Dudley family

TL;DR -- Lots and lots of families in New England have published a book starting about 150 years ago and continuing to now. Many times, areas will include family genealogy of their citizens. Part of our work has been identifying this type of work which has a Gardner theme. Turns out that the Dudley families also can be used in this regard. 

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We were doing research about families in New Hampshire and noticed that Dudley kept coming up as families in the areas intermarried. Before the 300th of New England (Great Migration) came around, families were doing research and writing books. This has continued over the past century. 

Somewhat, all of this activity has resulted in material that is mostly conversational. Some say, well, quote sources. But, that is not enough for several reasons. We need more than books. Fortunately, the web will help as we go forward. 

One of our tasks early was trying to collect all that had been written about Thomas and Margaret (Fryer) Gardner, in particular, and about Gardner in general. Some of those early sites seem to have disappeared where we might use the 'wayback' facility for access. Then, for those still around, who do you believe? We made a choice to support the WikiTree effort due to their principles. 

One might think that Gardner represented a mess given all of the families with the names, some of which may very well be related. In any case, we want to address collateral families. So, we would find 1000s of names anyway given the time frame of 400 years and more. Dr. Frank's book is small in comparison to some of the things that we see. 

History of the
Dudley Family
1892

So, back to New Hampshire. It turned out that using three family books, things were consistent. That is, each had their own thread and views. But, converging to some point in time and family was there, albeit the information differed slightly due to viewpoint. But, one of those three books was related to Dudley. And, turns out that it covers more than the family of Thomas. However, he was the one of interest given our focus on Massachusetts and its surroundings. 

So, the thought arises that the Dudleys started researching early. Or, they had better family records. But, not. Too, they do have the public interest and so can be a focus for discussion. As in, compare things back to what the Dudleys did or wrote. Too, their effort can be motivation to keep us working toward a better framework for presentation of Gardner information. 

Here are a few thoughts on the matter. 

• Joseph Gardner and Ann Downing are mentioned. Why? Gov. Simon Bradstreet married Ann after Joseph was killed and Simon's wife, Ann the poet, had died. Okay, that's a connection that is early. However, on browsing around, there are other references to families that are only a degree or two (the Kevin Bacon deal) away. 
• WikiTree. 
• Of course, there is a profile for Thomas Dudley. Too, notice that there are the G2G discussions. 
• History of the Dudley Family. This was published in series. WikiTree provides them all. That is, those before a certain date. A Google search on these of a later vintage comes up with books, most of which support neither preview'ing nor snippet'ing. 
• Thomas in particular. The Royal Families book gives his descendants including those of other families. A few years ago, there was a file that listed the names (part of the index) so that one could check without seeing the text. Doesn't seem to be there (let us know if it is). 
• Example of a town book, Canterbury NH. 
• Wait, a book with little Dudley mention: Connecticut River ... 
• Dudley DNA. This is good to see. 
• ...

Early on, we noticed that the 'rich and famous' had more genealogical/historical stuff published about them, albeit how did one know how good the stuff was? Serious question. Too, if one looked at the general stuff, one could get some hints about others who might have been in some area at some point in time, even if they were not mentioned. Hints, folks, are what good problem solving needs and develops as part of any effective process. 

So, Dudley? Probably about the best example though we have seen many others. We will bet that the Dudleys have a motive to make it right. So, they will be part of the action. Lots to talk about with regard to filtering and such. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/05/2021

09/15/2021 -- We need to look at New Hampshire on a regular basis.  

10/05/2021 -- Added image for our Portal to Truth.