...And then what happens to their websites?

This is a post about three different genealogists, who all happened to have terrific websites, and who all unfortunately have passed away recently…

William Addams Reitwiesner developed the website  www.wargs.com and he died 12 November 2010.   His website is being managed by Christopher Challender Child of NEHGS because of a previous agreement.   It continues to be updated and managed, and is still online as a resource for genealogists.

Bridget Schneider co-developer of RAOGK.com “Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness” died 12 November 2011and the website went off line just before her death on 16 October 2011.  It has not resumed, although her husband has stated several times that he will return RAOGK online soon. 

Jennifer Marcelais, of the website www.gravematter.com   “A Very Grave Matter” died just this past week on 19 September 2012.   Her untimely death at the young age of 39 prompted me to start thinking about not only the loss of a young colleague, but the possible loss of her wonderful website, and her marvelous collection of New England gravestone photographs.   Fortunately, her friend Bonnie Carberry may step in to carry on her Very Grave Matter project.  Fingers crossed.

These three valuable websites were one or two person operations. Other genealogical websites are run by boards, businesses or organizations with backup staff, paid employees and (hopefully) business plans for continuing operations if the originator or author of the original website suddenly passes away.    But some of our best resources on line are not Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org . They are much smaller websites that are just as valuable to genealogists as the big commercial websites.

When Bridget Schneider passed away, the genealogy community was in an uproar at losing an invaluable resource.  However, over the past year other projects have started up to replace this hole in our genealogy toolbox.   There are FB groups, wikis and a new website called http://generousgenealogists.com/   It has not been easy to cobble together a patchwork of resources to replace RAOGK. 

Top Ten “At risk” Genealogy Websites  (In my humble opinion) 

What would we do if one of these people suddenly passed away and we lost their websites?  Do they have backup plans?  Can we as a genealogy community help develop guidelines and resources to prevent their loss, and other losses?

1.  Cyndi Howell  at “Cyndi’s List” www.cyndislist.com

2.  Thomas MacEntee at  Geneabloggers   www.geneabloggers.com

3.  Dick Eastman  at “Online Genealogy Newsletter”  http://blog.eogn.com

4.  Jim Tipton at “Find A Grave” at www.findagrave.com

5.  Caleb Johnson at www.MayflowerHistory.com

6.  Lisa Holt at Holt ‘Ohana  http://www.sightandsoundkaraoke.com/genealogy/holtTree

7.  Joe Bott at “Dead Fred”  www.deadfred.com

8.  Doug Sinclair at Doug Sinclair’s Archives http://www.dougsinclairsarchives.com

9.  TJ Rand at the Epsom, NH Historical Society website http://www.epsomhistory.com/

10.  J.L. Bell at Boston 1775  http://boston1775.blogspot.com/

Note: these are websites I personally find invaluable.  You probably have your own list of invaluable websites, run by a single person, that are also in danger of loss to the public if their originators do not have plans in place for continuing the website in the case of death or disability.  Please feel free to list your personal favorite websites in the comments.

A recent article about Jenn Marcelais from the Portsmouth Patch:

http://portsmouth-nh.patch.com/articles/city-s-digital-media-community-mourns-jenn-marcelais

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Volunteer Opportunities with Genealogy

I’ve been volunteering all these past months by transcribing the 1940 Census.  Thanks to the more than 100,000 volunteers, the state of New Hampshire 1940 census records have been completely transcribed, and are available for full searching on several websites.  It was a very enjoyable, easy job, and I set a goal of doing at least two pages a night.  Since the entire 1940 census has been completely transcribed (all the states and territories) I’m going to continue transcribing for www.familysearch.org  There are US draft cards, foreign records, vital records and all sorts of projects that need transcribers.  If you are interested, please click on https://familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing/  and sign up, too.  This helps make records free and searchable online for everyone.

