grandmother Isabella Bill

8.  The repository in a foreign land I would like most to visit - is still the British National Archives

9.  The place of worship I would most like to visit is All Soul's in Leeds, Yorkshire where my grandmother worshipped before coming to the USA in 1915. 

10.  The cemetery I would like most to visit is - Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston (Just before the pandemic I found several ancestors and relatives buried there, so this should be easy!)

11.  The ancestral town or village I would like most to visit is Leeds, Yorkshire, England. 

12.  The brick wall I most want to smash is Elizabeth Lambert's (1775 - 1834) ancestry (my 5x great grandmother from Boston)  Still on the list.

13.  The piece of software I most want to buy - nothing comes to mind.

14.  The tech toy I want to purchase next is - a NEW iPad.

15.  The expensive book I would most like to buy is - nothing comes to mind.  I just received a bunch of nice books. 

16.  The library I would most like to visit is -  NEHGS (the New England Historic Genealogical Society) after the pandemic!  

17.  The genealogy related book I would like most to write is (still) Descendants of Thomas Wilkinson

18.  The genealogy blog I would most like to start would be about - (No other plans for more blogs)

19.  The journal article I would like most to write would be about - no plans to write an article

20.  The ancestor I would most like to meet in the afterlife is - probably my Dad

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Bucket List Genea Meme Revisited 2021", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 4, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/05/bucket-list-genea-meme-revisited-2021.html: accessed [access date]). 

Funny Photo from Spain - Vintage Family Photo Friday

What's going on here?  This funny photo from Puerto Seguro, Salamanca, Spain was found in a cousin's family album.  It dates from the 1950s or 1960s. It is similar to other funny photos at this link:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/09/friday-funny-found-in-spain.html

We can only identify one of the men in this photo.  The man to the far right is Vincent's "Tio Joaquin" Joaquin García (16 January 1904 - 6 August 1975), brother of his grandfather, José Manuel García.

These types of photos remind us that our ancestors had fun, just like us!

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To Cite/Link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Funny Photo from Spain -  Vintage Family Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 25, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/10/funny-photo-from-spain-vintage-family.html: accessed [access date]).

Why do we say “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit” on the 1st of each month?

"Even Mr. Roosevelt, the President of the United States, has confessed to a friend that he says 'Rabbits' on the first of every month—and, what is more, he would not think of omitting the utterance on any account." – Newspaper article, The Nottingham Evening Post, 27 November, 1935.

I always say “Rabbit” three times on the first day of the month.  I try to make it the first thing I say that morning.  It goes back to my childhood. When I was a little girl, I never knew what the day of the month it was until I got to school.  But on the first of the month it would be a contest to see who would remember first.  Usually some other kid would shout it out while walking to school, and we’d all repeat it to the next kid we saw. And so it would travel through the neighborhood.

Now I post it every month on Facebook. If you are a Facebook friend, you know I also put up a picture of a rabbit, too.  Or three rabbits. I didn’t know why we say it three times. I didn’t know why we say it in the first place.  Finally, fellow genealogist Dan Young asked me, “Do you have a blog post on the history of why we say Rabbit?”

So here it is- the reason why we say “Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit”!

It turns out to be a British custom that was carried to North America.  Over there people say “Rabbits” or “White Rabbits” or repeat “Rabbit” some number of times for good luck in the new month.  According to Wikipedia, northern New England is where this custom is most prevalent in the USA.  In Britain, It is more common in Scotland than in England.

Rabbits are considered lucky in the British Isles- think of the lucky rabbit’s foot. Rabbits are a tradition sign of fertility (remember the Playboy symbol?). White rabbits are especially lucky or magical, and we all know this from the color of most magician’s rabbits. One of the articles I linked below said that FDR not only said Rabbits on the first of the month, but he carried a rabbit’s foot in his pocket for good luck.  Maybe he was just super superstitious?

