Amanuensis Monday- finding the word Amanuensis

Today I wrote a post for the Amanuensis Monday meme about Reverend William Bentley's diary. I had left Volume 4 out on the coffee table, and was reading it while my husband was watching TV. I accidentally turned to pages 484 and 485 I found this passage with the word "amanuensis". I was startled, but delighted to see this unusual word...and also a mention of Londonderry's own General John Stark in the same passage.

December 15, 1809
"Mr. Stickney of Bow, NH, tells me that he has discovered an inexhaustible abundance of Iron Ore in his vicinity, near to wood, water falls, & navigation, & that he has reason to believe it to be of excellent quality. He informs me this in the cover of a Letter from his father in law, Gen. John Stark, to who he serves in the absence of the Major as Amanuensis. I had addressed a Letter to Gen. Stark on the subject of President Madison."

I suppose the reference was to his serving as a clerk, who took dication for letters, etc?

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

400 years of Plymouth, Massachusetts

Plimoth Plantation Museum

In ten years Plymouth, Massachusetts will celebrate its 400th birthday. I first heard about the big plans for a celebration back in 2007, when Jamestown had a big celebration for its 400th birthday. The president and the Queen of England were in attendance for the party, but if you, like me, probably missed the news. The party was less than exciting. At the 2008 triennial congress of the Mayflower Society, this was discussed and everyone vowed to make Plymouth’s party unforgettable. The planning has already begun.

The 2020 Committee contains people I know, well known local representatives of local groups, and many diverse cultures, too. Paul Bumpus, the Mayflower Society Historian General; Peggy Baker, the Director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum; and Rev. Gary Marks, pastor of the Church of the Pilgrimage are people I have met and discussed history with a few times. There are representatives from the Wampanoag Nation, Plimoth Plantation, the town of Plymouth, and the Sachem of the Federation of Old Plimoth Tribes. Honorary members include the chairs of the 350th and 375th Anniversary Committees!

The Mayflower II in Plymouth Harbor

A Quadricentennial is rare in the United States! Let’s celebrate!

For more information:

http://www.plymouthma400th.org/index.html the official website of the 2020 Committee

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/09/23/plymouth_launches_effort_to_mark_400th/ An article from the Boston Globe, 23 September 2010, about the plans for the 400th anniversary

http://www.plymouth-ma.gov/Public_Documents/PlymouthMA_BBoard/Plymouth%20400th%20Celebration%20Commission Town of Plymouth website, page for the 400th Celebration Commission

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3terminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Legislation+%26+Executive+Orders&L2=Executive+Orders&sid=Agov3&b=terminalcontent&f=Executive+Orders_executive_order_502&csid=Agov3 The Executive Order to establish the Plymouth, MA 400th Anniversary Commission, by Governor Patrick, Massachusetts on 10 June 2008

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Amanuensis Monday - A mystery from Rev. Bentley's diary

Reverend William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts

portrait by Frothingham at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

Last Monday I wrote about Reverend William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts and his eleven volume diary.  I wrote about how he mentioned my 5x great grandparents, Mary Gardner and Abijah Hitchings, several times in his diary.  Abijah was also married to Mary's sister, Sarah.  In Rev. Bentley's diary I also found several mentions of Benjamin Gardner, my 6x great grandfather and father to Mary and Sarah.

Benjamin Gardner is a mystery to me.  There are many Gardners in Salem, and too many Benjamin Gardners.  I have not been able to ascertain his parents or lineage, but the following lines in the Bentley diary gave me hope: "June 7 1797, Died this morning suddenly, Mr. Benjamin Gardner, Ropemaker. He had within a week moved in with his daughter Hitchins, feeling infimities which took him in his labours. He was born in Boston. At the commencement of the war he removed to Marblehead where he married his second wife and thence removed to Salem. This second wife died 6 apr 1787 and since this time he has lived with the widow Hawkes. He lived upon terms of intimate friendship with Mr. Josiah Gaines who died 18 May 1796. He was industrious to the close of his life and had never known sickness. He was in his 77th year. He was a most worthy, consistant and industrious man. I loved him and visted him often. He was married in 1751. His wife died in Salem in 1781. He married again on Nov., 1782 in Salem." 

