Massachusetts Magazine

Context: In our focus on Dr. Frank, we will be exploring his and Lucie's magazine further: The Massachusetts Magazine. See Talk page for volumes. See our TMM Page for a link to the TOCs and to the contents of each issue.

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Earlier, there was some discussion about blogs and genealogy (some are for, some against). Too, one can consider the use of blogs in other fields.

Reminder: The technology behind the web was motivated by the need for dispersed scientists, using disparate systems while collaborating, to have easy access to the material that was related to their common interests or to their joint efforts. In brief, a means for sharing results in a more full sense than was allowed by email and attachments (even with ftp).

So, we ought to always be poking around the web and establishing some type of structure (will get back to this in a bazaar/cathedral discussion). Not only do new things come forth daily, what is presented from searching is very much a function of search methods and query configuration.

In such a mode (no, not trolling), I ran across, again, some more work by Dr. Frank A. and his sister, Lucie M. Namely, the Massachusetts Magazine that they helped get started and supported for several years.

My intent is to document this effort on Wikipedia (see my sandbox), but, in the meantime, this pointer is to Vol. I (Google books). In this edition, Dr. Frank writes about "Col. John Glover's Marblehead Regiment." He also has a nice little rundown of "The Founders of the Mass. Bay Colony."

On page 82, Lucie M. writes about a meeting of "The Old Planters Society" and mentions "The Gardner Family Association" which we will be researching. Both archive.org and Google have digitized versions of the first meeting of this group (June 9th, 1900). We referenced this meeting in an earlier post (Old Planters, Massachusetts).

Vol. I of Massachusetts Magazine was dated 1908. The magazine was still being published in 1917 (see the sandbox for a growing collection of digitized versions). The editor was Thomas Franklin Waters who wrote extensively on Ipswich, MA.

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Some might say that, given the metaphor of cathedral/bazaar (relates to computing in many ways, to be discussed), that the blog is more the bazaar than the cathedral. Not necessarily so. Do we need structure as implied by cathedral? Yes, but ... (ah, Miscellany) ...

Remarks: Modified: 12/26/2021

05/21/2015 - Dr. Frank's article, reprinted: John Endicott and the men who came to Salem in the Abigail in 1628.

05/22/2015 - Not to be confused with an earlier effort by T.M. Harris, 1794 (Vol. VI, No.VII). ... Hathi Trust comes through again: list from Harvard and Princeton.

12/18/2016 -- Article about the TMM published in The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1.

02/16/2018 -- The last issue of The Massachusetts Magazine was in January of 1918. There were several factors that contributed to the demise of the periodical, such as WWI and the draft. As well, we will look more closely at the Spanish Flu which peaked in the fall of 1918 with Boston as ground zero.

02/12/2019 -- While researching earlier, we kept running into references to an old magazine. Did not pay attention until later when we saw Dr. Frank as part of the editorial effort. Then, we found out that he had been a regular contributor, to boot, as well as had his sister, Lucie. So, we dug into the archives and read all of the issues, in a browse mode. We captured the TOC of each issue. These have now all been printed (on paper), after TGA Vol. IV was completed in the fall of 2018. We have a page that is devoted to The  Massachusetts Magazine.

 12/26/2021 -- General Glover and Washington using TMM articles. 

The Massachusetts Magazine

Context:

Massachusetts Magazine
Vols I and II
Vols III and IV
Vols V and VI
Vols VII and VIII
Vols IX and X/XI

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On the Talk Page of the Wikipedia article about The Massachusetts Magazine, we have a link to all of the volumes hosted at archive.org (prefer their reader). We will be reviewing the whole series for several reasons.

For starters, this image shows the Contents from 1909, Volume II (start page of first article by Number: #1 - 3, #2 - 59, #3 - 123, #4 - 191).

Contents, 1909, The Massachusetts Magazine

In this Volume, the contributors were Benj. L. Noyes, Herbert M. Sylvester, Charles A. Flagg, George Sheldon, F. A. Gardner, M.D., John N. McClintock, Lucie M. Gardner, Thomas F. Waters, Caroline Rogers Hill, Edward J. James, Booker T. Washington, Daniel S. Jordan, and Cyrus Northrop.

In this volume, we have Booker T. Washington, et al, on Charles William Eliot on the occasion of his retirement as head of Harvard.

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In looking at this periodical, it was 100 years after the first attempt which was rather avant garde, given the timeframe which was still during the American Revolution which carried over until the early 1800s.

As well, Sidney Perley's The Essex Antiquarian was winding down. We, of course, can look now to see what is on the landscape. What was there at this time, 1909?

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Jumping ahead to 1914, the year of the start of WWI (start page of first article by Number: #1 - 3, #2 - 51, #3 - 99, #4 - 147).

Contents, 1914, The Massachusetts Magazine

Contributors were: C. Crozat Converse, Charles A. Flagg, Judge Francis M. Thompson, Frank A. Gardner, M.D., Anne L. Page, and James J. Cotter.

Remarks: Modified: 03/14/2019

05/25/2015 -- It is interesting that up through 1912, Lucie (Dr. Frank's sister) reported on "Family Genealogies" and meetings. Also, in 1912, Numbers 2, 3, and 4 were printed together. Charles A. Flagg had his 10th in a series dealing with Massachusetts pioneers (as in, those who moved to other states).

05/26/2015 -- I have all of the Contents from the volumes. As well, there has been efforts at documenting early efforts at publication. From that, we can see that John N. McClintock and Co. published The Bay State Monthly from Boston, from 1884-1886. John was a contributor and an editor for The Massachusetts Magazine.

