American Indians

After running across several sites with pertinent information, I'll start to post these here.

• http://www.nativeamericandeeds.com/default.html - "The specific purpose of this project is to bring focus to the subject of the American Indian Deeds as recorded in Essex County and also to the American Indian population, which was living here in the 17th Century. "
• http://www.neara.org/ - The site for the New England Antiquities Research Association.

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There will be lots to collect about the Gardners and the prior residents. For instance, the King Philip's war was a threshold event, many ways. During that troubled time, Nantucket was peaceful,  with the Gardners playing a large role in this.

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The focus remains the very early times. Lots to look at. Any volunteers want to cover other areas?

Remarks: Modified: 02/27/2021

02/27/2021 -- Changed to using American Indian. 

Heritage Society communities

We did mention the group before (see Ebenezer of Maine), but the group (HSC) needs its own post. They have met in April every year now (for awhile) in DC which is Cherry Blossom time. So, DC is a madhouse (in many more ways during the events). While many visitors are out looking at the blooming sites, others are holed up in meeting rooms talking ancestors and tasks related to their groups.

Or, they're talking the absence of youth in the meeting (or the lack of interest in the younger folks for these themes). Of course, the HSC events are held during the school year. So, that explains some of the absence.

Having been in the area during D.A.R. times (just before July 4, every year), though, makes one wonder if that would be not a great time, either. Hot and humid are the watchwords. A tradition talks about how those who were posted to DC (swamp city?), especially during the summer, required tropic's pay. 

The HSC is on Facebook, and elsewhere, if someone wants more information.  

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Heritage has several meanings, and, with people, we have both nature and nurture. The prime focus here has the biological flavor, however the other aspect shows up to with all of the "step" relationships that one will find in almost every family. People died young; their spouses remarried; the left-behind kids still needed to be raised.  

So, one could think of an "auxiliary" unit that ought to attach to all of these groups that recognizes the contribution of the ancestors to the offspring of their step-child. Of course, such would require dealing with various types of tangled relationships. 

Here is an early example that I put for Thomas on Wikipedia (almost). Note that I put it under degrees of separation. In many cases, it is very close (as in, an infant spent his/her whole lifetime under the tutelage (supposedly -- hopefully? -- a good one) of a "step" parent through no choice), and, in many cases, that type of thing caused confusion in family tree work. 

Remarks:

04/09/2013 -- Naturally, dealing with this type of thing would cause increases in cardinality and complexity. Yet, the world never has been a simple place.

01/12/2019 -- Added in an image for the HSC so that we could add the post to the image index.

Modified: 01/12/2019

Gardner's Beacon, Vol. III, No. 1

See Vol. III, No. 1 of Gardner's Beacon for a continued look at the legacy of Thomas and Margaret () Gardner using an Annals format. This time the focus is on the period prior to the arrival in 1623/24, for the most part considering the context and motivations of the arrival. Future looks will be at the Dorchester Company and then at Thomas and Margaret, specifically.

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The best known immigration event in the U.S., to many, is that of the Pilgrims and their Mayflower voyage. Too, Jamestown got recent recognition with the 400th anniversary of the settlement's start. In both of these attempts, the people involved endured a lot of hardship and suffering. It took years to become what might be considered successful.

We, across the distance of time, can easily ignore the troubles and look at the accumulated glory. After all, the majority of U.S. educated people can tell us the stories behind the first Thanksgiving, even if some of the details may be a little off the mark.

The fact is that New England, which was North Virginia, did not offer an easy time for any early settlement attempt. We will look at some of these over a fifty year period.

English transisitons

Aside: The original intent was to cover +/- fifty, but there is just too much information for that. So, we'll continue with this theme for awhile in the Beacon. Some of the views will cover a wide expanse of time while others are expected to zoom in on a particular period or series of events. There were many changes going on in England and the world. The image depicts changes on the throne for the period that would cover the life of Thomas and two generations before.

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Comparatively, though it has been couched, by many, as being otherwise, the Cape Ann venture, led by Thomas Gardner, was successful in several ways. For one, those there made it through the winter. Then, they established themselves, built a great house, put up other dwellings, made plantings, and more. They were healthy enough to be rambunctious when relating to those who may have wanted to encroach (to wit, Roger Conant's peacemaking role). And, they did go on to found Salem.

In fact, when Winthrop showed up in 1630, he feasted on strawberries from Cape Ann. Most likely, these had been cultivated. He also was wined (or beer'd) and dined in a house (see Wikipedia) that was the first of its type in New England.

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Be that as it may, to understand the origins, we need to look at those earlier times of exploration and of trial residence that went on for several decades. This look is not conclusive; to be comprehensive is beyond the scope of any Beacon issue. There is an intent to fund necessary research to fill in gaps about the lives of Thomas and Margaret including looks at the contexts, situations, and collateral families.

References:  see Sources (Current Issue)  

Remarks:

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.  

03/18/2014 -- More thoughts on Cape Ann, Thomas and Margaret, and, not least, strawberries.

03/23/2013 -- Beacon issue, Vol. III, No. I, is available. 1st Edition still there in PDF format. This issue looks at events prior to the arrival. Looking at the arrival and early times in more detail makes it even a stronger thought that the group was overlooked and denigrated. That statement is not meant only in relation to Thomas. The whole group had their position in history lost. We'll re-look at all that has been said and reconstruct, as needed, a view that ought to be left for future historians to discuss.

03/21/2013 -- 1st edition (or draft) migrated in order to get all the pieces into place. The completion of edits will be noted by the removal of the watermark.

Modified: 09/28/2014

Origins - motivations

We brushed upon origins a few times: Historical genealogy, How many wives?, and Black death.The first post of this blog asked about the ancestry of Thomas and Margaret.

As mentioned in the last post, we are looking at different periods that relate to lives of Thomas and Margaret. And the period right around the arrival (+/- 50 years) is a current focus.

And, motivation for leaving is always a concern. This post looks at an issue that culminated around the time of Thomas' great-grandfather. The influence from the particular conflict was deep. In fact, about that time, over a century of conflict came to an end.

Of course, after the peace, turmoil continued which we'll get into. For now, let's consider the case of the bickering cousins. In a sense, all the conflicts on UK (and related areas on the continent) soil were of this type. However, this one had very close cousins at each other's throat (extreme sibling rivalry -- gosh, are we any better today?).

So, it was a blood war, but not between rival clans. No, it was cousins vs cousins. There is not any reason to see this as unusual, as we'll also look at many conflicts between brothers before we're done.

People beheaded
War of the Roses

Aside: In looking at origins, this particular topic is important but is not the only one. We're starting with it due to entanglements. I don't know just how much we appreciate the reality on this side of the pond. That gaming has taken up the theme, partly encouraged by the Game of Thrones series (I liked the first two books; am not a gaming type; haven't seen any of the TV stuff), may tell something. Go to Google (or Bing), and look at War of Roses (images) and note the gaming interest.

So, this image has a list of people who were beheaded during the period of the War of the Roses. It's not a short list, by any means (see the Wikipedia page). The two images on the side are the following: Choosing of the roses (below) and The execution of Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (above). Edmund is in both of these paintings. He's on the right of the Choosing scene and the main character in the other. But, this is only a list of the noble class victims. There were many other casualties, such as the Two Princes. Too, what was the havoc wrought upon the general populace, of all of the classes?

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This is one little example. Does England look to be a pleasant place to be? One can appreciate the dreams of freedom that pushed people off its shores, even if these were illusory at the time (did you know that there were early hippies - Merry mount). Yet, there was a less oppressive nature in group that came with Thomas and Margaret than later (of course, about now, we need to mention that Plymouth's involvement will be covered, to boot). It was not long before a hammer was sent over (another whole story). One can also understand the appeal of the Quaker point of view which figured heavily in Thomas' later life through the influence of his last wife and in the lives of some of the progeny.

So, we've barely kicked off a look at origins with a brief touch on motivations.

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As said before, whatever the motive, Thomas came here, raised a family thereby leaving a legacy, supported the founding of the civilization that became the U.S., and has tales to tell about his life and character. It is for us to discover these and preserve them for posterity.

Remarks:

04/04/2025 -- David T. Gardner has been exercisting Grok with prompts and reports finding documents that support his claim about Wyllym Gardynyr (see King Slayer Court blog). ... We have begun to incorporate changes into the structure and context of the blog. See Restart, somewhat. 

08/11/2020 -- We have used categories in the post. We also have used pages which allow some structure. Then, we have the other media to consider. One thing is definite, we will have lists of important topics. On these, we will find Origins and Motivations.

07/21/2020 -- The theme carries on in our work.

07/16/2016 -- Related work: Gardiners and Gardners.

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.

02/12/2014 -- The motivations theme will arise, recurrently, as we look at telling the stories.

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

03/31/2013 -- The recent Gardner's Beacon issue looks at priors. On the War of Roses, not only were the participants blood relatives, they were Christian, ostensibly. So, an Easter thought is in order: was not their behavior as far from what Christ would have wanted as was possible? Then, again, how close to such an ideal was the Crusader behavior of their ancestors? 

Modified: 04/04/2025

A few considerations

We have had two posts dealing with descendants: The kids (Sept 2010) and Two generations (Oct 2010). Both of these posts used material from the work of individuals who have taken the time to post on rootsweb which has been around awhile. There are other sites, to boot. One can use these build composite trees.

