Legacy Quickguides for New Hampshire and Maine

New Hampshire Quickguide

I have been busy this last month on a stealthy project producing the New Hampshire and Maine genealogy Quickguides for Legacy Family Tree.   These are four page lists of online and traditional resources for genealogy research.   They are available as PDF versions, to download to your desktop or mobile device so that you can have instant access to the best links, websites and record groups. 

Both new genealogists and experienced researchers will find the Legacy Quickguides useful, especially if they are installed on your desktop for easy access.  Just click on the links and you will be connected with some of the best resources available online for genealogy.  There are also history timelines, migration routes and individual state research strategies, including tips and tricks specific for research in just New Hampshire or Maine. 

Lists of links include basic state resources, maps, vital records, censuses, court and probate records, cemeteries, land records, newspapers, directories, libraries and archives, blogs, genealogical and historical societies, as well as relevant books and journals.  Each set of resources are arranged in groups for easy location on the pages of the Quickguide.

Maine Quickguide

There is a rumor that the other New England states, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont will soon be represented with Legacy Quickguides.  There is already a Connecticut Genealogy Quickguide available for sale.  I’m glad that at least three of the six  New England states have Quickguides, and are for sale in advance of the NERGC conference on April 17 – 21, 2013 in Manchester, New Hampshire.  

The PDF versions of Legacy Quickguides are only $2.95, and printed/laminated copies are $7.95.  Right now, the New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut Quickguides are only available in PDF form.  Within one day of placing an order for any PDF book from the Legacy Family Tree online store, you are sent the confirmation email with download instructions (but usually much faster than that!).  You can read any Quickguide on your mobile device by installing the Adobe Reader app on your mobile device. 

Links to order the PDF Quickguides:

New Hampshire Genealogy

http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=QDNEWHAMP&Click=114207

Maine Genealogy

http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=QDMAINE&Click=114207

Connecticut Genealogy by Marian Pierre Louis

http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=QDCONN&Click=114207

Other Legacy Quickguides for genealogy:

http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=71&Click=114207

The Legacy Family Tree Store

http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/  

or call 1-800-753-3453 to order!

Disclosure:  I am the author of the NH and ME Legacy Quickguides and receiving compensation for the sales of these products. 

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Is that the Red Baron?

Every Wednesday for almost a year and half I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located).  Most are historically interesting or just whimsical and fun weathervanes.  Today's weathervane can be seen in northern New Hampshire.  Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #82?  Scroll down to see the answer....

 Today's weather vane is located on the building at the entrance of the Settler's Green Outlet Mall in North Conway, New Hampshire.  It used to be an Orvis store, but is currently vacant. This building used to be the airplane hangar.  More than 30 years ago the mall property used to be the White Mountain airport. which was used for general aviation and had only one runway.  Scenic tourist flights over the White Mountain National forest were popular here at one time.  The airport closed in the 1980s and became the mall.  Now the closest airport is in Whitefield, New Hampshire, on an old polo field. 

This weather vane was made by Ron Bettencourt, a "semi-retired" blacksmith in Madison, New Hampshire.  His wife wrote to me about this weather vane a year ago, but this fall was our first chance to get up to North Conway to take a nice picture of this unique and whimsical weather vane.  She also told us about a "Cat and Mouse" weather vane in Sandwich, New Hampshire that Ron also made.  We will have to see the other weather vane sometime if we get over towards that part of the state.

Ron Bettencourt
Madison Village Workshop, Specialties in Wrought Iron
165 E. Madison Road
Madison, New Hampshire 03849 

Settler's Green Outlet Mall  http://www.settlersgreen.com/

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Samuel and Dolly Emerson, Chester, New Hampshire

These tombstones were photographed at the Chester Village Cemetery, in Chester, New Hampshire.

In Memory of 

SAMUEL EMERSON Esq

who departed this life

Septr ye 26th AD 1793

AEtat 86

He was a perfect pattern of humanity

a worthy member of ??

?? him and died ??

[illegible]

Mrs Dorothy Emerson

Relict of

Samuel Emerson Esqr. 

died March 25, 1804

AEtat 83

Halt Passenger as you pass by

Remember death ??

