Gardner's Beacon, Vol XV, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues our interest in regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...

Topics:

Annual review, 

by quarters

...

GB XV, 2 (PDF w/links)

Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XV, 2  

See Vol. XV, No. 2 (point to 1 for now) of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 01/03/2026

01/02,03/2026 --  Updated with full content. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XV, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues our interest in regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...

Topics:

Activity, 2025

250th, 400th of the U.S. 

Technology

...

GB XV, 1 (PDF w/links)

Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XV, 1  

See Vol. XV, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Note: Our software is bespoke and will remain so until some serious discussion takes place (computers, philosophy, science, and more -- what we really need for truth engineering). HTML/CSS/Javascrpit is the basis with two blogging editors plus the following: Sea Monkey's Composer (html); Microsoft's Notepad (html, css, and javascript); Chrome developer's tools (mainly, at this point, for execution for debugging -- I have access to the development environment). So far, I have avoided co-pilots and Gemini's insistence that it's smarter than I am. People, this easy-peasy software development is creating a slippery slope to hell or, at least, perdition. I have logs and comments along this trek of TGS, Inc. (from 2010 with changes in 2012, 2014 and after with many updates pending time and effort). Mark my words as I slough along. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/14/2025

12/14/2025 --  1st release. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XIV, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues our interest in regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...

Topics:

Activity, 2024

LSU, College of Science

Technology

Following the Nobel Prizes 

...

GB XIV, 1 (PDF w/links)

New: Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XIV, 1  

See Vol. XIV, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 12/29/2024

12/28/2024 --  1st release. 

12/29/2024 -- General release. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XIII, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues with the context of our previous issue with respect to a regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...

Topics:

What happened? 

...

GB XIII, 2 (PDF w/links)

New: Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XIII, 2  

See Vol. XIII, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 12/30/2023

12/29/2023 -- Put draft PDF for review. 

12/30/2023 -- Publication release. 

 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XIII, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues with the context of our previous issue with respect to a regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...

Topics:

Technology, AI

...

GB XIII, 1 (PDF w/links)

New: Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XIII, 1  

(the next issue will cover origins and 

the beginnings of the new story of Thomas and Margaret)

See Vol. XIII, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 09/13/2023

09/13/2023 --

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XII, No 3

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues with the context of our previous issue with respect to a regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...

Topics:

 Ipswich to Ohio

Peirce family

400ths plus

...

GB XII, 3 (PDF w/links)

New: Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XII, 3  

See Vol. XII, No. 3 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 12/30/2022

12/30/2022 --

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XII, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues with the context of our previous issue with respect to a regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. The PDF has links to support further reading and research. As well, we have an on-line page for mobile-friendly presentation of the issue.   

Topics:

Rev. Higginson and family

Blended family

Roger Conant

Pony Express

...

GB XII, 2 (PDF w/links)

New: Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XII, 2  

See Vol. XII, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 10/08/2022

09/30/2022 -- Word isn't handling links correctly on the write to PDF. One page has active links; the other does not. So, we're suggesting to use the WordPress issue until this is resolved. 

10/03/2022 -- Changed wording to mobile-friendly. Updated GB XII, 1. 

10/05/2022 -- Both issues moved to our new site: Our new site.

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XII, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues with the context of our previous issue with respect to a regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. The PDF has links to support further reading and research.   

Topics:

Women's History Month

General topics

Our challenges

...

GB XII, 1 (PDF w/links)

New: Mobile-friendly issue of

GB XII, 1  

See Vol. XII, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 10/03/2022

03/31/2022 -- Rearrange sections within the issue, with topical first and technical last. 

04/02/2022 -- Expect to hear more about Lorenzo and Peggy. 

10/03/2022 -- Added the mobile-friendly link. 

10/05/2022 -- Changed mobile link to point to new site. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XI, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues the context from the prior issue, GB XI, 1, with respect to accomplishments, continuations, and new beginnings.  

Topics:

Continuing research

"Old" in New England

...

GB XI, 2 (PDF w/links)

---

See Vol. XI, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for ... Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 12/30/2021

12/30/2021 -- Wayback - About the AHAC. Wikipedia. NSWDofAHACofMass. 

12/31/2021 -- With respect to technology, see discussion at Truth Engineering - Grand Challenge. 

Structure and GB

TL;DR -- The internet/web has become increasingly fluid over the years as choices push in that direction. Part of this was the large set of potential representation devices grew in size and complexity. Adapting to that situation motivated several choices which might need reconsideration. As, information has structure as does the language used to express information. For our purposes, we see the PDF as a framework for providing temporal views of our information. However, given an early choice, we provided a print flavor. In retrospect, the PDF ought to point to information in its contemporary form. We will do that, albeit the task will become harder going back in time. So, right now, we have two volumes to show as an example. 

--

We recently released the issue of  Gardner's Beacon, Vol. XI, No. 1 in which we included links in the PDF file so as to have a more full presentation of information. After than, we re-issued the PDFs for Volume X which was 2020 and Volumes IX and VIII. These are the PDFs done so far. 

• Table move to our tech blog. Added in a format for more general reading. 

Try them and let us know. Why do this? It's a starting point. 

As we have mentioned, we are now designing changes to incorporate the mobile devices of small footprint. Over the past few years, site have been adjusting to make the interchange the same no matter the level of device. As in, we have the small (smartphone and other), tablet (varying sizes) and the more normal (where, again, we have a size range). Our portal (https://TGSoc.org) is where we have worked on the issues of mobility. 

From time to time, we have checked pages on the portal. However, the older (traditional) site has had minimal upgrade, though it works. 

In regard to the flexible approach that has been adopted, it has been a mixed blessing. One type of interface cannot handle all requirements. On the one hand, there has been lots of energy and money put into better interfaces for handling photos or games or steaming video. Other requirements might be for text with graphics such as we find with a scholarly paper. There are many more. 

An approach to allowing flexibility has been to remove structural constraints, almost entirely. Hence, the objects being displayed adapt. One scrolls to look for what one is seeking. A metaphor would be trying to find a bottle cap on a football field using only a small window of view (pan mostly, perhaps with some zoom). Using a browser on a larger screen can allow some search using text if the images have these identified.  

small example of the
array of modern devices 

This is a brief overview which was discussed in the 'Favorite site' post. An important concept is structure which can be several things, even some implicit order for scrolling. At the portal, we have offered a sliding icon array which maps to post by time. The PDF is another approach where text will have links to additional information. One can offer popup information and similar. 

So, with these PDFs, there is, at least, one link per paragraph to a post that relates to the theme. Then, each of these posts links to related material. Now, links? They can go bad for several reasons. Part of the maintenance would be link management which would identify those that are stale. Or, perhaps, where a server disappeared and might return at any moment. 

Now, this might seem to be out of scope with regard to our content. In an ideal world, that would be true. But, the internet has been undergoing tremendous change. We have looked to use the none extreme, in the sense of KISS. Too, we think of our material as being an in-progress outline with some fleshing available that is like a summary or overview. Besides, the balance of content and configuration is a never-ending affair where the line of demarcation moves by context. 

We will be putting out a temporary page to handle these PDFs as they get updated. Too, there will be ongoing reconfiguration seen through the next few (no end seen, yet) months.  

Remarks: Modified: 10/03/2022

12/20-21/2021 -- Added GB Vol. IX, No. 1,2, 3 and GB Vol. VIII, 1, 2 to see what's involved with the editing in of links. And, how many years back we might like to go. 

12/29/2021 -- Working GB Vol. XII, No. 2. Also, added GB Vol. IV, No. 2 which included information about the incorporation. 

 

02/22/2022 -- Added GB Vol. I, No. 1 and GB Vol. II, No. 1, ..., essentially, starting over. 

