Bunker Hill West - 1873

TL;DR -- Today we saw an old photo of a sketch which shows part of Bunker Hill West in the 1870s. That's early enough to be before lots of the changes introduced over the long span of US history. The English culture took over in 1847 from that of New Spain. And so, the area has lots of offer with respect to our interest in the long reach of New England. 

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Here we go with a post on LA, again. Yesterday, as we looked at New France and New Spain, we mentioned Bunker Hill West. In the early days, the hill overlooked bustling LA. Then, people built upon the hill. They tunneled under it to start to build on the other side. It was partly lowered starting in the 1960s. Now long after, the skyscrapers started to appear with the first one right by the Library which is about as old as the LA City Hall. 

This pointer is to a search on Los Angeles within our blog. There may be Bunker Hill posts that did not come up on the list. In any case, the below photo which is courtesy of the Water and Power Organization of Los Angeles, CA is from a sketch near what is now 9th Street looking north. To orient the view, the well-known City Hall is between Spring and Main Streets (shown converging here) eight blocks north above 1st Street. 

To the middle below the foothills is where one would find The Cathedral of the Angeles, not built yet. The train station is north of that. 

Of interest today are the hills on the left. If one follows the Fort Street line (left of Spring Street) up toward the hills to north, there is a building standing above the city. That was Fort Moore. Going to the left, one can see parts of Bunker Hill West. 

Prior posts had some information about the history of development of the hill. Today, we wanted to show a view indicating that there was a hill of size. According to Wikipedia, the elevation was up to 200 feet above Los Angeles. Naturally, there are higher hills including the massive 14k-foot  mountain within a morning's drive seen on the upper right. 

The Bunker Hill represents history, pre-US and post the events of 250 years ago. In this area, the culture changed several times in a manner that is representative of the changes in the US. The current stature of Bunker Hill is obvious in the photos of LA. The majority of the skyscrapers have their footing on the scraped down and leveled heights of the hill. 

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Caption of the photo: (ca. 1873)* – Panoramic sketch looking north toward downtown Los Angeles showing mostly undeveloped land.  At lower-right can be seen the junction of Main and Spring streets at a point where 9th Street will one day intersect.  Hill Street and Fort Street (later Broadway) are on the left.  The Verdugo Hills and snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains can be seen in the distance. Photo of a lithograph, courtesy of the California Historical Society. 

DTLA, 1873 

We are fortunate to have original photos, sketches, and paintings of the area. One hopes that these photos with provenance continue to be available in the age of mimic and copy in a manner that does not preserve the truth of the matter. 

But, that's a technology matter to be discussed further with an actionable focus. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/03/2025

10/03/2025 - 

States and watersheds

TL;DR -- We have lots of themes to research. Rivers will be a constant. Today, we look at watersheds, again. Too, we consider a map showing the findings of Powell as he explored the west. American would not be the same without its rivers. 

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We saw a map today that got our interest. Perhaps, at some point, we'll link to all of our posts that present a map as we continue our look at the history of the U.S. and its first colony of New England (mainly north) being respectful of the Native American culture as well as the incursions of New Spaiin and New France both of which left placenames in their language. 

Rivers are the focus today. We have many posts in on rivers and some on watersheds. And, we mentioned the Arkansas River in an earlier post today. Before making a few more remarks, here is a map related to the discussion. 

The United Watershed States of America

On the page providing this map, one can click on the map and get an enlarged view. The Arkansas River goes from Colorado, through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas before it flows into the Mississippi. It was this location where explorers out of New France (north of New York) saw artifacts from New Spain. 

It's worth mentioning that New Spain explorers were in the northern Kansas area in the middle of the 1500s. This trek was to find the cities of gold. We have a town El Dorado not far from the route taken by the Spaniards. 

Back to the map, it shows the route taken by John Wesley Powell in 1869. This was post-Civil War when the traffic to the west increased. 

Another reminder, Jedediah Strong Smith was in some of these areas in the 1820s. Having gone from New England to St. Louis, he went west and ventured into the moutains near Gardner River. He went south into the desert of Nevada and crossed the Mohave in the summer (first European to do so) ending up in LA where he was the "guest" of the Spanish Governor. Once released, he went north and east. He met his demise in Kansas at a site along the Cimarron River. 

Later, Judge Francis M. Thompson toured the area. Tour, of course, meaning on foot and horseback. Like Jedediah, he got to the left coast. On the way back, he spent time in Montana and helped the State get is legal footing. 

In all of these journeys on the land, we talked of rivers as means for transportation (Lewis & Clark) or barriers to progress. An, example might be the Lawrence, Kansas-bound group that founded the University of Kansas - they had to cross the Wakarusa having come from Massachusetts. That meant, breaking down the wagon, lowering it, getting across, raising it back up to high ground, putting it back together and then continuing. The Wakarusa was fairy tame compared to the wild western rivers that those of the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails coped with. 

We can now consider another aspect of rivers. There are many more aspects, but the watershed aspect is important. An example are the irrigation canals of the west, such as those in Utah and Idaho which supported agriculture. Of course, we learned to tame rivers for milling and transportation of goods. Our post on the Gardner mill of Salem, MA is an example of a multi-purpose mill. The canal laid out by George Washington and his crew along the Potamac is another early example. General George Washington was at the Siege of Boston and became the first President. Even Betsy made it up to see him. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/02/2025

10/02/2025 - 

New France

TL;DR -- Nutfield Genealogy motivated this post with their post. Amazing maps has been in our sight for a long while. The one we saw today is about New France which has not had the attention that is needed. So, we correct that. 

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When we started, our focus was New England. Then, we got into New Spain due to the California influence. We mentioned New France and probably ought to have looked further since we ran into it many times. One theme/meme that will continue is the long reach of New England. Also, all things Gardner is on the plate. Technology? What happened in 2025? AI is everywhere with mature voices with mathematical knowledge finally weighing. We'll take part in that discussion and the followup work. Another theme? The 250th U.S. as represented by D.A.R./S.A.R. and those of the other sides (loyalists, for example). 

Lots and lots of things to do, but here is a list of subjects which suggest future work.  

• Using Cape Ann, we learned about the commercial influence of the Dorchester Company. There seemed to be agreement about the events such as the 1623 overwintering, the 1624 arrival of the settlers, John Endicott's arrival, and then John Winthrop who disliked Salem and sailed off to Boston. In 2014, we found records in Dorset, UK. In 2023, a researcher went through all of the known records to find Gardner references. Pending is going through that and posing means to get the story in line with what we know and can know. See, Why is 2024 quiet? 
• President Jefferson dealt with Spain with regard to the Louisiana Territory. We can use Missouri as the focus for several reasons. Our research was focused in the middle of the country, with St. Louis being somewhat of a gateway, though there was movement both along the north and the south. Speaking of the south, regular coach traffic occurred between St. Louis and San Francisco. 
• We have to mention that the coach that ran across lower Arizona into California stopped in Los Angeles in the area now known as DTLA. We found out that a hill had been named after the battle site in Boston, Bunker Hill, which battle was part of the period of over a year noted as the Siege of Boston. Named Bunker Hill West, the area now hosts the skyscrapers associated with the LA skyline. Those bringing in the traffic from St. Louis and points east were of New England. That route met up with traffic from the lower part of Texas. And, in LA, there was serious New England influence. But, New Spain, too, was there earlier, leaving many place names of Spanish origin. 
• We looked at rivers, extensively which brings up a notion (below). Gardner River got attention a few years ago. But, the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers will be featured with respect to travel to and in the central and west parts of the U.S. 

Today, we saw a share by another blog (Nutfield Genealogy) that got our attention. It showed the extent of New France which is far beyond what we consider when discussing the French-Indian affair or the Revolutionary War. This map comes from Amazing Maps which can be accessed through various social media. Using FB (Meta), one can access this map. 

