Gardner's gate

Ever since we started the work that led to Gardner Research, we have noticed that there was lots of information about things related to Thomas and Margaret (Fryer) Gardner and collateral families that did not match up. From the start we have focused on Dr. Franks' 1907 book. Of late, we have started to reference the 1933 book. As well, efforts, such as that of the teams using WikiTree, try to establish sources that are credible and have provenance.

However, though we see an explosion of material due to the web, there has been much written over the centuries. We have expressed our thankfulness for Rev. Hubbard's mention of Thomas Gardner and John Tylly. The good Rev was of the time and knew the principals. But, there have been very good researchers over the years, which we'll name. Two that stand out are Felt (with his History) and Sidney Perley who was unequaled.

Well, all along, we were newbies. Having now 10 years (also, yesterday's post) under the belt, we can start to think about what we read in terms of some standard, not yet set. To do this type of comparison, we are proposing to use Gardner's Gate which would be accessible through our portal (https://tgsoc.org). Too, we might have an initial focus of Thomas and Margaret, but we would deal with 'All things Gardner' as well.

Just today, there were two instances which are exemplary of the issue. To now, we have not really attempted analysis. Rather we were gathering. Though, we created the FAQ to express what we knew, especially with regard to origins (see our FAQ). We will be more active in keeping this up to date, however we will take some time to work the issues of format and such.

We can use the corresponding posts to discuss the related issues and the long-term efforts. It is interesting that these two posts are from the same month.

• Mary (Gardner) Coffin (Dec 2011) -- this post is from a real early time. We had been looking Nantucket families and were happy to find this portrait by Pollard Limner. The question would refer to the person who was subject: John's daughter or Mary (Coffin) Starbuck. 
• Gardner-Pingree House (and murder) (Dec 2011) -- again, this is early. We got onto this theme due to the Smithsonian article that mentioned the murder. So, we had to follow up on the family which was a descendant of George. It seems that the two Anns are conflated but will look at this, again. Like the stories, though. BTW, we mentioned that this property is one that would be interesting from the across the decades and centuries views. 

On the internet, one finds all sorts of views about subjects, including various interpretations related to the state of scientific knowledge. It's a  losing proposition to consider that the web will ever clean itself. What we can do is present sourced, well-founded information and make it known. 

We have used the concept of 'portal to truth' with regard to Gardner's gate's focus. We will continue to have our own portal. Lots to discuss there with regard to busyness and technical issues. Truth? It's used in the sense of truth engineering, a major theme for continuing discussion (again, technical, in terms of advanced computing which includes all aspects of AI).

If there is any change now that is obvious to before, it would be that we have, over a decade, built enough of a knowledge base so as to assess the veracity and support our own stuff as well as look at the work of others plus bring in comparative notions in a mode that is very much pertinent to what computing hath wrought. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/11/2020

01/11/2020 -- Added image for our index.