Toward the 250th

TL;DR -- The 249th came and started the clock for the 250th and for activity leading up to the celebration next year. Not that there hasn't been activity to date. We need to remember the 400ths as well. 

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We just had the 249th this weekend. On the 1st of July, our post was about Rev. John Wise who inspired the Declaration of Independence. On the 3rd of July, President Trump was at the Iowa State Fair to kick off the year up to 4th Jul 2026. "lookback" was used which is what we can do over the period of this 250th in the making. 

Earlier we had mentioned that on this date, the colonists were still involved with the Siege of Boston during which the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. There will be plenty of material to cover, on several levels. 

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Let's stop to show a countdown which can be visited on several sites. 

America250, countdown

Countdown250 will be a regular theme. At the same time, we will bring in tidbits about the 400th of Naumkeag which was renamed to Salem, at a later date. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/15/2025

07/11/2025 -  Added link to the countdown. 

Rev. John Wise

TL;DR -- Everyone talks of the 250th. Wait a moment. That's a year away. And so, let's use the coming days to look at the Revolution in new ways that represent the marvels of the modern times.While, at the same time, look to the idiciocies that potentially loom and recognize them for what they are. We suggests a focal of the human variety. Aside: in 2026, we have the 400th of what became Salem. 

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Now, we are a few days prior to the commeration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Lots has been written and said about that event. Some people have been mentioned (too many to list). Many (most) were not. Even Dr. Frank's look at the Siege of Boston only mentions the officers. 

And, at the same time, we are approaching one year to the 1776 event's celebration. Meanwhile, we can use this year to dig in. Sometimes, we'll dive deeply. Mostly, we expect to mention pending research items that would keep us busy for a very long time. 

So, this week's look back is from the timeframe of 249 years having elapsed. The 250th, then, is next year. What else is associated with 2026? Well, 100 years ago, Salem celebrated its 300th. You see, the country was too new to do the 200th. Besides, the War of 1812 had just ended. "Manifest destiny" was beginning to bloom. All of that is already on the list. The next year, we will specifically deal with the Revolution and the 365 days leading up to the big split on paper. 

Given the times, Salem MA sponsored a pageant which was a play about the early days leading up to the establishment of the Naumkeag settlement. Cape Ann has been mentioned a lot here; since last year, we are in a new era there as digital records indicate that some of the information might have been other than correct. Typical. 

Anyway, the Pageant of Salem was performed in the towns of Essex County and elsewhere. Of note, most of the characters were played by descendants. We can look at that closer. Too, many of those of the time of the 300th were descendants, too, of participants in the Revolution (both sides - warning, we also look at Loyalists - say, Count Rumford who gave money to Harvard so that that provincial institute could modernize - needless to say, Rumford and later Gibbs will again get time in the spotlight this year). 

Recently, we looked at a Roxbury (muddy waters, whatever, Suffolk County) family who married into a family at Ipswich (Essex County) or was it the other way: Gardner married Wise. In this case, Abigail Gardner was the sister of Mary Gardner Boylston. They were both grand aunts of a causalty (Col. Thomas Gardner) of Bunker Hill which we just looked at. 

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Abigail married Rev. John Wise. Who is this guy? Well, large male. Harvard graduate. As we see, Reverend. Was in an area of what was/is known as Ipswich. That little place on the waters even produced seagoing vessels. The American spirit, so to speak. 

But, this is about John. He has lots of tales about him. One dealt with his early years when he was out with a hunting party. They ran into some Native Americans so as the potential for violence rose. But, John's party negotiated a wrestling match with John being chosen. The tale notes that the Reverend-to-be won and did so by throwing his opponent several feet in a remarkable feat of strength. 

Ipswich MA

One can just imagine this guy. Not like John Adams who fled the farm to be a lawyer. Nope, Rev John was involved with physical labor all of this life. And, he was noted to be an inspiration of the Declaration of Independence. The image is about the 1689 event where the colonials rebelled against taxes. Mind you, from 1620 until later in the 1640s, the colonials were more or less here and living freely. We will look at what led up to this event. Why? When the Patriots were getting hot-headed (again, a cousin, Samuel of the beer), someone published a pamphlet written by Rev. John decades prior.  

