Salem 400+

TL;DR -- During the time that we look back at the years from 1626 to 1629, the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. will focus on the story of Cape Ann as well as that of Salem. 

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It's here. Another 400th in the timeline of Massachusetts. This time? The movement from Cape Ann to Naumkeag which was renamed to Salem in 1629. 

Salem 400+ on Facebook

We have a lot of reseach to do that is related to this theme in terms of the stories accumulated over the years. In 2023, a thorough study of digitized records from Dorset, UK showed that Margaret and Thomas had all of their children in the UK, except for the last child, Seeth, who was born in Salem. 

The WikiTree page has a record of the research and discussion. The Thomas Gardner profile was split into two: the Thomas married to Margaret is one: the other refers to an unknown person. We have made many comments about what supports the notion that there was one person involved as Thomas Gardner.  

So questions abound: how long were he (or they) here?; if they, what conditions did they face?; .... 

An example is the gap between the births of John and Samuel which was sufficient to allow Thomas (with or without Margaret) to be here. Notice for John, there is a "minor" extra marking which may have indicated a later than normal report. As in, John was born here and was introduced into Dorset records when the family returned. 

John and Samuel Gardner

In any case, the Thomas Gardner (and Margaret) of Salem was here in 1636 and documented by many over the years, including Dr. Frank. Their children are in the records. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/22/2026

03/22/2026 -- Clarified the TL;DR section. 

Salem, 1626

TL;DR -- The 250th is well-known by now. So, it's time to get back to the 400th. 

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The 250th is everywhere now getting attention which is great. We are not yet to the Day of the Declaration of Independence so ought to be paying attention to the events that came before July 4 of 1776. Our last post on "Knox Sunday" is an example. We will have more posts with the team but have been covering the 250th for over a decade. 

May we step back to the 400th? With regard to Essex County of Massachusetts, the initial settlement attempt was in the 1623/24 timeframe. Gloucester celebrated their 400th in 2023. 

As the story goes (told by many), the crew that came over with attempt of Thomas Gardner, for a couple of years, made a go of it without much success. For one thing, the land was not suitable for farming. Evidently the fishing and some planting/forging went well for subsistence. But being a commercial enterprise, the "money" behind the effort expected early returns. 

Roger Conant came to town to get things right but could not overcome the obstacles; he got permission to move to what became Salem. 

Roger and some of his crew did that move in 1626. So, we have been waiting for this year. We wrote of the transition earlier in a post about Massey's Cove in 2019. We included this painting which was done in the 20th century to accompany an article on the perils of this attempt. 

Of course, later there were various criticisms of the painting. For one, the houses were better configured than we know from reality. We wrote of that recently quoting the reaction of Anne Bradstreet as she got off the ship that was with the Winthrop Fleet. This was her introduction to Salem.  

Anne noted that some in London had mislead them: Hype, 1600s. What we got out of the stories was that Winthrop was feated in the "Governor's" great house. Anne and others went to Cape Ann to pick wild strawberries. The Governor would have been John Endicott who came in to replace Roger Conant. 

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Where was Thomas? Evidently, he had returned after his intitial effort to London. He and his family returned sometime before 1635 as his last child was born here. At the time of Cape Ann, it would have been Margaret and the older boys. See "Themes that persist" to watch for particulars as we go along. 

We have mentioned Roger Conant several times and will relook at the start of Massachusetts this year as we continue with the 250. As the commemoration of the Revolution continues through 2033, we will step through the early years of Naumkeag which became Salem in 1629. The next year, Winthrop came through and did not like the area. So, he went further down the coast to Boston. 

So, for the next few years, we will focus on the origins of the crew at Cape Ann plus resolve the issue of the unkown Thomas Gardner who was a Cape Ann in light of the Thomas Gardner who came over in the mid-1630. Ann is a descendant of Roger both Conant and Thomas Gardner. Those relationships will be looked at as well, as we go forward. 

With technology as a major focus, we will use some of the modern stuff. Mainly, it would be to discuss the issues related to use and misuse which is a common characteristic of people and their involvement with all matters of life, it seems. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/21/2026

03/08/2026 --  Some correction of typos and phrasing mishaps (as in, touch typist - fingers walking the keys following ruminations in the mind - one reason that publishing processes have proofreading - rather than the know-it-all-ish nature ot the buckets'o'bits). 

03/21/2026 -- Made link with Salem 400+. 

Women's History Month, 2026

TL;DR -- We provide information about Women's History Month for this year as well as a link to an article on women of the Manhattan Project. 

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March 8th is International Women's Day every year. We have had a post related to the theme of this day since 2022. The theme in 2022 was motivated by the Gairdner Foundation awards that year as well as their reminder of the day's focus. We also mentioned Drew Gilpin Faust and Prof. Emmy Noetther plus provided a link to the StreetsofSalem (blog) which listed "Books for Women's History".   A listing of our posts can be found later in this post.

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This year we are pointing to the website for the primary organizing group. Plus we link to an article on the women scientist who supported a major project during WWII. 

• Theme -- with a theme of 'Give to Gain' the focus is on the "power of reciprocity and support". 
• Events -- a website allows search for events or for the registering of events. To quote the site, their intent is to "Support the Supporters" for "forging women's advancement worldwide". 
• Manhattan Project -- written by a retired physicist, the work of many women is noted including that of Leona Harriet Woods (pictured second from right in the middle row). 

March is Women's History month in the U.S. and many other parts of the worlds. The following are our posts since 2022. 

• Women's History Month, 2025 
• Women's History Month, 2024
• Women's History Month, 2023 
• Women's History Month, 2022

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Since the TGS, Inc. has a technology focus, coverage of work by women will be technical for the most part. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/06/2026

03/06/2026 --    

Knox Sunday

TL;DR -- Coming up is Evacuation Day which closed out the Siege of Boston that had started in the Spring of 1775 and continued until March of 1776. A blogger in Salem, MA attended a relook at the role of Knox in bringing success to the event by obtaining and transporting cannons from upper New York. 

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We have enjoyed the StreetsofSalem blog since our research brought it to our attention. It is time to add to review the blog again (our earlier posts) as there are many overlaps of our points of interests. 

Today we looked at their posts from the past few months and found one on Gen. Knox and his cannons (our posts on the subject - latest - Nearing the day of the Evacuation). Washington suggested to Knox in late 1775 that the troops needed armament and powder. Fort Ticonderoga had been captured earlier in the year and had military pieces available, if they could be moved. Knox volunteered. After going to upper New York, he made preparations. There were tons and tons to move through western Massachusetts late fall.As we mentioned, the feat requires regular attention which we will provide through the next few years. We have a few, as peace with England was not obtained until 1783. The map was drawn 150 years later and shows the distance traveled while pulling tons of metal. 

The Knox Trail as laid out
in 1926/27 by the 
States of New York and
Massachusetts

The blogger had gone to relook in early February. Below, we provide a link to her post from which we obtained links to the images of this blog. 

"Knox Sunday" - "... I’ve been watching online as commemorations of Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery moved across large swaths of New York and Massachusetts on its way to relieve the besieged citizens of Boston but had not made it to one live event—and Evacuation Day (better known as St. Patrick’s Day to those of you not in Massachusetts) is only a little over a month away. So I decided to drive out to Framingham to see some cannons and Patriots before the other Patriots took the field. ..."

" ... Knox Trail 250 is an initiative of Revolution 250, which bears the motto: Your Town, Your History, Our Nation so the commemorative events of the past few years have always been community-based in terms of organization and participation. This particular event was a Middlesex County affair, with representatives from all the towns surrounding Framingham (Marlborough, Southborough, Wayland ) present. ..."   

Remarks: Modified: 03/04/2026

03/04/2026 --    

IEEE 2874 - 2025

TL;DR -- In the midst of the hype and uncertainty, IEEE does its thing of standards definition and documentation. This latest one deals with AI (many aspects) and represents a very good start to keeping a focus on mature approaches to technology. 

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We have talked about technology over the past few years as we adopted it as a theme for going forward. But, what is technology? We have had the topic discussed on a daily basis for a long while now. As technological improvements came about, the pace of change increased as did the talking. 

For the past three years, we have had an accelerated bit of declarations about progress or other state of affairs, seemingly disjointedly provided to us. People have reacted in various ways. Lots of the discussion came with flavors of what might be called hype while at the same time we saw people reacting as if we had a new being on the planet. Many saw the potential bad effects. 

Much of the above was related to the emergence of GenAI/LLM (AI/ML) in a manner that allowed free access to anyone with the knowhow to exercise the systems. OpenAI was first on the block with their efforts, of which ChatGPT got the most exposure. We look at it first in February of 2023 and reported on the experience in this blog. 

Since then, we have looked at other systems, one of which Gemini (formerly Bard) of Google. For a couple of years, we experimented, analyzed and wrote about the issues. 

One change in the past year has been the appearance of things related to "agentic" modes on the scene. This includes discussions as well as demonstrations.Our response, initially, was to fall back a few decades and bring forward information about earlier attempts that were successful, under the guise of KBS and KBE. We wrote several articles and have more planned.   

But, for now, let's stop, look and listen (as they did in the olden days for trains at unmarked crossings. While the attention went with the glories of AGI and such, work continued along the lines of progression that accompanies engineering. Last year, there were Standards agrees upon that pertain to the future of computing. This will involve the current modes but actually deals with new stuff that is more dream than reality which is fine. 

The IEEE 2874 - 2025 (The Spatial Web Standards) decision deals with what is called by some as Web 3.0. That usually goes along with the concept of the web of everything. But, actually we are dealing with the totality of what can be considered now. 

An organization with the purpose of seeing the new capaibilities developed was founded in 2025 and is known as the Spatial Web Foundation. We will be looking further at that. 

IEEE's Spectrum had an article about this in its latest issue: Here Comes the World Wide Web of Everything The Spatial Web standard connects devices, robots, and AI agents. 

As expected, we will have a historic view on all of this stuff while keeping up to date on progress. As such, the TGS will offer 400 and 250 year views of technology. After all, major thermodynamics work was done here (Josiah Willard Gibbs) as well as academic influence had a basis in the U.S. (Charles Sanders Peirce and his father). 

Those two examples are Thomas Gardner descendants. And, after all of this, is AIn't still apropos? Yes. Maturity is still a necessity; engineering knows this to its core. Biologists pushed the current craze. Lots to discuss. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/01/2026

03/01/2026 --    

Nearing the day of Evacuation

TL;DR -- 1776 is the official year. July 4th is the day. Of the start of the U.S. Prior to that, 1775 was full of activity which wound down in March of 1776, however the conflict went on for several more years. 

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We are nearing the end of the months from Lexington & Concord to the Battle of Bunker Hill and then to the Evacuation Order. Lots went on during that time from sheer boredom to heavy work to training and some conflicts. An example of work is Knox's movement of cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to the Boston area. 

We can use Siege of Boston for this period which goes from the altercation at Lexington and Concord. During the past eleven or so months, we have had many posts with themes of events from 1775. 

This post is to close out February and open up March where we can then expect July 4th to  kick off the 250th which runs for several years. The topics to look at are unending. An example might be our look at the Southern Campaign during which the Revolution was completed successfully and the final wrappings were put upon the peace agreement. 

But, people are the main interest. Col. Thomas Gardner who was killed at Bunker Hill was a descendant of the Thomas Gardner of Roxbury who was of unknown relations with Thomas Gardner of Salem. The progeny of both of the men spread the Gardner name over the country. The image shows the names of Gardiner and Gardner families here at that time. 

Mass Soldiers and Sailors

Finally, our interest will be in the people and families of the 250th as well as the issues of origins that need a clear resolution to remove confusion and conflicting opinions. We look at the Roxbury family as Ann is a descendant of this Thomas as well as the one of Salem. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/28/2026

02/28/2026 -- 

Truth, what is it?

TL;DR -- Knowledge systems were (and are to be considered) a primal step in the advancement of computational intelligence. Recent issues notwithstanding, we know how to handle the slop. Part of the ways and means will deal with experience. 

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So, if one gripes, one ought to have a solution. In fact, the glories of progress, if things are done right, rests with those who can show the way. But, slop as mentioned in the last post? 

Walk and not talk. The trouble with AIn't is that it talks. Very well. Do? Not so much. So, the kids of the valley went after "agents" as if they offer miracles for the following: you cannot train out the slop after the fact. Good people know that quality is built in during the process. 

Want to fly a plane that was done by one of these current buckets'o'bits? Seriously. 

At Linkedin: KBE (and MBSE). 

 

This post leads to an article that I am writing on Linkedin. The topics will go back to the '80s which is when there had been a two-decade effort at AI after the Dartmouth meeting in the '50s. And, it deals with the Lisp of John McCarthy which had been packaged into a workstation (Lisp Machine). Coming forward, the world followed DoD (now DoW) into the "quant'" world of numerics. 

Lisp was ported to Unix. Well, the SUN networking workstations were great. But, they were not the qualitative expert as we got with the Lisp Card (to be discussed). Anyway, after a solid grounding in the use of the Lisp Machine where we did prototypes in all sorts of disciplines that worked phenomenally well, I went to Boeing and worked on the 777 digital definition project. 

This is introductory. But, the engineering support work for a major design effort was at the time that solid modeling was getting mature plus the accumulation of mathematical routines (all around) was making the computer more of a tool to replace the slide rule (which was a remarkable little thing). 

That led to "truth engineering" as a pursuit of the middle-out truth that bridges the Suites (uppers, C, G, ...) and the trenches where matter hits the road. 

Where is the "truth" of the matter? Well, it'll take some time to discuss. But, demonstration via computational examples is a good way to go. After all, we have not yet learned what is necessary to be adept generally with complex systems. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/20/2026

02/20/2026 -- 

Slop. How did this happen?

TL;DR -- What could have been great turned out to be similar to a stadium after a concert. What? Yes, there are many sides to the story which we will be looking at thoroughly as people consider ways to recover from the binge of bad choices. 

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This post is informational, only. Somehow, the glories of mathematical computing descended into the state of a concert site after the tens of thousands depart (say even, Times Square on New Years Day). 

In 2026, in a mere two months, we have seen rapid change in the landscape of computing (in particular, that to which I have been referring to as AIn't and buckets'o'bits and such). The splitting of the fields of view are growing. 

We have those who are enthralled with the new way brought by advanced mathematical computing having the ability to supposedly communicate with us via our natural language. So, that is great for the creative bunch. Well not, as now we have mimicing brought to a new level. 

We have those who are not into computing at all and wonder about the hype. Except, go to about any company now and look at their website. After DAVOS (meeting of the uppers in the land of watches in Europe) this year, everywhere CEOs said, go AI big time. 

Except, go to the trenches. It stinks down there. But at the upper reaches of busyness? Ah, the glories seem to waft. From where? 

Then, there is a middle view that is lifting mathematics to view. That is interesting. But, people, let's go to the core and look at the issues that never get discussed due to the age-old aura of the mathematical discipline. Well, it took bad turns last Century. 

There are other views which will be the subject of discussion all year and beyond. The TGS, Inc. chose a few years ago to have technology as a focus motivated by the coming of this age of slop. We saw that a decade ago as an extension of foolhardiness of a decade or two before that. 

Maturity was thrown out the window for something related to what unrestrained young men want. Like one bragged, move fast and break things. Yeap, young guy, for us (the users), it has not been great (I have notes on this back to the beginning of the web's downfall). 

So, we'll use slop, as opposed to what some use with respect to crap (and the necessary crapology): The age of Enshittification; Wikipedia's page; ...

Poor choices? Matters of perspective? There are so many ways to view and unknowns to try to learn about. We have been using Linkedin to try to establish a reporting voice with respect to how the 250th of the U.S. might get us to relook at the history of technology. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/25/2026

02/26/2026 -- Recover image. 

03/25/2025 -- Denning of the Naval Postgraduate School does a good job of delineating the pros and cons of the LLM crowd. The Conundrum of LLMs -- With LLMs, the goods are really good and the bads are really bad.

Hype, 1600s

TL;DR -- Anne Dudley Bradstreet is well known, as is her husband Simon Bradstreet. We can use her experience to consider hype over the centuries to the present, as we find now with technology. In Anne's case, she showed up on the Winthrop fleet in 1630 and found out that the colonial life in New England was not what she had told about (or experienced) in England prior to her departure. When she died after enduring several decades in New England, her husband moved into and lived in the house of his new wife which house had a history back to Cape Ann and which house came to bear his name. 

Anne Bradstreet

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Hype? As old as mankind. Let's look at an example. 

Many know of Anne Bradstreet. She was a Dudley and came over with her husband, Simon. We have had lots of posts about the couple. There will be more as we start to explore a theme related to technology. So, please continue past this reflection on how we can learn from past times beyond the generalized view of the historical records. 

Simon and Anne came over with Winthrop in the 1630 fleet. Simon was heavily involved in the guidance of the development of New England and Massachusetts. So, they lived in Boston as well as Essex County. When Anne died in 1672, they were in North Andover. 

Subsequently, Simon married the widow of Capt Joseph Gardner, son of Thomas Gardner who is the subject of our research and namesake of the organization. Joseph had died in a military conflict with a local tribe of Native Americans. 

At that time, Ann Downing Gardner was living in the Salem house given to her and Joseph by her parents. We featured Joseph and Ann in a February 2012 post in which we mentioned that Ann had Simon sign a "what was essentially a pre-nup. Was this the first of its kind on this continent?" We also featured The Downings in 2022. Her brother is the namesake of Downing Street in London. 

Also, we have looked at houses. The Downing house was an extension of the original house brought by the Cape Ann crew. Our post on the 1st Year has images that show the progression in house technology over those decades in the 1600s. Ann Downing's family's house became known as the Bradstreet's Salem Mansion. 

Anne Bradstreet's
comments, 1630

That earlier post looked at what was available in those early years. Anne Bradstreet provided us a description of her first view of Salem, which gets us to the gist of the post. They arrived with more than could be handled in 1630 as they had been promised that there was a house ready for them. At the time, there was one house of substance which had been brought by the 1623/24 crew and assembled at Cape Ann. Later John Endicott had the house brought to Salem. The Downings did some renovation. 

What Anne saw, largely, would have been huts. Their configuration would have been a modified wigwam with the interesting addition of a stone fireplace which would have provided more structure.   

English wigwam

The Governor's Faire Mansion was the house that the Cape Ann crew put together which later was moved and then extended to the "mansion" that Ann and Joseph enjoyed until she became a widow and married Simon Bradstreet. 

Governor's Faire Mansion
Great House (Cape Ann)

Winthrop was feated in this "Faire Mansion" when he arrived with his fleet. Some of the party went to Cape Ann to pick strawberries. So, Anne would have seen the future. 

We will look further into the technology of the time as points in contrast to discuss modern variants of age-old issues. That is, we have the 250th of the U.S. But, we really need to understand better the colonial period from the perspective of the real people who lived through the involved periods and sent their DNA down to the present time. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/14/2026

02/14/2026 -- 

 

Gateway Ancestors, redux

 TL;DR -- Hereditary societies co-mingle regularly. Technology comes in and complicates matters. We cope with whatever in this sense, but there are ways to ease the burden. We look at the update of the HSC website and its list of gateway ancestors. 

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We have had a lot of posts dealing with things going back to former times as this search on "Hereditary Society" shows. Our first one was in 2013 (Hereditary  Society communities) when we had come back from attending meetings for the third year. 

There are two things to look at today. The HSC has a new website and an updated page for Gateway Ancestors. As we might expect with continuing research, their list has been and will be kept up to date. People are added; sometimes, they take a name off the list. 

Also, Heritage is nothing new to the U.S. or the colonies from which it sprang. A list of the organizations under the HSC includes one from 1637: Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (A&HAC). It's the oldest chartered military organization in the U.S. Last year we had a post on this organization.  

AHAC in London with
English Peers
1896

The A&HAC was founded in England in 1537 (during the time of the long bow) by a royal charter from Henry VIII under the name of Honourable Artillery Company (HAC). "It's the oldest regiment in the British  Army." And, it "can trace its history back as far as 1087." Many colonists were members before coming over and sought to preserve the heritage. 

An associated organization is the Order of Descendants of the AHAC which is open to males who have a genealogical lineage back to one of the original members of the AHAC. The group for women is National Society Woment Descendants of A&HAC. This is the list of the "eligible ancestors" from the colonial times. 

There are other organizations related to the start of the U.S. that we will get back to in the near future, such as D.A.R and S.A.R. The 250th of the Revolution has been in the news for a year. Come 2033, we will be looking for the start of peace which was broken by the 1812 event but eventually the two sides of the English heritage settled their differences.

Now, to the second item, way back in 2010 (in our third month of blogging for TGS), we had this post: RD example, using gateway. This is an old post and needs some update, but looking at the HSC's updates brought this to mind. The post mentions the Brookfield Ancestry Project which deals with the Magna Carta legacy. We liked this site. However, nowadays, one finds that on WikiTree, the Maga Carta Barons have been getting attention. The project has been proving "gateways" who formerly were identified by independent research and publication. Some of these books became out of date; many might be in need of some moderization. 

But, we can compare these two efforts, as in Brookfield and Wikitree side-by-side. We know of some newer names on the gateway list that come from recent findings. On the removals, there is no place to go to find out the final story. Right now, the HSC can be considered up to date. On the other hand, the in and out of the situation is situational. A publication on the Plantagenets, for instance, will have many who have a wide-range of ancestors. However, those who do not have as much right to look for confirmation via publication. 

With technology changing and the emergence of AI/ML (or GenAI/LLM), it will be interesting to see how things like provenance play out in terms of necessary source references. We are neutral on that at the moment and conform to the organization's wishes. 

But, we also did our "portal to truth" with respect to tackling now only the gateways, but heritages on this side of the waters. I got shot down for suggesting a national database. D.A.R. provides one with respect to their membership. And, they do have a "Passenger to Patriot" project (Mayflower). We started one titled "Cape Ann to Patriot" to go back further. 

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As an aside, we looked at the Society of Cincinnati which is U.S. based and founded right after the Revolutionary War ended. We have had several posts on different subject. For instance, two of the houses of the organization are associated with Ann's family. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/01/2026

02/01/2026 -- 

Kansas Day, 2026

TL;DR -- 29 Jan 1861. That was the day that Kansas came into the Union. We look at some information about the history. But, other States will get some attention, too. 

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In this blog, we have mentioned many states, mostly those of the colonial period. But, the state of Kansas has been mentioned a lot, for various reasons. Its neighbor, Missouri, has featured as well. Then, Calfornia has had more than its share of mentions. Of the other states, Texas has come up several time. And, there are many others that we ought to consider. 

Well known area that impeded 
the travel along the Sante Fe trail
(courtesy of the Friends of Flint Hills)

A category related to States would not be a bad idea. We'll add it. Meanwhile, here are some of the posts with a Kansas theme. 

• Kansas and Lawrence (2017) -- This post reminds us that the State was a project of New England. Some of those involved are mentioned, such as Col. TW Higginson. Another post describes the trip from New England of the folks who came here and got Lawrence and the University of Kansas going. 
• Kansas Day (2024)  -- Theme of the 29 Jan 1861 entry of the State into the Union. 
• 3 Trails (2019) -- This post was about Gardner, KS where the trails split after having started in Independence, MO. They went in different directions to Sante Fe, Colorado, and Oregon (California). Hundreds of thousands of persons passed through the site. 
• KATY- western railroad (2021) -- Looks at the spread of the railroad through the southeast corner which has its own history. Several New England families who passed through or settled are mentioned. Holbrook is one example. 
• Coronado of the early times (2023) -- The Spanish explorers were into northern Kansas back in the 1540s. So, the 400th of this place happened almost 100 years ago. A related story involved Arkansas and its river. As well, Pike of the peak passed through. 

What is this about? We will look to celebrate State anniversaries. Perhaps, we might look at the Northwest Territory first. That's the area around Michigan, by the way. In The Massachusetts Magazine published by Dr. Frank and friends, there was a regular report of families that moved to the area. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/28/2026  

02/28/2026 -- Chased down the image which disappeared. 

Knox, again

TL;DR -- Knox and his crew spent 56 days in the late fall and early winter of 1775/76 bringing tons and tons of gear from Fort Ticonderoga to the Boston area. Of late, a large swath of the U.S. has seen winter weather which might make appreciation of this deed a little easier. The British left Boston, shortly after this. We have several years to look at details in the modes allowed by technology hoping that we do more of the good than badish (as evidenced by the past three years of AI/ML).

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Anyone in the US who was under the long 2,000 mile storm of late ought to appreciate what Knox and his crew did. They left the Boston area so as to arrive in upper New York by 9 Dec 1775 and selected military equipment at Fort Ticonderoga to bring back to Boston. This equipment included 59 artillery pieces that together weighed about 120,000 lbs. 

The 56-day trek back to the Boston area was over 250 miles through rain and mud and snow and ice using boats, sleds, ox carts with oxen, horses, and men doing the heavy pulling. The last of this train arrived back in Cambridge on January 24. Then, the focus was to get the equipment in working condition. 

On March 4th, Knox placed his heavy guns on a hill overlooking Boston. Out of sight, he had armed many others. The Patriots fired some of these which covered "the sound of the construction, American cannons, besieging Boston from another location, began a noisy bombardment of the outskirts of the city." This the attention of the British. What resulted then, on March 17th is called the Evacuation of Boston. 

We wrote of this earlier which was before the start that is celebrated at the 250th this year. Also, we wrote of the ending through our recent study of General Nathaneal Greene who was so overlooked that the effort to gather his papers did not gain any speed unto 1976. That's 200 years of being ignored. 

1775 to 1783 or so? There were activities before. And, we all know of later, say 1812. 

But, there is a wrinkle now. We will bring provenance to the front of concerns and take extra care to keep the historical perspectives and facts thereof within the bounds of truth representations. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/27/2026  

01/27/2026 --

Small world, technology

TL;DR -- Again, the holiday issue in 2025 of The Economist has an article that is apropos to our research. This one has a focus on "El Segundo" which is a town known to us for several reasons. Anyone going into or out of LAX flies over the town. It was a technology town for WWII and before and somewhat after. For a time, it was derelict until efforts at the real side of technology came to town with a new motto: Bits to atoms. Or is it atoms to bits? In any case, we'll feature the location regularly for a while as we take the focus from that Valley up north which is so famous. 

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This is the fourth series.  So far, we have looked at science, literature, and economics. Two of these were motivated by the holiday issue of The Economist this year. This post picks up the thread of technology which has been our focus for a while which became more visible with the release of GenAI/LLM (or AI/ML) three years ago. So, we will pause the usual focus and move the looking glass at culture and technology which is imperative. 

Motivated, again, by this article: America’s fight back against China starts in Los Angeles—in flip-flops to be found in The Economist. 

El Segundo? Of California? Los Angeles area? Near LAX? Gosh, it's about time that we mention the place. As we have had lots of posts on DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) where we find a neighborhood with the name of Bunker Hill West where the U.S. and its 250th have a long history. And, it is technology focus that got our interest shifted. 

Though, it could have been the SoCal beach culture that was the focus. We are talking about a place that is north of the more known beaches (say, those mentioned in song by the Beach Boys, Redondo Beach). Too, it's north of Long Beach. But south of the LaLa land up north starting with Venice up to Malibu. Lots of history to cover.  

The new kids on the block have an adage that is important to our discussion of technology: Bits to atoms. This is interesting as a good meaning deals with grounding the work of making digital twins with something real, in the world. Turning the concept around, atoms-to-bits is interesting too in the sense of how to come of with the digital twin (MRI, CT_Scan, ...) and knowing the essential differences that ensue in order to not get lost (which seems, many times, to be of concern with the present situations with AI/ML). 

Example: MRI

In other words, physics and mathematics come to fore and get attention. 

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Both of us have family history in the area, going back to before WWI. The technology focus will include firms in the El Segundo/Hawthorne area. Some say that the area is blue collar. The major industry were oil (Chevron) and aerospace (Douglas), and computers (Silicon Beach). As said, LAX is right there. But, Defense work was a prime contributor, too, over the years. 

In terms of culture, Hawthorne is named for cousin, Nathaniel, who is also important to New England's reach. That will be a topic of a future post. Prior to WWI, the area was agricultural. By the time of WWII, the technology focus grew abound. And, looking at such ought to give us pause with respect to recent manias, but that's an old topic still under discussion with respect to the future focus that we ought to take. 

Finally, stepping back to the time of New Spain and Mexico, this land was part of Rancho Sausal Redondo. Formed earlier by the new Mexican government, it was granted to the Avila family in 1837. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/17/2026

01/17/2026 -- Brought in the comment from WikiTree. Also, here is a record from the Pacific Coast Architecture Database on Rancho Sausal Redondo, Los Angeles County, CA (1837). 

Small world, economics

TL;DR -- For the 250th and the 400th, we are doing "small world" posts which will look at events on both sides of the English pond. Adam Smith, of Scotland, is almost as popular as Karl Marx. Smith was born 250 years ago and is considered the saint of a market economy; though, he wrote on ethics and morals, as well. The 2025 holiday issue of The Economist featured him in one of their articles.

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This is the third series. So far, we have looked at science and literature. This post picks up the thread of economics. This time, again, the holiday issue of The Economist of 2025 is the source. Here is a quote from an article on Adam Smith (Wikipedia): 

Marx inspired socialist revolutions across the world; Smith inspired liberal ones, including the turn to free-market economics in America and Britain in the 1980s.

A famous metaphor is attributed to Smith, namely the "invisible hand", which has been used to describe market activity on the one hand and to depict "Divine Providence" on the other. The latter usage was prior to the former. 

There are many ways to go with respect to this topic. But, let's stay with the Scottish theme. Something interesting are those who were cotemporaries of Smith in Scotland. Naming a few: John Mill (father of John Stuart Mill); George Turnbull; and Robert Burns. The eclectic mix is purposeful due to the breadth of U.S. and those over there. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/01/2026

02/01/2026 -- Finished the article.   

Small world, literature

TL;DR -- The Economist does a double issue each year right before the Holidays. This year, one of the extra articles dealt with Jane Austen. We saw that her birth was 250 years ago in December. We want to pay attention to the Old Country and thought to do it various ways. This is an example of one method. 

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The U.S. has a 250th this year which really started in the spring of last year with the Lexington/Concord conflict. We have posted on that theme for a few years. Now, we are approaching date of the Declaration of Independence and started a series, in the last post, based upon events in people's lives. We want to continue that theme. 

The Economist's Holiday double-issue had a piece on Jane Austen who was borrn in 1775. The article looked at her publications and compared the economic realities of her characters with a chart depicting a fictional annual income: How Jane Austen revealed the economic basis of society. Never having read anything of Jane, the article reminded me of the ties that were across the water which were somewhat severed by the split that followed the Revolution. That points to possible stories about families and histories of locations of interest to the New England colony. 

Too, I am reading (again, as I first went through the novel years ago) Irving Stone's "Those who love" which is a novel about Abigail and John Adams. Abigail was of Quincy heritage; we will look at her later. John was cousin of Samuel (of the beer) and a farm kid who got into Harvard. Later, he became a lawyer. And, we know him also as the 2nd President of the U.S. Stone's handling of characters and conversations does very well in protraying the times and ordeals experienced by those there. 

Ignoring that until later, we have had several posts on generations. For instance, we wrote earlier that the 5th generation did the Revolution with leadership being provided by the 4th. John and Abigail were of the 5th. And, their son, John Quincy Adams, is, like Jane, a member of the 6th generation. So, we can pay attention to this generation's existence over the beginning and early years of the U.S. 

By the way, the 8th generation was the core of the U.S. Civil War. We mention this as there are threads from the beginning (the 400th) by the entries during the colonial period to the major, internal conflict. 

Getting back to the 250th, the internet/web will allow publication of information from families and other sources that were never pulled together into something cohesive. Of course, technology now will be more of a hindrance and asset for several reasons. But, provenance as a keything will help and will definitely be necessary. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/10/2026  

01/10/2026 -- Modified font, at this section. 

 

Small world, science

TL;DR -- The U.S. is at its 250ths in 2026 with the festivities and lookbacks starting in 2025. That was the time of the Declaration of Independence. The conflicts started the prior year and continued until 1783 giving us now several years to use to study specifics. While, we might add, dancing around the mischief to be expected from wide-spread use of this AI/ML thingee. And also, looking at going-ons in France related to Independence and science. 

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We have been posting on the 250th for a few years with lots happening in 2025: Gardner's Beacon, Vol XV, No 2. This year, we see the thing that brings fireworks. What was that? Well, as we go along, we will pull forward associations with history and genealogy plus ties to science. 

We will introduce Rev. John Wise, inspiration for The Declaration of Independence. At the same time, we need to remind everyone of the extent of the conflicts. We will be addressing that mostly in the context of General Nathanael Greene and his Southern Campaign. 

All along, we have mentioned the 400ths and stressed the three major cultures: Spain; France; and the English. The first and last have been covered a lot. With the events of the 250th being followed by similar activity in France, we will be more regular in bringing in that cultural influence. 

Again, all of our activity will be influenced by history, genealogy (implying family, extended family, regions, and more), and science (starting with computational aspects which are now at the core of information and knowledge). 

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One thing that we can do is bring into focus the U.S. contributions over the years. Let's take thermodynamics which is a core subject, too. We have addressed several persons: Count Rumford; and Josiah Willard Gibbs. Both are kin. The former, as a Loyalist, made his name in Europe where he went when things got hot here. But, he sent back money to Harvard. We will look at that further. The latter is a descendant of Thomas Gardner and is known for his mathematical contributions. We will mention him more.

For example, there is someone to know: Lazare Carnot. He was a French Army officer with a cool head. In the heat of their revolution, he was there and influential: French Directory. This topic will be of interest later. Now, let's look at his son: Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot. His work in thermodynamics was only recognized posthumously. In this sense, he is like Galois who was  misunderstood during his time. Carnot probably needs more credit than we have seen; that is one of our goals - namely, research and report on this. 

In another venue, we are setting up a series of articles that will tie all of these notions together as we can use the time of the U.S. Revolution as the control and basis. Say, a classical view of substance. Then, we will come forward to the time of those in the boom era of Levi-Civita and Planck. Oh yes, do we need to mention Einstein? 

Too, we will bring in New Spain and the other major contributors to what became the U.S. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/10/2026  

01/10/2026 -- Reminder: Jane Austen was born 250 years ago. Same generation as John Quincy Adams. 

 

Themes that persist

TL;DR -- The past few years have seen lots of changes. These will be handled in a more categorical manner with respect to our mission and the research that supports such. 

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In late 2024, we posted a summary of the situation: Restart, somewhat. One theme dealt with the 2023 impact of GenAI/LLM. Another dealt with research that found that Thomas and Margaret had the marjority of their children in Sherborne. After some analysis, the WikiTree profile for Thomas Gardner (Cape Ann, Salem) was split into two: Thomas (Cape Ann); Thomas (Salem). We know little of the first one. The second one is the progenitor of the Gardners who were the original focus of the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. We have expanded to cover Essex County, Massachusetts, New England and in some contexts, All things Gardner, with respect to the 400 years of the culture that celebrates its 250th this year. 

So, some reorganization of information will be forthcoming. On the other hand, there will be a broader scope which is expected to emerge in 2026, at least from a cursory sense. In any case, we will be paying more attention to Origins than we had before.

Also, the post "Renovation, plus" gives some perspective of the mix of themes and how they interrelate.  

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Update on 17 Jan 2026. See Sherborne.html. 

After the above was written, we went to review the past three years. In doing so, we took a closer look at the records of the births. It turns out that there is sufficient time for Thomas to have come over in the timeframe described by Dr. Frank. 

There are two years and
seven months between
the births of John and Samuel

At the WikiTree profile of Thomas, we left this comment and will be researching this further. Needless to say, we do not agree with the two-Thomas view. That is, the arguments given three years ago go too far given the less-than-stellar strength of the data from the records. 

This is the comment at WikiTree:

If we look at the births, John appeared in Dec of 1624. Samuel (our guy) was born Jul of 1627.

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In 2023, I got involved with the advent of GenAI/LLM on the scene for a bit which was distracting. But, I am back on this. Old notes, to be updated.

                      https://tgsoc.org/tech/2023/04/02/research-notes/

The following is preliminary (and conjecture, of course - based upon the short list of what we actually know), but the potential is what we are looking at, for the moment.

Given the lore, the 1624 crew would have left in the spring. The couple may not have known that she was in circumstances at that time. Too, there are ample references to a Thomas Gardner being here for a year or so.

Later, Thomas and Margaret slipped right into Salem when he came back. Their kids married kids of Conant and such.

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Thomas could have come with Margaret and the oldest boys. John may have been born here, and the Sherborne records updated when they returned. From the research of the Paine family. 

So, we have two scenarios: Thomas alone; Thomas and Margaret with the boys. The second makes sense in terms of what was written, WikiTree's response notwithstanding. The first one would require more research with respect to who took care of Margaret while Thomas was gone. 

Myself, I prefer the second and intend to argue that the Thomas Gardner Society will follow that line unless we find something that is more clear about another alternative. Too, we will update now all of the records (which is less of a job given the obvious likelihood changes with a closer look).  

Paine family's research

Remarks: Modified: 03/07/2026

01/17/2026 -- Brought in an image snip from the Sherborne records. Also, pointed to the Paine record. 

03/07/2026 -- Comments on Salem, 1626 which needs attention even with the great focus of the 250th.