What is the symbolism of the “Three Hares” often seen carved on churches in England or medieval manuscripts? Well, according to Wikipedia again, it is also seen all over Europe and the Middle East. Is it a symbol of the trinity?  Is it from the pagan Celts? This symbol appears to be a puzzle, just like the fact that although each of the three rabbits appears to have two ears, there are only a total of three ears.  Check out the website for the Three Hare Project, which has published a new book on this subject:

http://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/index.html 

The Three Hares: A Curiosity Worth Regarding, by Tom Greeves, Sue Andrew and Chris Chapman, Skerryvore Productions,UK, 2016

Variations on this theme:

Be the first to say “Rabbit” for good luck

It must be the first words spoken aloud that morning

If you repeat the word “Rabbit” the rabbit will run away with your problems

If you forget to say rabbit first thing, reverse your bad luck by saying “Tibbar” before bed.

Drink a Rabbit Rabbit beer from New England’s Lamplighter Brewing Co. (Cambridge, MA)

Buy a dress from the fashion company Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit  Designs (Google it!)

Gilda Radner used the “Bunny Bunny” version every month

For the truly curious:

From NPR’s “A Way with Words”

 https://www.waywordradio.org/rabbit-rabbit-tibbar-tibbar/   Click to listen

Mother Nature - 

https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/videos/did-you-say-rabbit-rabbit-morning

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit_rabbit  

Yankee Magazine -  https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-environment/rabbit/  

Bangor, Maine Bangor Daily News –

 http://mainemorsels.bangordailynews.com/2017/11/26/maine-people/do-you-say-rabbit-rabbit/

Rabbit Rabbit Day on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbitRabbitDay/  

Blame it on Nickelodon?  https://www.refinery29.com/2016/11/131510/rabbit-rabbit-meaning 

The Three Hares from Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_hares 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Why do we say “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit” on the 1st of each month?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 1, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-do-we-say-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-on.html: accessed [access date]). 

How Genealogy Literate Are You?

A fun quiz for family historians.  Add up your score and comment below!

One point for each of the following:

Have you ever…  

Attended a local genealogy workshop?

Visited your state vital records office?

Done the genealogy happy dance at home in your pajamas?

Googled your ancestor’s name?

Cursed under your breath when Ancestry changed its website?

Helped someone else online with a genealogy problem?

Left flowers at an ancestor’s grave at least 4 generations removed?

Wrote a query on Facebook page, on a website or message board?

Waited excitedly for the 1940 census records to appear online?

Trimmed a five generation branch off your family tree?

Got someone else interested in researching their ancestry?

Join a local genealogy society?

Stayed up until midnight researching online?

Became overly excited to find a black sheep ancestor?

Two points for the following:

Have you ever…  

Attended a regional genealogy event?

Visited your county probate court record depository?

Done the genealogy happy dance in a public library?

Googled your ancestor’s name using quotation marks, OR, AND or “-“ (minus sign)?

Helped someone else solve a genealogy problem in a library, archive or records repository?

Left flowers at the grave of an ancestor at least six generations removed?

Written a snail mail letter asking for genealogy information?

Own a copy of “Evidence Explained”?

Do you remember waiting for the 1930 census records to appear online?

Successfully used Steve Morse’s website to find an Ellis Island immigrant you couldn’t find any other way?

Ordered a microfilm to view at your local Family History library?

Found a book on the “re-shelf” cart at the genealogy society (it caught your eye) that solved your brickwall?

Got a young person (under 21) interested in researching their family tree?

Given a family tree chart to someone as a gift?

Join an ancestral society (surname society or family association)?

Participated in an online indexing project?

Stayed up until 2am researching online?

Gotten excited to find two ancestors shared a grandparent (it simplifies things, doesn’t it?)

Five points for each of these:

Have you ever…  

Attended a national genealogy event that involved taking a plane, train or bus to get there?

Visited the National Archives in Washington DC or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City?

Done the genealogy happy dance in a courthouse or federal building?

Googled your ancestors using quotation marks, wild cards, asterisks and dates?

Given a presentation about genealogy, even if it was only to the five people in your local genealogy club or library?

Tripped over a tree root at the cemetery only to look up and find the tombstone you’ve been searching for the past two hours?

Cold called someone you never met because they shared a surname with an ancestor in an ancestral village or geographical location?

Remember being excited when you finally got a copy of the microfilm for the 1920 census?

Bring cookies or donuts for the town or county clerk?

Visit the “vertical file” at every local library and historical society you visit?

Used a research log?

Given a copy of your genealogy research to the library or historical society where your ancestors originated?

Joined a national genealogical society that produces a scholarly journal ?

Written a short article for a genealogy club newsletter, family association email, local historical society newsletter or local newspaper or magazine?

Visited your ancestral village, stopped at the pub or diner, and met a distant cousin “by accident” with your surname or one of your ancestral surnames.  Extra points if this cousin leads you to more helpful information!

Pulled an all-nighter while researching online?

Ten points!:

Have you ever … 

Googled ancestors using the operator [site:  ]?

Applied for a court order to unseal records from an asylum, poorhouse, adoption or prison?

Developed research plans (and stuck to it)?

Joined a lineage society that required lineage papers?

Taken classes at genealogical institutes to improve your skills (certificate programs, weeklong institutes, guided research trips)?

Learned a foreign language just so you could translate your own ancestor’s documents?

Gone shopping with friends but explored the cemetery next door whilst the friends perused the mall?

Brought your own white gloves and magnifying glass to an archive?

Ever considered buying a roll of microfilm instead of constantly ordering it from Salt Lake City?

Knocked on a stranger’s door and asked to look around because an ancestor once lived there?

Started your own genealogy blog (even just a secret one for family members)?

Twenty points!

Have you ever...

Write a peer reviewed article for a national genealogy society journal, magazine or newsletter?

Were you accepted into a lineage society under a line no one had previously applied under?

Traveled across the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean to visit an archive in a foreign country for your genealogy research?

Cancelled plans for a national genealogy conference to attend a family event (wedding, bar mitzvah, reunion) because living family is more important than those who have passed on?

Accepted the position of historian for a lineage society?

What was your score? Who scored the highest?

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "How Genealogy Literate Are You?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 23, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-genealogy-literate-are-you.html: accessed [access date]).

Weird Search Terms

It’s been about two years since I’ve published a list of weird search terms.  For a while, I wasn’t recording some of very odd ones, and so unfortunately they all have been lost.  But here are some doozies I do remember, and some strange ones I remembered to write down.

Remember, these are the actual words someone "Googled" to land at my blog. 

For some of the past funny search term blog posts, see the links below.

Google                                                My comments

Throat Distemper                              Yes, it’s a real disease, called Diptheria today

Glosster Massitchuchest                   Really?  And you landed at my blog?

Photo of French and Indian War      Let me call Dr. Who…

Photo of Johnny Appleseed              Darn!  His camera needs recharging!

Who was burned in Salem?              No one, they were hanged

Cast iron coffins                                  Again, why my blog?

Photo of Gov. Roger Conant            See above

Queen Victoria’s Legs                        OK, this one made me curious.  I had to Google, too

Sam Adams isn’t here?                      Nope. Nor is Budweiser

Is your ancestor a Pilgrim?               Yes, but is YOUR ancestor one, too?

Maine’s grandmother                       ????

Just Plain Odd…

Dirty genealogy

How to hang a witch

Is it wrong to marry ancestors

Tombstone towels

For the truly curious:

Weird Search Terms July 2011

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/weird-search-terms-2011.html

Weird Search Terms May 2012

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/friday-funny-weird-search-terms-for-my.html

Weird Search Terms February 2013

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/weird-search-terms-february-2013.html

Weird Search Terms October 2013

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/weirdsearch-terms-2013-google-comment.html   

Weird Search Terms March 2014

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/weird-search-terms-2014.html

Weird Search Terms December 2014

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/weird-search-terms-for-my-blog-2014.html

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weird Search Terms", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 13, 2016,  ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/01/weird-search-terms.html: accessed [access date]). 

Ten Ways to be a Good Ancestor

Every month on the 10th I write a blog post with a top ten list...

Here are ten things you can do to make it easier for your descendants to research your life one hundred years from now.  Your kids or grandkids may not care, but down the road one of your descendants will someday thank you for doing any of these activities…

1.   Leave a paper trail. Keep a diary. Save those letters.  Print out important family email and texts.  Scrapbook news clippings.  Save receipts and ephemera.  Scan everything if you don’t like the paper mess.  Buy land or a home and be listed on the deeds.  Write a will and make sure your probate records are filed with the court. Pay your taxes.

2.  Join the military. There will be lots of good records for someone to dig up later.

3.  Lay down some roots.  Your descendants don’t appreciate running from state to state or across international borders to trace your vital records and censuses.  If you must move frequently, consider keeping a journal with all the addresses and stories behind each move. 

4.  Join a lineage society.  At least one line of your family tree will be preserved somewhere as a lineage application.  This application and its sources will help some future descendant fill in the rest of the branches with the good clues left behind on your lineage papers.

5.  Take lots of family photos and spread them around to all the family across the globe.  Don’t forget to label your photographs before you share them. Please.

6.  Get involved in your community.  Run for committees, local offices, clubs and societies. Be listed in the newspapers for volunteering or service.  Be listed in the town reports if you live in New England. Donate to projects. Register to vote. Serve on a few boards.  Join a house of worship.  Graduate from a few schools or institutes of higher education.  Have a lot of friends and neighbors (acquaintances might remember you, too, on paper or in records!). 

 7.  Learn to spell your name.  Consistently.  And pass this spelling on to your descendants. Never sign or register as “A. B. Smith”. Please spell it all out.  Never sign as “Mrs. John Smith” when you can sign as “Mrs. Mary Maiden-name Smith”, and this will please your descendants to no end.

8.  Get your name in the newspaper.  It doesn’t matter if you are up to something naughty or nice.  Just get involved in some activity that is covered by the local press.   Black sheep ancestors are interesting, too.

9.  .  If you must pass on family names (especially Jr. and III’s), please think of interesting and “different” middle names.  Six generations of Robert Wilsons in my family tree were difficult enough.  Four of them married women named Mary, too.  I love the ancestor who finally broke the boring string of names with a “Robert Southwick Wilson”. 

10.  Keep a family register.  Pass it on to someone who will appreciate it, and add to it, and preserve it for the future.   Whether or not this register [family tree/genealogy/chart/bible entry] is paper, electronic, artistic or carved in stone does not matter.  Just leaving the clues is the important bit.

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Ten Ways to be a Good Ancestor", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 10, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/ten-ways-to-be-good-ancestor.html: accessed [access date]). 

Friday Funny ~ Cemetery Challenge for Halloween

Here are three cemeteries I've visited with weird body part names:

Hooksett, New Hampshire's Head Cemetery

and

Sterling, Massachusetts  Leg Cemetery

and don't forget

Dunstable, Massachusetts has a Blood Cemetery

It's almost Halloween and I'm wondering if we can put together a collage of cemeteries named after body parts.  After all, there might be a Foote Family Burial Ground, or even a cemetery named Hart, Cheek, Nail, Soul, etc. 

If you have a photo, email it to me at vrojomit@gmail.com before October 23rd, and I'll put something together for Halloween!  Don't forget to send your name so I can give you full credit on the blog post! 

UPDATE-  Many people have posted names of cemeteries and links to their "Find A Grave" photos on my Facebook page.  This doesn't count. I'm looking for individuals to send me their own (non-copyrighted) photos via email or Facebook.  I can't use Find A Grave photos on my blog (and you shouldn't use them on your websites, social media or data bases either!). 

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Friday Funny ~  Cemetery Contest for Halloween", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 2, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/friday-funny-cemetery-contest-for.html : accessed [access date]).

… Read how a family history fib spread in 1889, and is still spreading today!

The Munroe Tavern, Lexington, Massachusetts

Genealogy fibs spread on the internet, but this is nothing new… Read how a family history fib spread in 1889, and is still spreading today!

Several years ago I wrote a blog post about a fake letter written in 1889.  This “letter” was written by James Phinney Munroe, a recent MIT graduate and the new president of the Lexington Historical Society.  The Munroe family had a long history in Lexington, including being involved in the Battle of Lexington and their family tavern being used on the day of the battle as a field hospital by the British Troops.  When George Washington decided to visit all the states (all 13 of them) in 1789 one of his stops was in Lexington, where he had dinner at the Munroe Tavern.