What other volunteering have I done for genealogy?  I was a volunteer for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK), which has now closed and reopened as a wiki at this link: http://raogk.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Acts_of_Genealogical_Kindness_Wiki   However, I continue to do “random acts” through the Londonderry Historical Society, and answer several genealogy queries a week.  You can do this through Rootsweb.com or your local historical society.  My “random acts” include lookups, photographing gravestones and homesteads, and finding obituaries on microfilm.  This is relatively easy, and a good way to hone your research skills.

If you join a genealogy club or society, you can volunteer to speak, write in the newsletter, find speakers, start a website or hold a workshop.  You can even start up a genealogy club in your local neighborhood or library if there is not one near you.  Genealogy libraries such as the American Canadian Genealogy Society in Manchester or the New England Historic Genealogical Society library in Boston are often looking for volunteers to work in the stacks, help with research, conservation, or to assist librarians. For our local New Hampshire Mayflower Society I sit on the board, edit the newsletter and chair the scholarship committee. 

There are many groups transcribing and photographing cemeteries.  The biggest international online project is www.FindAGrave.com , but www.BillionGraves.com is a new one that takes advantage of the GPS function built into smart phone cameras.  Check out both on-line projects and consider participating.

In 2013 the New England Regional Genealogy Conference will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire on April 17 to 23.  There is a need for many volunteers to help out, even if you aren’t attending.  Please see the website www.nergc.org/volunteers.html  or contact the volunteer chair Christine Bard at bardc@comcast.net or call (603) 424-0961. 

If you know of any other volunteer opportunities in genealogy, especially any local projects, please leave a comment on this blog post.

Serendipity Stories #1 A Folk Painting

This past week, several interesting emails and comments have led me to make several interesting genealogical breakthroughs in my research.  Today I am focusing on the first story- # 1.) about a painting.  The rest of the week will include 2.)  a Civil War Veteran,  and  3.) a letter between a teenage girl and boy in the 1840s.

I previously blogged a few times about the 1804 House my cousin is rennovating in Manchester, Massachusetts.  First I wrote about some of our family's genealogical connections to the Israel Forster family, and then I wrote about a gravestone from the Forster family found in the basement! 

My cousins have done an admirable job researching the history of their historic house, and in hiring a design team that specializes in historical homes.  As part of their research they found that the man who built the home in 1804, Israel Forster, had a portrait that was currently up for sale at an exhorbitant price (especially for a family paying for a large rennovation project!).  We joked that perhaps we could talk the owners into letting us scan the painting so a facsimile could hang over the fireplace when the restoration was completed!

Lo and behold! Along came Bill Pease of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  You might have seen Bill's posts at GenForum, where he publishes notices of family portraits up for sale or auction, with some genealogy and art history information usually attached to a message that  usually reads something like this:

 “…this fine portrait should be made known to family and descendants… I am scanning it in case any of the descendants might like a copy, either by email or by postal mail. Someone in the families ought to have it--it is too good to be missed by the family. It may not have extensive genealogy value, but it certainly does have a whole lot of family and historic value.”  

His posts usually end with the line “If it were a portrait of a Mr. Pease, I'd certainly want someone to do the same for me.”

My cousin found Bill Pease's post dated February 2010 about the Israel Forster portrait “The Winter/Spring 2010 issue of ANTIQUES & FINE ART magazine on p. 75 pictures in an advertisement a fine 1797 portrait of Israel Forster (1779-1863) of Manchester, MA. The portrait is dated 1797.”  Bill likes readers to respond directly  to his email address rather than responding to his posts, which number in the hundreds.   Just check out his message posting history and you might find something related to your own genealogical research.

The gallery that sold the painting is in Newbury, Massachusetts and their website is www.americanfolkpaintings.com   Check out their inventory, and you might find a portrait of someone from your own family tree.

