Modern techniques

TL;DR - Techniques related to research will continue to changte along with technology as it progresses by whatever means drives that energy. So, with respect to "origins", we are seeing an LLM used to ferret out information from that time based upon records that were digitized. Of late, information about the children was discoverd in recently digitized records. On the other hand, there was a house associated with Thomas Gardner. A proxy for this? Of course, the Fairbanks House, oldest wood structure in the US.  

--

Some background on the "Announcement" today at the Thomas Gardner (of Salem) Profile of WikiTree. 

Back in the beginning, I puzzled about missing information. Say, as compared to some families with respect to origins. The NEHGS series (Anderson) had come out before our time. Some of the information in that series conflicted with what we saw with Dr. Frank's efforts. We had started there, as he was 1st cousin of a grandfather. 

But, we had more than those 2 books, we had the articles in The Massaschusetts Magazine (principally from Dr. Frank's sister, Lucy Marion Gardner - Lucie following Sidney, May, 2017) where she picked up the work of Sidney Perley, the great walkabout of Essex County. There was more. Having started in 2010, the internet had only a few years of Web 2.0. Older material was there. I have pointers based upon general trolling back when the "search engines" were behaving. Too, there were notes from families about the material that they had accumulated (some living in the UK, and even near to Dorset). 

Early on, we knew that there would be the 400th. We'll look at that. How would it compare to the 300th and the Pageant of Salem (6 Jun 2018)? As we went to look at that effort where people of Salem played roles from 300 years prior, we added the Label of OpEd (Opinions count?, Dec 2023) as we explained after the 2023 reveal of data from Sherborne, Dorset, UK.  

As an aside, we added "OpEd" to this post in order to associate it with the ongoing research. Okay, to the gist of the matter. We look at two items which represent a slew of potential work and information. It's a matter of work. 

• Let's start with Gardner Family Trust (Apr 2026). In late Mar of 2025, we heard from DTG about his work with one of the GenAIs that had come on the scene in late 2022. 
• I was not paying close attention to that crowd (and still consider the release to be premature). The 400th of Gloucester was approaching and we were considering what to do. Having finally settled on the notion of featuring Margaret (wife of Thomas Gardner and mother of the children that we know), we were working on that set of material. On 1 Feb 2023, I heard of that release from a friend and went to look (mainly focusing on ChatGpt and Bard).This is all documented. 
• So, I knew of the AI/ML hype (biological pipedream); due to having known this stuff for decades I was amazed and appalled at the uses that people were discovering. So, mark that up for human creativity and the US as founded by those ones of Cape Ann. Anyway, DTG's work was along this line. He had found lots of information from digitized records in the UK; retrieved the scanned data, used OCR to transcribe, and then even worked translations (from Welsh, Latin, et al). It was remarkable. ... A little later, after some scrutiny, it was hard to tell the reality with most of the content being fictional. ... We discussed matters and decided for him to start over while concentrating on provenance. 
• Of late, DTG has switched to Gemini/Gemma. As such, he has been verifying the information. He confirmed the news about the Gardner involvements at Bosworth and Richard III's demise. There has been a lot of information on the London side of the family. Too, he found Thomas of Sherborne. ... Now, keeping this brief, for now, one bit of information deals with a bankruptcy of the Dorchester Company in which Thomas Gardner is involved. That has my focus, right now. 
• Thomas was here, at Cape Ann. Now, was Margaret and the three boys here. If so, John was born here. The family went back. Or if he came alone, she had John in the UK. His baptism was delayed until Thomas returned. We favor that the family came over. Thomas and family then came back with the children except for Seeth who was born in Salem. 

Now, technology will be the key. We are doing this right. Who knows what data will come to fore. The information of the births was a nice surprise as John, himself, said that his father had told that they came from Sherbourne. Sure enough. The response of WikiTree? The two person split is okay, for now. But, as we find out more, we'll make sure that it is published. 

A recent post looked at the Fairbanks house which is in Dedham, MA. It dates from the 1630s. The image is from the website for the Fairbanks House. 

Jonathan Fairbanks (WikiTree) came to Boston in 1633, stayed a few years, and settled in Dedham in 1636. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/30/2026

08/30/2026 --  Minor correction, will be back for more. 

Twelve years ago

TL;DR -- A cousin blogger had an interesting post today. She went back a few years to bring a post forward that remembered an ancestor who was hanged in the events of 1692 in Salem MA. That is, hanged by the neck until dead. We have had several posts on the theme but reference two of them: the first image looks at a family wirh two hanged on the same day as several others; the second image is about a hypothetical meeting where all ancestors involved from any side (pro, con, critical, ...) is identified with their relationship established. That event was 334 years ago.  