The visit to the Munroe’s was fact.  You can visit the tavern in Lexington today and see the china dishes used by Washington for his dinner.  The dinner was served by Sarah Munroe and her sister, the daughters of the innkeeper, William Munroe.  The dishes were carefully preserved by the Munroe family, and donated to the Historical Society along with the entire tavern.  And so, when James Phinney Munroe, a descendant of this family, was celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Washington’s famous dinner at the Munroe tavern he decided to have a bit of fun and produced a delightful letter written by “Sarah Munroe”, along with a story about finding it in the attic.  This was published in the Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society 1889.

Ha Ha!  The joke was on him.  The “letter” was reproduced all over New England, and all over America, but not with the accompanying explanation of how it was a joke for the anniversary celebration.  J. P. Munroe spent years writing to magazines and newspapers explaining the provenance of the “letter” but to no avail.  The story kept cropping up all over, even after his death in 1929.  And it spreads today, faster than wildfire because of the internet.

Just last week, J. L. Bell of the blog Boston 1775, questioned the fake letter by Sarah Munroe.  Of course it was fake!  A reader left him a comment, and she turned out to be a staff member of a Lexington museum.  He was set straight, and produced a second blog post for Boston 1775, see below for all the links.

I have seen the fake “letter” produced in genealogies online, even though the same James Phinney Munroe wrote the definitive genealogy on the Munroe family A Sketch of the Munro Clan: Also of William Munro who Deported from Scotland, Settled in Lexington, Massachusetts and some of his Posterity in 1900 and explained the provenance of the letter.  But I guess people would rather copy what they see online instead of checking with the Historical Society or books. 

Excerpts from “the letter” (How much would you like to bet that someone will copy this part of my blog post and ignore the above explanation?):

My ever deare Mary:-

I crave your patience in this Episle, as I must finish it to go by the Sunday Coach, and therefore indight it by a bad candle, dip’d I warrant, by Brother Jonas, who is ever slack in all except his play.  We have had great doings here.  Our Loved President has journied here to Lex. & has took dinner at our very House. I suppose you, in the great city of New York can have little interest in the small haps of a Country Town, but remember it is the birth-place of you, and of American Freedom!...

…Betimes Mr. Washington appered, bestriding a most handsome White horse.  He wore a military Habit, much like that of my Worthy Father, only gayer and with fine things, I mind not what they call ‘em, on the showlders.  His Hat he wore under his arm, and he bent himself to one side and the other as he Passed.  I promise you we huzzared stoutly, but he bowed not, only leaned, as one shd say, towards us… Then followed some Speech which I heard not, daring to venture no nearer than I was, being that I had an old Frock, and compeled to hold back Lucindy.  Soon the whole Troupe betook themselves to the Spot where the Blood was spilled…

…When we come to the house there stood my Father and step-mother at the tap-room Door, Anna and the naybors skulking in the parlour.  My Father looked grandly in his rejimentels and proud indeed I was of him as he led the way to the Dinner-room prepar’d for Mr. Washington in the upper room, looking toward your house.  ‘Twas arrang’d that my Step-mother dish the vittles in the kitch’n, yours should bring them to the stares the short way, thou knows’t, thro’ the shop & the Tap-room) and then my Father shod serve them to the gests.  ‘Twas permited me to stand in the corner betwixt the windos, to give what help was needed.  We had right fine feast, I can tell you…

…not just then arose a great cracking and howling.  We rushed to the Window and there in the butt’nwood Tree was Jonas, clinging to the frill of Lucindy’s skirt, and she dangeling in mid-air.  Before we could get out of the room one of the Black-men had climed the tree and caught Lucindy by the Neck like a Cat, and carried her down. The silly child had led Jonas into climing the Tree with her to look in at the dinner-room Window, and a limb having snapped she wod, but for Jonas, have broke her neck…

… I have burned 3 Dips, which is sinfull, & have set up long beyond Bell-ringing to send you this, so now I must stop.