An advertisement for this painting reads:

"Portrait of Israel Forster attributed to Rufus Hathaway
Striking portrait of a young man, identified as Israel Forster and dated 1797 in an early note on the painting's stretcher when it was included in an exhibition of the artist's work in Duxbury, Massachusetts in 1987.

Hathaway is known primarily for a small group of portraits from the 1790's of citizens of Duxbury, the town in which he settled after a number of years of itinerant painting, married, and became a physician.  The oval within rectangular format is seen in a number of works representing young sitters from this period.

Forster, born in Manchester, Massachusetts in 1779, may have been a student at Phillips Academy in Andover when this work was painted.  He later returned to Manchester, and he was a Major in the War of 1812.  His House still stands on ----- Street, and his grave in the local cemetery marks his death at age 83 in 1863.

Illustrated in Rufus Hathaway: Artist and Physician, 1770-1822, pp. 68 and 69, by Lanci Valentine.  Exhibited March 18 - May 17, 1987 at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury.

Sight size 16 1/2 inches by 20 1/4 inches"
[I removed the address of the home for my cousin's privacy]

Thanks to Bill Pease, and other genealogists like him, people researching their family history, or their house history in this case, find treasures on the internet.  Just image your research without the thousands of people posting vintage photographs, family bible genealogies, transcribing local history, or helping the LDS church with transcribing thousands of scanned documents for their huge database.  Imagine genealogical research without websites like FindAGrave.com, or RAOGK.org (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness), BillionGraves.com or GenForum.com.   Outside of the internet, thousands of volunteers man the corresondence to historical societies, local libraries and museum by answering genealogical queries for free or for less than the cost of a tank of gas or plane ticket to faraway places.  It's nice to be associated with a group of people who are so friendly and altruistic!

To find Bill's message posting history at GenForum.com click on this link:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum/messagehistory.cgi?848059765 

PS  My daughter is working with some photo editing software to make a nice copy of the Israel Forster painting so that we can return him to his place over the mantel at the house in Manchester, Massachusetts.  I think it belongs there!

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Three previous stories about the Forster Leach House

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/03/1804-house-and-some-family-connections.html

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/1804-house-update.html

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/in-cellar-tombstone-tuesday.html
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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Ginger Harvey of Londonderry

Ginger Harvey
an African American and daughter of former slaves

At Sunnyside Cemetery, the Old Baptist Cemetery, on Litchfield Road, is an impressive gravestone for Ginger Harvey dated 1865. It is located right by the gate next to the sign for Sunnyside Cemetery. She was the daughter of slaves, so how could she afford such a nice tombstone? Legend has it that she once saved a family from their burning house by banging on the windows with a broom to awaken them. The family asked how they could reward her kindness, and she asked for a nice funeral. The Londonderry vital records say that she was 100 years old at her death.

This was quite a gravestone to an African American woman who was a pauper during her lifetime. In the book, “Annual Report of the Committee on Finance of the City of Manchester, 1847 “ by the Manchester, NH Historical Society, on pages 56 and 50 there are references to firewood, goods and groceries being delivered to Ginger Harvey. On page 250 of the “Manchester Historic Association Collections” Volume 11, there is a line “Ginger Harvey was struck off to James Young at five shillings per week so long as she may need assistance during one year”. In other words, at the March Town meeting for Manchester in 1826, instead of sending her to a poor farm, she was assigned to live with a local family.

Ginger Harvey was born about 1778 in Salem, Massachusetts. Her parents, Caesar Harvey and Jane Lea were married in Salem in October 1778 (Salem, MA VR). Caesar was the slave of John Dowse and Jane was owned by “the widow Lois Lee””. The Londonderry records state that “Caesor Hervy” married Jane Lea on 15 April 1771. Either way, Ginger Harvey wasn’t really 100 years old.

Recently, a descendant of Ginger Harvey contacted the Londonderry Historical Society to find more information on the Harvey family. I was given this interesting case to work on, and especially to find out more about the land Caesar owned in Londonderry. According to family lore, a son sold the farm to pay a large medical bill in 1825. The location of the land was also a mystery.

