Kansas Day, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remarks: Modified: 02/28/2026  

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

States and watersheds

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

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

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

The United Watershed States of America

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remarks: Modified: 10/02/2025

10/02/2025 - 

General Nathanael Greene

TL;DR -- To follow up on a Meta (FB) post, we provide a little more information. Several libraries have the thirteen volumes of his Papers. The General was at the Siege of Boston and was, at a later time, responsible for funds and materials. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remarks: Modified: 10/23/2025

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

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

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

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

10/23/2025 - Colonel Nathanael Greene was at the Siege of Boston with soon-to-be General Washington. Too, he was the Quartermaster General and responsible for funds and material to support the Revolution. Also, he got the 1783 surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, VA. So, his contributions are worthy of more attention than received so far. But, that's getting ahead of ourselves. 

American rivers, flow

TL;DR -- We saw a graphic while browsing that was not attributed. So, we went looking and found something similar. It shows the comparative flow of the major rivers. The Ohio River stands out as does the Mississippi River which it feeds. Rivers in the southwest are drier by nature. But. they have lots of people drawing off of them. 

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Rivers are a favorite subject. We enjoy them many ways. Some are famous. Others seem to have disappeared. An example is the Arkansas River that comes out of the Rockies of CO and crosses several US States before joining the Mississippi in AR. Along the way though, if one searches for the river it seems to have disappeared. But, the flow went underground and reemerges sufficiently to support barge traffic from Tulsa, OK to New Orleans, LA. 

On the other hand, the mighty Colorado River comes out of another part of the Rockies in CO and heads down to the Gulf of California. But, along the way, it is dammed (for Lakes) and tapped for people and crops. By the time it gets to Mexico, it is a small portion of itself. 

Those are two western examples. Looking east, the Mississippi gets a large flow from the Ohio River after it has joined with the Missouri River near St. Louis, MO. Lewis & Clark was on both. They took the Ohio down to the Mississippi, then ventured north to travel up the Missouri River, to its source. In doing so, they also looked at some of the rivers of the northwestern part of the US.

What motivated this post was seeing a graphic and looking to see its source. We show the graphic below. At the same time, we looked at some of our earlier posts as they presented graphics too. Let's list a few of these and then add in a new graphic. Each post has a graphic with respect to US rivers. 

• Continental divides (Feb 2025) -- we think of the Divide that we cross as we travel east-west in the western part of the U.S. But, there are other divides. 
• New Missouri (Aug 2022) -- when one compares the upper Mississippi to the Missouri, the question about naming comes up. This was really the Missouri River which contributes more water from a longer route. Whereas the flow from the north is shorter and looks larger. 
• East meets West (Jun 2022) -- the Gardner River flooded and got our interest. It flows through what is known as Gardiner, MT. The map shows all of the watershed of the continental U.S. 
• 
  Research notes: Rivers (Feb 2021) -- looks at some western rivers (Yellowstone, Gardner, ...) in an area where water goes either east or west.  
• Rivers and more (Feb 2021) -- looks at the Mississippi and one link from the west to the east via the Fox River.  
• How great? (Feb 2023) -- looks at a couple of elevation maps of the U.S. This is to put the below material into perspective.  

We started really looking at rivers during the time of the pandemic. We were doing a lot of research which involved families who came west after the time of the U.S. start. This relates to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Nation. Then, as we researched, more and more information became pertinent. This work precipitated our use of Frontier century and Lost generation. 

First, let's put up the graphic which shows the comparative flow of watersheds that reach a certain rate of flow. Some of these show up with a light color since the flow is reduced severely as the water makes its way out of the mountains to the shore. 

American rivers
Pacific Institute

In the middle, one sees the long reach of New England with the Ohio coming down to the Mississippi. So, stepping back, one can see the importance of the use of the Ohio in movement to the west. Wagons were brought west, moved north on the Mississippi, and then went up the Missouri. At that point, the wagons went west by land with rivers to cross. That shows rivers in two roles: means of motion; barrier to progress. We looked at the second one in our look at the New England party that left Boston and journeyed to Lawrence KS for two reasons: define a State; start a University. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/03/2026

01/03/2026 - Corrected a typo or two. 

A trillion cuts by GenAI

TL;DR -- We saw a Chrome report which featured Gemini with respect to Gardner KS and its role in the trails west, one of which was the Oregon Trail. And, the report was not right. "Who cares?" has been my response to having Gemini spout off. I ignored it like I am very good at doing with ads. But, today, I read and saw errors. Okay. What to do? There is no method now. People are training these things. I say, you will not train out the crap. Okay. I wrote this post as an intro and was going to snap the Gemini report and mark it like a teacher would do an exercise. Oh, Gemini, my sweets, you left without telling me. What?  

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Our purposes are several. An important one we have named as All Things Gardner. There are lots of families with the name Gardner. "What's in a name?", we asked once: Amelia Earhart. 

We have been at this genealogy and history work since 2010, learning as we go. On the other hand, we have decades of advanced computing experience under our belt (mainly, situations requiring precision). So, our work here has been largely abetted by computing which has changed in so many ways in the past 20 years (2 decades of decline in some areas). 

We have striven to be correct as to former work. But, we know that is not sufficient. Technology has aided in the digitizing of old records which have been analyzed via human effort and mechanical means such as OCR. A case in point is that we do not know the origins of Thomas Gardner about whose progeny we know a lot due to records over the past 400 years. So, that is an issue to resolve. 

As we work the solution, we have adopted a category: OpEd (category). That will be used to label any of the former posts that touch upon the subject. The information will not be entirely wrong. So, when we figure out the corrections we will make them. Until then, someone can still follow our approach and analysis as we looked at new material. 

Aside: the genealogy crowd split Thomas Gardner into two guys, one who was at Cape Ann with the Dorchester Company and one who is the ancestor of a whole lot of folks. Myself? I think that they are the same guy or were father and son. Both of those alternatives have some basis. The intent will be to find the truth: A Thomas here and a Thomas there. 

And, we would like technology to be of assistance. And, it can. See Bosworth and Gardner, with new revelations coming about of late through use of the facilities of Grok. How well this will stand up though remains to be determined. The battle settled the 100-year war (some use, War of the Roses - I say, cousin war - needless bickering). 

Anyway, this post will look at Gemini which we have liked. But, it is now on the top of a search report. And, I was trying to look at Gardner, KS being right this minute not far from that place. We have had many posts on the little town which we have buzzed by on I35 for countless times. 

• Independence and Kansas City - this post reported on a recent talk about the trails that split at Gardner KS. For more information, see this search on Gardner KS. 

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Now, that was an intro. Here is the gist of the post. This image was snapped from a Chrome query today. ... Wait, did not snap the earlier search. Now, Gemini has disappeared from its featured position. 

Inserted as placeholder 4/11/25 0457 AM CDT

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Note (04/11/25 0458 AM CDT): the absence stopped the flow. "How to handle?" was the question. The following text is from the post from last night. The image was to show what Chrome was presenting. 

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Actually, earlier, when I read the Gemini summary, I scrolled and found this first on the list which is from the National Park Service. Gardner was a stop on the earlier Santa Fe trail which was largely commercial going from St. Louis as the gateway to New Spain. 

That trail passed through Independence MO. So, Oregon traffic followed that same route to Gardner and then turned to the north and west going by Lawrence KS which is the site of the University of Kansas which was founded by a group of New Englanders who came out, including women, by that same trail through Gardner KS.

Later, young bucks in a hurry figured that they could take the Missouri River north from Independence past St. Joseph MO into Nebraska and head west from there. Guess what? They eventually met up with the travelers who had come up through Gardner. What did the folks in a hurry gain? Maybe, two days, perhaps a little more. 

But, gold gets the blood boiling. Like? Things easily hyped. 

Note (04/10/2025 2100 CDT) - On going to the Google development mode, I see that there is a new button ("Vibe") which I have been reading about. Sometimes, I might add as it sounded like the usual affair of misdirected enthusiasm. Whatever is going on in the background with this problem will settle down. Then, I'll use this topic for a deeper look. In any case, running into a "tantrum" however invoked does not make for stable knowledge processing. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/11/2025

04/11/2025 (about 0500 CDT) -- Put in proxy of the expected image and a note to explain. Something related to "Who moved my cheese?" (when did that become normal?). 

04/11/2025 (0738 CDT) -- It's back, AI Overview. But, buried under a label. The only quibble is the use of intersection for a split. I dealt with precision in highly technical engineering support work (computational modeling). 

Kudos, somewhat. Let's talk.

Independence and Kansas City

TL;DR -- Trails were and still are in the sense of leaving tracks on the landscape (several places along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. And, now the Interstate Highway system with all of the national, state, and local roads. And, going further, even now dirt roads as tracks. Sometimes converted railroad tracks. 

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With all that is going on in the world, and in the U.S., it is time to look back at the past. In 2020, we got the opportunity to spend time looking at the interior of the country which is huge. In terms of time, we had a frontier century (post has copy of photo of Lawrence, KS by Gardner). We got to learn about the trails and the cities that cropped up (theme of this post). We determined that there was a lost generation or two (Boone was real; officer in the US Revolution; Longhunter; traipser of land (all the way past KC with time spent in western MO) in the movement that came to fore as we looked at the upcoming 250th of the US under the auspices of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Doing applications for some requires lots of additional work. 

Before 2020, we had looked at the trails and those earlier like Jedediah Strong Smith. Gardner, KS was seen as a hub of traffic and activity. Also, we had looked at both land and sea traffic to the left coast (Old LA and the US - as in Los Angeles, CA - in particular, Bunker Hill West, where the culture went back to New Spain and then through several cultural shifts to the current canyons of high rises).

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Now, to the theme. We saw a video of a talk about the trails and how they came into Kansas City and left. It was of the first part of which there will be another. We mentioned Gardner, KS where 3 Trails split. The Oregon went over the Wakarusa River into the Lawrence area and then up to Nebraska. Even in that trek, the rigors of getting people and goods across the land was obvious, especially trying to get over waterways which were boons and banes (mostly the latter for many). 

The talk: How Independence & Kansas City Became Trailheads for the Oregon/California/Santa Fe Trails, Part 1. The following image came from the talk. On the map (a modern map showing some roads), Independence, MO (where Pres. Truman came from) is on the upper right. Gardner, KS is on the lower left. 

Indepencence, MO
Gardner, KS

In the top middle, notice Wesport which is on the Missouri River. After a little bit of time, impatient travelers (read, young men off to the coast with gold fever) realized that they could take the river up past St. Joseph, MO (famous for the Pony Express) and then a little further north, they could head west in Nebraska. While doing that, they would meet travelers coming up from Gardner, KS. But, they would have cut several days off the journey. 

OCTA, sponsors of the research and talk

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Notice that this is about the early times. The railroad came into play after the Civil War. 

Generations? By this time, say before the Civil War, we were to the 8th generation from the start of New England. The Revolution was mostly of the 5th generation. 

Cultures? As we have noted, there were the News: Spain; France; England; Sweden; ... The left coast allows us to look at the first; Quebec, Canada is representative of the second; we had both a North and and a South for the third; and so forth. 

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KC? MO and KS. Missouri and Kansas. We need to look at the area a little further. It's known for beef and barbeque. Well, cattle came up from TX to be shipped east to the hungry easterners. Too, the breadbasket founded itself on the rich lands of the area. Boone, as said, was there early. It's sister city in MO, St. Louis, was the administrative and bureaucratic and entertainment hub. See early Missouri, for instance. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/17/2025

03/17/2025 -- 

 

Continental divides

TL;DR -- We look at rivers, again, as they are influenced by divides. East-west interstate highways in the U.S. cross a continential divide, many times with no clear demarcations. However, Montana and Wyoming have a couple of examples that illustrate the natural phenomena. A major Double Divides gets water going west to the Columbia through the Snake River. A Triple Divide gets water going to the Columbia through the Clark Fork River. Both divides feed toward the east and the Missouri/Mississippi watershed. The Double Divide does so via the Yellowstone. The Triple Divide? One flow is through the Marias River to the Missouri. However, there is a third divide that goes east above and below the Canadian Border all the way to Hudson Bay and further east. All of this relates to people moving west from New England after the Revolution. Or later arrivals through various means populating the west. 

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During our research for the Daughters of the American Revolution. with respect to families who came west, we looked at rivers. We had knowledge of rivers being used for transport which is common, as Lewis & Clark passed close to where we are having come down the Ohio, to the Mississippi, then up to the Missouri and west. That was after the Revolution which is being recognized starting this year: 250th. 

On the other hand, rivers were barriers to travel (Rivers and more). Progress in technology provided means to manage the difficuly with bridges or tunnels. Too, there has been regular barge traffic for material using rivers. In the early, the travelers dealt with the situations as needed using time and energy. The group that left Massachusetts and went west to start Lawrence, KS and the University of Kansas went up to New York to take Great Lake travel to Chicago. After getting to Kansas City by water and coach, they walked to Lawrence which required that they get over the Wakarusa river. 

• With regard to the 'training pass' mentioned above, we noted in a post (Final migration) the report of the group who left Massachusetts and traveled to Kansas. They founded Lawrence (and KU) among other things. But, they mention coming out of the Kansas City area on foot, camping by the Wakarusa, fording it and getting to what became Lawrence. As has been noted, this little river required techniques that became handy in the western mountains: tear down the wagon, lower, get it across, and back up, reassemble, gather everything that had been ported across. Time and again. (see post, Cumberland Pass). 

Here are some of the posts on rivers:

• Research notes: Rivers (Feb 2021) 
• Mississippi and Fox Rivers (Feb 2021)
  
• List of posts on rivers 

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The other day, we saw something about a divide in North Dakota (ND). What? That was after running into a mention of a "Triple Divide" (Wikipedia). This mention was on a report by the National Park Service which was of interest as one of the rivers (Marias) from that divide flows into the Missouri River in Montana (MT). The Yellowstone River flows into the Missouri in ND. The Missouri River then flows down to the Mississippi River. We had looked at that area (Gardner River; Yellowstone, Plus). 

Now, having traveled the west by car, train, bus and plane for years, we have gone over a north-west Continental Divide many times on lots of highways and routes. Those divides were always west of ND. All along this western divide, water on one side goes to the Pacific Ocean and on the other side there is a longer flow to the Atlantic Ocean. The map shown here on the left is of a pass (Two Ocean Pass) in Montana (MT) where one creek divides into two; the page on Wikipedia includes a photo of the area where the bifurcation happens. 

So, going back to the mention to ND, the divide (green in the map on the right) starts in MT (at the Triple divide), goes into Canada, comes back down and then goes back up to Canada after traversing ND and Minnesota and heads for the Hudson Bay which flows into the Laborador Sea which can be considered a source for the Atlantic Ocean. This is the Laurentine Divide (starts in the US, goes north, comes back, and the goes up again). We will have to look further at that. Water from Fargo, ND flows north due to this Divide. 

We mentioned the Pacific? In the Yellowstone area, some water runs to the Atlantic, as we saw. On the other hand, though, some water goes to the Snake River and then to the Columbia while picking up tributaries from Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. A major tributary of the Snake is the Salmon River. 

And from the Triple Divide that we looked at above, water comes into the Columbia through the Clark Fork and the Pend Oreille Rivers. 

Columbia and Snake Rivers

Remarks: Modified: 02/15/2025

02/15/2025 -- 

Past and present

TL;DR -- The 250th of the U.S. will allow lots of research to get some air, as the attention goes to the history of the country. We will follow that thread several ways, including a deep look at technology of computing with respect all aspects that we know, to date. We can compare different areas. One of these one-up looks will be NYC and LA, in order by age. LA is comparatively a youngster. The dynamisms of the two difer quit a bit, too. 

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Some locations kept good records via photographs of their change through time. At the same time, we have temporal issues such as Los Angeles being younger than New York City. Then we have technology bringing in abilities that can be pinpointed in time. For instance, we know that Gardner, the photographer, was active during the Civil War. We posted several photos from his era, including one from Lawrence, KS. We called the post with the photo "Frontier century" (April 2021); its themes were several: the great expansion in the middle after the revolution (deed done primarily by the 5th generation); families being lost in time as they escaped the heavy hand of documentation; and modern efforts at recovering evidence of their existence). 

We will continue to focus on the middle of the country but have, of late, been looking at Los Angeles and its Bunker Hill (west, we call it) that mainly appeared in the late 1800s and went away a century later to be replaced by high-climbing things that cast a long shadow. We have had lots of photos of the LA area and can be more intimate as we find older photos to match up with something recent. 

LA and NY City
across time

In this photo, the left side shows part of the train yard in LA at two different times. Reminder, LA was Old Spain and Mexico until the latter part of the 1830s. LA claims a start in the early 1780s which is associated with New Spain. The area settled is known, now, as Down Town LA (we'll use DTLA). A church built in the area in 1784 later burned. At that site, the Old Plaza Church (still standing) was built built in 1814.  

On the right of the photo, we have snaps of NYC's Manhattan starting with a photo from 1876. This an old area and was part of the colonies prior to the U.S. Revolution. With the 250th of that event coming up, we will have time to cover stories about all areas of the U.S. 

One of our themes will deal with the long reach (Mirror building; Settlements, temporary and otherwise; NEHGS events) of New England. There will be others, such as technology. 

Before moving on, we know that NY City has tall builidngs. Lots of them. The tallest now is the One World Trade Center at almost 1,800 feet. Wikipedia has a list of buildings taller than 600 feet (110 buildings). 

In DTLA, the tallest building is only 1,100 feet). The LA City Hall is 454 feet (it's shown on the left in photo) and is the 42nd largest building. The smallest (53rd in the Wikipedia list) stands at 352 feet. 

We mentioned Bunker Hill west. It got its name, of course, from the site of a Revolutionary battle. We will be looking more at that area in DTLA as it represents changes over time, as influx of population changes the dynamics of a location. With a great collection of photos from different periods, we find people taking photos from that same area and focus of direction. 

Related to Bunker Hill west is this one that show 101 early on and then later. In the meantime, St. Vibiana's was closed as a church (became an event's center) and moved up the hill from Main Street to the summit. Parts of that area had been lowered early. Houses and dirt were taken away to have proper foundation for buildings. One story to look at is the Central Library which experienced two fires by arson. During the time of recovery, maneuverings got the building limit raised from that related to the height of the City Center. So, the first one went up to cast a shadow over the library. The library sold its "air rights" as one means to fund getting back to its work. They had to replace $Ms in burnt books, for instance. 

LA Central Libray with its
"twin" (to the right)
U.S. Bank Tower

On the list of tallest, the "library tower" now is #2. 

Reminder: with respect to photos (such as we see from Water and Power Associates of CA), provenance needs to have special attention, always. How all of this influence from Gen AI plays out will be a thing to watch. The ease with which fakes can be generated will make the problems more diffficult to resolve, albeit there are known ways to attempt to obtain stable and safe environments. Technology will provide the means many times for its managment; a key choice concerns human involvement. Yes, we humans can handle the complexity. Unfortunately, we could have known more; that is to be discussed.  

Remarks: Modified: 09/27/2024

09/27/2024 --  

Three weeks

TL;DR -- We take modern travel for granted. To wit, the Delta recoil from the Microsoft fail just a week ago. Now, we can look at the details, and ought to. As well, let's ponder three weeks of travel back in the good old days.  

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Having just written on Los Angeles and then finding more information on the California Trail to which travelers on the Oregon Trail switched if they were headed to the Great State of California. Per usual, everywhere we look in the US, we seek out connections to New England. 

A recent focus on Bunker Hill West brought to fore lots of information about people from the east coast and their activities on the left coast. For the record, this area in downtown LA is where we now find the skyscrapers. But, under many of those are destroyed records of, at least, two cultural developments. Fortunately, there is an association in LA that has photos and records about the different eras and areas. 

That will be a regular theme along with technology which comes into play due to the potential for mischief. Already, we have seen photos that seem to have been generated by methods other than a human with photoshop or the like. We're not paying close attention, yet, as there are plenty of photos for study from the repositories that are available. 

On the other hand, tales of people abound and mostly are not known. Technology, you see, can be a boon as it will help document the past better than we have ever seen. 

Case in point, in the graphic on the left, I made the connection between a middle piece of the US with a Gardner name. It was on the Oregon/California and Santa Fe Trails. At the same time, I knew of Butterfield for a long while but only paid attention of late as the researching of New England's diaspora came to be aided by technology. Butterfield's stage line went from St Louis MO down through TX into NM and AZ and onto CA and arrived in LA after three weeks. From there, it was another week plus to SF. Nowadays, that is a little more than a five-hour drive.  

In the graphic below, the bottom middle view has two lines in red on the left. Both represent three weeks. Nowadays, that's not so long. But, if you worked 21 days without a break, you would feel it. 

The shorter line goes back to the top of the graphic which is the route from Independence Mo to Ft Larned KS. Nowadays, that's less than a five-hour drive. Earlier, we had a tale of the founders of Lawrence KS, including women, from Massassachuets who traversed that same route in 1854. The trip was to found the town and the University at Lawrence. Most returned to New England after the al fresco meeting leaving a hearty crew to carry on with the settlement. 

And, it was in the summer. They only had to do one fording of a river which is not large (the Wakarusa). Now, following the route to Santa Fe through Ft Larned has lots of these.

Now, on the right, one sees a line from Boston to London. Three weeks. When on things of that time span, what could one do? Well, that voyage took a bit of time in the past. But, nowadays, a week is sufficient for a modern cruise liner to make the trip. So, three weeks would be three trips from Boston to London, a return trip, and then back to London. Let's say after that, one would spend 7 hours or so flying back to New England. We need to think of other examples. 

As the modern analysis show, One can drive the same route from St. Louis MO to San Franciscso CA in about 39 hours. Most of that would be on the U.S. Interstate system. I have driven that a lot. 

That brings up another three weeks. This Butterfield route tied in with one from San Antonio TX. From there to El Paso took about the same amount of time. See, Pre-Civil War, San Antonio to San Diego (2021). This was a combination of two routes. 

Now, the top part of the image is of a wagon train pulled mostly by oxen. In the bottom part is of a coach pulled by horses. Consider the logistic for this, as horses needed to be replaced and cared for while they recovered for their next trip. People had to be fed, and other supplies would have been essential. 

Supposedly, this is a photo of a Butterfield stage arriving in LA. On the first trip. a report rode the whole way. We need to find that article. See this post: Mirror Building (2023). 

Remarks: Modified: 07/27/2024

07/27/2024 --    

NEHGS Events

TL;DR -- We like the NEHGS which has been there since the 1830s and had many illustrious members, such John Quincy Adams. So, NE is in its name. But, it has been extending its reach. Okay, we like that. Let's compare notes. 

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This post looks at several events so as to tie together what might be disparate research but really is cohesive, or will be in the longer run. We have noticed ads about the types of events events offered by the NEHGS from time to time. Some have raised thought of joining. Have not yet. But, we have attended several meetings of various groups of the  Hereditary Society Community which meet in the spring in D.C. 

Now, the recent three events scheduled by the NEHGS shown here are very much appealing. For one thing, we have had lots of posts mentioning both Northern and Southern California. Both of us have lived in the State and have family in the area. The history of both of these areas shows lots of New England influence. There is more on that later in the post. 

The NEHGS meetings in CA will be in Oakland (June 8th) and Los Angeles (June 9th) this weekend. The LA event will be held in San Marino. That specific reference is necessary due to the sprawl of LA. 

NEHGS in CA 

NEHGS has been slowly expanding its reach out of New England over the past decade or so. This is reflected in their databases. For instance, it was nice to see information brought forth on Virginia and the Northwest (which is really the mid-west). Now, with CA on the radar, we can expect to see more focus on the large interior that was covered in the frontier century. 

The reality is more than the flyover country that became popular, recently, brought by the technology of aircraft. In the areas between the coasts, we deal with real people. But, just as that theme comes up, we see that the NEHGS has found one of the libraries in the interior. 

Independence, MO

In August of this year, they'll be in MO where the trails came through the trails came through. The library has been a great assest to the region where, btw, Harry S. Truman's Presidential Library can be found as well as other historical notions that ought to be remembered. 

Like, across the Missouri River in KS is where we find that John Brown caused some turmoil. Kansas was a Massachusetts which can be seen in Lawrence. John had supporters in New England. Thomas W. Higginson wrote of his visit to the area before the Civil War. 

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Let's get back to LA and defer more discussion to a later time about CA and SF. A recent post continued our look at Bunker Hill West (US History, details) we brought up the theme of details of someone's existence that is not related to the paper chase of genealogy. We will continue on that theme as it relates to our interest in technology and how it's being abused of late. 

But, technology is great, as well. Let's just use good old curated publishing as an example. Lots of the research to date has been looking at things known personally. Like, John lived in the Bunker Hill area for a while as a young worker. Given the work of the TGS, Inc. which has a focus on Essex County, for one thing, we have followed families as they went west. Too, the influence of New England is of interest and seems to have no end. 

Along that line, we can use Wikipedia's work to stop, look and listen (that's an old adage with regard to train tracks in the west - out where signs may be minimal). 

• Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) - this page has been seriously updated with new information since 2020 which is partly due to COVID. People were home and wanted to do something. In this case, the History section has increased significantly. We will go through this more thoroughly, but it does provide names of thsoe who were there at the time. We see missing names. Say, Butterfield who ran a stage-line from St. Louis, MO through upper TX and along the southern border (through Tucson, AZ) to LA. His stages stopped near the building that housed the LA Times for whom John worked while going to UCLA. (see post Mirror Building). Part of Butterfield's work met up in El Paso with a southern line started by someone from the Giddings family of Ipswich, MA. Like we noted, the stories are endless. 
• El Pueblo de Los Angeles - several buildings exist from the New Spain era. La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles is an example. We had a post about the area with LA City Hall in view in one of the photos (see post Old LA and the U.S.. One can also see the City Hall (which was remarkable for its time and was the limit for buildings - the high-rise phenomenon came about when that was repealed) is also visible from Olvera Street
  
• Bunker Hill (we added the "west") as it's named for the Boston landmark and cultural icon of the U.S.) - fortunately, photos exist that were taken at various times throughout the history. Now, the southern part of the Hill is high-rise laden. The Hill itself was scarfed several times but seriously so in the 1970s to make way for the skyline makers. Yet, there were elegant and quite remarkable buildings in the area. At least, the Angels Flight rail was saved through a dismantle, store during reconstruction, and then put back into place. 
  
• St. Vibiana - this was an early Cathedral whose building from the 1870s still stands. There had been some earthquake damage, but mostly it's there as an events center. There is a newer building up on the Hill (appropriately along Temple Avenue): Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels that has remarkable architectural features and serves the role of the former building. 

This post looked at NEHGS's work and then pulled the focus to LA specifics. We'll do the same for San Francisco, later. When we do that, the original look will be at the Presidio which is of New Spain. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/04/2024

06/04/2024 --

Kansas Day

TL:DR -- Kansas joined the U.S. in 1861. There is a lot of history to look at, including families. 

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Today marks the day that Kansas joined the Union, in 1861. So, this is Kansas Day in these parts. We had have several posts on Kansas over the years. Here are a few. 

• John Brown - He was here more than once. We have written about the era of "bloody Kansas" in several posts. John and his battle at Black Jack will be mentioned in a post, soon. 
• Lawrence - This city is mentioned several times. Kansas was a Massachusetts project which had the goal of keeping the area slave free. 
• Trails - There were several trails. One was the Santa Fe Trail that cut diagonally across the state. 
• Frontier century - Associated with this is the Lost Generation or two. Families came west prior to record keeping. 
• Early work with Native Americans - A mission was established in the southeastern corner of the State in the early 1830s which was not long after Missouri came to be. 
• Incorporation - Founded in 2910, the Thomas Gardner Society incorporated in Kansas in 2014. 
• ... 

Lawrence, KS
by Alexander Gardner

Of course, further words could be said about the trappers who came through and the cattle that ran through the state on their way to being shipped back east by train. Too, trains were a large part of KS. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/17/2025

01/31/2024 --  Added image from the Frontier Century post. 

03/17/2025 -- Independence and Kansas City. Stopovers for people going several ways. 

Knowability

TL:DR -- This post introduces a topic of long-standing debate which pertains closely with how we ought to consider technology and choices related to it. 

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Can we know it all? Can any one? Or any thing? That latter case? One might point to the new approach to AI which is doing just that, albeit the source for knowledge is the collection (of stuff, over about three decades) on the internet. A good look at that might get one to realize one huge issue: how much is believable?; or, knowable, for that matter? 

And one consequence is that we see failures and have since one major release in November (ChatGPT). Of late, the six months of experience (with multitudes making updates and supposed improvement via learning) brings out another observation: failures are increasing despite an attempt at training by the public. 

We might add, you cannot train out the crap that was originally introduced. 

Earlier, we mentioned Charles Sanders Peirce and his work which will become more usable. There are other Americans of note to bring into the discussion. We learned of one yesterday: Frederic Brenton Fitch (Wikipedia). He was a mathematical logician and is the maternal grandfather of D. Brenton Simons (Wikipedia) who is CEO and President of the NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society) which we all know and love. It's been around for a while having had an illustrious start in the 1830s. The NEHGR is a phenomenal publication providing historic and genealogical information that has been verified, somewhat.  

This is brief, but Prof Fitch is known for his paradox about knowability. There are many sides to this issue. We will look at each of those. Why? They are interwoven with the debates about computing and what we have been calling "AIn't" since there is more promise than actual realization with the current approaches. 

Aside: Fitch, too, had a Paradox: (1) Possibility (blog of Bas van Fraassen). Simons mentioned him in his commentary in the summer (2023) edition of American Ancestors. 

One dynamic is business versus academic. Or rather, proprietary information versus science. Who owns knowledge that is applicable to us, generally?

Another aspect of S. B. Simons' background is that he has New Amsterdam heritage (van Deusen). We will look at that. Too, he has an ancestor who was born in Lawrence KS (E. L. Simons) and went to TX and became a paleontologist of note dealing with primates. Notice the drifts that we will be considering. S. B.'s ancestor visited seveal continents in his pursuit of knowledge. 

Earlier, we mentioned a Thomas Gardner descendant who was a field biologist with many publications and species named after him. 

But, technology and computing? They are inseparable. As said, we are picking this up as our operational interest with regard to all aspects some of which get little consideration in today's environment of rah-rah money chasing, silly boys rushing and breaking things, issues related to undecidability being shouted down by the bullying environment, and other things best left for later.  

Remarks: Modified: 08/09/2023

08/09/2023 --

Oregon, at last

TL;DR -- Oregon is right above California. We have looked at the lower State of late. Time to raise the focus to the north. Many people, for decades, got to the western State across the land. Some went by ship. Some even came down from Canada. 

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Oregon Trail
(Wikipedia) 

Meaning, it's time to bring Oregon (see map, 1846) into focus through a few post. We have had many posts about Oregon and other western locations as well as about the trails that carried people to their destination. The Canadians were there first having come down from the York Factory under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company. 

For a good while, the upper boundary of the U.S. in the region was not settled. Early visitors from the U.S. were mountain men (trappers) after fur. Jedediah Strong Smith was in the region in the 1820s. 

Some arrived by ship from the east coast, especially after the Gold Rush moved north from California. We researched that with respect to the Barque Bostonian that wrecked along the Oregon coast in 1850 after leaving Boston in July of 1849 and arriving in San Francisco early the next year. 

Many posts were about the trails that early on went through Gardner KS. That lower traffic went by the location of the University of Kansas in Lawrence. The upper traffic sped up the trip a few days and was pioneered by the youngsters who were in a hurry. Rather than cross the river and head via land from Independence MO, the travelers went up river past St. Joseph MO to Nebraska and went west where they met those coming up from the lower trail. 

There are several subjects to touch upon. Many pioneers to Oregon were from New England. However, many of these travelers were new to the country and following Horace Greeley's advice to "go west" which he did himself. 

We recently saw this service advertised: Oregon Trail Genealogy. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/14/2023

06/14/2023 -- 

California, Golden State

TL;DR -- Our first bit of tasks dealt with learning about New England, especially little Essex County of MA. Later, we considered movement away from that area either to the south or to the west. And, by water, too, as that traffic had been constant from the beginning. After the Revolution and Lewis & Clark's journey, the expansion started in earnest. However, the interior of the U.S. is huge and took a while to be carved up. Travel across the country took time by land. And work. Too, water travel was full of its travails. With the 400th from the beginning, the 250th coming up relates to the U.S. being populated. California will get a little more focus as it is first by many categories. 

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Our first mention of the Golden State was in 2015 which is the sixth year after the blog had its first post. It was a brief mention as we researched the Barque Bostonian owned by Henry Gardiner that wrecked in Oregon. The ship had been in San Francisco prior to that. But, we found out that it had also been in New Zealand and a number of other places. 

Then, about that time, while being at a lavender farm near Lawrence, KS and realizing that the trails had passed through that area, the thought was: did the students up on Mount Oread see the trekkers as they labored past? The post: Gardner KS (11 Aug 2015). We had seen signs while traveling but were overwhelmed with learning New England particularities. Even little Essex County was unknown to us and took some time for study. A year later, we started to update the information dealing with the western movement (Gardner Junction).   

Of course, given the drive to get to the gold rush as fast as possible, the CA traffic dwindled after the young guys figured that going up the Missouri River past St. Joseph saved them a few days. Rather than the circuitous route into upper KS and then heading northwest to NE, they just got off the boat and joined the trail goers after a shorter jaunt. But, traffic to the southwest (Santa Fe) still went through Gardner, KS as did some going to CO first and then joining the OR/CA trail in Wyoming. 

That deals with movement by land. While researching the early venturers (mountain men, trappers), we looked at CA, too, principally. Though, Jedediah Strong Smith got there in 1826 and was the first European to go across the Mojave desert (even doing so in the summer). Then, he mapped out the Interstate system with his wanderings before coming back to meet his demise in the Great Plains region. Along with and after him, there were other travelers that we looked at. 

But, there is an area that we have avoided, to dated. How did CA end up with its 1850 entry into the U.S.? For this historic portion, we will use documents published by the U.S. By 1847, the area of California was home to 150K indigenous people plus about 14K folks of European ancestry. Most of the Europeans lived south of Monterey, especially Los Angeles. San Francisco (then Yerba Buena) had a scattering, until after the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter's who had arrived in 1838. In 1849, 100K additional people arrived from the U.S. and Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. 

We will back up and look further at New Spain in California. Mexico had won its Independence in 1821. As well, we will look into the lives of the indigenous folks prior to and after the arrival of the Europeans. 

There will be more posts on this and other states. As well as New England States and Missouri, we have looked at Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan which got started after the Revolution, mostly by restless veterans. So, we will cover the States, interior and along the coast lines. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/28/2023

04/28/2023 -- 

Go West, wrote Horace

TL;DR -- Supposedly, the phrase associated with "Go west" is attributed to Horace Greeley. While researching, we found that Horace had gone west, prior to the Civil War. He did it cross country and wrote of the journey in detail. This information pertains to our current time and issues; as such, it is worthy of our attention. 

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In an earlier post, we looked at two cousins, one of which was Adolphus Greeley and the other was USN Captain George William Coffin. They met in the Artic as the latter rescued the former who had been stranded with the crew of his Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 

A generation earlier, we have another name, Horace Greeley who shares ancestors with Adolphus. Too, Horace journeyed west prior to the Civil War. We ran into his correspondence while researching the historic weather of Donner Pass with respect to the California Trail as this topic is part of our interest in the western expansion and the related trails that crossed the vast interior of the country.  

As an aside, this winter's total snowfall will set a new record. 

Before getting into the gist, we provide profiles for Horace (WikiTree, Wikipedia) and Adolphus (WikiTree, Wikipedia) Greeley. Also, we provide more information on George William Coffin who was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the U.S. Navy. 