We had written several years ago about the French being down in the Arkansas area at the same time that Thomas Gardner and others were founding New England which was a little bit of land shown in grey on the right. The blue shows the wanderings of the French. One tales recalls that a crew had crossed the Great Lakes to the area of nowadays Wisconsin, portaged down to a river than ran into the Mississippi. When they got to where the Arkansas River (out of the Rockies) met the Mississippi, the Frenchmen started to see the Native Americans with artifacts from Spain. They were not far from nowadays New Orleans at that time. 

Too, up in the northwest, later, there was disagreement amongst the travelers then, trappers and mountain men, about where the U.S. and Canada split. This was not settled until the 1840s. Those representing Canada's rights were of New France. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/02/2025

10/02/2025 - 

TEG in DB of NEHGS

TL;DR -- We published in The Essex Genealogist (TEG). The NEHGS printed a listing of TEG in their NEHGR. Later, the NEHGS made a database for the TEG issues and are now up to Vol 37 which published in 2017. 

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First things first. This is the announcement by the American Ancestor publisher of the NEHGS about their making issues of The Essex Genealogist of the Essex Society of Genealogists available via their database. We already tried it today with respect to our last article. 

The Essex Genealogist: Volume 37 (2017) now      

In the middle of the 2010s, we published a few articles in The Essex Genealogist. Later, we published the same article in The Gardner Annals. The following is a list of posts related to those publications. 

Essex Society
of Genealogists

The last one was about the barque Bostonian which was built in New England, roamed the world, and then wrecked along the Oregon border. The owners were Henry D. Gardiner and his brother. 

At the time, we had lots of material related to research along several topics: the captain at the time of the wreck; passengers on that voyage; the town of Gardiner, OR which was founded at the spot; and, of course,  more about the Gardiners who were descendants of Gardiner of Rhode Island. 

• NEHGR 2016 -- Vols 34, May, Aug, Nov; with with pointers to PDFs of Ahnentafel
• TEG, Vol 34, No 3; Vol 35, No 1  -  Benjamin Brown Gardner and his wife Lucy Foster Wilson 
• NEHGR 2017 -- Vol 35, Feb and May
• The Gardiner that was - Extensive research material related to this topic
• TEG, Vol 35, No 2 -- Will republish the barque Bostonian article with updates 

This work got us, landlubers, familiar with some naval issues and terminology. Looking forward to digging deeper. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/26/2025

09/26/2025 - 

Southern campaign

TL;DR -- Lexington & Concord got things going in the spring of 1775. Hence, we have the 250th started this year. The Siege of Boston was still going on (would be until March of 1776). By 1778, the Brit strategy was to go south and perhaps find friendly folks. The events of "Southern theatre" run by General Nathanael Greene starting early in 1781 helped settle that issue. Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington in October of 1781. The 1783 date aligns with the signing of the Peace Treaty. 

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As expected, the looking back over 250 years to the Revolution can be a daily thing. We are still in the Siege of Boston which started in the Spring at Lexington & Concord, included the Battle of Bunker Hill and other skirmishes, and will go until March. We wrote recently about Henry Knox bringing cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to an area outside of Boston where the Patriot troops were not visible to the British in Boston. This period will end with the British leaving Boston and going to New York. After not finding success in that area, the focus of the conflice went south. There were still events in the north, but the whole focus changed.

This is where General Nathanael Greene comes in. He had been Quartermaster General for several years. In 1781, General Washington put NG in charge of the war in the south. We got involved with studying this by doing research about the southern troops. In the north, there had been regular militias. As Dr. Frank noted, the leadership had been trained by serving the Crown in the French & Indian affairs. 

Lord Cornwallis had hoped that the southern portion of the country would be more amenable to staying loyal to the Crown. That is something to consider as we review over the next few years.  

Called the Southern theatre (or campaign), this series of battles started in 1778 which was two years after the Declaration of Independence and three years after the first shot was fired in 1775. Having started in early1781, NG won and lost battles. Yet, the War of Revolution was over by October of 1781. The year of 1783 is used since that is when the peace treaty was signed. Between 1781, there may have been continuing conflict, but the main focus was forming the country. 

