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Monday, August 31, 2020

September, already

We have been doing a summary, very year. This is the Summary for 2019 which links back to summaries of earlier years. The metrical has been lagging a little this year; we'll catch up.

This image compares the recently read for 2019 and 2020. The all-time reads is the same for both reports.


The 30-day gives some indication of current interest which relates to recent posts. Sometimes, an older post will show up.

Remarks: Modified: 08/31/2020

08/31/2020 --

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Descendants of George

 Descendants of:


George is the second son. The below links came from the Wikipedia page on Thomas Gardner that was started in 2010. These will be verified. Some will be removed (as there are other Gardner families).

For these lists, we will be adding more names as we continue research. Chronological order:
  • Ruth Gardner (c. 1660s) – wife of John Hathorne
  • John Gardner (c. 1680s) – Captain – Salem Company, French-Indian War
  • Samuel Gardner (c. 1730s) – in-law of one of the consignees (Richard Clarke) of the tea thrown in Boston Harbor
  • Hon George Cabot (c. 1750s) -- represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate and was the presiding officer of the infamous Hartford Convention.
  • Elizabeth Cabot Blanchard (c. 1800s) – wife of Robert Charles Winthrop
  • John Lowell Gardner I (c. 1800s) – grandnephew of Col Timothy Pickering, East Indies trader, ship fleet owner (Barque, Brig, Clipper, Steamship)
  • John Lowell Gardner II (c. 1830s) – John's wife founded Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
  • Lilla Cabot Perry (c. 1840s) – American artist
  • Elizabeth Gardner Amory (c. 1840s) – grandmother of Dorothy Winthrop Bradford
  • Endicott Peabody (educator) (c. 1850s) – headmaster for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt at Groton School
  • Anna Parker Lowell (c. 1850s) – wife of Abbott Lawrence Lowell
  • Francis Cabot Lowell (c. 1850s) – longtime United States federal judge
  • Henry Cabot Lodge (c. 1850s) – American Senator
  • Augustus Peabody Gardner (c. 1860s) – Distinguished Service Medal (United States), Spanish–American War
  • Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (c. 1860s) – 1st wife of Theodore Roosevelt
  • Julian Lowell Coolidge (c. 1870s) – chairman of the Harvard University Mathematics Department
  • Edmund Wilson (c. 1890s)-- man of letters
  • Endicott Peabody (c. 1920s) – the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts from 3 January 1963 to 7 January 1965
  • John Forbes Kerry (c. 1940s) – Vietnam War, United States Senator, presidential candidate in 2004 election, Secretary of State
  • Kyra Sedgwick (c. 1950s) -- Actor. Kyra is also a descendant of Lion Gardiner. 
Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933)
The family of George was covered, in part, in the 1933 Book, Gardner Memorial. Most of these are in that book.


Remarks: Modified: 09/30/2021

12/13/2020 -- Added earlier look at George. 

01/04/2021 -- Added Kyra Sedgwick. Looking at Kevin's genealogy next. 

09/30/2021 -- Added Hon. George Cabot. His daughter married John Thornton Kirkland, head of Harvard. 

Thursday, August 27, 2020

US Territory

TL;DR - Military man. Went up the Mississippi to its start. Then, went out to see the Rockies. Found the source for the  Arkansas River. Had a run in with the Spaniards. So, was taken to Mexico. Sent back. The War of 1812 came up, and Zebulon Pike died. Young man. He, of several, helped us map out the western U.S. where the states can be huge.

--

Having been looking at families as they moved west, we have learned a lot with respect to history, genealogy, and life, in general. For one thing, there are people who need to be recognized for their lineage, albeit some of the genealogical bent have this bias (it's the paper that counts, silly). On the other hand, people had lives and left others behind. One consequence of the forever shift is that things get lost, like who was where.

As an aside, we know of Zebulon Pike's life. He wrote of it. After looking at Daniel Boone, we figured that we need to move further west, as Daniel stopped not far west of the Mississippi. Hence this post, as those who went west did it with labor. We'll get there in a continuation of the western movement series that started a few years ago. So, let's stop to look at the US States and some of their attributes.

After a brief pause, though. One thing that stood out in looking at early Massachusetts and New Hampshire is that someone could move, even two counties over, and be forgotten in the sense of not being included in some write up. So, it was understandable when someone went further west. Say, the Mayflower descendant out in the lonely prairie grave - see Bayes post - more coming. In his case, a book on his family starting with the 17th century arrivals just noted that he was out west. In another case, some abolitionist was hanged in Texas (pre-Civil War) for being there. We found this out by digging. Lots and lots of stories to tell; fortunately, the internet will allow a more full fleshing of history through time. So, people will be a common focus; we will set up a proof process for descendants of Thomas and Margaret; however, friends will be allowed, to boot.

So, there was a comment about Boone being known for migration on land. After all, his party went by foot from NC to TN and west out to MO. The old guy (in his 80s) is said to have taken a party out to the Yellowstone area. Pike, on the other hand, was young. He mapped the source of the Mississippi. He did the same for the Arkansas River, poorly equipped in late fall (snow of the Rockies). Then, he was taken down by the Spanish to Mexico and brought back. His travels were after Lewis & Clark and before the Santa Fe trail.

Note: we got on this theme with Jedediah Strong Smith and Judge Thompson of Massachusetts, in part.

Looking at the U.S., all of the larger states are out west. For instance, KS is 81K sq mi. This is mentioned since Col. Higginson went there explicitly to show support for John Brown. Too, it was traversed, in part, by the trails, with almost 6/8ths of the trail in KS (Santa Fe Trail). But, Pike went through the area, too, earlier (The White Man's Foot in Kansas). Lots have been written about Pike.

The largest state is Alaska with over 1/2 million sq mi. Texas is next (it'll be featured due to several connections with the East Coast, including New England). This comparison is not for bragging rights; rather, the amount of effort to go across an area relates to the distance. However, terrain was a larger factor. Drive across WV, sometime, and note the absence of any flat area. Or, what they call flat is not really.
Size of States, U.S.
The tales of the Sante Fe Trail mention that parties, sometimes, took the harder route in order to avoid conflict with the American Indian population. From a commercial view, that makes sense. We will look at that. Usually, the path of lesser resistance was taken. Say, moving from Gardner KS to above St. Joe MO in order to save a few days (the gold in CA was calling); besides, going up the MO river was easier than sloughing out west by land. Even if for a few days. Choices.

Remarks: Modified: 02/27/2021

02/27/2021 -- Changed to using American Indian. 

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Boone, himself

TL;DR - 1st and 2nd generation on his father's and mother's, respectively. Fortunately, the guy was peripatetic and covered territory. MO, his last frontier, is of importance to a lot of discussion that will be going on.

--

We have all heard of Daniel; TV did him in. Of late, we have had a chance to get further acquainted with him and his times. We mentioned that it was the 5th generation that bore the brunt of the revolution. The 8th started to reap the reward which has been a continuing dynamic to now; this suggests, of course, that the 400 years of American experience are going to be central to a whole lot of studies and worrying about how to decide to have sustainable lives going forward. Nothing new, really, just that we're at one 400th, with others coming up, and at 100ths and 200ths.

100th, for one, would be the Spanish Flu and things associated with that. We looked at how that influenced The Massachusetts Magazine. 200th? Well, we have mentioned Jedediah Strong Smith who went all the way coast to coast, from New England to LA and above and partly back. Was killed along the Cimarron River (lower part of the green section on the map) that flows out of the CO mountains and heads east toward the Mississippi. Never makes it as the Arkansas River intervenes.

Before that, Boone got people out of the eastern seaboard via the Cumberland Gap. Himself? He got all of the way to MO.

Note: using the USPS abbreviations to approximate areas - we know that boundaries were fluid and controversial for a while. Do we need to remind New Englanders that ME got its panache as free when MO came in as non-free?  In the below map, we are talking the yellow area.

U.S. and Missouri

A couple of years ago, we were looking at an area just west where Col. Thomas W. Higginson visited to support free-staters. But, earlier, it was the point of the trails splitting off. People came into the area from the east by river, if they could. Otherwise, it was on foot, horseback, or wagon. In any  case, we are talking 200 years ago. We are talking 1820 for the ME/MO deal (did it just go by without much notice). Well, in 1799, Boone was to the eastern side of the yellow region. He was first generation American on his father's side and second generation on his mother's. He knew how to be peripatetic.

Note: This was a mere 10 years after the "European arrival" in Australia.

During the 1820s, there were people moving west toward the green. The fact is that the east side of the yellow was the Mississippi. Boone used that as he went down to LA (not the city in CA). One could navigate, like Lewis & Clark to parts of the green. They actually made it to the light green section. Jedediah made it to the far reaches of the green and went up to the light green. A friend of Col T. W. Higginson did the trick a little later. The significance? Prior to the transcontinental railroad, it was real work.

Lots and lots to look at.

Remarks: Modified: 08/28/2020

08/27/2020 -- The significance of this area is that there was early activity by the Spanish and French. Like we mentioned in the 400ths, Coronado was around and about in the mid-1500s. But, most activity was on waterways. Boone's significance, on the other hand, deals with establishing settlements in landlocked areas. A cohort of Boone will be looked at, too, in the context of the west and how it was settled: Zebulon Pike (he after whom is named the Peak in CO). 

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Descendants of Thomas

 Descendants of:


We just did the descendants of the first daughter, Sarah. Like with Sarah, we are taking these from the list built on Wikipedia almost a decade ago. On reviewing the Sarah list, we had a chance to re-check some of the relationships. We will do a post for all of those on the list. Plus, we can start to add more as part of the effort to document the first few generations.

For these lists, we will be adding more names. Chronological order:
  • Ebenezer Gardner (c. 1740s) – American Revolutionary patriot (Col. Benjamin Foster's Regiment), builder of the Gardner House, Machias, Maine. Ebenezer is also a descendant of Samuel, forebear of Dr. Frank. 
  • Charles Jackson Paine (c. 1830s) – Union General, American Civil War.
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr (c. 1840s) – American Jurist (with his father, members of the Dudley-Winthrop family).
  • Nathaniel Bowditch (c. 1770s) – autodidactic mathematician
  • Nathaniel Ha(w)thorne (c. 1800s) – American author, descendant of John Hathorne. Nathaniel is also a descendant of George through daughter Ruth who married John Hathorne. 
  • Charles Sanders Peirce (c. 1830s) – philosopher and mathematician. CSP is also a descendant of Thomas' and  Margaret's daughter, Seeth. We have mentioned CSP and his father in several posts. 
C.S.Peirce
As we modify the page on Wikipedia to bring it up to date and within standards, we will move the descendants list to another site (our server). Too, we will use WikiTree and Family Search to check the pedigrees. At some point, we will institute our own verification scheme based upon our experiences with several members of the Heritage Society Community plus D.A.R.

Remarks: Modified: 12/13/2020

10/24/2020 -- Added list of children. 

12/13/2020 -- Early look at Thomas

Monday, August 17, 2020

Descendants of Sarah

 Descendants of:


We have had a few posts about the first few generations. Then, we looked, briefly, at later generations. Of late, we looked a Sarah, again. She was one of the first ones featured as she married a son of John Balch who was with Thomas Gardner.

Last fall (Nov/Dec), we started a post for each of the children, where the earlier one on Sarah was reused.
So, before we go to the next child (no decision yet), let's cover some things of interest about Sarah and her offspring. Say, a list of descendants. These are taken from the Wikipedia page about Thomas and are in chronological order.
  • 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. 
  • Stephen Minot Weld, Jr. (c. 1840s) – General, American Civil War hero.
  • Adolphus Greely (c. 1840s) – American Polar explorer, recipient of the Medal of Honor.
  • Charles G. Dawes (c. 1860s) – 30th Vice President of the United States.
  • George Swinnerton Parker (c. 1860s) – founder, Parker Brothers.
  • Emily Green Balch (c. 1860s) - Noble Peace Prize (1946), Professor of Economics (Wellesley College).
  • Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (c. 1870s) – first editor of the National Geographic Magazine.
  • John Henry Balch (c. 1890s) – United States Navy, World War I, Medal of Honor, Lieutenant, World War II.
  • Heather Wilkinson Rojo (living) -- Nutfield Genealogy. Her blog is referenced in an American Ancestor article (Fall 2021). Her list of genealogy blogs
G. H. Grosvenor
at the National Geographic Office
DC, 1914
We started with Sarah and will add in other children while going through list of Thomas descendants on the Wikipedia page. Until further notice, we will use trees at WikiTree or Family Search (Example: Gilbert H. Grosvenor) to assess the claim of the descendant.  

Remarks: Modified: 12/28/2021

08/19/2020 -- Added in a few links and an image (for the portal to truth). Also, did a quick re-check of some names on the list.

10/24/2020 --  Added list of children. 

12/28/2021 -- Added Heather Wilkinson Rojo. 

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Emily Greene Balch

TL;DR - Focus, descendants and their child of Thomas and Margaret.

--

Emily Greene Balch received the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize.

Today, while reading book reviews in the WSJ, we saw Emily mentioned. The theme of the books being reviewed dealt with the upcoming celebration of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Given her surname, we wondered if she was a descendant of Sarah (Gardner) Balch who lived in Beverly, MA. It turns out that she is, as shown in this WikiTree profile. Somehow, we missed her in our earlier survey and have added her to the list of Thomas Gardner descendants on Wikipedia.

Her parents were Francis Vergonies Balch and Ellen Maria Noyes. We will be looking at the family a little closer as well as getting more into this, and associated, subject matter. Her peers would have been of the generation of Ann's grandmother who was a Suffragist.

---

Of late, we have started to look at the U.S. generations with a New England reference. We know that Virginia was here prior to Plymouth. As well, we will consider the experience of other countries.

Emily would have been the 8th or 9th generation of the Massachusetts variety.

The 5th took the brunt of the Revolution with some of the 4th were still here as the older generation. It was the 7th generation that  began to obtain the rewards of the new country in established areas with others extending the country through trials of frontier living. We can look at the later generations, too.

Though it may seem that we are considering the good times, we recognize that major problems still existed over this time period whose solution would come later or is still pending.

Remarks: Modified: 0313/2022

08/14/2020 -- Jane Addams was the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Her ancestor received his land grant from William Penn. Jane's parents moved to northern Illinois in 1844.

08/16/2020 -- On doing some research on Emily, I see that her ancestor's page has been edited. It is an example that we could follow: John Balch. Notice that these early Profiles are being driven by the Great Migration Project. We, the TGS, are helping edit the profile for Thomas (see right menu).

03/13/2022 -- Bryn Mawr was the alma mater of Drew Gilpin Faust.  It also welcomed Emmy Nother to the U.S. after her family fled the Nazi madness. Her brother went north to the Soviet Union and was killed by the powers that be. 


Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Reasons ... for New England

TL;DR - Why did people come here? That is, to this side of the pond. Lots of reasons. Boone is an example of a later arrival who made good.

--

Recently, we revisited the topic of Origins and Motivations. In that post, we listed earlier posts dealing with the subject. As we proceed, we will be pulling posts from the past, into some type of cohesive view as this allows us to reflect on what we have seen as well as think about the future. And, we need to consider post-virus realities, for various reasons such as our sanity.

Speaking of reasons, we had a query about the motivations for New England. Our response went along this line which follows what we have run into the past decade.
    Rose-Troup (she researched the Dorchester Company in England for years), Albion's Seed (nice look at the paths that led to the U.S. from England), and on Dorset (great countryside).
However, let's broaden the scope. As a first step, we can look at the view of the Revs. White, Winthrop, and Higginson. At The Winthrop Society's site, we find this document: "Reasons for the Plantation in New England". It has a list of Reasons and then some Objections. We will go back through these, but let's look at one Objection.


In the introduction, we are told that the author is not known but that later edits were done by John Winthrop. The changes are in the hand of his son.
    Redacted and introduced by Marcia Elaine Stewart.

    The following document was found among the papers of Governor John Winthrop. Other abridged versions are known, and variously ascribed to Rev. John White, John Winthrop or Rev. Francis Higginson. While the true originator may never be known, suffice it to say that this copy was written in the hand of Forth Winthrop, son and sometime secretary of the future Governor, and has marginal notes by the elder Winthrop, dated 1629. It was evidently a widely distributed and influential piece of propaganda in furtherance of the proposed settlement of Massachusetts Bay, judging from the number of copies in various forms which are still extant, along with numerous responses pro and con penned by various interested worthies of the day. The Rev. John White probably conceived the initial nine arguments, but we suspect, due to the legal style of its arguments, that Winthrop has here substantially amplified it to its present form with the addition of the objections and answers. In any event, it is surely an expression of Winthrop's own views on the subject, and is of great significance in revealing the motivation of the colonists.
Now, we picked this objection since we have looked at the topic, example: The First Year. We quote Anne Bradstreet's reaction to the new environment. Now, why mention this? As people went west, or to any of the newer areas, it was the same thing (like Yogi said, deja vu, all over again).

Too, though, this type of material allows to discern some of the thinking of the time, especially since there is more of a meditative tone than the modern mind might like. Yet, are we missing something?

Remarks: Modified: 08/28/2020

08/28/2020 -- Daniel Boone will be a focus, for a while. Quaker family that came into PA pre-Revolutionary times. 

Monday, August 10, 2020

Scholars, in general

TL;DR - Earlier, we saw a Middle School reference some our work, indirectly. Looking at later material, it is nice to see U.S. history lessons. In particular, geography can help us understand what people went through, especially in all of the goings and comings on land (post Lewis & Clark and Boone). Water. Necessary. Can be a problem, at times.

--

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).
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: 08/28/2020

08/10/2020 --

Saturday, August 8, 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 415page 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: 12/13/2020

12/13/2020 -- Descendants of Sarah

Friday, August 7, 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.

--

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 American Indians 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 RangeTincup 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: 06/24/2022

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.

08/28/2020 -- Having been researching some of the families of the frontier, it looks as if we ought to pick some as archetypal. For now, let's use Boone and Pike.

02/27/2021 -- Changed to using American Indian. 

06/24/2022 -- Updated links to Eudora's website as topic continues to be of interest: A Ride to Kansas
               

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

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: 08/11/2020

08/11/2020 -- We have used categories in the post. We also have used pages which allow some structure. Then, we have the other media to consider. One thing is definite, we will have lists of important topics. On these, we will find Origins and Motivations.