---

Nutfield Genealogy, on FB, pointed today to a post from the blog dated 10 Jun 2017: Bridget Playfer Wasselbee Oliver Bishop, hanged as a witch in Salem. Going by today's date, we are talking 334 years ago. There was a question today on FB: Is there a victim of the 1692 witch trials in your family tree? 

Well yes. Lots and lots of families. So, first, we will look at one of them through posts with one of them from twelve years ago. Then, we will consider a slew of families who were on all sides of the controversy. 

A great-grandmother (Lucy Foster Wilson Gardner) of Dr. Frank (Gardner author) had two persons hanged in September of 1692. The Thomas Gardner Society published an article on Lucy's pedigree titled Trials of the Wilson Family that appeared in The Essex Genealogist and was accompanied by a Ahnentafel for Lucy. 

Later, we had posts about the family, such as Andover Ordeal, that recounted one generation which, after the witch trials, lost all of the children except one who had children one of which became Ann's forebear.  

The following image is taken from The Essex Genealogist (August 2014) and shows three generations of Wilsons. In Gen 1, Joseph Wilson married Sarah Lord. She and her daughter were imprisoned for several weeks but were cleared in 1693. For Gen 2, we see John Wilson, son of Joseph, marrying Mercy Wright whose grandfather was Samuel Wardwell who hanged with several others. In Gen 3, John Wilson, son of John, married Hannah Frye whose great-grandmother was Mary Ayer Parker. This widow of fifty-five years of age was hanged. One motive was getting her land as her husband had left her well off. Later, her sons were able to get their property returned. 

Now, switching gears, we had a couple of post dealing with a hypothetical meeting (Imagine a meeting). The intent was to bring back everyone who was involved in the incident, except for the victims. This table shows relatives of Dr. Frank as if we are talking two generations back (rather than a couple hundred years. 

Hathorne and Corwin were noted judges. For Dr. Frank, his grandmother was John Hathorne's sister who opposed her brother. Several jurors were grandfathers. One of the officiating ministers was an uncle. But another grandfather, graduate of Harvard (Rev. John Wise), was highly critical of the proceedings as opposed to Cotton Mather who was a cousin. 

There have been several posts on the subject. We will point to one: Meeting, again. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/10/2026

06/10/2026 --

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. 

--

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. 

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. 

--

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. 

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. 

---

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.  

----

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.

---

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.

---

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.

Sir Christopher Gardiner

TL;DR -- Winthrop and New England disliked Sir Christophere Gardner. We were intrigued by the bad-boy aspects. Can a modern approach help us make a better determination of the facts of the case which was handled 400 years ago in favor of the powers that were? This case is not unique. But, the tie-in to the technology fiascos of late cannot be ignored. 

-- 

When we first started, our attention was on Salem, MA and the crew that came into the area of Cape Ann in the timeframe of 1623/24. Later, we learned of another Thomas Gardner, who was of Roxbury in MA. Turns out that Ann is descended from both. 

But,we heard from lots of Gardner families such that we defined a category: All things Gardner. We still had an early New England focus but had to modify that to cover other times and places. Turns out that Dr. Frank had a list of Gardner families in his 1907 book which was updated in the 1933 book. 

Sir Christopher Gardner was an early name of interest. We had place his name of the "todo" list and can finally get active in the necessary research. Earlier, we ran into details about his life as told by others such as that told by John Winthrop (on Christopher Gardner). As one can see by the image, those in power in New England did not like the guy. 

Now, along the time of our research, we were contacted by David T. Gardner (DTG) who had researched his family for decades. They came into the Philadelphia area in the latter part of the 1600s. 

DTG started a blog with the title of King Slayer's Court. He wrote articles for the Gardner Beacon and The Gardner Annals. Recently, DTG has been using various GenAI/LLM systems for research. His findings are interesting. This post provides some information on one. 

In general, the use of these systems have been both of the bone and the bane type. Which is stronger? Depends. At one time, things looked dire from the systems generating "hallucinated" results. How would one know is a proper question? 

---

David had been pulling records from old English files, getting them transcribed, and building a database with which to look for correlations as one would expect. Earlier (prior GenAI/LLM), that was doable but slow. The AI part offered the potential for improvement. But, when a good majority of the results are bogus, analysis stands no chance. 

