Isabella

It has always been the plan to include information about collateral families, as that information carries forward with the offspring from that union.

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Isabella? Yes, Stewart; she is covered in a Wikipedia article about her museum. We have already mentioned the John Lowells a couple of times. Isabella married John "Jack" Lowell II in 1860. Their son, John III, died as an infant.

Some say that the art collecting efforts started about then.

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There is a Stewart tradition, mentioned by Frank A, about King Fergus. However, Isbella's mother, Adelia Smith, has an interesting family history (Larson).

Remarks:

01/01/2019 -- Isabella featured in a New England Historical Society article: Isabella Stewart Gardner Holds a Champagne and Donuts Party on New Year's Day. Earlier, forgot to put in this link: 10 Sep 2016 - Stone from the Gardner-Wyman-Peabody Mill found in the low tide. Provided a summary of the history of the family that owned the mill to John Goff (who wrote of the mill in The Tide Mill Times). A member of the family was John Lowell Gardner II.

06/19/2013 -- Removed link for Larson tree at rootsweb. Database not there.

06/19/2013 -- See Nutfield Genealogy: Tombstone Tuesday ~ Isabella Stewart Gardner Mausoleum for photos. Find a grave for Isabella.

02/01/2013 -- Updated rootsweb references for Larson tree. 

Modified: 01/01/2019

Richard and John (and Thomas)

While browsing, I found a short piece that covered some of the Nantucket families. It was written by Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman in 1896. Some of the families were Mitchell, Coffin, Swain, Swift, Folger, and Stanton.

Earlier, we looked at Coffin (Lucretia (Coffin) Mott) and some of the whalers. In a couple of places, we have considered that collateral families are something to look at in depth. From Lydia's list, it is easy to identify the descendants of Thomas.

For instance, we can consider Edwin M. Stanton (Clemons, et al). He served, for a time, as Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

A search finds other Stantons that would be interesting to look at.

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A real treat, though, was a collection of Coffin stories. As depicted on the first page, the Gardners and the Coffins met on Nantucket; of course, early associations seemed to be iffy given the strong mindedness of the parties. However, things eventually work out as we see with all of the genealogy trees with both families on them.

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One thing to note is that John wanted the main town of Nantucket to be called Sherborne. We saw that, too, in the post related to the Folger writeup. Sherborne is in Dorset. John said that it was his hometown which he would have heard from his father, being too young to know when they left.

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If we searched, how many of these types of stories could we find? Would not they then go into an interesting account?

That is, would you not want to know some quote, or such, that could be attributable to Thomas?

Remarks:

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

09/25/2018 -- Recently the Profile for Thomas Gardner on WikiTree changed to only have the two wives. This was due to research and discussion to which Gardner Research contributed. Earlier, there was a post that summarized the issue and accomplishment: Margaret, anew. Thanks are extended to all who made this update possible. The Profile is managed by the Puritan Great Migration Project sponsored by the NEHGS, publisher of the Great Migration books. So, Sherborne, as John said (see this page for images of documents).

11/23/2016 -- Looking further into Dr. Frank's periodical, "The Massachusetts Magazine," we found R.A. Douglas-Lithgow as a contributor. He also wrote on Nantucket, and more.

07/12/2015 -- We mention abductive approaches (my career was spent in advanced computing - software and modelling, essentially). Please refer, at least, to C.S. Peirce's (we mentioned him in an earlier post - Benjamin Peirce) work in the area. [Love it: From Ugly Duckling to Swan]

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.

10/03/2014 -- Recent find of a marriage record for Thomas Gardner and Margaret Friar in the records of Sherborne.

04/20/2012 -- Story about John's efforts to establish peaceful relationships with the Indians.

03/28/2012 -- Mark E. Miner's site has an interesting look at the Coffin/Gardner conflict that was related to full, versus half, ownership. See post on Mary (Gardner) Coffin.

Modified: 03/01/2019

Samuel Knapp Gardner

There are several themes that will continue in these posts. For instance, the recent Gardner's Beacon issue briefly looked at what is behind the celebration of U.S. Independence. That conflict dragged on until almost the mid-1780s. Then, it was a mere 30 years later that we had England meddling with us via the War of 1812.

Another theme dealt with ancestors across the waters, such as we discussed with some of the Gardners, to wit John Lowell and Simon Stacey, including those that have royal ancestry in their tree.

Samuel Knapp Gardner, a son of Simon Stacey Gardner, has several of these topics. Here is his tree (Plumer family). Samuel was a mariner and was a prisoner of war during the War of 1812. He was held in HM Prison Dartmoor. Many did not make it back from that experience.