This was thrilling to me!  Obviously my ancestor was a great friend and companion of the Reverend Bentley.  I hoped to find out more genealogical information by searching the entire diary and every volume.  Unfortunately, although there were many references to Benjamin Gardner, there was not much genealogy in the diary.  However, I learned many details about my ancestor's life, including a migration trail from Boston to Marblehead to Salem.  I've been exploring the clues of ropemaker in Boston for several years- no news yet!

page 58
"April 6, 1787, Mrs. Gardner seemed in a decay, tho without any expectoration, was delirious for about six months, had dropsical complaints, upon the whole however died in a decay, which might be called consumption."

from Vol. 1, page 59
"15 April 1787. Benj. Gardner and children, d. of a wife"   [his second wife Mary Briers died on 6 April 1787 in Salem "former husbands were Ferguson and Bassett", ( Salem, MA VR)]

from the "Record of the Parish List of Deaths 1785-1819" by Rev. Bentley
page 5
"#49. Apr. 6.  Mary, wife of Benj. Gardner, aet. 56. Consumption. She was named Briers; her parents are living in Marblehed; former husbands were Ferguson and Basset (living two daughters by the first)."  [I have since found out more on Mary Briers, including her parents, lineage and chidren, thank you Rev. Bentley!]

from Vol 1, page 176
"27 sep 1789- Benja. Gardiner and children, death of a brother at Boston."  [I have since found a Thomas Gardner died in Boston 22 September 1789 (Boston Deaths 1700-1799)]

also by Rev. Bentley and Ira Patch "Record of the Parish List of Deaths. 1785-1819"
"June 7 1797, Benjamin Gardner, Dropsey aet 77., 1st marriage forty years, 2nd marriage 5 years, a son and daughter Hitchins survive by first wife, He was of Boston, married 1751, Lived and married in Marblehead 2nd time, there two years. Thence to Salem, here twenty years, See Day Book. "

Sources:
The Diary of William Bentley, D. D. By William Bentley, Joseph Gilbert Waters, Marguerite Dalrymple, Alice G. Waters, Essex Institute, Salem, MA.

Dr. Bentley's Salem: Diary of a Town, by the Essex Institute, Salem, MA 1977.

Record of the Parish List of Deaths 1785-1819, by Rev. William Bentley and Ira Patch, Essex Institute, Salem, MA 1882.

My previous blog post about Rev. Bentley's diary and my GARDNER ancestors:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/amanuensis-monday-excepts-from-rev.html

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Chasing Lobsters- Mythical and Real

Recently I was on a boat tour of the Essex River, Massachusetts when the tour guide told the tourists a nice story about how the prisoners kept in a certain island jail were fed so many lobsters they became ill, necessitating a law restricting their number of lobster meals to twice a week. I was shocked. My husband had to give me one of his looks, or I would have spoken up and spoiled the nice boat ride. Again, here is another myth being perpetuated by a tour guide (See my blog posts here and here). I’ve never seen real evidence of any such law in New England.

And today I read this myth again in the “10 Best Lobster Shacks in Maine” http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-10-best-lobster-shacks-in-maine/1 from the prestigious Travel and Leisure magazine. Check it out yourself. This is another famous legend of masters being forced by contract to limit the number of lobsters fed to servants or to prisoners in jails. The same tour guides and travel writers brag that lobster was so common you could gather them in a basket at the high tide line along the beaches of New England. Lobsters were food for paupers.

This myth is so popular in New England, that I’ve often heard it quoted on tours. Yet, earlier this year, J. L Bell in his popular blog “Boston 1775” stated, “Of course, if anyone does find an apprenticeship contract, or a law in Maine, or a petition in the Massachusetts archives that limits the number of lobster meals, I’d be happy to quote it here on Boston 1775.” http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2010/05/lobster-legend.html I noticed in the comments section of this blog, no one has yet found proof.