There is a lot of ground to cover, such as a look at the timeline of the Southern theatre and consider of how what particular areas had a major role in the conflicts and their outcome. 

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One theme will be Loyalists and what happend to them. For example, see this post -- Henry Gardner, the Loyalist. He left his property in control of an agent in Salem and went north where he had a reputation of being fair, and friendly, with American prisoners. He came back after the war and resumed his life and business. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/18/2025

09/18/2025 - 

Constitution week

TL;DR -- We're still in the period of the Siege of Boston. It's time to leap forward to an event in 1789 which is 14 years later. The signing of the Constitution. 

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Coming soon is Constitution week. This ought to be better known throughout the U.S. Given that we are in the 250th of the Siege of Boston, we will pay more attention to this day and what it celebrates.

• Constitution week - "This celebration of the Constitution was started by the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1955, DAR petitioned Congress to set aside September 17-23 annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into public law on August 2, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower." 

• Constitution Day - "Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of government. Its first three words—"We the People"—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. For over two centuries the Constitution has remained in force because its framers wisely separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of the federal and state governments. Since 1789 the Constitution has evolved through amendments to meet the changing needs of a nation now profoundly different from the 18th-century world in which its creators lived."  

• Constitution of the United States -- "The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America.[3] It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitution defined the foundational structure of the federal government."

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States

Remarks: Modified: 09/15/2025

09/15/2025 - 

General Nathanael Greene

TL;DR -- To follow up on a Meta (FB) post, we provide a little more information. Several libraries have the thirteen volumes of his Papers. 

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This post is about General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. Yesterday, we published a post with some information about the General on Meta (formerly FB). 

Today, we provide a little more information about the General and the thirteen volumes of his papers that was "Published for the Rhode Island Historical Society [by] University of North Carolina Press" starting in 1976. 

• The American Battlefield Trust provides a short biography on the General. 
• Archive org has more information on the publication of his Papers. 
• The General was of old New England heritage (WikiTree; Wikipedia) with his ancestors founding Warwick, RI. 

With the progress computing technology came improvements for library functions. As mentioned, we have already perused Vols I through VI. We expect to see the rest soon. 

Here is an example of a library that has all 13 volumes. 

• KU - Watson Library - this is the full record from the Library catalog. 
• The Library is on the campus in Lawrence, KS. 
• The volumes are in the stacks on the first floor (see Library floor maps)

Remarks: Modified: 09/17/2025

09/14/2025 - Spent glorious time at Watson Library, first visit in a few decades. The whole collection is hardbound. Some references will need updating as some material formerly in Vol VII can be found in Vol X, and so forth. Also, we'll combine this with some D.A.R. research which didn't go far enough. Greene's material will help fill in missing pieces for a lot of families looking to prove an ancestor's service. In this sense, folks. Officers? Known. The enlisted and lower ranks? Not so much. Typical. The internet? Will allow a great bit of equity to come forth. So, that'll be our technology reference as we continue this work. ... So many lessons to be learned from this series. Thank you to whomever responsible. We'll look at that, too. 

09/17/2025 - A couple of years ago, on doing some research, I ran into this snippet. And, this weekend finally got to see the pages and the whole of the series (thirteen volumes). Will report more after assessing these details. 

As mentioned elsewhere, this is a snippet. The pages
are correct but are in Vol. X. The 1976 release
only had the 1st six volumes. The remaining appeared
over the years until the 2020s. 
So, we can get to work and understand the role of
the General and those troops/families that
supported his efforts. 

Why the delay? Being a new publication and with copyright laws (for everyone but GenAI/LLM vendors, it seems), I was not able to read online. And, there was no service that was easily accessible (hint). The first place I went only had the first six volumes. So, I went to another, with fingers crossed that someone had not checked out any of the volumes. But, it was about time for me to get back to the library after doing research on the internet probably 80% of the time. Yes, for 20 years, watching the internet both evolve and devolve. We will discuss which of the sides of that coin was greater (meaning, it's unbalanced).