Scholars, in general

Back in 2011, we read that a Middle School in Peabody had Thomas Gardner on a list of colonials for the students to study. Part of the material came from our publications. Later, the post disappeared.

Of late, we have been looking at the western expansion using Cumberland Gap as a reference point to discuss the realities then of moving from one place to another. Motivation for that came from looking a families in the south, many of whom had come down from New England. Post the U.S. Revolution, there was an upswing of interest in the west. Consequently, there is a lot of material to cover.

But, one factor was the waterway. We noted from the group that went from Massachusetts to Lawrence KS traveled part way on foot through terrain that might have been less severe than people would find out west but was still difficult. As mentioned, going from the Kansas City area to Fort Larned on the Sante Fe Trail (a mere few hours now by car) was almost three weeks of daily grind. We looked at some of the issues in a recent post: Cumberland Pass (which is near a mountain named for Harvard).

The travelers had to go over divides, albeit in a lesser mode than one would require if there was not a choice. Say, a pass that is 12k feet in height is quite different than what was required for traversing the Cumberland Gap which was still work. As we mentioned in an earlier post, this summer, a woman talked of leaving her infant behind a bush as she helped her husband get the wagon up a steep climb. They were using horses which had to stop to get a breath. Well, the wagon needed to be chucked to relieve the strain on the horses. After they got to the top, the woman would go back down, get her infant, and come back up.

And, then, it was down the hill until the next rise. That's why we mentioned the ford near Lawrence KS as training. Same routine, albeit, less slope and distance. Lots of stories like that will come to the fore with events like the 400th plus the existence of technology for presentation of information on-line.

One huge divide results in the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Those were major obstacles. This get us back to education. There is a graphic of the Continental Divide on material used for 4th-Grade science which was interesting (first bullet). As well, the site provide coding opportunities. Yes, adults need to get their heads in that mode, too. So, looking further at the posts that can be found on this divide, there is a report on traveling the Trail Ridge Road in the mountains near Estes Park. It has wonder photographs (second bullet). So, taking that further, and coming up on the scholar's view, there are other types of faults. An Earth Science post shows us the triple divide (third bullet). That leads to the more general view which would include the Laurentian Divide. The photo on the right is from this Wikipedia article (fourth bullet).

• The Continental Divide (shows access that the students have to modern modes, including robotics, mathematics, computing, ...)
• Travels in Geology - Roof of the Rockies (notice the reinforcement for Alpine Visitor Center needed to keep the winter snows from crushing the thing)
• Earth Science Guy - Triple Divide (not sure about the split with Gulf of Mexico - after all,  we're talking Montana which far from Texas, however it has a great photo - too, the Rio Grande starts near where Gardner, CO sits close to the Sangre de Cristo ranges)
• Laurentia Divide (with regard to the area - Laurentian Upland - in which is the river named after Saint Lawrence)

So, we have a new series to talk about: on-premise, cloud, mobile. That is, these refer to the types of platforms and presentation options related to the modern distributed mode. As in, the TGS, Inc. will be at the forefront of illustrative material being offered which can cover all of the intellectual levels.

In the prior posts, we showed the Mississippi watershed. However, look at the yellow line. That's the initial barrier that gave Daniel Boone fame. And, going north, we had divides up there, albeit we lost Canada in the U.S. Revolution (never had it, even Maine wanted to split off).

Remarks: Modified: 08/10/2020

08/10/2020 --

Beverly, MA

We have mentioned Beverly a few times, but have not ventured over the river, as of yet. So, it's time due to a query about Sidney Perley's look at the town. In his History of Salem, he presented his walkabout (pg 415, page 416, pg 417 has the lot names, the map is on page 417i). As well, this is Sarah (Gardner) Balch's town.

While starting to research the town, we found a page with lots of maps (provided by Robert Raymond). He also has offered Sidney's Beverly in 1700.

This bird's eye view that is available from the LOC is of Beverly, MA in 1886.

Remarks: Modified: 08/08/2020

08/08/2020 --

Cumberland Pass

TL;DR - East and west has to be our scope; that is, the totality of the American experience over the four centuries.  Oh yes, a mountain named Harvard. It's in an out-of-the-way place but close enough to Cumberland Pass, in the Rockies. There is another pass in the east through Cumberland Gap. Some went through the eastern pass on the way west; in those days, the travelers would have skirted those higher area as the travel was hard enough without needing extra thrills thrown in, as we see now with technology providing the facility for frivolity.

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This is a little diversion, related to western movement: 3 trails, Final migration, and more. We have two passes out of many that those migrating west had to handle with a similar name: Cumberland Gap and Cumberland Pass. The former was a training pass out of North Carolina, associated with Daniel Boone leading people west. He ended up in Missouri, early. The latter represents much higher elevations (11k more feet). Fortunately, even out west, there were choices found that alleviated some of the agony of the work required in those days. One consequence of moving was that record keeping, many times, lagged seriously leaving gaps, many times filled with effort but also becoming brick walls.

We wrote of Cumberland Gap, earlier. The pass through this gap allowed movement toward Tennessee and Kentucky and then all points west. Even with a height of a mere several hundreds of feet, traversing the gap would have required arduous work. The use of 'training' suggests that anyone starting out with this pass on the way to Oregon still had lots work to accomplish of a type of daily grind.

Also, quoting Wikipedia:

• The passage created by Cumberland Gap was well traveled by Native Americans long before the arrival of European-American settlers. The passage through the gap was originally created by herds of woodland buffalo that traveled across it over thousands of years, drawn by the abundance of salt in the region. The earliest written account of Cumberland Gap dates to the 1670s, by Abraham Wood of Virginia.

Now, the other pass? It's in the Rockies, in Colorado's Gunnison County, to be specific. Now, this pass was not on any of the major trails that were heavily used. For the most part, there were easier passes (comparatively, to each other, but still requiring hard work, endurance, and carefulness) for those who were heavily laden. Taking a look at passes on the Oregon Trail will give some idea of this.

Cumberland Pass is in the Sawatch Range. Tincup CO is on one side of the pass; on the other side is Pitkin CO. Both of these are mining towns which is a type of pioneering effort. For the past few months, we have been looking at pioneer families which is why Cumberland Gap was mentioned. Then, we remembered the other Cumberland pass. Both are named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. Both too show the influence of England and New England.

For instance, Mt. Harvard is in this range which includes several mountains that are over 14k feet in height. One interest in this area is that it pinpoints the Continental Divide. As the map shows, with the Mississippi's drainage, we had people leaving the right side, heading to the left. Not only were there rivers to cross, each had many tributaries of various sizes.

So, this pass in Colorado is near where the flow changes. We will have a little more to say about rivers. We mentioned Gardner River which goes to the Pacific. This is further west and north of Cumberland Pass where the Snake (Columbia) and the Gardner River (Missouri) start, ending up in two different places.

The watershed of the
Mississippi River
cut the land through
which the pioneers
had to travel.

With regard to the 'training pass' mentioned above, we noted in a post (Final migration) the report of the group who left Massachusetts and traveled to Kansas. They founded Lawrence (and KU) among other things. But, they mention coming out of the Kansas City area on foot, camping by the Wakarusa, fording it and getting to what became Lawrence. As has been noted, this little river required techniques that became handy in the western mountains: tear down the wagon, lower, get it across, and back up, reassemble, gather everything that had been ported across. Time and again.

This map is to suggest how many times that sort of thing would have been necessary. And, storms, snow run-off, and such would have made crossing turbulent waters part of the concern. So, no interstates and air-conditioned cars. Too, follow the North & South Carolina line to Oregon (lower right to upper left - almost diagonal).   

Note: In the movement west, official recordings always trailed (lagged behind) the edge of the wave. How long this happened varied? There are lists that show when each location started to get regular in recording but that as elastic, too. Never did it just pop into place overnight. There would have been a transition period. So, genealogists with their lead feet? Oh yes, they like to talk as if their need for a document gives being to the ancestors of people who might have, now, holes in their paper trail. Guess what? That is categorically stupid (even Bayes would agree with that). So, what to do? Get more clever about filling in the pieces. Do this without due diligence? No, just stay out of the way and let the story be told as it is pieced together.

Remarks: Modified: 08/09/2020

08/07/2020 -- In this post, we are looking at two disparate spots that share a name, however there are many points in-between. Like Eudora, KS. Where "The Wakarusa meets the Kaw" is on their history site and is an example of local lore getting some attention. See "Along the Western Trails."

08/08/2020 -- Cumberland Pass in the west has the same name as that in the east known as the Gap. However, they represent the movement across the country which established the country. So many stories. Too, they created instances like poor Chloe being dissed by Plymouth people squatted in eastern Massachusetts. It's a large country out here, folks. So, I have now seen oodles of families with the same problem from the tip (Canadian border) all the way to the lower part of Texas. Has anyone really awakened to this? Not that I can see, otherwise I would not have the need for this type of post (Genealogy and Bayes).

08/08/2020 -- Following up on the theme of the difficulty of the cross-country trip, here is another view which is the Google-planned trip from North Carolina to Oregon. The little insert is a map of the Oregon trail which went through Gardner, KS. Later, the travelers went up the Missouri to where Omaha is and then ventured west meeting up with those who came out of Independence, MO.

Modern route,
courtesy of Google Maps

It is interesting how the modern highway system matches up with that the people settled on guided by those who had traveled trail. Reminds us of Jedediah's mapping of the California Interstate System.

               

Origins and motivations

TL;DR -- As we go forward, we want to keep ties with older material so as to have a cohesive view always in place. From time to time, that type of review would be published via The Gardner Annals. However, a focus is providing constant entries via a portal to truthful tales of the past and to a discussion of their current relevance.

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We have had several posts on two subjects: origins and motivations. The former subject covers several areas, especially issues related to 'whence' (that is one huge thing to learn about Thomas and Margaret). The latter considers all of the factors that might have resulted in reasons to leave. Of course, we have the work of Frances Rose-Troup to look at, albeit an update is in order.

All of our posts accumulate, and contribute, toward a growing knowledge base, using the modern parlance. That is, we have such an intent. With several years under the belt, we can, from time to time, look at a topic with regard to its relevance and to concerns over the years of our study. That is, we might be more regular and looking at status and focus.

These four posts are of interest.

• Black death (Nov 2012) -- In the 1300s, the plague killed 50% of an area in Weymouth which is located in the southwest. There were outbreaks in the 1600s and the 1700s. Of course, there were issues in the New World, too. But, we need to remember this contributor to turmoil
• Plus or minus the arrival (Mar 2013) -- As we get more attuned to the look backs, we will also keep aware of what was going on back in the Old World. For instance, Baruch Spinoza was born in 1632 which is two years post the arrival of John Winthrop. We can remind ourselves of events along the whole of the timeline. 
• Origins - motivations (Mar 2013) -- There are many ways to slice various looks at the past which is what can make history interesting. We now have technology that allows even more types of variety in presentation. 
• General crisis (Mar 2019) -- Globally, the 17th century was stressful in several ways that bear some attention. This post was a year prior to our recent experience with COVID-19. In the 19th century, we had the Spanish flu; before that, about 200 years, we had an epidemic in New England. 

A huge theme for us is the pending 250th of the U.S. which fits nicely into the other areas of concern. Along with that major event, we have to focus on what went on before, especially from the viewpoint of Cape Ann and Massachusetts; as well as, we can provide a means to look at how the U.S. has unfolded over the past two decades with the expectation of contributing to necessary analysis and change.

Remarks: Modified: 08/04/2020

08/04/2020 --

Preview, Gardner's Beacon, Vol X, No 1

Our last issue was Gardner's Beacon, Vol. IX, No. 3 which published in late December. We had anticipated an early spring issue this year but are a little late. Part of that has to do with the uncertain future that we are all facing. So, we have a lot of unknowns while going forward, some of which we hope can be resolved earlier than others.

Technology has shown its use in ways that were unexpected, albeit there might have been a hope. For one, interest in managing demands for streaming video resulted in a beef'd up set of communication modes whose presence turned out to be useful for people locked up at home. As well, business found great use for the facilities, as will we (see TGSoc.org for ongoing discussions and demonstrations).

A hundred years ago, Dr. Frank's The Massachusetts Magazine quit publishing which was puzzling when we first started to look at the archives as he had excellent contributors. But, later, we were reminded of the Spanish Flu and WWI. That was a couple of years ago. This year really brought it home as we cannot have much to say about when things will quiet down. Nor do we have much to say about what the new normal might be. Just like our ancestors made it through those times, we can expect some future event that will include a thoughtful recap. However, just as the Spanish Flu was around for over two years, we might expect something similar or not. A vaccine would cut the time; a much longer time would not be outside of the realm of possibilities.

In the meantime, we will be reviewing the past decade's work while thinking of how things ought to progress. Too, we will be publishing the next issue of The Gardner Annals (Vol. V, No. 1). With that volume, we can go back and restructure material to put into book form. We expect to have a couple of issues in Vol. V. There is still time to contribute (inquiries@tgsoc.org).

While doing research the past few months related to the American Revolution, we have been considering how the periods line up and overlap. So, we're facing the 250th of that event soon, about the same time as the Cape Ann celebration. Then, we have the post-revolution periods related to the growth of the U.S. in stature and wealth. In looking further at the GSMD books on the fifth generation, we saw that Dr. Frank had come forward to the seventh, for some parts of the family.

However, too, one could see that the 4th and 5th bore the onus of the attainment of freedom. Then, it was the 6th who carried on with the new country. The 7th? The first to enjoy the fruits of those turmoil that the earlier generations face.

Remarks: Modified: 08/01/2020

07/31/2020 -- 

Generations, 1907 book

TL;DR -- The table shows four of the lines in Dr. Frank's 1907 book.

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The earlier post listed the first and last person for each of the generations in the 1907 book of Dr. Frank. The table summarizes the lineages where we can see that Thomas, George, and Samuel were the main families with the last having the most coverage, basically from Dr. Frank's work on his lineage. Our next step will be to go to WikiTree and do another table based upon the work there that is being driven by the Great Migration Project.

In this table, all surnames are Gardner.

1	2	#2 Lt Thomas	#3 George	#6 Samuel	#6 Samuel
2	3	#12 Lt Thomas	#22 Samuel	#59 Abel	#59 Abel
3	4	#62 Habukkuk	#69 John	#79 Abel	#82 Joseph
4	5	#87 Habukkuk	#90 John	#129 Simon Stacey	#133 Joseph
5	6		#139 John	#188 Jonathan	#192 John
6	7		#197 Elizabeth	#345 Benjamin Brown

Comparison list between 1907 and 1933 books.

Remarks: Modified: 08/09/2020

07/29/2020 -- 

Generations, again

TL;DR -- Starting with  Dr. Frank's 1907 book, we begin a look at the generational stack with the intent to go to WikiTree, next.

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Lately, the generation theme has looked at major events in the U.S. history, starting with the Revolution. That was the ordeal of the 4th and 5th generations. Then, we had the 6th and 7th that were involved with the expansion of the American sphere of influence both internally (western expansion, et al) and in the world. Part of that was generating wealth, unbounded, for some families. At the same time, there were turmoils to consider. So, we will be trying to organizing these topics and the corresponding studies with respect to generations using several (actually many) families.

In terms of time spread of the generations, we can use the Mayflower example for comparison. Say, during the Revolution, we would have had people from the 4th, 5th, and 6th generations involved. Too, there may have even been some remnants of the 3rd and early entrants of the 7th generations around and about. The theme is, though, that 'cohort' is a useful concept which can be used to help with the categorizations. Using generations allows us to have a focus on families.

In his 1907 book, Dr. Frank starts the 3rd generation with #12 Lt. Thomas Gardner (bp 1645 - 1695), son of #2 Lt. Thomas Gardner ( - 1682) and Hannah (pg 101).

• He starts the 4th generation with #61 Thomas Gardner (1671 - 1696), son of #12 Thomas (pg 134). This generation includes #69 John Gardner (1681 - 1732), son of #22 Samuel Gardner (1647 - 1724) and Elizabeth Browne (pg 140). 
• He starts the 5th generation with #87 Habakkuk Gardner (1707 - 1762), son of #62 Capt Habakkuk Gardner (1673 - 1732) and Ruth Gedney (pg 162). This generation includes #105 Capt Jonathan Gardner (1728 - 1791) who served in both the French-Indian and Revolutionary wars (pg 178). Also, included is #129 Simon Stacey Gardner (bp 1743 - b 1787) who is the 2nd-great-grandfather of Dr. Frank. (pg 195). 
• He starts the 6th generation with #139 John Gardner (1739 - 1805), son of #90 Capt John Gardner (bp 1706 - 1784) and Elizabeth Putnam. (pg 198). This generation includes #188 Jonathan Gardner (bp 1773 -1839), son of Simon Stacey Gardner (pg 283), and concludes with #192 John Gardner (1793 - 1834), son of #133 Joseph Gardner () and Anna Edee (pg 301). His daughter, #368 Harriett (1833 - 1887), is the last person named in the 1907 book of Dr. Frank. 

In the details for generation six, Dr. Frank gives information about the children and grand children. That gets us to the 7th and 8th generations. Given that we want to use Thomas' children as the 1st generation, Dr. Frank has given us a start on looking at the first of the seven generations. In that last generation, we will be looking at the U.S. Civil War.

Earlier, we did a table that listed the names in the two books. This list will be extended.

Remarks: Modified: 07/29/2020

07/29/2020 -- See next post for a Table of names from above.