[illegible]

from the book Facts relating to the early History of Chester, NH by Charles Bell, 1863, page 38,  "Samuel Emerson, Esq. was born at Haverhill in 1708 and removed to Chester in 1727 or 28.  He built a house on the spot where his son afterwards lived.  He was one of the principal lot-layers; in 1731 he was appointed the first Justice of the Peace of Chester.  The same year he was chosen Proprietor's Clerk; which office he retained over fifty years.  He was married twice; to Sarah Ayer, of Haverhill, Feb. 15, 1733.  They were admitted to the church in Chester, Feb. 8, 1741.  She d. Nov. 18, 1751.  Nov. 26, 1754, he m. Dorothy Dearborn.  Mr. Emerson had fifteen children, of whom several died young; he d. Sept. 26, 1793.  His wife d. March 25. 1804".    He was a signer of the Association Test in 1776, a town clerk of Chester, and a member of the Assembly of New Hampshire.

Samuel and Dolly's son, the Reverend John Smith Emerson (1800 - 1867),  went to Waialua, on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian islands as a missionary.  He is a distant cousin to my 3x great grandmother, Mary Katherine (Emerson) Batchelder (1847 - 1932).   You can read all about his life and see his tombstone at his church in Haleiwa, Hawaii at this link at my blog:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/12/rev-john-smith-emerson.html 


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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Newsclipping Serendipity!

I found a news clipping that mentions my 2x great grandfather on my paternal side, and also a cousin several generations back on my maternal side!  Two for one!

The RootsWeb website for the tiny town of Essex, Massachusetts has a collection of news clippings from the Cape Ann Advertiser 1868 – 1894 and also from the Essex Echo 1887 – 1910.  Both collections are just a few news clippings (not entire newspapers) that mention residents from the town of Essex.  The nice part is that there is a name index.

My mother is an ALLEN, and this family has lived in Essex since the 1630s, when it was originally part of Ipswich, Massachusetts.  My family lived there until about the 1930s, when my grandfather moved next door to the town of Hamilton, but there are still Allens living in town. 

I was searching through the collections for Allens when I found this mention of a music recital.  My Great Great grandfather, Caleb Rand Bill (1833 – 1902) lived in the next town of Beverly, Massachusetts at the time of this news clipping in 1880.  He was known as “Professor Bill” and he was the head music teacher in the Beverly schools, as well as running his own music business.  The news clipping also mentions his two daughters, Isabella and Mary.  Isabella Bill is my great grandmother, and she would have been about 18 years old at this time.

  

Among the singers in the recital is Cora Allen (1865 – 1885).  She would have been only 15 years old at the time of this musical performance.  She would have been my great grandfather’s first cousin.  Cora was married on 2 February 1884 and died on 15 July 1885 one day after giving birth to twins.  Among the other singers and musicians are the surnames BURNHAM and ANDREWS, all cousins on my mother’s side of the family from Essex.

It was fun finding a news clipping over 130 years old, with cousins and ancestors from both the maternal and paternal side of my family tree together enjoying a music recital! 

from the Cape Ann Advertiser 21 May 1880

Rootsweb, Essex, Massachusetts - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~macessex/index.html 

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Converse of Woburn

This post was updated in 2016 with new information.  Please see it at this link:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/surname-saturday-converse-of-woburn.html  

This is the one of the first surnames I seriously tackled as a beginning genealogist back in the 1970s.  I was about fifteen years old, and I used to ride my bike from Holden to Worcester to use the genealogical resources at the American Antiquarian Society.  I didn’t know how lucky I was to be able to use one of the best libraries in the USA.  To me it was just the nearest place to work on my new hobby.

I had carefully traced my family back using the “tan books” at AAS.  These are sets of hardcover books containing the vital records up to 1850 of most of the Massachusetts towns where my ancestors lived, but the series does not cover all the towns in the commonwealth.  Fortunately, the Woburn, Massachusetts book was included in this series.  I worked my family back to Edward Convers, who was born in 1590 in England.   Along the way, using some of the old compiled genealogy books and “brag books” on the shelves, I carefully copied in my first false lineage.  Many genealogies in the 1970s attributed the Convers/Converse family of Massachusetts to a medieval English noble line going back one thousand years to the knight Roger de Coigneries.  It was a good lesson for me to learn and to untangle.  Untangling was much more difficult in the days of pencil and paper records than it is now with computer genealogy data bases.   