I asked Marian Pierre-Louis, the “New England House Historian” for a little help. Marian has a business researching property at Fieldstone Historic Research in Massachusetts, and writes two blogs. "Root and Rambles" and "New England House Historian". From Marian I learned about the database for the Rockingham County deeds at the website http://www.nhdeeds.com/rockingham/RoHome.html . At this search Marian found two deeds with Caesar Harvey’s name. First Caesar Harvey as buyer (grantee) "Caesar Harvey from Stephen Pingry", 1800, book 0162, page 0465, in the Rockingham County records of deeds [when he bought the farm] and then a second deed with Caesar Harvey as seller (grantor), “Cezar Harvey to Ginger Harvey”, 1814, book 0203, page 252, Rockingham County records of deeds [Caesar sold the land to his daughter]. There was no record of the land being sold in 1825 in Rockingham County.

After a search of the records in the Londonderry Leach Library, I found a story on pages 42-49 of “Early Londonderry, Vol. I” by the Londonderry Historical Society, 1962. In this story, a Mrs. Bertha Goodwin Hammond recalls the story of the Londonderry fire and how Ginger Harvey rescued the family. It also mentioned her father’s land was called “Caesar’s Beach”, located at Lake Massabesic. Today this lake is within the boundaries of Manchester and Auburn, New Hampshire.

I have friends who live on Lake Massabesic and they told me about a recent TV history show that featured Caesar’s Beach. This was a good hint, so I inquired at our local station, WMUR in Manchester, about the show. I also sent an inquiry to the Auburn Historical Society, and they sent me a map of the lake, showing the location of Caesar’s beach, near the Boy Scout Camp in Manchester.

With this information I was able to tell the Harvey descendants the location of the Harvey farm, and that now the property would be located in the boundaries of Hillsborough County, and the records would be available at the Hillsborough Registry of Deeds. We also confirmed that the family owned land. This is an interesting story about African Americans in early New Hampshire. The fact is that they were a Black family that owned land, even though they were quite poor.

There are a few short stories about Caesar and Ginger Harvey in the old book Willey's Book of Nutfield, by George F. Willey, 1895. This book also mentions Caesar's Beach on the banks of Lake Massabesic.

Our local historian, Fritz Wetherbee, who gives a daily New Hampshire history lesson every night on TV on channel 9 WMUR, had indeed recently told a story about Caesar Harvey, but it was full of inaccuracies. He stated that Caesar arrived with Captain John Smith in 1614 whilst exploring the Isles of Shoals, and escaped to Lake Massabesic. If so, he was over 200 years old when he sold his land to his daughter Ginger in 1814.* Another myth, just like the age of 100 written on Ginger’s gravestone!

Ginger Harvey's gravestone is located
right next to the gate at Sunnyside Cemetery

*WMUR “New Hampshire Chronicle” transcript, emailed to me on 1 Sept. 2010

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/ginger-harvey-of-londonderry.html

Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday- The Patterson Family

The Patterson Family Monument

Glenwood Cemetery, Londonderry, New Hampshire

located right by the stone wall along Mammoth Road

Governor George Washington Patterson (1799- 1879)of New York State

erected this monument to his family in 1870

He paid $700 for the large stone of New Hampshire Granite,

and had it inscribed with the names of all the Pattersons

descended of Peter Patterson (1716-1800) the original Nutfield immigrant

Governor Patterson was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wallace) Patterson.

He graduated from Pinkerton Academy and went to the Genesee Valley, New York

with his brother George. Later, brothers Robert and Peter joined them in New York.

The last brother, Thomas Patterson stayed in Londonderry.

Thomas Patterson lived on the Patterson Homestead on Adams Road.

It is now a cellar hole on Mack's Orchard land.

The Patterson Monument was photographed for RAOGK

and for a genealogy request through the Londonderry Historical Society.