06/07/2015 -- Research examples, such as General Danielson (featured in an article, TMM, Vol. II, No. 2).

07/01/2015 -- TMM, Vols. I and II. TMM, Vols, III and IV.

12/17/2015 -- Frank A. Gardner, Regimental Histories, ..., last issues.

04/02/2016 -- Added context.

12/18/2016 -- Article about the TMM published in The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1.

02/16/2018 -- The last issue of The Massachusetts Magazine was in January of 1918. There were several factors that contributed to the demise of the periodical, such as WWI and the draft. As well, we will look more closely at the Spanish Flu which peaked in the fall of 1918 with Boston as ground zero.

03/14/2019 -- Added image to the index on our portal to truth.

Magazine: American museum

As we complete TGA Vol. IV, No. 1, we look at how to report on all of the references that Gardner Research has used. We have started a bibliography but need a better way to discuss research issues. To date, we have also used blog posts.

This post deals with two references to magazines that get some attention in the coming issue of the TGA. Last year, as we were reviewing the first five volumes of the Massachusetts Magazine (Wikipedia), we looked at the other attempts at publishing about that time, for several reasons. For one, they are a point-in-time capture of the state of things related to U.S. history. We use an example out of Dr. Frank's periodical experience, below. But, Hector St. John is an example of someone being here and then writing in Europe. He needs as much attention as Lafayette. The French loved his revolutionary-war era tales.

We can put these types of things into a timeline related to the U.S., something like this: 1770 to 1840, 1840 to 1890, 1890 to 1940. The middle period would include a lot, such as the Southern Literary Messenger. For one thing, printing technology improves. Also, we have The Atlantic which still publishes having started in 1857; imagine the modern approach compared to one hundred and sixty years ago.

Dr. Frank's MM would be in the last period. We will be able to present the entire TOC with the coming print of TGA volumes III and IV. We will post when the copies are ready.

But, going back to the first period (1770 to 1840), we can look at part of one volume of The Massachusetts Magazine which is on-line: Massachusetts Magazine or Monthly museum. This volume is from 1794 for six months. It started printing in 1789 out of Boston. The Library Journal (Volume 14) for 1889 mentions that this periodical published until 1796.

In that same time period, we had the American museum that started out of Philadelphia in 1787. The publisher was Mathew Carey (biography). This is an example issue: The American Museum or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces ... It is huge involving a lot of work. And, Carey had a large subscription list, unfortunately, many of which were free (the list is categorized by State - Massachusetts is first). So, Carey had to stop publishing after five years.

From the beginning, there was print activity everywhere in the U.S. So, we will see lots of examples in those defined periods. Without the modern shipping methods, most of these efforts stayed local. However, the American Museum had a nationwide (at the time) audience. The Southern Literary Messenger, with Poe as editor, started in the first of the groupings but continued well into the second. As such (with other examples), it demonstrated views held by some. Seeing these in the original context and voice helps understand issues.

Again, the thematic thrust is the 400 years that went into the making of the U.S. as it is now. And, freedom of press is a crucial point. Too, juxtaposing the turmoils, including operational aspects, of those three periods with today's whizzbang methods might just provide some needed insight.

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Now, Frank's magazine was in the last period, but here is an example of content related to the second. Namely, F. M. Thompson wrote of his western experience starting with his banking work in several mid-western states. This is worth looking at more closely due to his detailed report. Fortunately, F.M. was consistent in that. Montana, in 2004, picked up his articles from The Massachusetts Magazine and published them (it is noted that the material came directly from Dr. Frank's periodical). The title of the book is Tenderfoot in Montana (via Google). K.N. Owens did the editing and included some useful maps in the beginning of his introduction. We will look at that further.

Some of the events that F.M. wrote about are in Wikipedia, referencing other material. However, we will get his name back in the scope of things. He helped design the Seal of the State. Also, he ran a mercantile business in a mining town of about 10,000. Bannack is now a ghost town. It is protected; there is some shindig there yearly. F.M. left to return to Massachusetts where his future bride was waiting. F.M. is quite graphic about the life in the wilds of those times. So, his writing is a gem. The early part about banking is apropos, still, to discussions that seem to reawaken every generation.

In a chapter on vigilantes, F.M. describes the crime, the arguments of frontier justice, and that several men were hanged. In Massachusetts, F. M. was a judge. We will look further into that. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/17/2018

06/17/2018 -- In looking at the Wikipedia page on Henry Plummer, hanged by the vigilantes, there is no reference to his marriage which F.M. noted (later a judge in Massachusetts). There was no reference to F.M., at all, in the write (yes, some fiction is referenced - sign of the times), so we need to correct that oversight.

Last issue of The Massachusetts Magazine

While researching for the next issue (IV) of the TGA in which we will look at Volumes VI through XI of The Massachusetts Magazine, we were reminded that the last issue of this periodical was 100 years ago, this month (January 1918). This effort by Dr. Frank and friends ran for ten years. We looked at Volumes I through V in the last TGA issue (Vol III). These two will be printed under one cover in the spring of this year.

Frontispiece and counts by volume

So, how to look back at the effort and bring the TMM forward? As I read the articles, I have two things in mind. This was an American effort, as in the participants were, for the most part, of families who were involved with the development of the country, from the beginning. An example is Col. Higginson, His family is pre-Winthrop's arrival in 1630. Too, Gardner and Higginson go way back. Dr. Frank's publisher was Higginson.

The image shows the page count by volumes for the TMM. Volume I was published in 1908. For the most part, the issues were quarterly. In each issue, Dr. Frank presented material related to a regiment that was at the Siege of Boston. Lucie, his sister, carried on Sidney Perley's work for several issues. Judge Thompson presented several articles on his western adventure as a youth, not long after the trek of Lewis and Clark.

As one looks at the TOC of each issue (see this post for a listing - TMM, Vol. I and II which starts a series that provides links to archive.org's digitized issues), one sees that things get sparse about five years in. After our initial introductory look at each issue, which is about done (TGA Vols III and IV), we will start to do a deeper dive into the material. A lot of the topics are still apropos. And, looking at the TMM got me to look at other periodicals, such as The Atlantic (still publishing, albeit they moved from Boston to DC). Also, other topics, such as the Lyceum, came to the attention.

Remarks: Modified: 06/04/2018

01/20/2018 -- As we go through the remaining volumes (VI through XI), we are accumulating more material for additional research and publication. In 1917, the culmination of the discussion about Europe was the U.S. conscription and the initiation of U.S. troop involvement in Europe.

In the October issue of the TMM, in 1914, there was a report on the attitude about Europe. New England favored the Allies. The majority of the respondents to the survey of the Literary Digest were neutral. The survey was of editors of newspapers in the U.S.

Prior to that year, there had been many articles provided by older gents, such as Col. Higginson, F.B. Sanborn and F.M. Thompson who were veterans of the U.S. Civil war. Judge Thompson wrote a series on his western jaunt. Now that we have gone through the entire Table of Contents (all issues) with a quick read, we can get into the depth of the articles and study how they pertain to our interest in research. We intend to publish the digitized pages in future TGA issues.

02/11/2018 -- The Spanish flu would have been a contributing factor to the demise of The Massachusetts Magazine. The flu was first observed in Kansas in March of 1918, however it was in Massachusetts by summer.

02/16/2018 -- Our first post on The Massachusetts Magazine was May 28, 2014. Since then, we have published a copy of the Table of Contents for each issue and have reviewed all of the issues. The first five volumes were summarized in The Gardner Annals (Vol. III), We will have a similar look at the last six volumes in the next issue of The Gardner Annals. TGA Vol III and Vol IV are expected to print in the spring of 2018.

06/04/2018 -- The absence of the magazine was felt.

Secret Six, the rest

TL;DR -- There were six. We looked at two of them before due to their association with The Massachusetts Magazine. We looked at another because of his wife. There were three left. With this post, we provide some links to support further research. 

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We ran into the Secret Six (Wikipedia) as we were looking at the activities of John Brown in Kansas prior to the Civil War. That research had been motivated by references to Col. T. W. Higginson in The Massachusetts Magazine. Not much later, we got familiar with F.B. Sanborn who wrote of the Col. after his death in an article in the same magazine. Another name that we encountered via his wife was Samuel Gridley Howe. 

That gave us three of the six. The rest? They are in the below list with a pointer to their Wikipedia and WikiTree information. When we first looked at this group, some of the Wikipedia pages were not available. It is nice to see the research being done.  

The Secret Six

T. W. Higginson - The Colonel collaborated with Dr. Frank on The Massachusetts Magazine and the Old Planters Society. Too, he supported 'bleeding Kansas' prior to the Civil War. In Gardner's Beacon, Vol. XII, No. 2 (recently published), we looked at his family with respect to the focus of the Thomas Gardner Society. Inc.  

F. B. Sanborn - F. B. was looked at earlier due to his association with T. W., but, on a further look, we see his involvement as being fairly broad. So, we'll take a deeper look.   

Samuel G. Howe - Husband of Julia (Ward) Howe whom we featured earlier (his WikiTree profile: Howe-2638); we will look further at him and his lineage. 

George L. Stearns - His ancestor came with Winthrop and Saltonstall and settled in Watertown, MA. He has Patriots (See SAR/DAR) in his lineage. His support for John Brown included pikes and rifles. WikiTree Profile: Stearns-2488

Gerrit Smith - His lineage is Dutch and English. He has Patriots (See SAR/DAR) in his lineage. Gerrit was quite successful which allowed him to engage in philanthropy. He provided financial support to John Brown and supported the Kansas Aid Movement. WikiTree Profile: Smith-199399 

Theodore Parker - He has colonial ancestors and Patriots (See SAR/DAR) in his lineage. Theodore was a minister whose work deserves attention. He supported John Brown, "whom many considered a terrorist." WikiTree Profile: Parker-16208 

These six are representative of the New England abolitionist's points of view. Further research will be done on their lives and important work. 

Oh yes, Harvard graduates are amongst these ones. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/09/2022

10/09/2022 -- Patriots are of many types. We think that these gents need more recognition than what has been shown so far. Each has a deep pedigree. They cover the basis in terms of traits and their life focus. But, they all were abolitionists and supported John Brown whom we will feature, as well. 

Review of TGA, Vol. IV, No. 1

We had our first print of the TGA, last year, when we did Volumes I and II (in black and white) with the first three Volumes of Gardner's Beacon.

We are finalizing the latest issue of The Gardner Annals which will be Volume IV, Number 1. As soon as we are done with that, we will prepare to print Volumes III and IV of the TGA.   We will do the next printing in color. Too, if there is interest, we can reprint Vols I and II in color.

As a reminder, the following is the Table of Contents for TGA, Vol III. With TGA Vol III and Vol IV, we will include issues from Volumes IV through VII of Gardner's Beacon.

In Vol. IV, we carry forward two of the articles. "Thomas Gardner and the Tudors" is an extension of "Bosworth and Gardners" which is being done by David T. Gardner of the Pennsylvania family. Then, we look at the remainder of the volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine that was published by Dr. Frank and friends from 1908 to 1918. A new subject article looks at a correction made to The Essex Genealogist which led to several articles from Gardner Research. Finally, we briefly look at current research that will be published in future issues: a continuation of the "Flyover country" work about the lonely grave of a Mayflower descendant out west (who cares? when there is partying going on back in Plymouth?), then we take a look at the founders of The Atlantic which started in Boston, of course, we look further at the Magna Carta, and take some time to refresh what is known about Nathaniel Eaton which the proviso that we will get the record filled out further (he is an ancestor of Dr. Frank).

In terms of The Massachusetts Magazine, for which we will publish the Table of Contents the remaining issues, here are some particulars to be dealt with.

• Dr. Frank gathered old and new friends in order to do this publication. The old timers were from the era of the Civil War: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, F. B. Sanborn, and F. M. Thompson. Dr. Frank had an article in every one of the issues and did his pieces on those regiments at the Siege of Boston.  
• Dr. Frank's sister, Lucie, helped edit and contributed articles. Of note is that she picked up the work of Sidney Perley who retired. Then, she reported on the groups that were meeting, such as the Old Planters Society. 
• There were several other contributors. From reading these, we learned of Count Rumford, traversals out west (bleeding Kansas - Higginson and further west - F. M. Thompson). Too, we read of a friend of Ethan Allen who was here during the American Revolution (J. Hector St. John). And, we now know the Brit (R.A. Douglas-Lithgow, M.D. LLD) who wrote the History of Nantucket.    
• We pondered about the demise of the magazine which was popular. No doubt, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was a factor.  

From looking at magazines of the time, we learned about the dialog (yes) related to various parts of U.S. history that ought to be known. And, we found out about the Lyceum movement of the early 1800s. The impact was seen even out in Kansas (1890s). We will take time to look at various attempts, such as the Spirit of '76 that was adopted by S.A.R. yet failed.

Gardner research interests are varied. One of these would be doing the first five or so generations for each of the children. Now, how to get that further along?

Remarks: Modified: 09/30/2018

06/18/2018 -- The Gardner Annals, Volume IV, Number 1,  published. Contents: The Massachusetts Magazine,  updating an article in the Essex Genealogist, Gardner and the Tudors, and Pending Research: Pseudo-wall, The Atlantic, Nathaniel Eaton. 

09/30/2018 -- The print version is at the printers.

Franklin Benjamin Sanborn

Earlier, we looked at an author that helped Dr. Frank with his magazine, namely R.A. Douglas-Litghow, MD, LLD. RA was quite prolific.

There are many more, but let's look at F.B. Sanborn (updated the Wiki page with a pointer to the Massachusetts Magazine - See Remarks, 10/09/2022) who popped up as we were looking at, and digging into, the minutes of The Old Planters Society of Salem. In 1916, F.B. gave a talk about Hector St. John, calling him an evasive planter. The story is interesting.

TMM, Vol. IX, No. 2, pg 163

It is interesting that Hector was the namesake of St. Johnsbury, VT through his friend, Ethan Allen.

There will be more in the upcoming issue of The Gardner Annals.

Too, we will bring forward all of the Old Planter Society minutes that we can find.

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F.B. was remembered in TMM, Vol. X, No. 4.

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The Wikipedia page has been extensively updated so show the huge amount of work accomplished by F.B. Sanborn. We ran into him through his remembrance of Col. TW Higginson. Too, as a graduate of Harvard, we have seen reference to F.B. during our look at the institution, so we will get back to him. For now, we can add a link to his WikiTree information: Sanborn-1542. 

Remarks: Modified: 11/16/2022

06/14/2017 -- F.B. corresponded with Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

07/12/2017 -- The Significance of Being Frank. ... Sanborn and Higginson were in the Secret Six.

06/04/2018 -- Added the snap from The Massachusetts Magazine Vol. X, No. 4.

03/07/2019 -- Added image from this post to the index on our portal to truth.

10/09/2022 -- Got to love Wikipedia's technology. Mentioned that  F.B.'s page had been updated with information about his writing about Hector St. John plus the talk at the Old Planters Society which has been published in The Massachusetts Magazine. This entry was there from 2017 until 2021 when it was removed via this edit. 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Franklin_Benjamin_Sanborn&diff=next&oldid=1022591916

Had thought today to look at this since F.B. was mentioned on the Col. TW Higginson page. The Col and his family were covered in the recent issues of Gardner's Beacon, Vol. XII. No. 2. 

11/16/2022 -- Research continues; papers arise to awareness. One, of late, that appeared in The American Genealogist, had to do with the family of F. B. It is of interest to us for several reasons. He's a cuz. Too, there were several New Hampshire families involved with the Sanborn family. Then, a link was made from the immigrants to their grandmother. Our first intimation was a reference on WikiTree in a G2G context. We looked then and were intrigued. Then, Gary Boyd Roberts wrote of Sanborn, yesterday, in the context of his Royal Descent book (three vols) which just went to the printer. The post by GBR: Royal News Since the Release of Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, and the United States. Second Edition. As well, today, I put a link to this post on the F.B. Sanborn page on Wikipedia (the Talk page). As an aside, this list of posts references F.B. and his work and life. 

Magazines

We are going through The Massachusetts Magazine (TMM) in order to document the effort by Dr. Frank and friends. The TMM published from 1908 to 1918. When we first were researching the TMM, we encountered The New England Magazine (1886-1900) which had started as the Bay State (1884-1885, 1886-1887) monthly (edited by John McClintock who was a contributing editor for the TMM).

Then, we ran across the Southern Literary Messenger, that published from 1834 to 1864, while researching southern families with New England ties. An early editor was Edgar Allen Poe. We will look at this further as we make comparison between the periodicals.

Today, there was a message sent to all interested by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic. It started publishing in 1857 and is still going strong. We have to be interested in that the magazine started in Boston and was there until just a few years ago when it moved to D.C.

Message:

On May 5, 1857, a group of Boston Brahmins gathered for dinner at the Parker House Hotel and decided to create a new magazine, one that would make politics, literature, and the arts its chief concerns. These men, united in their opposition to slavery, their love of American writing, and their tripartite names, included such eminences as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Russell Lowell. They did not set out to exclude women from the gathering; Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, was invited, but she boycotted the dinner when she learned that alcohol would be served.

A plan for this new magazine was set. The question of a name soon arose. Oliver Wendell Holmes, another of the founders, proposed "The Atlantic," to convey the notion that an immense ocean would separate this New World journal from its cousins in the Old. A manifesto was written, one that made ambitious promises: In politics, The Atlantic would be "the organ of no party or clique, but will honestly endeavor to be the exponent of what its conductors believe to be the American idea," and it would bring to the attention of the reading public the newest and most interesting American writers. The manifesto was signed by, among others, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and yes, "Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe."

In November of 1857, the first issue of this magazine was published, and we have never stopped publishing. And since its founding, this magazine has published everyone from the aforementioned Hawthorne (who served as the magazine's Civil War correspondent) to Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman; from Robert Frost and Helen Keller to W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington; from Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf to Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway and Sylvia Plath, to a raft of future presidents—Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and JFK—and on to the great writers of today, too many to even begin mentioning.

We know that the America of today would be unrecognizable to the founders of this magazine, but my hope is that they would take quickly to today's Atlantic. They would recognize in our journalism the stringent application of intelligence and analytic rigor to the great problems of the day; the devotion to the explication of not only the American idea, but also the nature of an unsettled world; and a great love of literature and culture in all of its manifestations—"the whole domain of aesthetics," in the words of the founding manifesto. I believe that the founders would be able to locate these values in our print magazine, on our website, at our events, and in our documentaries. (I also believe that they would be confused by our Instagram account.)

Today, on the 160th anniversary of the conception of The Atlantic, I write to thank you, our subscribers, for your support, and your devotion across the years.

Magazine? One can think of these as condensed views from a particular time. They go beyond journalism. And, in the future, these will be condensations of the ever-flowing web material. As such, they are important to history; and, there are those with genealogy as subject (NEHGR, for example - published since 1847).

Remarks: Modified: 03/07/2019

03/07/2019 -- Added an image to add this to the index at our portal to truth.

The Old Planters Society

Thomas Wentworth Higginson was the first President of The Old Planters Society (TOPS) that instituted in 1899. Frank A. Gardner, M.D. was Vice-President. The members list consists of illustrious descendants of the early colonists (see below).

The following documents are found at archive.org.

• Constitution, pg 14
• By-laws, pg 17
• Officers and Early Members, pg 19

In the pamphlet, published June 19, 1900, there is an overview of the society (page 11) and its motivations. We have seen this mentioned elsewhere, but one purpose was educational. And, one focus was to get those here before 1630 included in historical looks, excluding the "Mayflower people." 

The Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. agrees with this view and will carry this forward using The Gardner Annals. The issue for Vol. IV, No. 1 is in preparation.  

In that same section, we find the reading list of the Society. These are on our bibliography, but we will be looking at them again. 

Finally, the pamphlet starts out with a talk by Col. Higginson. It was titled "The Alliance between Pilgrim and Puritan in Massachusetts." The TOPS published many talks which we will document. 

Of note, briefly, though, is that in 1900, Col. Higginson was 77 years of age. Many other members were elderly.

Dr. Frank and his sister were much younger. Too, later, Lucie M. Gardner was Secretary of the TOPS. TOPS published via The Massachusetts Magazine (started printing in 1908) while it was published. Lucie edited a section that was titled "Pilgrims and Planters" that reported on meetings of the TOPS, offered commentary, and gave notice of the activity of other organizations, such as the Balch Family Association and The Gardner Family Association. The TMM ceased publishing in 1918. 

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Earlier, we wrote of this group in a post (December 2012): Old Planters, Massachusetts. A corresponding post covered another group (May 2011): Old Planters, Beverly.  

Remarks: Modified: 11/20/2019 

06/14/2017 -- Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Bleeding Kansas. The Massachusetts Magazine (Vol. II, No. 2, pg 117)  reported that it was an official arm of the Old Planters Society.

06/04/2019 -- Sidney on the Old Planters Society via The Massachusetts Magazine. 

11/20/2019 -- Sidney on the Old Planters in his History of Salem (page 60).  Starting at page 68, Sidney publishes Dr. Frank's look at the early times of the Gardners.

Charles Alcott Flagg

TL;DR -- Correcting oversight of old friend of Dr. Frank's who contributed regularly to The Massachusetts Magazine.  

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Charles A. Flagg (1870-1920), C.A., is an example of someone with no progeny who is forgotten. We ran across him first within the context of The Massachusetts Magazine. He was a regular contributor starting with Vol. 1, No. 2 with an article on "Massachusetts Pioneers in Michigan" that we will look at further. 

In our last post, we mentioned that C.A. gave a nod to Dr. Frank's in the introduction of his book, Alphabetical Index of Revolutionary Pensioners Living in Maine, with respect to Dr. Frank's work on Massachusetts regiments. 

Two things motivate this post. 

• C.A.'s work is quoted in the SSP of Maine (soldiers, sailors) quite extensively. However, there is also this little note by the editors (curators) of the work: 
  This list is full of errors. It contains names of men who did not serve in the Revolutionary War. The ages are wrong in many cases, as are the dates of death. 
  
  This SSP work was published in 1982 which was decades after the work of C.A. Too, technology was quite a bit different in the two periods. There is another factor, next bullet. But, this comment was done by the General Genealogist of S.A.R. (sorry bunch of guys?) who ought to have known better. It's one thing to make such remarks (which are without any foundation) in private; to leave them in a reference that is expected to get attention is another thing (very unprofessional).
  Reading the comment gave us pause. What was that? Why? We didn't know how to respond at the time. But, since then we have done a little research. We give a little bio of C.A. after this pause here. Plus, the image shows some of his work that is on-line. C.A. was the librarian for American History at the Library of  Congress, among other things. BTW, in favor of the S.A.R. folks, they did note that other people had errors and corrected them. Okay, editors are for that purpose, for one thing. We could go on but won't. 
• A couple of years ago (January of 2018), we noted that it was 100 years before that "The Massachusetts Magazine" published its last issue. At that time, we surmised about the Spanish Flu, especially in how Dr. Frank would have been busy. Very much so. There was also the drain of resources and funds related to WWI. But, then, we looked at C.A.'s biography and saw that he had died in 1920. We will look at the specifics, but it is very likely that the publication of his work was after he died. The S.A.R. folks could have looked that up. Also, given that it was within the period of the flu, did he have complications related to the pandemic? 

Anyway, C. A. Flagg's work stands on its own. He was a graduate of Bowdoin. Then, he did post-graduate studies in Library Systems. We are talking the latter part of the 19th Century, so it would be interesting to see what was involved. But, C.A. served as a librarian at the New York State library in Albany, NY. Too, he spent time at the Library of Congress in DC. There he was the expert in American History. Then, C.A. went to Bangor, Maine and was librarian there. That is where he did a lot more research, some of it resulting in the index of pensioners mentioned in this post. 

This graphic lists some of C.A.'s work (from uPenn). 

We'll get back to work looking at specifics of the Revolutionary period. History is told top down by the victors and mostly ignores the small people. Technology, now, can revert that and lift proper views to focus. That's one of our goals. Or, from another view, events from 400 years ago and 250 years ago can still have relevance to our lives. 

There ain't nothing new under the sun, essentially. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/05/2021

12/25/2020 -- C.A. was part of the editorial board for the TMM from the beginning. T.F. Waters was the Editor. 

08/05/2021 -- We will be using the work of CA as we study the History of Michigan and surrounds. As well, here is the Find A Grave record for CA. 

Regimental History Series, background and motivation

Context: See "Contents of this Issue" plus list of articles from the Regimental History Series (RHS) taken from issues of The Massachusetts Magazine, an effort by Dr. Frank and some of his friends.

Vols I and II
Vols III and IV
Vols V and VI
Vols VII and VIII
Vols IX and X/XI

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While collecting links to all of the issues (digitized copy) of The Massachusetts Magazine, several things came to mind including a whole list of future topics for research. For one thing, these eleven volumes of a quarterly publication can be thought of as a snapshot in time of the period from 1908 to 1918 of New England and the U.S. As such, they can offer a lot of insight. For instance, toward the time of the last issues, we start to see discussion of the upcoming 300th of the 1620 arrival; and, that is timely for our look ahead efforts for the 400th (Please note, New Englanders, that Kansas had its 400th in the 1941 timeframe).  

But, while itemizing the items in the RHS that occupied a lot of Dr. Frank's time, one had to consider his motivation. We know that he was an officer in a Salem unit. Too, his persistence in following through with so much detail is more than one would expect for a hobby. 

We find this page in the first issue of The Massachusetts Magazine (also, see first of the series, Department of the American Revolution). Dr. Frank published twenty-five items in his RHS series whose themes were taken from the list (see Reg't column). Not all of the Regiments were covered, however, for the one that he did research, he was thorough.  

TMM, Vol I, No 1, Pg 13

The timeframe was during the Siege of Boston (see Wikipedia). One task will be to look at how we can introduce Dr. Frank's monographs into the discussion and, thereby, generate citations of his work. 

Remarks:  Modified: 12/28/2020

07/03/2015 -- Added link to the 1st of the series "Department of the American Revolution" (see Motivation). See those issues (Vol II through V) with the an item from the series.

08/18/2015 -- Change "m" to "ph."

12/17/2015 -- Life of Dr. Frank is featured in The Gardner Annals, Vol. II, No. 2.

12/18/2016 -- Article about the TMM published in The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1.

05/23/2018 -- TGA Vol. IV, No. 1 will complete the look at TMM (Table of Contents). Once that is done, we will print Vols. III and IV.

12/28/2020 -- Dr. Frank recognized for his work; we will look further at the Massachusetts Line. 

Sources for TGA, Vol IV, No 1

Earlier, we discussed, briefly, the sources for a recent issue of Gardner's Beacon, namely Vol VIII, No 1 that published in early June. We will do something similar for The Gardner Annals for which we just published Vol IV, No 1. 

See What's new for regular postings: 

• 06/18/2018 -- The Gardner Annals, Volume IV, Number 1,  published. Contents: The Massachusetts Magazine,  updating an article in the Essex Genealogist, Gardner and the Tudors, and Pending Research: Pseudo-wall, The Atlantic, Nathaniel Eaton. 

We will reconfigure our Research and Annals section, hopefully with a common reference strategy that will include a bibliography.

----

This recent issue covered several topics including finishing up scanning the articles of The Massachusetts Magazine and presenting the Table of Contents for each issue. In this review, we ran across lots of characters who will be looked at more closely as we did take the time to research both older and newer material.

For instance, we have a lot of information about Judge Thompson. It was a year ago when we first started to read about him. And, several items have come out of his Reminisces, such as his experiences with Henry Plummer who was hanged by the vigilantes in Montana.   

The following are some additional links which will be updated as we run into material. 

• His early years: son of John Thompson and Elvira Adams. His mother was of the same Adams line as Pres. John (#2) and Pres. John Quincy (#4). 
• Occupation: Probate Judge,  Franklin County, MA
• Death notice, NEHGR: Francis McGee Thompson
• Supplement to The Massachusetts Magazine, Vol 5 (1912): Reminiscences of Four-Score Years
• His research report: History of Greenfield. This development was called Boston Township No. 2. 
• Montana book based upon his memoirs: Tenderfoot in Montana 

---

We will be adding other material, such as that associated with F. B. Sanborn, and more.

---

Finally, as we get the print of TGA Vols III and IV ready, we are looking at the next issue. As such, our focus will be of three things that pertain to the past, present and future. That is, the 400 years of history provide a rich source for continuing analysis and subsequent improvement.

Those three topics are culture, history and genealogy. The American experiment is without doubt known across the globe and offers a never-ending platform that is as broad as one might expect, namely human culture. Then, history deals with time and events relating to the culture where we have various actors by generation.

Given the upcoming even of the 4th of July, we might take Rev. John Wise as an example who was the 'inspiration' for the Declaration of Independence according to President Coolidge. He pre-dated Jefferson's efforts by decades. Rev. John's milieu was Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was the son of a butcher and a graduate of Harvard. We will be writing about him, again.

Remarks: Modified: 09/30/2018

09/22/2018 -- We are about ready to print TGA Vol III and IV with the remaining issues of Gardner's Beacon. We will do this in both black and white and color. Table of Contents for TGA Vol. III is shown in the image. Last fall, we printed TGA Vol I and II. 

09/30/2018 -- The print version is at the printers. 

TMM, Vols. IX, X, and XI

Context:

Massachusetts Magazine
Vols I and II
Vols III and IV
Vols V and VI
Vols VII and VIII
Vols IX and X/XI

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

The Massachusetts Magazine, of Dr. Frank and friends.

---

TMM, Vol IX, 1916

1916, Vol IX (F.A. Gardner, M.D.)

No 1
  Pg 18 Colonel Moses Little's Regiment
No 2
  Pg 87 Colonel Joseph Read's Regiment
No 3
  Pg  137 Colonel Jonathan Brewer's Regiment
No 4
  Pg 189 Colonel Jonathan Brewer's Regiment 

List of Titles, (Vol.IX, No. 2)
Regimental History Series

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TMM, Vol X, 1917
TMM, Vol XI 1918

1917/8, Vols X, XI (F.A. Gardner, M.D.)

No 1
  Pg 32 Colonel David Brewer's Regiment
No 2, 3
  Pg
No 4
  Pg 167 Colonel David Brewer's Regiment
No 1
  Pg 12 Colonel Edmund Phinney's Regiment

Prior: TMM, Vols VII and VIII. Next up: TMM, Vols I and II.

Remarks:  Modified: 04/23/2017

11/26/2016 -- Added context.

04/23/2017 -- The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1 provided the Table of Contents for the first five volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine.

TMM, Vols. III and IV

Context:

Massachusetts Magazine
Vols I and II
Vols III and IV
Vols V and VI
Vols VII and VIII
Vols IX and X/XI

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

The Massachusetts Magazine, of Dr. Frank and friends.

---

TMM, Vol. III, 1910

1910, Vol III (F.A. Gardner, M.D.)

No 1
  Pg 25, Colonel Timothy Walker's Regiment
  Pg 40, Department of the American Revolution
No 2
  Pg 99, Colonel Theophilus Cotton's Regiment
  Pg 133, Department of the American Revolution
No 3
  Pg 187, Colonel James Frye's Regiment
  Pg 181, Department of the American Revolution
No 4
  Pg 246, Colonel James Frye's Regiment
  Pg 260, Department of the American Revolution

---

TMM, Vol. IV, 1911

1911, Vol IV (F.A. Gardner, M.D.)

No 1
  Pg 29, Colonel Ruggles Woodbridge's Regiment
  Pg 43, Department of American Revolution
No 2
  Pg 82, Colonel Ruggles Woodgridge's Regiment
  Pg 110, Department of American Revolution
No 3
  Pg 153, Colonel Thomas Gardner's Regiment
  Pg 179, Department of American Revolution
No 4
  Pg 221, Colonel Samuel Gerrish's Regiment
  Pg 244, Department of American Revolution

Prior: TMM, Vols I and II. Next up: TMM, Vols V and VI.

Remarks:  Modified: 04/23/2017

07/03/2015 -- Add links to the series "Department of the American Revolution" (see Motivation).

04/02/2016 -- Added context.

04/23/2017 -- The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1 provided the Table of Contents for the first five volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine.

RA Douglas-Lithgow, MD, LLD

In preparation for publishing an new issue of The Gardner Annals, I have been reviewing the 11 years (1908-1918) of The Massachusetts Magazine that was founded by Dr. Frank and friends. There is an author who appeared in Vols III through V. Who was he? R.A. Douglas-Lithgow, M.D., LL. D.

In several of RA's books, the cover page had a photo and brief summary of his associations. This is an example from his book on American-Indian place names (archive.org).

He wrote a book on Nantucket (archive.org). RA wrote a lot. But, again, who was he? I found this at a discussion site related to the Lithgow family (see boards[.]ancestry[.]com).

Despite the extended time lapse since your request for information regarding the ancestry of your grandfather, Robert Philip Augustus Douglas Lithgow, I have a few items regarding the extant British branch of the family which may be of interest.

Very briefly, your great grandfather was Robert Alexander Douglas Lithgow, born in Ireland, a physician in England, who emigrated in later life to Boston USA. He died there whilst your grandfather was still a child (at school in England?). He wrote poetry and several books on American history.

RAD Lithgow (born Belfast) had four surviving younger siblings, Margaret, Douglas, Elizabeth (b 1855) and James (all born in Downpatrick, Ireland). Their father, Robert Thomas Lithgow was a very well respected coach builder as evidenced by several newspaper articles. ...

The male line of our earlier Lithgow ancestors is documented (without dates) in the Northern Ireland Record Office and is frequently referred to in these Ancestry community postings by other descendants now living in America and Australia. Thomas Lithgow came from Lanarkshire in 1610 and settled in County Derry.

I can fill in more details regarding this British branch of the family but have not yet thoroughly researched the early Lithgows who emigrated to America and Australia and about whom you requested information.

After much searching, I found one biography that deals with his work in England (Men and women of the time). RA was born in 1846 in Belfast. He settled in London for medical work. And, he came to American later in life. But, none of this looked at his literary work. The American Historical Association (1912) noted three articles on New England houses.

So, on further search, the New England Journal of Medicine mentioned an obituary. On looking further, I found it in The Boston Medical and surgical journal (pg 442).

We will get a full list of RA's publications plus gather more information about his work.

Too, we will be looking at all of the authors in Dr. Frank's publication.

Remarks: Modified: 10/30/2018

12/05/2016 -- R.A. to several issues of the TMM. We introduce him in the Gardner's Beacon and will add a little more about his work in The Gardner Annals.

12/18/2016 -- Article about the TMM published in The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1.

04/23/2017 -- The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1 provided the Table of Contents for the first five volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine.

10/30/2018 -- The Gardner Annals, Vol. IV, No. 1 provided the Table of Contents for the last five volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine. These have been printed in one bound volume.

TMM, a review

In the last issue, the TGA (list of issues) provided the Table of Contents for Vol. I through Vol. V. of The Massachusetts Magazine (see The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1 - pg 13). Next issue will provide an overview of the remaining years.

Then, we will look at specific articles, such as this one (Regimental History Series, background and motivation) by Dr. Frank. The TMM had articles by several prominent authors, such as RA Douglas-Lithgow, MD, LLD.

As an aside, we now have the internet, cloud, and social media (categorization is still needed). In the early days, one printed. That is, after the press was made generally available. Many magazines have come into existence and died out since the time of entry that is celebrated by those who have New England old-time blood. The TMM was the second try with this name. The first even had the interest of old Ben, himself, as in Franklin.

Remarks: Modified: 02/16/2018

04/23/2017 -- The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1 provided the Table of Contents for the first five volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine.

02/16/2018 -- The last issue of The Massachusetts Magazine was in January of 1918. There were several factors that contributed to the demise of the periodical, such as WWI and the draft. As well, we will look more closely at the Spanish Flu which peaked in the fall of 1918 with Boston as ground zero. 

TMM, Vols. V and VI

Context:

Massachusetts Magazine
Vols I and II
Vols III and IV
Vols V and VI
Vols VII and VIII
Vols IX and X/XI

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

The Massachusetts Magazine, of Dr. Frank and friends.

---

TMM, Vol V, 1912

1912, Vol V (F.A. Gardner, M.D.)

No 1
  Pg 15, Colonel Wm. Heath's and Colonel John Greaton's Regiment
  Pg 36, Department of the American Revolution
No 2, 3, 4
  Pg 55, Colonel Wm. Heath's and Colonel John Greaton's Regiment
  Pg 71, Colonel Ebenezer Learned's Regiment
  Pg 105, Department of the American Revolution

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TMM, Vol VI, 1913

1913, Vol VI (F.A. Gardner, M.D.)

No 1
  Pg 
No 2
  Pg 82, Col. Paul Dudley Sargent's Regiment
No 3
  Pg 125, Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent's Regiment
No 4
  Pg 147, Colonel John Mansfield's Regiment

Appeared in TMM, Vol VI, 1913

Prior: TMM, Vols III and IV. Next up: TMM, Vols VII and VIII.

Remarks:  Modified: 04/23/2017

07/03/2015 -- Add links to the series "Department of the American Revolution" (see Motivation).

04/02/2016 -- Added context.

04/23/2017 -- The Gardner Annals, Vol. III, No. 1 provided the Table of Contents for the first five volumes of The Massachusetts Magazine.