Go ahead. Try it yourself. Google “ Laws against serving lobster to servants” or “prisoners” or “whatever” . I got 87,200 results for the first search. While in Alaska I heard the same myth from a tour guide but the vile lobster had been replaced with the ubiquitous local salmon. Hmmmm! This Google search gave me 289,000 results, including this real whopper from Burt Wolf, the CNN travel writer, who repeated the salmon myth in a story about Basel, Switzerland. http://www.burtwolf.com/pdf/basel.pdf

The icing on the cake came just the other day I read in George Wingate Chase's History of Haverhill, Massachusetts, published in 1861 where he declared: “It is well authenticated, that at one time it was nowise uncommon to stipulate in the indentures of apprentices, that they should not be obliged to eat salmon oftener than six times a week!” I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for writing this in 1861, but it goes to show you how long this story has been repeated.

Finally, I did find a gold nugget story amongst all this dross . http://www.foodhistorynews.com/debunk.html#short This website page is labeled “The Debunk House” and is right up my alley. The author clearly gives some reasons why these myths may have evolved.

Obviously I have too much time on my hands since I am choosing to chase this story across the internet tonight instead of writing a serious genealogy story! And this is the second time in two days I have written about food!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Chasing Lobsters- Mythical and Real", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 24, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/chasing-lobsters-mythical-and-real.html: accessed [access date]).

Sheep - In the Freezer, not in the Pasture

Sheep in Ted's pasture,

next to one of New Hamsphire's ubiquitous stone walls

Every fall, Ted, one of Hubby’s co-workers saves a lamb for us. Or half a lamb. For the freezer. This has been a tradition since we moved to New Hampshire. At first it was a co-worker on the seacoast, and then another co-worker who also gave us half a pig for the freezer, and now Ted who has a gentleman’s farm in the Monadnock region. No, Hubby doesn’t work at a seed and feed store. He works at a major high tech company. It’s just a way of life that goes back in New Hampshire history! It's been a long time since there were full time farmers in the Granite State.

In the 19th century residents were leaving New Hampshire in droves to seek their fortunes in places where crops grew better than our annual harvest of boulders and frost heaves. Londonderry’s own famous son, Horace Greeley, came up with the quotable “Go West, Young Man!” and the rest was history. Life was warmer, easier and cheaper elsewhere. New Hampshire had never been a good place for farming.

Earlier, in colonial history, people lived in New Hampshire and tried to eke out an existence plowing up the stumps from the trees felled in the Great Northern Woods. The granite strewn ground could barely feed their own families. Horrid weather, steep terrain, swamps, boulders and flooding rivers made farming a torture. Unlike pastoral Vermont next door, our state is too rocky for most types of farming. But for a short time in the early 19th century sheep made New Hampshire farmers wealthy. This period of time is known as “Merino Mania” in the history books.

One of Ted's prize winners

Farmers invested in sheep in large numbers. They saw their neighbors becoming rich men keeping sheep, and thus put all their money into developing huge herds. It was perfect for our climate, terrain and landscape. Farmers became wealthy- but only for a short time. The market dropped out of wool when America switched to wearing cheaper cotton, and the whole market crash in wool left New Hampshire farmers destitute. They left the state in swarms, or stayed and faced untold hardships of poverty. The consequences practically ended agriculture in our state forever. Left over farmers had to become mill workers or they stayed home on the farm and starved. In the 19th century New Hampshire thrived as a state full of mill yards and mill towns. But small herds of sheep still reign as a small cash crop for many residents, most of whom do not farm fulltime.
So if your ancestors left New Hampshire during this time period, now you know why they might have fled.

And so, we contribute a bit to this part of the local economy. We buy our lamb or half a lamb for the freezer from our friend. We enjoy lamb burgers, lamb meatloaf, shepherd’s pie, roast leg of lamb, and lamb chops year round with nary a trip to the butcher except for chicken and the occasional steak.

Yummmm! Our lamb arrives next week!