Your ever affectionate

Sally

The genealogy of the Munroe family members in this story:

Generation 1:  William Munroe (1625 – 1718) m. Martha George (my 7^th great grandparents)

Generation 2:  William Munroe (1669 – 1759) m. Mary Cutler

Generation 3:  William Munroe (1703 – 1747) m. Sarah Mason

Generation 4:  William Munroe (1742 – 1827) m. 1. Anna Smith,  m.2.  Polly Rogers

Children: William, Anna, Sarah, Lucinda, Jonas, Edward

Generation 5: Jonas Munroe (1778 – 1860) m. Abigail C. Smith

Generation 6: James Smith Munroe (1824 – 1910) m. Alice Bridge Phinney  (“bequeathed to the Lexington Historical Society, on behalf of his brother William and himself, that part of the real estate known as “Munroe Tavern” and a parcel of land surrounding it, to be kept forever as a token of Colonial and Revolutionary Lexington”  from page 217 of The Genealogy of the Lexington Munroes, compiled by Richard S. Munroe, Florence, Massachusetts, 1986)

Generation 7: James Phinney Munroe, born 3 June 1862, the author of “the letter” to the Lexington Historical Society, supposedly written by his great aunt, Sarah Munroe, sister of his grandfather, Jonas (the one who didn’t make very good candles).

Links:

My blog post from Monday, November 5, 2012 “5 November 1789, George Washington Dined Here!”, where I mention James Phinney Munroe’s fake letter http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/5-november-1789-george-washington-dined.html  

J. L. Bell’s Boston 1775 blog post “President Washington in Sickness and in Lexington”, Friday, January 16, 2015 (where the author suspects the Sarah Munroe letter is fake) http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2015/01/president-washington-in-sickness-and-in.html

J.L. Bell’s blog post “The Real Story of the Fake Sarah Munroe Letter”, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 (more details about James Phinney Munroe’s fake letter by his dead great aunt, Sarah Munroe)  http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-real-story-of-fake-sarah-munroe.html

The Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society (online version)  and James Phinney Munroe’s entry with "the letter", pages xxxvi - xxxvii  https://books.google.com/books?id=-fhk1Y1enZEC&pg=PR36#v=onepage&q&f=false

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/read-how-family-history-fib-spread-in.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weird Search Terms for My Blog 2014

Google                                                           My Comment

Skelton family massitustice                                     Apparently spelling doesn’t count on Google?

Ferdinand & Isabella weathervane                           Now THAT would be cool!

Secret documents Alan Bartlett Shepard                     THAT would be even cooler

Mirskidok                                                                ???

Norton Howland Bearse Adams Benson Clark          Narrow your search

Lundundairy                                                             Ha!

New Hamster                                                          How about West Vir-gerbil?

kuai maryot weather station                                      I don’t know how google found me with this, but

                                                                               I did have a photo of the Kauai Marriott weather station

                                                                               Believe it or not!

Images searched online that actually landed on my blog website ….

Photos of Salem witch hangings                               Yeah, right

Photo Winthrop Fleet                                               Sure, with my iPhone…

Photo Mayflower Compact signing                           OK, I’ll use my iPhone, and get a selfie this time

Questions on Google?

Are there any photos of my father online?                [this is sad]

Whose the astronot from NH?                                 5 points off for spelling

Just Plain Odd…

Cemetery property for sale flyers

Victorian steel hats

Boston Alaska Chinese vase

Salem witch shoes                                   

Close, but no cigar… these are names of kin

                                     (no one else would know these names),

                                     if you are the cousin who googled these please identify yourself!

