Titian exhibit

TL;DR -- The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum pulled together an exhibit of paintings by Titian which were a few months late due to delays related to Covid and weather. Isabella Stewart married John Lowell Gardner III of Boston. She created the Museum to display their collection. 

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An exhibit of Titian paintings at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that is getting notice offered a good time to pull together what information that we have. First, here are some of the stories of late about the effort that went into getting the exhibit planned and accomplished in the age of Covid. 

• Women, myth & power (GardnerMuseum.org)
• The exhibit of a lifetime — several, in fact (Boston Globe)
• ‘Titian: Women, Myth & Power’ Review: Paintings of Olympian Grandeur (WSJ)
  
• Titian at the Gardner Museum — noble, savage (FT)

The Museum was named for Isabella Stewart (Stewart-30604) who married John Lowell Gardner II (Gardner-12162). Our first post on the couple was titled Isabella from 2011. John Lowell Gardner II was a descendant of Thomas and Margaret through their son, George. A post in 2016 showed one Salem connection of the family (Gardner-Wyman-Peabody Mill). 

A biography of Isabella was published in 2003. The Museum endured a theft 1990 that is still an unsolved mystery. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/16/2021

12/16/2021 -- The American Titian: Washington Allston. 

James Bryant Conant

TL;DR -- A New Yorker article was looking at diversity with respect to the smarties of the land. That is, who gets into Harvard. They bring up James Bryant Conant who also got into the Roxbury Latin School on testing. He was a chemist. On looking further, there wasn't any good information about his New England lineage (both sides). So, we started to make the links. Oh yes, that got us to Cape Ann, Count Rumford (whose money Harvard loved to get), JB being trained as a chemist at Harvard as part of their practical education, the SAT (and its influence by the AGCT), and more. Turns out that JB being under the radar is good for Gardner Research. We'll lift him to awareness as it allows us to have a focus on how Harvard behaved over the 400 years. 

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Several times, we have mentioned someone who ought to be better known in a genealogical sense but who is not. One reason? No descendants to remember the guy or gal. So, if they are not famous, who will do the research? But, JB is noted (as we see below). 

We can use Joseph Gardner and Ann Downing in this regard. Ann was the owner of that which became the Bradstreet house. She married Bradstreet after Joseph was killed in a conflict with the American Indians. And so, the house got Simon's name associated with it. 

Today, we were reading about diversity versus meritocracy in college, and James Bryant Conant came up. So, Conant? That's Cape Ann. Too, he was head of Harvard for a long while. And, he introduced the SAT which type of testing was pioneered by the U.S. Army (John started this page after a bit of research post retirement) as it tried to cope with the massive inflow associated with the WWI draft. 

So, per usual, after browsing Wikipedia, we went to find out about JB's pedigree. Nothing. What? So, we have provided a link from him (Conant-639) to his grandfather (Conant-1769) on WikiTree and will fill in the missing generation. 

Here are the steps that were taken. James Scott Conant was mentioned in Wikipedia and in WikiTree. However, there was not much found on the web about JS. Well, there is a Conant Book via Google Books: A History and Genealogy of the Conant Family. Turns out that JS is mentioned. And, JB is penciled in. Only his oldest sister is mentioned. But, using the book, one can track back to  Roger. 

This image does that as well as provide the Mass VR Project record on JS as son of Thomas.  

James Bryant Conant

in the Conant Book

But, on WikiTree, an exercise would be to see how far the book agrees with what modern researchers know. But doing that, we ended up at the Profile of JB's grandfather. So, now, it's a matter of looking at the detail a little more. 

Now, there are several Gardner connections. Roger came in to replace Thomas. Too, Seeth, daughter of Thomas and Margaret, married Joshua Conant, son of Roger. The book has several other references to Gardner/Gardiner.

BTW, Harvard? We have lots of references here, so far, and will have more. For one, JB was two administrations after CW Eliot who had expected to win the Rumford Chair (see Heads of Harvard and History of Harvard). 

We have Seeth marrying a Conant. Ann has Conant in her pedigree as did Dr. Frank. So, there are lots of associations to look into, as well as further diving into things pertaining to the Dorchester Company. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/11/2023

08/27/2021 -- With regard to JB Conant, Frontline did a show on the subject: A Brief History of the SAT. They used a photo of JB and described his influence in getting the testing industry set up. ... With respect to not much being documented about JD's family's history in the U.S., it looks like a subject worth pursuing. He worked on mustard gas as a chemist. As mentioned, he was trained at Harvard which would have him as a beneficiary of Count Rumford's money which was given to Harvard to establish something other than counting angels on a pinhead. We'll go into that more. 

08/29/2021 -- JB can be a good example of how to handle Cape Ann descendants with respect to the 400 years that followed their arrival. We need to gather the names and start to start a close look at these families.  

08/30/2021 -- In the TL;DR, changed Boston Latin School to Roxbury Latin School where JB got entry through his test scores. 

12/11/2021 -- Added link to Heads of Harvard and History of Harvard.  

04/07/2022 -- Changed Native Americans to American Indians. 

04/12/2022 -- JB penciled in under James Scott Conant, Google book. 

05/05/2022 -- We started the series after reading of the cuz and learned a lot by looking at the perspective of 400 years. As a 17-year- old, the one posting this was in the U.S. Army in the time period right after the Korean incident where the U.S. was licking its wounds. On the other hand, Conant who was precocious hung around Harvard while young. He was well behaved, obviously. Back to Eaton (1st head - more educated than most of his peers of the time), for a moment. Let's compare then with this time of JBC's being in the vicinity. Not with judgment; rather, autodidact humanity studies coupled with computers and physical sciences might be the framework. First, look at the original complaints, with respect to the myriad ships that were afloat at the time. Then? Consider the treatment of the regular sailor (if you don't know this, we'll explain). Also, we'll get more detailed as needed. But, "much ado about not much" comes to mind. As the poster has noted earlier, John Gardner's time out with the surveying crew was cotemporaneous with early Harvard experience. That's another type of comparative study. Conant, though, served militarily. He was involved with some of the modern methods that need types of review, too. It's interesting that besides bringing in testing, Conant is associated with the movement of the institution from serving the pampered of the U.S. to looking for all of the "best and brightest" everywhere. That is, from the pseudo-Brahmin (all societies have this) to the real thing. For now, here are three links, mainly for markers. Conant is not alone in the 400 years. Lots to look at.

• Dew of death ... 
• The hawk from Harvard ... 
• The Bombing and the Breakthrough ... 

07/09/2022 -- Updated the prior remark, slightly. We are starting to use the generational theme more and will include Conant as an example family: 1900 forward. Ran into another Conant: The American Character. 

09/11/2023 -- This summer, a movie came out about Oppenheimer. The Manhattan Project had Harvard involvement with the technical team. ...  

22 Aug 1485

There was a memorial ceremony at Bosworth. Richard III died 22 Aug 1485. 

FB: Richard III Society 
Websites: Richard III Society
Richard III Society - American Branch

The American Branch is open to membership by any interested party. 

This represents what the web/cloud can be. People organizing for various reasons. But, too, supporting research will be a regular activity. 

We have had several posts on this subject. Richard III and Gardner was a 2015 summary. In a 2019 post, we touched upon some of the history of the search for the remains of Ricard III. The writer, Philippa Langley, encouraged the researcher. As a reminder, the remains had been covered by a parking lot. 

In that same post, we mentioned our problem of determining what happened to the remains of Thomas after his Burial Ground had been diverted to commercial use without due respect for the prior burials. 

The internet will continue to scale down the world; at the same time, research will boom and scale things back up. The demands for proper handling of information will grow as will the means for doing so, using technology still mainly a dream. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/01/2021

10/01/2021 -- Changed image. Former one disappeared. 

Different scopes

TL;DR -- We have the 400th events in mind, however we always we looking, at the same time, at the 250th (fifth generation) and 200th (later generations). Our first example is a photo of descendants of signers of the Declaration of Independence mimicking a pose from the earlier time by Trumbull. We see this as something to focus on with respect to the new beginnings. The other examples relate to the expansion after Jefferson's deal, albeit they are separated by a couple of generations. Carving of the land went on for a long time. 

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As we look across time and space with regard to the U.S., there can be many categories that come into play with respect to people, events, and a lot more. Earlier, we had a post titled "Two different times" which looked across the 200 years from the carving of the land to the 20th century. This post is along the same line but a little different theme. 

We have two major themes here. One relates to descendants of some of those who were involved with the founding of the U.S. There are many more people. To wit? The volumes of Mass Sailors and Soldiers. In particular, this is about the Philly work that was done. Then, we look at the time of the carving of the land and of conflict with the American Indians. 

As a reminder, we will use WikiTree due to its restriction to one profile per person. That forces people to share information in a sourced manner. Several projects at WT are exemplary in this regard. 

1. We saw this on FB and liked one of the photos which comes courtesy of the NYT. The post was: Descendants of the U.S. Founding Fathers Recreate Iconic Painting 241 Years Later. The top part is Trumbull's 1819 painting. The bottom is of descendants who could be gathered to recreated the scene.  

This type of post will be a continuing theme. We have not search out WikiTree information, yet. However, this ought to be a project similar to the one that is trying to identify patriots from the Revolution. We are considering one for those who were awarded a Medal of Honor. Lots of work to be done. 

2. Just as the last bullet came via FB, this one was from a stream which we will identify, at some point. This case is early, meaning way before the Civil War. It involves a child in Texas who was kidnapped and later rescued: Cynthia Ann Parker (WikiTree). There are many examples of this occurring. 

3.  Somehow, we got to a page from the True West magazine. We saw Gardner and stopped to look. Alexander's work was Civil War and after. We used one of his photos in our look at the Frontier Century. This page was dealt with photos taken in Arizona of the local tribes. Olive Oatman's photo caught our attention. Her WikiTree Profile shows her New England and earlier pedigrees. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/08/2023

04/07/2022 -- Change Native Americans to American Indians. 

01/08/2023 -- We had another icon (Charles Thomson) come up for our 250th (1774, Continental Congress) and 400th (Cape Ann as one of the first of the capitalization attempts of history). 

Completeness

TL;DR -- We provide some bibliographic links to material dealing with slavery in the U.S., principally that portion we know as New England. This is brief and notes that there was slavery in New England north as well as in the south, albeit the characterization did differ by region. 

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This is a list of pages that deal with slavery in New England. They are not in any order, yet, and are mainly to show that we will be addressing the subject on a regular basis (across the whole of the U.S. as we deal with New Spain and New France, too. Plus, the Native American experiences will be included. 

Slavery in New England - Oxford (22 Apr 2020) - This is a bibliographical entry. The differences between north and south New England are noted. So, too, there are numbers provided. And, things changed as there were relatively few slave events in the early times. To wit, Sewall's antislavery tract in 1700. By the time of the revolution, the numbers of slaves had grown. 

The Changing Nature of Indian Slavery in New England, 1670–1720 - Colonial Society of Massachusetts - Chapter from Volume 71: Reinterpreting New England Indians and the Colonial Experience.  

 Slavery and the Slave Trade in Colonial New England - Deerfield museum (J. P. Melish) - Early view. We ran into Deerfield twice. It's mid-state in MA. Recently, it was about the war of words over the Spanish War. Earlier, it was the western traveler, Judge Thompson. 

How the Slave Trade Took Root in New England - New England Historical Society - Gives a timeline and names names. So, Rhode Island was the closest to the plantation mindset. ... Too many ads on the page. 

New England Colonies' Use of Slavery - National Geographic (13 Jan 2020) - The notion of indentured servant was more prominent in the Northern part of New England. Lots of people have that experience noted in their New England heritage. 

Slaves in New England - Medford Historical Society & Museum - Medford is a suburb of Boston MA. The author notes that in Southern and Northern New England, slave 'hours of labor' were estimated to be over 222.5M.  

Slavery in Colonial New England - Arlington Historical Society - Arlington is near Medford. Most data seems to be from the 1700s, especially near to the Revolution. Gives some example records that suggest a household with a slave. 

First Slaves Arrive in Massachusettss - MassMoments by Mass Humanities - Gives 26 Feb 1638 for when Massachusetts saw its first slave. Mass Bay Colony made slavery legal in 1641. Records show that American Indians were enslaved locally and remotely by shipment to the south. Noted that slave ownership was a coastal affair. Faded out with the Revolution.

Online Resources: Slavery and Freedom in New England - Yale - Bibliographic pointers to other resources. 

Online Resources: Slavery and Freedom in New England 

Besides a reorder, we will theme'ize the information. As far as we know, no one in the direct line was an owner of a human. There are Quakers and others. And, there was a strong Yankee focus, as we see with Massachusetts, in general (see Lawrence, KS post - New England's long reach - and a whole lot more). 

Remarks: Modified: 09/01/2021

08/17/2021 -- Added the TL;DR. 

09/01/2021 -- Added image for portal. 

Context, New England

TL;DR -- 2020 was for Plymouth; 2023/4 was for Cape Ann (Salem). For the latter, Gloucester 400 became the focus which chose 2023. Before that, Weymouth (Wessagusset Colony) will come into sight as their time will be 2022. After that, lots and lots of towns will celebrating. Starting with Weymouth, we will highlight the area and its people with the intent of lifting personal tales into the public awareness from the long histories of families here from the beginning. 

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Earlier, we looked at the 400th planning for Gloucester. That is the Cape Ann area which is part of Essex county. There will be a lot of attention on that county as we look at the decade of entries. We had a post that showed a graphic (early post, Jan 9, 2011) which can be used to remember the towns of Essex county. 

Essex County

The year for Gloucester was 2023. We knew that there was another which turns out to be Weymouth which is in Norfolk County and has 2022 as its year. We will be looking further at Weymouth which is 11 months away from their celebration, as Wessagusset Colony which had been a commercial venture. 

For now, we wanted to start to relook at New England, as a whole, continuing the theme of this post (Inflow and then ebb). By 1630, when Winthrop arrived, the inflow was ready to, and did, increase. After about a decade, there was a tightening of the inflow. That cut the dynamics and reduced the marrying pool for several generations. 

Of note will the the 250th related to SAR/DAR which was handled by the sixth generation. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/14/2021

08/11/2021 --

 

Gloucester 400

TL;DR -- Gloucester, where it all started, gets to kick the can first. Wait, where's Weymouth in the planning? So, we can talk of a countdown. At the same time, SAR/DAR look to their 250th. Then, all of the towns of Essex County (most anyway) can do their festive best. And, Boston? Of course. 

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As a reminder, we point to the Dorchester Company's role in motivating the Cape Ann venture. Things are progressing to 2023. Gloucester unfurled their 400th flag the other day (August 1). Lots of news and reports have been collected. 

As of today, we are 509 days from 2023 (start of the celebrations). Too, today, SAR's clock shows 4 years, 10 months, 25 days. 

There will be many 400ths as we saw with Plymouth in 2020 between the 400th of Gloucester and that of the 250th of SAR/DAR and later. Those will be interesting decades. 

Some posts with a Cape Ann (and Gloucester) theme:

• Olson, and Gloucester  
• Cape Ann, Retrospective  
• The 1st Year 
• Enduring Gloucester 
  
• Families at Cape Ann 
• Massey's Cove 
• Massachusetts 400 

Looking forward to the next two years after having spent a decade of getting familiar with the territory. And, it will be good to discuss the long reach of New England, the heritage of the Cape Ann venture. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/06/2022

08/11/2021 -- Weymouth is 2022 (FB). So, they're up first. 

12/06/2022 -- Weymouth is ending this month; Gloucester is next. 

Michigan, 200 years ago

TL; DR -- Dr. Frank's TMM had a regular column on Massachusetts Pioneers to Michigan which we knew about but did not probe deeper. Now, we get a chance as it took longer to get areas east of the Mississippi settled than it did Missouri and Arkansas. So, we will look at both sides of the big river for a bit including a look down south with Louisiana and Texas. Per usual, we relate things to the event of 250 ago after which the developments under study occurred. And, to lessons not learned yet; the context for these change with the times; will we ever learn? 

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In The Massachusetts Magazine (1908 to 1918), C.A. Flagg, of the Library of Congress and friend of Dr. Frank, wrote of the Massachusetts pioneers to Michigan. We did not really pay attention to this until now. The last post (Practice for carving) mentioned that there were two situations, as we might think, namely east and west of the Mississippi River. Our focus has been on the latter. Now, we have a chance to step back and look at the former. 

One motivator is the event called the Toledo War which was a verbal conflict between different parties for a strip of land that bordered Ohio and Michigan. Michigan State University provides several maps in their paper part of which are in this composite. 

Another motivator is running across a family one of whose ancestors bought land in the Michigan Strip, according to the records of  the Bureau of Land Management which records we used for studying Missouri. As the west was carved, there was paperwork to be done. Too, surveying was a big time business. One early practitioner was New Englander Silas Bent. His son was at several meetings with the American Indians with respect to peace. So, that is a topic to look into, as well.

All of this relates to the long reach of New England, across the interior and the seas. As an aside, in terms of families, the non-logical genealogists have dissed all sorts of families. We will get to that, as it is John's area. Not genealogy. Rather, modeling, problem solving, philosophy of mathematics and science and the related subjects including deep knowledge of computing (all aspects) and that wannabe called AI which has raised so much mania/angst and glee/euphoria through fairy dusting that comes from too much SciFi, fantasy, and sheer unrestrained imagination. 

That is one of the major TGS subjects for research. One might add mental health with a nod to the pair who fled the UK for the US last year. 

In any case, we will pull out the Flagg articles so that they can be used. One family was in the same spot but was, over the years, in Louisiana (lazy mode, we suppose) and then two counties in Iowa. Same goes for the Strip. And, we have not looked yet at the many other States that were populated after the colonies split from the Crown. 

For those being dissed, many died young, like the case for the Mayflower where a stepmother came along and muddied the waters. Then, the father died young, too, leaving his infant (whose mother had died early, too) with the woman who ran off, but her uncles saved the day. Then, a modern mind touting its genealogical expertise (a scientist, to boot) could not rectify the facts. This is too much of a general problem, folks. John has now 10 years experience of bouncing against this mind set. Too, those who look are talking the general problems of computing and knowledge, especially that at the higher relams where people really ought to know better. 

BTW, note that Anderson of NEHGS had everyone thinking of three wives for Thomas. Okay? Look at WikiTree. We now have it back to two (Margaret and Demaris) with some work being done to fill that picture in further. 

Oh yes, Missouri was settled in 1821, somewhat, though it took a while for the counties to shuffle to their modern definition. The Strip was still being contested (conflicted) until 1835. That would have been about the time that Texas was rumbling with respect to north and south, as in, European cultures over here with their pissing contests. We will be stepping down there, to boot. Got to love Texas, people. 

Michener, in his research, noted that the Mexican War was really a training ground for the Civil War. Dr. Frank noted that the Crown trained the U.S.ers in the conflicts with New France and its American Indian allies (so called French-Indian affairs) so that they could rebel. And, we are now approaching the 250th of that. Lucky us. We see that New England's experiences will be needed to keep things straight due to so many opinions based upon things of little to none provenance. We have to correct that over time in order to frame a better story for future generations. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/16/2022

12/16/2022 -- Finally got around to looking at the first steps west which were driven by Ipswich MA. Also, Rutland VT was involved. See Perspective, a necessity.