Names incribed on the Patterson Monument:

Stone #31

Patterson, David 2/11/1793 - 2/12/1793
Elizabeth (Baker) 6/10/1791 - 6/6/1875
Elizabeth (Burns) 1765-1848
Elizabeth Wallace 10/14/1755 - 12/30/1875
Grisey (Barret) 3/26/1776 - 11/13/1850
Grisey (Burns) 1761 - 1845
Hannah 4/26/1798 - 11/12/1869
James 11/21/1777 - 6/4/1815
Jane (Frank) 10/30/1795 - 2/19/1867
John 1750-1793
Margaret (Holmes) 1755 - 1838
Mary (McNeill) 4/11/1783 - 2/22/1812
Peter 11/14/1779 - 2/18/1865
Peter 1716-1800
Rachel (McNeill) 1752- 1838
Robert 1744-1828
Thomas
Thomas 10/23/1746 - 5/20/1834
Thomas 8/11/1786 - 10/27/1838
William 6/4/1789 - 10/27/1869

Also listed are several Wallaces and Wilsons and 1 Washington on Stone #31
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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday- Brewsters at Valley Cemetery, Londonderry, NH

Some recent photos taken for RAOGK.com

Margaret Brewster, consort of Elder David Brewster,

Who Departed this life Aug. 28, 1819, age 47

Here lies interred the body of Mrs. Jane Brewster, consort of Elder David Brewster,

Who departed this life Feb. 14, 1849, aged 56

[note:  her maiden name was Pinkerton]

For more photos of Valley Cemetery see this website http://www.familypage.org/valley/valley.htm

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday- Dunlaps of Chester, New Hampshire

The Dunlap Family of Chester

These gravestones were photographed for a Random Act of Genealogical Kindness a few years ago. They are located at the Chester Village Cemetery, on Rt. 102 in the center of Chester, New Hampshire. This is one of the oldest cemeteries in New Hampshire, and buried here are Revolutionary heroes as well as two governors of the state, Samuel and John Bell, William Richardson, Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Isaac Blasdel, the clockmaker, and others.

Martha (Neal) Dunlap, relict of Archibald Dunlap, died 1803

Lieut. James Dunlap, died 1803

Dorcas Dunlap, relict of Lieut. James Dunlap

Archibald Dunlap, died 1754, mostly illegible

Father of the Dunlap Furniture makers, John and Samuel Dunlap

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Making Shoes in Derry, New Hampshire

A typical "ten footer"

Shoemaking was an important industry in New England. Shoemaking was the second biggest industry in Massachusetts during the 1800s and 1900s. Most shoe factories were based in Haverhill, Brockton and Lynn. Peabody, Massachusetts was called the “Leather City” and provided the leather for the shoemakers.

At first, the shoes were made at home workshops. Many people had a shoemaking shed in their yard, and the entire family worked on the shoes, one piece at a time. The women sewed the uppers, the men pegged the soles. The shoemakers were paid about 25 cents for each pair of shoes delivered to the distributors. These small shoemaking buildings survive still in many New England dooryards, and are called “ten-footers” because of their size.

Jan Matzeliger of Lynn changed the shoe industry by coming up with a method of making the shoes entirely by machine. Other inventors had made machines to cut parts of the shoes, or to sew some parts. Matzeligers machine made from 150 to 700 pairs of shoes a day, and it was patented in 1883. Men were hired to man the machines in large factories that supplied the entire country with footwear.

The United Shoe Machinery Corporation, which I blogged about on April 8, 2010, made the machines that made the shoes. This corporation was based in Beverly, Massachusetts and became a monopoly on producing shoemaking machinery early in the 20th century, securing Massachusetts’ role in the shoe industry.

