Great migration

Thomas Gardner in
Great Migration

Some may know of this project, but here is a link to the Great Migration study that is looking at New England, and all of the families that arrived, from 1620-1640.

Thomas Gardner has 6 pages (Vols I-III, pg 731).updated 06/17/2013 

The study proposes that Margaret was Thomas' second wife; we'll continue with Dr Frank A's hypothesis (Margaret arrived with Thomas at Cape Ann in 1624) until proven otherwise.

While looking at some issues with one family, one researcher referenced what was written by this project. In a sense, it may be the new bible concerning the early times.

Don't worry, we'll check this work out. In one case, I've already noticed an oversight. But, trying to address that type of thing will await some more review.

Remarks:

11/21/2019 -- Lots of updates on Dr. Frank: 1907 chart, WikiTree, Frank signed his father's copy of the 1907 book, and Dr. Frank's remains.

03/03/3015 -- Updated the link to the NEHGS copy of Great Migration. Seems that everyone is converting to please the mobile crowd (not always improvements). See, too, Zouch Phoenix.

10/03/2014 -- Dr. Frank A. will feature in the future. Was he right about Thomas and Margaret (their marriage record found, recently)? Why did the Great Migration Project ignore him?

06/19/2013 -- NEHGS rearranged their database. Today, updated the link for the 6 pages. Added the image of the first page.

07/21/2011 -- From whence? Coffin, from Nantucket, said Dorset (Sherborne).

Modified: 11/21/2019

Dr Frank A Gardner

A few notes (see Remarks, below, for log):

Finally got around to filling in Dr. Frank's tree, using WikiTree. His Gardner line is fairly complete, in terms of data entry. Starting to fill in his Woods (maternal) line using Dr. Frank's handwritten notes. The focus now for this work is having nodes (profiles) in place and linked (pick the Ancestors button). Then, we'll be adding bios, etc., plus verifying sources, as in, this will be the 'bible' of his lineage. We fill in sources as we go along adding profiles - to be extended later with further research by Gardner Research. However, we don't own all of the profiles, so we need to double check those. So far, finding interesting stuff, like - Dr. Frank is a descendant of Demaris, too, the last wife of Thomas.

Link to on-line versions of Dr. Frank's books and some of his publications:
                              1907 edition, 1933 edition
                          The Massachusetts Magazine

Gardner pedigree for Dr. Frank and his sister, Lucie M. (with ahnentafels of their grandfather, Benjamin Brown Gardner, and grandmother, Lucy FosterWilson).

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Several posts have mentioned Dr Frank A. We will use his line quite often as we fill in the tree.

Dr Frank's book is now available via the Internet Archive in several readable forms, including PDF. Here is the link:

• archive.org
• google.com

The 'Read online' option provides a nice interface that has a fast search; the results are given with easy to use bookmarks. See next, for an example.

Dr Frank's book gives descendants for Essex County and New England "lines to the eighth generation and Nantucket lines through the fourth generation" and includes his father's siblings (page 286 has information about Dr Frank's father, Stephen Wilson Gardner, and his mother, Marion Wallace Woods).

Fortunately for us, this book provides sources which is important for resolution of questions. In many cases, records are missing for a variety of reasons in many areas. Essex County seems to have been able to preserve a lot of their records.

The Gardner families were spread widely, according to the book. It will be interesting to see the locations mapped out as they were at the time of the book and at this later time.

Remarks:

12/28/2024 -- See "Restart, somewhat" from September of 2024 for a summary of the issues about early information and about technology which is our focus. 

11/11/2019 -- Got Dr. Frank's FindAGrave profile updated: Frank Augustine Gardner, Veteran's Day. Early, we had pointed to Harmony Grove Cemetery, but the Gardner / Dennett plot in which Dr. Frank's ashes were interned in in Greenlawn.

05/01/2019 -- Saw notes by Stephen Wilson Gardner in his personally signed copy of the 1907 book. SWG was the father of Dr. Frank. For the first time, saw the plate that had been reproduced. On further research, found a color copy. The area is significant in that it's near Gardner Hill. Looking for other material that has something to offer about the area.

09/15/2018 -- Gardner Research published four articles in The Essex Genealogist. These were republished in The Gardner Annals which just released Vol. IV. Last fall, we printed TGA Vols I and II. Soon, we will print Vols III and IV. Included with the TGA were Gardner's Beacon issues. Of late, we have experimented with one approach to a database, namely WikiTree using Dr. Frank's information. As mentioned in that post, we have established that Thomas had two wives as we found information about the marriage of Thomas and Margaret in Sherborne, Dorset, UK.

09/07/2018 -- Added note at the top about the WikiTree work.

09/08/2016 -- People in Dr. Frank's book.

12/17/2015 -- Life of Dr. Frank is featured in The Gardner Annals, Vol. II, No. 2.

12/13/2015 -- Find A Grave - Gardner.

05/21/2105 -- We will feature Dr. Frank in our research. For now, we have the ahnentafels (fully sourced) for his paternal grandparents. One of his activities was editing and promoting The Massachusetts Magazine.

03/20/2015 -- Add links to the on-line copy of the books (1907, 1933). Fix a stale pointer.

03/12/2015 -- Image from 1933 book (7 pages) on Gardners.

03/11/2015 -- Sourced ahnentafels (published in TEG and The Gardner Annals): Thomas Gardner of Salem descendant (Benjamin Brown Gardner - grandfather of Dr. Frank) and Thomas Gardner of Roxbury descendant (Susan Charlotte Graves Gardner - aunt of Dr. Frank).

02/27/2015 -- Dr. Frank's paternal ancestry completed. Turns out that Dr. Frank is a descendant of Nathaniel Eaton. Being degreed in the theological framework, as well as having the M.D. and a general Ph.D., puts him in a different light, one might think.

01/03/2015 - Note, Dr. Frank A.'s Gardner Memorial book is digitized and on-line (Hathi Trust).

10/03/2014 -- Dr. Frank A. will feature in the future. Was he right about Thomas and Margaret (their marriage record found, recently)? Why did the Great Migration Project ignore him?

08/29/2014 -- Dr. Frank's grandmother's ahnentafel (six generations, fully sources for births and deaths).

04/29/2014 -- Dr. Frank's grandmother, Lucy Foster Wilson.

11/13/2013 --  Phippen would be part of the slate fill.

06/15/2013 -- John Farmer wrote that Thomas was from Scotland. Origins are, and will be, a focus.

12/25/2012 -- Added Google Docs version.

12/24/2012 -- Thomas, unlike Conant, was not overshadowed in the world of being. We'll spend some time characterizing this fact and what it means to reasonable folks.

08/07/2011 -- At a later time, we'll look more fully at Dr. Frank's tree, such as this one of his grandmother, Lucy Foster Wilson (Goldthwait, Adams, Conant, ...).

05/08/2011 -- The image is from page 74 of Dr Frank's book where he mentions notes for a future book. It would be interesting to see these notes. Where might they be?

Modified: 12/28/2024

Sarah (Gardner) Balch

As mentioned before, we want to spend a little effort getting information about the earlier times before coming toward the current era. For instance, we can take some time to look at each of the kids and their offspring.

Sarah, the oldest daughter, married Benjamin Balch whose father, John, was one of the early planters who came over with Thomas Gardner. This group helped establish the area around Salem.

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There is a house in Beverly, called the Balch house, that has been dated to about 1680. Part of it may have been built by John. Sarah and Benjamin were occupants, to boot.

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Notes from Balch family reunions, some of which were attended by Dr Frank A Gardner, provide stories of interest. For instance, Benjamin, born in 1743, was the first Chaplain of the Continental Navy.

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Another descendant, John Henry Balch, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in WWI.

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One pedigree for Rev. Benjamin, who descends from Sarah's son Freeborn, includes the Woodbury (another planter) family (Kappus). The Vaut pedigree has an interesting extension for Thomas.

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Children (according to the NEHGS and the Great Migration Project - as represented by WikiTree): Thomas, George, Richard, John, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Miriam, Seeth.

Remarks:

03/09/2023 -- Updated link to Descendants of Sarah (see 12/13/2020). 

12/13/2020 -- Descendants of Sarah. 

12/05/2019 -- We updating material on WikiTree in order to get the first generation settled down as we work coming forward.

05/21/2011 -- One of the cousins was a descendant of Sarah.

04/23/2011 -- There will be additional posts on Sarah's descendants.

03/17/2011 -- Another descendants list (Langsdorf, et al).

02/20/2011 -- See Dr Frank's book, pg 20, for information about Sarah. Also, Sarah and Benjamin's offspring are covered in the Balch genealogy book.

Modified: 03/09/2023

Two cousins

The descendants list for Thomas and Margaret holds a lot of potential stories, from the early times onward. As mentioned before, we want to look at some of these before coming forward with Dr Frank A.'s tree (RD, et al). In some cases, we have separate lines merging back together.

So, we can talk about the meeting of two cousin lines. The first of the cousins, General Adolphus Greely (ancestors) is from John and Sarah (Gardner) Balch through their son, Freeborn. After serving in the Army in the Civil War, he became an explorer. He led, as a First Lieutenant, the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-1884) that found itself stranded because of the inability of supply ships to reach their location. There were follow-up attempts, but his wife succeeded in her efforts to keep the interest up. What was left of the team was rescued by Admiral Schley.

3 -- Coffin, 22 -- Greely
July 1884, USS Thetis

Now, the second of the cousins commanded one of the rescue vessels. He was Captain George William Coffin (ancestors). He is a descendant of Richard and Sarah (Shattuck) Gardner through their son, John. George was a US Naval Academy graduate and spent much of his career at sea. For the rescue, George captained the HMS Alert which had been lent to the US by Britain for the specific purpose of the relief mission.

Needless to say, the Schley attempt was successful, as one descendant, of Thomas and Margaret, came to the aid of the other in an event that was five generations removed from the early times.

Remarks:

04/18/2023 -- While researching Donner Pass and the California Trail, we ran into Horace Greeley's writeup of his trip west in 1859. ... He shares an ancestor with Adolphus. Also, here is the Naval Career for Capt. George William Coffin. 

06/03/2021 -- Sir Franklin had been in the area in the 1840s while looking for the Northwest Passage. He and his crew disappeared. In the 1850s, a rescue attempt was made that included the ship, H.M.S. Resolute which got stuck. It was abandoned and discovered later by a whaling crew. And, the Resolute was returned to England. Queen Victoria had its timber used for ceremonial furniture. A desk in the White House was one of the pieces.  

02/18/2018 -- Written seven years ago, when I was still a newbie. Such as, I didn't know the different towns of Essex County. I had to wonder what North Shore meant. In the western part off the U.S., towns are far apart. What is it like to live cheek to jowl with your neighbors? 

10/31/2014 -- AnceSTORY archives (02/18/2018, this blog is no longer around).

07/06/2013 -- While researching for Gardner's Beacon, Vol. III, No. 2, I ran across this photograph (Wikipedia) that has both of the cousins in close proximity on the USS Thetis. The team lost several men (there is another photo of the team in 1881), but there were some accomplishments. For instance, a new farthest north was attained by two of the members: 83°24′N 40°46′W.

05/21/2011 -- Sarah (Gardner) Balch.

Modified: 04/18/2023

South (east and central) Essex County

How can we look at Thomas and Margaret and not include something about the area? A whole lot went on in Essex County (note the dragon -- ca 1812), so we'll separate it further. The sister blog centers itself on Newbury.

The original point of entry was on Cape Ann, namely Gloucester. Then, the group moved close to the mouth of the Naumkeag river and started a settlement that would become Salem.

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By the way, the Massachusetts Bay Colony page has a timeline for the settlements. As we look at the Gardner family, and its related families, we'll cover about all of these.

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The following is a list of web-accessible information about Salem and the 'Old Planters' of whom Thomas was a member.

• Sidney Perley -- The History of Salem Massachusetts -- a fairly extensive three volume set. The document is categorized under research related to the trials of 1692, yet its extent is much more than that. Perley's ancestor came over with the Winthrop fleet (with about 700 others) in 1629. Also, Perley has Anthony Potter as a forebear (as well, as Dudley, Bradstreet, et al).
• Trials of 1692 -- cannot have Salem without its warts -- we'll have a post from time to time about this, as a couple of generations dealt with this matter. Just as a point in reference, recognition, and appreciation, of Giles Corey was ought to be more universal. The connections: Mary White, Samuel's wife, was 1/2 aunt (Bailey, et al) of George Corwin. Also, according to Samuel Sewall, the Court asked Capt. John Gardner (who had served as Chief Magistrate of Nantucket, descendants) to try to persuade his friend, Giles, to capitulate.

• This week in Salem history -- seems to be stale -- yet, here is a nice photo that relates the nautical character of Salem's past (The "Friendship", Derby Wharf, and the Custom House. Photo by Erik Smith.)
• John Goff -- Looking at Salem's Beginnings: The White and Gardner family contributions -- reminding us of Thomas and his uncle, John White, and of 12/29 being the date of Thomas' death.
• ...

We will update this list with new information from time to time.

Remarks:

06/02/2019 - Profile of Sidney on WikiTree.

05/20/2011 -- Salem Roll Call. Salem on Facebook.

01/18/2011 -- We'll be looking at the northern and the middle parts of Essex County.

01/14/2011 -- Should have known. Follow Salem on Twitter.

08/20/2020 -- Recently, wrote on little Essex County's involvement with the evolution of Gerrymandering. 

Modified: 08/20/2022

Family traditions

There is always a strong reliance, as a human trait, upon what we learn from our parents. They give us a message which we, in turn, carry forward. For a long part of human history, verbal renditions were the vogue. In fact, a lot of what we see claimed for genealogical data came from tales, some of which were captured to paper or stone (to wit, Runes).

Now, once some bit of fact is in a more permanent mode, is it any truer? That is, stories rely upon memory (suspect for several reasons), ability to repeat (again, information theory has something to say about this), hearing and interpreting issues, and much more. When something is captured to written form, it can endure centuries whether it is right or wrong (to wit, genealogical bits that were shown to be not true, yet persist -- even on the web, we cannot retract easily).

Not to pick on one family, as this problem exists everywhere, but Anthony Potter (see Notes), the 3rd great-grandfather (maternal) of Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a good example. Some have his first wife, Elizabeth Whipple, as the mother of his kids. Whereas she may have died without issue. So, that would make the second wife, Elizabeth Stone, the mother.

When browsing, one can figure these things out by comparing dates, assuming that they are correct. Of course, a mother may have died at childbirth.

The whole point is that there is no absolute certainty (as in proof) about these types of facts. Yet, we can rate things by strength. Too, we can show both the information that supports and that which casts doubt. In fact, that would make the field not unlike any science.

That is, at any point, we can add to a strong state of knowledge or we can weaken a position. But, the fact would not stand alone and would need to have its data package (we'll look at this further).

However, all tales of these types contain some element of truth. Isn't life better with them? And, hoping that some unsupported claim might be true, while waiting for confirmation or not, is better than a practiced, cynical, critical eye that assumes nothing (impossible for the human) until all facts are on the table.

Of course, it boils down to the symbols (artifacts) in hand and their ability to support proof (another whole issue). Will this work always result in some dried collection of bones upon which we need to paint a proper hypothetical portrait (a human trait that is not bad, necessarily)?

Remarks:

05/05/2011 -- Did Thomas of Salem have a sister, Rachel?

01/09/2011 -- One would hope that each generation would leave behind some contribution so as to make the family history more solid, that is, reduce misinformation. Modern methods, and computation, seems to suggest such. Of course, disinformation (ought we say, dis-ingenuity) is always a possibility.

01/01/2011 -- We will have a post that points to sites that allow an estimation of strength through notes and such.

Modified: 05/05/2011

The early times

Earlier, we listed Thomas's (and Margaret's) children and grandchildren: Two generations. Then, we used one child to show a line from Samuel to Simon Stacy (DAR patriot): The progeny. Too, we mentioned that we will extend this Samuel line to Dr. Frank A. as we proceed.

But, before we come forward in time, a few posts on the early times are in order. As one collects, for their tree those families who were early immigrants, the family count can go up quite quickly. Some of the interplays between families can be used to illustrate the points (RD, etc.) that have been discussed so far.

So, let's pick the Hathorne example. Here we can look at the descendants of two of the Gardner children, namely George and Samuel. Now, John Hathorne, the judge of the 1692 tribulations, married Ruth Gardner who was the daughter of George. It is from this that we get Nathaniel as a descendant of Thomas. Ruth's brother, Samuel (son of George), was the forebear of the John Lowell Gardners. Remember that the grandfather, William Hathorne, and father of John had come over with Winthrop (1630, Arbella).

Concerning the Hathorne tie, the Neuman-Smith-Goodale family has an interesting tree that shows a pedigree for both John and Ruth. The Ruth expansion, in this tree, shows Stephen which we saw earlier.

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This post's research affords the opportunity to update the earlier descendants list in which Ruth was blank. We have two that we can show: Putnam, et al and Kathleen's Kousins.

Aside: the current mode is collection (there is a whole lot of material available) and rudimentary analysis which will strengthen as we proceed.

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Now, another Hathorne tie is with Abel who is a grandson of Thomas, through Samuel. Abel married Sarah Porter. Her mother was John Hathorne's sister, Elizabeth. We can use the Neuman, et al, tree, from above. An interesting note is that Elizabeth and her husband, Israel Porter, led the unsuccessful effort to save Rebecca Nurse.

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Now, that brings in Simon Stacy Gardner, again, who is Abel's grandson. We had pursued the RD example, using his mother, Phyllis Stacy (Neuman, et al). A Remark (12/06/2010) suggested, also, that there was RD via a White line. We can add another using the Elizabeth through, for example (as there are several), the Capell line (Bevan's work).

Remarks:

03/01/2019 -- We're building an index by images on our Portal to truth.

07/12/2015 -- Okay, turtle speed. But, we get there. Announcing a new project: Sherborne, Dorset. No doubt, it is about time. When finished with the data collection and analysis, we will present the strongest story (the prerogative of the family) that the facts, and abductive reasoning, will support. As such, we hope to demonstrate some very much needed research viewpoints.

09/28/2014 -- A week ago, the record for the marriage of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Friar was discovered in Sherborne by John Cook of Minneapolis, Dorset files. This sets a type of focus. Looks as if some transcription work might be in order.

09/04/2013 -- Again, the scene is built as follows. Those who came over are from the 10th to 13th generations back (for the most part) for someone alive now. By the time of 1692, lots of the earlier arrivals had passed on. So, that left the second generation (again, for the most part) as the elders. Now, taking a cohort mix (generational cut) round or about 1692 would give us someone on the current person's tree who would have about three generations living (including the level of their own cohorts). So, we would see siblings/cousins, parents/aunts/uncles, and the greats. In other words, it's a composite person that is built from that cohort mix (meaning, of course, that being on the tree implies ancestry) for which we can identify relationships blood (including 1/2 blood), in-law, and even friends. What Marjorie's chart does is to take someone who is in the mix and look at extended relationships. Now, consider what we would have if we did that for a large part of the composite mix. Would it not be an interesting view?

01/10/2013 -- The Bevan database was updated on 01/05/2013 which pushed pointers around (one of the risks of the rootsweb method). Will take awhile to follow all of these - the correction requires a simple adjustment of the pointer by 10s or a little more.

12/02/2011 -- More on Ruth (Gardner) Hawthorne.

05/05/2011 -- Did Thomas of Salem have a sister, Rachel?

02/22/2011 -- We'll be using the Great Migration material a lot.

01/10/2011 -- The Winthrop Society has a passenger listing by some of the ships.

12/24/2010 -- Thomas has 6 pages, starting at page 731 (see NEHGS), in Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to N.E. 1620-1633, Vols. I-III.

12/23/2010 -- Would be derelict if I didn't mention, and use, this site by Roderic A. Davis, 2nd.

Modified: 03/01/2019