Forgetting the royals, until later, let's look at a couple of other topics. Samuel has Edward Woodman on his tree through his mother, Rebecca Knapp. Edward, as a Deputy to the General Court (see WDAHAC.org eligible ancestor list), was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. This group was a 1638 offshoot of the Artillery Company founded in the times of Henry VIII.

Edward Woodman is also of interest in that his great grandfather, Richard Woodman, is a noted Protestant martyr, having been burnt at the stake in 1557. Wiki has a listing of those who were victims in the events.

Samuel (1781-1850) married Mary Marsh. Their children were William (-1852), Samuel (1801-1842), Mary (1803-1872), Eliza ().

Remarks:

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

07/12/2016 -- The family lost the house due to events related to 1812's conflict.

07/11/2012 -- A recent issue of Gardner's Beacon looks at the War of 1812.

Modified: 03/01/2019

Gardner's Beacon, Vol. I, No. 2

Scores of nations celebrate an Independence Day. We all know of our own Fourth of July.

The motivations for freedom run deep and long, however early settlers were instrumental in establishing the basis for the American independence even though they were 150 years early. Due to conflicts in the mother country, there was a lot of latitude allowed to the colonials which they used to work issues of self-governance.

All of this, we'll look at further, using the context of Thomas and Margaret and their kids as the framework.

In fact, from where I sit, Thomas seems to be exemplary. He came over here to an unknown situation with his family, raised his family to productive adulthood, contributed to the commonweal, succeeded in the commercial environment of the time, was well-respected by his peers, and left a legacy for all time. The ultimate citizen, in a sense. That is why I refer to him as an example of the backbone of the economy. As well, he is definitely one of the founding fathers.

For starters, see Vol. I, No. 2, of Gardner's Beacon. Expect that there will be a continuing thread on this topic.

Remarks:

08/31/2011 -- Vol I., No. 3

Modified: 04/23/2012

On blogs and other modern means

Actually, the topic is presentation of material via other than a structured format (think, pages, font, ink, etc. -- as if PDF did not exist?). Some methods (hypermedia was once used for the group), as the modern mind might want to explore, are feared.

We can see that some families have been using blogs, for awhile (see an earlier list). Here is one that I just became acquainted with (Miner descent).

Recently, I ran across a comment at a blog that I've looked at as reference. The blog's posts had been pruned, and the tone of the blog was changed due, in part, to a decision by some genealogical experts.

In short, these people said that scholarship means print. What? Ah, is it that some have not gone beyond what Gutenberg brought forward (well, do not genealogists look back?)? Do they not know that information/knowledge presentation is on a cusp?

We're all (at least, this old guy) anticipating how things will turn out. In brief, many types of presentation, available via computation, cannot be captured to print (actually, the trees are thankful for that).

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The Slovac Yankee has a lot of overlap with the families (collateral) related to the Thomas line. Hence, it was always interesting to see what had been written there. One particular page was this one bogus claims.

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It turns out that even 'print' has propagated error (even the illustrious WSJ has its embedded little errors daily). Those experts, above, are going to tell us that reading a digitized book and its paper'd counterpart are not equivalent in many ways? Of course, the existential nature differs; does the conveyance of the content?

By the way, if scholars do not publish 'content' on the web, we face a future with the idiotic, content-free material overwhelming us. We all need to be thankful for efforts like the archive.org (love their on-line reader) for letting us peruse a wide range of books via the cloud.

Of course, it's nice to go to a library, like D.A.R's, and see the real thing, now and then.

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Needless to say, we'll continue. Now, about the experts. Their fear is due to what might be called the need to maintain 'truth' which becomes almost intractable when viewed from within the cloud (a type of vertigo). But, we may have 'print' in a collective sense that is verified. How well can we do on controlling the interpretation that is required? That is, 'print' is integrated within people's cognitive framework (hence, some want thought control). Of course, the issue of reading, and comprehension, is something that education has tried to deal with almost ad infinitum. Would not genealogy benefit from some type of language, proof system, and provers as would be possible with the appropriate computational framework? Anyone looking at that?

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A modern scientist, when looking at genealogical material related to his family, said that it looks like gossip. This person said that about another, etc. Where is the science and engineering?

I would propose that the engineering would need computational assistance. So, the argument may then be just about how to present the material. Anything in 'print' form will be a projection, not a lifting, meaning, of course, reducing to a lower-dimensional framework. Too, there may very well be some efforts at firming up the foundation'al issues. Having not been a genealogist, I would like to know more about this (and will followup).

How about this: avatar'd space?