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Along with information about trails and passes, we ran into an on-line copy of Horace's book on his trip: An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco (1860). His journey started in New York by rail and boat until he reached St. Joseph, MO. Until others who headed off west on the trails, Horace went down to Kansas for a Republican Convention at Osawatomie, KS. He mentions going through Lawrence which whose settlement was supported by The New England Emigrant Aid Company. The Convention was on the 18th of May in 1859 (Miami County). This chapter of the book was submitted from Atchison, KS on May 15th. 

His book has thirty-four Chapters of which more than ten are on Kansas, the Plains, the Desert, and gold. These will be of interest as we pursue the history of the U.S. and its interior. He heads west out of Denver by jaunting up to Fort Laramie (Chapter 16) and then west to Utah. Several Chapters deal with Salt Lake City and the area. And, he provides several views of California (Chapters 27 to 33). His final Chapter looks at traffic into and out of San Francisco and discusses the need for a railroad. 

In our post, St. Louis MO to San Francisco CA, we describe the route from St. Louis down into Texas and across the southern border to Los Angeles, CA and then up the coast to San Francisco. The 1860 portion (top) of this graphic shows the transportation status when Horace went west. 

Horace Greeley returned by boat. For this book, his last Chapter was posted on the 9th of September of 1859. 

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Of note, this was no virtual trip. We have to match this effort up with that of the comedic guy (Samuel Clemens), later. As said, we had several posts on this theme (starting with the mountain men). 

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This story has several points of interest related to our work. This applies even to our current interest in technology and its historical impact, especially as activities of our times may portend to the future. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/14/2023

06/16/2023 -- Added "Horace" to the title. He went himself.  

Margaret, equal partner

TL;DR -- 100 years ago, Margaret got some attention. Then, modern research threw her out. We got her back. Now, we'll make her presence ubiquitous (normally used for computing, of late). Too, the women of Cape Ann will get attention this month to establish a basis for future work. The order goes, Cape Ann --> Essex County --> Massachusetts --> New England, and then a long reach across the U.S. over time and a huge interior. All having been noted here will be further explored. 

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As time goes by, so too do the Awareness Months. March is Womens History Month. So, this month, we are continuing that theme as we started last year by bringing women into the discussion. We will be looking at another mathematician later, as we did last year with Emmy Noether. Too, we will be adding a post about a Native American tribe that Yankees going west encountered. 

Today, we think that it's time to bring Margaret some attention. Hence, we have changed our header at both sites (traditional, portal) to read as this image says. 

It notes that the Society is "For ... Thomas Gardner (implied &) Margaret Fryer ... Planters (Cape Ann, Salem)" as both were instrumental in getting the thing done. We're here. Also, we will be looking deeply at the history of Cape Ann and its families (many modern sites with photos of paintings done in the area of Gloucester will be linked below - coming soon).  

Too, after looking at Gloucester's 400th commemoration activities this week, we started to research possible topics to represent what the Society is about. And, per usual, Roger Conant's theme came up which was the focus 100 years ago. He is mentioned in a huge plaque plus some smaller ones in the Gloucester area. Too, he is in lots and lots of write ups as the first name of the effort. There was the theme of Beverly Planters as an example.

That is, in terms of history, we pinpoint a few to carry forward the message. But, some, like Rev. Hubbard, actually talked to Thomas Gardner and mentioned him and John Tylly. Lots of the pruning was due to technology and other limits. 

So, our theme being technology, we have to think about how we can tame the beast for the future where a sustainable mode is left for the progeny. Can we do it? Yes. But, pondering all of the possible stories, we settled on featuring Margaret, mother of the children. BTW, there is no issue with Conant taking the heat. That let's us do our own truth assessment using means outside of the normal. 

After all, Roger is on Ann's ancestors' list. Too, Seeth married a son of Roger and had a child. He married a daughter of Richard More, that puzzle of the Mayflower mindset. Other stories abound some of which we have covered in posts, like James Bryant Conant of Harvard. 

But, back to Margaret, she had another wife on board with her. Roger was here, single. Thomas Gardner and John Balch brought their families. Margaret, the mother of nine children (start with Thomas and follow the links), eight of whom had progeny. Sarah (Gardner) Balch's mother-in-law came with Margaret on the same ship in 1624. 

We are researching progeny of each child, for Sarah:

• Benjamin Balch (c. 1730s) – first Chaplain, Continental Navy; William Balch (c. 1770s) – first Chaplain, U.S. Navy. His father was first chaplain of the Continental Navy; his grandfather had been a chaplain in the Royal Navy; Adolphus Greely (c. 1840s) – American Polar explorer, recipient of the Medal of Honor; John Henry Balch (c. 1890s) – United States Navy, World War I, Medal of Honor, Lieutenant, World War II. 

Seeth (Gardner) Grafton married (first) Joshua Conant, son of Roger Conant. Their sister, Miriam (Gardner) Hill married twice. One of her progeny was the namesake of the Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS about which we have written a lot. 

There were later arrivals in time before Endicott came over. Some of these families went over with Salem. We'll be looking more thoroughly of pre-and-post-Massey's Cove in more ways than merely noting that Cape Ann was close to paradise or the Glory of Cape Ann. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/13/2023

03/13/2023 -- See "New not old planter" post with regard to research findings. Thomas and Margaret have children registered in England until 1633.