In 1870, Colonel William Pillsbury purchased 18 buildings in downtown Derry, New Hampshire for his shoe manufacturing enterprise. Formerly he was in Londonderry, but the move to Derry placed his factory closer to the railroad to Boston. The industry provided a major source of employment for Derry until 1960, when fire destroyed the large plant. As a volunteer for the website “Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness” I am often asked to trace families who came to Derry to work in the shoe business. Sometimes these families are in the Derry censuses for twenty years, and then the family retires from the factory life back to whence they came, and most often they stayed here, leaving marriage or death records, and obituaries in the Derry News.

The Pillsbury Shoe Factory

Most of the obituaries of the factory workers portray the life of a shoe worker. Life was good when everyone was gainfully employed, and the community flourished with churches and clubs. There was a train to Boston, and trolley lines ran to Manchester, Salem and Canobie Lake Park. The French Canadian workers worshipped at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic church, and belonged to the Knights of Columbus. The Yankee workers were born in upstate New Hampshire or Maine belonged to the First Parish Congregational Church, the Baptist church or St. Luke’s Methodist, and joined the Masons. Everyone belonged to the VFW and the Beaver Lake Association. These institutions all still exist here in Derry along Broadway and Crystal Avenue.

By 1900 three quarters of Derry’s population lived and worked in walking distance of Broadway, near the Pillsbury shoe factories. The farms were abandoned for factory work, and many became summer homes. It didn’t last forever, however, since the manufacturing of shoes moved to the southern US and overseas. The 1960 Chelmsford Shoe Factory fire destroyed the wooden factories and tenements, and they were not rebuilt. The last shoe manufacturer in Derry, Klev Bros, closed in 1989. Local workers had to travel to Manchester or Massachusetts to find manufacturing work. Broadway is now lined with small businesses and homes. Most shoes Americans wear today are not produced domestically.

Today, the shoe industry has been replaced by high tech manufacturing companies in Derry, and most of the business community continues to be made up of many family-owned businesses. The opening of Route 93 in the 1960s provided a boost to the population. The Derry population is now 5 times bigger than it was in 1963. Both Londonderry and Derry have become bedroom communities for commuters to Manchester, Massachusetts and even Boston. The noon lunch whistle no longer blows for the factory workers at the old brick fire station on Broadway, because now it is an Irish Pub.

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For More information:

Nutfield Rambles, by Richard Holmes, 2007

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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Pinkertons Buried at Valley Cemetery, Londonderry

I recently received a request from "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness" to photograph a Pinkerton tombstone at the Valley Cemetery in Londonderry. I went ahead and photographed all the Pinkertons I could find, and I have kept them on file. I thought I would show a few here, and if anyone is interested in another Pinkerton family gravestone, please contact me for a copy of a photo. There were over 20 different Pinkerton stones here at the Valley Cemetery, as well as various other siblings, cousins, etc. who married into other Londonderry families.

Pinkertons



Ensign John Pinkerton, d. 1821


James, son of John and Mary, d. 1803


Children of Deacon John Pinkerson and Mary,
Jedediah, d. 1799 and Sarah, d. 1818


Elder John Pinkerton, d. 1829
his daughter, Eliza Dickey, d. 1825 at Constable, NY

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Copyright 2009, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness in Nutfield

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness in Nutfield

I’ve been a volunteer for RAOGK.com for many years. I usually look up obituaries on the Derry News microfilm, and I’ve done some photographing of gravestones all over Derry and Londonderry. Sometimes I’m asked to photograph homesteads, such as the Anderson farmhouse on Mammoth road, and the Morrison house which is now our Historical Society on Pillsbury Road. The Morrison descendant who contacted me was thrilled to find out that the Londonderry Historical Society had all kinds of records on his family and his ancestral home.

I’ve also asked for a few favors with other RAOGK volunteers, especially in Nova Scotia or upper parts of Maine that are just too far to drive to conveniently. Several Dutch researchers in the Netherlands were pleasantly surprised when I mentioned the RAOGK network to them. I met these Dutch researchers at a library in Boston, and they later wrote me that I saved them months of work and a trip to Seattle. It wasn’t really me; it was some kind soul in Washington State who saved the day for them! I still hope those Hollanders reciprocated by joining the network as volunteers.