After a good start in the spring of this year, the realization of the problems with provenance of the data caused some headache. David took a break. We on the other hand kept sloughing through the issues as they will be important to eventual resolution of the messes. As mentioned, there are pros and cons. The world seems to be split. 

One factor in success would involve proper control for controlling the wild potential that is as destructive as not. How to handle this matter has had a lot of attention. Enough reports of some good quality have come out this year. 

So, months later, David is attempting again while using multiple systems. The results are interesting with respect to the original study of Gardner relationships with the Tudor dynasty. However, another topic came forth today that offers us something that we can get our teeth into. Namely, Sir Christopher Gardiner who was on the "list of infamy" of Winthrop. 

David posted this recently: The Enigmatic Knight of the Wilderness: Sir Christopher Gardiner Revisited Through Modern Eyes. 

Our approach will to use the different stories to build a more complete picture of Christopher Gardner. While doing that, we expect to learn about the systems, the peccadilloes of each plus gain some insight into the "control" aspects that seem to be missing. 

This is a cursory look and is about a beginning. Stay tuned as we march further down the road. 

Remarks: Modified: 11/23/2025

11/23/2025 --

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. 

---

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. 

---

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 - 

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. 

--

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. 

---

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. 

---

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 -  

Lord Fairfax

TL;DR -- Little known facts are around and about upon the landscape of the U.S. Our normal attention is west (west is best; east is least - sort of thing ;>). However, there has been and will be attention to the eastern activities as the western part came about 150 years later where the Revolution became a central theme. This post touches upon the time that Braddock came over. Evidences abound due to preservation efforts. Otherwise, the landscape has been abused (data centers abound, for instance). 

--

We had to mention the 400th (Jamestown, et al) so as to set a stage that will be permanent. We would not have had the 250th without the earlier phases. So, Fairfax? His name is all over northern Virginia as are others of the upper class (kin/cuz, as well). But, the main thread will be dual. For this post, let's use "French, Indian affair" which we have touched upon before. 

While researching people who went out west from the older east side of the country, we had to bring in other cultures, such as New France and New Spain. From each, the U.S.obtained land that had to be incorporated into the Union. Too, there had to be maps that to allow reasonable control of land use (or misuse). We looked at some of this in a post titled Practice for carving about the work that went on for decades, starting in St. Louis. 

Now, in the interior, we usually think about things that happened after Lewis & Clark and the War of 1812. However, there was earlier activity out there by Europeans, for the most part related to involvement as trapper, trader, and rancher. In that regard, prior to what we are now celebrating (the 250th anniversary), there was the conflict that trained colonists for the coming Revolution. 

Namely, we consider the French, Indian affair which seems to have been mostly forgotten. Dr. Frank wrote about this conflict in his series on the Regiments that were at the Boston Siege. But, stepping back, we have had posts on this affair.  A grandpappy kept a diary that was later published: Nathaniel Knapp's diary about his time with the Louisbourgh Expedition. Some who were involved participated in the later Revolution, many times in a leadership role. 

--- 

With the French, Indian affair, we have taken a New England focus since Quebec was the principal establishment of New France. But, the conflict involved all of the colonies. An example is Virginia. 

Today while at a park, we read a historic sign. It mentioned Braddock. But, being in Virginia, there were two other names of note: George Washington; Daniel Boone. We last mentioned the former (Washington) here in this blog in a post on Col. John Glover who was featured in the series by Dr. Frank. But, Washington mapped and surveyed the Potomac River which we have to consider further. This post is a start as we have covered many of the rivers of the west. 

Now, the latter (Boone) has been mentioned many times in posts about the early settlement of the west. Boone, well-known explorer: opened a pass; served in the French, Indian affair and the Revolution; settled areas from the east to western Missouri; ventured out into the west.  

---

Washington was also involved with a conflict between the British and the French. The resentments that led to the Revolution are thought to have resulted with the arrival of Edward Braddock  and the reaction of the colonists to his methods. One of Braddock's early campaigns involved a planned attack on Fort Duquesne, French facility, near the start of the Ohio River. This expedition did not go well which left lasting impressions on both Washington and Boone. Braddock was mortally wounded which meant that he had no say in subsequent matters nor in the trashing of his reputation. 

---

Braddock arrival into Virginia was near Hampton Roads. After some meetings in Virginia, there was preparation for the attack on the Fort. Now, accomplishing this required going over a moutainous region that impeded traffic. Washington was familiar with the area due to his duties with the surveying crews that mapped the Potomac. 

But, let's look at the route that was set up for Braddock's forces by using a couple of images. 

Braddock's route from 
Alexandria, VA to Braddock, PA

Braddock's route from
Cumberland, MD to Braddock, PA

The first images shows the "approximate" route from Alexandria (on the coast) which is on the Potomac to the final destination near Fort Duquesne. It passes through the interior of Northern Virginia and climbs up into the Blue Ridge mountains. This map gives us the elevations. At Cumberland, the elevation is much higher, and we see the route through western Maryland into Pennsylvania. 

---

Braddock's route went through the Keyes' Gap which is over 900-feet high. Formerly, that route from Alexandria to the mountains was called Vestal's Gap. Parts of the trail can be seen in eastern Loudoun County of Virginia. This area is near Dulles Airport outside of Washington, DC. 

The route follows an old Indian trail which is 65 miles in length from Alexandria to the  mountains. 

---

In terms of historic preservation, Loudoun County has provided historical markers with notes in the area. Too, they have a website which is of interest. This is an example of the web/cloud being useful to education at several levels. One example (2019, LoudounNow): 

• In Our Backyard: Preserve the Vanishing Vestal’s Gap Road - property of Lord Fairfax, originally, almost 400 acres are preserved surrounded now by heavy residential and commercial development including Dulles International (and recently, the heavy foot of data centers trample the countryside). Pieces of the trail still exist (with an interest not unlike those remnants that we can see of the Santa Fe and Oregon trails in the middle of the country. 

We have written of New England (south) for several reasons, such as people from New England (north) going south. As well, the culture is the same. The south was more swashbuckling and plantation driven, not that the north was heaven on earth, let alone a beacon as desired by John Winthrop. 

Now, finally, for this post, the Native trail ran from the coast up into those things called the Blue Ridge mountains where we find things like the Shenandoah River and artifacts related to the Civil War that was mentioned on historical markers too. Right by the above-mentioned site runs a modern highway that was prototyped (real life) in the early 1800s since the traffic was heavy. It bears the name, in areas, realated to one of the early towns. 

• Leesburg, Virginia - county seat of Loudoun County. Town of the Carters, Lees, and Masons. was in an area that was good for farms and plantations. In the War of 1812, federal documents were brought from DC for safety. 

As we proceed being involved with the eight years of the 250th and then the long trek to 1820 and Boone's western influence taking hold, there is no end to the topics to cover. One theme will always relate to the influence of New England and it families that contributing to the establishment of the U.S.  

Remarks: Modified: 06/26/2026

07/31/2025 - One of the Lord's American cousins was George Washington. We need to look more closely at the relationships between those here 400 years ago and those of the 250th being celebrated.

06/26/2026 - Updated URL for the Wikipedia image (one change - number of pixels). 

2021, time of the pandemic, II

TL;DR -- Continuation of the pandemic theme from before. We look at posts from the remainder of 2021 and at the themes covered which are of a wide variety. 

--

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1). 

In 2020, restrictions changed our activity. Like most, we did computer work over the time of the pandemic but had been doing such work anyway. What was different was the focus. 

We looked more at local issues. But, we had anyway (to wit, our post of Flyover country). By 2021, we were rolling along and did more posts. Part 1 looks at those from Jan through Jun. Now, we'll pick up with posts from Jul through Dec.

The 250th came more into focus. We also spent a little time looking at S.A.R. which is the sons version of what the daughters did with D.A.R. But, AI started to come into focus after almost a decade of making headway (according to some views - the jury is still out) and claiming attention: Jeopardy win; Go win; modeling complicated lab work (Google had several of these); ... 

But, we had a post (Carving the land) which was motivated by our study of the activities out of St. Louis which was a hub for land management of the U.S and its west.  At the same time, Gloucester was approaching its 400th. We had an interest in that as the Dorchester crew came into that area in 1623. But, the great northwest? Michigan was approaching its 200th. 

Another twist was diving into the history of Harvard starting with an introduction to James Bryan Conant. He was a chemist and professor. He had wanted the Rumford chair. But, ended up in Europe and came back to become a Head of Harvard. At the same time, we decided that the long reach of New England was a theme of interest, as we had settled on All Things Gardner (22 Aug 1485) with respect to the many families with the name. 

Oh yes, AI was proposed for genealogy work. Again, that is an ongoing bit of study. But, we started to look at the genealogy of Harvard Heads. Many were of old New England families. D.A.R. found an interest in the 400th as well by starting work on identifying Patriot to Passenger (in this case, Mayflower) families. We took on Cape Ann to Patriot. 

Houses? While looking at the Dudley family, we got into houses of note. There were two in New Hampshire of interest. Both were built by relatives of descendants of Thomas and Margaret. One is now associated with the Society of Cincinatti. That brings up the other side of a coin. We honor the Loyalists of the family. Count Rumford mentioned above was a Loyalist who found success in Europe and left money to Harvard. 

The technology focus became more prominent. IEEE had an article: How dumb is AI? A few years later, we saw a general amount of interest. One observaton? Humans degradate themselves to make technology look good. Yes. Expect to see that theme periodically. 

A photo of the grandmother Dr. Frank (and 2nd great of Ann and her siblings) was found. We got that published. Generations? An eternal topic. Looking at this, we can say that the Revolution (250th now in progress) was done by the 5th generation. More on these. 

We picked up Dr. Frank's series on the Siege of Boston that were published in The Massachusetts Magazine, with issues four times a year for a decade. He started the series with Col. John Glover of Marble head. One of his vessels was the first vessel of the U.S. Navy. 

We continued our interest in rivers, as we mentioned in Part 1. The trails and railroads are always of interest, as well. But, jumping to technology now, we looked at John's favorite site dealing with the mathematics of physics. It was of the old style until a few years ago. The old stuff is still there and serves as the basis for the new. 

Aside, we are seeing lots of websites being done using new methods. Our prediction is that this method is not as stable as claimed and so have failures that are hugely visible and that will have negative repercussions. But, other than be aware, we have to wait and see. 

Why? If one looks at the whole campus of techies, there is no solution yet. Experiments have become a mainstay of life. But, take a plane, experiment types of these are not used to carry passengers. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/01/2025

06/01/2025 - 

Regimental Series

TL;DR -- Bunker Hill is around the corner. The 250th starts eight years of rememberance and learning. 

--

The Battle of Bunker Hill is a well-known historical event which started with the turmoil at Lexington and Concord. This time around, we are at the 250th. Even the Memorial Day program by PBS last night emphasized that anniversary, with regard to the Army, Navy and Marines. 

Earlier we wrote that Dr. Frank had included a part of his series in each of the issues of The Massachusetts Magazine which published from 1908 to 1918. 

• The Patriot Army at the Siege of Boston -- in this introductory issue, he provided an overview of the regiments that were to be covered. 

He also provided his thoughts that the American side was not an armed mob. 

Our addition might be that the 5th generation did the deed as we bring the whole of the U.S. history to bear at any moment.  

Through the next eight years from now, we will cover each regiment with respect to the activities (by time and place) of that year. Dr. Frank gave us the roll of each regiment plus information about the service of each officer. 

He starts the series with the Regiment of Col. John Glover (Wikipedia) of Marblehead. George Washington chartered his schooner, USS Hannah, to be a privateer. Hence, it may be considered the "first vessel" of the, soon-to-be, U.S. Navy.  

Context:

Massachusetts Magazine
Vols I and II                      see Vol I for Col. John Glover's regiment 
Vols III and IV
Vols V and VI
Vols VII and VIII
Vols IX and X/XI

Remarks: Modified: 05/26/2025

05/26/2025 - 

Memorial Day, 2025

TL;DR -- We have took special interest each May since 2019 with respect to Memorial Day. Its weekend in May serves as the start of the summer season. 

--

We are coming up on the first weekend of summer. For many, the school season is over though many go into June. Too, many college graduations have taken place. 

Memorial Day in the U.S. aligns well with summer activities and is a traditional time with activities such as visiting and decorating graves of family and friens, honoring graves of veterans with the U.S. flag; trips to the park or other journey; BBQ in the backyard; and such. Many locations have parades and ceremonies at their cemeteries. 

In this post, we started a regular post for the Holiday starting in 2019. See the list below. For each year, we summarize the content of the post. 

Also, in 2019, we provided information about the burial of Dr. Frank in the Gardner/Dennet plot at the Greenlawn cemetery in Salem, MA. The post is titled Gallows Hill with respect to Thomas' remark about seeing the water at his favorite relaxing place and recapitulates some of the issues remaining open about the location of Thomas' remains. We will update that information during this pause to reflect. 

Today is the Visitation/Memorial of Eric W. Gardner, recently of Rapid City, SD. about whom we wrote earlier this month. 