Bevan's work is an example. He has merged multiple lines from the work of others. But, he does not have Thomas and Margaret.

Now, taking the work at rootsweb, a query on Thomas who died in 1674 brings up 822 trees (822 at the time of the original post; today (7/19/18) it's 966). Of those 822, 722 have Margaret as wife. But, and here is the catch, of the 722, only 255 have sources. Following along with D.A.R. and the Hereditary Society Community (HSC), we ought to require sources. At the same time, we ought to allow expansions of a tree that are conjectural.

A lot of this rootsweb work may have been done by Thomas descendants. Many others may have been done by people looking at collateral families. Or, someone may have included the Gardners just to be complete. How much of it is believable?

One task might be to take Dr. Frank's numbering and then extend it to about three or four generations. Or, we could pick a time, say 1812, as the end of a span.

So, two basic issues are the technical aspects and verification. The former ought to leverage upon work that has been done on the computer for the past few decades. The latter may be more problematic.

In any case, one basic notion is to fund research on a continuing basis in a manner that persists across future generations. To accomplish that, it would be nice to have a reasonable starting point. Lots to look at and do.

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So, a slow build via incremental means has been the focus so far. As suggested by the Backbone category, there are many lessons to learn of a varied nature that is not small in breadth. One focus of late has been looking back across the pond, mainly to get acquainted with things. Hence, the focus of the next Beacon will be along that line, albeit in a brief fashion.

Many see posts almost like twits (tweets?) which have a small temporal footstep. We could see them as something that, at some point, could be pulled into a book. Of course, to do such a thing right would require major editing, but that is part of the work (editors exist for that purpose). The content would be there, though, which is the key.

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Too, there are several ways to communicate. Mass e-mailing will be limited. Annoucements will be by the TGS site and the TGS Forum. Right now, the TGS Forum is using a blackboard approach. Just like with the blog, there are several ways to support discussions. It would be good settle on a method that is effective with which to carry forward.

Remarks: Modified: 07/19/2018

03/02/2013 -- What's New at the TGS site will post things of interest. The main page will provide the last change date for the What's New page.

03/04/2013 -- Forgot to put the pointer to rootsweb. Today, there were 821 trees to this query: Surname (gardner), Given name (thomas), Death year (1674). Now, a slight change to the Death year of +/- 5 years increased the count to 897. If the TGS was going to be effectively used for this type of database entry, it would be by providing a place where one could get the facts, as they are best known. At this point, doing such a thing would require technical support as well as continuing scholarly work of a sponsored nature. Also, identify the Hereditary Society Community properly.

07/19/2018 -- Changed the rootsweb link. It was out for a few months and is slowly coming back. Which ought to motivate thoughts about continuity. In 2017, we put in a new site (which will work with the original one): TGSoc.org. Also, our main theme will be: Culture, history and technology (of which we will find genealogy, genetics, and a lot more).

Plus or minus the arrival

Note: See this post: In summary. We have new information about the baptisms of the children and are in the process of researching to establish a proper narrative. For now, see comments at the WikiTree profile for Thomas Gardner. We will start with Rev. Hubbard who was there (1680 manuscript). 

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With the last Beacon, we started an "annals" approach which will be useful for awhile. The next issue will follow the same format, looking at a period of time that covers 50 years on either side (so, we're talking a span of 100 years) of the arrival of 1623 or 1624. Most, such as the Great Migration Project, have used the latter, however there was a party left here to overwinter in the fall of 1623. Was Thomas with that crew? We'll have to collect the facts and opinions about that event.

Also, the whole general framework in (and from) which Thomas and Margaret lived (and left) will be of interest and will involve a lot of material, as we know from looking at history. Things to consider would be several: early looks over here (such as Florida, Maine, Virginia and places in-between), what was going on in England (how many transitions of power were there in that span? see image - with a normalized view, one would think about 4 or 5), the goings-on related to Rev. John White's Dorchester Company, and, of course, the family of Thomas and Margaret.

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We started to list some of the 400th anniversaries that have occurred or will occur (thinking about preparation). Too, we can look forward to this year being the 500th of the founding of Florida.

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Post-note: At some point, we plan to have a database that will be compatible with the current formats for genealogical data. In the meantime, we can have (develop) a web-based look at Gardners in the context of the unfolding of the past four hundred years or so.

Remarks: Modified: 06/20/2023

03/02/2013 -- See a few considerations.

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

08/29/2016 -- More on Cape Ann, 1623.

10/11/2018 -- Gardner Research is how we are organized. On the plate is a lot starting with extending the work (e.g. Gardners and Gardners) of Dr. Frank.

12/29/2018 -- We started to look at WikiTree (using Dr. Frank's tree). We have printed four volumes of The Gardner Annals (I, II, III and IV).

03/27/2019 -- This is a topic covered under the subject of General Crisis.