Jonathan Glover Lee NH 1800s put in insane asylum

Peter Hoogerzeil Beverly Mass

Abijah Franklin Hitching book author

Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

For the truly curious:

Weird Search Terms July 2011
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/weird-search-terms-2011.html

Weird Search Terms May 2012 

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/friday-funny-weird-search-terms-for-my.html

Weird Search Terms February 2013

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/weird-search-terms-february-2013.html

Weird Search Terms October 2013
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/weirdsearch-terms-2013-google-comment.html 

Weird Search Terms March 2014
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/weird-search-terms-2014.html

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/weird-search-terms-for-my-blog-2014.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Friday Funny ~ Found in Spain

Here are two old photos my husband found at a cousin's house in Spain.  It seems be of a group of hunters from the village of Villar de Ciervo in the province of Salamanca.  We've identified a few of the men in the photos, but the real treasure seems to be the fun these gentlemen were having.  I don't know the year, or the occasion.  The tall man on the right with the brimmed hat may be Manuel Martin Ventura (1880 - 1971), my husband's great grandfather.  He was born in Barcelona, and was a breeder of "toros bravos", bulls for the sport of bullfighting.  He was a farmer and grew grapes for wine in Villar de Ciervo.  It is too difficult to see the faces of any of the men in this photo.

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/09/friday-funny-found-in-spain.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

"The more things change, the More they stay the same" ~ Friday Funny

Essex Quarterly Court Records

Just for fun, I found this little mention of Walter Roper in The American Genealogist, Volume 73, page 21 while I was researching a Surname Saturday post on the ROPER family.  It is a quote from a lawsuit found in the Ipswich Quarterly Court, March 1671  Tho. Wood v. Walter Roper from Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 9 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1911- 74) 4: 336:

"Answer of Walter Roper and Edward Chapman to the appeal: If the appellant had been as good a grammarian as his attorney would be thought to be a lawyer, he would have foreborn his simple cavil, etc.; that he was sued for transgressing a just and necessary order in cutting firewood contrary to law, "What Greater things moued you to Appealle...Though you Express not, wee may guess That either your Atturney wanted Imployment or had a mind to shew his great cunning in managing a bad cause."" 

                    

The name of this brief article in TAG is “PLUS ÇA CHANGE… (Or “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”)"- a nod to Shakespeare’s Henry VI, written only eighty years before this case came to court.

ROPER Surname Saturday:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/surname-saturday-roper-of-hampton-new.html   

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, ""The more things change, the More they stay the same" ~ Friday Funny", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 11, 2014, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-more-things-change-more-they-stay.html: accessed [access date]). 

Weird Search Terms 2014

Search Term                                      My Comment

“five carnals of corn”                            giggle and blush

list all the WWII soldiers                      In my spare time

geneo.ogy                                            really?

Londondairy                                        Moo

Dery new hamster                                really?

Virtuwal Mayflower accpericance         ?

Abandoned Japanese hole shelters        I’m dying to know more

Mayflower society does not approve    I’m dying to know what the next word is

Images searched online that actually landed on my blog website ….

Photos of salem ma witches                Let me warm up the time machine     

Photos of Franklin’s mother               Where is Doc Brown when you need him?

Questions on Google?

What whitches hung in 1692?               What? 

Who grandmother dounturn abby?        Where?

How do I apply Meyflour certificate?    How?

Naashuaa mayor                                  Who?

4 July 7176                                          When?

Mistakes?

érett swwex                                         Pardon me?  And how did this land on my blog?

Most popular search terms this year:

1.   maria del rosario cayetana alfonsa

2.  Nutfield Genealogy

3.  Duchess of Alba

4.  Thanksgiving proclamation 2010

5.  Kilcher family tree

6.  tombstone

7.  Villar de Ciervo Salamanca

8.  abandoned places nh

9.   "john and sarah"  ship

10.  White horse

The most popular referring websites to Nutfield Genealogy:

1.  Google

2.  Pinterest

3.  Nutfield Genealogy

4.  Bing

5.  Buzzfeed

6.  Yahoo

7.  Facebook

8.  Ravelry.com  (a knitting website, can you believe it?)

9.  Vampirestate.com  

10.  Ask.com 

For the truly curious:

Weird Search Terms July 2011
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/weird-search-terms-2011.html

Weird Search Terms May 2012 

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/friday-funny-weird-search-terms-for-my.html

Weird Search Terms February 2013

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/weird-search-terms-february-2013.html

Weird Search Terms October 2013
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/weirdsearch-terms-2013-google-comment.html 

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/weird-search-terms-2014.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo