Blended family

TL;DR -- Along the way, we have noticed that the family of one father and one mother, through all time, was more unusual than the blended type of family. We look at a couple of examples. Too, researching along a parallel path between families can help one find data. 

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Thomas had two spouses, Margaret and Damaris. Margaret had one husband and was the mother of the Gardner children. Damaris has two husbands. Her children were with the first. Even with that, there has been some controversy over the years. Gardner Research got more information about Margaret, her parents, her birth, plus the marriage record. There still are open questions about the first husband of Damaris (see Samuel Shattuck). 

Part of the problem is that sources are sparse many times. Too, the 20th century gave us means and time and motivation to research. In the latter part, the computer brought complication. Yesterday, we were looking at some possible descendants. For instance, see Brig Gen J G Swift who had been on a descendants list a decade ago but which we could not prove. Now, we can show that there are Gardners (descendants of Thomas) who are closely related. But, the General is not a descendant. 

There have been other cases like this where the husband had multiple wives and the wives had multiple husbands. And, some had children by multiple spouses. And so, the fun. Let's look at two. 

We can start with Col. T.W. Higginson, who was the President of the Old Planters Society, helped support John Brown and the establishment of Kansas (State and University), who worked with Dr. Frank on The Massachusetts Magazine, and more. We will be paying more attention to him as we structure the Gardner story that will persist while being supported. His case is the blended family where the wife who was a Gardner died; Col T.W.H was from the second wife (see the 1st image in the Col TWH post). So, blended family with step relationships. 

This may also have been the case with Brig Gen Swift.  

Another example is the namesake of Fort Worth, namely General W. J. Worth. Notice, in 2012, we took him off of the descendants list as he has the "step" relationship with family members who were descendants. 

Williams Jenkins Worth

In many cases, the work is map the children with the parents. When there is some importance involved, one family may make the effort to clarity these situations. Say, like the Dudley family, whose work has been helpful on several occasions. One adage is that by looking at the more prominent and public persons, one can find more information many times that might be useful. 

This situation was more common than not, perhaps even the norm, for the time. Given that we are going to honor collateral families, we will use a broad definition which is more than in-law. However, for lineage, of course, one has to follow the sources and what they say about the relationships which need to be biologically framed. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/24/2022

09/24/2022 --  Updated Col. W. J. Worth's post (from 2012) using information from WikiTree. 

Brigadier General, Joseph Gardner Swift

TL;DR -- We revisit some work from a decade ago that we let go due to other demands on time and resources. But, having created a proper basis for future work, we can take a look again in all of these type of situations so as to tie up loose ends, somewhat. In this case, a name got our attention; but, we could not show a relationship. However, now we can in the more full sense that the 250th of the Revolution will allow. Assuming that technology continues to work, as well. 

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Back in the beginning, we were putting together a list of descendants on the Wikipedia page. This work was back in the 2009 timeframe and was done by browsing the internet, looking at the work of others. At that time, the queries were manual. Nowadays, things have changed quite a bit to the point where one can run apps to do something similar. This can be discussed. Lo and behold, get enough automated stuff and wonders ensue (or pigs fly - we'll go on about this, in the context that is being called AIn't).  

Later, this approach was criticized, so we moved our list out. See References and Thomas, the son, as an example. Each of these descendant pages links to the other siblings. For the most part, we did not add anyone that we could not show support for. This post is about one of those possible descendants. Also, we changed the references to point to Anderson's work plus WikiTree which is using Dr. Frank's material. Of course, we need to reference and organize pointers to lots of work done by families over the years. That will be a  major bit of work. Including, we might add, results from the work of Gardner Research. 

Now, one name that we ran into was Brig-General Joseph Gardner Swift, the first graduate of West Point. The name is a tip off, but we couldn't find an association with Thomas Gardner of Salem, easily. After all, he could have been of one of the other Gardner families. So, we put off adding him to the list. 

Finally, today (22 Sep 2022), as we were looking at work of others (one with a last update of 2013), we saw the name which looked familiar. He is Swift-4880 on WikiTree. 

Looking at the General's record, one sees lots of Essex County and Nantucket families mentioned. Now, on WikiTree, we can see that he is not a descendant of Thomas Gardner of Salem. However, in the graph, if one steps back a couple of generations and does a descendants list, one see lots of Gardner nodes which indicate that the General had lots of aunts and uncles (and cousins) who were descendants of Thomas. 

So, this case is a perfect example of looking at collateral families to find information about the times and places related to a research subject. Doing that can work the other way and help find ancestors via their relations. 

Having been born in 1783, the General as too young to participate in the Revolution. But, he was actively involved with events prior the the western boom. He was in several places and has been associated with major projects. He was in Tennessee for a while trying to farm cotton. There is a lot more to discuss. Rather than go further west, the General went back to New York to apply his skills to railroading which became the backbone of the nation. 

We just looked at the topic of railroads in other posts: 8th generation; Recap, again; Pace of change; and more. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/2342022

09/23/2022 -- This is an example, along with Col. TW Higginson and Prevet Gen. WJ Worth, of the blended family that was so common due to the problems of the time. 

09/24/2022 -- For completion's sake, we traced down the Gardner influence in the General's life. He was the sixth generation. Updated Col. WJ Worth's post (from 2012) using information from WikiTree showing overlap between the lineages of Swift, Gardner, and Worth. 

Water and air

TL;DR -- We got our sense of the 3rd dimension with bobbing in water. Other means for learning dealt with the ups and downs of land. We spent some time looking at the U.S. Interior. So, it's time to get nautical again, as some recent posts have noted. Today, we tie back to a 2015 book, as we look for Gardners across the globe, due to its information about families in Australia.  

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Long before people could move by air, they dreamt of it. Those who came closest were the seafaring. That is, the landlubber might have wandered up hills and down into valleys which gives some sense of the other direction beyond that provided by our flat world's view. But, it was subtle. As, flat? One has to go almost a mile before discerning some delta with respect to height when on the plains of the world. Say, like those going to Oregon or Santa Fe on the trails. Except, they will tell you that Kansas was not flat which is the illusion seen from a car traversing the area at high speed. 

So, water was there for our use early. Later, air. These two modes have some similarities. They are dangerous. Except, air travel has nothing below. Waves might leave you momentarily airborne, but not for long. But, it actually goes deeper, as water and air are two of the primal concepts with which humankind wrestled. 

Now, the gist? We're moving toward setting up for long-term research where the 400ths will provide the means and motivation. And, this will go on for some time. The topics to cover are large, even with our focus on Cape Ann, Essex County, Massachusetts, New England and the huge U.S. provides some limits. 

We have an interest in things Australian (Through One's Family's Eyes, Susan Hollingworth) and so the below. Some of the generation of John's great-grand moved from Ireland to England, the U.S. and Australia. The 2015 book made a good stab at pulling together family information. 

Yesterday, we saw a reference to a nautical story on FB and, per usual, went looking for connections. Too, the skipper was a Capt. John Phillips who had an interesting life, being born on a ship in Sydney Harbor and at 17 going off to sea. The series, (Sea, Land and Air), had an article about him, as did the 3rd Dimension blog with a post (notice the date, Did You Know – April 1, 2022). That got us to thinking of various research themes that need more regular attention. 

The source of the story, it seems, after plowing through on-line debris, was an article in the papers back about 80 years ago that talked of an Aussie ship, SS Warrimoo, that crossed the Equator and the International Date Line on the eve of Jan 1 of 1900. Now, in doing so, the ship would have spanned several dimensional (modern context) variables: season, year, century, and more. 

If we forget that the century might not have started until 1901 (a choice for everyone), we can put much some, say passing, interest in the event. Why? Technology of the time would not have allowed proper measurement. But, then, the Fuzzy Logic of Zadeh will come back into vogue after the specifics of numeric modes have shown themselves to be problematic (one of the research themes of the TGS, Inc.). 

With the start of the reign of Charles III, we all can get back to appreciating our common heritage. In particular, we will be looking at Australia and its shipping venues, starting with John's family. But, we are looking to document the move of Gardner families to the area. As a reminder, we had one look at the topic with our research on the  Bostonian which visited the South Sea area prior to its shipwreck along the Oregon coast. We still have open research related to that incident. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/22/2022

09/22/2022 -- 

John Winthrop (educator)

TL;DR -- John Winthrop's post is imperative. He served twice, before and after the term of Samuel Locke, while he was a Professor, as well. 

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We continue covering all of the Heads of Harvard (Wikipedia) with John Winthrop (Wikipedia) who served briefly before and after the term of Samuel Locke. With this post, we have covered all of the Heads of Harvard from Eaton (1636) to Cornelius Conway Felton (1860) which is a nice 200-year span.  

As we look at the Heads, we have done some research related to their families, mostly using WikiTree. The terms of Winthrop were in 1769 and 1773. Winthrop (WikiTree) is old Massachusetts being a descendant of the John Winthrop who came in 1630 with a fleet of settlers, many of whom were of families with old English pedigree. 

Later, we will post more about Winthrop's life.    

• History of Harvard (ours);
• History of the Presidency (Harvard); 
• graduates of Harvard (list initiated by Hoar); and 
• Harvard in the long history of the U.S. 

Winthrop died in 1779. More later (see following notes).

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Notes:

1. John Winthrop was a Professor of Harvard. We mentioned him earlier with respect to the early years of Count Rumford who attended Winthrop's classes as a youngster and will follow that theme a little further. Just added notes to the Wikipedia Talk page with three references to Rumford, including mention of Loammi Baldwin who attended Winthrop's classes with Rumford. 

2.  ...

Remarks: Modified: 09/17/2022

09/17/2022 -- John Winthrop, like some of the others, is kin which will be an interesting bit of study. 'kin' covers both aspects, blood and collateral (say, in-laws). This is a common occurrence in New England that provides endless amounts of research which could only happen with technological assists. 

Tours, of the real

TL;DR -- We are of the west and have been, for the most part. Though, the long arm of New England is always there. A couple of years ago, we looked inward after considering all of the naval modes that came about in the 400 years of interest. Or, if we were doing land studies, the wilderness was only a few hundred miles away. Lewis & Clark, thanks to Jefferson, opened a huge vista. There had always been those who traipsed the regions, early on with the Native Americans. Then, we had this rolling wave, technologically abetted, that ran over the landscape, carving it into pieces. Or trying to. Our upcoming anniversaries will allow us to relook (again) and to, perhaps, make ourselves and things better. 

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This year, we ran across a photo of a cemetery. Looked to be New England. Or, any of the northern wooded  areas that abound. It turned out to be in the area of The Catholic Osage Mission which was established in 1830s to serve Native Americans who had been forced out west by President Jackson. This was the early group. Our post looked at the Mission and those involved. Of note was that this was on the KS side of the area, not the MO side (referring to a conflict that ensued three decades later). 

Today, their FB page pointed to a site (Woodbury Historical Tours - link only, no endorsement) which had an image that showed part of the Santa Fe Trail. On visiting the site, we saw an image which shows details of a very interesting trek that is planned for next month. The trek (technically assisted) goes from Kansas City, MO to Sante Fe, NM. In the image, one sees two major rivers. One is the Arkansas; the other is the Cimarron. We spent some time the past couple of years, looking at rivers as a boon and a bane. 

It is great to see this type of offering which we hope will become more prevalent in the future. The U.S. start is coming up (250th). The Frontier Century started a couple hundred years ago. Before then, we had the fur trade drawing people out west. One example is William S. Bent (Trapper, trader, rancher). Pertinent to this graphic (map) is Jedediah Strong Smith who met his demise somewhere in the area depicted by the lower part. 

JSS has a modern following that was organized in the Berkeley, CA area. David Woodbury (Historians discuss the Civil War) lives and works in the Stanford area. He is not leading this tour but has been active in publishing which caught our interest with respect to different attempts over the years. Say, TMM (Dr. Frank) which published some of the western visitors, like Col. T.W. Higginson or Judge F.M. Thompson. Or, even someone of the Sanborn family. 

One of our regular modes is to find New England connections in general followed by determining if there are further links to the specifics of Massachusetts, Essex County or Cape Ann. Woodbury was one of the initial investors and "comoverers" (quoting H.H. Crapo). Of course, a Woodbury is in Ann's lineage through Benjamin Brown Gardner, spouse of Lucy Foster Wilson Gardner which is part of the additional interest. Families moved far and wide over the years.   

Aside: We have done extensive research in the large middle of the country and have barely touched the whole of it. At the same time, given Essex County's shoreline, we have lots and lots of work to do with regard to the navalphiles. Then, there are the other cultures who were here, the various News (Spain, France, Sweden, and others). We like the middle given our landlubber modes. 

There were many trails. Later, before the railroads came in, we had attempts at systems for moving people and goods by coach. One of these was the Butterfield effort which leveraged off some work done by an Ipswicher of the Giddings family. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. As we really need to fill in lots of holes with regard to those early families that came after Lewis & Clark left and around the time that Boone came in. 

Back to David Woodbury, he wrote a diary starting with the March 2020 inception of the lockdown. Some of his comments are funny, such as the references to the totally unrealistic views of some Zuckerberg - types (did I get that right?). And, these ones (immature lot) gave us the stupid web out of silly valley. For a while, Woodbury worked with Savas Beatie who seems to be out of Iowa. We ran into that state when researching what happened to the North American Review. 

We are regrouping and, so, expect more of these recaps that are motivated by what others are doing to help get the message out about American, its past and why it induces a dream state so readily. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/22/2022

09/22/2022 --  Added "no endorsement" with respect to the tours. We are researching the relationships. 

England and US

TL;DR -- The transition of the U.K. from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II to that of Charles III allows us an opportunity to stop and consider the long-time relationships between them and us. We can track the 400 or more years of involvement; there is a 250th coming up of the resolution of our conflict; we are family, many ways, and therefore more for being allies than not; our cultural themes match up deeply; and more. The next few years will allow lots of discussion to come to fore. Too, it will be interesting to look at all aspects of our relationships. 

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Coronation
2 June 1953

Queen Elizabeth II's passing requires some reflection on our part about the long-time relationship between the colonies (and the U.S.) and the United Kingdom. Her recently-celebrated reign was 70 years long. With the inception of the reign of Charles III, we can look further at the 400 years of history, especially in terms of our good times and bad. 

From our start with the work of the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc, we followed the adage of letting those over there worry about the details on their side of the great waters while we looked at the American side. That limiting choice helped us in the early years to keep a focus, but we always had questions come up from our readers. Origins was a common theme for query. Questions of origins are for the most part associated with motivations. 

Too, as we got toward 2015, the focus on the Magna Charta ramped up. It was in this context that we got familiar with the scope of research being supported by the internet so that a major author could mostly work out of Salt Lake City but publish details about records that were in England. Of course, there has to be local work, as well, which we will be looking into.   

As an example, it was in 2014 that we saw that Sherborn records were being digitized which led to more information about Margaret Friar's life and her marriage to Thomas Gardner. At that time, we started the WikiTree effort, mainly due to the quality of genealogists working there.     

As we know, the 250th of the Revolution is coming up which marks the violent split of our two worlds. After that, there was a slow reconciliation, post the 1812 deal, which got us back to being strong allies as one would expect within families. For instance, the Cornwall Duchy is where one finds Dartmoor Prison which held Americans. So, we can look at many events in our research. The story of the HMS Resolute is an example.   

Below are two graphs. One shows the Monarchs from the time of Alfred the Great (lower graph) to Anne. This graph has Charles II who was the son of Charles I who was beheaded. There are two Cromwell terms on the lower graph. We have barely touched upon the subject of the English Civil War which played out here, too. Part of this graph, too, covers the colonial period. 

The upper graph goes from Queen Anne to Charles III. Her son died leaving George I as the main choice for King. From that time, we can track down to the turmoil of the split in two generations. Anne is a good place to start this graph. Her conflicts bled over here and motivated a Pamphlet War. It was this conflict plus the French-Indian affair that trained the colonials in military matters sufficiently to pull off a revolution.  

Monarchs, from 1707

As we consider motivations, there are many years and events to consider. For instance, it was the time of John, a few generations past William I, who is noted for sealing the Magna Carta. His son, Henry III, reinitiated the document. Henry VIII, much later, started the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Descendants of some of the members came to New England and founded the A&HAC of Massachusetts which is still an active group. There are many family relationships that are known, including there being U.S. ancestors of those in England. William Churchill is an example.  

Monarchs, to 1700,
from Alfred the Great

The sons of Charles III are descendants of several families who immigrated to New England. 

Canadian Psychologist, Jordan Peterson, remarks that the U.S. and the U.K. have similar government divisions, namely the legislative, executive and judicial. The U.K. has an additional one which we might call symbolic and which is fulfilled by the Royal Family's involvement via the Monarchy role. 

One wonders about the absence of potential for that type of symbolic unification here. How is that void handled? The rich, famous, athletic, intelligent, military, religious, or other of a long list? 

Remarks: Modified: 09/11/2022

09/11/2022 -- 

Shipbuilding in Essex

TL;DR -- The Smithsonian Museum on Main Street will be in Essex of Essex County to document the shipbuilding activities of the area. The former Chebacco was part of an effort that produced 4,000 vessels since the Cape Ann venture got that area going. 

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Last year, we had a post on shipbuilding which was motivated by reading that had been done after taking a break from researching the huge interior for such a long time: Frontier century. We know that we need to balance sea and land, going forward. 

We looked at some New England (northern Essex County) efforts in this regard that might seem to pale, in a few regards, when compared with Boston's prowess. But, there was southern Essex County involvement, too. That expertise was applied to building a meeting house in Chebacco by the women in the area. 

82-ton Evelina M. Goulart
built 1927

Today, we return to that location, referencing it with another name: Essex MA of little Essex County which is (and will be) one of our main themes. Thanks to a Mass Humanities notice, we got informed of an effort by the Smithsonian Institutes to help document shipbuilding there through the facilities of the Museum on Main Street that is part of the Crossroads program. 

The website for the Essex Shipbuilding Museum has more information on the collaboration. Many photos might suggest that only the smaller craft were built at Essex, but the photo at Mass Humanities (image, at right) indicates that larger vessels were constructed, such as the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon. 

Big sister town, Ipswitch, has a post on shipbuilding in Essex. The Burnham family built ships for years (still do). One estimate was that the area produced 4,000 vessels since its founding. 

Essex was part of Ipswich, which is one of the original towns in Essex County with a 400th celebration year of 2033. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/10/2022

09/10/2022 -- Essex County