TGA III and IV, print of

At long last (early discussion, June) and with the summer being over, we have completed the compilation for print of The Gardner Annals, Vols. III and IV, and Gardner's Beacon, Vols. IV, V, VI, and VII. This is a preview look (see Table of Contents, below), from the publisher. 

We have ordered both color and black/white copies and expect to receive our shipment from the printers within the week. Instructions for ordering can be obtained by notifying us at publications@tgsoc.org. 

The issue contains all of the Table of Contents for The Massachusetts Magazine. Too, we have articles concerning history and genealogy. As well, future topics are discussed, briefly. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/14/2018

10/14/2018 -- We have the printed copies in house, reading for shipping.

Comment and Criticism

We will have our second print (TGA Vol III and IV) soon as preparatory activities are drawing to a close. We recently got notice of an error in one of the early articles (TGA Vol II No 1 - Henry D. Gardiner and the barque Bostonian). Before that, I noticed some minor errors in the first print edition. For example, in TGA  Vol I No 1, I typed 1935 rather than 1933 (twice) while referencing Dr. Frank's Gardner Memorial book. Then, I noticed that the footnotes ought to have refreshed across major sections. This is corrected in the second print.

But, we had already run into some issues with Gardner's Beacon. In that case, we created Afterthoughts and modifications to handle those. For example, in GB Vol III, No 4, I had used something read on the web without verifying the thing (tsk). The implication that I read was that Damaris' first husband had been discovered. Well, it was not true, and I was too much of a newbie to know the difference. In any case, we later heard from an excited Shattuck descendant wanting to know more. So, I traced my steps which is crucial and found out that the website was gone. Ah.

Incidentally, this happens a lot on ancestry (pity those poor folks) and carries even into WikiTree. It's not the bloom off the rose, but it is tiring. How can we make it better? Well, be more careful. And, there are ways to do this. Too, one sees it in Wikipedia, especially when someone writes an erroneous page to begin with.

So, this from an entry in What's new (general one for TGS, for now).

• 08/17/2018 -- The 2nd wife of H.D. Gardiner, owner of the barque Bostonian that wrecked off of Oregon in 1850, was Caroline B. Turner (see note this day at this post) of Maine and not Caroline C. Turner of Nantucket.

It points to a post on Nantucket and the wonderful work of Eliza Starbuck Barney. The Nantucket site exults on their being true to Eliza's work. Yes. But, as I have seen all over, no one seems to have a way to present corrections. The proverbial tale is that a correction is in small print on page 15 in a 40 page paper. But, we need to do better; and, the TGS does have an interest in this.

So, we will keep with the afterthought approach with Gardner's Beacon. What to do with TheGardner Annals? We'll follow Dr. Frank, hence the title of this post. In his The Massachusetts Magazine, he had a section that was titled, usually, Comment and Criticism. See the TOC of Vol. VII (example from No 4). The sub-heading is "On books and other subjects" which is more broad than handling errata. However, any correction ought to be more than mere overwriting.

So, in the case of H.D. Gardiner, we will write an article on this. Turns out that this wife was a Thomas Gardner descendant, too. And, it involves movement from New England. Ah,  yes, the western migration.

So, there is a page on TGSoc.org dealing with Publications. It will point to this post, however we will be introducing changes to ThomasGardnerSociety.org that will include the facility to meet this requirement.

Remarks: Modified: 09/15/2018

09/15/2018 --

Pressing day

See update 09/21/2021, below, as we reflect on this theme which is recurrent. 

---

This post is timely in that Giles Corey died on the 19th of September in 1692. Three days later, his wife (Martha Corey) was hanged with others. Two of these are ancestors of Dr. Frank (Wikipedia -- Samuel Wardwell and Mary Ayers Parker) -- (WikiTree -- Samuel Wardwell and Mary Ayers Parker) through his grandmother, Lucy Foster (Wilson) Gardner.

Now, the title? Giles was pressed for a couple of days before he succumbed. His friend, John Gardner son of Thomas and Margaret, was there.

The topic of 1692 events will come up for discussion in the near future. To facilitate this discussion, here are related posts for reference:

• Great Salem Fire of 1914 (4 Jun 2014) -- Started on upper Boston Street and ran down to the shore. 
• Andover ordeal (28 Apr 2014) -- While researching Samuel and Mary, we were following the Wilson line of Lucy. There were two generations that married and doubled down on the witch connections. Samuel's granddaughter lost twelve of fourteen of her children in their childhood. 
• Essex recollections (3 Sep 2013) -- About the extended family and friends of Francis Dane who were impacted by the Salem madness.   
• Meeting, again (10 Feb 2013) -- More background. 
• Imagine a meeting (28 Oct 2012) -- Provides some background and builds a table of participant who were not victims and who are related to Dr. Frank. 
• Gardner's Beacon, Vol. II, No. 5 (27 Oct 2012) -- John Goff, Salem antiquarian, wrote of the Witch House. The theme of this post was a continuation. 
• 1692 theme, again (24 Oct 2012) -- Comments while getting Gardner's Beacon Vol. II, No. 5. ready for release. 
• Salem's madness (19 Nov 2011) -- The English had been mad before. 
• Gardner's Beacon, Vol. I, No. 4 (21 Oct 2011) -- Got into the theme early. First look at how the incident related to the Gardner family. 
• Ruth Gardner (18 Sep 2011) -- Daughter of George Gardner, wife of John Hathorne. 