The usual Nutfield request is for a Scots Irish immigrant in the 1700’s who was reported to have “passed through” Londonderry. Perhaps a child or two was born here, and the descendants are searching for clues. For example: “If and when it’s convenient, could you confirm the dates of death for Hezekiah Wetherbee and his wife Grace (Baker) Wetherbee? They lived in Londonderry, and I believe they both died between 1860 and 1870. It would be nice to know which cemetery they\'re buried in, as well.”

Thank goodness that our local Londonderry Boy Scouts and several Eagle Scouts have done surveys of our cemeteries, because the local vital records are very incomplete. There were no death records for Wetherbees in the "Vital Records of Londonderry, NH", by Daniel Gage Annis, published in Manchester, NH, Granite State Publishing Company, 1914. However, I did find the following under the marriages:

Wetherbee
Hezekiah and Grace Baker ----- (Parents of William B. Wetherbee)
William B and Sarah Elizabeth Corning May 3, 1862

Please notice there is no date recorded for Hezekiah and Grace Wetherbee’s marriage.

Under Births:
Weatherbee
Capt. Hezekiah b. May 18, 1786 and Grace Baker b. Sept. 9, 1786
Children:
Susan A., Jan 9, 1825
John H., Sept. 16, 1827
William B., Sept 1829

In the library I found a survey of Londonderry’s Sunnyside Cemetery done by a Boy Scout Troop about 10 years ago. Sunnyside Cemetery is located on Rt. 128 (Mammoth Road, north of the common):

Wetherbee
Grace B., 2/9/1865 78y 5m stone #177
Hezekiah, Capt 3/18/1869 82y 10m stone #178
Sarah E., 12/4/1888 48 y stone #180
Susan A, 9/10/1864 39 y 8m stone #176
Wm. B., 9/11/1884 55y stone #180

This was fun, but the best part of all was when I received the email response, and in this case: “Thank you so much for researching the Wetherbees for me: the data you found was exactly what I was hoping for. It's a very kind thing that you do…”

Someone searching for relatives in Derry once asked me to look up records on a shoe factory worker from the 1920’s. The census pointed to an address where the house was still standing, and I was able to photograph it while it was being renovated. It was absolutely fascinating to watch this process for him, like an episode of “This Old House.” The response was: “Please forgive my delay in thanking you for the great effort you went to photographing the house at 3 Highland Ct for me! I have been able to contact several cousins since we last spoke who are descended from the gentleman that I was searching and we have started a correspondence. Thanks so very much for your generosity and I am sure that you will be greatly rewarded for your kindness to others.”

This reward has already happened many, many times over with all the wonderful acts of kindness granted to me by other volunteers all over New England through RAOGK, Rootsweb and Facebook. Good things come to those who ask.

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) is a web service that relies on the kindness of its volunteers. Since 1999 it has grown to an international service with over 4300 contributors and a volunteer staff of eight. Over 71,000 requests were handled in 2007. All requests are handled for free except for fees for actual costs such as photocopying, postage and gas (never for their time and labor). Founders Bridgett and Doc Schneider of Lincoln, Nebraska state that they now have volunteers in 39 countries.

I have friends who have worked on their own family trees for several years, and then have thought of becoming professional genealogists. By taking on a few RAOGK for a few months you will quickly find out if it is still fun to research in the archives for someone else’s family, or if you prefer to just do your own relatives. Those of you out there in cyberspace who have the time to read genealogy blogs and are working on your own family trees might want to think about joining the ranks of the RAOGK volunteers. Not only will it sharpen your own research skills, but you will find that the warm fuzzies you will receive are well worth the time.

Copyright 2009, Heather Wilkinson Rojo