Remarks:

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

05/20/2014 -- Families ought to keep an updated index of all of the stuff that has been written about their principle ancestors. Yes.

10/17/2013 -- I read where a game is coming out that uses Anne Frank's life as the theme. To my old ears, that seems to be potentially callous, however, watching the general population's decline in ability to handle mental matters (neither a phile nor phobe - rather, balance of realism and idealism) brings up thoughts that trouble. Perhaps we'll expect more of this type of thing. Given their power (that seems to be ascending), do we need a Magna Charta (one could propose all types that would be as varied as the number (seemingly abundant) of situational concerns) for the gaming bosses and their crews?

08/27/2013 -- I still rankle at the notion that Gutenberg's technology is the forever means for publication. It may be that people are saying that fluidity is only one state of matter; as in, we need to solidify things (which is what print does) now and then, even if it just allows a snapshot of a point-in-time state of knowledge. What would Charles say?

08/21/2013 -- There is a remarkable amount of material on-line. And, as was the intent (in the beginning), the web supports research (unfortunately, a lot of other things, too). So, untangling knots will continue to make use of the modern resources.

02/15/2012 -- Ran across the page today, after an elapse of time and interest. Comment stands. The Internet, in the www sense, had science and engineering as motivators (consider ieee.org's involvement), as in coordinating efforts and presenting results. Hence, its media (despite all of the noise) are deserving of respect; actually, they will become integral to distributed knowledge states. I suppose that mention of ancestry.com (and others) as not being necessary is apropos. 

Modified: 03/01/2019

Tidbits of English History

Since Thomas and Margaret came from England, as did many of the collateral families, we ought to collect some links related to English history. Some may have more comments than others. At some point, a bibliography will appear.

• Domesday Book -- see related blog for more on the topic. Essentially, this relates to an effort to bring things into account. It was problematic then and is even more so now (and, that refers to more than the issues faced by the U. S. Census). By the way, William's effort showed that the Church (of England, still under the Pope, but remote) had more land than did the King. Aside: Could that not be indicative of how afar Christianity went from the teachings of Christ?
• Accountability -- that is, for Coats of Arms, etc., there had to be some control, and review, that was regular. So, Henry VIII started what is known as the visitation. Seems that claims about heralds, etc. were easily counterfeited.
• Towton - the day that changed English history. 
• Persecutions both ways; no wonder people wanted to flee. Some carried the insanity over to here (we'll name names, at some point -- Thomas was not an instigator of things like this).

These are interesting to the themes of the blog, for many reasons, so expect some posts on these types of things from time to time.

Remarks:

06/04/2019 -- Added link to image on the 'Battle of Towton' page on Wikipedia.

12/15/2018 -- Added image here and to image scroll: TGSoc.org.

07/20/2013 -- Interesting work, and related database, at PASE.uk, including a database built upon the Domesday Book (can identify old families).

11/05/2012 -- Domesday book and beyond: Three Essays in the early History of England (google.com, archive.org).

05/12/2012 -- Changed Doomsday to Domesday (yank fat fingering). Well, for some, being fingered to pay more money is 'doomsday' awaiting.

08/15/2011 -- Changed some wiki pointers; added one list item. Need to remember to use the 'public' wiki site.

Modified: 06/04/2019

Where is Thomas? II

Earlier we asked and, partly answered, the question: Where is Thomas?

His remains were moved to this area, in Salem. Perhaps, we can be more specific, at some point.

The area depicted is in the Harmony Grove Cemetery near the gate that opens into Peabody. Several graves were moved over when Salem built up the area of Boston and Grove (Bing map).

Remarks:

06/04/2019 -- Added to the image list at our portal to truth. For the latest, see 29 December 1674 and later posts.

11/13/2018 -- With a new twist, as bodies and stones were also moved to the Trask site. Add in Sidney Perley's map of Gardner Hill.

08/12/2018 -- Thomas, with others on Gardner Hill, was left where he was. Stones were moved over to Harmony Grove Cemetery. A few of those withstood the move, say that for Seeth. Most did not and are piled somewhere. At the burial site, though, the road was cut through. So, the remains? Well, moved to God only knows. Or, if the burial was away from the road, it is beneath some structure. Lots to think about. Reflect on. How to proceed into this mire?

08/17/2015 -- Response to Wikipedia change that questions the move(?).

03/12/2015 -- Dr. Frank's 1933 book (pg. 22) does not mention the move.

11/16/2012 -- In preparation for the upcoming 400th, we ought to find Thomas' stone (Able's and Sarah's, too) and get it set back up in an accessible manner.

02/13/2012 -- Thomas was around here, in 1641. 

Modified: 06/04/2019