We need more types like Rev. Wise, especially in the age with the digital illusions grasp people psychologically and wreck havocs on lives that way. And, let's count the other ways of mischief. Don't doubt that we can do this. Well, that needs to be our technology focus which will go forward with our arguing the importance of psychology and other studies that deal with humans. 

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Aside: We have waited a whole for this: in 2026, we have the 400th of Conant's moving from Cape Ann to Naumkeag which became Salem: Massey's Cove. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/01/2025

07/01/2025 -  

The 249th, finally

 TL;DR -- It's time for a GB issue (XV, 1) as we're 15 years into this work. Then, technology as a focus has grown in the past few years. That in itself would have been captivating. However, lots has changed in the world in the past year or so. 

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We're at the sixth month's end. The Holiday is four days away. And, we're in the prepartory phase. That is, we're at 249 of 250 years that we will be facing next July 4th. This day has been awaited for a while; let's review those types of things as we go along. 

There are many topics to discuss, but we will take two. 

• Gardner's Beacon, XV, 1 - we will be doing this shortly, hopefully before the 249th which occurs on Friday of this week. 
• Technology - lately, lots and lots of people have been declaring there knowledge that GenAI/LLM is a vaccous mess. How did this come about? Well, at the same time, CEOs have decided this year to remove people and put this chimera in a prominent role in their company. Reports are coming out that this step has had negative results of an inordinate quantity. That will have to be watched closely. But, the things to pay attention to is huge. We'll venture down that path though. 

With this post, we're at 41 posts for the year. That's a prime number. Our posts have usually come from topics of interest as we followed trends in technology and genealogical/historical areas. 

How great?

Remarks: Modified: 06/01/2025

06/30/2025 -  

250th, U.S. Army

TL;DR -- We have the 250th of the U.S. Army to celebrate this month. Later in the year, we will see the Navy and Marines feated with respect to their heritage. The Revolution was long going into 1783 so we have several more years to explore themes of Independence. 

--- Theme: 250th, Army, Navy, Marines. 

This month (soon) will be the 250th of the U.S. Army. "army mil" has information related to the anniversary that will be of interest over the next few years. An example, the presented timeline is wonderful. 

https://www.army.mil/1775/timeline.html  

• The first entry is from 24 Mar 1774 which was the Boston Port Act. Our post: Boston Tea Party. 
• The next entry from 20 May 1774 is for the Massachusetts Government Act. 
• Then,  there is an entry from 19 Apr 1775 for the Lexington & Concord incident. Our post: Where was Salem? 

The current entries are few and go up to 1789, but the site is undergoing updates. Hence, there will be lots of material to cover including those from this U.S. Army site. 

Other 250th sites:

https://www.navy.mil/Navy-250/ 

https://www.marines.mil/Marines250/   

We have been in the 250th mindset for a long while, from before this post on Real daughters who were children of Patriots and members of D.A.R. Also, D.A.R. had an initiative related to tracking lineage from a Patriot back to the Mayflower whose 400th was in 2020. We took that and adapted it to Cape Ann to Patriot. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/02/2025

07/15/2025 - Did posts on the Navy and Marines. So, we have this theme: 250th, Army, Navy, Marines. Plus, Ancient and Honorable. 

08/02/2025 - The U.S. Coast Guard has its 235th birthday celebration on 4 Aug 2025. 

250 Years of Liberty

TL;DR -- The 250th lookbacks demonstrates modern technology and how it will allow better assessment of past events, especially with respect to people and their families. The massacre at Boston is an example. John Adams established a U.S. milestone, thereby getting some fame, though the initial reactions were not favorable. 

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We have had several posts on the upcoming 250th which has been in focus for a while in terms of planning and reporting activity leading up to the event associated with Lexington and Concord. Planning started more than a decade ago, with groups such as the Daughters of the American Revolution.  

Another example event was the Boston Tea Party the 250th of which was in 2023. Given that we are one year from the Declaration, we will have regular reports of events from those times that got the U.S. going. At the same time, we will continue our focus on the post-Revolution activity leading to the expansion of the interior the U.S., especially the interior and the west (left) coast. 

Today, we will point to a couple of Facebook Groups which recently provided information about the Boston Massacre. 

• 250Years America's Founding - This post (Judgement of Death) covers the Boston Massacre which was an event in 1770 that was confictual. Some Brit soldiers fired on people. John Adams (cuz) was appointed as defense. John wasn't popular for a bit. He and Abigail (cuz) left Boston so as to have some peace. Ah, America at its best. 
• 250YearsofLiberty - This site has posts pertinent to the Revolution. Lots of things have happened to this day. We, then, have several years before peace came to be. The topic now is the Boston Massacre (Wikipedia) which happened March 5th. 

Concurrent with the Revolution, there will be continual reflection on towns coming into being 400 years ago. Coming up next year will be the movement from Cape Ann to what became Salem. We will relook at the upcoming timeline for communities in the area in a future post. 

The bloody massacre
Paul Revere (engraving)

Remarks: Modified: 03/17/2025

03/17/2025 -- Used Wikipedia for the image source. FB (Meta) is flaky. To the max. 

250th and more

TL;DR -- 250th and 400th will resonate through the coming decades as we learn more about then and what might have been missed in the history taught as a general principle. 

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Let's start by pointing to two private groups on Facebook. These two links are to public information about the groups. After this introduction, we can discuss the two anniversaries that are the focus of the groups and which have current attention. 

The focus of the first group deals with the start of the U.S. 

• 250Years America's Founding (link) -- We have mentioned the 250th for some time. Organizations, such as D.A.R. have had this as a focus for over a decade. But, the time is coming up fast: Battles of Lexington/Concord. This part of the turmoil began on April 19, 1775. This group has been presenting information about the times before the turmoil. An example is that the Boston Tea Party was about a year before. After Lexington/Concord, the focus shifted to Boston where the British troops had settled surrounded by the patriots. And, a date that is honored every year is the July 4th signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

In a post this summer, the site offered the report, of General Gage who lead the British troops, about the battle of Bunker Hill. Prior to the opening of those hostilities, the General offered everyone a pardon except for two individuals, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. One we remember via beer. The other had the elaborate signature. 

 The second group goes back further to the first arrival on these shores of people attempting to start a new life. One might say that this is in regard to New England north however it covers most of the colonial activity along the east coast. 

• New England Family Genealogy and History (link) -- This group has been around for nine years and helps with research in the New England of the northern colonial states. The group's purpose: Sharing Research, Stories, Photos & Family Data about New England (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut). As such, it covers families from colonial times to the present. Here is an example recent post: Nutfield Genealogy. 

For both of these groups, the initial effort was before the anniversary to celebrate; work carried (or will carry) on after the anniversary. There is no end to this type of focus which will allow us to bring to bear the facilities of modern technology to fill in where history, as an industry, fails to take note. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/18/2025

01/13/2025 -- President Carter and Rosalyn both descend from New England (south). We look at a few of The First Lady's patriots. 

01/18/2025 --  Pageant of Salem is an exmple of the events from 1924. It provides a good view of the thinking at that time. Now, 100 years later, we know more since we have digitized copies of old documents coming on line. See this post: 250th and more for our research and pending edits. As well, this post is an example of what we will focus on: Mary (Gardner) Boylston.  

247th of U.S.

TL;DR -- With the approaching 250th of the United States and the time of the year, the focus is on Patriots and their times as well as their progeny since then to now. This year is the 247th of the start of the revolutionary activity that was public. There had been prior activity that was taken by the ardent though at considerable risk to themselves and their families. 

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In the colonies, here, there were stirrings earlier, but it was in July of 1776 when those there got to the notion of independence, what it might mean, and started the process. This was the time of the remaining of the 4th generation, the majority of the 5th generation, and the starting of the 6th generation. 

As we have noted, it was the 5th that bore the responsibility of establishing the United States. 

Today, we gather research material, such as Dr. Frank's writings to support future research work with regard to the three generations. Below, we provide information from the 1907 edition. The 1933 edition is about the family of George Gardner, who as a 2nd generation son of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer. 

We point to The Massachusetts Magazine in which Dr. Frank wrote, for each issue, about the regiments that served at Bunker Hill. Works of Dr. Frank include the following:

1907 edition, 

1933 edition

The Massachusetts Magazine

In the 1907 book of Dr. Frank, the 5th generation starts with #87 Habakkuk Gardner (1707-1763) who died before the start of the Revolution. Next was #90 Capt. John Gardner (1706-1784) who served both in the French-Indian conflict as well as supported the Revolution. The last person in this generation in the book was #137 Samuel Gardner (1763-1796). 

Before we sample some of the Patriots from the 5th generation, let's look at other resources. Some of these will be by region, such as the original colonies that became States. Researching the Revolution brings one into contact with lots of information. Some States made an effort early to gather data from records with regard to their citizens. This list is from Massachusetts. There are seventeen volumes. Below we will be looking one of these, Volume 6 (Fr - Gy), where we will find information on the Gardners. 

Index to on-line volumes (thanks to archive.org - seventeen volumes)

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution

       v1 (A - Ber), v2 (Bes - Byx), v3 (C - Cor), v4 (Cos - Dry), v5 (Du - Foy),

       v6 (Fr - Gy), v7 (Ha - Hix), v8 (Hm - Jy), v9 (Ka - Lsu), v10 (Lua - Mop),

       v11 (Mor - Paz), v12 (Pea - Raz), v13 (Rea - Sey), v14 (Sha - Sth),

       v15 (Sti - Toz), v16 (Tra - Whe), v17 (Whi - Z)

First, though, let's point to two other resources. The Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and the Sons of the American Revolution (S.A.R.) both accept applications from descendants of Patriots. One of the contributions of these groups is that they help verify lineage. Right now, we are talking over 12 generations for many of the older folks up to 17 generations for the younger set. For the latter, D.A.R. has an organization called Children of the American Revolution. 

These are the research facilities offered by both groups which we will use below. 

• https://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/Search/ - one can search for Ancestors or Members. A Descendants search allows one to query intervening generations about their pedigree information. 
• https://sarpatriots.sar.org/patriot/search/ - S.A.R. has a similar search strategy. For those Patriots in both databases, the S.A.R. report has a link to the D.A.R. record. 

Now, using generation five, let's look at those whose service was mentioned in Dr. Frank and link to the on-line information about descendants. Both groups will show lineage details except for the last three generations. 

Though both the fourth and the sixth generation have Patriots who supported the Revolution, our current study focus is on the fifth. 

• #121 Lt. Thomas Gardner (1731-1788) - pg. 189; MS&S Vol 6, pg. 281; DAR - A043895; SAR - none. 
• #123 Ebenezer Gardner (1737-1832 - pg. 191; MS&S Vol 6, pg. 264; DAR - A043683; SAR - P-164034. We wrote of Ebenezer earlier.  
• #129 Simon Stacey Gardner (1743-1787) - pg. 195; MS&S Vol 6, pg. 278; DAR - A043882; SAR - P-164145. 

We have used one book and have included only Patriots that are in the MS&S and the DAR database which means that a female descendant has applied successfully. In our research, we have found many Patriots who are not documented in the normal fashion. Then, some did not have descendants, or the descendants have not applied successfully. 

Using the 1933 book, we can add a few more Patriots. These follow the descendants of the daughters. In this case, we use information from Dr. Frank and MS&S and/or DAR and/or SAR. 

• #26 Elizabeth Gardner - her son, Jonathan Gardner (1728-1791), pg. 76; MS&S Vol 6, pg 272; DAR - ; SAR - . We wrote of Elizabeth (Gardner) Gardner earlier. 
• #26 Elizabeth Gardner - her son, John Gardner (1736-1816), pg. 77; MS&S Vol 6, pg 270; DAR -__ ; SAR- P-164077. 
• #30 Hannah Gardner - her son, Samuel Holton, pg. 78; MS&S Vol 7, pg. __; DAR - A057441; SAR - P-184238. 

For this month, we will look more at Patriots after having a post that gathers all of the material about the Revolution that we had had so far in our thirteen years of work. 

Too, we will be looking at earlier incidents. We already have looked at the Crown's training of the officers via their involvement in the French-Indian conflict. But, some events like the Boston Tea Party are of interest. There is now an effort by the NEHGS to find descendants of the participants. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/26/2023

08/26/2023 --

Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.)