03/30/2022 -- Added GB Vol. XII, No. 1 

 

10/03/2022 -- Moved the status table over to our mobile-friendly site. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol XI, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon provides an overview of things accomplished in 2021 and before, plus commentary on what we are doing and why. Reports on our work have mostly been done by blog posts. The occasional issue of Gardner's Beacon provides for a structured review. Also, we have presented material by way of The Gardner Annals, an issue of which will be published in 2022. 

Topics:

U.S. History

  Generations and their use

U.S. Interior (Sam Dunn's view)

Families

Technology

GB XI, 1 (PDF w/links)

---

See Vol. XI, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for ... Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 12/30/2021

11/25/2021 -- Added links on topics to be covered. 

11/26/2021 -- Issue released. Links in the PDF are supposed to be active. See the problem. Will be corrected tomorrow. For those interested, a forgetful transform kicked in when it was not expected. Oversight. Mea culpa. In the meantime, use the links in this post which goes to a subset. 

12/30/2021 -- Vol. XI, No. 2. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol X, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon provides an overview of things accomplished in the difficult year of 2020, discusses the state of affairs with respect to the web and what it can be (see Web'ing), and looks at a few expectations for the future. Such as? Tackling the huge subject of AI and Ethics, where AI serves in (and demonstrates many ways) the roles of 'avatar' for that whole affair (applied mathematics, folks, gone wild). We take a brief look at the children of Thomas and Margaret and, then, feature a look at John Gardner (4th son). 

GB X, 2 (PDF)

---

See Vol. X, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for ... Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 11/28/2021

11/28/2021 -- Added links to material for a more full presentation of information. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol X, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon provides some details about Thomas Gardner and Margaret Friar that are available via the digitization and indexing of records at Sherborne, Dorset, England. Also, we look at recent experiences as an influence on our thinking of how to handle membership, especially proof of lineage. Besides, DAR ought to be quite prominent, as many from New England's early start will have offspring who were either Patriots or Loyalists. We look at both. Then, we remind ourselves of the other families at Cape Ann. It's time that someone did a review of those folks. 

Finally, we feature a look at Richard Crowninshield Derby who died at Antietam and left no offspring. We have a collection of those not to be forgotten, starting with Joseph Gardner who married Ann Downing. 

GB X, 1 (PDF w/links)

---

See Vol. X, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for ... Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 11/28/2021

11/29/2021 -- Added links to the PDF for more full information presentation. 

Preview, Gardner's Beacon, Vol X, No 1

TL;DR -- When will the next issue of Gardner's Beacon come out?  

---

Our last issue was Gardner's Beacon, Vol. IX, No. 3 which published in late December. We had anticipated an early spring issue this year but are a little late. Part of that has to do with the uncertain future that we are all facing. So, we have a lot of unknowns while going forward, some of which we hope can be resolved earlier than others.

Technology has shown its use in ways that were unexpected, albeit there might have been a hope. For one, interest in managing demands for streaming video resulted in a beef'd up set of communication modes whose presence turned out to be useful for people locked up at home. As well, business found great use for the facilities, as will we (see TGSoc.org for ongoing discussions and demonstrations).

A hundred years ago, Dr. Frank's The Massachusetts Magazine quit publishing which was puzzling when we first started to look at the archives as he had excellent contributors. But, later, we were reminded of the Spanish Flu and WWI. That was a couple of years ago. This year really brought it home as we cannot have much to say about when things will quiet down. Nor do we have much to say about what the new normal might be. Just like our ancestors made it through those times, we can expect some future event that will include a thoughtful recap. However, just as the Spanish Flu was around for over two years, we might expect something similar or not. A vaccine would cut the time; a much longer time would not be outside of the realm of possibilities.

In the meantime, we will be reviewing the past decade's work while thinking of how things ought to progress. Too, we will be publishing the next issue of The Gardner Annals (Vol. V, No. 1). With that volume, we can go back and restructure material to put into book form. We expect to have a couple of issues in Vol. V. There is still time to contribute (inquiries@tgsoc.org).

While doing research the past few months related to the American Revolution, we have been considering how the periods line up and overlap. So, we're facing the 250th of that event soon, about the same time as the Cape Ann celebration. Then, we have the post-revolution periods related to the growth of the U.S. in stature and wealth. In looking further at the GSMD books on the fifth generation, we saw that Dr. Frank had come forward to the seventh, for some parts of the family.

However, too, one could see that the 4th and 5th bore the onus of the attainment of freedom. Then, it was the 6th who carried on with the new country. The 7th? The first to enjoy the fruits of those turmoil that the earlier generations face.

Remarks: Modified: 11/10/2020

09/29/2020 -- We're making progress: GB Vol X No 1. 

10/28/2020 -- Yes. It's at the virtual print shop (where PDFs are created ;>). 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol IX, No 3

This issue of Gardner's Beacon looks at our decade of work and recaps a few important items overall as well addresses activities within the last year. We find our plate full of accomplishments yet the todos are a large set, too.

On a review of Dr. Frank's books, we see that the 1907 book looked at some descendants of all of the children, however most were of Samuel's line. The 1933 book followed George. We need to fill in five generations, at least, for the remainder of the children, as well as, adding more lines from Samuel and George. We have started to use WikiTree for this purpose.

GB IX, 3

The fifth volume of The Gardner Annals is in preparation. We expect to have two issues of this volume. Then, we can take the entirety of the material and re-frame for a book that is suitable for libraries. We are looking for articles.

---

See Vol. IX, No. 3 of Gardner's Beacon for ... Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 01/02/2019

12/28/2019 --

Gardner's Beacon, Vol IX, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues our review which is leading to renovations to our processes and to our sites and looks to the future. As well, we will be looking closely at the work of Dr. Frank and Frances Rose-Troup with regard to the two Thomas Gardners who came to Cape Ann and their relationship. The older one was the brother-in-law of Rev. John White the Dorchester Company founder. The latter is the husband of Margaret and father of the American line of Salem Gardners.

In looking at the commemorations of the past, we see that the first of the U.S. (50 years) coincided with 200th of Salem. Also, we know that there are still things left over from the 300th. For instance, we think that Thomas needs a monument what with 400 years elapsing since his entry into the New World at Cape Ann. Too, what of the other families that were at Cape Ann? These will be researched, too. Some families were known 100 years ago when the Pageant of Salem was performed in 1913.

This  year, we will publish Volume V of The Gardner Annals. That would be a good time to print and bind all five of the volumes with all of Gardner's Beacon issues in a format suitable for contributions to libraries. We still have print copies of the first four volumes.

---

See Vol. IX, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for a review of research to date and more. Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 07/17/2019

07/17/2019 -- Changed to using commemoration.

Gardner's Beacon, Vol IX, No 1

This issue of Gardner's Beacon looks at the last ten years and considers our next steps as well as future activities.

Then, we address the issue of "Where is Thomas?" from the framework of several years of research. We feel that this is an important issue that needs to be addressed, finally. And, we intend to follow this project through until enough is known to 'put it to bed' in a reasonable manner.

For more detail on the map that is on Page 2, see this post: 29 December 1674. That is the day that Thomas Gardner died. The post summarizes a few things and suggests that this issue of Gardner's Beacon was in development. Last year, we summarized several years of queries: The Remains of Thomas. We will be doing another summary, soon, in the context of a continuing project and what we know so far.

We provide a little information about Abel Gardner, who was the grandson of Thomas and Margaret that owned Gardner's Hill and the Gardner burial plot after his father, Samuel, died. He is an ancestor of Dr. Frank and Ann and her siblings. So, this is the issue strikes close to home.