Memorial Day, 2019 --  as we were researching Ann's genealogy, we gathered information about her grandparents who were three generations back. One finding was that a "findagrave" record about a burial at the G.A.R. cemetery at Saugus, MA held a veteran with no ties. After documenting the links, we updated his findagrave record: Walter A. Ingalls. If you pick his spouse, you will find information about his in-laws as we requested that links be updated. Too, we tied records in WikiTree with the ones at findagrave. 

Memorial Day, 2020 -- in the Covid times we were researching families in the middle of the country where they had stopped. Others had flowed on west. We mentioned the absence of graves. Or, as we see out here, there are unmarked graves. findagrave is full of these. We mentioned the record that we did for Dr. Frank. We can honor people through virtual memorials. 

Memorial Day, 2021 -- a brief recap of the two prior years and then a look at the many conflicts which produced veterans to honor. 

Memorial Day, 2022 -- we looked at a cemetery in the west as a photo from the area could have been taken in New England. It is at the site of an early mission to support Native tribes, some of whom had been in the area for centuries as well as newcomers from replacement efforts. We looked at William Whites Graves who was honored by the Natives for his support of the Osage Mission. 

Memorial Day, 2023 -- we looked at a few posts from May since our beginning in 2010. We asked the question which is still being researched: was Thomas at Cape Ann? See the post, Restart somewhat. We say, yes; but, the story will need to be altered with new information which will result from structured research. Stay tuned. 

Memorial Day, 2024 -- we looked at Nantucket and heard from Diana Davidson. She descends from the Gardners of Nantucket and lives in England, near Dorset. 

Over the rest of the month, we will work to find pertinent information with regard to the theme of this post. As we write on that, we will come back and update this post.

Remarks: Modified: 05/21/2025

05/21/2025 - 

Eric W. Gardner

TL;DR -- Eric Wright Gardner, descendant of two sons, George and Samuel, of Thomas and Margaret, died recently. We offer condolences to the parents, family and friends of Eric and provide some information about Eric. His father wrote of the Magna Carta for The Gardner Annals in 2016. In that regard, we find ourselves at another milestone for that memorable document. 

--

We have covered a sampling of descendants through the generations since time of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer. Our brief look at each of the children and their descendants can be considered a start. 

As an example, the following link is to information about the 5th son and his descendants over the four centuries.  

Samuel Gardner -- Dr. Frank, the author, whose work led to the 1907 and 1933 books is of this line. As well, Dr. Frank was an editor, and a major force behind the publication, of The Massachusetts Magazine.  

Today, we commemorate Eric W. Gardner (1965-2025) who is a descendant of both George and Samuel, through his mother and father, respectively. In terms of the book, the 1933 edition was of the family of George while the 1907 book principally covered known descendants of Samuel. 

Obituary

A nephew of Ann, Eric grew up in Fort Worth, TX and attended school in TX and OK. Eric's career as a weatherman was inspired by Harold Taft of Fort Worth and took him from Texas to Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota where he was a meterologist at KOTA-TV of Rapid City. 

Eric's other interest were music, cooking, and wine. With his musical interest in the piano, Eric continued his involvement by helping to arrange local performances for visiting pianists. He held regular broadcasts concerning recipes, healthy eating, and cooking lessons. He was knowledgeable about wine and arranged local support for wineries of NAPA Valley and other locations.   

---

Eric's father, Jonathan Gardner, authored our article on the Magna Carta (800th Anniversary), The Gardner Annals, Volume III, Number 1. In 2025, we have the celebration of the 810th aniversary related to King Henry I, son of King John, and his interest in the Magna Carta which needs an update related to technology (Magna Carta, technical).  

Remarks: Modified: 05/21/2025

05/21/2025 - Visitation/Memorial, today. Guestbook. 

Where was Salem?

TL;DR -- The first battle is rapidly approaching. Salem MA has already weighed in. We will pay attention and keep pointing back to earlier research work that bears significance. 

--

The Lexington & Concord turmoil is coming up with respect to its 250th (19th of April). We have written of this event, several times. As things go forward from here, we have until 2033 to observe the revolution as never done before. 

We can start with a post at the Streets of Salem blog. 

• Salem is a No-Show at Lexington and Concord -- great article full of details. Technology is great when it works. So, expect that the 250th and the 400ths of various sites will be fleshing in history as never seen before. 

We used this as an opportunity to point to our work. In particular, Dr. Frank was editor and supporter of an effort at publishing the history of Essex County of Massachusetts. He wrote a series of the Regiments who were at the Boston affair that followed this one. Officers of each organization are identifed with some information being provided. 

This is an image of my comment to the post. 

 

• Links:
• https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2015/07/regimental-history-series-background.html
• https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/p/tmm.html 

Remarks: Modified: 04/14/2025

04/14/2025 

Josiah Willard Gibbs

TL;DR -- Josiah is a descendant and a well-known contributor to the development of a major theory in physics: thermodynamics. We will look at both his work and his pedigree. 

--

In our studies related to the Science of Technology, we will be running into many names. Some will not be American (such as Noether). Some will be American, and, of those, we will look for New England associations. The series on the Harvard Presidents is an example. We started this when we ran into a New Yorker article on James Bryant Conant. That got us to looking at all of the Presidents. 

Recall, one motivator for this work related to technology is machine learning (ML) masquerading as artificial intelligence (AI). But, in general, we want to follow the evolution of STEM along with the advance of the U.S. whose 250th is coming up. 

The Nobel prizes this year were a motivator,as well, with the focus on computation: Physics (neural nets); Chemistry (protein folding); Medicine (microRNA).  

Now, back to New Englanders, some will be descendants of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer. We ran into one this week. Josiah Willard Gibbs (Wikipedia; WikiTree). How did we get to him? In our technology studies, we are looking at the foundations of science. In that regard, thermodynamics is important. There are many other types of dynamics. Right now, we are considering those related to science and engineering but will broaden the scope as we go along. 

A well-known treatise on the subject was written by Max Planck (archive.org). Planck references several prior researchers, such as van der Waals. But, Gibbs is a frequent reference. On looking further, we found his association with James Clerk Maxwell (well-known contributor to mathemattican physics) and one of his detailed books on entropy that published his experimental work: On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances. We will use this work to leverage several discussions about knowledge and machine learning. 

So, Josiah will feature in future posts. He is a descendant of Thomas and Margaret via their son George. He is mentioned in later edition of Dr. Frank's book (1933: pg 63). 

Postnote: It is fortunate for us that we can use a Thomas descendant to scrutinize machine learning along several frameworks in our technology research. As such, this focus will cover both the U.S. and European contributions, indexed according to the times of the Nobel prizes with Planck's efforts as central to the discussion. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/28/2026

12/21/2024 --  Added Josiah to the "Descendants of George" list. 

12/18/2024 -- Gibbs is on this graphic from the Geometric Science of Information site. 

01/26/2025 -- Gibbs was first in traisping through vector spaces: The Stargate Project. 

04/28/2026 -- Updated links and image. 

OpEd, again, plus Salem

TL;DR -- We have two changes to explain and process. One deals with the Thomases.The other is about technology. But, we also will catch up with Salem and its 400th preparations. Then, OpEd as an interim device to keep coherence? We'll look at that. 

--

Recently, we looked at the status. Two changes were noted: 1) a new question arose - were there two Thomas Gardners?; 2) technology has become more interesting due to GenAI and will be a continuing focus for us into the future. 

Also, we looked at 2024 in which Chelsea has its 400th, then 2025 where Qunicy is the celebrant, and then 2026 with respect to Roger Conant moving the crew over to Salem. The first two towns are not in Essex County but in the Boston area and consists of lots of families. As mentoned, we will look at all towns with those in the County of Cape Ann getting special attention. 

Salem? We have written a lot about that coming event. For example, we had a post in Pageant of Salem (6 Jun 2018) which had family members playing their ancestors during the time of the 300th. The play was performed in several areas. Dr. Frank was one of the participants. We mentioned that the celebration was not long after the outbreak of Spanish Flu which dampened things a little. 

Sound familiar? We're not not past Covid with many issues (such as vacine, potential for yearly outbreaks, and more) still being discussed. 

We will pull together the posts about the Salem commerations and mark them as the first step of a restructuring. Mark with what? For starters, we will put those posts in the "OpEd" category (30 Dec 2023). We were reviewing the year. One thing that we marvelled about was the gall of releasing GenAI which was premature in so many ways. Right now, there seems to be potential raging. But, there will be a downturn from this hype, including reactions on the ca-pital-sino that is over 40K. 

You know, there is an adage that when one is getting tips on stock from those that are in the daily life, then a downturn is on the horizon. Okay, we had a major downturn in 2008 (thereabouts) which we saw up close. Since then, there have been several drops, but frankly we have going on 20 years of the "bull" side of things. 

A headline today touted at a GenAI era stock trading program is making lots of money. And, it's on the web/cloud for people to use. Remember crypto (of recent vintage - the bank failure)? This is similar. We also saw a pop last year of the stock of a company that was not worth the evaluation that accompanied the rise in its stock. The pop was due to gaming. We can go into detail, but it's the gist of matter that applies here. 