The next issue of Gardner's Beacon will go into this subject a little more. Namely, the commercially exploited look at the witches who were not while 150 graves were disturbed from which event we need to know how many were just stone moves with the remains moved without due notice. One thing to do would be to get a list of people, as best we can, who were buried on Gardner Hill. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/21/2021

10/10/2018 -- Added Essex recollections, and others. Now that we have Dr. Frank's pedigree in WikiTree, we can use it for articles.

09/21/2021 --  Tomorrow is the day of remembrance for several persons, including Samuel Wardwell and Mary Ayers Parker. This article in The Essex Genealogist was motivated, in part, by an article that they produce with regard to Rev. Francis Dane and his association with several persons on the various sides of this event. The first effort was the post titled "Imagine a meeting" with a similar table showing some of parties who were there in various roles.  

Trials of the Wilson Family, TEG 34:3, by J. M. Switlik

Dr. Frank and WikiTree

Earlier, we mentioned that we had Dr. Frank's notes about his heritage from around the 1907 timeframe. The first exercise was to use his notes to check his Gardner pedigree against what Gardner Research had come up with starting from scratch almost 100 years later. The two views matched up. Of course, we had his books as reference. But, we have filled in the entire tree with the collateral families. In this day and age, we have a lot more information available since the www has forced things to an on-line mode. Too, communication is much faster (albeit, still errorful due to many reasons).

But, the question came up about public presentation since Gardner Research information is in a private, personalized environment, at the moment. Well, about the time that the marriage notice of Thomas and Margaret came up, we had gone to Wikitree to put in a link on the Thomas Gardner page. That was 2014. There had been a bit of discussion now and then, but, this year, the focus came back. So, this was accomplished: Margaret, anew. Essentially, we can declare that Thomas and Margaret were the parents of the children (notice that the first two nodes have the same information; the idea will be to merge these so that there are two spouses: Margaret and Demaris).

So, while that was going on, it seemed like a good time to try out WikiTree (what else? Not ancestry, for several reasons). If you look at the Profile of JMSwitlik (section on WikiTree), you will see the projects that are ongoing. Some of this was done by using ahnentafels from articles written in The Essex Genealogist or in The Gardner Annals to make profiles. In all cases, we got back to a Profile that already existed. In many cases, that Profile listed the known children. All we did was link in and bring up-to-date information related to a descendant.

But, Dr. Frank seemed to be a good subject (Frank Augustine Gardner (1861-1938)). The image is of his Profile and includes the first page of his ancestors graph ('Ancestors' button). To note is that we have 13 of 16 of his 2nd-great-grands. We have information about the others, however this needs checking before filling out the Profile.

With regard to the referenced projects, there are a lot more in process. However, with these, the focus was on Profiles in order to get familiar with the WikiTree ways (that is, get nodes into the tree). On each Profile, there is minimal source material; however, we have many sources and will be going back to fill in additional source material.

In doing Dr. Frank's biography (brief), we noted his sister, Lucie M. She picked up his work when Sidney Perley retired and published her work in The Massachusetts Magazine. Also, we noted that they were descendants of Nathaniel Eaton (as is Ann, TGS Secretary/Treasurer), and the link is there (pick Rebecca Knapp, wife of Simon Stacey Gardner). However, in doing his mother's line, we see that he is a descendant of Damaris Shattuck. So, he descends from both wives of Thomas. Lots more stuff coming.

For instance, taking Rebecca Knapp, we know her pedigree. For instance, she has Edward Woodman who was early into Newbury. This exercise tried to stay within things that have been proven by having been bumped up against a genealogist from one of the Heritage Society Community's groups that meet in D.C. each spring. That, folks, is about the best way to test these things. Our continuing issue? Even WikiTree has flim-flam. How to mark these would be something to figure out. In the meantime, note that the TGS will only put out things that have been scrutinized.

All and all, the work of the past few months has been a very good exercise. WikiTree has constraints in place that really help the genealogists. I like that. Too, they are Wiki in scope which is real nice (will discuss).

Remarks: Modified: 03/14/2019

03/14/2019 -- Added information about Dr. Frank's first wife: Caroline Louisa Read who was the daughter of John Franklin Read and Caroline Louisa Chase. Changed burial for Pauline Gardner Donnell, his daughter, to Newcastle, ME.