06/20/2023 -- Added note about the new situation with regard to our narrative. 

Meeting, again

We have had several posts dealing with the 1692 events or making mention of such. There were two Beacon issues with the theme. The latest was this year, with a subsequent post with this topic: Imagine a meeting. The thing was to call together all of those ancestors on someone's tree who were there, even participating in certain roles. In short, those ancestors' roles covered the gamut.

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One source for the Beacon issue in 2011 was Frances Hill's book about men of dangerous ideas. Her take on these matters made a lot of sense which will be discussed more fully with time. We intend to visit this theme a lot, since it does involve Salem which is Thomas' (and his peers') town, so to speak (yes, even the Village - they owned property there). So, we need to have continual interest; the events be-smirched the little place and left a lasting impact. 

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Recently, I read Frances Hill's book: A Delusion of Satan. The Google site has reviews of the book. Frankly, I think the book is underrated. Now, it may be that the reviewers have read other books on the subject and have had more exposure to the details than I have had (novice but learning the ropes). Nevertheless, it's the first rendition that made the (human side of the) reality clear to me, as one reviewer noted. 

Frances is coming from another viewpoint, being British. And, those in that region, then, were, too, for the most part. The Puritanical mindset played heavily. I had run across the Porter and Putnam controversy before, since Dr. Frank mentions that John Hathorne's grand-niece (granddaughter of his sister, Elizabeth) married Abel Gardner. Frances made me aware that Gen. Israel Putnam was an offspring of Elizabeth (Hathorne) Porter. Israel's father was with the Porters (married into the family).

But, on the other hand, Ruth Gardner, as a mere teen, was married to John thereby being the ancestor of Nathaniel. Frances mentions this in her modern bad guy book.  

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All sorts of good souls, other than the Porters, tried to intervene with those who were the primarily involved with the mischief (we'll get back to Cotton Mather (cousin), Corwin (1/2 cousin), and others later). Yet, those good souls were not effective. Why? I asked before: what if Samuel Gardner (Corwin's brother-in-law) had still been alive? Thomas was gone, too. 

The tragedy's real lasting effect is not the hanging. Rather, it's the jailing and torture of prisoners, many of whom were women of age. Or, men of age. Let's hear it for Giles, the man of iron, albeit one with his foot in his mouth (testified against his wife, or they aired their spats publicly). 

So, speaking of the jailing, Dorcas Good was a mere 4+ years old. People were chained into uncomfortable positions. There were horrid actions on the part of bullies running the jails (err, dungeons). Corwin stole (a lot), essentially. When looked at with realistic eyes, there's nothing to romanticize (yet, this occurs on a particular day in a month during the fall of each year).

And, even worse, after Gov Phips said to knock it off, they kept people jailed until they could pay their way out (of course, their property had been stolen by the sheriff, many times). So, we have continuing bad straits for a while. Even restitution, obtained in some cases - like the Parker boys -- wasn't much consolation.

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By the way, some in power still have this Puritanical blood (of course, we can show the genealogical link) which led to the atrocities. Frances made this, and related, points in her bad guy book. 

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The 1692 events have all been hashed out (in literature and in academic analysis - as well in popular expositions). What is (can be) new, though, is that we can look at modern descendants whose genes/memes are influenced (lastingly) by this thing. And, a particular interest might be of those whose ancestors were among the whole gamut of players of that time and turmoil. Such is the reality of the fan-in through time within a population.   

Remarks:

01/12/2019 -- Old image from Google disappeared; brought in new of Delusion of Satan; plus added a thumbnail to the index.

10/31/2014 -- Gardner Research: "The Trials of the Wilson Family" (also, TEG (2014) 34:155).

04/ 29/2014 -- Aftermaths.

10/30/2013 -- I am in the process of reading Katherine Howe's book, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Dane, as in being related to Francis, of course. I wondered if there would be motivating material for a Beacon issue (we did have 1692 as a theme in 2011 and 2012). It is an interesting plot, especially the balancing of the characters, and their interactions, in two time periods is nice. The description that Katherine provides of little Dorcas Good in the underground cell surely depicts the poor, young thing's misery and shows Katherine's grasping of the horror. One wonders, from some of the modern views and comments, if people really understand the dire situation. Too, the main hypothesis might have some truth, in a slightly altered construction. You see, science has not shown as much light on human matters as some might think. But, then, for any knowledge that we have gained, we have also seen that the unknowns do not diminish. It's just that we get better able to cover (as in, remove from awareness) the holes in which lurk the demons.

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?

09/03/2013 -- Boosted up the font on the image caption after reading of Rev. Francis Dane's extended family and their ordeals.

03/10/2013 -- Samuel was married to the Corwin's 1/2 sister, Mary.

Modified: 01/12/2019