We will touch upon all aspects of computing and its value to our lives including specifics of advanced systems which is where we spent out life's energy. Along with that, we'll emphasize the mathematics that is involved. One good area to focus on would be machine learning. 

-----

Again, OpEd? What's that about? See Current Status (9 Feb 2024). Well, one might talk about fact and fancy. Or in betweeen? Okay, the binary logic is not how real life works. The computer's limits many times come from ignoring that basic truism of life. 

So, measurements, tolerances, evaluations, and such? Yes, all are appropriate. If we assume the two Thomases (pre-1635 and post-1635), we can look at either or both or not at all in our work. If you go back, we said long ago that we didn't know much. See What we know? (22 Nov 2012). 

Too, we found the marriage notice in 2014. So, we have been following the right path. Now, we need to go back through the whole of it and separate out the "fanciful" (even Dr. Frank's stuff prior to 1635) and collect them into a historical view. 

Salem's first fort (1629)

Then, the rest will be what carries to the next decision point. 

Oh yes, terms? We have conjectures and hypotheses that we will document. Too, what is a proof? That's an important issue related to technology as well as to humans and their lives. So, tackling the topics fits well within our mission. 

---

A focus on Salem (Learn about Salem's History - 400th Salem).  We'll get into this more as we go along, but these are links related to our research. 

• Massey's Cove (16 May 2019) 
• Enduring Gloucester (30 May 2021)
• Where was Thomas? (27 Jan 2012) 
• ...

This is "OpEd" just to include it in the list of earlier posts so that we can collect all of the posts which need some revision. That revision might be a foreward, explaining the situation. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/16/2024

07/16/2024 --    

Why is 2024 quiet?

TL;DR -- 2023 saw Gloucester, MA celebrate its founding in terms of arrival of a crew from England. 2024 continues that activity, somewhat. 

--

We have had several posts on Gloucester, MA who did their 400th last year. The Cape Ann crew arrived in 1623, overwintered, and others showed up in 1624. 

So, the modern Gloucester continues their celebration into the 2nd year. What happened to the TGS, Inc. involvement? We support their lookback. Dr. Frank and Ann have ancestors who were with the original crew. Two that come to mind are Conant and Woodbury. There are other families. 

What of Thomas Gardner? In 2018, there was an article that we commented at: The Settlement of Cape Ann: What is the Real Story?

300th celebration of the
Cape Ann arrival

Recently, we commented again. Here is the content of our comment: 

A year ago, we were chasing information related to the appearance of GenAI. That kept us busy. In the meantime, a researcher found the birth records of all of Thomas Gardner’s children in Sherborn, Dorset, UK.

See https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2023/04/in-summary.html (Apr of 2023).

We added a few more words this year as we absorbed news of a changing world.

See https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2024/02/current-status.html (Feb of 2024).

The technology work continues. It’s time to get back to Thomas Gardner and Margaret Frier. On WikiTree, the profile of Thomas was split into two. Daughter, Seeth, was born here. So, did they arrive around 1636? That’s the 1st Thomas. The 2nd one is for the unknown Thomas Gardner who was here according to scattered pieces of information that we have seen.

I argue that there was time for Thomas to come over and go back between births of two of the children. There are various ways to continue the research. It’s time to get this on the plate, I would think.

https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2023/12/thomas-gardner-puzzle.html

https://thomasgardnersociety.org/html/Research.html

....  end of comment .....

So, we have research to do. And, we are reconstructing our sites and blogs to fit the story. 

With respect to Thomas and Margaret, we will be looking for evidence that he came over here alone, at least twice, before he came over with Margaret and the children except Seeth who was born here. 

In the meantime, watch WikiTree for commentary and research results as well as our legacy site. 

Now, Chelsea, MA has its 400th this year. We will look at that shortly since the date is set for September 21. There have been activities so far this year that we can catch up on. 

Also, there are other towns to celebrate over several years: Quincy (2025); Salem (2026). 

400ths for Massachusetts 

Remarks: Modified: 07/14/2024

07/14/2024 -- Aside: the Salem History for the 400th does not mention Gardner. The 300th had a focus on the old planters who were not of the group associated with the Beverly land grant. The 200th would have been after the Revolution and 1812 Conflict and probably muted. The 100th? Worth looking into. And so, for the 500th, will we have something to add? As in, look to fill in some of the missing pieces.