After that, we'll plan how to establish a permanent memorial for Thomas (and the others who were re-interned, at that time). Included will be discussions about a virtual experience of Gardner's Hill and the burial plot being developed.

---

See Vol. IX, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for a review of research to date and more. Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 02/28/2019

02/23/2019 -- Put in link to prior post, concerning the original internment. A few minor edits on the PDF and image files. Note about Abel Gardner.

02/28/2019 -- Update link for Sources. Will put a post, henceforth, related to each issue, as we did with Gardner's Beacon, Vol. VIII, No. 1.

Gardner's Beacon, Vol VIII, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon reviews the activities and accomplishments for the year as well as current and future research interests. The 400th of Plymouth is coming up in 2020. Cape Ann wouldn't be far behind.

In terms of activities, this year, we learned more about Margaret Friar. The discussion was supported by her profile on WikiTree. We know her parents, when they got married, when she was baptized, her father's will, and notice of the marriage to Thomas.

We completed a WikiTree profile for Dr. Frank, including his mother's line as delineated in his own handwriting. We found out that Dr. Frank is a descendant of both Margaret and Damaris.

During the year, we did another print of The Gardner Annals. This issue includes Vol. III and IV. We  summarize the contents of this recent print. Also, we now have a set of two prints (I&II and III&IV) available for purchase. Contact us at publications@TGSoc.org for ordering instructions.

---

See Vol. VIII, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for a review of research to date and more. Sources.

Remarks: Modified: 02/28/2019

02/28/2019 -- Updated the link for Sources. 

Print - TGA III, IV and GB IV, V, VI, VII

The Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. publication is available that includes Volumes III and IV of The Gardner Annals which is our means of reporting results of research and review. Included, as an appendix, are Volumes IV, V, VI, and VII of Gardner's Beacon, the newsletter of our organization.

Instructions for ordering copies are available by contacting us at publications@tgsoc.org.

Also available is our print of TGA I, II and GB I, II, III from October of 2017.

Remarks: Modified: 02/12/2019

02/12/2019 -- See our Publications page for more information about our publications. As well, we will be providing a Comment & Criticism facility. For now, please contact us a publications@tgsoc.org. 

Sources for GB, Vol VIII, No 1

In the early issues, we included a list of Sources (love this page as it has the 2nd generation buttons which go back to the transition from OfficeLive (2010 start) of MS to HTML on Linux (2012). The issues related to configuration - technical and otherwise - are open - have not seen a real good solution - not Ancestry, thank you - go with Wordpress or otherwise - open to discussion). The last volume that we did in Sources was IV. 

Some of the posts for the issue of Gardner's Beacon had a short source list of References (example - Gardner's Beacon, Vol 2, No 5). 

Sources for GB, Vol VIII, No 1

• Resources and more (has the links to the on-line volumes of MSS)
• Example - General Danielson (shows page from MSS and from Dr. Frank's monograph)
• Background for the Regimental History Series (nice organizational chart)
• Civil War-Era Hospitals
• Jonathan Letterman 
•    
• The Massachusetts Magazine
•  
• The Angelical Conjunction
• New men: Manliness in early America (What is the American?) 
•  

For the future:

• Found this A common place, an uncommon voice through this Short Reflections on The American Jeremiad. Related to this is Winthrop's view about the future in which he used being visible from a hill (as in, not hiding light under a bushel, if you would) as we all see of the U.S. (let's link to a view from 1888 - Some of the prominent prophecies ...  out of San Francisco). 
• Herbert B. Adams of Johns Hopkins: Village Communities of Cape Anne and Salem. Published in 1883. He uses material known at the time, some from the Essex Institute.
•  

Others will be added. At some point, Sources will reestablish the proper mode with a Bibliography.

Remarks: Modified: 07/13/2018

06/27/2018 -- Looking at a common source strategy for GB and TGA. 

07/13/2018 -- Added to the American Jeremiad bullet and inserted the H.B. Adams material, courtesy of Johns Hopkins (and Berkeley's library).