TL;DR -- We have been touting the series of celebrations that arise through time where we are at an unique state of such. That is, the U.S. start is coming up on 250 years. Then, we have the ongoing 400th anniversaries being recognized. The 300th is too raw, as of yet, but we'll get there. Then, we have the 200th of the Jefferson deal, followed by the 100th of those who were less than a handful of generations back. For each, we can have a focus. This post is about the 250th celebrations. 

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Our look at the U.S. is from the viewpoint of 400 years of family history, where family encompasses literally 1000s of families. Some of these are involved with Harvard, which, thankfully, has been there from the beginning. 

Then, there is the 250th coming up that celebrates the split with the old King's realm. This is where D.A.R. comes in. As does, too, we might add, the view of S.A.R. (Sons). Then, there is C.A.R. (Children). These organizations are merely 125 years old, at most which means that they were not brought to be until 125  years after the start of the Revolution. 

Now, we have had several posts on these groups (search on DAR; we also use D.A.R.). One important one looks at several early loci with respect to Patriots, say Cape Ann to Patriot. This would be a subset of DAR's membership, since many Patriots were recent arrivals in the early to mid 1700s. 

We, at the TGS, Inc., like to add in that we are interested in Loyalists, as well. And, we need to keep a broader focus with concerns about New Spain, New France, and other attempts. 

Now, back to DAR. We were motivated to do this post due to a query about DAR being right-winged which seems to have gotten a lot of press. Gosh, it's non-political for the most part, as an organization. That is, one might say that it's of both wings. There will be members of various persuasions, however they get along as we would expect of a collection of mature Americans. Now, given the question, a quick search brought up several articles and books. 

This is a brief list meant to be illustrative of the discussion. The coverage by time is deliberate.

• Case for and against DAR (1953) ... we start with what might be called a look at the "old" DAR. 
• DAR-lings of NY (2003) ... some notion of the current state of multiversity. DAR has extended the definition of what is a Patriot. Rather than just boom-boom people, many types of support are recognized including the old folks who kept the administrative things going in the time of the turmoil (see note about Loyalists below). 
• Who's a DAR? Answer grows more diverse. (2021) ... even more modern view.  

Before going on, look at this view of the same family with a Patriot and Loyalist mentioned. The former? One of the founders of the Society of Cincinnati. The latter? A decorated general of the earlier conflict, namely the French-Indian affair where the Crown trained the American officer corps (see Regimental History Series) very well, indeed. In this case, the former worked with Washington. The latter lived in peace unlike the reality of many loyalists who were abused. 

Now, the gist: DAR at Encyclopedia[dot]com. This quote got our attention. 

• The constitution of the DAR mentioned three main objectives of the society: (1) to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence; (2) to promote institutions of learning so that the young and old can develop the largest capacity for performing the duties of American Citizens; and (3) to cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American freedom and to foster true patriotism and love of country.

We'll leave it at that, for now. As, there are plenty of references to Winthrop's "city on a hill" concept, by allusion for the most part. Too, that the beacon (we chose Gardner's Beacon as the label for our newsletter) beckons and that many follow the call, pertains to much more than the dream of coming to the U.S. and exploiting the situation to screw people for the purposes of richness, fame, power, or what have you. 

You know, one approach to obtaining citizenship is to serve in the military. The reality is that only about 7% of the population does that. In WWII, Harvard had a huge percentage of its students enlist. At the same time, Hollywood actually tried to be part of the action (rather than the fantasy).  

Yes, Harvard (our History of Harvard) seems to have divorced itself from the country of its beginnings, but they do have a responsibility which accrued to the early start. That is something to put on the table for discussion. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/30/2022

04/30/2022 --

Lexington & Concord

TL;DR -- Only three years remain before we can revisit for several years the origins of the U.S. from the early times of Cape Ann and of other sites. Looking forward to it. 

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The 250th is approaching. Today's D.A.R.'s page on FB (requires a login) pointed to this conflict (image pulled from that site). We have had several posts related to the subject but wanted to emphasize the work needed to keep up our research related to Cape Ann to Patriot. D.A.R. and the NEHGS are focusing on Passenger to Patriot and Pilgrim to Patriot, respectively. 

We also want to know of Loyalists. The Two houses post is an example of one such story. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/14/2022

09/14/2022 -- Original image went away. Using Wikipedia's.