The truth is that Edward Convers’s English origins have been well documented by several major genealogists since I was a teenaged genealogist.  You can read about his ancestors in the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s Register volume 146, pages 130 – 132 and his wife’s English origins in the Register, volume 153, pages 81 – 96.   There is a sketch about Edward Convers in Volume 1 of the Great Migration Begins on pages 459 – 463.  There is much exciting information on his life, and I no longer regret not being related to an English Knight!

Edward Convers arrived with his wife Sarah and three of his children with the Winthrop Fleet.  The family lived first at Charlestown, Massachusetts.  He ran a ferry between Charlestown and Boston.  In the journal of Governor Winthrop it spells out the agreement between Edward Convers and the Colony.  He could charge two pence per person, six for a man and a horse.  By 1640 he lost the ferry business when the right to operate the ferry was granted to Harvard College as a fund raiser.  About this time he removed with Sarah to the new settlement of Woburn. 

His Epitaph in the First Burial Ground, Woburn [note the birthplace, which is incorrect]:

In Memoriam, Deacon Edward Convers, Born: Wakerly, County of Northampton, England, January 30, 1590

Landed: Salem, Mass. June 12, 1630, In Company of Governor Winthop, Died: Woburn, Mass. August 10, 1663.

Founder: City of Woburn, Mass. and First Church, Woburn.  Forefather of The Converse Family in America.

Erected In His Memory By His descendants - The Converse Family In America - 1961.

My Converse genealogy:

Generation 1:  Edward Convers, son of Anthony Convers and Clemence Spady, born 30 January 1590 in Stanford Rivers, Essex, England, died 10 August 1663 in Woburn, Massachusetts; married first on 29 June 1614 in Great Burstead, Essex, England to Sarah Parker, daughter of John Parker, died on 14 January 1662; married second in 1663 to Joanna Warren, daughter of Richard Warren, widow of Ralph Sprague. Five children with each wife.

At the First Burial Ground, Woburn
HERE LYES THE BODY
OF LIEUT.
JAMES CONVERS
WHO DEPARTED THIS
LIFE MAY THE 10TH
1715 IN THE 59TH
YEAR OF HIS AGE

Generation 2: James Convers, baptized on 29 November 1620 in South Weald, Essex, England, died on 10 May 1715 in Woburn; married on 1 January 1669 to Hannah Carter, daughter of John Carter and Elizabeth Kendall. She was born 19 January 1651 in Woburn, died 10 August 1691 in Woburn. Nine children.   (Please see the new post https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/surname-saturday-converse-of-woburn.html  for updated information on the Generation 2 James Convers m. Anna Long and the Generation 3 James Converse, Jr. m. Hannah Carter. )

Generation 4: Robert Convers, born 29 December 1677 in Woburn, died 20 July 1736;  married on 19 December 1698 in Woburn to Mary Sawyer, daughter of Joshua Sawyer and Sarah Wright.  She was born about 1681 and died 1766. Twelve children.

Generation 5: Susanna Converse, born 18 June 1724 in Woburn, died 29 October 1771 in Woburn; married on 26 March 1746 in Woburn to Caleb Simonds, son of James Simonds and Mary Fowle.  He was born 27 August 1720 in Woburn and died 4 January 1811 in Woburn.

Generation 6: Ruth Simonds married Andrew Munroe

Generation 7: Luther Simonds Munroe married Olive Flint

Generaiton 8:  Phebe Cross Munroe married Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Snowstorm media hype in 1831

After watching the television news and weather reports about winter storm Nemo, I heard the term "old fashioned storm" several times.  I also heard the words "historic".  It seems that even in 1831 the reporters had the same vocabulary to describe blizzards...

From the Farmer's Cabinet, Amherst, New Hampshire, Saturday 22 January 1831 (found via GenealogyBank):

THE SNOW STORM

Accounts from the towns on the seacoast repre-

sent the late snow storm equal in novelty and

depth of snow, to the "old fashioned snow storms".

In this vicinity, however, the snow was not unus-

sually deep, although much blown into heaps.