Ted's farm in September 2003

The farmhouse is over 200 years old

For another story about the decline in population and farming in New Hampshire in the mid 19th century, please see my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/londonderrys-old-home-day.html

Also, http://sunpowerfarm.com/history.htm gives a good background on the history of sheep farming in New Hampshire.
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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Not So Wordless Wednesday- Found under a Washing Machine in Spain

While we were visiting my in-laws in Madrid, they gave us a list of things to do around the house. "Can you reach this lightbulb?" "Can you help flip the mattress?" etc. Just like my Mom does when we visit, but she's only an hour away. Then the washing machine broke, and when it was pulled away from the wall my mother-in-law found a small plastic envelope full of family photos. It's a good thing it was a plastic envelope! This was a small treasure trove of pictures, going way back in time. She gave the envelope to me, and I took it home to scan the photographs. Each was tiny- the size of passport photos, school pictures or wallet sized snaps. Here are a sampling of some of the photographs....

Manuel Martin (abt 1880 - 1971) My husband's great-grandfather

Probably photographed in the village of Villar de Ciervo, Salamanca, Spain

Josefa Rivero (1884-1937) Manuel's wife

Orofila Gonzalez - Josefa's Mother

(I have no dates for her, even though I have her parents and grandparent's names,

she was born in Villar de Ciervo)

Jose Garcia (1908-1994) Sargent in the Guardia Civil

my husband's grandfather, born in Bouza, Salamanca, Spain

Maria Josefa Garcia (my mother-in-law) in a school uniform

She was born in Orbaiceta, Navarra, Spain during the Spanish Civil War

Maria Josefa Garcia - as a young woman in Madrid

Maria Josefa Garcia- in her Iberia Airlines uniform in New York City

where she moved to after marriage in Madrid

(probably a photo from an ID badge)

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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

Amanuensis Monday - Excerpts from Rev. William Bentley's Diary

Reverend William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts

portrait by Frothingham at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Diary of Adolph Gaetz of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia here, and wrote about how I found many clues to my ancestors' Lunenburg lives in this book. Another diary, available in book form in many libraries, is the diary of Reverend William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts.

Rev. Bentley (1759 -1819) was minister of Salem's Second Congregational Church from 1783 until the end of his life. He kept eleven volumes of diaries and journals, which were condensed and published in a three volume set. There is also a separate index available for his diary, with many surnames listed.

In this book I was able to find many Salem ancestors, some were described as the Reverend's close friends. Here are a few excerpts that helped me further my genealogical research. They were good clues, and some of them have led to primary source citations in vital records, and others remain elusive to me (so far!).

The Diary of William Bentley, D. D. By William Bentley, Joseph Gilbert Waters, Marguerite Dalrymple, Alice G. Waters, Essex Institute

From Volume I,
page 20 April 4, 1785 "Visited with Abijah Hitchins, wife, children"

page 83 "Novr. 23, Abijah Hitchins and wife, death of the youngest child. One of the family sick" (this child is not in the vital records.)

page 365 "Jan 30, 1792, Abijah Hitchins raising a pent house and out house back of his dwelling house, Beckett Street." (I wish I knew the number for that house! We've gone up and down Beckett Street, looking at each house!)

page 399 "Oct. 7, 1792. Abijah Hitchings and wife for her delivery" (this is the second wife, Sarah Gardner, who gave birth to Cynthia Hitchings on 7 October 1792 (Salem VRs) )

From Volume II
page 464 "Oct. 1795 - Mr. Hitchens is adding and repairing Renew's eastern end of a house in Derby Street, between Turner and Cromwell Sts, South side of the street." (Apparently he was a housewright. This is strange to me since Abijah Hitchings is listed as a hatter in other records. )

page 265 "15 April 1798 Sunday- Abijah Hitchens & wife, d. of his mother Hitchens, age 82, of Lynn. She was an Ingalls." (His mother was Hannah Ingalls, daughter of Nathaniel Ingalls and Anne Collins of Lynn, Massachusetts. Her death was also in the Vital Records).

Note: Rev. Bentley, and the vital records, have used many spellings for this family surname: Hitchens, Hichens, Hitchins, Hitchings, etc. Abijah Hitchings is my 5x great grandfather (1753-1826). He married first Sarah Gardner, and second Mary Gardner, two sisters, daughters of Benjamin Gardner and Sarah Randall of Salem and Boston.

For more information:

http://www.salemweb.com/tales/bentley.shtml about Rev. William Bentley

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo