Hypatia

TL;DR -- Today, we reach far back. If we can do that with the military guys we can do so with an example of a woman who was a mathematician and was martyred for her beliefs. 

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Why go back so far with respect to finding an example for Women's History Month? Well, last year, we looked at Emmy Noether who arrived before WWII and taught mathematics at Bryn Mawr. She had a serious influence on the modern view as seen by her Math Genealogy Profile. Many have not heard of Emmy and her work. 

Just like we did not know of the Wartime Quartet until December of last year. 

Hypathia is of the western tradition and fits within the major themes that we are looking at. Mainly, New England was the focus and continues to be a prime one. 

Hypatia wrote a commentary
on Apollonius of Perga's
treatise on 
conic sections,^{[34][133][134]} 
but this commentary is no
longer extant.^[133][134]

So, like with the military interest which has no temporal limits, we ought to consider long ranges for technology and it intellectual heritage. Actually, as we look at Awareness Months over this year, we will continue the theme of each throughout. 

Hypatia lived AD (also known as CE) and can be considered a cohort of early civilization in northern Europe. We are talking the ancestors of Alfred the Great, for instance. She is in the "Ancient History" section of the Timeline of the Women of Science which would have been still during the Roman times who were in the London area and elsewhere. 

The Romans were not in Scotland long, though. See Hadrian's Wall. Wait, the military influence seems to always arise? Still, we need to mention this page: End of Roman rule in Britain. Incidentally, we will keep with the theme that transcends time with even more of a focus. 

Hypatia was an astronomer and mathematician. She was the daughter of a mathematician. She followed the ideas of Plotinus and was murdered for taking this position. Without going into the details, Hypatia is considered a martyr for the cause of technology; as such, she deserves to be remembered. Our focus on technology (again, AIn't is prime concern) will keep her in the discussions. 

Such as, oh yes, changes that need to be brought to bear will require a few philosophical issues to be discussed and kept in focus. Don't you think that this is about time? 

Remarks: Modified: 03/26/2023

03/26/2023 -- Changed the image to be more of an interest to modern technology. We live and work, still, even intellectually, in an Euclidean world. ... One change is that now we know where to start researching over the waters. See not Square one? ..., Too, we will rearrange the knowns and the discussion of the unknowns and what to do. Then, proceed from that place. We' ll put more effort into the 1st generation and the connection to the families of the time. 

Square one?

TL;DR -- Hubbard was there. Talked to people. We need to research him. He mentioned that Thomas Gardner might have been there only one year. His tone seemed to indicate that he had talked to extant persons from what I have read. We can go back through the church records. Recheck. There were other earlier books, some of which have been digitized. We'll look at those. In the meantime, we can sketch out what is known and not. Anything not known, yet, can be considered (as long as it's noted to be conjectural). Even fiction will be welcomed. Square one? Not quite. What did we know of origins before? 

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A week ago, we were considering how Margaret and the other ladies of Cape Ann could be featured in the 400th pages where they were asking for stories. There was a deadline with regard to getting into their book. Well, a day later, we saw the work at WikiTree where Bob Dunlap reported the results of his diving into the images of the early records of the Sherborne parish that were available on ancestry (we haven't seen these, yet). So, we will relook and extend the view to the region. 

Here are two links from the past week: Margaret (Fryer) Gardner; New not old planter. Bob's work changes the scope but in ways that are not the knee-jerk type. After some review of where we have been the last decade plus reflecting on the new information, we put this post: Old, and new, planter. We have barely started our reviews so patience is the virtue required. 

Too, we have researched all of our working lives in different contexts. We'll do this right with the help of those who would like to see some resolution. How long will this take? Who cares? That notion of schedule goes along with the ca-pital-sino's false predictions (show John that he is wrong) which have caused havoc on the economy's need for sustainability. 

So, we are almost (might appear to be) back to "square one," but not. Or, as the saying goes, back to the drawing board. But, before we relook at what we know and what we need to find out, we need to recognize some existing work that seemed to offer hints. 

And, our promise? We'll cover all of the bases. Our request? No leaping to decisions. Conjecturing, as long as it's noted as such? Bring it on (our take: paleoichnology - see discussion about 2/3 way down the page). 

This post looks at a few of those and discusses their importance.

Sarah Cushing Paine, Charles Henry Pope - in a blog post (Where was Thomas? - 27 Jan 2012), we noted that these ladies had been quoted in the Paine Ancestry book (from 1912) with respect to their Gardner Ancestry (see graphic). The book was on the family of Robert Treat Paine (WikiTree: Paine-195), Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In this book, there is mention that Thomas may have gone back in 1626. Of course, when it was written 300 years later, and in the midst of celebrating Roger Conant, who would have been vocal about that. 

On WikiTree, there is some editorializing which ought not be. People, let's report what is known. Then, anything else is conjecture. Which we ought to love. Cannot live without them. 

Hubbard on Gardner 

Rev. Hubbard (from 2015) -- This post has a link to the Rev's manuscript as published 200 years later in the mid-1800s where he mentioned Tylly and Gardner. The latter? Hubbard noted that Gardner was here for "at least for one year's time" which comment needs to be put on the decision enabling list. Also, there are images from NEHGS' publication and from the Rev.'s manuscript with regard to who's first in New Hampshire.

The Rev. (we read somewhere) had talked to the principles. So, he would have talked to the Gardner extant during his research. That seems significant. 

Let's do one more as he is mentioned by Rev. Hubbard, too. 

Last year, John Tylly was featured in the NEHGR, finally. We had an earlier post on him in 2011 and noted that one of our interests is all of the families at Cape Ann.  

So, time can be a healer, so to speak. But, not necessarily. Having spent about three years now looking at the wide interior of the U.S. and considering the people who moved into the area, or through it, or who came back and forth, our thought goes toward a lost generation or two. We took two years to prove one person's heritage from the east coast (several place) to the Mississippi regions and then further west. Plenty remain open. The mother of one guy (who is gone now) was dropped off at a home in the mid-lands by her father who said that his wife had died and he would be back for her. Well, he never returned. The man searched all over. Prior to the modern mischief maker (the computer), he wandered and looked. DNA finally provided some possible hits. We have to check upon how that has gone with the family. 

But, like Thomas was unkown for along while, so are many more of that era and after. And, that still happens. Oh yes, cabbage patch comes up. Kid dropped in the middle of nowhere by magic. 

Our put is that technology might be great. But, it is not due to being a human affair. Doubt this with regard to computing? The reason that we picked technology as a focus is due to the problems that get over looked for cultural/social reasons. We can't trust. Verify? Not always possible without having a hand in all of the levels that pertain to some computational state.    

Doesn't matter? Well, from time to time, we get reminders that things are not copacetic. Do we pause and look? Not really. A decade later, lessons get unlearnt; things not supposed to happen again do. Won't mention the recent case as it's too new to really know. 

Which gets us back to the theme at hand. We're starting our relook. Want to help? Great. We'll begin by looking at what we know now and why. Then, anything thought known that isn't will be reviewed. Some of these have substance behind them which might give hints about an approach. But, some will remain unknown. 

And, the stories? Some of these may go way back. Blaming intermediate authors is not what to do. Can we approach this is a mature, research-oriented manner? There is no competition except, perhaps, against truth if we can pull it out of the hat. 

This site will be reorganized so as to emphasize research and progress (or not). Now, we have a focus with some support behind it. The stories over the years. Still of interest. Why? Humans and science.  

Remarks: Modified: 03/21/2023

03/20/2023 -- What we know? and FAQ will be updated. Too, we will be updating the Research posts and pages. Watch Sherborne research. 

03/21/2023 -- Mark up the image related to Hubbard's remark about 1 year. Emphasis added to the text. 

Old, and new, planter

TL;DR -- We heard new information two days ago. In the spirit of progressive steps, we did a post summarizing the finds and how they were to influence our positions. With further reading and research, we note that our course was not off the line. We need minor corrections. But, questions answered are only a few compared to the questions that just opened. So, that's the fun of life and research. 

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Two days ago, I saw that changes had been made to the Thomas Gardner profile on WikiTree. The discussion was in an adjoining G2G which is the mean to coordinate discussion, research, and modifications. 

Bob Dunlap, four-times descendant of Richard, spend a few hours going through several years, from the late 1500s through the 1630s, of the parish records in Sherborne, Dorset, England where we had seen the marriage record of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer. We had a post in 2014 which announced the discovery that digitization had been done by John Cook. 

See our post from two days ago: New not old planter. It has links to sources for referenced material. Too, please bounce to the Remarks for this day, 03/15/2023, where we start to add to our list of questions which were in a FAQ.  

After having some time for review, we are stating that our position to this new information: Old, and new, planter. The difference between these is discussed in the post (above link). As well, this discovery of Bob's is great for several reasons. 

Thomas, Margaret, 
marriage, the children

It got the debate back on the table. WikiTree has split the profile in two. One deals with the Thomas Gardner of this organization who is the father of the children. The other is about the Thomas Gardner who was associated with the Dorchester Company's effort at Cape Ann. This is great, as we can separate the focus for research. 

Our initial reaction? Again. Old, and new, planter. 

Another benefit is that we now know where to go to research the origins of Thomas and Margaret. Too, we can broaden our research in that area so include collateral families that might be from the region. We had already spent some time learning about the area. 

Too, we have heard from Thomas Gardner descendants whose ancestor went back to England. That could open the door to further investigation, locally. 

Here is the start of new questions. As well, we will close out questions that are resolved now. The FAQ will be updated. 

• Does the gap (three years) between the births of John and Samuel allow time for participation in the activity of the Dorchester effort at Cape Ann? 
• Too, could Thomas Gardner not being in the "old planter" list indicate his status of having left after being at Cape Ann and not being involved with Salem? 
• Associated with this would be: what was the status of Margaret and the kids (Thomas, George, Richard, and John) while Thomas was away from Sherborne? 
• Was she and the four boys here, enjoying the idyllic life of Cape Ann? 
• Did the bap record for John indicate a delayed (giving him as a minor?) report by Thomas after he (or even they) got back? 
• Could Thomas have left before Margaret was in child with John (not knowing)? 
• ...

Again, thanks to Bob Dunlap for the work. He looked at hundreds of images, but, as he wrote, he only had to look for a couple of names per image. Then, thanks to Joe Cochoit for editing the profile for Thomas. It had been a mess for a while as there was no clear way through the controversies developed over the years. We intend to revisit these as the history of the research is of interest to us, as well. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/26/2023

03/26/2023 -- See not Square one? We will rearrange the knowns and the discussion of the unknowns and what to do. Then, proceed from that place. We' ll put more effort into the 1st generation and the connection to the families of the time. 

New not old planter

TL;DR -- When we found the marriage record of Thomas and Margaret back in 2014, we also noted that records were being digitized. Of late, a researcher has gone through these records and found out that most of the children of Thomas and Margaret were registered in the records of the parish in Sherborne, Dorset, UK. There last child born that was in 1633. Seeth was born here in 1636. Shocker that this is, there are lots of open questions. So, we have research pending with regard to these. 

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The title catches the eye. Consider, it might (ought to) read: Old, and new, planter. The below sets the stage for discussing the future work .

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In 2014, researchers found a marriage record of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer, in church records in a parish in Sherborne, Dorset, UK. At the same time, there were birth records found for the first three sons plus. Too, Margaret's family seemed to have been found. 

After letting the information sit in, we finally updated the profiles for Thomas (Gardner-159) and Margaret (Fryer-892) on WikiTree. That was prompted, too, with discussions about removing Margaret as the mother of the children. 

This is a list of what are known as G2G studies where people discuss issues and make determinations about how to update WikiTree. Then, they do the edit. These can be accessed from the WikiTree Profile of Thomas Gardner. 

Now, coming forward, this year a study was finished that went through the parish records. What was noted was that most of the children of Thomas and Margaret are listed in the parish records. How could that been if the family was in New England? The last child in England was 1633. Seeth was born here. 

After some discussion, the Profile was rewritten in Feb of 2023 to remove associations of Thomas with the Dorchester Company. Too, it is assumed that the family came over around 1635 so that puts them in the Great Migration. 

So, look at Thomas' Profile to see what has been accepted as the genealogical record until we know otherwise. There are questions to answer. A main one is who was the Thomas Gardner who was here, before Roger Conant arrived at Cape Ann? 

We will get back to that. In the meantime, we will update material after we figure out a good approach to handling the change. His Profile is Gardner-924. 

Note: Bob Dunlap did the digging and reported on WikiTree. Joe Cochoit edited the profiles. 

Now, we titled this post "New not old planter" to point to continued work and discussion. We had two types of "old planters" with respect to Essex county. 

• Old Planters, Beverly -- were the group with Roger Conant when he moved from Cape Ann to Naumkeag. Gardner's name was not on that list. They got land. That always raised questions, some of which we will discuss, later. 
• Old Planters Society -- this group was started by Dr. Frank and Col. T.W. Higginson. They had regular meetings and reported via The Massachusetts Magazine. One way to characterize them to differentiate from the other group was by using Old Planters Of Massachusetts. This group was of those who were here prior to Winthrop's arrival in 1630 while not being associated with the Plymouth colony. 

One task will be to reorganize our information in order to ask the right questions for research. Some things will be known. Seeth was born here to Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer. Her record in in the Salem VR. 

Recently, we wrote of Margaret as a focus for research. That is still the case. Along with questions about Thomas, we have plenty to ask about Margaret and her family, too. For instance, was her brother in Gloucester? 

We have asked the question: Were there two Thomas Gardners? 

Remarks: Modified: 03/26/2023

03/14/2023 -- Pushed this to FB: TGS, Inc. page and the New England Family Genealogical and Historical group. ... Too, we will be updating, and redoing, the research topics and the rest. Cape Ann families still apply as a theme due to 2nd generation marriage of daughters of Thomas and Margaret to sons of these families. Too, some lineages will have these families. 

03/15/2023 -- We need to let this new information sink in. There are many more questions to replace those that might be answered. The FAQ will be updated. Does the gap (three years) between the birth of John and Samuel allow time for participation in the activity of the Dorchester effort at Cape Ann? Too, could Thomas Gardner not being in the "old planter" list indicate his status of having left after being at Cape Ann? Associated with this would be: what was the status of Margaret and the kids (Thomas, George, Richard, and John) while Thomas was away from Sherborne? Did the bap record for John indicate a delayed report by Thomas after he (or even they) got back? ... There will be more questions.

03/26/2023 -- See not Square one? We will rearrange the knowns and the discussion of the unknowns and what to do. Then, proceed from that place. We' ll put more effort into the 1st generation and the connection to the families of the time. 

Margaret (Fryer) Gardner

TL;DR -- Margaret, as equal and with her family, are continuing themes. We revisit our posts so far plus the information obtained from the records of Sherbourne, Dorset, UK. 

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Last time, we noted that Margaret would be an equal partner with Thomas as we also mentioned that the focus on Cape Ann will start in 2023 and continue throughout 2024. For Margaret, we have pulled together some of the posts about her.

• Margaret's family  
• Margaret, equal partner  
• Marriage of Thomas and Margaret  
• Margaret Friar, WikiTree  
• Families at Cape Ann 
• Cape Ann, retrospective
  
• ...

This graphic shows some of the new information about Margaret and Thomas that needs attention. Here is a summary: Margaret's parents, Walter and Grace, were married in 1591; Thomas Gardner was baptized in 1591; Margaret Fryer was baptized in 1598; Walter Fryer's will in 1610 mentions Grace and Margaret, as well as a son Thomas who came over; Thomas and Margaret were married in 1617; son Thomas was born in 1618; George was born in 1619; and Richard was born in 1622. 

Research: Margaret Fryer 
and family

One reason for taking this couple as the one who came over is that they do not continue to appear in the records of Sherbourne. Plus the first of the sons match up with the Cape Ann family. 

We mentioned that we have been looking at other Cape Ann families. We will try to split these into the early families (before Roger Conant's arrival) and later (before John Endicott's arrival). In the later period, there was the movement Massey's Cove and Salem. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/13/2023

03/13/2023 -- See "New not old planter" post with regard to research findings. Thomas and Margaret have children registered in England until 1633. 

 

 

Margaret, equal partner

TL;DR -- 100 years ago, Margaret got some attention. Then, modern research threw her out. We got her back. Now, we'll make her presence ubiquitous (normally used for computing, of late). Too, the women of Cape Ann will get attention this month to establish a basis for future work. The order goes, Cape Ann --> Essex County --> Massachusetts --> New England, and then a long reach across the U.S. over time and a huge interior. All having been noted here will be further explored. 

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As time goes by, so too do the Awareness Months. March is Womens History Month. So, this month, we are continuing that theme as we started last year by bringing women into the discussion. We will be looking at another mathematician later, as we did last year with Emmy Noether. Too, we will be adding a post about a Native American tribe that Yankees going west encountered. 

Today, we think that it's time to bring Margaret some attention. Hence, we have changed our header at both sites (traditional, portal) to read as this image says. 

It notes that the Society is "For ... Thomas Gardner (implied &) Margaret Fryer ... Planters (Cape Ann, Salem)" as both were instrumental in getting the thing done. We're here. Also, we will be looking deeply at the history of Cape Ann and its families (many modern sites with photos of paintings done in the area of Gloucester will be linked below - coming soon).  

Too, after looking at Gloucester's 400th commemoration activities this week, we started to research possible topics to represent what the Society is about. And, per usual, Roger Conant's theme came up which was the focus 100 years ago. He is mentioned in a huge plaque plus some smaller ones in the Gloucester area. Too, he is in lots and lots of write ups as the first name of the effort. There was the theme of Beverly Planters as an example.

That is, in terms of history, we pinpoint a few to carry forward the message. But, some, like Rev. Hubbard, actually talked to Thomas Gardner and mentioned him and John Tylly. Lots of the pruning was due to technology and other limits. 

So, our theme being technology, we have to think about how we can tame the beast for the future where a sustainable mode is left for the progeny. Can we do it? Yes. But, pondering all of the possible stories, we settled on featuring Margaret, mother of the children. BTW, there is no issue with Conant taking the heat. That let's us do our own truth assessment using means outside of the normal. 

After all, Roger is on Ann's ancestors' list. Too, Seeth married a son of Roger and had a child. He married a daughter of Richard More, that puzzle of the Mayflower mindset. Other stories abound some of which we have covered in posts, like James Bryant Conant of Harvard. 

But, back to Margaret, she had another wife on board with her. Roger was here, single. Thomas Gardner and John Balch brought their families. Margaret, the mother of nine children (start with Thomas and follow the links), eight of whom had progeny. Sarah (Gardner) Balch's mother-in-law came with Margaret on the same ship in 1624. 

We are researching progeny of each child, for Sarah:

• Benjamin Balch (c. 1730s) – first Chaplain, Continental Navy; William Balch (c. 1770s) – first Chaplain, U.S. Navy. His father was first chaplain of the Continental Navy; his grandfather had been a chaplain in the Royal Navy; Adolphus Greely (c. 1840s) – American Polar explorer, recipient of the Medal of Honor; John Henry Balch (c. 1890s) – United States Navy, World War I, Medal of Honor, Lieutenant, World War II. 

Seeth (Gardner) Grafton married (first) Joshua Conant, son of Roger Conant. Their sister, Miriam (Gardner) Hill married twice. One of her progeny was the namesake of the Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS about which we have written a lot. 

There were later arrivals in time before Endicott came over. Some of these families went over with Salem. We'll be looking more thoroughly of pre-and-post-Massey's Cove in more ways than merely noting that Cape Ann was close to paradise or the Glory of Cape Ann. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/13/2023

03/13/2023 -- See "New not old planter" post with regard to research findings. Thomas and Margaret have children registered in England until 1633. 

 

Technology, its basis

TL;DR -- As we pursue our interest in technology, we will look at the spectrum. Today, a topic of much discussion is STEM. We deal with the 'M' part in this post as it supports the other pieces of the puzzle. In particular, Wolfram gets a little attention. 

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Earlier, we mentioned ChatGPT (CP) which came on the scene in November of 2022 and started to make waves, of various sorts. It was almost like a Rorschach test which people perceive differently and which reactions can be subjected to psychological analysis. Either love CP or not. Not only did reactions to it vary, but it has been put to a number of uses without any clear indication of quality. 

Kids used it to do their homework, even in at college level. Many experts doubted its use in their work. Companies decided to apply it to their businesses, both as a process improvement as well as an extension of their products. Wits offered opinions. 

What we did was exercise CP with queries of several contexts. The results will be studied at some point. Some quick analysis has already been written about. Some want to ban CP. Elon Musk did not like that Microsoft  used it in their search engine, Bing. 

We pondered some of the arguments that it might become known as a corrupter of youth. Answers were known to seem reasonable but were not. Mathematical queries had suspect results. Not to do the whole litany, but Wolfram noted one obvious factor: CP manipulates, quite well, the syntaxial aspects of its answer but knows little to semantics.

Some argue that models which can support reasoning will help. Plenty of ways exist to to this type of thing.  We give one example below which deals with the basis of technology, namely, mathematics. 

• Wolfram|Alpha as the Way to Bring Computational Knowledge Superpowers to ChatGPT 

Wolfram, the company, is the product of the 1970s and has evolved with the computer. There are several aspects to their offerings, but computational mathematics and its use are the core of their products. So, STEM? Wolfram was there from the beginning. Let's leave this with an image that compares ChatGPT with Wolfram's offering. There will be more discussion as we go along. 

 

Stephen Wolfram, Writings

Now, tying back to our main theme, Stephen Wolfram was born in London. Went to Eton, Oxford, and Caltech. After some experiences at University, he created Mathematica which was released in 1988. Along with the 'M' side of STEM, Stephen has dabbled in the other sides and has lots of interesting thoughts for us to listen to that can be set in the historical vein. Much like we are trying to do here.  

Remarks: Modified: 03/07/2023

03/07/2023 --