     Boston.  A most unprecedented fall of snow, for

this lattitude, took place on Saturday and Sunday

last.  It was accompanied by a violet North Eas-

terly gale, which hurled the snow into immense

dirifts.  The southern mail due on Sunday evening

had not arrived last night.  Yesterday many of the

inhabitants of the city were occupied in cleaning

the side walks, and leveling the snow in the mid-

dle of the streets, and sled, sleighs and horses were

employed in efforts to smoothe the surfast - Pat.

     The editor of the Centinel, who returned from a

journey to Vermont after the storm, says, "Within

the recollection of the oldest citizen, we do not be-

lieve that there has ever been experienced, a storm

that has blocked up the roads so much in so short a

time.  I seems not to have been felt much in

Maine towards the East. But south, north, and 

west, it has extended far and wide."  "For some

20 miles our houses were pioneers.  In many pla-

ces the roads were blocked up above the fence, and

utterly impassable by horses."

     The Southern Mail, (says the Boston Gazette)

due on Tuesday evening, arrived about half past 

five o'clock last evening, bring the New-York

papers of Monday morning, the Philadelphia pa-

pers of Saturday evening, but none South of Bal-

timore later than Thursday.  We learn from the

New-York papers that the storm did no subside in

that city until Sunday evening.  from eighteen 

inches to two feet of snow, fell, and was much

drifted.  The Daily Advertiser says:-

     "The easterly wind drove the tide in with such 

force that many of the wharves were overflowed,

and the cellars on the margins of the rivers were 

in many instances filled with water.  We have no

heard of any particular damage to the shipping by

the gale, but there is reason to fear that vessels up-

on the coast must have suffered, as the cold has 

been severe.

     "The Southern mail due on Saturday morning,

did not arrive until late in the afternoon- the Eas-

tern mail was also detained - Yesterday, neither

the Eastern or Southern Mail had arrived at sun-

down, and no papers were consequently received

but those from the North."

    Salem- We have experienced since Saturday 

morning, a genuine old fashioned Snow Storm-

there was no mistake in it- it was worthy of the

best days of our fathers.  It began to snow about

10 o'clock, A. M. on Saturday, and continued with-

out intermission and without material abatement,

until Sunday evening, accompanied with a violent

wind from the N. E. blocking up our streets with

huge snow drifts, many of them ten footers, and 

some estimated as high as twelve or fourteen feet

in altitude!  The tide rose to a great height, but

we have not learnt of any essential damage to our

wharves.  The travelling mus be much impeded, 

and any vessels in our bay or upon our coast, must

have been in terrible peril. - Register.

     New York.  The storm began about 12 or 1 

o'clock.  Snow continued to fall without intermis-

sion till near night on Sunday- the wind a great

part of the time blowing a gale from the northeast.

It fell eight or nine inches deep, but touch blown in-

to heaps.  Old residents in the city have remarked

that have not known so severe a snowstorm in 

15 years.  The mail were greatly retarded.

     The storm commenced at Philadelphia on Fri-

day evening, and w learn from the National Ga-

zette, was raging furiously on Saturday afternoon.

     At Albany, the snow fell without intermission

from 9 o'clock on Saturday morning until 2 yeser-

day, P.M.  It is an average depth of about 18 in-

ches, but so much drifted, being accompanied by a

high and cold north wind.  The southern and

western mails had not arrived when our paper was

put to press; and the possablity is that the roads

in every direction are nearly impassable.- Albany 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Snowstorm media hype in 1831", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 8 February 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/snowstorm-media-hype-in-1831.html: accessed [access date]). 

News from Nutfield

The ARCHIBALD Anomaly

A few months ago I started reading a blog called “A Hoyt Family Genealogy” because the author had some cousin connections with my family tree.  Then I read her post on January 15^th and found out she lived in Derry!  And she was blogging about John Archibald and his tombstone!  What serendipity… and since then I’ve put her in contact with many Archibald descendants.  This should keep her busy for a while.  You can read that story at this link: http://www.la-famille.mardistudio.com/blog/2013/01/tombstone-tuesday-john-archibald/#comment-122

Award Amplifications

Thanks to Randy Seaver at the “Genea-Musings” blog for naming me to his Best of the Genea Blogs List for 2012.  I squeaked in at #18 (last) on the list, but I am still flabbergasted to have even made this list.  What a great honor! Gracias, Randy!

And thanks to Robin C. Mason, the Boston Genealogy Examiner at examiner.com.  She posted Nutfield Genealogy on her list of great Massachusetts Genealogy blogs, along with J.L. Bell’s Boston 1775, Ryan W. Owen’s Forgotten New England, Marian Pierre-Louis’s Roots and Rambles, Chris’s Massachusetts and More Genealogy Blog, and Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings.  I’m in very good company, as all of these are among my very favorites on my blog reader list.

And finally, thanks so much to blogger, author and genealogist Mariann Regan who surprised me with a nomination for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award.  And then thanks to John, John, Kathryn and Pam for four more stars.  I’m at five starts towards the “Blog of the Year”!  Lets see what happens….

The Pinterest Paradigm

Update on the infamous bread board/cutting board blog post.  In the first week of this new year I was surprised to see about 400 hits one night on this blog post about a recipe written in my mother’s handwriting wood burned into a cutting board.  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-favorite-christmas-gift-you-might.html  Several friends on Facebook told me that this image had been pinned to someone’s board at Pinterest and had “gone viral”.  In my last “News from Nutfield” I mentioned how surprised I was that it had reached 1,500 hits.  Well, in the next week I woke up one morning to see that while I was sleeping I had received almost 1,500 hits during a single night.  Since then I've had over 7,000 hits on this one post in a little more than a month.  Several crafters also listed my post on their “follow Friday” craft blogs.  The most popular was at this link, where I’ve received thousands of hits in just a few days: http://iowagirleats.com/2013/01/11/friday-favorites-54/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IowaGirlEats+%28Iowa+Girl+Eats%29    "Iowa Girl Eats"  must be an immensely popular blog.   Thanks, Kristin the Iowa Girl!

New Records Extrapolations:

(New records online of interest to New England genealogy research)

At Ancestry.com

Massachusetts, Town Marriage Records 1620 – 1850

Connecticut, Divorce Index 1968 – 1997

US, New England Marriages Prior to 1700

Rhode Island, Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890 – 1992

Early Connecticut Marriages

FamilySearch.org

Maine, State Archives Collections 1790 – 1966

Maine, Oxford County Probate Estate Files 1805 – 1915

Mass. State Vital Records 1841 – 1920

Vermont, Franklin Country Probate 1796 - 1921

New England Historic Genealogical Society

Barbour Collection Updated (East Haddam, Somers, Union and Wilmington added)

Bristol County, Mass. Extracts from Court of General Sessions 1687 - 1801

Rhode Island Roots now searchable through volume 10

Upcoming Ancestry Day with NEHGS is March 2, 2013 in Boston! -

  

Online Death Records, Indexes and Obituaries http://www.deathindexes.com/

Maine, Dixfield Cemeteries

Maine, Penobscot County, City of Brewer Cemetery Records

Vermont, Bennington County: Pownal Historical Society (cemetery burials, deaths 1921 – 1980, etc)

Click here to see new additions to the Maine Genealogy Network

http://archives.mainegenealogy.net/

Just for fun….

Have you checked out Marion Pierre-Louis’s new blog “On-site Research New England: The podcast for historical researchers” at http://www.researchnewengland.com/     At this site you can listen or download a podcast (recording) of her interviews with archivists, librarians and genealogists at New England archives and repositories of historical documents.  At her first post she interviews genealogist Rhonda McClure at the Microtext department of the New England Historic Genealogical Society library.

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Moose!

Every Wednesday for almost a year and half I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located).  Most are historically interesting or just whimsical and fun weathervanes.  Today's weathervane is located in northern New Hampshire.  Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #81?   Scroll down to see the answer....

Today's weathervane is a two dimensional moose that can be seen on cupula above the Muddy Moose Restaurant on Route 16 in North Conway, New Hampshire.  It's a popular spot with tourists, and there is even a fireplace in the main dining room ( and a real trophy moose head over the mantel)!
 

The Muddy Moose Restaurant and Pub  http://www.muddymoose.com/

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo